Seewalds 25: Jessa is allowing Spurgeon to "jump for joy", er, dance

[Carm_88]

I just think that there would be more fear in Spurgeon. He didn't seem to get nervous that she put the blanket down. I don't think she's blanket training. It seems to me that he didn't want to sit in his seat, so Jessa was trying to occupy him and put him in a different place. 

[SassyPants]

Breastfeeding- My daughter, an environmental science major by education, had a baby 3 years ago. She lives in So America. My daughter is one of those very, very green people. Her diet, fabulous. So she has her baby and 4 weeks later becomes deathly ill with strep in her blood. Obviously she is hospitalized, and in So America that means for about 2 weeks. There is no emphasis on breast feeding or hand pumping- although they will let the baby in to nurse? WTH??? Well, the next thing she developed strep mastitis, requiring surgery and another 2 week hospital stay, and drains and dressing changes, and thank god I was a nurse for 35 years, and yada, yada, yada. And so my daughter BF on one side only for 6 months, while she tried to relactate the other breast. Finally, she went to Dr Price's yogurt based homemade formula. Yes, I carried all the necessary components for the formula down to So America, every few months, for over a year. 

Her daughter is now 3 and has a big life factory bottle (with a hard sipper lid) of milk, sometime homemade cocoa, every night at bed time. 

[neurogirl]

This is going back just a little bit in the thread but yay love for the Great British Bakeoff!  I am still confused over what a British biscuit is. Because its not a universal word for cookie (chocolate chip cookies don't seem to be biscuits). Is a British biscuit specifically a crumbly cookie like a shortbread???

Also my fiancé has taken to baking since we've started watching, and I'm only too happy with that! Below, the bread we made together as total beginners!

[KnittingOwl]

9 hours ago, Chewing Gum said:

I'm liking your post as a sign of support, I'm another mom that never produced enough. Or I just say, not a single drop. While I had PLENTY during pregnancy, it dried up around 36 weeks just to never be seen again. I knew nothing was coming out but the "no she's latching on and drinking for 20 min, she must be getting something. Just keep her on the boob!" still leaves me with bitter feelings.  She was starving by day three and I combined boob with fingerfeeding bottels until day 6 and finally stopped trying. That repeated for 8 days with #2 and I even tried to relactate at three weeks. It hurts so bad when you want to BF and just can't. 

Liking for the same reason.  I totally get it.  I had colostrum, and a tiny bit of milk (like I could pump 20 minutes instead of nursing and get an ounce).  I am currently pregnant with baby 2 and I'm just planning to bottle feed.  If by some miracle I can breastfeed, great, but I'm not expecting anything to be different.  And I refuse to let anyone make me feel bad about it.

[Rachel333]

I was reading more about the baby friendly hospitals. Here's a reddit thread full of moms talking about bad experiences there and a lot of people saying they actively try to avoid those hospitals now. And here's a copy of the waiver they make women sign at those hospitals if they want to use formula. It seems very manipulative and full of misinformation.

[SapphireSlytherin]

1 hour ago, Nikedagain? said:

I had an kindergarten student with no teeth. They were all pulled at age 3 because his parents gave him soda in a bottle. 

I didn't get a cavity until I was in my teens (under my braces) and the only teeth missing from my mouth are those that were pulled due to overcrowding when I had braces.

[KnittingOwl]

17 minutes ago, Rachel333 said:

I was reading more about the baby friendly hospitals. Here's a reddit thread full of moms talking about bad experiences there and a lot of people saying they actively try to avoid those hospitals now. And here's a copy of the waiver they make women sign at those hospitals if they want to use formula. It seems very manipulative and full of misinformation.

Damn... my hospital is on the list of baby friendly ones.  Guess I know what questions I have for my midwife at my next appointment.

[singsingsing]

2 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

I didn't get a cavity until I was in my teens (under my braces) and the only teeth missing from my mouth are those that were pulled due to overcrowding when I had braces.

My parents definitely didn't let me drink pop as a baby or young kid, and I still wound up with a ridiculous number of cavities. Meanwhile my dad, who I'm sure ate and drank just as much sugary crap as I did, has never had a cavity. He also has perfectly straight, white teeth despite drinking coffee and pop constantly. I think some people are just genetically blessed or cursed in the tooth department no matter what.

[Greendoor]

1 hour ago, Stormy said:

In all my time reading conversations on breastfeeding on FJ, I'm surprised to have never seen an account of bloody nipples. My mom attests that I hated breastfeeding as a baby, and I evidently made it known. Ouch!

I had that - he wasn't latching properly.  Oddly enough him feeding hurt less than when he wasn't.  We got it sorted.  I did BF exculsively for the 6 months maternity leave I had.  When he went to daycare, they got  a coffee break size and a lunch size formula bottle.  I fed him before work, dinner and bed - just to one year.  That satisfied his need for food and my need to be bonded.  (I honestly believe that babies bond to whoever feeds them what.)

 

 

[Captain Obvious]

2 hours ago, neurogirl said:

This is going back just a little bit in the thread but yay love for the Great British Bakeoff!  I am still confused over what a British biscuit is. Because its not a universal word for cookie (chocolate chip cookies don't seem to be biscuits). Is a British biscuit specifically a crumbly cookie like a shortbread???

I farking love that show!

It's the other way round: a biscuit is a crisp/hard cookie, typically one that's good for dipping into tea or coffee, though it can also cover ones on the softer side.

 

Growing up in the UK I would only hear "cookie" in relation to distinctly American recipes/types such as chocolate chip cookies. Your standard British cookies were always "biscuits". You see "cookie" more now but it's more for larger, fancier and softer/more crumblier types.

 

[Bad Wolf]

Chocolate digestive. one of my favourite biccies.

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

30 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

Chocolate digestive. one of my favourite biccies.

My personal favourite. They aren't bad plain when you have morning sickness with some ginger ale. I was pregnant.   

Spoiler

 

[Knight of Ni]

4 hours ago, feministxtian said:

I gave my older son watered down pepsi in his bottle a few times...mostly so he'd end up running himself stupid and finally go the hell to sleep. 

He has probably made an idol of that Pepsi.

[SamiKatz]

My grandfather was British and we drank tea from a very young age.  Very milky, watered down tea and not in our bottles (that I can remember), but probably from the time my sisters andI were able to drink out of sippy cups.

 

 

 

 

[Bad Wolf]

I have seen tea in baby bottles, mostly milk with a little tea. Gotta start them out right. 

[potato]

Did anyone else notice that they blurred out her thighs in the airplane clip?  I guess I'm not surprised.

[calimojo]

When I was nursing, it was interesting that depending on the time of day I would pump, my milk would look different.  Sometimes it would have more fat, sometimes less.  Sometimes the color would vary.  No doubt some of that was related to what I was eating. 

I do think that one of the advantages of breastfeeding is that it might self 'formulate' based on baby's needs.  When baby is in a growth spurt you start to produce more, and when the start eating solid foods, your supply starts to slow down.  So there is something symbiotic in a successful BF dyad.  ( or triad for multiples). 

I went to a child nutrition class when my kids were little and I remember one of the moms in the group insisting she only fed fresh vegetables to her child.  At the time, my child loved those canned french cut green beans.  I could not get her to eat frozen or fresh green beans for anything.  So I timidly raised my hand and confessed that my child was only eating canned green beans and not fresh and what should I do. 

The Dietician said, "Yes, fresh green beans have higher nutritional value over canned,  but food is only nutritious if it is actually eaten.  In other words, you can switch to all fresh all the time, but if the kid won't eat it, then it isn't nutritious."  She said it probably better than that, but I remember it made me feel better.  Canned green beans were better than nothing, and guess what,  after eating them, and still offering fresh/frozen frequently, I ended up with a kid who loves vegetables.  I didn't make it a power struggle, and I stopped feeling guilty.  We all survived.

I feel the same way about BF.  Yes,  if you get right down to it, there might be some biologic and or nutritional advantage to breastmilk over formula in some cases, But if Baby won't take the breast, or if there are other reasons why mom has opted not to BF,  then Formula is a lifesaver.  The Duggars BF their babies, but then stuff them full of tator tot casserole and Chickensketti.  So I don't think I would worry too much about it. 

We should all do the best we can, and realize that our kids are likely to grow up just fine in spite of what we do.  And, there are many kids, whose parents took every reasonable precaution, above and beyond, to the point of obsession, who still end up with food allergies and health issues.  Nothing is guaranteed.  My Kids all had ear infections before they were 3 months old.  My Daughter had such severe eczema that she looked like she had leprosy and she was exclusively BF for months.  Nothing I changed in my diet mattered and she had no other manifestations.  Her pediatrician said she would out grow it, and she did and has great skin now.  So who knows. 

Do your best, don't stress

[Carm_88]

By the way for everyone that wasn't watching this lovely show; Spurgeon pitched his bottle at a duck. I'm going with not blanket training. lol

[HurricaneBells]

13 hours ago, Lurker said:

I was formula fed, in the 50's.  Childbirth was not natural.  My mother told me she was wheeled in to the delivery room and anesthetized.   She woke up with a huge episiotomy and a 5 pound baby.   She did not breast feed because formula was considered superior and more hygienic.  She was given injections to dry up her milk.

 

I instantly thought of this video when I saw your post. I am not 100% sure HOW accurate but it seems kind of legit (and ridiculous....)  It makes you feel like you are in Pleasantville LOL 

 

[PainfullyAware]

My nurse friend said that in recent years many more parents were coming  in with lethargic, sick babies. Diagnosis: starving/malnourished. In many cases breastfeeding wasn't working, even after the lactation consultant worked with them, but the parents were dead set against formula. It took some serious "death is worse  formula" conversations in some cases to get them to change over. Talk about fundamentalism!

[feministxtian]

4 hours ago, Knight of Ni said:

He has probably made an idol of that Pepsi.

Nope...Mountain Dew. 

[colliemae]

I had my first at a baby friendly hospital and we had trouble with breastfeeding. I saw 2 lactation consultants who just kept telling me to work on his latch. It wasn't until we were discharged and I took him in to the pediatrician for a weight check (because he had lost so much since birth they had me bring him in on a Saturday, the day after we were discharged) that anyone suggested formula. I think the pediatrician expected me to argue but my poor boy was so so unhappy and constantly screaming that I just wanted to fix him. I had never had an objection to formula; I assumed that because no one at the hospital said anything that it was too early to try it or that what was happening was normal. I still get upset thinking about how hungry he must have been and how I didn't help him for three days.

We nursed, supplemented & pumped but at the end of a month, I still didn't produce enough to cover the bottom of a bottle so we moved to just formula. When I took him to the dentist at 2, she told me he had a lip tie, but not to worry about it because it usually just causes trouble with nursing, so it doesn't matter now. I was so angry (not at the dentist). I saw 3 lactation consultants and no one caught it! I had never heard of lip ties, just tongue ties, so I never looked when he was a newborn. Obviously, there's no guarantee it would have changed anything but I was pissed that the people who were supposed to help me didn't catch the issue and actually help. 

[KnittingOwl]

4 hours ago, calimojo said:

IYes,  if you get right down to it, there might be some biologic and or nutritional advantage to breastmilk over formula in some cases, But if Baby won't take the breast, or if there are other reasons why mom has opted not to BF,  then Formula is a lifesaver. 

I appreciate what you are trying to say, but please remember that sometimes mom hasn't opted to BF - that decision was made for her.  And it's so incredibly painful to have the judgement about it - often from ourselves - because of the whole 'breast is best' movement.  I feel like there is not enough acknowledgement that some women CANNOT BF no matter what they do.  LC are particularly bad about this and it is harmful.

[subsaharanafrica]

11 hours ago, Rachel333 said:

@AtlanticTug I am so sorry you experienced that! I've heard a lot of negative things like that about "baby friendly" hospitals. I also read a thread once where nurses who work at those hospitals were discussing what they were like and apparently one of the first things the people from that initiative do when a hospital becomes "baby friendly" is get rid of all the "It's a boy/girl!" balloons with bottles on them. That just seems like such a silly thing to worry about!

They also get rid of the nurseries. Because the one thing a woman recovering from serious abdominal surgery needs is to somehow figure out how to care for an infant round the clock when they can't even get out of bed. "Baby friendly" is generally pretty anti-mother. 

I will say that upon intake at the baby friendly hospital where I gave birth I was asked if I planned to breastfeed, formula feed, or combo feed. My initial answer was something like, "I'd like to breastfeed but if it doesn't work out it's not that big of a deal to use formula. I just want the kid to be fed." She said she was going to mark me down as both combo and formula because if I was entered into the system as breastfeeding only I wouldn't have been able to get formula at all. 

[Rachel333]

7 minutes ago, subsaharanafrica said:

They also get rid of the nurseries. Because the one thing a woman recovering from serious abdominal surgery needs is to somehow figure out how to care for an infant round the clock when they can't even get out of bed. "Baby friendly" is generally pretty anti-mother. 

Yes, I've read that there has been an increase of smothering injuries and even deaths in "baby friendly" hospitals because the babies are left with the mothers instead of in nurseries.