Quote of the Day

"There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it." Chinese Proverb

Weaning and Cabbage Leaves

Weaning
You want to take this process slowly and in a timely manner for both you and your baby. You want to take a feeding away every week. Start taking the feeding that is less important first. When I started weaning my daughter Reagan, I started with the morning feeding. When we would wake up in the mornings I would start with some solids and keep her distracted. I started this process when she turned 11 months old. Then by the time she was a year old, she would be weaned. After the morning feeding, I took away the early afternoon one, then the late afternoon one, then the night feeding. The night feeding was the hardest one, but she adjusted well. I struggled with the weaning process, wondering if I was ready, but by the time I got done weaning I was so happy to be done nursing.

Try to occupy your baby with other things, such as reading or playing or having a snack. Make sure that you offer water, so your baby doesn’t get dehydrated. Your baby should be use to sippy cups from when they started solids. You can try juice, but not to often. Some doctors say that milk is fine when they are 11 months old, but I don’t like to start it until the baby has turned a year old.

When you take a feeding away every week, then you don’t get sore breasts and infections. If you are a working mom and pumped for every feeding, then you would wean yourself from the pump just like you do with the breasts. Take a pumping session away every week.

With my second baby, Adam, he didn’t not wean. He just stopped nursing completely at 11 months old. He didn’t want me anymore and that was hard to adjust to. So I ended up getting plugged ducts and needing antibiotics to help my infection go away. I should of pumped more often and done more to empty my breasts, but I didn't think about it. If your baby just stops cold turkey with nursing and you get plugged ducts and get in pain and don’t want antibiotics, then maybe you can try cabbage leaves.

Cabbage Leaves

I remember hearing about cabbage leaves for the first time from my cousin. She weaned her little boy completely in one day. He was 14 months old and would still wake up at night to nurse. She had had enough and so she stopped nursing cold turkey. So after a day of not nursing she was really sore. Her breasts were really full and she was in a lot of pain. She went two days in pain and finally she asked her friend if she knew how she could take the pain away, and her friend told her to use cabbage leaves. Well my cousin wasn't sure about what her friend adviced her to do, so she called the doctor. When she told the nurse what was going on, the nurse told her to use cabbage leaves also. So my cousin decided to try it and she loved it. She said that it took the pain away that same day and by two days of using cabbage leaves she was pain free and milk free.

It doesn’t matter what color, green or red, you use (the red leaf will stain your clothing, so be aware of that). They both work the same. You want to lay the leaf flat and pound it with a rolling pin to soften it up. It needs to be able to form to your breasts. Then you want to wear a stretchy bra to hold the leaf to your breast. Place the cabbage leaf on the painful areas. Leave it there until it wilts and do this twice a day. Cabbage leaves are also known to dry out your milk, so that will help you also.

You can also use cabbage leaves if your engorgement is painful. They will help with the pain, but you don’t want to use them for very long because they can dry your milk up. The leaves also help with any pain you might have under your armpits after birth or when your milk comes in. If you are leaking from your engorgement, the cabbage leaves will assist in slowing down the leaking. Remember not to use cabbage leaves for very long because they will hurt your milk supply. If you are having supply issues with your milk, don’t use the cabbage leaves at all. The leaves are mainly used for weaning mother.

I really enjoy nursing and having my baby so close and spending that time together, but it is also nice to be done. You have more freedom and you are not so scheduled with feedings. You can run more errands and go out more and not be in a rush to get back home. Make sure that you find other things to do with your baby that keeps you close and connected. The babies only get more fun and enjoyable. It is great being a mother.

Hi, I just started reading a book that I think will help us all be happier.
It's called "To Love Is TO Be Happy With" by Barry Neil Kaufman. Here are just a few paragraphs.
"Most of us believe that we have to be unhappy now so that we can be happy later." Wow! I realize that I say that to myself. Oh, I'm not happy now, but when I get what I want I will be happy.
"In using unhappiness as a motivator, reinforcer and gauge (to measure caring), we create a continual cycle of discomfort."
Think of something you are unhappy with and ask yourself,"What am I afraid would happen if
I weren't unhappy about it."
Another good one: "If I weren't unhappy about it, it would mean I didn't care."
Ask yourself these questions, "Am I afraid to give up some or all of my unhappiness? Do I believe that being perfectly happy would be boring?"
On page 120, "If I believe that I have the power to control others, then I might think I have the power to determine their desires and behavior. Yet, if I create my own feelings and behavior from my own beliefs, the only person I can possibly control is myself. How can I be responsible for the unhappiness of others or they be responsible for mine." Maybe just for today we could all try to have fewer expectations of our loved ones, and allow them to just do the best they can. After all that is what we are all doing. Have a great day and give lots of hugs and kisses to those beautiful kids of yours. I really miss mine. They grow up so fast. If you would like to get a copy of this book, I picked this one up at the library. They didn't have any and Barnes and Noble. I want to purchase me a copy, so I am going to check on Amazon.
Thanks for listening sweety pie, Jelene

Quote of the Day

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The women existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new." Raineesh

THRUSH

A fungus, that is naturally in our bodies, gets overgrown and causes thrush and yeast infections. This fungus thrives in moist, dark area, such as vaginas, nipples, and baby’s diapers and in baby’s mouths. You, the mommy, is more likely to get thrush when your bodies are thrown out of balance. For instance, illness, antibiotic, pregnancy, may cause the thrush fungus to get overgrown to cause yeast to occur. It is very contagious; so make sure that you are always washing hands along with everyone else in the house.

You need to make sure that you rule out any other problems such as mastitis, bad latch by baby, eczema, abscess, psoriasis, etc, because these problems can have some of the same symptoms as thrush. If you or your baby has been diagnosed with thrush, you both need to be treated together.

Symptoms of the mother:
*You will have intense nipple or breast pain during feedings and won’t improve with the baby latching on better or changing positions
*Pain of the nipple or breast coming on suddenly after not having problems with breastfeeding
*Your nipples will start itching or burning, or may look pink or red; the nipples may also appear to have a rash with tiny blisters.
*You may have some white in the folds of your nipples or breasts
*New cracks or olds cracks on the nipples will not heal.
*You will have shooting pains in your nipples or breasts during or after feedings.
*The mother may have a vaginal infection

Symptoms of the baby:
*The mouth of the baby will look white; there will be white patches on the baby’s gums, cheeks, and tongue.
*The baby will get diaper rashes (may be a normal rash or the rash may have raised red dots)
*Baby may refuse to nurse, or pull off of the breast because of pain in the mouth or start making a clicking noise.
*The baby may start to be more fussy or gassy.

Here are some other factors that might increase your chances of getting thrush.
*Prior nipple damage.
*You have had an excess of yeast infections in the past.
*To many antibiotics during pregnancy or labor or throughout your life.
*A heavy consumption of sweets.
*Not changing your nursing pads often enough.
*The baby may also get it from a pacifier or from antibiotics.

To help you with yeast problem or preventing you from getting thrush, you can take some acidophilus, reduce sugar intake, garlic, grapefruit seed extract. Some other treatments for the mother are:
*Nystatin cream or ointment – prescribed by your doctor. This treatment will be the least effective of all the treatments.
*Gentian Violet – this one is over-the-counter. This one will stain your clothing so use some old clothing while using this treatment.
*Clotrimazole – this is prescribed or over-the-counter. This is also a cream, also called Lotrimin or Lotrimin AF
*Miconazole – this is over-the-counter. Can also be called Monistat-Derm cream or lotion.
Make sure that you check with your doctor to see what treatment is best for you. There might be other treatments that I have not listed.

If your baby has thrush, check with your pediatrician to see what treatment is best for your baby. Here is a list of a few treatments:
*Nystatin – prescribed by you pediatrician.
*Gentian Violet – over-the-counter.
*Clotrimazole – prescribed by your pediatrician.
*Miconazole – prescribed by your pediatrician.
There might be some better prescriptions for your baby that are not listed so check with your pediatrician. There is also a cream that can be put on the babies diaper rash that you can get from the doctor.

You need to breastfeed during treatment of thrush. Depending on what treatment is given, symptoms and pain can be gone with in forty-eight hours. If it is a more severe case of thrush, symptoms may last for three to five days. It will be painful and hard to nurse, but don’t give up. Remember to follow the instructions with the treatments and finish all of the medication to make sure the thrush is fully cleared.

To help you make it through the pain of nursing, you can rinse your nipples with water and air-dry them after every feeding. Make sure that you change your nursing pads often. You can also try offering more often short feedings, start the feeding on the side with the least pain, and make sure that you break the baby’s suctions from the breast rather then just pulling the baby off. To help keep thrush away, you will need to boil and really clean you pump, baby’s pacifier, toys, and wash your hands well all of the time. Dry your hands with paper towels for a while to prevent thrush from coming back. Make sure you wash your bra every day and clothing. Thrush is very uncomfortable for both you and your baby. Try not to give up and know that there is treatment and help out there.

FORTY FIVE YEARS!!!!!

When mama told Kay, my older sister about menstruation, she decided to include me so she
wouldn’t have to repeat herself in one year. Mama told us that this information was just for our
ears and that we shouldn’t talk to our friends at school about this, because their mama’s would
want to be the ones to tell their own girls. So when all the fifth grade girls were sent to watch
the "Menstruation Movie’ I was feeling pretty smug because I was the only one in the whole
class who knew all about "It" and what was going on. And I informed my friends "Oh yea, My
mom told me all about this already."

We were on our way home on the bus that day after school and of course we were all talking about the movie. One of the girls said, "I can’t believe we have to do this until we’re 45 years old!" And all of a sudden, it was like I had had a stroke. I couldn’t breathe. "FORTY FIVE YEARS, I yelled! You have got to be kidding me. I thought we only had to do it once, not once a month for forty five years!" I don’t know how I could have got my information so mixed up. How could I have been so excited about something that was not going to be any fun at all. Now I knew why everyone else was so bummed out about the whole thing. All I can think is that I had heard 'once', and stopped listening. I hadn’t heard, once a month, for the rest of your freaking life.
Kay reached her arm around my shoulder and said , "Oh, come on, it’ll be ok." I frowned at her and said, "I don’t want to talk about it."

Quote of the Day

"God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mother." Jewish Proverb