.

[wanderlost]

help after the baby is born

Julie, I could never breastfeed in my sling - but I could do housework in it (cook, laundry). If I could have breasfed and cooked - well that would have been amazing!

My mom cooked us a few dinners to freeze and came around a bit, but I didn't have a whole lot of help besides my hubby and other kids. We made it through, though it was tiring.

Be careful if you choose to pump not to introduce the bottle before you have breastfeeding firmly established, babies can get "nipple confusion" and will generally then prefer the bottle nipple (read here: <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.breastfeeding-basics.com/html/introducing_bottles.shtml">http://www.breastfeeding-basic...roducing_bottles.shtml</a> or <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.kellymom.com">http://www.kellymom.com</a> ). A few weeksin is usually OK.

and as the others have said, you might want to get a copy of Tom Hale's <i>Medications and Mother's Milk</i> - a good LC will have it, but a lot of docs don't know about it and just go by pharmaceutical inserts which mostly say not to breastfeed on such and such med.

Getting ready for a new baby is so exciting!

 

[wanderlost]

help after the baby is born

Julie, I could never breastfeed in my sling - but I could do housework in it (cook, laundry). If I could have breasfed and cooked - well that would have been amazing!

My mom cooked us a few dinners to freeze and came around a bit, but I didn't have a whole lot of help besides my hubby and other kids. We made it through, though it was tiring.

Be careful if you choose to pump not to introduce the bottle before you have breastfeeding firmly established, babies can get "nipple confusion" and will generally then prefer the bottle nipple (read here: <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.breastfeeding-basics.com/html/introducing_bottles.shtml">http://www.breastfeeding-basic...roducing_bottles.shtml</a> or <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.kellymom.com">http://www.kellymom.com</a> ). A few weeksin is usually OK.

and as the others have said, you might want to get a copy of Tom Hale's <i>Medications and Mother's Milk</i> - a good LC will have it, but a lot of docs don't know about it and just go by pharmaceutical inserts which mostly say not to breastfeed on such and such med.

Getting ready for a new baby is so exciting!

 

[wanderlost]

help after the baby is born

Julie, I could never breastfeed in my sling - but I could do housework in it (cook, laundry). If I could have breasfed and cooked - well that would have been amazing!

My mom cooked us a few dinners to freeze and came around a bit, but I didn't have a whole lot of help besides my hubby and other kids. We made it through, though it was tiring.

Be careful if you choose to pump not to introduce the bottle before you have breastfeeding firmly established, babies can get "nipple confusion" and will generally then prefer the bottle nipple (read here: <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.breastfeeding-basics.com/html/introducing_bottles.shtml">http://www.breastfeeding-basic...roducing_bottles.shtml</a> or <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.kellymom.com">http://www.kellymom.com</a> ). A few weeksin is usually OK.

and as the others have said, you might want to get a copy of Tom Hale's <i>Medications and Mother's Milk</i> - a good LC will have it, but a lot of docs don't know about it and just go by pharmaceutical inserts which mostly say not to breastfeed on such and such med.

Getting ready for a new baby is so exciting!

 

[wanderlost]

help after the baby is born

Julie, I could never breastfeed in my sling - but I could do housework in it (cook, laundry). If I could have breasfed and cooked - well that would have been amazing!

My mom cooked us a few dinners to freeze and came around a bit, but I didn't have a whole lot of help besides my hubby and other kids. We made it through, though it was tiring.

Be careful if you choose to pump not to introduce the bottle before you have breastfeeding firmly established, babies can get "nipple confusion" and will generally then prefer the bottle nipple (read here: <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.breastfeeding-basics.com/html/introducing_bottles.shtml">http://www.breastfeeding-basic...roducing_bottles.shtml</a> or <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.kellymom.com">http://www.kellymom.com</a> ). A few weeksin is usually OK.

and as the others have said, you might want to get a copy of Tom Hale's <i>Medications and Mother's Milk</i> - a good LC will have it, but a lot of docs don't know about it and just go by pharmaceutical inserts which mostly say not to breastfeed on such and such med.

Getting ready for a new baby is so exciting!

 

[wanderlost]

help after the baby is born

Julie, I could never breastfeed in my sling - but I could do housework in it (cook, laundry). If I could have breasfed and cooked - well that would have been amazing!

My mom cooked us a few dinners to freeze and came around a bit, but I didn't have a whole lot of help besides my hubby and other kids. We made it through, though it was tiring.

Be careful if you choose to pump not to introduce the bottle before you have breastfeeding firmly established, babies can get "nipple confusion" and will generally then prefer the bottle nipple (read here: <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.breastfeeding-basics.com/html/introducing_bottles.shtml">http://www.breastfeeding-basic...roducing_bottles.shtml</a> or <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.kellymom.com">http://www.kellymom.com</a> ). A few weeksin is usually OK.

and as the others have said, you might want to get a copy of Tom Hale's <i>Medications and Mother's Milk</i> - a good LC will have it, but a lot of docs don't know about it and just go by pharmaceutical inserts which mostly say not to breastfeed on such and such med.

Getting ready for a new baby is so exciting!

 

[wanderlost]

help after the baby is born

Julie, I could never breastfeed in my sling - but I could do housework in it (cook, laundry). If I could have breasfed and cooked - well that would have been amazing!

My mom cooked us a few dinners to freeze and came around a bit, but I didn't have a whole lot of help besides my hubby and other kids. We made it through, though it was tiring.

Be careful if you choose to pump not to introduce the bottle before you have breastfeeding firmly established, babies can get "nipple confusion" and will generally then prefer the bottle nipple (read here: <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.breastfeeding-basics.com/html/introducing_bottles.shtml">http://www.breastfeeding-basic...roducing_bottles.shtml</a> or <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.kellymom.com">http://www.kellymom.com</a> ). A few weeksin is usually OK.

and as the others have said, you might want to get a copy of Tom Hale's <i>Medications and Mother's Milk</i> - a good LC will have it, but a lot of docs don't know about it and just go by pharmaceutical inserts which mostly say not to breastfeed on such and such med.

Getting ready for a new baby is so exciting!

 

[mom2lillian]

help after the baby is born

just fyi the reason most IV's are fine for breastfeeding is that we take them intravenously for a reason--they dont wokr when you digest them. So ~10-15% gets into the breastmilk which is tolerable in the first place but then the majority of that just passes through them because it isnt meant to be consumed and absorbed by the digestive tract the small bit that is can be metabolized by them. Of course if the scenario comes up check with your LC's anyway but this is what I have read and foudn otu.

Additionally, I bought some of the super suppers meals and for the money was not readily impressed but I also LIKE ot cook and am a bit pickey about what I eat. Soo what I did since I had 5 week s off before the baby (3 weeks mat leave and had saved 2 weeks vacation) was cook double batches many nights a week. I used the extra money I woudl have paid for the ready made dinners and bought a deluxe vacuum sealer and froze extras. The last week before I had her when that whole nesting instince kiced in I made 5-7 dinners for 3 days and froze them, some of them I just mixed ingredients and froze (like super suppers etc) others I cooked and froze them all. We are just now getting low on all of these so it ha sbeen really nice. NOW I am not usre what I am going to do LOL. I have also bought a good crock pot and am tryign to get friendly with it.

Also I woudl highly recommend a medela pump. I have the double pump in style. There will be times you will want to have milk frozen if you get ill and your supply drops so you can have excess frozen. If you have low supply to start with you can pump after feedings to help increase it. YOu can freeze extra in event supply drops when you go back to wrok. When introducing the bottle later on (but not too later on) you can pump one feeding's worth, give DH the bottle and head out to get some 'you' time. THis is what I did and headed out for a walk, the grocery store, or to the gym to give myself a break. The medela pump runs about $300 but if there is any way in the world you can afford it I woudl highly recommend it. My hospital it is $40 a month to rent it so it was not worth it for me to 'try' it first and waste that money instead of buying it.

I also recommend you read about co-bedding and such before having the baby because at least being able to lay in bed and breastfeed is much easier than sitting in a rocker etc all night. It depends on you but I didnt do it the first few weeks becuase the hospital scared the crud out of us about doing it.

 

[mom2lillian]

help after the baby is born

just fyi the reason most IV's are fine for breastfeeding is that we take them intravenously for a reason--they dont wokr when you digest them. So ~10-15% gets into the breastmilk which is tolerable in the first place but then the majority of that just passes through them because it isnt meant to be consumed and absorbed by the digestive tract the small bit that is can be metabolized by them. Of course if the scenario comes up check with your LC's anyway but this is what I have read and foudn otu.

Additionally, I bought some of the super suppers meals and for the money was not readily impressed but I also LIKE ot cook and am a bit pickey about what I eat. Soo what I did since I had 5 week s off before the baby (3 weeks mat leave and had saved 2 weeks vacation) was cook double batches many nights a week. I used the extra money I woudl have paid for the ready made dinners and bought a deluxe vacuum sealer and froze extras. The last week before I had her when that whole nesting instince kiced in I made 5-7 dinners for 3 days and froze them, some of them I just mixed ingredients and froze (like super suppers etc) others I cooked and froze them all. We are just now getting low on all of these so it ha sbeen really nice. NOW I am not usre what I am going to do LOL. I have also bought a good crock pot and am tryign to get friendly with it.

Also I woudl highly recommend a medela pump. I have the double pump in style. There will be times you will want to have milk frozen if you get ill and your supply drops so you can have excess frozen. If you have low supply to start with you can pump after feedings to help increase it. YOu can freeze extra in event supply drops when you go back to wrok. When introducing the bottle later on (but not too later on) you can pump one feeding's worth, give DH the bottle and head out to get some 'you' time. THis is what I did and headed out for a walk, the grocery store, or to the gym to give myself a break. The medela pump runs about $300 but if there is any way in the world you can afford it I woudl highly recommend it. My hospital it is $40 a month to rent it so it was not worth it for me to 'try' it first and waste that money instead of buying it.

I also recommend you read about co-bedding and such before having the baby because at least being able to lay in bed and breastfeed is much easier than sitting in a rocker etc all night. It depends on you but I didnt do it the first few weeks becuase the hospital scared the crud out of us about doing it.

 

[mom2lillian]

help after the baby is born

just fyi the reason most IV's are fine for breastfeeding is that we take them intravenously for a reason--they dont wokr when you digest them. So ~10-15% gets into the breastmilk which is tolerable in the first place but then the majority of that just passes through them because it isnt meant to be consumed and absorbed by the digestive tract the small bit that is can be metabolized by them. Of course if the scenario comes up check with your LC's anyway but this is what I have read and foudn otu.

Additionally, I bought some of the super suppers meals and for the money was not readily impressed but I also LIKE ot cook and am a bit pickey about what I eat. Soo what I did since I had 5 week s off before the baby (3 weeks mat leave and had saved 2 weeks vacation) was cook double batches many nights a week. I used the extra money I woudl have paid for the ready made dinners and bought a deluxe vacuum sealer and froze extras. The last week before I had her when that whole nesting instince kiced in I made 5-7 dinners for 3 days and froze them, some of them I just mixed ingredients and froze (like super suppers etc) others I cooked and froze them all. We are just now getting low on all of these so it ha sbeen really nice. NOW I am not usre what I am going to do LOL. I have also bought a good crock pot and am tryign to get friendly with it.

Also I woudl highly recommend a medela pump. I have the double pump in style. There will be times you will want to have milk frozen if you get ill and your supply drops so you can have excess frozen. If you have low supply to start with you can pump after feedings to help increase it. YOu can freeze extra in event supply drops when you go back to wrok. When introducing the bottle later on (but not too later on) you can pump one feeding's worth, give DH the bottle and head out to get some 'you' time. THis is what I did and headed out for a walk, the grocery store, or to the gym to give myself a break. The medela pump runs about $300 but if there is any way in the world you can afford it I woudl highly recommend it. My hospital it is $40 a month to rent it so it was not worth it for me to 'try' it first and waste that money instead of buying it.

I also recommend you read about co-bedding and such before having the baby because at least being able to lay in bed and breastfeed is much easier than sitting in a rocker etc all night. It depends on you but I didnt do it the first few weeks becuase the hospital scared the crud out of us about doing it.

 

[mom2lillian]

help after the baby is born

just fyi the reason most IV's are fine for breastfeeding is that we take them intravenously for a reason--they dont wokr when you digest them. So ~10-15% gets into the breastmilk which is tolerable in the first place but then the majority of that just passes through them because it isnt meant to be consumed and absorbed by the digestive tract the small bit that is can be metabolized by them. Of course if the scenario comes up check with your LC's anyway but this is what I have read and foudn otu.

Additionally, I bought some of the super suppers meals and for the money was not readily impressed but I also LIKE ot cook and am a bit pickey about what I eat. Soo what I did since I had 5 week s off before the baby (3 weeks mat leave and had saved 2 weeks vacation) was cook double batches many nights a week. I used the extra money I woudl have paid for the ready made dinners and bought a deluxe vacuum sealer and froze extras. The last week before I had her when that whole nesting instince kiced in I made 5-7 dinners for 3 days and froze them, some of them I just mixed ingredients and froze (like super suppers etc) others I cooked and froze them all. We are just now getting low on all of these so it ha sbeen really nice. NOW I am not usre what I am going to do LOL. I have also bought a good crock pot and am tryign to get friendly with it.

Also I woudl highly recommend a medela pump. I have the double pump in style. There will be times you will want to have milk frozen if you get ill and your supply drops so you can have excess frozen. If you have low supply to start with you can pump after feedings to help increase it. YOu can freeze extra in event supply drops when you go back to wrok. When introducing the bottle later on (but not too later on) you can pump one feeding's worth, give DH the bottle and head out to get some 'you' time. THis is what I did and headed out for a walk, the grocery store, or to the gym to give myself a break. The medela pump runs about $300 but if there is any way in the world you can afford it I woudl highly recommend it. My hospital it is $40 a month to rent it so it was not worth it for me to 'try' it first and waste that money instead of buying it.

I also recommend you read about co-bedding and such before having the baby because at least being able to lay in bed and breastfeed is much easier than sitting in a rocker etc all night. It depends on you but I didnt do it the first few weeks becuase the hospital scared the crud out of us about doing it.

 

[mom2lillian]

help after the baby is born

just fyi the reason most IV's are fine for breastfeeding is that we take them intravenously for a reason--they dont wokr when you digest them. So ~10-15% gets into the breastmilk which is tolerable in the first place but then the majority of that just passes through them because it isnt meant to be consumed and absorbed by the digestive tract the small bit that is can be metabolized by them. Of course if the scenario comes up check with your LC's anyway but this is what I have read and foudn otu.

Additionally, I bought some of the super suppers meals and for the money was not readily impressed but I also LIKE ot cook and am a bit pickey about what I eat. Soo what I did since I had 5 week s off before the baby (3 weeks mat leave and had saved 2 weeks vacation) was cook double batches many nights a week. I used the extra money I woudl have paid for the ready made dinners and bought a deluxe vacuum sealer and froze extras. The last week before I had her when that whole nesting instince kiced in I made 5-7 dinners for 3 days and froze them, some of them I just mixed ingredients and froze (like super suppers etc) others I cooked and froze them all. We are just now getting low on all of these so it ha sbeen really nice. NOW I am not usre what I am going to do LOL. I have also bought a good crock pot and am tryign to get friendly with it.

Also I woudl highly recommend a medela pump. I have the double pump in style. There will be times you will want to have milk frozen if you get ill and your supply drops so you can have excess frozen. If you have low supply to start with you can pump after feedings to help increase it. YOu can freeze extra in event supply drops when you go back to wrok. When introducing the bottle later on (but not too later on) you can pump one feeding's worth, give DH the bottle and head out to get some 'you' time. THis is what I did and headed out for a walk, the grocery store, or to the gym to give myself a break. The medela pump runs about $300 but if there is any way in the world you can afford it I woudl highly recommend it. My hospital it is $40 a month to rent it so it was not worth it for me to 'try' it first and waste that money instead of buying it.

I also recommend you read about co-bedding and such before having the baby because at least being able to lay in bed and breastfeed is much easier than sitting in a rocker etc all night. It depends on you but I didnt do it the first few weeks becuase the hospital scared the crud out of us about doing it.

 

[mom2lillian]

help after the baby is born

just fyi the reason most IV's are fine for breastfeeding is that we take them intravenously for a reason--they dont wokr when you digest them. So ~10-15% gets into the breastmilk which is tolerable in the first place but then the majority of that just passes through them because it isnt meant to be consumed and absorbed by the digestive tract the small bit that is can be metabolized by them. Of course if the scenario comes up check with your LC's anyway but this is what I have read and foudn otu.

Additionally, I bought some of the super suppers meals and for the money was not readily impressed but I also LIKE ot cook and am a bit pickey about what I eat. Soo what I did since I had 5 week s off before the baby (3 weeks mat leave and had saved 2 weeks vacation) was cook double batches many nights a week. I used the extra money I woudl have paid for the ready made dinners and bought a deluxe vacuum sealer and froze extras. The last week before I had her when that whole nesting instince kiced in I made 5-7 dinners for 3 days and froze them, some of them I just mixed ingredients and froze (like super suppers etc) others I cooked and froze them all. We are just now getting low on all of these so it ha sbeen really nice. NOW I am not usre what I am going to do LOL. I have also bought a good crock pot and am tryign to get friendly with it.

Also I woudl highly recommend a medela pump. I have the double pump in style. There will be times you will want to have milk frozen if you get ill and your supply drops so you can have excess frozen. If you have low supply to start with you can pump after feedings to help increase it. YOu can freeze extra in event supply drops when you go back to wrok. When introducing the bottle later on (but not too later on) you can pump one feeding's worth, give DH the bottle and head out to get some 'you' time. THis is what I did and headed out for a walk, the grocery store, or to the gym to give myself a break. The medela pump runs about $300 but if there is any way in the world you can afford it I woudl highly recommend it. My hospital it is $40 a month to rent it so it was not worth it for me to 'try' it first and waste that money instead of buying it.

I also recommend you read about co-bedding and such before having the baby because at least being able to lay in bed and breastfeed is much easier than sitting in a rocker etc all night. It depends on you but I didnt do it the first few weeks becuase the hospital scared the crud out of us about doing it.

 

[julie]

help after the baby is born

I still have to 2nd or 3rd or 4th or whatever number I am... <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> the housekeeper. My grandma paid for one for us for 6 months following the babies, 2x a month they came. what a HUGE help they were! we only had to worry about dishes, meals and immediate kitchen messes, and laundry oh and vacuuming because we have 4 pets! Everhtying else (dusting, Deep clean vaccuming, bathrooms, kitchen, stripped the bed and made it) was DEEP cleaned by them every other week. Since they've been gone (we can't afford one, but really LOVED her gift to us!) it's a noticable difference that on Sundays we spend less time with the kids because we spend 1-2 hours doing that deep cleaning.

So if you can afford it, even if for just a short time in the beginning go for it!!

 

[julie]

help after the baby is born

I still have to 2nd or 3rd or 4th or whatever number I am... <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> the housekeeper. My grandma paid for one for us for 6 months following the babies, 2x a month they came. what a HUGE help they were! we only had to worry about dishes, meals and immediate kitchen messes, and laundry oh and vacuuming because we have 4 pets! Everhtying else (dusting, Deep clean vaccuming, bathrooms, kitchen, stripped the bed and made it) was DEEP cleaned by them every other week. Since they've been gone (we can't afford one, but really LOVED her gift to us!) it's a noticable difference that on Sundays we spend less time with the kids because we spend 1-2 hours doing that deep cleaning.

So if you can afford it, even if for just a short time in the beginning go for it!!

 

[julie]

help after the baby is born

I still have to 2nd or 3rd or 4th or whatever number I am... <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> the housekeeper. My grandma paid for one for us for 6 months following the babies, 2x a month they came. what a HUGE help they were! we only had to worry about dishes, meals and immediate kitchen messes, and laundry oh and vacuuming because we have 4 pets! Everhtying else (dusting, Deep clean vaccuming, bathrooms, kitchen, stripped the bed and made it) was DEEP cleaned by them every other week. Since they've been gone (we can't afford one, but really LOVED her gift to us!) it's a noticable difference that on Sundays we spend less time with the kids because we spend 1-2 hours doing that deep cleaning.

So if you can afford it, even if for just a short time in the beginning go for it!!

 

[julie]

help after the baby is born

I still have to 2nd or 3rd or 4th or whatever number I am... <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> the housekeeper. My grandma paid for one for us for 6 months following the babies, 2x a month they came. what a HUGE help they were! we only had to worry about dishes, meals and immediate kitchen messes, and laundry oh and vacuuming because we have 4 pets! Everhtying else (dusting, Deep clean vaccuming, bathrooms, kitchen, stripped the bed and made it) was DEEP cleaned by them every other week. Since they've been gone (we can't afford one, but really LOVED her gift to us!) it's a noticable difference that on Sundays we spend less time with the kids because we spend 1-2 hours doing that deep cleaning.

So if you can afford it, even if for just a short time in the beginning go for it!!

 

[julie]

help after the baby is born

I still have to 2nd or 3rd or 4th or whatever number I am... <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> the housekeeper. My grandma paid for one for us for 6 months following the babies, 2x a month they came. what a HUGE help they were! we only had to worry about dishes, meals and immediate kitchen messes, and laundry oh and vacuuming because we have 4 pets! Everhtying else (dusting, Deep clean vaccuming, bathrooms, kitchen, stripped the bed and made it) was DEEP cleaned by them every other week. Since they've been gone (we can't afford one, but really LOVED her gift to us!) it's a noticable difference that on Sundays we spend less time with the kids because we spend 1-2 hours doing that deep cleaning.

So if you can afford it, even if for just a short time in the beginning go for it!!

 

[julie]

help after the baby is born

I still have to 2nd or 3rd or 4th or whatever number I am... <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> the housekeeper. My grandma paid for one for us for 6 months following the babies, 2x a month they came. what a HUGE help they were! we only had to worry about dishes, meals and immediate kitchen messes, and laundry oh and vacuuming because we have 4 pets! Everhtying else (dusting, Deep clean vaccuming, bathrooms, kitchen, stripped the bed and made it) was DEEP cleaned by them every other week. Since they've been gone (we can't afford one, but really LOVED her gift to us!) it's a noticable difference that on Sundays we spend less time with the kids because we spend 1-2 hours doing that deep cleaning.

So if you can afford it, even if for just a short time in the beginning go for it!!

 

[Wendy]

help after the baby is born

Definitely get help if you can! My mom stayed the first week, my sister is here with me this week, and my other sister is staying next week. It has been nice to just be able to spend time with the new baby. My family has taken care of us, including activities for my son so he won't feel left out. I also think hiring someone to clean is great if you can afford it. It's good that you're planning now; that makes the homecoming go more smoothly.

 

[Wendy]

help after the baby is born

Definitely get help if you can! My mom stayed the first week, my sister is here with me this week, and my other sister is staying next week. It has been nice to just be able to spend time with the new baby. My family has taken care of us, including activities for my son so he won't feel left out. I also think hiring someone to clean is great if you can afford it. It's good that you're planning now; that makes the homecoming go more smoothly.