Breastfeeding at 6 months in Eliot’s own words (as interpreted by his Mama):

I’m playing (with my book),
I’m playing (with my blocks),
I’m playing (with my toes),
I’m pla…I’m STARVING, STARVING, STARVING, STARVING, STARVING!!!!
(Mama shoves boob in E’s mouth)
Mmmmmm, milk is good.
Suck, Suck…
Is that my puppy?
(E wrenches his head and pulls Mama’s nipple off her boob)
Puppy?! Puppy?! Puppy?! PUPPY, PUPPY, PUP...I’m STARVING!!!!
(Mama puts nipple back on boob and shoves boob in E’s mouth)
Mmmmmm, milk is good.
Suck, Suck…
Look at my toes, I have toes. Do you have toes? Have you seen my toes?
I’d rather eat my toes.
(E wrenches his head and pulls Mama’s nipple off her boob again)
Suck (on toes), Suck (on toes), Suck (on toes)…
There’s no milk in my toes…I’m STARVING, STARVING, STARVING!!!!
(Mama puts nipple back on boob and shoves boob in E’s mouth)
Mmmmmm, milk is good.
Suck, Suck, Suck…
Suck (look at Mama’s pretty face),
Suck (I think I’ll claw it)
Suck (CLAWING MAMA’S FACE, CLAWING MAMA’S FACE)
(Mama removes E’s hands from her bloodied face)
Suck, Suck, Suck…
Suck (I have a face),
Suck (I think I’ll claw it)
Suck (CLAWING MY FACE, CLAWING MY FACE)
(Mama removes E’s hands from his bloodied face)
Suck, Suck, Suck…
Suck (sleepy), Suck (sleepy), Suck (sleepy)…
Who needs sleep? NOT ME!
(Mama needs sleep! Mama needs sleep! MAMA NEEDS SLEEP!!!!)

Repeat.

Life's a bowl of cherries!

Life can be the pits, but...


I bought these cherries at Whole Foods the other day and they ended up costing me over $12 for the bowl! Ouch! But when we ate them, we quickly forgot how much they cost. They were fantastic!! Probably the best cherries I've ever eaten. Yummy!

What's for dinner tonight?

I spent my evening making baby food for Eliot. It's very easy to do - you basically steam or boil the veggies until soft and then mash or puree them to the consistency of your liking. We're not completely pureeing most foods as our pediatrician recommended letting him get used to semi-solids right from the get-go. She said he will learn how to manipulate food in his mouth and lessen the risk of choking when we transition to a totally solid diet. It works...he has no problem chewing (or should I say gumming) a piece of banana, avocado or a bean. The things that I do puree, I leave a bit chunky. Today he was able to pick up the aduki beans with his thumb and forefinger and put it in his mouth - working on those fine motor skills!

So here's what was for dinner tonight: organic aduki beans, zucchini, golden beets (both locally grown & organic), organic carrots and sweet peas (locally grown & organic). Dessert consisted of mashed organic bananas and applesauce. He ate a little bit of each food - I'd say his favorites were the aduki beans and the golden beets.


The bambu spoon is great! It's softer than metal and not made out of plastic! The one thing that's no fun about making baby food? Cleaning up the mess afterwards - which is why I made Jason do it!




Thrush update: I'm feeling a bit better today. Back to breastfeeding with my eyes squeezed shut, a grimace on my face and a bit of leg thrashing to deal with the pain. Eliot had another relatively crabby day. Tomorrow we see the doctor again. Oh, and it turns out that yeast can live forever as spores waiting to be fed and reactivated by moisture. Nice thought, huh?

Thrush!

Last week, it suddenly became very painful for me to breastfeed or pump and I noticed that Eliot had some white patches on the back of his tongue. A quick bit of research on the La Leche League website indicated we likely had thrush. How bad could it be? was my first thought. BAD. VERY BAD. It can be VERY, VERY BAD. Thrush, or oropharyngeal candidiasis (OPC), is a fungal infection that occurs when there is overgrowth of fungus called Candida. Candida is normally found on skin or mucous membranes. However, if the environment inside the mouth or throat becomes imbalanced, Candida can multiply. It's a yeast infection, basically. In medical terms, it's not that big of a deal. It won't lead to any serious health condition and it may even go away on it's own without treatment. However, it is INCREDIBLY PAINFUL and can be persistent and recurrent. Here's a very comprehensive article about thrush. I would say that for me, this has been more painful than delivering Eliot naturally. I'm serious. If you'd prefer to avoid TMI, this is your chance. Stop reading now.

My nipples are cracked, peeling, swollen and bleed when I pump. I've stopped breastfeeding until this goes away because I can't deal with the pain. It was determined that the infection had progressed beyond my nipples, to both the milk ducts and breast tissue. When I'm pumping, it feels like glass shards coming out instead of milk and there is sharp shooting pain through my breasts and into my back. When I'm not pumping, it feels like my nipples are on fire even though I'm walking around topless as much as possible. I can't hold Eliot against my chest, which has made taking care of him a bit difficult. He's definitely not impressed that I'm not breastfeeding him at night when wants it. A bottle doesn't seem what he wants at night, although he will take it if he's hungry. I'm not sure if Eliot is in any pain, but he's certainly been more fussy and needy than normal. He wants to be held all day and has cried himself to sleep every night.

I'm on a 10 day course of Diflucan and Eliot is on a 10 day course of Nystatin, which I've read doesn't work as well as other drugs. After four days of treatment, my symptoms are only slightly better. The recommendations for getting rid of thrush are extremely overwhelming and include the following:

• Disinfect all bottles and toys after each use by boiling for 20 minutes - I've been using my Medela microwave sterilization bags instead. I hope they work...
• Wash all plush toys, cloths, towels, sheets and any other items that would have been in contact with the baby/mom in HOT water with a bleach or vinegar rinse. We chose vinegar. Boiling all of these items for 5 minutes is recommended, but I don't know how that is humanly possible. What would you boil them in?!
• Switch to disposable diapers until the infection is gone and wash cloth diapers with vinegar rinse. We can't boil our diapers as it would ruin the snaps.
• Dry hands using paper towels and only use a bath towel once and then wash it, with vinegar rinse.
• Replace toothbrushes during treatment and after. Done.
• Replace makeup. Seriously!? I don't know what I'll do about this one... it's an expensive proposition.
• Clean all hard surfaces in your house with either a 10-percent bleach solution or vinegar water. We chose vinegar water.
• Change your diet to eliminate sugar, yeast, dairy, & wheat. Done to a certain extent.

In addition to these measures, we're both taking probiotics. I'm putting vinegar water on my nipples regularly, which is known to kill yeast. We used gentian violet (pronounced jen-shun) for two days, which was unbelievably messy and turned both my breasts and Eliot's face purple. There is some indication that prolonged use of this treatment can cause cancer, but a two day course is recommended by many sources, including La Leche League, Mothering Magazine and Dr. Sears.

A couple of things have me stumped. First, how am I supposed to clean our wooden toys? They have many areas where it seems that yeast would thrive. I can't boil them or soak them. Any ideas? Do I have to throw them away? Second, if regular dish soap and laundry soap doesn't kill the yeast spores, how can you possibly hope to eradicate it from your house? Or doesn't it matter? How long can they live on an inanimate object? Once the infection's been cleared from our bodies, will we be reinfected by a pillow or a shoe, for example?

Maybe I'm being overly worried about this, but there's a lot of horror stories on the Internet and I cannot imagine having this again or for an extended period of time. Any advice? I'm seeing our family doctor on Wednesday so I'll be sure to bombard her with all my questions, too. In the meantime, say a little prayer for my boobs and Eliot's mouth.

Eco-Friendly Highchairs - Part III

If you need to catch up, read Eco-Friendly Highchairs, the first post and Great Customer Service from AnkaBabyStore, the second post. When we got our second high chair, it was immediately clear that the box had been pretty damaged during shipping. After we opened it, we found both shipping damage and the same defect as the first chair, but this time it was worse. The chair was also the wrong finish, so even if it had been in perfect condition, we would have sent it back. Take a look:



Since it was past business hours on a Friday when we received it, we had to wait until Monday to call AnkaBabyStore. They were very helpful and apologetic again. I spoke with a manager who promised that they'd ship a new chair the next day and that they would open it before they shipped it to ensure it didn't have the same issue. Well, I guess the third time's a charm! When we received the third chair, it had a couple of fragile stickers placed prominently on the box, which seemed to have helped because the box was in much better condition. The chair was the right color and had no damage, shipping or otherwise.

The verdict: We love it! Eliot is very comfortable in the chair and likes to sit in it and play. It was really easy to put together and it's easy to adjust the settings to fit your child perfectly. The tray cover washes nicely in the dishwasher or sink and is easy to take on and off. The chair pad can be thrown in the washing machine when dirty and washes well. Getting the theme, here? Easy Peazy. Also, feeding him has become much, much easier for us. Plus, the chair looks fantastic and doesn't take up a ton of space in our house! Take a look:




So, after all that, I would definitely purchase additional products from AnkaBabyStore. Their customer service was fantastic and they took care of both issues very quickly and with no hassle to me whatsoever. Things like this happen. What I cared about was how the store handled the situation.

I also submitted an inquiry to Scandinavian Child, the parent company of Anka, since the same issue with both chairs might seem to indicate a possible manufacturing or design problem. The Customer Relations Supervisor has forwarded my inquiry to their Product Manager. They indicated that they want to discuss the issues with me further. I expect to hear more from them soon and when I do, I'll post the results of our chat.