You are here: Home / Archives for Parenting 101 / Breastfeeding

Greek Gods of Yogurt

August 29, 2011 By

dannon_oikos.jpg

I wrote this post while participating in a blog tour conducted by Clever Girls on behalf of Dannon. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program but my opinions are my own.

For more information and recipe ideas, visit www.oikosyogurt.com or www.Facebook.com/oikos. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

By the time Jack’s dad and I split in 2008, I was underweight due to stress, depression, and a certain 2 year old stealing half my food (much tastier when it’s on Mama’s plate!). Not only that, but I was still breastfeeding Jack, which had the weight melting off of me. I didn’t have time or energy to keep up with my nutritional needs and before I knew it I was wearing size 0 pants for the first time in my life (LIFE, PEOPLE!). I was losing my curves and absolutely not happy about it.

David and I started dating in the fall that year and one of our favorite things to do together was eat. Just about every time we got together, we went out to dinner or he cooked for me with LOADS of butter or cream. Between that and eating lunch together daily, plus weaning Jack at 2 1/2 years old, I gained 30 lbs…and was steadily climbing. I am a small person and most would say PFFT, but none of my clothes fit me anymore and my BMI tipped to overweight.  30 lbs on a small frame like mine is a lot.

That was when I joined Weight Watchers. I wanted to get to a healthy weight somewhere between under- and over-weight, and I did it in a decent amount of time. I took a break from it for awhile when life got busy, but I’m back at it (albeit only via the online tool). With WW I can pretty much eat the foods I like, but I need to watch portions. Rather than eating cupcakes every day (which, yes, I absolutely was doing for a while – hey, they are half off between 2-3pm at work!) I now only indulge a few times a month. (I suppose I could find a diet cupcake but that is just BUNK.  Or, if I really wanted a cupcake that badly, I could, like, do exercise, but it’s not THAT important to me.)

So cream and butter aren’t in my diet much anymore except in small portions and in yogurt form. I had a thing for maple yogurt with cream on the top but that had to go.  I turned to Greek-style yogurt, which was slightly better points-wise, but had a hard time finding a nonfat type that I actually liked (NF Greek yogurt tends to be a bit sour, in my opinion). I then got the opportunity to try this nonfat Oikos Greek yogurt and I marched down to my grocery store to grab some.

Lucky for me, the Oikos yogurts were on sale 4 for $5. Woot! I was bummed they didn’t have honey flavor (my fave Greek yogurt variety), but I got peach, blueberry, raspberry, and cherry (the fruit on the bottom type). I promptly went home and ate the raspberry one and it was absolutely frickin’ delicious. It wasn’t sour like the other NF Greek yogurts I’ve tried, thank goodness! Also unlike other nonfat yogurts, the yogurt wasn’t thin and runny. I was a happy camper.

I popped into the WW tool online, plugged in the nutrition facts and found out that the Oikos yogurt is the same number of points as the nonfat stuff I’d been eating. SCORE!  (If you’re on WW, typical Greek yogurt is about 7 points and Oikos is 3 – even some of the FF yogurts out there are 4!)  So, uh, NO DUH I’d recommend it. Healthy, yummy snack for the win!

Two important pieces of info you will surely want to know:

  1. Dannon® Oikos® Plain and Fruit on the Bottom contains 0% fat, while the Dannon® Oikos® traditional blended varieties contains about 3% fat. Both are an excellent source of protein, twice that of most regular lowfat yogurts.
  2. Dannon® Oikos® 0% varieties contain active yogurt cultures and range from 80 calories (Plain) to 130 calories (Fruit on the Bottom) per 5.3 oz. cup.

Oh and another tidbit that I found interesting – Oikos is actually owned by Stonyfield Farms, makers of the little yogurts (one of the few that can be found in organic) I prefer to give my kid.  If it’s related to organic, that’s almost like it IS organic, right?  (Did you know if you have a carrot cupcake, it totally counts toward your veggies for the day?  ;)   You’re welcome.)

By the way, for you breastfeeding moms out there, yogurt contains probiotics, which ward off thrush (if you haven’t gotten it, that is).

I have partnered with Dannon to help promote the Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt Series. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program, which includes writing about the promotion and product; however, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Breastfeeding, Getting my groove back, Nutrition Tagged With: , , , , , , Leave a Comment

If only this post was about bread

February 16, 2011 By

This post is going to be about yeast.  I know this is not a fun topic.  I have a few pregnant friends and that has brought the topic to the forefront of my mind recently.  I would hazard a guess that most of you have dealt with yeast and will do so again in your life.  It’s possible that you’ve had thrush while breastfeeding or took antibiotics for a bladder infection and then ended up with a yeast infection…  I sadly know more than I ever wanted to about yeast and so I thought I’d share.  Not the yeast of course, but the knowledge about how to destroy it.  :P

When I was pregnant with Jack I tested positive for Group B Strep, which meant I had to take antibiotics during labor.  Even worse, since my induction lasted two days, I received several doses of the antibiotics.  This effectively destroyed all the bacteria in my body, including the GOOD bacteria that prevents yeast overgrowth.  So when I started breastfeeding and things didn’t go so well with latching and my skin was compromised with cracks, the yeasty bastards attacked me and I ended up with thrush…which was surprisingly hard to treat and lasted for months!  This is not uncommon among new moms.

So, here are some tips for avoiding and eliminating all those yeasty bastards and ending your suffering as quickly and effectively as possible…

  • Cut out the sugar and dairy products – yeast feeds on it and you will have a harder time getting rid of a yeast infection if you are ingesting sugar and/or dairy.  Don’t forget about hidden sugar and dairy (lactose, fructose, sucrose, whey).
  • Stay dry – change pads frequently and make sure the affected area is getting enough air.  Don’t wear stifling fabrics (cotton is nice and breathable) and make sure your pads are adequately wicking away moisture from your skin.  If you have reusable pads, get rid of them until the yeast is gone.
  • Take probiotic supplements.  This one is a biggie, especially if you will be taking antibiotics; probiotics will restore good bacteria to your system.  I’ve heard some women say that these don’t work for them but that may be because some supplements contain sugar or dairy (lactose, sucrose, etc.) in the ingredients or the dosage is incorrect.  (This can be the problem with yogurt.)  If you have a yeast infection, ensure that your dose is at least 10 billion cells and take it 2-3 times a day.  Otherwise a “maintenance” dose is 1-3 billion cultures per day.
  • Other helpful supplements include garlic tablets and grapefruit seed extract.  I do not have direct experience with these.
  • Make sure you wash your laundry on HOT and don’t reuse towels between washings – this includes hand towels.  If you are a mom dealing with thrush, BOIL any pump parts, baby cups, pacifiers and bottles.
  • Wash your hands! (But not with anti-bacterial soap.)
  • Vinegar washes are helpful as yeast hates acidity.  When I had thrush I would use a vinegar wash after every nursing, then allow my skin to air dry before treating it with an antifungal cream (i.e. Monistat).

Also, a note for those of you who are prescribed nystatin – IT SUCKS.  Yeast has become highly resistant to nystatin and more times than not, it’s ineffective in treating yeast infections.

If you’d like to do some more reading and not just take my experience/word for it, go forth!  These are some great resources:

Dr. Jack Newman’s Candida Protocol

Breastfeeding Essentials – Could We Have Thrush?

Kellymom.com’s Thrush Articles and Resources

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Birth, Breastfeeding, Illness, Nutrition Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , 11 Comments

Truthiness Day 2: Heels Digging In

October 9, 2010 By

Day 02 → Something you love about yourself.

I love how stubborn I am.

One time my step-dad tried to make me eat some food that I didn’t want to eat.  I said I’d rather sit there and stare at it all day instead of eat it.  I sat there until it was dark outside, never touching the food, until it was dumped.  My step-dad was a piece of crap and I won that battle.

My stubbornness has served me well.  I resisted peer pressure when offered various amounts of drugs in high school.  It’s gotten me through a pitocin-induced labor without pain meds.  Despite the insane number of issues I had breastfeeding, I succeeded for over two years in nursing Jack because I stubbornly refused to quit.  I’ve resisted many of the unhealthy patterns that have plagued my family and made changes in my life rather than accepting the crap I was taught.

Sure, sometimes my stubbornness seems to lead me astray.  I stayed in a doomed marriage for over 9 years because of my refusal to give up.  With that said, I got Jack out of it and I learned a lot about myself in the process.  I am where I am today because I am stubborn and because no matter how many times something gets in my way, I will persist.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: 30 Days of Truth, Breastfeeding Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment

Like his mama

February 5, 2009 By

I’ve known for a while that Jack is a LOT like me.  And one of the things about me is that I’m damned stubborn.  There are certain things in life that I just don’t do until I’m pushed and prodded.  Jack is turning out to be the same but I didn’t realize that until we started to wean.

For months I’ve been trying various tactics to sway Jack from nursing.  Delays, distractions, and even outright refusals on my part.  Still it didn’t look like he was going to give up nursing any time soon.  Fortunately the custody arrangement Joe and I have has done a lot to help out in this process.  My once crazy oversupply settled down considerably as we skipped so many nighttime nursing sessions when Jack was with his dad.  One hurdle tackled!  I didn’t know where to go from there, though.  No matter how persistent I was with weaning tactics, he was stubbornly holding on to breastfeeding.

To give some background, I am a proponent of self-weaning.  I don’t care if other moms do it that way, but that is what I believe in for myself and my child.  With that said, I also believe that nursing is a relationship, one in which both participants should have a say in what happens.   Breastfeeding has always been a huge challenge for me due to touch issues from my messy childhood, but it was worth it to me to ignore those issues if I could in order to give my child the healthiest start possible.  Two years was my goal - I was pretty sure I could hold out that long, and I did.  When we hit two years, my impatience grew exponentially.  Then, a month ago, I reached the end of my rope when it became clear that Jack was no longer being settled at bedtime with nursing.  He nursed, then asked for cow’s milk, then asked for water, then flailed about until he fell asleep.  It was taking over an hour to get him to sleep once we got into bed and I knew this didn’t happen at his dad’s.  It was clear that nursing wasn’t doing the trick it used to, and on top of that Jack started to kick and hit me during our nursing sessions.  The benefits were no longer outweighing the cons for me or for Jack.

Enter David, my boyfriend.  He noticed how frustrated I was getting, so he studied Jack and me in order to figure out when/why Jack was asking to nurse.  He pointed out that Jack usually seemed bored or in need of comfort when he asked to nurse.  Put together with the fact that I had noticed nursing wasn’t working at bedtime, I realized Jack was probably ready to stop nursing and just didn’t know there were other ways to get his needs met.  With that, I decided to attempt a true weaning effort.  I waited until a weekend so that if I was up all night trying to get him to sleep, I wouldn’t have to worry about working the next day.  I explained to Jack that “mama’s milk is broken; there is no more” (and receiving kisses for my “owies”) and reminded him a few times when he forgot.  We spent extra time snuggling and increased the number of books we read to get sleepy.    It actually went very smoothly and Jack slept through the night with no problems.  That was 12 days ago…

So we are done.  Jack’s asked for mama’s milk maybe 2-3 times in the last two weeks and when I reminded him we no longer have mama’s milk, he wasn’t upset at all.  No tantrums, no tears.  Big sigh of relief from me!  Now that I look back I can clearly see all the signs of his readiness for weaning.  All he needed was some prodding!

Filed Under: Babyman, Breastfeeding, Parenting 101 Tagged With: , 3 Comments

On the road to weaning

April 24, 2008 By

We are somewhat working on weaning.  Well, some say that weaning begins when solids are introduced, but that is not how I think of weaning.  Up until very recently, I have always let Jack call the shots on nursing.  Nursing is an important part of his nutrition as well as his emotional development, and I don’t want to take it away before he is ready.  With that said, I have found breastfeeding to be emotionally difficult for me throughout the duration, and I feel that I am reaching my limit.  I am trying to strike a balance that will work for both Jack and me.

As Jack has shown less interest in nursing and more interest in the world around him, I have begun to test the waters a bit.  I have really made an effort to get on top of solids to ensure that meals are prepared quickly when he gets hungry so that he is less likely to get impatient and decide to nurse instead of eat solids.  Consistency and proactivity about meal and snack times have been key.  Additionally, when he does ask to nurse I try to see if I can offer cow’s milk or water instead, or a hug if it seems that he wants attention.  This has been working really well, with only minimal balking from Jack.

I’ve stepped things up as of late.  Many a morning I have had to leave for work before Jack is up, so we skip our morning nursing session.  Some mornings we run late and although he asks to nurse, I offer him food or water or cow’s milk and he is perfectly content with that (although it surprises me every time!).  I have been attending group therapy directly after work on Thursdays and so we have delayed that post-work nursing session or skipped it in favor of a longer nursing-to-sleep session after I get home.  He has been sleeping so well lately that some days we are down to only one nursing session!

I’m going out of town tonight and I have thought a lot about what will happen while I’m away and when I return.  I know that some kids Jack’s age wean themselves when their mamas travel away for a few days, and I’m prepared for that possibility.  Still, I can’t really see that happening.  It would sure shock the hell out of me.  More likely, the remaining nursing sessions will continue to dwindle away until we cease for good some time in the fall.  That would be just about perfect, in my opinion.

While I’m looking forward to moving on from this stage of our relationship, I know it also signifies that Jack is truly starting to grow up.  That, of course, sends a little pang to my heart.  Nursing or not, Jack will always be my sweet son, my special little guy, my babyman.

Filed Under: Babyman, Breastfeeding, Milestones, Nutrition, Parenting 101, Working Mamahood Tagged With: , , , , , Leave a Comment

The Naysayers

March 14, 2008 By

At one of my baby showers there was a large group of older women (mostly co-workers) who told me I was crazy for considering a natural birth.  There was a mix of those who wondered why I would ever do that to myself, those who tried natural and asked for an epidural as soon as they got to 4cm, and those who regaled me with horror stories (“my kid broke my tailbone!”).  Altogether I think there were about 30 people at my shower, and only two came forward to tell me that they also had natural labors and YES I could do it.  I was very appreciative of their support.  The others drove me crazy and to this day I’m annoyed by their attitude toward my wishes.  With that said, I remembered their comments during the most painful part of my labor and that memory stiffened my resolve to forego pain medication so that I could have the birth I had planned.  I never spoke about my labor with any of those women afterward; it was just enough to know that they were wrong and I could do it.

In discussing my plans to use cloth diapers prior to having Jack, I received some flack from a few friends.  Some were simply ignorant on the subject and doubted that I would be able to get the diapers clean.  Some had given up cloth diapering themselves, mostly because their wash routines were overly complicated, and they assumed I would also give up.  20 months later and I still love cloth diapers.  I found my own way to make it work in our life and I have been very happy with my decision.  No one ever mentioned it after Jack was born, except for those people who saw what we were doing and wanted to try it themselves.  It wasn’t my intention to inspire others to cloth diaper, but it’s certainly nice that more people are considering it.

While no one said it outright, I do believe there were some folks in my life who were dubious about my plans to breastfeed Jack.  I got the impression from one person in particular who, when Jack was about 5 months old conceded, “He’s obviously thriving, so what you’re doing must be working!”  In the early days breastfeeding was certainly difficult, and it definitely still has its moments, but I am just thankful to have made it this far despite the fact that I had no one around to help.

Overall I think I’ve had a pretty easy go as a new parent.  I haven’t received any criticism since Jack has been born.  I think it helps that Jack is such a happy, easy-going fellow.  I doubt that his awesomeness has much to do with how Joe and I parent, in all honesty.  I’d like to think that Jack is teaching us how to parent, and that things have gone well because we are responsive to his needs.  It sure is a nice thought but there is probably a bit of luck involved, as well.  In any case, I am kind of giving myself a pat on the back for all my hard work over the last couple of years (we’ve all gotta take a moment to do that sometimes, right?) but I also wanted to acknowledge that I have been helped by the naysayers.  If it wasn’t for their comments and my drive to prove them wrong, things might have turned out differently.  You certainly never know…

Filed Under: Breastfeeding, Cloth diapering, Parenting 101 Tagged With: , , , , , Leave a Comment

I'm sure this is some kind of milestone

February 26, 2008 By

Last night, for the first time ever, Jack favored solid food over nursing!  He had only been nursing for about 5 minutes after I got home from work when Joe pulled out the Pirate’s Booty…Jack yanked my shirt down, said bye-bye, and ran to beg for some snacks.  I was shocked!  Cheese puffs favored over breastmilk?  He got a few while I prepared a more wholesome dinner.

Then, this morning, I was running late to catch my bus and Jack woke up before I got out the door.  He decided he wanted to take his sweet time at my breast (even taking the second side!).  “Joe, get the yogurt raisins,” I requested.  As soon as Jack saw the package, he flew off my lap, nursing forgotten.

Not only that, but he drank a significant amount of cow’s milk at daycare yesterday.  This is the first time he has taken milk of any type while away from me in months.  Could an end to breastfeeding be in sight?

Filed Under: Babyman, Breastfeeding, Daycare, Milestones, Working Mamahood Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment

No More Pumping!

February 11, 2008 By

It’s been a week and a half since I pumped last.  I had been trying to pump less and less but got impatient.  On January 31 I just decided to cut out that last pumping session.  So far I haven’t had any plugged ducts and no cases of mastitis (knock on wood) but I am certainly engorged by the end of the work day.  Twice now I’ve arrived home to find Joe and Jack gone off on some adventure and my mind screamed, “Nooooooooo, they have to come home so I can get some relief!”

So, nearly 18 months of expressing under my belt and I’m no longer running off every few hours to read while listening to the rhythmic hum of the pump motor and the drip drip drip of milk filtering into collection bottles.  I won’t miss that pump one bit, although there was a time I welcomed a pumping schedule over a nursing one.  After 6 weeks of being home with Jack establishing our breastfeeding relationship while dealing with thrush, latch issues, and oversupply, pumping for a couple of 15-minute sessions per day was a piece of cake.  If Jack would actually drink any milk at all these days, I would probably keep at it for a while longer because it’s easier to continue pumping than it is to stop.  I only have so much freezer space, though, and (obviously) no reason to keep pumping!

I have my fingers crossed that my my milk supply will adjust soon but past experience tells me I might have to make use of cabbage and peppermint tea.  At the moment I am feeling lazy and celebratory.  I am happy to be out of the pumping stage.
Here’s to 18 months (give or take, via Kellymom)!platinum-breastpump1.jpg

Filed Under: Breastfeeding, Working Mamahood Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment

18 Month Well Baby

January 31, 2008 By

I’m not sure why this happens every time we visit the pediatrician, but I forget to ask all of the questions I have saved up.  I even wrote questions down this time and didn’t ask them.  Stage fright, I guess.

Jack is 26 lbs. (he got on the big person scale!) and 32″.  He has dropped percentiles and is now totally average at the 49th (down from the 85th).  Since I forgot to ask about whether a mere 1 pound gain in 6 months was a concern, I sent an email off to the pediatrician when I got to work.  The doctor replied to say that the one pound gain is low and recommended we feed Jack more dairy and legumes.  Nothing I didn’t know there…very helpful, doc.  I can offer, but I can’t make the boy eat.  I particularly like the part where the pediatrician said “his weight is still within normal limits.”  He must have forgotten that the entire growth chart is “normal limits.”  He also suggested giving Jack whole milk…forgetting apparently that breastmilk is whole milk, and also the part where we talked about how Jack won’t drink anything other than a few sips of water (in addition to the 3-4 nursing sessions a day).  Can you tell I’m not impressed with the ped?

We got caught up on immunizations (apparently Kaiser has a more aggressive immunization schedule than our previous pediatrician’s office, so we were “behind”) and it actually wasn’t too bad.  Jack only cried for a minute and then the nurse distracted him with a star sticker.  We refused the chicken pox and flu vaccines.  Being sick with both of those things sucks but it’s not life-threatening.  We will consider chicken pox if he doesn’t catch it before middle school.

Overall I dislike well baby check-ups.  So far they haven’t been helpful at all.  Perhaps that is a sign right there that we are doing just fine on our own.

Filed Under: Babyman, Breastfeeding, Milestones, Nutrition, Parenting 101 Tagged With: , , , , , Leave a Comment

Back to Normal

January 24, 2008 By

Our household is recovered.  Yay!!!  Jack seemed like he would never get well and then BAM!  He’s totally back to normal.

I’m stressing about his food intake, though.  Before he got sick he was hardly drinking any expressed breastmilk during the day, and only sips water.  Now he’s cut out milk completely.  Joe has tried sippies, straws, bottles and none of them seem to persuade him.  That may be okay since I nurse at least 3-4 times each day but he is not eating enough solid foods, either.  The best I can tell, he is getting maybe 400 calories a day from solids.  In total he needs about 1300 calories a day.  I estimate he gets about 400 from me but it’s (obviously) hard to say.  He used to be in the 85 percentiles for height and weight, but has dropped down to about the 30th.

We are visiting his pediatrician next week for his 18 month check up but I’m nervous because this is the first time I don’t feel confident about Jack’s intake.  I don’t have much trust for doctors and this one has never seen us before.  There isn’t anything we could be doing differently, though, so I know I shouldn’t worry so much.  Perhaps it is a phase, or maybe it will get better when he is back at daycare with a real schedule and other kids around encouraging him to do what they are doing.

Other than that, we’re spending our time talking about colors a lot.  With Jack’s recent discovery of crayons, he is fairly obsessed.  It’s not enough, though, to color by himself.  No, he wants to watch US color.  We’ve been pointing out the names of colors (last night we had a lesson about the colors of his diapers) and he’s been adding to his vocabulary.  So far his favorite is definitely yellow.

We’ve also been reading counting books and Jack pretends to count constantly.  It’s pretty damned cute when he randomly says, “two…twee…fah…”  I *think* he is starting to figure out the correct order but it’s hard to say.  Last night I showed him  how to hold  up the number of fingers but that is going to take a ton of practice.

It’s fascinating to me to see how kids learn.  I truly am amazed at how human beings function.  As I was sitting in a meeting at work today, I looked at the presenter and pictured him as a child learning the basics of math.  It was then that it hit me that someday Jack is going to grow up and be an expert on something.  It’s going to be so weird!

Filed Under: Babyman, Breastfeeding, Nutrition, Parenting 101 Tagged With: , , , , , , Leave a Comment
« Older Posts