Nursing mamas check in!
 

How is everyone doing?

I keep wanting to weigh myself and see if I've managed to stick to my idea of not gaining weight this month, but our scale has decided to quit working. And I don't think we've had the thing but perhaps three months, and we paid $30 for it too. :headache:

Two weeks old, & Esther is still nursing almost constantly when she's awake. She's laying in my lap right now, farting. She's pretty gassy. I'm trying to cut wheat out of my diet this week to see if she's got a sensitivity to it like Linda did. This has led to eating pretty low-carb, which is OK because most of the veggies I like are low-carb anyway. I eat a lot of cauliflower & broccoli & zucchini on my own.

I haven't had much of a chance to exercise yet. Still getting over the stitches, and it's harder to make time with three kids on slightly different schedules (two who nap, one who doesn't). But I'll get that under control eventually. Sooner rather than later.

Hi Sabra -

One hand typing while nursing!!! I'm also trying to reduce wheat, I was thinking that Clara had difficulty with dairy but didn't get much improvement. I just inflated my core ball, we'll see if I get the time soon! More later when I have two hands!

Heather

Hi guys,

DD is coming up on 8 weeks, and still nursing. We had a rough start of it, but things seem to be working themselves out. I started running and cycling again a couple weeks ago and am going back to work part time next week. Here's hoping we manage to keep it up.

Anne

I've tried altering just about everything in my diet for a week, including wheat. I had in fact cut so much out of my diet that I was basically subsitting on lettuce salad (no tomatoes, onion, green peppers, eggs, etc. etc. etc.), carrots and chicken or fish. Blech. No change. I've tried many things and the doc has prescribed a gas medication...doesn't work. Now he thinks it may be an intestinal infection. If he doesn't gain X amount of ounces by next viz in 3 weeks, he'll send him to a specialist.

As for exercise, I started intervals after 3 weeks. Managed about 5 of these before I busted my knee climbing up on the store freezer to reach my merchandise. LOL It's still healing up. I'm on 800 mg. Ibuprofen for the swelling. I won't try to run again until the pain is completely gone. It's just a twinge now. But I have done my WATP walk & jog once, take 3 mile stroller walks about every other day, and just went back to Curves first time earlier today. I'm also doing situps, crunches, pushups and stretches every morning and night. I just put him in the bouncer and have him watch me exercise. He started getting fussy in the last 5 minutes of WATP, but if I keep talking to him, it gets his attention and calms him a bit longer, so I was able to finish it.

Hi, I'm new, my son just turned 3 months today and nursing for 20 hours a day it seems. I have a dd who is 22 months and 3 stepkids who I adore, so needless to say, we're busy people. I weighed myself at the docs yesterday and almost fell over in shock, came home and had hubby take full on nude shots so I could truly see what I look like. I knew I was fat, but lord almighty I didn't realise I'm the fattest person I know, so I look forward to getting to know you ladies as we travel the weight loss journey together.

Just got my first measurements at Curves. They never measured me before since I was pregnant when I joined. I need to lose 30 pounds to get back to where I was and want to lose 35 total.

Bust 40
Waist 35
Abs 39.5
Hips 44.5
Thighs 26
Arms 11.5
Body Fat % 37.6

They told me my goal is to get the body fat down to the normal range within 10 months. I said **** no. If I can't do it in 3, it's not worth doing. LOL

How is Curves? There's one not too far from here & I'm thinking about joining if we can afford it. I think Esther can survive without me for half an hour. :lol:

Heather, I know all about the one-hand typing by now. ;) My personal favorite is the foot falling asleep the same time the baby does. I just put Esther in the swing, so hopefully she'll stay asleep a little while this time; I can barely get breakfast made!

My grandma & sister have joined Curves in the last few months. They both really like it. I tried it once on a free pass but it wasn't my thing. You have to do the same exercises in the same order every time. I like to mix it up. But you do get in & out in 30 minutes flat, and it is ALL women, so that's kind of nice. I think my grandma liked that part the best.

The worst part IMO is the one they go to, at least, has no showers available, and grandma always wants to meet for lunch after she works out, and she's all sweaty. :(

No showers in either of the two I've gone to here, nor in one I visited back home. But they're so close to home, that's not a problem for me here. Or...you can always just wash off in the restroom.

It is all the same, but you can change what you do on the recovery stations...dance, walk, jog, stretch, etc. And the ones I've attended generally move the equipment around and change direction of the flow at times just to keep you on your toes. It's just one way to ensure that you will exercise at least a few times a week, in order to get your money's worth...at least that's it for me.

It's strength training basically, so I also do aerobics type exercises in between and do Curves approx. 3 times a week.

I don't know about my sister, but I do know that without doing anything else differently, just going to Curves 2 or 3 times a week, my grandma lost 15 lbs in six months. Not sudden or dramatic, but her diabetes doctor was pretty pleased with her. (Now if she'd just get it that she isn't supposed to eat cake, pie, cookies, and ice cream every time they're available... aaaaaahhhh!!!!) :)

Maybe once I get some decent bras, then...

Hello!
I've been kind of caught up with things around home and haven't popped my head in here in a while. Things are going well and life is starting to settle into a bit of a pattern now that DD has passed the 2-month mark.

I've just started weighing myself regularly the past couple of weeks. The first week I was up two lbs and the next I was down three. I've really been focusing on having three meals and three good snacks each day and not eating outside of that, and it seems to be working fairly well. As for exercise, I've been getting out for a few walks each week still since the weather has been amazing.

All this talk on this thread about Curves is wonderful timing for me since my Mom just brought up this week that she'd like to get me a 3-month pass to Curves for my Christmas present. I'm glad to hear that people have had fairly good experiences with it since I've never known anyone who has gone.

Went to the doc this morning. Seems I've developed Mastitis(sp?) in my right breast. She put me on antibiotics and I go back Monday.

Ooh, that's one of the more painful things you can have! Thank goodness I've never had anything worse than a plugged duct.

I'm tempted to see if I can convince Rob to get me a Curves membership for either Christmas or our anniversary (it's in January). The gyms on Pearl Harbor are scary.

I have the plugged duct too. And I don't know if that caused the Mastitis or the other way around. The doc prescribed Keflex and told me to take Ibuprofen. But a new development just this evening. My finger, on that same side, feels like it's been pulled out of joint, and I know it hasn't. I'm wondering if it's part of the same deal. Everything I looked up on Mastitis talks about aching joints.

Hi everyone, quick bf'ing question. I started to pay less attention to how she was latching on and ended up with a cracked and bleeding nipple (just on the left). That was around Thanksgiving. One word for that...ouch! Since then I've been very careful when latching her on and the nipple is doing much better now. It's still a little painful when she first latches on, but the pain soon goes away as she continues to nurse and we're fine after that. Is that normal for during the healing process or is it a sign that she is still latching on incorrectly? And how long does it normally take to heal? I'm also using lanolin (sp?) which seems to be helping.

I'm thinking of calling a local Le Leche League leader and going to a meeting. Is anyone here involved with them?

Hi Donna,

I just had a little girl on October 13th. I had the same thing happen at first because my daughters lower jaw was too weak. It did hurt like that for me until I healed - and man did it hurt. I used lanolin when I was in the shower to keep them from getting worse, it's just so hard to get it to heal when they are nursing every 2 hours! One thing I did was I just nursed on one side when I was healing so each side had a little extra time off. I made it though and now it is just a distant memory. I hope you get to that point soon. I'm not involved with Le Leche League but I've heard nothing but good things about them. I wonder if you could even email them to get a quick disscussion or for me the nurses where I delivered were really good to help when I called with a question.

Good luck hun, and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Heather

Thanks Heather! You have given me hope :)

I went ahead and called the leader. The next meeting is this Monday and I'm planning on going. She was really nice and offered additional suggestions that I will try (not wear bra 24-7 and warm/cold compresses).

I went through that with Hayden, I let a little of my milk air dry on my nipples and let them get as much air as possible between feddings, it healed really quick. Good luck mama!!

It has been a long time since I have checked in and wanted to say congrats on all the new babies! Nursing is going great for us. Kate is now 8 1/2 months. We got thrush again (5 times now!) and it makes me thankful that the bad latch and other painful problems are over. The first 6 weeks were as painful as thrush for me and now it is usually such smooth sailing.

Congrats and happy belated birthdays to the new nurslings!

You know, I'm real lucky. No nursing problems this time around. I'm so thankful for that.

I'm getting back into the swing of things slowly. My scale was briefly resurrected, so that's how I figured out I lost 14 pounds. That's just stuff that was hanging out after birth, I guess. Thankfully I tend to get rid of my pregnancy weight fairly quickly, 'cause I've still got 30+ pounds to lose after that!

Hi everyone. I had my baby on November 26 and we've been breastfeeding ever since. She's a good latch so I've been really lucky so far - no bleeding nipples and they aren't as sore as in the beginning. Her feedings have been a little erratic lately - lots of 10 minute sessions where she falls asleep or gets distracted. It's been frustrating. But she has 2 or 3 good sessions of 25 - 45 minutes every day. And she's still loading her diapers so I guess she's doing okay...

I haven't been dieting or exercising yet, and I've lost 27 pounds so far - but I've still got 33 to go...

Hey, congratulations! If you're concerned she's not eating enough at a time, when you're at home, undress her before you feed her to make sure she's awake. That's what I had to do with Bobbie in the very beginning. She'll get a tiny bit chilly & it will wake her up, but she won't get overly cold. Might help to space out the feedings some. I know all about needing to get a break, believe me. :lol: It seems like half the time just as soon as I get to lay Esther down, Linda decides she needs to nurse now.

Hey thanks for the tip about spacing the feedings more. I'm going to try to let her nap a bit longer - I was waking her up every 2 hours in the daytime to feed her (and she's usually hungry). Maybe I'll let her go 2.5 - 3 hours and see what happens...
I did strip her a couple of times to get her to stay awake - it was pretty funny - she was like a little monkey in my arms - made my heart melt :)

Last night was really weird - she wanted to feed from 10:00pm to 2:00am. As soon as I laid her down she wanted back on the boob. I was exhausted and my breasts were so sore - I wonder if she's having a growth spurt already?

She might be. Or she could be comfort nursing. Some babies have a real need to have something in their mouth. I learned that the hard way with these last two. One thing I remember reading that has helped a lot: their little arm acts sort of like a fuel gauge. If it's stiff and especially if it's held up by their face, they're still hungry. It'll relax and lower slowly as the tummy gets full. Doesn't always work though, but a lot of the time it does. Just try to keep the baby within arm's reach if you can (I seem to remember you saying somewhere you didn't want to co-sleep), so the nursing interrupts your sleep as little as possible. It'll get better at around the three-month mark, as I recall.

(Oh, & keep in mind, "sleeping through the night" means something like sleeping 5 hours at a stretch, so the mamas bragging about how early their baby slept through the night weren't really getting much more sleep than you.)

Thanks! I'm going to watch her arms now to see if your theory works for her - LOL
I'm using a bassinet and LOVE it - it's so handy!

(I'll take 3 hours right now for a good stretch of sleep - LOL)

Well, I've been very successful with other forums and this was the next logical step. Like my name says, I have 7 children, 6 girls 1 boy, Number 7 arrived november 12, five weeks early, IVY is her name 5 lbs, 15 oz, and had to spend 5 days in the NICU. I'm going to just lurch around awhile. I really need to get going at getting my body back. Before number 7 I was a very nice looking size 6, now can't even squeeze in a twelve. Breastfeeding is like second nature to me now, but would love some help with the weight loss thing, since my blood sugar hits the bottom if I try and cut calories at all. Any suggestions.

Wow, congratulations on number seven! Half the time I want that many, but I had a hard enough time convincing my husband to have three. (The other half I want an even dozen. ;)) I love the name too; Ivy's one of those underused classics. She sounds like she was a pretty good size in spite of her early arrival.

As far as losing weight...The only thing I can think of to suggest is to pick up a copy of one of the many books on the Glycemic Index. I do SugarBusters myself, but the South Beach Diet is also predicated on low-GI carbs, and there is a series of books called The New Glucose Revolution that might appeal to you; you can pick up their guide to dieting for about $8 if memory serves (it's a paperback). Building your meals around low-GI foods should help regulate your blood sugar as long as you don't cut your calories too far down. If that's the sort of thing you're already doing, though, you probably need to discuss the issue with a doctor. Good luck!

Hi! Congratulations on your 7th baby!
I would suggest eating lower glycemic foods, balanced with protein at each meal - I know that has helped me in the past keep my blood sugar levels from crashing. I'm not following any plan yet, as I'm still losing and haven't hit a plateau yet...

Hee hee... you all made me smile for the first time today.. I'm doing the one-hand typing thing now too... glad to find you ladies! Cant wait to get to know you!

Welcome! It's amazing how good we get at doing things with one hand :)

LOL... It sure is!:)

don't have much time...
Welcome Rachel!

Good news! At three weeks, DD was still 2 oz shy of her birthweight. The ped told me to bring her in before her next appt to check her weight. Well I brought her in today and she's gained 9 oz since 12/7/05 (7 lb 7oz)! Yay! She's starting to gain weight. That makes me feel so much better. :D

That's great news! It's a relief to see them start gaining after the first few days...

Hi!

I'm a newbie here... My name is Sarah-Jean and I just gave birth to my fourth baby 12days ago! I'm now looking to get back to my post-pregnancy shape if not weight and am planning to start a healthy diet (I am notorious for eating junk food!) and exercising regime... Not sure yet how I'm going to manage it or what I'm going to do to achieve that, hence the reason I'm surfing around here!!!

Anyway, looking forward to getting to know everyone better!

Love,

Sarah-Jean

Welcome to the board Sarah-Jean and congratulations on your recent delivery. I delivered my dd back in Nov and am starting to get back to exercising. It's a lot harder with a newborn around - no time lol

Welcome, Sarah-Jean! This is definitely the right place to be for support. :)

Jumping in here....

I'm Carol. I'm 32 and my 6th baby was born 11/11/05:) I am exclusively nursing and doing South Beach. I look forward to getting to know you all.:)

Hi everyone my name is Shelly, i gave birth to my baby boy on Oct 25,2005 from day one he was refusing the breast but now he stays on for app 5 min twice a day . i am not looking to get back to my pre preg weight i'll settle for 120. I love to eat but the difference is now i pack on the lbs so i need all the support to lose weight.

Shelly, a lactation consultant gave me some advice to get my son to keep latched on. I wasn't producing enough to keep him on the breast at first and he kept pulling away and refusing. She had me to get him latched on, then have dad dribble milk from a bottle down my breast and into the corner of his mouth. We would do this for 15 to 20 minutes each time for about 2 days before he started staying latched on by himself.