Monthly Archives: April 2012

Steps Towards Weaning

Peanut nursing when she was 4 months old.

I’m officially there. I’m weaning.

Well, more like I’m nudging her towards officially quitting breastfeeding. Technically, you start weaning the day you introduce something besides the breast. Even for exclusively breastfed babies, this starts early. It can be when you introduce a pacifier (which has been shown to decrease the overall breastfeeding relationship) or when you give them their first foods. For us, this started over 2.5 years ago when she had that first meal of apricots and bacon. Then, for us, it moved onto what they call “Don’t ask, don’t refuse” when she was over a year old. As she got older, it moved into refusing when I was busy. Then I started refusing more when we were out and about, which is pretty much the same idea. Just too busy and moving around to stop and nurse. Plus it was more difficult to nurse her in a carrier as we used to do.

Peanut nursing at 8 months.

We stayed there for a long time. She rarely asked outside of nap time, bedtime, and morning. During my pregnancy there was sensitivity, but nothing unbearable. I expected the uncomfortable nursing to get better when Twig was born, but it didn’t. It’s getting better now, but I think the contrast from a baby nursing to a toddler nursing that I experience every day will make Peanut’s nursing never truly comfortable for me again.

Then, of course, since Twig was born, Peanut has been asking to nurse much more frequently. In the beginning it was more often than Twig wanted to nurse. Now she’s to the point of asking a few times a day. All in all, things are getting better. The problem is, for me, that it doesn’t seem like it’s enough.

Nursing I love yous at 15 months.

I feel frustrated every time Peanut nurses. I feel frustrated every time she asks and I tell her no (though generally in nicer terms and attempts to avoid actually saying no). I get even more frustrated when she asks Over. And Over. And Over. even when I have a valid reason why we can’t nurse (e.g. we’re driving in the car). I feel like nursing is putting a strain on our relationship.

Spiderman nursing at 26 months.

So we’re working on weaning. I never thought I’d say that. I’ve always been a firm believer in child-led weaning, but I need to take my own advice and realize that this is a relationship and both sides need to be happy for it to continue. Someone in La Leche League the other day told me that breastfeeding is the first place where your child learns limits and boundaries. It is important that she learns that, right? My feelings count too, right? I have to keep telling myself these things. Eventually they’ll stick.

Obviously, I feel a bit of guilt.

I know that Peanut probably isn’t ready to wean. I don’t think she’s young enough that it’s going to be traumatizing for her, but I do know her well enough to know that it will need to be really gentle. I’ve kept this in mind while looking at ways to help along weaning. For instance, some moms do a “weaning day” where it’s the last day that the child nurses, but I don’t think would work for her because it would be too sudden. If I left her for a weekend and expected her to wean during that period, I honestly think it would be traumatizing for her.

Getting kicked in the face by sister at 35 months.

I think Peanut’s weaning process will need a lot of yeses. So right now, what we’re doing is counting to ten while she nurses. I’ve heard of moms doing this during pregnancy because of the pain. I can count as fast or slow as I’d like, so that determines how long she gets to nurse. She’s already asking me not to count, but I tell her that she’s a big girl and big girls get to count while they’re nursing. I’m trying to act like it’s something fun. I’m also saying yes whenever I can, even if it’s not a super convenient time to nurse. We’re also trying to eliminate her nap time (there will be a post about that in the near future) and that’s a big time that she used to nurse. It was the only way she’d get to sleep for nap. Bedtime and morning time aren’t nearly so vital.

This is what we’re trying for now. Just like everything in parenting, we may change things if they stop working. New ideas are very welcome too.

Did you wean your older nursling? Are you happy you did? How did you do it to make it gentle? Has anyone weaned an older nursling while tandem nursing?

Three Months

This is a continuation of the monthly pictures I’m taking of Twig on her month-day. Past months: One, Two.

"Oh, hi there."

She's talking in this one.

Egg shakers are yummy.

Nom nom nom sister's hand!

Big sister loves to give little sister kisses.

Little chubby legs love to stand.

Daddy got home at the end of photo taking, so he joined in the fun.

Homeschool Preschool

My plan all along since taking Peanut out of her preschool on my campus has been to continue with her preschool education at home. I’ve felt like we’ve been sorely lacking in not only learning at home, but also attention for Peanut. My husband and I were discussing the other day how our relationship has gotten more stresses, but not really suffered since the birth of either of our daughters. Sadly, after the birth of Twig, our relationships with Peanut have definitely suffered.

So in an effort to be a better mother to Peanut and to help her learn, we decided to do a homeschool preschool. I’m not following any curriculum and a lot of it is going to be learning through life, but I wanted a way to put goals for our days. If I don’t set a goal to do something, it won’t happen. Likewise, with the hectic life of having two children, if I don’t write something down, it doesn’t happen. So, here enters our daily preschool goals chart.

This isn’t a set schedule. There isn’t a curriculum. It’s just what we want to do for the day with an emphasis on learning. We’re still in the very beginning stages on this idea, so it may change at any time. We did it the day before too (and accomplished studying bugs, playing with the sensory box, and practiced writing letters). It’s goals, so if we don’t accomplish them, it’s just fine. I also plan on not doing a chart on the weekends, since we’re not home for much of it (with music class on Saturday and family’s houses on Sunday) and traditionally school takes a break on weekends too. Obviously, we’ll still learn as we go through life on weekends, but just not as structured.

So here’s what we did Friday as part of Peanut’s preschool goals.

We started the morning with sorting socks. It’s an activity we’ve done many times before, but we switched it up by not only sorting socks, but using the socks to demonstrate same and different. When she found a match, I’d ask her what as the same about them. When she was waiting for me to find more socks in the pile, I’d ask her what was different about two socks she already had. I decided on this activity purely for the fact that I had two baskets of laundry to fold from the day before. Life is learning for preschoolers. There’s always way to find learning within your day to day activities.

After Twig woke up from her sleep-in-all-morning-ness (I know, why wasn’t she my first child!??!), we went for our walk. I gave Peanut a bag that she got at a birthday party last week and told her she could bring home anything she wanted in it. I also let her decide what direction we were going when we had the option to go one way or the other.

Twig rode on my back and was happy for the first little while, but started getting grumpy, so I suggested to Peanut that we head in the direction of home when we had another option to turn. I haven’t mastered getting Twig off of my back without sitting on the couch, so we had to hurry up our street when she started crying because she wanted to nurse.

Peanut makes the most silly faces for photos sometimes.

After we got home, we took all of the stuff you picked out and you made a picture. You also wrote your name on the picture all by yourself! I didn’t even have to tell you what shapes the letters were! You’re still learning how to hold a pen so that it’s easier for you to write letters so it’s not super easy to read what you write, but it’s a step in the right direction. Maybe I’ll look into some sort of special pen for you to learn with if such a thing exists.

After your nap, we planted the lettuce. It didn’t work so well because Twig was crying for part of it and you got bored easily, but you did help me set the plants out and then dig the holes for the plants. Hopefully things will go better with planting veggies if we do it in the morning in the future.

So that’s our preschool for now. I’m constantly trying to come up with new ideas for the preschool and I’m trying to incorporate our regular life, and therefore life lessons from our lives, into our lesson plan. For today (Monday the 23rd), our plans are: play with bubbles (you requested it), practice writing, feed Heidi’s horse an apple (since we have to go get eggs), go grocery shopping (I plan on giving you the list and you can help me “find” what’s on it and then cross it off), and get books from the library (which will obviously involve a lot of reading).

Does anyone else specifically set out to do a preschool at home? Do you do lesson plans or goals? Any helpful information on a homeschool preschool? 

Knitted Wool Longies

As I’ve mentioned, I love wool diaper covers.

By the way, there’s still just over a week left enter the giveaway for a wool soaker from Zinny Jane. There’s not a ton of entries yet and it’s super easy to enter!

So when Twig was born, I decided to knit her some wool longies. It took quite some time with a newborn and toddler, but I’m so happy I made them. They’re super cute and work perfectly as a diaper cover. No leaking whatsoever and they only feel a bit damp if I need to lanolize, which is true to all wool.

The pattern was really easy and is located here. I did the knit flat pattern in newborn and even though Twig is above the recommended weight (or at least she was 3 ounces below it a month ago, so I’m assuming she is now), she still fits in them. I made the legs plenty long, so she’ll outgrow the rise before the legs I’m certain. She seems to have relatively short legs anyway, because some of her 3-6 month clothes fit everywhere except the length of the legs.

I’ll definitely be knitting these again one size up as soon as I finish my current project of a blanket for my mother-in-law and a wool soaker for Peanut at night. Of course I have a lot of projects in my head, but this one is definitely on my short list of making soon. Speaking of my projects, if any of you knitters are interested, friend me on Ravelry! I almost have my whole stash on there (my aunt gave me an insane amount of yarn because shes so awesome) and I’ve been keeping track of my projects there too. Loving that site.

Green Smoothie Challenge-Week 1

Things are going smoothly (ha!) so far in our green smoothie challenge. It’s actually been interesting on days where I know we’re leaving the house first thing. I thought it would be a huge rush and so difficult, but I’m getting pretty fast at preparing the fruits and veggies and it really doesn’t take me long to get the smoothie ready to go.

So I’ve come up with some green smoothie tips to share with all of you.

Rinse it out immediately. When you’re done drinking or making your smoothie, rinse out the container ASAP. Especially if it’s an odd shaped container that would be difficult to scrub. These things stick like crazy and it won’t come off in the dishwasher.

Taste before you pour. As we learned with the first recipe here, not all fruits taste very good in a smoothie. If I would have tasted the smoothie named Cantaloupe Disaster before we drank it, I would have added something really strong like pineapple to tone down the flavor of the cantaloupe.

Thickening fruit versus flavor fruit. You can add anything to a green smoothie, but you need to keep in mind thickening fruits versus flavor fruits. Things like bananas, apples, avocado (yum healthy fats!), pineapple cores, etc. will thicken the smoothie. This is a good thing, but if you made a smoothie of just the thick fruits, you’d end up with sludge. The flavor fruits are the ones with high water contents such as oranges, lemons, limes, kiwi, berries of any sort, etc. They taste delicious, but won’t make the smoothie thicker. Just use your judgement to tell if a fruit is thickening or flavoring and try to keep a bit of a balance.

So far with our health, I think we’re all feeling pretty good. I’ve had headaches the last few days, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the smoothies. I have felt like I need less coffee in the morning though and I really don’t feel like drinking it after I’ve had my smoothie, even if I half a cup sitting on the counter waiting. I’ve also been craving water more.

Peanut only had that sore tummy for a day and it’s gone. Still don’t know if it was a little bug or smoothie related. She hasn’t been drinking all of her smoothie every day. I encourage her to drink it, but I don’t push it too hard. She drinks a lot more on the days that the smoothie turns out better. Maybe I need to calm down with my adventurous smoothies.

My husband had a few days of a sore stomach, which we’re not sure if it was related to the smoothies or not. He said that his digestive system might feel a bit better than it did at the beginning of the challenge, but overall he’s no better or worse.

I’m 100% sure we’ve had a smoothie every day, but I must have forgotten to add a few of them here and for the life of me I can’t remember them. So since the days don’t add up correctly anymore, I’m making up silly names for each smoothie.

Cantaloupe Disaster

1/4 cantaloupe with seeds, rind removed, chunked

1 small banana, peeled, cut in half

1 kiwi, ends cut off, cut in half

1 apple, cut in half

1 orange with pith, zest removed, cut in half

1/4 avocado, skin removed

spinach to fill the container

ice

This one wasn’t very good. Cantaloupe doesn’t work so well for smoothies in our opinions. 


Old Favorite

1 apple, cut in half

2 oranges with pith, zest removed, cut in half

2 bananas, peeled, cut in half

1/4 avocado, skin removed

5 leaves red chard

spinach to fill the container

ice

I decided to make us an old favorite since yesterday was such a disaster. Turned out great, but the smoothies were a bit smaller than usual. Next time I’ll add something new or another orange and apple. 

 

Twisted Old Favorite

2 apples with everything included, cut in fourths

2 oranges with pith, zest removed, cut in fourths

1/4 pineapple with core, outsides removed, cut in 4 chunks

1/4 avocado, skin removed

1 banana, peeled, broken in half

5 leaves of kale

spinach to fill the container

ice


Green Tropic

4 chunks pineapple with core intact, outsides removed (approximately 1/4 a pineapple)

2 small bananas, peeled, cut in half

1/4 a lemon with pith, zest removed

1/4 a lime with pith, zest removed

2 oranges, zest removed, cut into fourths (trying to make it so I don’t have to use the tamper as much)

1/4 avocado, skin removed

10 leaves of kale

spinach to fill the container

ice

We liked this one, but it was a bit more “green” than the smoothies in the past have been. I think I should have added more fruit than I did. 

 

Tropical Deliciousness

1/4 avocado, skin removed

1/4 pineapple with core, chunked, skin removed

2 oranges with pith, zest removed, cut into chunks

2 bananas, peeled, broken in half

1 kiwi, ends chopped off, cut into chunks

1 leaf collard greens (these things are huge, so you only need one)

spinach to fill the container

ice

This one was delicious! I’ll definitely be making it again. I’m also trying to spend a bit more time at the cutting board so I don’t have to deal with the tamper as much. The Vitamix can certainly handle a whole orange, but I just don’t want to worry about helping it along. 

 

Zesty Delight

2 kiwis, ends removed, cut into chunks

2 oranges with pith, zest removed, cut into chunks

2 apples all included, cut into chunks

1 leaf collard greens

spinach to fill the container

ice

This one was also really good. Got a bit too tangy towards the end, but I still liked it. I forgot our avocado which made me sad. Avocados aren’t a taste thing, but rather just making sure we get those healthy fats. 

Our Family Bath

There’s a lot of talk of the family bed, but not much of the family bath. Honestly, I didn’t even realize that it was at all uncommon to bathe with my children until I read this post on Natural Parents Network.

I didn’t take Peanut in the bath until she was a few months old. We used one of those baby baths that sits in the sink and since our sink wasn’t big enough in the basement, we had to go up to my in-law’s kitchen to do it. We were very much welcome to do this and I know my mother-in-law enjoyed helping with her bath, but half the time Peanut hated it. I always felt rushed to get her clean and out and I’d get covered in water myself. When I got brave and took her in the tub with me, I was still in that worrying-new-mom stage. I spent the whole time pouring water over her so that she wouldn’t get cold. It still wasn’t the most pleasant experience.

Then one day when I wanted to shower, I had the epiphany that I could bring her in with me. From then it grew into her joining in for pretty much ever shower we took. Sometimes she’d get a shower in the morning with my husband and then another one in the afternoon with me. She loves playing in the bath or shower. It’s been a great way to bond and play.

So when Twig was on the way, I decided that I would just bathe with her from the get-go. I sold the baby bath long before that and it just made sense to me. My husband was worried about me having both of them in the bath, as we were sure Miss Peanut would want to join if mommy and the baby were getting in, but I figured we’d all figure it out easily enough.

And we did. We have our little routine and we have a great time of it. It’s definitely one of my favorite parts of the day. So we donned our swimsuits in order to show you our daily bath time routine.

This is our pathetically small tub. If it weren’t so small, I’m sure that daddy would join us at least some nights. As it is, I rest Twig’s head on my stomach so that she can half float and kick in the water. I hold her on both sides just below her armpits so she’s fully supported. She loves it. Even if she’s in a horrible mood, she’ll get happy the moment we get in the tub.

Twig kicking in the tub was her first time she showed us she wanted to play with Peanut. She thinks it’s hilarious to kick her sister, especially when Peanut {gently} kicks back or plays with her feet when she does it. She actually aims at Peanut too. She’ll stretch her feet out to try to get her or kick close when she’s close enough to reach.

Twig loving the bath.

Getting down to the nitty gritty. I clean Twig’s leg folds while she’s in her kicking position. Just run my fingers through the folds. We don’t use soap unless I’ve done oil in her hair for the cradle cap, which has been less than a handful of times.

I turn Twig the other way to get her hair and neck folds. I support her with one hand on the back of her neck and head and I use the other to clean her. She’s not super happy with the process, but it’s quick so she doesn’t complain too much.

Then I take Twig and set her on my leg while I do Peanut’s hair. She lays back and is supported by my legs and I use my free hand to get her hair wet. We wash her with soap about once a week (or whenever she starts getting stinky) because water will wash off most of the dirt and other things just fine. No need to be squeaky clean every second of every day. Our bodies have natural oils that protect our skin on them and it’s not healthy to constantly wash them off.

After both of the girls are clean, we just hang out for a while longer in the tub. Twig floats and kicks. Dea asked me to sing the songs from Tangled (and sings them with me now since she’s heard the words enough times). It’s a great way to bond and make everyone happy and calm during an often stressful and grumpy part of the day.

Do you bathe as a family? Do you think it’s unusual to bathe as a family? Any tips or tricks you’d like to share about getting your little ones clean and happy? 

Easter

Peanut finding the baskets. She got an egg shaker from her music class and a few treats I found around the house.

Twig's only new gift was an egg shaker with a handle from music class. She likes to chew it.

Thinking about where to search next.

Yeah, Twig is chewing on Peanut's arm.

Twig loves her big sister.

Peanut trying out her surprise at the end of the egg hunt.

Giving our not-Easter bunny an Easter treat.

30 Day Green Smoothie Challenge

All the non-leafy greens before blending.

Around here, we love green smoothies. I drank them pretty religiously when I was in my first trimester because of the folic acid in leafy greens. I also used them as a way to get raw placenta into my system after the birth (don’t worry, you can’t taste or feel the placenta in them!). I feel great after drinking one and want to do it on a more regular basis. There are weeks where we can’t get enough spinach at the store and there are, to my dismay, weeks where we end up feeding the spinach to the bunny before it goes bad! Gasp!

My husband doesn’t drink green smoothies very often. It’s not that he doesn’t like them, but rather that he’s generally not home when I make them. He has been dealing with stomach issues, as well as tendonitis. He also has horrible eczema (he’s a redhead) and I’ve been looking for natural ways to help him. From my research online, I’ve found that eczema is often a sign of something wrong in the gut. That paired with the stomach issues he has sounds like there is indeed something wrong! And I’m sure that green smoothies can’t hurt the tendonitis. If anything, he may be deficient in vitamins that help tendons to function correctly. I found a few different options of what vitamin he could be deficient in (most notably magnesium and vitamin c) and all of the options are in high abundance in green smoothies.

Adding the leafy greens and ice.

As an early Mother’s Day gift, I got a dry container for my Vitamix (I’ve already made wheat bread–from actual wheat kernals–and it was super easy and delicious). While looking at videos on Youtube about my Vitamix blender for ideas, I found The Vitamix Lady. She was doing a demo, presumably at Costco, and she mentioned that people who took a 30 day Vitamix challenge reported both weight loss and more energy as their top two side effects. Sounded like exactly what I need to get myself back on track and in the habit of drinking these lovely, healthy smoothies.

So I started to look at challenges online. All the ones I found either A. Weren’t long enough, or B. Involved other things besides green smoothies. As a biology teaching major, I know that an experiment is only valid if you test one variable at a time. So I can’t say that green smoothies made me feel better if I also cut out soda and start exercising more. I also like the idea of a 30 day challenge because you need at least 21 days to get into a habit. Sadly, with the no spending challenge, I did go back to buying things pretty regularly. So possibly those extra 9 days will better solidify the concept in our minds.

Final product.

Last Friday, we started our challenge. I’m going to try to share not only our benefits or problems we’re facing with it, but also the actual smoothies that we make! I’m trying out new things every day, so I’m sure there will be delicious ones and not-so-delicious ones. I’m also trying to add as much of the fruit as possible so we can get all the nutrients. If you’re doing smoothies with a non-commercial strength blender, know that you’ll need to prepare the fruit by removing things that can’t be chopped and cutting the fruit into smaller bits.

Methods: I put in everything except the green leafy vegetables and blend enough that there aren’t actual pieces of fruit in the container, then I add the leafy veggies and ice and blend until smooth. This allows more of the green leafy veggies, along with getting the smoothies big enough that they can give 2 adults at least 20 ounces and a toddler approximately 10 ounces. 

Day 1 (pictured)

1 orange with pith (which is incredibly healthy for you), zest removed, cut in half

1 apple with seeds and stem, cut in half

1 small banana, peeled, broken in half

1/4 avocado, skin removed

1 kiwi, ends removed (but not skin), cut in half

4 chunks of pineapple, outside removed, inner core intact (approximately 1/4 a pineapple)

spinach to fill the container

ice

We all enjoyed this one a lot. Peanut drank all of hers right up.

Day 2

1 orange with pith, zest removed, cut in half

1 apple with seeds and stem, cut in half

2 small bananas, peeled, broken in half

1 lime with pith, zest removed

4 chunks of pineapple, outside removed, core intact

5 leaves of kale (introducing the different green leafy veggies slowly for my husband)

spinach to fill the container

ice

Husband thought this one was too lime-y. I loved it.

Day 3

2 oranges with pith, zest removed, cut in half

1/2 lemon with pith, zest removed

1 kiwi with ends cut off

1 small banana, peeled

4 chunks of pineapple, outside removed, core intact

5 leaves of red chard

spinach to fill the container

ice

The red chard makes the worst colored smoothies in my opinion, but I couldn’t taste it at all. My husband put his in the fridge until after lunch and it made it taste like old bananas a bit, but he didn’t mind it. Peanut drank hers pretty fast.

We’re all feeling good so far. Peanut and my husband have had a bit of a sore tummy, but I’m not sure if it’s related to the smoothies or not. It could make sense for it to make them feel a bit tender because of introducing so much goodness into their diet at once. They don’t feel awful or anything though.

Anyone want to join us on our challenge? Have any of you done a similar challenge? Hopefully we have awesome results to share!

The Importance of the Virgin Gut

Peanut getting a poke test done for allergies. One huge red spot is the test spot, the other is for Peanuts.

I didn’t hear about the concept of the virgin gut until Peanut was a few months old. At the time, I dismissed it as a “holier than thou” ideal. By then, Peanut had already had something other than breast milk. Actually, by the time she was a day old, she had already had something other than breast milk.

We transferred with Peanut to the hospital after her accidental home birth. We had trusted our midwife to help us decide whether or not the vitamin K shot would be necessary, but since we didn’t go to the same hospital, our midwives weren’t there. Honestly, they may have recommended it anyway given the length of labor and the position of Peanut during most of it. I’m not sure. Regardless, she was given the vitamin K shot when we transferred to the hospital. I honestly don’t even remember it happening, but (obviously without a medical degree or anything that gives me valid proof) I’m sure that it’s the reason for what happened next.

They tested Peanut’s blood, without my consent I may add, and told me that her blood was “too thick.” They said that I needed to give her Pedialyte to counteract this and that they’d test it again in a few hours. I knew the risks of nipple confusion, so I made sure we wouldn’t do it in a bottle. That’s all I knew to do. I felt totally lost and confused. I felt like they were working against me and my gut told me not to do it, but I did it anyway. Her blood was fine at the next test even with the fact that I’m certain she spit up most of what I gave her in the syringe. This made me wonder if it was even necessary.

So when I was introduced to the concept of the virgin gut, the feelings of betrayal from the hospital staff convincing me to give Pedialyte to my baby were still raw. I felt offended at the idea of my child not having a virgin gut. Like they were trying to say something was wrong with her. Like I had done that thing wrong.

It wasn’t until later that I really looked at the idea of the virgin gut.

There is a reason for the virgin gut, especially within the first few weeks. When a baby is born, their gut is sterile. Babies given supplementation develop different gut flora. Even one bottle changes the flora and, if given in the first week of life, the flora may not ever reach the pH that it would have been otherwise. The pH level of the gut is one of the methods the body uses to fight bad bacteria, then the formula itself often introduces bad bacteria.

Even beyond the first weeks, it’s best to delay introducing anything besides breast milk for the first 6 months, if not longer. Not the first 4-6 months, as baby food labels and possibly even your pediatrician may tell you. Between 4 and 6 months, a baby’s gut will “close.”  The “open” gut of a baby allows larger molecules to pass through the intestine, straight into the blood stream. This is so that the antibodies from the mother’s breast milk are able to get to the baby’s bloodstream straight away, which is a great thing. If formula or other foods are introduced to the baby before it’s fully closed, it becomes a very bad thing. This allows pathogens to get straight to your baby, along with large molecules from the food. What’s the problem with food molecules in the bloodstream? Allergies.

I remember being thoroughly unalarmed by the idea of allergies when Peanut was a baby. We had very few allergies in our family and none were life threatening, so I figured her risk of developing them was pretty low. Then I had a child with a life-threatening food allergy. I kept myself awake at night worrying about someone giving her food without knowing or a label being wrong. I lived in fear of having to use the Epi-pen that we carried with us 24 hours a day and even bigger fear of not having it when we needed it. I still well up at the thought of her allergy and I am beyond grateful that she outgrew it. Now though, I wonder if we would have dealt with it at all if she would have had a virgin gut. May we would have, but I’ll forever wonder if those few little supplements of Pedialyte in the hospital gave us 6 months of hell.

Of course there are situations where a baby just can’t have a virgin gut. A friend of mine almost died during birth and was in a coma for weeks afterwards. During that time, her newborn daughter was obviously given formula. Afterwards, she was able to exclusively breastfeed. Really, an amazing accomplishment. For her daughter though, that formula allowed her to live when her mother couldn’t give her milk. There are many medical reasons for a baby needing something other than their mother’s milk. Even if your baby has been given formula or other food (beyond the first week), the gut can restore itself to the correct pH with exclusive breast milk for a couple of weeks.

So how important is the virgin gut? It depends. Only you can decide if it’s something important to you. If there is a medical necessity for your baby to receive formula or medication, then that can outweigh the risks of a non-virgin gut. Maybe though, if you’re just thinking of supplementing with formula while you go on a date, you can pump instead. Or maybe if you’re already giving your baby formula or other food regularly, you might decide restore your baby’s virgin gut status by going back to breast milk only. Maybe even if there’s not a medical reason, you still aren’t worried about a non-virgin gut.

This, along with all the other things I mention on this blog, are individual choices. I use this space to inform people of the decisions I’ve made. Often it’s because I think I may have made a different decision, or in this case, have made a different decision in the past, without this information. I hope that even if you don’t decide to do the things on this blog that it helps you to make educated decisions. Every one of you will make the decision that’s best for your family and your circumstances, just as I’ve made the decision that’s best for mine.