Printable pumping output chart

Pumping output chart

If you're like me, the amount you pump each day is very important to you (and your baby, of course!). Some folks are pretty regular pumpers and they always produce their same amount of ounces each day. I am not like that. I often wanted to see a log of how much I pumped over a week, two weeks, or longer, but never had an organized way to do this. Until I made this chart. Just fill in the time and day of the pumping session (you can use two rows per day if you pump twice a day), and the amount you get from each side. Add it up and you've got your total pumping output per day.

Download and print the pumping output chart.

Printable feeding clock for new moms

When you're discharged from the hospital after delivering your baby, the staff will send you home with a badly photocopied feeding chart with all the hours written out, and you're supposed to circle the corresponding hour each time you feed. This way you can keep track of how many feedings your baby gets over a 24-hour period. That's great for the really early days, maybe a week or so. But afterwards, all you really want to know is when you last fed your baby. It can be hard to remember little details like numbers when you're so busy nursing, sleeping, changing diapers, etc. while your sleep tank is running on empty.

Printable feeding clock

So I created a handy printable clock that lets you keep track of prior feedings when you don't have a pen handy, or can't write (great for Sabbath). You can hang it on your fridge with a magnet and your baby's last feeding time will be prominently displayed in either pink or blue.

INSTRUCTIONS: Download and print the feeding clock or click the thumbnail to the left. Cut out the circle of the clock, along with both handles. You can use pink or blue for a girl or boy, respectively, or you can use both to show the last two feedings. Poke a hole in the center black dot of the clock, and the dots on the hands. Affix the hand/s to the center of the clock using a paper fastener. Alternately you can use a small magnet to hold it in place on the fridge, or affix the hands to the edge of the clock with a paper clip.

To use, simply move the hand to display the correct time when you finish feeding your baby.

Nursing position tricks for unwilling babies

Ever had the experience of your baby repeatedly refusing one side when nursing? Your baby can be doing that for many reasons, among them:

1. random quirk (most common) - babies do all sorts of weird things for no explainable reason
2. during a blocked milk duct - milk isn't coming out fast enough from the affected side so your baby is just not interested in waiting around for snail mail. 
3. after a blocked milk duct - the old, backed up milk from behind the plug is now being released and it doesn't taste that great (it can taste salty because of the high fat content).
4. ear/teething pain - if you suspect this, have your pediatrician examine your baby to rule this out

I came up with a pretty neat hack for this situation. Of course, if the reason is due to some kind of ailment (reason 4), deal with that properly. If you've determined that it's probably due to reasons 1-3, you can proceed to try this simply, yet very effective idea: switch nursing positions.

I normally breastfeed in one position only: cross cradle. Sam lays across a pillow on my lap, and for illustrative purposes, is nursing from the left side. My right arm supports back and my right palm holds his head and neck to face my nipple. My left hand supports my boob from below to give it some lift.

Let's say he refuses to nurse on the right side. I won't reverse the nursing position so he can eat from the right side. Instead I'll keep my hands and everything in the same original places, but I will slide his body over to the right just a bit so his face is now in front of my right breast. If needed I can use my left hand to now lift up my right boob, but usually I don't bother if I want this to be done as smoothly as possible. This can be done so deftly, he will be none the wiser (and he is wise!). Right now he is in more of a football hold, actually.

So a simple switch of positions is often all you need to get your baby to latch onto his/her less-preferred side.

What I wish I could tell every new mother

New! This list is now available as a printable!

I get so outraged when breastfeeding mothers receive inaccurate information and advice, especially when it does more harm than good. And the eager-for-education, naive new mother believes everything! So this is an ongoing list I wish I could share with all new mothers out there. I'll keep adding as I think of new things:

• Nursing is supposed to be uncomfortable in the beginning. But not for longer than a week or two. If it does hurt for longer than it should, have your baby's latch evaluated to make sure that that's not the issue.
• There is NO need to "practice" giving a bottle a day to your baby in the early weeks. This does not make your baby any more willing to take it when he or she is a few weeks old. I know this from experience. We gave Sam a few bottles when he was under 3 weeks old, which he took fine, but then he refused each proceeding bottle for a long while. We later figured out it was due to excess lipase in my expressed milk.
• If your baby is jaundiced, there is really no need to stuff your baby with formula instead of breastmilk. Breastfeed as usual, or even more than usual, and that should help in almost every case. The goal of formula in those cases is to pump digestion and elimination to rid the body of bilirubin, but breastmilk can do the same thing.
• Using an electric pump should not hurt at all. If it does, it doesn't mean that pumping is not for you - it's simply a sign that you're wearing an ill-fitting pump (or you have a plugged duct).
• Not everyone gets engorged in the beginning. I never did and milk supply was pretty fine for a while. In fact, I was probably experiencing oversupply in the early days!
• Don't be ashamed to breastfeed your baby out of the home. If you find it uncomfortable to do so in public, find a quiet or unused room and face away from other people. Don't let that stop you from venturing out of your house!
• There is no good in nursing your baby for 10-15 minutes on each side. Why is that a magical number? It isn't. Nurse on one side until your baby won't take anymore from that side, and then switch. Next feeding start with the second side. 
• Nursing babies don't normally sleep for long stretches at night until much, much later. If friends are bragging that their breastfed babies go 12 hours at night without eating, take it with a grain of salt. And remember, that's no way to maintain a healthy milk supply.
• Plugged milk ducts are NOT breast infections. They may cause one if left untreated for a very long while, though. For the record, I've had plugged ducts lasting up to a week without any infection (and the infection I did have was not even caused by a plugged duct).
• You don't have to give your baby bottles in the hospital (or any time) if he is nursing well and gaining weight. If you offer your baby a bottle after nursing he will probably guzzle it down because it's fun to suck, but it does not mean that he was hungry!
• Pumping after nursing is a great way to boost supply but there is no need to pump if you are not planning to be separated from your baby or if you already have enough milk. When doing so, pump immediately after a feeding to bring out the hindmilk (fatty stuff).

She's back!

Ok, so my Aunt Flo, aka period, returned when Sam was just a few days shy of a year. I was so surprised (not in a good, birthdayish way). This was the first one since January 5, 2012! I know that date because it was my LMP when I was pregnant.

Anyway, it DID make sense. At that time I was nursing Sam but for a shorter duration at each feeding (his choice, not mine). I can't say I really cut out any scheduled feedings, though. In turn, he ate lots of real foods. I didn't notice any drop in supply, which is pretty common. Instead, I got a drop from when the period ended until ovulation! So it was during the first half of the cycle that I experienced this.

I also stopped taking the minipill the day I got my period. This way, if I was supposed to have a withdrawal bleed, let it all come at the same time as the actual period. Which, is what happened. About 3 days after stopping the pill, I saw bright red (fresh) blood, which lasted like 2 days. So better it happened then, than at a separate time later. By the way, no change in supply after stopping the pill.

If anything, something else happened. I began to experience a VERY slow letdown. As in 3-5 minutes. By that time, Sam would be really impatient and he'd just pop off. Then he got a cold and he didn't mind hanging around the boob for comfort so he'd actually get normal full feedings. And then I discovered a cool trick: If while I nursed I simultaneously stimulated the other side (like I do when I pump) then the letdown would occur at a reasonable time. And that works great :)

Mapping my teeth - a teething overview

Sam is teething. He's already sprouted his first two teeth (the bottom ones) at 5 months, but then we had a long break. Finally, at around 10 months we saw some more activity in the teeth arena. Some things that told us he was teething (and not suffering from another ear infection):

• Nursing more. Sucking felt good to his gums. But that's not true for all babies. Some hate the sucking because it hurts them more. YMMV. Even when he wasn't actively swallowing, he still sucked, albeit weakly. Sometimes he'd even protest if I unlatched him (this was going on for half an hour already, what was I to do?!). I found that if I unlatched him and immediately gave him a pacifier, he was happy.
• Biting every bitable and unbitable surface within teeth's reach. He'd waltz over to a cheer and start chomping on its legs, for example.
• Random crying outbursts. Sam doesn't usually burst out in piercing shrieks unless he's experiencing pain. Usually crying starts out at a leisurely 5mph whine, progressing steadily to annoying whimpering, culminating in a speedy full-fledged crying.
• Loss of interest in solids that weren't pureed. What he DID enjoy was frozen foods. Cubed peaches that were stuck in the freezer. I'd let them thaw for a few minutes until they were chunky but icy and he'd enjoy that.
• Pulling at ears. People usually associate that with ear pain, but according to Dr. Sears it's actually a teething sign. Babies that young can't pinpoint the source of ear pain. But teething pain radiates to the ears and that's what they're touching when they pull on them.
• While nursing he'd bang his head like a gavel.
• And one of the most annoying symptoms, which is actually related to nursing, is increased soreness and nipple pain. In the following paragraph I'll tell you why.

Imagine I just attached another set of legs to you, for example a set of crutches. You'd be pretty clumsy at first, knocking into everything in site because you haven't yet figured out your spatial bounds. Same with teething. Sam has to map out his new teeth. He suddenly has new little pincers in weird places where he's never had them before. He doesn't know how far he can go with them yet. So while he's nursing, his latch becomes a bit sharper because there are teeth in the way. After a few days, the soreness and discomfort subside because he's realized how to maneuver his teeth. Makes sense to me when I thought of it like this.

We're back!

Sorry for the long break, but we've had a lot to deal with in the past couple of weeks. One weekend he fed for much less than normal. He'd eat for about 2-3 minutes and then refuse to take another drop. He also stopped eating solids that weren't pureed. Then on Monday, his babysitter said he acted a bit out of it. I decided to take him to the doctor and sure enough, he had an ear infection. Without fever. I've always heard that refusing to nurse, or even nursing less than normal, was a sign of an ear infection. But since Sam often had let's-just-nurse-enough-to-survive days, I don't really think into why he is nursing for less.

Then his ear infection developed into pneumonia, which lasted for a few days. And when we finally thought we were in the clear, Sam contracted some kind of stomach bug which caused him to vomit after almost every feeding and have diarrhea. This meant I had to nurse almost double the amount I was used to. I felt so spent!

When Sam got sick I finally saw why I am still making myself crazy over the nursing and pumping. I was able to give him the best nutrition and comfort that no money can buy, that no formula can offer. While his little body was raging with high fevers, chills, nausea, a deep-chested cough and other aches and pains, he was able to snuggle up to me and suck liquid gold.

This weekend Sam really made up for the amount he lost when he wasn't feeling well. He had actually lost weight during that time, by the way. Sunday, from the early AM hours until the night, Sam ate constantly. I don't know if it's a growth spurt or just making up what was lost because he was feeling better already in the beginning of the week so technically he could have made up the calories then. Why wait until the weekend?

Well, maybe he wanted to save it for the nursing time, rather than on a day when we're separated. He actually took some 15-20 minute feedings which stopped months ago!