The joys of breastfeeding

I think I was a better advocate for breastfeeding BEFORE I started doing it. Any time I talk about my experience with nursing, words like "thrush," "cracked nipples," "bleeding," "biting" and "PAIN" have to be used, unfortunately.

Hattie has developed this lovely habit of biting me. She doesn't have teeth, so I guess you'd say she is clenching down. But either way, it hurts. She seems to do it when she is feeling fussy, overtired or distracted. So we were having some luck nursing while lying down, but then it started again last week. And is being complicated by a thrush infection.

So last night I'm nursing Hattie and see a shadow in the corner of her mouth. Only nightlight is on, and its pretty dark, so I tell myself I'm imagining things. And keep telling myself that for 4 or 5 minutes. Finally I turn the lamp on and there is blood streaked all over her face. Not hallucinating! So that's good, anyway.

I find a little bit of blood in her mouth, but cant find a source. I shake Chris awake with phrases like "There is blood all over the baby and I cant find where its coming from"(Have I mentioned that my husband is a real trooper for putting up with me?) We can't find any problems in her mouth or sinuses(thank you NoseFreda) so we are assuming its from my traumatized nipple. Nice, huh?

By the way, if you are considering breastfeeding and have stumbled onto this post, it really is worth all the bad stuff. Seeing your little one smile up at you or fall asleep snuggled in tight is worth ANYTHING.

Elimination Communication

Elimination Communication(EC) is something I've been reading and thinking about since Hattie was born, but hadn't had the time or confidence to try. The theory is that babies, like puppies, do not want to soil the place they sleep and will signal that they need to pee or poop, the same way they signal that they have other needs. But since we put them into diapers we don't have to learn those signals, and eventually we train them to ignore the discomfort of hanging out in wet pants all day. Then we ask them to start noticing again right when they are busy learning about independence and the NO! word-age 2.

So with EC you read your baby's signals and provide opportunities for them to use a potty chair or toilet. For about a week I've been trying to giving Hattie potty breaks when she wakes up from a nap and it has been quite successful. Keep in mind that I often nap with Hattie, so over half the time I wake up and say "I should take you to the potty....right after this snuggle...oh wait, you just pooped. Lets snuggle more!" Clearly, this is me being trained to offer at the right times, not her being trained. But how is that different than being trained to ask your three year old "Do you have to pee now?" every time you see them wiggle or dance around?

Its actually really fun when it is successful. And so much less messy. I just flush the mess away, use one wipe to clean her up and away we go. If it continues to go well, I'm going to try to figure out her peeing cues, although I think that will be harder. Even if I don't get good enough to catch everything, I think this has to be helping her make some connections about what is happening in her body, and I think that is a good thing.

Yard work

The weather was gorgeous today, in the 70's! So we did a lot of yard work-raking leaves, cleaning out flower and garden beds, scraping gutters. And it was finally warm enough for Hattie to be outside with us while we did all of this. She loved it! She played in the grass, tried to eat our wind chimes and watched birds.

Raspberries!

Hattie loves putting her fingers in her mouth. About a week ago she started to try to talk with her fingers in her mouth, resulting in a raspberry like sound. Now she's figured out how to do it without the fingers in the mouth, and she LOVES to look around saying "whooooppffffttwhooo!"

I'll try to catch it on video, its pretty cute.