This is how I see it..... Call me a hippie or a over analytical parent... Question Medical Anything

This is how I see it... Call me a hippie or a over analytical parent.... at least I dont feel guilty about the choices I make for my daughter.....

I will preface with whom I use to be... I use to be the person that every time I had any sort of ailment I would run to the advil bottle or the doctor. I placed my whole trust in the doctor I was seeing when I was sick, never questioning anything they prescribed or any advice they warrented.


I was that person until I had a very disturbing event happen to us as new parents. We had Noel and when I had her I knew I wanted to breastfeeding. I had read information and talked to my sister in law about the benefits of breastfeeding and it was my opinion that that was the very best I could do for Noel. Theres no need to really go into benefits of breastmilk, but if you dont know it yet it is God's gold juice and its worth your time researching that option if your expecting. Back to the incident. I had Noel and little did I know this information:

 

This I attribute to the fact that the hospital I delivered at did not have a lactation consultant...:/ What I didnt know then was that by the nurses pushing formula because she wasnt getting enough when ultimately making it take longer for my milk to come in all the way.... however, she did get colostrum because her diapers said so.... That was my first mistake that I regret.... I regret that formula ever touch her little lips. She lost a pound after she was born this I attribute to the nasty formula she was eating and the acid reflux it gave her. This scared our (I have many select names for the crappy*putting it nicely*) nurse practitioner. She immediately forced us on this special kind of formula, that Noel did not tolerate at all. She also scheduled us with an appointment with a GI doctor in Knoxville. ((IMPORTANT FACT))During this time Noel had more of that crap formula then breastmilk. Id say 90% 10%. The GI dr did some tests and when I called the nurse (*they never gave me the actual results to the tests they did*) she told me that it looked like she was allergic to my breastmilk and that I should stop breastfeeding her. WHHHHHAAAAATTTTTT!!!!!! I cried.... I cried ALOT! I called my sister in law I talked to my husband and I cancelled any further appointments with that stupid GI doctor. Obviously, if some nutritionist and or doctor or nurse was going to tell me to completly quit breastfeeding then they obviously were IDIOTS! I was at the end of my rope..... Fortunately we had a Drs appointment within the next few days.... Our doctors appointment resulted in very minimal weight gain.... This concerned the Nurse practitioner so she finally called to ask the results of the GI test Noel had done.... The results were that she was her gut was severly inflammed and that was the result of the breastmilk. The advice to my doctor was that I should quit breastfeeding and continue on this crap formula. Now explain to me HOW they could get that answer, that her gut was inflammed because of the very miniscule amount of breastmilk she was actually getting????? Wouldnt it seem more correct that the formula that she could barely stomach was at fault??? Christopher and I were getting scared... she wasnt gaining weight... So even though I didnt trust the crap nurse practitioner we were seeing we called for advice and the receptionist or nurse that we talked to us scared us with thoughts that her head wasnt growing properly because of the breastmilk, that she would be behind developmentally etc.... So on a very cold day Christopher and I packed up and went to Childrens Hospital with Noel :( We did tests like crazy.... we did a ultrasound of her stomach, x rays, blood work, etc... When we told the ER doctor the situation he said, "Breastmilk is the best thing I could do for our little one. I needed to drop the formula and up the breastmilk" Thus, I dumped our first pediatrician like a bad habit and made a appointment with a new pediatrician. (((SIDE NOTE: LETS JUST SAY THE DR HAPPENS TO BE IN SEYMOUR.... I did not trust the nurse practitioner that I was seeing... So we cancelled our next appointment with that doctor and made a new appointment with a new doctor. That and the fact that I wanted to continue to breastfeed prompted this crappy doctors office and crappy nurse practitioner to call DHS and reported us for neglect and malnutrition... got that cleared up obviously it was a stupid decision on their part and they should have known from the get go how much we were worried and how much we loved her that there was no way we would ever be harmful to our child))))((((SECOND SIDE NOTE: THIS crappy nurse practitioner that reported us goes to our church.... it makes my skin crawl every time I see her...thats another story for another time though)))))

This next Dr was somewhat pro breastfeeding... I told her the situation and she told me to document her intake/outake and to nurse on demand... that next we when I took her in for a appointment she jumped up a whole pound...(crazy right?)..... However, with the doctor I was more knowledgeable of what I believed.... I happened to believe these folks:

World Health Organization

"Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended up to 6 months of age, with continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods up to two years of age or beyond."

&

American Academy of Pediatrics

"The AAP recommends that babies be exclusively breastfed for about the first 6 months of life. This means your baby needs no additional foods (except Vitamin D) or fluids unless medically indicated. Babies should continue to breastfeed for a year and for as long as is mutually desired by the mother and baby."

 

However, this new doctor told me(these exact words),"If I didnt start Noel on solid food between 4-6 months not only would she not know how to use her tounge it would prevent her from speech development." PSH that lady was cuckoo bananas!!!! My belief on that topic was this: http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/delay-solids/ I also believed that noel would tell me when she was ready for food. How would she do that? By doing these 5 things:

Signs that indicate baby is developmentally ready for solids include:

• Baby can sit up well without support.
• Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of his mouth with his tongue.
• Baby is ready and willing to chew.
• Baby is developing a “pincer” grasp, where he picks up food or other objects between thumb and forefinger. Using the fingers and scraping the food into the palm of the hand (palmar grasp) does not substitute for pincer grasp development.
• Baby is eager to participate in mealtime and may try to grab food and put it in his mouth. -Kellymom.com

She told me at around 7 months that she was ready to start solid foods.

These two medical professionals failed me and my family. The first one took my trust and completely crushed it... and the second one showed me that even though they may have a DR behind their name they may not really know what the heck they are even talking about... maybe because they are outdated maybe because they are getting formula/flu shots/etc kick backs....


I write this to explain why I ultimately feel this way.... I feel that if God didnt grow it such as natural herbs/remedies and if it is not impartitive for my daughters survival I do not want any thing foreign in my daughters body. I do not want aluminum clad(which has studies that say leads to alzheimers) in flu shots in her body. I do not want meds when there is elderberry syrup or echineacea for immune support. As a matter of fact, I do not want anything but organic cage free food in my babies belly. The thought of her eating food clad with GMOs and fruit and veggies with pesticides all over them or meat pumped full or steroids makes me quite sick. Call me crazy.... but Im going to breastfeed her until she stops... Call me a hippie because I think natural remedies are better then things large companies give doctors without taking thought to what kind of side effects there are.... call me a over analytical parents but in my opinion if you cant take the time to research stuff for your own child and you are a "sheep" to the BIG man and the social norms then where is you heart really?


BTW I forgot to mention if you need a pediatrician I have found a amazing one!!! I am so thankful for Lisa Ross Breastfeeding Center of which I called crying in the first doctor situation and also in the second situation and they quickly told me that I need to find someone new and that my momma instincts are right on point! What a great community of mothers and professionals in my area to be a part of!

 

This is a recent picture of my little princess reading a book! :) Love her so much more then words can describe! -<3 Kim

My Attachment Parenting Style Part 1

                                     Our Parenting Style: Mod. Attachement

   ***Warning you may not agree with my parenting beliefs.***
     I believe that living in hippie clad Ocean Beach has worn me down to somewhat of a softie. I have worked for many years with children and I felt like I had a good grasp of what kind of parenting I was going to do when I became a parent...... Yea well the view of being a cold, hands off, pro-medicine, disciplinarian is out the window. You have to understand that I as a person before I had Noel was not a very touchy feely type of person. I use to rather have a casual handshake then a hug. Thats where my mind was with my parenting style. There would be no question that I loved my daughter but, I wasnt going to be easy going. YEAAA.....WELL..... Nah Thats went out the window with my new found role as a mommy who loves to research anything and everything. (And a stint in laid back Ocean Beach.) I call my parenting style a little bit of a modified Attachment Parenting style.

     You may ask well what the heck is that???? Alot of you reading this may actually ask that because in my area I feel kind of like the lone ranger... : / So here is the best definition I have found.

   "The term, "attachment parenting", was conceived by pediatrician William Sears and his wife Martha, to describe a highly responsive, attentive style of caring for a child. Attachment parenting promotes physical and emotional closeness between parent and child through what the Sears refer to as the "Baby Bs." The Baby Bs are bonding, breastfeeding, babywearing, bedsharing and boundary building. Attachment parenting advocates encourage parents to hold their baby often in the early sensitive weeks of life to foster bonding. Breastfeeding is promoted because it enhances the mother's natural instincts to respond to her baby through physical closeness, hormonal influences and promotion of attentiveness. Both babywearing, the practice of carrying the baby on the parents' body with an infant carrier or sling, and bedsharing, parents and babies sleeping in the same bed, provide additional opportunities for closeness. Boundary building is a discipline philosophy that entails responding to the genuine, age appropriate needs of the child and using gentle guidance. All of the Baby Bs are aimed at promoting a trusting, intuitive relationship between parents and baby through the physical and emotional closeness that makes it easier to know and appropriately respond to the baby's needs. While some people might see the Baby B's as a set of rules they must follow, they are just recommended tools that can and should be individualized for each family and parenting situation. (http://www.ivillage.com/what-attachment-parenting/6-a-127876)"

    I believe we have followed this model almost to a Tee. The first of the Bs he talks about is bonding.     

  These couple pictures are of our little Noel while still in the hospital after she was born.

Bonding:

  I think alot of people would wonder if Noel is ever going to learn how to walk because she is always being held and cuddled. The preparent me called this spoiling. :o/ The parent me calls this bonding. Its a very instinctual and primal thing. A baby being close not only helps to bond her to her parents but it is very beneficial to breastfeeding. I believe a topic that would fall into this category is the Cry it out method aka CIO. My personal belief is that a baby under the age of 1 cries because they need something. They cry because they are hungry, their hiney is wet, or they are upset and need comfort from their parents. So by letting them cry it out for whatever reason teaches them that they can not trust you for their needs. Here is quote from a article about research into this topic, "In her recent piece for Psychology Today, Darcia Narvaez, an associate professor of psychology at Notre Dame, writes that when babies are stressed, their bodies release cortisol into their systems -- a toxic hormone that kills brain cells. Considering their brains are only 25 percent developed when they're born full-term and grow rapidly in their first year, killing off baby brain cells is a huge no bueno. Narvaez notes that studies out of Harvard, Yale, Baylor and other prestigious institutions show that said killing off of baby brain cells can lead to the higher probability of ADHD, poor academic performance and anti-social tendencies, and that human babies are hardwired for hands-on comfort and care.(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/denene-millner/cry-it-out_b_1163864.html)" Call me a softie or call me  wonderful mother for not letting my LO sit and cry and cry I just dont feel like with the research and my personal convictions that the CIO method is the method for us.



-Found this pic on tumblr thats where credits go to.

Breastfeeding:

 Breastfeeding is the next B, and its my favorite! Besides loving your child, I believe breastfeeding is the single most important thing you can do for your child if you want the best for them. I have fought to breastfeed my LO. However, Im saving that for a different post. This post is more about my opinion not my bio. My opinion is that breast is best. (Sorry I have a ton of pics for this topic!)

  As a pro breastfeeding mommy it really strikes a nerve when I hear another mother has went to formula either just because they didnt seek help with breastfeeding or just because(aka they dont have a reason). Im not sitting here saying your a horrible mother for feeding formula, but I am saying there is somethng better you could be doing. In my area, I feel like more mothers are choosing formula because they are uneducated or lazy. Like I said Ive had to fight to breastfeed Ive even switched pediatricians due to wanting to breastfeed. There is very few mothers that can not breastfeed. However, I have known a mother that couldnt... she is one of my close friends... she tried everything; almonds,water,mothers mik tea, lactation cookies, etc, and she could only get half a ounce out when she pumped which was not a possibility because she had to work. This is a momma that tried her hardest and it just didnt work out. Of course for this momma the next best thing is formula and I truly applaud her trying so hard to fight for breastfeeding.  However, what gets me the most is those few other people in my life whom have decided to not breastfeed because of what is best for them not their child. Dont get me wrong you have to be dedicated to breastfeeding. There is a good amount of around 6 weeks of conditioning and pain and alot of patience that is needed to learn yourself and for your baby to learn. However, the pain does go away but the foundation you are laying down for your childs future health is there forever. I know of another momma that quit breastfeeding because of the amount of pain to her nipples. :o/ Honestly, if she would have went to a lactation specialist I bet the odds were that the baby didnt have a good latch. It really makes me sad that these momma didnt find it necessary to fight for whats best. ***Please dont think I am talking down to those who formula feed their babies due to extensive reasons. I just really really do believe breast is best and that mothers should sacrifice for their LO what is best for them. Which is breastfeeding!***


-Found these on the Breast is Best site on facebook

 

There is something so special about my daughters and my time while breastfeeding. I really believe it has strengthened our bond. The feeling to see that your LO has chunky little thighs and a buddha belly due to what you have done for her by breastfeeding is powerful. I plan on BLW, delaying solids, and breastfeeding into her toddler years. (All of that will be covered in another blog) I am posting these next two pictures to show the benefit of breastfeeding as opposed to formula feeding.

-Pictures from Breast is best facebook group

I dont really believe I need to say anything else on that topic of breastfeeding vs formula until a next blog.

I also have one last picture that has a few interesting fact.

Breast is best! Fight for what is best! Sheesh that is alot..... there is alot to cover in a parenting style so I am going to do the next post on the last few Bs and how I approach them. Plus I have errands to run and it is that time! I am going to leave you with a few of my very first Nursing in Public pictures. Photo credits to Lexi Bedford!

-<3Kim



Breast is Best Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/AntiCryItOutCommunity?ref=ts&fref=ts#!/Wemakemilk?fref=ts