We've been on this baby journey 11 months now (sniffle) so I thought an update on some of the previous baby related posts was needed. First a recent pic of our cutie pie. So big!
One of the easiest decisions we made about parenting was deciding to cloth diaper. Steve and I were both on the same page on that one, thankfully. Almost a year ago, I posted some of the
reasons for our decision. Then a few months into cloth diapering full time I posted an
update. So since that time, we've had quite a few changes that go along with a growing baby. Cloth diapering when Steven was nursing full time was a piece of cake! We never had any kind of solid messes in the diaper we had to worry about, everything could go in the washer. We rarely had any really smelly diapers, we very rarely had leaking issues or diaper rash and life was good. Here's our cutie in cloth..aw!
Enter a growing baby and solid foods...that makes for much messier diapers, as all mommies know! But with the cloth diapers, we really didn't have a problem. We had to extend our one size diapers to the full length to get them to fit our giant growing baby at about 6 months. But they still fit him great to this day. We also had to experiment with hemp doublers for overnights and a few other methods of stuffing the diapers to accommodate him as he grows but we haven't had a major problem with leaks, just a few here or there.
We love the
BumGenius 4.0s One Size Pocket Diapers with hook & loop (Velcro) closure and haven't had a problem.
Some people complain that the Velcro wears as you use it constantly and we've seen some of that but nothing major. We have a couple snap diapers and I really prefer the velcro because you can get a much more snug fit around the waist of the diaper to prevent any leaks. We did pick up a few more diapers on clearance and other sales. I went in with a few friends and got some
Sunbaby diapers. These diapers are way cheaper than BGs (probably because they come from China ;). So that was a plus. They also come in really cute prints like these:
Unfortunately that is where the good things end with these diapers. They were OK, but they broke down after a few months, like the snaps fell out and they started leaking...So I wouldn't say they have the "staying power" like the BGs do. We plan to keep our BGs for the next babies because they are pretty much in as good of condition as the day we bought them. But it was a good experiment getting the Sunbaby dipaers.
We also purchased a few
Flip diapers. We registered for a few of these back in the day, but decided to go exclusively with BGs. But I heard a lot of good things about Flips, especially for being portable for on the go. Cotton Babies had some seconds, which are slightly imperfect new diapers, on clearance so I tried them out. I do like the Flips for the diaper bag for sure. They take up much less room and you don't have to pack a ton of diapers, just a few covers and extra inserts. They don't seem to hold up as well as the BGs though, meaning we've had a few huge blowouts in those...but for on the go, they're good!
Wow that was a lot of words about diapers and poo. :) Summary is we still love cloth diapering, its been great for Steven and our budget. We got a few new types of diapers but Bum Genius 4.0s are our fav and we plan to continue to cloth diaper with future babies.
So after that long convo about diapers don't you want to talk about food? ha ha! Well how about an update on how breast feeding is going? I gave you an update at
4 months but how have we been doing since then?
I always knew I wanted to breastfeed, and discussed that a lot when I was pregnant. I felt it was the right choice for our family but I was so nervous about it working out. We had a hard time the first day in the hospital but after a few adjustments and Mr. Man waking up more, we got going! The lactation consultants at St. Luke's recommended trying using a nipple shield because Steven was having some latching issues in the beginning. We had a lot of success using that so I continued to do so for probably 2-3 months. It was a huge blessing in getting us going but was so annoying to try to remember to have one at all times, especially since we were BF on demand and also when we were out and about. So annoying! I was glad one day when I forgot it and we tried BF without it and had no problems! So we were able to wean off the nipple shield no problem! yay! I did have one
bump in the road during the first few months but from what I understand that's not too bad!
Going back to work after my maternity leave was tough for a lot of reasons but the pumping 3 times a day at work was rough! It was exhausting and hard to try to fit it into a busy work day. But I'm so glad that I did it. I was really lucky to have a lot of support at work. When I came back they had an extra room that I could use and even made a sign for the door! Someone else had left a mini fridge in there and let me use it. Wasn't that so nice?! When I switched jobs, my new supervisor was super supportive and made sure that I was getting enough time to pump. I'm so grateful for their support.
Along the same lines, I'm super grateful for all the family support I received. Steve was amazing. He was so encouraging and always helpful. I'm lucky to have such a supportive hubby. My parents and in laws were also so supportive. They always gave me assistance whenever I needed it and that was great. It really helped me power through the harder times of BFing having that support.
As time went on with our BFing I got pretty into the breast feeding community. I really got interested in the benefits of doing it and read a lot. I also really wanted to be an example for other women my age who might not know that they could do it with their kids and were intimidated or scared. Really, there's not a lot of obvious support out there. I had to look for it and luckily I had a great resource in the
STLwed board where other mommies can answer questions. (And if there's any mommy's out there looking for BF support here are a few awesome resources:
Kellymom,
Kangaroo Kids,
TLB,
La Leche League). I also got pretty fearless about BFing in public. When you are dealing with a whiny, hungry, screaming baby you really start to not care about modesty or the other people around you. You just want to feed your baby! Probably the craziest place I BF in public was on a hay ride at a pumpkin patch. Believe it or not, right before this picture was taken I was BFing Steven.
So my original goal for breastfeeding was to make it to 6 months. We made that goal! Yay! Then I really wanted to make it to a year. The
AAP and
WHO recommend at least 6 months of exclusive BFing and then to continue for 1 to 2 years. I really wanted to make it to at least a year. Well, sad to tell you, friends, that didn't happen. :( We did make it 10 1/2 months which I think is awesome! I admit I was disappointed to have to give it up early but there was nothing I could do. I think part of the culprit was the sleep training we did which cut out our before bed feeding and any in the middle of the night feedings. So my supply really suffered. I was getting less and less when pumping at work. I was getting about 4oz a pumping session at work to getting about 1-2oz a pumping session after sleep training. With that happening, I wasn't able to keep up with the amount of milk Steven was eating while I was at work so we started to burn through our freezer stash pretty quickly. Sad story. Here's me and my partner in crime on this BF journey:
But the bright side is that Steven took to formula no problem. We didn't have any gas/spit up issues or had to try a million kinds or any other horror stories I've heard. We just bought the generic type (good God, formula is expensive!) and Steven took it no problem. So that's been really good. Also, I feel a little guilty about it but its kind of nice to have my body to myself for a while. I mean I was prego and sharing my body with him for 10ish months. Then BFing and pumping for another 10 months. Thats a long time! The pumping at work and constant BFing was kind of wearing on me towards the end. But it was a great experience and I'm so glad for how it worked out.
Wow this update has really been long. I didn' t know I had so much to say! There are a few other things I wanted to give updates on including Baby Led Weaning and Sleep. I guess I'll have to do a Part 2...so stay tuned!
