Sabra - Congrats on your acceptance! That's exciting. How long is the program?

Dawnyal - that's sort of what we're doing too, though not for each session. Just the ones were he doesn't nurse well. One bonus of having a preemie...free electric double breast pump, courtesy of our insurance.

Donna, it's an LVN program that's a year long. They're working on adding on an RN program that should be ready just in time for the end of the LVN program--that's an additional year. My long-term goal is to become a CNM--certified nurse-midwife. But I may well get sidetracked into the Army for a while; they're hurting for nurses like everyone else.

Donna—I was so paranoid he wasn't going to gain weight. My other two lost more than the 10% and one of the nurses gave me h-e-double hockey sticks over it with William. This time Nate didn't lose as far down and it still took him over a month to get back to his birth weight. His ped was great though and continues to be because Little Man is in the 10-15%.

Nate has bronchiolitis right now. He's on a steroid and antibiotics to try and clear it up.

My first was early and I am large boobed, so we REALLY had that boob bigger than her body thing for a long time. She wouldnt eat for the first 5 days and dropped below the 10% and then on day 5 woke up and ate. and ate. and ate. and gained something crazy like 6 oz in one night.

I was really ticked at the doc with dd . They kept saying stuff like "she is only in the 10th % for height and weight we like to see closer to 50th" And not just when she was newborn. Ummmmm. NOT EVERY KID CAN BE AT THE 50th. I am 5'3" (25th%) dh is 5'3" (3rd%) how freaking big do you think my kids are gonna be? She was gaining 3/4 lb per week...which is really fast....so I think she was getting enough tyvm.

Heh, Ennay, how much you want to be the doctor was using the formula company charts too?

I got so much nonsense from peds that I just don't do well-baby visits anymore. I was about ready to kill someone in Hawaii because to get the vaxes for the older two we had to do well-child visits first. And we had an idiot for a doctor there. But I digress.

Dawnyal, I hope your little one gets better soon.

I know what you mean Sabra. I was ready to go in with my gloves on when I first met their ped but he is pro-BF and he's not too concerned that he's in the 10-15%. He told me there have to be kids at both ends of the charts for their to be a 50% and as long as he's growing on a line—any line—that's what matters.

As for eating healthier, I've been doing better. I still have some slipups at night but I need to find healthier "sweets" because I've been wanting something sweet at night.

Well my baby is only 5 weeks old but we are still going at breastfeeding. It's a big challenge because my next oldest is only 14 months and he thinks nursing time is a great time to bring Momma sharp objects or beat his newborn sister in the head with board books... but we're managing. I pump a couple of times a day and get enough for DH to give her a bottle at bed time and I can freeze 1/2 - 1 ounce per day. It's a slow start! I breastfed my son til he was 5 months but then I was pregnant and lost my milk. I breastfed my daughter (now 4) for like 2 days then she quit latching, so I pumped & bottle-fed EBM for 2 months.

Our pediatrician is very pro-BF. Penelope was 7lb 6oz at birth and got down to 6lb 11oz before she started gaining again - so just over 10%. She also had jaundice but the pedi didn't want to do bili lights unless her levels got over 20. She also didn't poop for 12 days, which drove me batty, but they were not concerned and said she must just be using every bit of what she gets from me.... she's an environmentally friendly hybrid baby. :P

I will have my six week checkup in one week and after that am going to get serious about weight loss. I was at 218 when I got pg this last time, and got up to about 240. Last week I was back down to 225. I had hoped to at least be back to 218 by my six week checkup, I may not make that goal but probably within a few pounds. As long as I lay off the Nutella.

I have had luck with SB in the past but I'm worried about the vegetables... anyone else do it? I am worried about the gas. Pen has horrendous gas! Even when I am careful not to eat cruciferous veggies or beans or onions... She just toots and stinks to high heaven all the time!

Some babies are just gassy, if she doesnt seem terribly bothered by it I wouldnt worry about your diet. I ate everything with both kids. dd had a bit of colic, but it was "witching hour" not gas pains. I eat 90% SBD phase 2.5. In otherwords I try to have lots of veggies and protein with each meal and try to mostly have whole grains and dont freak out if there is cornstarch or white flour in the recipe. And I use real sugar instead of splenda.

Congrats on nursing school Sabra! I started that road once, but I didn't finish. So, I have 1.5 college degrees that I don't use as I run a home daycare now. Makes paying for my $40,000 student loan really frustrating!

So far I am just watching what I eat and counting calories. I have to say I am doing really well, almost too well. I don't really get to adding up my calories until the end of the day, if not the next morning, and I haven't broken 1400 calories yet (only been counting a few days). I started the week at 182 and today I was 180. My supply is still going strong as well.

Oh, all I have time for... later ladies!

Mommacat - dot feel bad about your degree. I quit my job as an engineer, went back to school and got my MBA and promptly got pg and decided to be a SAHM. So I never used the degree and spent the last 2 years of my "working life" in school instead of working and saving.

Congrats Sabra, I think I forgot to re-post that...I got stuck in a refresh loop and lost that.

My babies were very gassy when I had an oversupply problem. They were getting too much foremilk and the extra lactose ferments in their guts. It took me about 4 days to get a handle on the oversupply issues, as I have twins and the usual fix for this problem is to only nurse the baby on one side at a time. Uh, yeah, I already do that....

Oversupply is suspected when the baby has frequent green, bubbly stools and appears to be very hungry (wanting to nurse every hour or so). Some babies are just gassier than others - maybe they're more sensitive to stuff in momma's milk?

Carrie - I had oversupply at the beginning too, BRIGHT green poop, looked like they ate grass clippings.

grass clippings! that's a sight!

she actually almost never poops. she has pooped like 10 times in five weeks of life. her doctor is not at all worried though, said, "she must use almost everything she gets from you!" she's gained weight at a steady rate of 1/2 to 3/4 ounces per day, and she pees all the time. just rarely poops, which is fine with us really, once we stopped worrying about it (she went 12 days between BMs).

i do think she is just naturally gassy, but her older brother does have a hard time digesting lactose, so i'm trying to keep an eye on it.

i do wish i could eat some broccoli... it's like, when you can't have something, it's all you think about! that's the only thing that has really given her a tummy ache, when i ate broccoli, she cried and cried all night.

i'm back on SB tomorrow! well, at least breakfast & lunch for now... and trying to eat healthy for dinner, but right now i'm so busy with 3 kids all day that dinner is often whatever i can cook the fastest. so i'm not going to pressure myself too hard with dinner. but i can make my lunch (salad & a protein) the night before and put it in the fridge, so that's easy enough.

oh, and i tossed the nutella.

My little ones are finally pooping less now that I don't have enough milk to feed all your babies. They are going about twice a day, I think.

I have heard about the 1x weekly BF poops. I can handle all the BF poops in the world.....I wish that TODDLERS would only go once a week.

Thankful that Lela (2) is now using the potty on her own. I haven't changed a poopy diaper from her in 3 months.

I have high lipase milk which isnt supposed to change from kid to kid, but it seemed worse with dd. Anyway all that means it has a lot of the enzyme that digests fat. One side effect is it is hard to store. The other is it is somewhat laxative. dd went 10-12 poops a day until she started solids and 3-4 times until she weaned. I had a friend who had to use formula because she was taking toxic meds and she got breastmilk from a bunch of us for her son and she would give him mine when he was stopped up and it worked like a charm.