Category: Parent Talk
Hi all, Ijust gave birth a week ago, to a beautiful baby girl. I am seeking advice from other blind parents on things such as bottle feeding, changing, and bathing. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated as well. I have been breast and bottle feeding her, but am considering just bottle feeding her. Please feel free to let me in on any tricks that will make this easier for me.
first of all, congratulations on your lovely new daughter. what is her name, how much did she weigh, how long was your labor? details details bore us with details!!!!!
first of all, why are you going to bottlefeed? breast is so much better for the baby and a lot cheaper for mom and dad. I have done both, and bottlefeeding is a pain in the butt. all the crap you have to carry with you when you travel is unbelievable. if you need help, call your local la leche league or the place you gave birth. both have excellent lactation consultants.
there are lots of excellent parenting books you can read, e.g. nursing your baby, the womanly art of bresastfeeding, dr. mom., to name just a few.
if you do decidde to bottlefeed, don't feel badly about your choice. you are the mommy and have to do what you feel is best. remember to follow the directions of the formula exactly. buy the powdered kind, because it is much less expensive. shake the bottles until you feel your hand will fall off. use warm water to mix the powder because it disolves better. burp the baby often.
ask any other questions. i'm just one of a whole army of ladies and gents that will be pleased to assist.
hey thanks, Her name is Akire but the way Jaws says it is not right (pronounced a-kee-ray)...she was 8 pounds 10 ounces, and labor was hard and long...ended up getting a c section. I am thinking of bottle feeding b.c she sleeps so much that I don't think she is getting enough food. Besides, I am very uncomfortable, and feel that if I could monitor how much food she is getting, I would be able to relax. I haven't decided yet, but I am going to keep trying to breast feed until I can't take it anymore.
oh yeah, what do you all do for changing. It's kind of hard to make sure she is clean while holding her legs, and what did you all do in cases where she went right in the middle of being changed and made a huge mess?
your daughter's name is beautiful. i love it.
as for breastfeeding and if she's getting enough, there is a very simple test. does she make four to six wet diapers every day and at least one poopy one? if so , then she's not dehydrated, or starving to death either. You are tiving her the best and just what she needs.No doesn't that make you feel strong and in control?
as for cleaning up the princess after she makes a mess. I never held the feet. my kids weren't that big of kickers when they were being changed. holding the feet just frustrates the both of you.
Just use your hands. if it feels clean it probahbly is.
for themessing in the middle of changing I always took the kid to another place, finished jputting on a new diaper and then went back and repaired the damages. If it is really bad, I would put them in a safe place and then go clean up.
hope i'm making sense. if you have any questions, ask away.
thanks for the advice...it all makes plenty of sense
also I was told to use the ready to feed formula b.c it make it easier for me to prepare
hi, first of all congratulations! your daughter's name is very pretty.
remember, that for the first 4 or so months, a baby spends a majority of their time sleeping. it might even be longer than that. my daughter is about to turn a year, so all the statistics are a bit fuzzy.
if i were you, i'd stic with breast feeding for as long as you can. i adopted, so it wasn't an option for me, but believe me, it is a bit of a pain getting up in the middle of the night to make a bottle and carrying formula and bottles, water, and all with you.
my daughter couldn't use the ready made stuff. it made her sick. i grabbed a bottle of it when we were out one day. i stuck with powder after that. the powder is not hard to make up at all. but stick with the breast for as long as you can.
turricane gave great advice on the diapering questions.
there are a few blind parent mailing lists out there. you can get some great advice from them and support. i'll get the info and post it here for you.
ask all the questions you'd like. we've all been there, the first time mom. and i still have tons of questions myself.
Pipi
Ok, first of all, I have to agree that breastfeeding is best. It is cheeper, free. It is easier, encredibly so. And, it is so much better for your baby's emotional, psychological and physical health, as well as cognatively. It is impossible to over-feed a breastfed baby, an exclusively breastfed baby. If you breastfeed on demand, that is wheneverr your baby cries to be fed, then she will be just fine. She will sleep a lot, this is normal for newborns. Try wearing her, as this will make sure that when she does wake and needs nursing, you will be right there, as opposed to if she is sleeping in a crib, swing, cradle, or bassinette during the day. Also, bed sharing, or at least co-sleeping will insure that your natural body rhythms will be communicated to her, so that she will wake when she is hungry to nurse. One person said one soiled diaper a day for breastfed babies, which is not realistic, some are once or twice a day, and the one a day rule works well for formula fed babies, but breastfed babies may have a dirty diaper as infrequently as once every week, although the average is usually every two to four days. Unless your daughter is struggling and looking pained or bloated, it is all right if she goes a few days with only wet, not soiled diapers. Additionally, weight gain is the best way to tell if she is getting enough. Your pediatrician can check her weight, length and head circomference against charts of normative development, and let you know how she is doing. I have to second the suggestion to visit LLLI, La Leche League International's website to get great articles on breastfeeding, book reccomendations, other helpful related websites and to find local meetings in your area. Contacting your lactation consultant at the hospital you delivered at would be a good jump start to quickly finding some local support, as she will probably know about the closest LLL meetings to you. La Leche League moms are great for advice on anything from co-sleeping, baby-wearing, bed-sharing, making home-made organic baby food, how to cloth diaper, and so on and so forth. If your breasts are hurting, then you need some better supports. First of all, you need a good nursing bra with good support. I reccomend the ones that clip at the top of the cup, right on the strap, and the one hundred percent cotton ones because they support well and breathe well too. They usually run around fifteen or twenty dollars and you only need three to five. You need a nice nipple butter, any one hundred percent butter like shea, coco, avacado, etc, or pure lanolin. Any nipple butter that has all-natural ingreedients, and you need to read lables here and make sure that they are, should be all right, but it is good to avoid nut butters and oils like almond and peanut, as your baby will be nursing on nipples that still have the butters and oils on them and a child with a nut alergy could have a reaction, that is why nuts aare usually not reccomended for infants and toddlers under two or two and a half. I would reccomend Earth Mama Angel Baby very highly. Try www.earthmamaangelbaby.com they also will help you over the phone. They have a great baby lotion, baby body-wash and shampoo, baby massage oil, diaper rash soap and diaper balm that are some of the very few natural options on the market. Other brands of good organic baby body care include Badger, Aubrey Organics, Earth Tribe Tribe Kids, California Baby, and Healing Scents. If you are getting engorged, try a hot shower, nurse more often, always offer the breast first when crying is the case. Don't go and assess "Ok, she isn't wet or dirty, she isn't in pain, the temperature is all right in here, she doesn't have a temperature, now I think I'll nurse her." Even if it was a diaper change she was screaming for, nursing first will calm her down so that the diaper change is easier. Even if she is sick and has a feever, it is much easier to stick a talking thermometer under her arm and hold it in place while she is nursing and not screaming her head off. You can nurse while she gets her vaxines to keep her calm, nurse her in a restaurant to help her be calm, cute and quiet, nurse during take off or landing on a plane to prevent her ears from hurting, etc. In a week to three weeks your breasts and milk supply will adjust to what she needs and you won't become engorged. You can get booby tubes, nice little packs that can be heated or cooled and inserted into your bra to help with discomfort and let down issues. Let down is when your milk, lets down, or moves into the ducts from the storage places in your body. Also, bosom buddies are nice warm herbal compresses that can help with painful, infected or raw nipples. Both of those products are also by Earth Mama Angel Baby. They also make a delicious organic tea that helps support your milk supply, other brands like Yogi Organic also make a nursing tea. This post is all ready very long, so I will write more about diapering later. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at craney07@rochester.rr.com.
I am exclusively breastfeeding and even though it washardwith my son, it is working really well with my daughter. I have a six-week-old named Hannah. I will PM you with my info and I want you to contact me anytime you need help or have questions.
premade formula is very expensive. sounds to me like the people in your life don't have a good concept of what you as a blind person can accomplish.
additionally, i don't know if it was mentioned by sensually naturally living for today, but breast feeding is wonderful for your daughter's immune system. also for allergies it is great.
if you absolutely positively can't nurse, then go to the formula manufacturer's website and get the instructions for mixing powdered formula or the concentrate. after talking with your pediatrician, I'd go directly to the soy products. they are much easier to digest.
For bathing, I used a basic baby tub that came with a mesh sling (I think that's what it's called). You secure it over the tub and lay the baby in it, so she's resting above the water and not in it. You're not supposed to bathe them until they're about two weeks old, after their umbilical cords have fallen off, so that little sling thing in the tub works well. They don't slip and slide around while you're trying to wash them as much as they do when they actually start taking real baths. LOL. I used the sling even after her umbilical cord came off, 'til she was too big for it. Then I just used the regular baby tub.
If you're comfortable with it, I think sitting in the tub and holding her might be the easiest way when she's still so little.
Changing diapers was fun. I'm still doing it, because my daughter isn't potty-trained yet. I lay her down on a clean surface, and lift her legs up toward her chest. Firmly but not too roughly, because I don't want to hurt her, just want to make sure I get her bottom clean. I use one hand to lift her legs, and one hand to wipe her down. With little girls, you're supposed to wipe from front to back, so they don't get infections from the poop being wiped into their little parts. When I'm satisfied there's no more poop, I put her legs down, then take another wipe and gently wipe between her legs, in a downward motion. Make sure you get the creases between her legs, I noticed there's one on each side of the vagina, where they tend to get rashes if they're not cleaned.
Um, let me see ... feeding. Breastfeeding is the best thing you can do for your child, of course, but there's nothing wrong with bottle feeding if you want to go that route. I used the ready-made formula, because it was easier for me than mixing and shaking formula. I breastfed most of the time, though. I found it easier to pop a breast in her mouth in the middle of the night than getting up and making a bottle. Contrary to what most people will have you believe, breast feeding is not the easiest thing in the world. I had some complications after being in the hospital for ten days for my gallbladder surgery, so I had to try really hard to get my milk supply back up again. It is entirely possible to breastfeed as long as you want if you have the right support. I agree with contacting La Leche League for support and reading everything you can on breastfeeding. I'll post a few links here that I found very helpful.
I guess that's it for now. I can't remember what else I was going to tell you, but I'll be back if I think of any more. Email me if you'd like, at OrangeDolphinSpirit@gmail.com
Congratulations on your baby girl! Take care.
-- Allie
I hope i have kids one day, I am only twenty one but this all sounds so butiful!
www.kellymom.com
has great info about breastfeeding.
Congrats
You know that if you want to be on the safe side and monitor her food, you could pump out your breast milk. Then, you can see it go into the bottle and can measure out what you feed her. If you do decide to use formula, you will need to boil water so it will be pure. Boil enough so that you can keep it in a closed piture in the fridge. You have to do this up until the baby is four months of age, as the immune system is barely developed. If it is too much to boil, distilled water will do the trick fine. Powdered formula would be the best way to go as far as the price and the cost, just as others have said. And just to make sure that bottles are the right temperature, shake it upside down, so that a few drops fall onto your wrist. The water must feel the same as your body temperature. If it is too hot when it drops onto your wrist, it is too hot to go into the baby's mouth. Luke warm will do, if you have trouble gaging it with body temperature.
Please remember to feed baby on demand and not on a feeding schedule. Just like we eat when we are hungry, baby does the same. It is overwhelming at first, but when you learn her schedule that she sets for herself, and believe me she will fall into her own and regulate her body just as we all do, everything will fall into place. Things will get easier when she starts eatting solids and baby food. It is only tough when her diet consists of just liquid, as it goes through the digestive tract fast, and she becomes hungry sooner than if she were to eat food with substance.
You can start her on solids at six months, meaning that she can eat very small little pieces of table food. It does not have to be purayed. Bite size tiny chunks that a baby can grip, squeeze, and place into her mouth will suffice. I will find some articles on baby feeding that will help out and come back to post them. I hope that my suggestions help out, as far as the feeding goes. Congradulations on your new addition to your family.
I've heard some kids start on solids earlier than six months. depends on the child, really.
I was started on poached eggs at 3 wks...I don't think there is anything wrong with me from it. :) Like post 16 says, depends on the kid...
this is just a thought. one of those fun and boring facts.
back in the early 20th century most babies didn't eat until one year of age. early feeding was espoused and promoted by the baby food manufacturers.
Well, I will say this though. If you start babies on food too early, they can have bloody stools so just be careful, and if you have a good doctor whom you trust, do what he tells you to.
oh yeah, update on Akiré...she's healthy and growing everyday (I figured out how to get her name pronounced right on jaws...cool feature that actually lets u print the e accute symbol)...but now she seems as if she doesn't like bottles, I've been giving her mostly breast milk, but when I am away it's been ready to feed formula, but should I warm up the bottles to see if she likes that more, b.c I would like to start job hunting, and other things outside of the home and I want to be able to leave her with someone else for a while...she cries like crazy when she is hungry, and lately it seems as if she only wants the breast...any suggestions?
have you tried having someone else feed her the bottle? i always found that worked with my kids.
Also hopefully the father is there to help. If not the father at least a male figure to assist while you're going through all the postpardom I don't know how to spell that ... I did most of the changing for the first few weeks.
And I read a few years ago that the type of bouncing / tossing etc. that male humans tend to do with their offspring is not just to exacerbate the mom and make the baby laugh, but apparently helps the inner ear / balance somehow ... I'm pretty sketchy on medical things but was a nice excuse (after the fact) for what both my daughter and I had considered fun ...
Seriously though hopefully you have a partner and if you do pump the breast milk, your partner can feed. I just used to take the bottle of milk and run it under warmish hot water until the bottle got warm ... you just do it and then shake then put it under the running water again ... so she could sleep. Otherwise with the woman doing it all I would think she would get all "burned out and exhausted" ...
yeah, I've tried all of the above, she took a warm bottle of breast milk so hopefully she likes it warm and that was it...yes my husband and her are inseparable, for one thing he is sighted and so they have these long staring contests, and make faces at each other so their bond is awesome...last night she cracked up laughing at the faces he made and sounded like the babies from the commercials...I love to see them together it warms my heart, and he is a big help, so we're going to start giving her bottles everyday warmed up to see how she takes to it and get her used to me not feeding her so much.
awwwwwww!! that is so gud that ur husband helps i went through it by my self with out my sons dad, but u know it sucked but what dont kill u only makes ur stronger!!!!
yep, this is true honey...I give u props b.c I don't think I would have made it as smoothly as it went