Breastfeeding 1-2-3 » breastfed baby

Sleep Milestone

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:22:50 +0000

The last several nights have been doozies thanks to a combination of teething, growth spurt, and a cold. My 9-month-old has woken multiple times in the night, and sometimes required settling twice before I have even gotten back to sleep once! So, I thought it would help me keep my ~~sanity~~ perspective to take a moment to celebrate one teeny tiny sleep milestone.

Photo by Abdulaziz Almansour

You see, my firstborn did not fall asleep without nursing until she was over two years old. My second mastered that glorious skill a little sooner. My third, ever-proving that each child is different, often refused to fall asleep by nursing at all, and would instead require me to pace the floor, holding her just so, facing outward, never in. But last night, even as I knew I was facing an endless night of wakings, I celebrated one wonderful moment. My daughter nursed as usual, then popped herself off and rolled around on the bed. When it was clear she wasn’t going to settle on her own, I picked her up and gave a brief thought to pacing the floor, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Instead, I tried to get her to rest on my chest. She thrashed a little but I rubbed her back and said, “It’s okay. It’s okay.” That’s all it took. She rolled off my chest into the crook of my arm, her head resting on my shoulder, and drifted off to sleep. Thank goodness for small victories!

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Evidence of How Infant Growth Charts Lie

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:48:13 +0000

At every well baby visit, the pediatrician diligently charts the baby’s growth on a CDC growth chart or a WHO growth chart (which better reflects the general growth patterns of breastfed babies). Those charts have their place for monitoring that a baby continues to grow on essentially the same curve. However, such charts might mislead parents into thinking that a baby who is at the top end of the weight growth chart might be heavy as an older child. In fact, breastfed babies are less likely to be overweight as children than their formula-fed counterparts. So the next time a doubter tries to claim “You’re feeding that baby too much!” (yes, someone said that to me), direct him or her to these photos. First, there’s the “aww how cute” factor of this gorgeous breastfed baby boy:

Photo courtesy of crimfants

Notes on the picture explain that this baby weighed 22 pounds and change at six months of age! Fast forward about six years, and this is the skinny, cute little kid that baby grew up to be!

Photo courtesy of crimfants

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Food Allergies in the Breastfed Child: A Poll

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:40:57 +0000

n {democracy:50} Please leave a comment to explain your answer. Whether or not your child has known food allergies, do you restrict your diet in any way? How easy or difficult is it to eliminate particular foods from your diet? Is there a history of food allergies in your family? If your nursling has food allergies, to which foods? Did your nursling or other children outgrow any food allergies? Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

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Wordless Wednesday: Happy Six-Month-Old and Mama

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:42:34 +0000

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Two Month Well Baby Visit

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:08:10 +0000

It has been two months since Nicole was born. I have yet to capture a good picture of her wonderful smile, so this photo will have to do. She cracks me up!

Yesterday I took her to our family practitioner for her two month well baby visit. She’s doing great, nursing well, and meeting all of her developmental milestones (in spite of my inability to capture them on film!) She weighed 12 pounds 9 ounces, and measured 23 inches in length and 15.5 inches in head circumference. When the doctor told me that that put Nicole in the 25th, 10th and 10th percentiles on the CDC growth charts, I was a little surprised! My second daughter was petite like that, but does this look like a child who is on the low end of the charts?

Ignore my belly! Look! Cute buddha baby! Cute Imse Vimse organic cotton velour diaper cover! (Yup, I am still using cloth diapers. I got hooked on the Imse Vimse covers when someone generously passed this one on to me, and I just ordered two each of the organic cotton jungle print and organic cotton farm animal print! I absolutely love how soft and stretchy the fabric is, and how the edges have gussets but they don’t make marks on my baby’s legs).

For the record, I am not afraid to state my weight on the internet. My real weight! Be kind, internets. I weighed myself yesterday at the doctor’s office. I have lost 30 pounds of pregnancy weight and at 146.6 pounds with clothes on, I have about five more to go. No rush, I just like to note those things. And it does seem to show that for some women, breastfeeding does help with normal weight loss!

I wondered how my instincts could be so wrong about Nicole’s weight! She’s my beautiful buddha baby, and she’s already in 3-6 month clothes, so how could she be in the 10-25th percentiles? I did some quick math in my head. She has gained five pounds seven ounces from her original seven pounds two ounces. That’s 87 ounces in 9 weeks, or nearly 10 ounces per week. As a breastfeeding counselor I know that the average weight gain for a breastfed baby at this age is five to seven ounces per week. It’s no wonder with my oversupply that Nicole gained more than average. If she gained more than average, though, something was fishy about those percentiles. I looked up the CDC growth charts online, and discovered she’s actually in the 90th percentile for weight, 75th percentile for height, and 75th percentile for head circumference. Just for good measure (no pun intended), I checked the WHO growth charts too, because those are more accurate for breastfed babies. She is in the 80-85th percentiles for height and weight on those charts.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t care much about the numbers. I can look at my baby and see that she is thriving and wonderful, and as long as she stays on the same growth curve, it doesn’t matter whether she’s in the 10th percentile or the 95th. But I was a little concerned when I thought she’d dropped from the 50th to the 10th, especially when I had been marveling at those rolls of baby fat! It made me question my instincts, which is never a good thing as a mother. Bottom line, everything is fine! Nicole is a good-natured, happy — and healthy — baby.

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