Baby Items Best and Worst

So now that L is almost 1 year old.... um excuse me when did that happen??


I wanted to write about the products we loved and the products that were kind of flops (this is all based on our experience).


Let start with the LOVE list:


1. Rock n' Play sleeper This is awesome for those first 3-4 months, when baby is sleeping most of the time and you want them near you. This is super light weight and folds very easily to take with you wherever you go, including other people's houses. It has a vibrate function which helps baby fall asleep or stay asleep. L used this for 4 months, and slept in it at night in or room right next to my bed.


2. Swaddlers: Swaddle Me & Halo The Swaddle Me we used up until maybe 2 months, its small and contained, reminds me of a little caterpillar. L slept so snuggly in these, and even if he was having a melt down during the day, I'm wrap him up and he would instantly soothe. The Halo was great when he got a little bigger and wanted to kick his feet a little, it has the room for feet but you can still strap his arms in. He would burst out of these a few times, and once he started rolling over all bets were off and he slept in just him jammies. But again for the first few months when everyone s fighting off the "zombie" time these are life savers.


3. Humidifier: I thought this was the stupidest thing, one of the guys I work with told me to register for it, and I'm so glad I did. As soon as L started daycare with all the other germs he started to get a little stuffy nose. Turn this suckers on at night and his stuffy nose was manageable, and we were able to suck the boogies out with the bulb (Which I LOVE, but he HATES). I like this one specifically cause its so basic and no frills and easy to use.  Also its streamline design goes with any décor and doesn't looks silly. It also comes in a few different colors.


4. Boon drying rack: My mom thought this was the stupidest thing ever. But has come to love it. It fits perfectly on our kitchen window sill and is not an eye sore when being used or not. It keeps the water off the items that are drying and is easy to clean every couple of days. There is no gross mildew smell or mold that gets on it (as long as you rise it off every few days). LOVE THIS and all the accessories. We have the little tree for the nipples and such.


5. 4moms Spout cover/thermometer: I know this is silly and probably not NEEDED, but we really like it, and use it every bath time. I like the easy visual read screen and the colors to indicate, too cold, just right and too hot. We have a small "too hot rubber duckey" that came from a different pack, and I tested it, it doesn't show the water it too hot until it reached 120 degrees (which is waaaaaaaay too hot for baby). We keep his bath water on the warmer side, but I like knowing exactly how warm it is. Perfect buy for that, and you really cant go wrong with the 4moms brand.


6. Sound Machine: Best. Invention. Ever! We use it every nap time and every bed time. I don't care which one you get, but get one!!! He kind of instinctively knows when that goes on its time to wind down and go to sleep. Yes there are some days that no matter how loud I turn it up, he's going to fight me, but overall its great! When we started to wean him off being picked up and rocked back to sleep in the middle of the night, this was a life saver, we'd go in, give him his binkie, turn of the ocean sound (that's his favorite, and frankly the heartbeat sound is a little "tell tale heart" for me) and pat his butt, he eventually learned that picking up wasn't an option anymore and would fall back asleep. Now if he wakes we let him stir a little, but if he wont go back down, we turn it on and he plops over and will go back to sleep.


7. Some obvious love items: Clothe diaper/burp clothes, huge lifesaver in the beginning. Swaddle blankets, especially the aden & anais brand, super light weight and soft and stretchy, honest brand bath set, love the smell and the gentleness of it all, waterproof liners.... etc


Now the Worst...  Again these are my opinion and I know for a fact a few of the items on this list my friend will probably slap me for, but sorry. Just the items that didn't work for us.


1. Boppy: Sorry Steph This was useless for us. Yes I nursed, no I never used it while nursing. It felt so cumbersome and I got claustrophobic using it. We used it a few times for tummy time, so his head was lifted a little and he could look around, he also took a few naps with it when he wanted to be tummy sleeper, and it propped him up a bit for his reflux issue. But overall we used it about as many times and I could count on both hands. Maybe he'll use it as a head rest pillow while reading a book or watching a movie, but for now its sitting in the closet.


2. Bumbo Seat: This is neat in theory. But I was told way too much conflicting advice on when to start using it. Some people said  its fine at 6 weeks and older, others said not until 3-4 months. L always had really good head control, so I suppose I could have started around the 6-8 week mark and he loved to be sitting up and held like a bigger kid, to be able to look around at everything. But by the time it was 100% sure and safe to use his fat chunky little legs wouldn't fit anymore and he would get stuck. Also not much long after, he started sitting on his own! So whomp whomp whomp on this item. (Side note: apparently they redesigned them for the exact reason I stated above, because they one we have is not on the site anymore and now they have a way better looking one, where the legs don't get suck, no matter how fat they get. Here's the new one).


That's it for the worst list, I really thought I had more, but cant think of the rest. So that's not too bad then! And I really wanted to love those item, but they just did not work for us.

Breastfeeding

Our breastfeeding journey hasn't been an easy one. With L being born via c-section and not knowing I had the option of skin-on-skin contact, and having the first feed with him, he got use to bottles/formula/pacifiers.
When I finally got to our room and baby L was wheeled in, I tried to feed him, the nurse I had at the time was not very informative, and he kept falling asleep at the boob. I put him back in his little bassinet and went to sleep for a few hours while he slept. I remember waking to him crying around 6AM and my other nurse came in for my vitals. I told her I was planning on trying to breastfeed again once she was done. Josh was holding L and that's basically when all hell broke lose, when the nurse stated he was breathing irregularly and that his top lip looked a little purple. That was the last I saw of my little dude for a day and half.
Once I was able to go to the NICU to try and feed him, his nurse there had absolutely NO patience and was rough with him and my boob in attempting him to latch. I gave up and gave him a bottle of formula.
While at my stay in the hospital I pumped, and gave every tiny little drop I got out to the NICU to give him instead of formula. He still ended up getting 90% formula and the little tiny 10% bit of breast milk. When I would visit him in NICU and if it was time to eat, I would always try to get him to latch and eat, but he would either fall asleep, or get mad and cranky because he has to actually work to get the milk out.
Once home, I was pumping a lot, pulling my supply in. Once he was home with us, we gave him breast milk via bottle because he was still fussy as the boob. After about a week at home, he was no longer on supplemental formula and completely on breast milk from a bottle.
I was okay with our arrangement, he was on breast milk, no matter which way he was getting it. Josh could be involve with feeding because of bottles, and I knew exactly how much he was getting and when to expect his next feeding based on how much he drank. It worked for us. I got some flack from some people saying "why don't you just stick him on the boob, it'd be so much quicker." Over the next few months when I was home with him, if he wanted something to eat sooner than his next feeding was "scheduled" I tried breast, because I didn't want to risk throwing any away. He would take it for a little bit and be content, but if he was in an "I'm starving frenzy" he wouldn't take it, and that stressed me out. Instead of him crying got the 5-10 minutes it takes for something to warm up, he could snack then have his real bottle. I continues pumping and getting a good supply, and managing to stock pile a lot of it!!! He took the breast especially well in the middle of the night feedings, because I never knew how much to give him and he would surely fall asleep some would be wasted. It also meant I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night to pump. It was a win-win for us all.
Fast forward a few weeks into me returning to work. My nipple/breast was hurting so badly when pumping or feeding. It was punch-a-wall kind of pain. It almost brought me to tears. I called La Leche League and she's didn't really have an answer for me, she was more curious why I wasn't boobing 24/7. So I found a lactation consultant, Kim. She was amazing!!! I called and spoke with her on the phone, I explained the pain and what was happening. She also wasn't sure what it was, but said to put breast milk on the pain spot and it will heal. And wouldn't you know a few days later then pain was still there was totally manageable, and a week later it was gone. I wanted to schedule an appointment with her to help address L crying when I gave him boob when he was starving, he would also latch and suck for a bit then stiff board it and cry!
We went to the lactation consult and he latched and was drinking and she said my supply was awesome (because it just came pouring out) and he had a great latch... then the stiff board came and the crying and she took a moment to analyze it and came to the conclusion that he was gassy. We stopped and tried to burp him, and put him back and still nothing. She then showed us some tummy gas relief massage and he let out a few good toots and was happy as a clam. He was no longer hungry so we didn't push the breast. With that new information when he got overly fussy or would start stretching and tensing up we would do our little exercises and he would be good to go. Night feedings were still going well and during the day it was bottles.
So in the end I haven't breastfed a whole lot, but I feel like I have conquered the pumping mountain.
I did a lot of research on how to pump, how to stock, and how to get a stock going.
I made small goals for myself: "I want to pump/ feed breast milk for at least 3 months", and by then I had almost a 3 month stash supply in the freezer. When that passed I made a goal of 6 month. Now that L is 7 months old and he no longer has 6-8 bottles a day. Hes down to about 4-5. I feel like my stash would take us to 9 months easily.

(even with a snafu of the freezer door being pushed open by one of the bundles of milk bags an defrosting some of the others, and having to throw away close to 50 (4oz) bags. That was a HARD thing to do! Pouring any amount of milk down the drain a small part of me dies!)

My supply has decrease a little (and at first I was very upset) but I still get 2-3 bags extra that he goes through from the stash. Example: He takes 4 bags from the stash, I'm able to replace with 7. My main long term goal was the first year, I think I have that in the bag. Even if I was to stop now, he may be on formula for maybe 2 months! Which I can live with. But I am going to continue pumping for now as long as my current supply holds up. I may start weaning when he is about 9-19 months, and just work from the stash. I am very proud of myself in what I have been able to achieve with pumping especially with my first baby, and not doing this before. I am in no ways an expert, this is just what worked for me. 

I feel like drinking a lot of water is defiantly a key. When I was home with him I pumped almost every 2-3 hours and that was including middle of the night. I also will say, if you have more than a 5 minute  drive to/from work invest in 2 things:

The hands free bra and a car adapter for your particular pump. 

I have the medela pump, which seems to be the most common, and I like its performance also. Since returning to work I pump on my way in (15-20 minutes), once at work at 11AM (since I leave early now, when I was back full time 8-5 I would pump at 1PM), and on my home from picking L up from day care. Once home and now that he's more active and won't let me sit still for 20 minutes, I usually don't pump again till bed time 8-9PM. Then start the cycle all over again. 

My 11AM pump and my drive home pump are the smallest amount! My morning I can usually get enough to replace whatever I took out of the stash. 

I take my pump with my where ever I go I feel like. Even running errands around town, if I'm going to be sitting in the car for any extended period of time I feel like I should be pumping, instead of wasting 20 minutes at home away from my baby. I hook up while in park and turn the machine on and drive to where ever I need to go. Always bring a cooler with an ice pack to store what I pumped until I can get home to divvy it up. I've pumped when on our way to dinner, so I can have a drink when we get there and be safe for the next pump. That car adapter is one of the best things I have spent money on. My mom and friend thought I was crazy to pump in the car while driving, but have quickly realized just how smart and time saving it is. With the hand free bra, it's completely safe, both my hands are on the steering wheel, not need to readjust, or look or watch it. I watch the road and drive like I normally would.