Breastfeeding up date: Breast is Best...but its hard and I am hungry

I previously wrote a post about how I wanted to breastfeed and do it right this time,
I was delighted when in the recovery room after my Cesarean My 8 lbs baby was handed to me and nursed for 15-20 mins like a champ! In the hospital we roomed in and he picked up the nursing very well. After a week we started pumping a bottle a day to help get Dad in on the action EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT!

Then I started eating my normal diet and HORROR everything I like gives my baby gas. In the wee small hours of the morning (1-3am) my sweet happy boy turns into a fuzzy restless gas factory who cant get comfy or sleep I have been doing trial and error, mostly error, with my meals. It appears that only my dinner selections are to blame so here is a list of things I can no longer eat that give my baby gas or rash

Beans (this is all beans except green which I hate because I think they taste and look like canyons)
Tomato sauce, any thing containing it is out except for small amounts of ketchup apparently and pizza seems ok in moderation
Onions.... I didn't even attempt onions on my own my Husband put them in and I didnt realize until it was too late!
All of the above are components of my favorite weekly meal CHILI (good bye chili see you next fall)
also included are is spaghetti but I am not too upset about that as I dont really care for it! |
I am not a person who Likes raw fruit nor do I eat veggies through out the day it is our custom to eat a hot veg with dinner and we consume salads in mass for our 5 a day and generally I eat a salad for lunch or w dinner (all through the pregnancy I went weekly and twice weekly to Sweet Tomato aka Soup Plantation) NO MORE CANT DO IT Salad is out
I love spicy food and I cant have any of that
Garlic is out
I completely forgot about the amount of Caffeine I regularly consume and so cutting back to 3 coffees and a caffeine free soda is a complete system shock!
I am in a funk trying to figure out what to eat.
I am sleep deprived because my husband both works full time and doesn't have milk glands

The Nipples on the bottle we choose are apparently too long to be compatible with my breasts and baby's latch so after a very frustrating couple of weeks wondering why we were struggling to latch in a comfortable manner I think I got it figured out by switching to a shorter wider nipple.

BUT the baby is getting fatter, other than gas he is healthy and happy and doing well with breast feeding all the issues we have are with my struggle in this venture
I am frustrated and tired and having occasional anxiety issues that I cant take my Medication for because...
benzodiazepines have not been studied in breastfeeding babies there for could be excreted in breastmilk.
Plus I am really hungry and cant figure out what the hell to eat that is healthy and wont give baby "booty toots"  Every baby is different so I have to keep with the trial by fussiness .

I will not give up! My baby is doing well so I will find a way to do better with this!

I am now gonna go try to eat some spinach and hope for the best !

A month in cloth!

Its been 1 month and diapers are easy. I am washing every other day. My baby is EBF so I am not doing any rinsing or spraying.
I am doing a full cold cycle w no detergant in my top load standard, then a hot cycle w a quarter cup of EcoSprout, extra cold rinse! Once a week I use calgon and I did a 1/4 c of clorox in the middle of the month
Sunning covers and most other stuff. I fluff in the dryer on low of or no heat w woolzies dryer balls.
I love the colors and prints and I love peoples reaction...the UPS man was real impressed! I saw another cloth diaper
Mom at target and was really excited. I am so happy to be diapering him for free! Plus look how cute!

A dirty confession,SHH! I hate cloth wipes

WHen we decided to Cloth diaper, it was a NO BRAINER that we would use cloth wipes, or so we thought...


I have made wipes, won wipes and wash cloths for wipes, I have warm water and a peri bottle, a jar, a spray bottle, wipe cober and several different wipe solutions containers for wipes....I have watched Dirty DIaper Laundry how to make your wipes pop...found  here

Boldly we went forth into the cloth diaper journey at the hospital! I even packed some cloth wipes but the baby wipes in the hospital were very soft and chemical free so we used them instead,I actually brought the diapers as an "If i feel up to it" thing so I fully prepared to use sposie wipes while admitted. I got home and when the last disposable wipe was finished (day 5) I pulled out my baby cloths and soaked them down and proceeded down our crunchy path. OH NO there was a road block! I HATE THE CLOTH WIPES. One they are ruff on baby (the softy soft sposie wipes are much more lux) They are too pretty and poo looks not right on them... I know that part sounds strange but nothing is as weird as newborn poo on the face of a little fishy wash rag or on the bright yellow of a WAHM flannel wipe.

Other more important reasons, I can’t find a solution I like, I run out of solution at strange times (3am much, I am a poor planer) the idea of pre-moistening them seems wasteful for some reason or wrong to me like they will mildew, I however never seem to get enough butt wash on the wipes, also and HERE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON... my baby had a rash as soon as I started using them. I dont think they get his booty clean enough. Am I doing it wrong? I dont think so. As soon as I switched back to pop up sposie...Soft nice smelling sposie wipes! My baby’s booty is clean and not RED, Now I have a different set of problems

I sometime forget to remove the sposie wipe; it gets in the diaper wash and LINT CITY!

I got pilly lint fluffies all over my pockets and Flats its FLUFFING RIDICULOUS!

This makes me want to scream!  Also they are MAD EXPENSIVE they are like 3 cents each and my baby goes through a pack a week, thats $3.00 a package! My husband gladly buys them but I feel guilty for using them, THey are sneering at me from the wash My pretty baby cloths sit idel and unused in the box by the changer and I am at a loss

Torn between hating cloth wipes to wash baby and hating spoise ones for everything else!

I will update yall if I kick the pop up habitl

Diapering New Born... FLats are where its at!

I saw a great Meme before I had the baby
One that perfectly described my diaper stash

True! in fact the only sorta diaper I dont have for Baby Ray is a contour diaper, I just nevbiger have been given them any place nor have I received one for the Foundation so far so I havent actually encountered one! 

    So with a magical amount of Beautiful diapers I ventured into the world of CLoth diapering and I was so so excited to do so I brought my two nb covers and a couple different kinds of Once size pockets with me to the hospital, I before mentioned my Husband is a large man, and he was 14 lbs at birth, It was estimated that Baby Ray would weigh about 10 lbs (I imagined 9lbs at the least) so Imagine our shock and surprize when we had a healthy  but normal 8lb Newborn The NB covers fit great, as do the Grovia shells that use hook and loop. I used Flats on the day I brought home baby... they were trim, I was worried about a floppy new born in a tight car seat with a puffed up booty! I havent used many disposables at all (In fact I took back the ones I got at the shower and got store credit!)  Most One size diapers don't fit him well in the legs and the take him over! I have 6 Older Style Fuzzibunz that Look and fit him very very well and they are very cut,e as are the 6 Moraki and our LONELY Best Bottoms Shell which truely will fit a newborn! none of these are super fluffy. I was so so Excited Last week when my cousin pointed out that his Bumgenius diapers would fit him now! they did fit and he looks really cute. the are a little puffy and super Cute.... but here is the thing I forgot about newborns after 8 years with out a new born. THEY POOP ALL THE TIME! Ray Poops when I feed him, He poops when he is done eating, he poops when he sleeps, he poops right after I change his poop and twice he has pooped while I am changing his poop! Well the Point here is that all the pretty fluffy diapers are on his butt for about 20 mins or at the most an hour he pees a lot at night and sleeps for a few hours so there is a brief period where his most attractive diapers get to be worn for a good stretch under him night night clothes where no one can see them!

You know what works best, the only Diapers I have Paid for! THe flour sack Towels I purchased from Walmart for emergencies, washer dies, power outage zombie apocalypse! WELL I have Pad folded, kite folded, Origami folded and as of yesterday folded them in a big fat triangle the way my Mother in law did them on my Husband! I have used all the super cute Diaper Pins my Father In Law got me with Monkeys and frogs and bananas on them! I even tried snappi baby diaper closers and I couldn't get them to grip the FLour sacks but I tried them!
I can actually use one or two diaper covers all day with the flats

The Flats are easy to wash

the flats dry quickly on the rack in the sun or in the dryer
The Flats go in the flats go out

The sun bleaches the flats poops stains out (in like 20 mins I tell you!) 

I love my Best bottoms shell, and the grovia shells and the thirsties cover and I dont like the prorap NB cover but I do love the one I won from Zookaboo ( which was Raylan's first real diaper) 

I cant wait until I can get him to wear cute OS diapers long enough to show people how cute and easy cloth is, I personally think the flats are super easy but people get all freaked out by them for some reason. 

I am freaking out too, over how much I love flats. They will alway be the diapers I wore the diapers Hubs wore and the first diapers our baby wore!

I plan on keeping them in the rotation as long as I can, If I need to buy more they are $5 for 5 and I worth so so much more!

#BabyKicks 2+2+2 twitter party!

Go Pink with BabyKicks and The Inquisitive Mom at the latest #BabyKicks Twitter Party on Tuesday, October 22nd, from 9 pm until 10 pm. We'll talk about the October 2+2+2 promotion where you buy a limited edition diaper at $2 savings, with $2 shipping, and BabyKicks donates $2 to two important charities! Plus, 4 pink BabyKicks prizes will be up for grabs, including 2 pink fitted BabyKicks diapers, 1 set of pink BabyKicks Washies, and 1 pink trimmed BabyKicks receiving blanket! Special thanks to ambassadors @ABCGP, @SomeCallUsCrazy, @SewFatty, and @MrsFewTreezy for joining us! New to Twitter Parties? No worries! This Twitter Party Guide will help you understand the what, why, and how of twitter parties. What is the 2+2+2 Promotion? BabyKicks has decided to honor Breast Cancer Awareness month by offering a toxic free, pink colored product for sale and donating a portion of the proceeds throughout October. They hope to make a contribution to the fight against breast cancer by donating $2 from every pink, natural cloth diaper sold , with $1 from each diaper going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and $1 to Women Supporting Women! BabyKicks has the limited edition pink cloth diapers available for the month of October 2013. To further benefit the customer, the diapers will be sold at $2 off of MSRP and will be shipped for a flat rate of $2 in the 48 contiguous States! You can save money on a new diapers while at the same time supporting these worthy causes. Details on how to purchase are available on BabyKicks' Facebook page.

Ready to Party? Be sure to RSVP using the form below to be eligible to win prizes at the party! Be sure to follow party host @InquisitiveMom and sponsor @BabyKicksUSA. Only the first entry is mandatory to RSVP, but completing additional entries will increase your odds of winning one of four awesome prizes! You must RSVP and tweet at least once publicily using the hashtag #BabyKicks during 9pm and 10 pm EST on 10/22/13 to be eligible to win. Can't wait to chat with you at the party! RSVP Here

Rebecca Foundations Autum Auction!

I have mentioned before that I and my husband have a single income family. We don't have a lot of money. Had it not been for the generosity of my friend Michelle and my winning several giveaways we would have qualified 4 help from the Rebecca foundation. The Rebecca foundation is a cloth diaper closet providing low income families that qualify for assistance with diapering your child. It's estimated that one in three families in our country have difficulty paying for diapers at some point during their babies life. Since I have been so fortunate I wanted to get back so when the opportunity arose for me to take over the closet in the Orlando area even know I was 9 months pregnant I jumped at the chance. I am still working toward becoming an effective tool for families in our Orlando Florida community, and part of that is participating in fundraisers like the one listed. There are many wonderful items up on the block and all of the proceeds will go toward our branch chapters nationwide. Please take the opportunity to look over the auction bid, and patronize the businesses that donated to our great cause! For every person we help that's another cute  fluffy bum that's parent is not worried about diapering! After all as the childrens song states " the more we work together the happier we will be!"

Check out @TRFCDC's Tweet: https://twitter.com/TRFCDC/status/389962891320782848

I breastfed in Public and No one threw Rocks!

It Happened two weeks ago. my Son was 5 days old. My husband took the week off to help Post Cesarean me and spend the first week with baby! Since I was told not to drive for 2 weeks and to not physically stress myself for several weeks I planed appointments for the first week home all in one day... THis brilliant idea was suppose to make the week easy by accomplishing the "have tos" in one swoop and keeping me in bed for the rest of the week. I didnt plan on the appointments running LONG!
The Offices were packed, and the two hour venture turned into a 6 hour ordeal. THere we were in the WIC office, with a newborn for an hour, and he started to cry because he was hungry, also the second appointment was fast approaching and we were going to be late... very late, late enough for the Pediatrician to cancel! My Husband isnt a patient person abut waiting longer than he believes is necessary and I know that the Pediatrician's office has a wait time for first visits that can last hours so being late to them was even worse when I factored in my husbands frustration. What was I thinking to schedule these so close...   I didnt bring a blanket w me either, I dont have one of those cover things I was planing on nursing the baby after the appointment in the car at the parking lot of the Doctors office! I had not taken a  baby out in almost 8 years! I was having a full blown panic attack. My Husband told me to calm down. He was attempting to calm the baby we were nearly done at this office and would soon be on our way. Well I hit a breaking point.
I said "GIVE ME THE BABY" Lifted my Top shirt unclasped my nursing tank top (so glad I got these!) and Nursed my baby in a room full of people! (there were literally like 50 people in a small space) No one stared (not that I noticed) No One pointed or laughed ( good thing for them my husband would have given them a what for) No one awkwardly looked away or blushed!
Here is the best part, My anxiety instantly dissipated!  I went in the bathroom called the Doctor Told them the situation and they put us up for later that day ( we ended up waiting for nearly 4 hours and were only 15m late) I walked out of the Bathroom (baby still at my breast) and we went about our business at the office! I was relieved to have been in a place with signs on the wall encouraging people to "Breast feed you baby where ever you would like" In Fact the Bathroom door at the WIC office is covered in a collage of Breastfeeding support themed pictures!
I Came home and printed a card up with Florida's Breastfeeding statue

I am not gonna flop my titties out at Walmart, I dont want to be making an appearance on the people of WALMART page. I wouldnt walk around with the baby hanging off my breast in a lot of places,I wont take Breastfeeding Yoga photos or become a "lactivist" daring anyone to comment about my in your face style of nursing.
but
I am not gonna Carry around a pump and coolers and bottles and try and figure a way to heat up milk, Nor will I skulk in Rest Rooms and feed my baby in a filthy stall in which I would never even pee! I will not cover my child with a blanket and hide shamefully like a woman in the Middle East afraid of being stoned or hung for indecency.
I WILL NURSE MY CHILD IN PUBLIC, I will not be looking for a fight, I will do so discreetly in appropriate attire in a manor that is comfortable and convenient.
If a manager or business owner tells me to cover up I will discreetly hand them my Card stating the law in Florida and if they give me a problem I will leave their establishment and contact the appropriate people to make sure they are sorry for harassing me and my child while I patronized their business.

IF A STRANGER gives me a dirty look, I will give them one back, If an adult says something to me about feeding my child, I will do what I do when a stranger is rude to me in anyother situation, I will tell them to kiss my ass. I make no apologies about being rude back to people I will likely never see again. I HIGHLY DOUBT I WILL EVER HAVE TO CURSE A STRANGER OUT FOR HARASSING ME ABOUT NURSING MY CHILD IN PUBLIC but I will if I need to

I feel a sense of relief that I have already crossed this milestone in breastfeeding, I had decided that I would Nurse In Public, Uncovered if the situation arose, I didnt realize it would be less than a week into breastfeeding! I guess expect the unexpected is great advice, especially in parenting!

Cloth glorious CLOTH two weeks later and easier than I thought

As you all know, Last year I became obsessed with Cloth Diapers. After hearing about my cousins years ago then seeing an ad I became rabid for cloth. You can read about how I amassed a stash in my Diapering baby when money is an object. When I got Pregnant in January I was Elated that I would get the opportunity to cloth diaper a baby! Yes my very own Fluffy boy would come in October! So naturally in September I started to freak out, I have 100 Diapers, I am the Chapter head of a charity that provides cloth diapers, IF THIS DOESN'T WORK OUT I AM TOTALLY IN TROUBLE!
I have my Cloth safe detergent
I have my Cloth support group on my phone a the touch of a finger
I have my wipe solution
My Cloth wipes
I had several diapers and a wet bag to go to hospital!
I had to have a repeat cesarean, so I had disposables incase I wasnt able to "deal" with the laundry

Well Day two in the hospital I was ready! I put a flat and a nb cover on my baby!
HE LOOKED GREAT!
THere was even a Diaper Sprayer on the Toilet! yes a flip down shower head! It wasnt like a beday it was presumably for rinsing out bed pans, but it looked like a freaking diaper accessory to me! I USED IT!
Having had a cesarean I was in an extra day so I used liners and some of the disposables, I tossed the diapers in the wet bag (a Gen-Y go bag) and took them home...

It was easy to throw them in the washer, the meconium that did get in the diapers didnt stain much , I put them on my rack and dried them!

My baby got a little bit of a butt burn around Day 5 or 6 and I think it was from something I ate (its been 8 years since I breastfed a baby and I only did it for 4 months the first time) so I did use the Zinc Cream and disposables overnight and it pretty much took care of it!

Yesterday the COOLEST thing happened I discovered the One size diapers FIT RAY!
This is by far the most exciting thing ever ever ever!
Plus even more excitement. I have just been asked 2 participate in the baby kicks ambassador program. Soon I will be trying out natural hemp products made by baby kick and telling you all about them I'm very excited to be getting this opportunity! The idea of natural fabric like cotton and hemp are preferable to me, can't wait to see how it goes!

so far so good ! rinse wash

Welcome Crunchy Baby

      I became a Mother 8 years ago at 21 as the result of a rebound relationship and decided to have a baby on my own. I lived with my Mother and Father. I took all the hand me downs and advice I was given. I was very stressed out and unhealthy. I had a Csection, I gave up breastfeeding at the first sign of trouble the words Cloth diapers never crossed my mind. I was a child and a parent all at the same time. My Parents were taking care of me as my Mother fell chronically ill and I was also taking care of her. WE all took care of the baby and a lot of the way my first son was raised for the first 4 years were a group effort.

Here is a quick Backstory on my Marriage. When I was 16 I met a boy during teen night. First Love YOung love but we were together until we were both 19 and had a falling out. After graduation we lived together and never used birth control we never got pregnant. so fast forward 5 years and we rekindled our romance, Aaron became an instant father to my fatherless son, my then three year olds first declaration to the Man my whole family adored was, "Hi, I love you!" and their relationship went from there.

     My husband was the first person I was ever intimate with and after my high school graduation and in the time since we had gotten back together we never used any kind of birth control, It was massively shocking to us that despite our best efforts (hubba hubba) we were unable to conceive! We are a single income family and we don't have coverage for fertility treatments so the question of why we werent was never addressed, we just kept trying and every month for years our hope for a baby became less reality and more fantasy.
     In the mean time I took a "if you build it they will come attitude" I never actually thought we would have a baby but I became obsessed with cloth diapers and online giveaways for baby stuff. Before we conceived I had won lots baby related prizes including cloth diapers, detergents and some odds and ends for our older son! I just kept getting things but never though I would get to use them and then last year I decided to stop hoping for baby to come. I started getting fit Biking with Our Son to school, eating more healthily, and Drinking a tbs of apple cider vinegar everyday to stabilize my blood sugar and balance my PH for clear skin, I also heard it helps you loose weight. I also heard it can help you get pregnant so in december after a party for my sister in law after drinking a gallon of ACV, after amassing a baby stash for a baby that would never come after making the new years resolution for 2013 to loose 20lbs I found out that Our dream baby was coming I still dont believe it happened

ON September 28th after Walking, having sex, eating jalapeno peppers and taking a shot of castor oil (I do not suggest this unless you know you are scheduled for a csection it causes Irregular and intense contractions and using this wives tale for induction almost always results in a cesarean because the cervix dosent always dilate, mine did but I was scheduled for a repeat section so when I got to the hospital I was intaked for surgery )

SO HERE WE ARE! After 13 years of love a baby of our very own! We are cloth diapering
, in fact until the day we came home from the hospital I never accepted the fact that were actually having him! Yes Him!
breast feeding and despite baby's initial reaction of HATING THE WRAP CARRIER!  baby wearing!

Join me on Our journey with a second baby, I am so so much different than I was at 21 and I cant wait to see what happens with this fugal and crunchy lifestyle!

Love Lovely Mrs Long
and the Crunchy baby!