Posts Tagged ‘breastfeeding’
How-to Camp with your Toddleby
Last week was our very first camping trip with Sebastian. I was definitely a bit anxious beforehand but things went really, surprisingly smoothly and we all (especially Sebastian) had a lot of fun. We enjoyed many laps around the campground, played in the park, thrifted & window shopped (my favorite toy store in Old Town, and a leather store selling motorcycle clothing), ate and hung out around the fire. This is a list of things I learned on our weeklong camping trip, my mommy advice to anyone planning a baby or toddler trip of their own.
Pack and play! As in, bring your Pack n Play. Ours is the Arm’s Reach Co-Sleeper, affectionately nicknamed “the nut house”. Perfect for plopping down the kid while you unpack and set up camp, and for some alone time of his own. Kids need space sometimes and this was a safe way to do it and cut down on the stimulation. We rotated a few toys and books and gave him finger foods while we hung out close by. I thought that the play pen would get really dirty and be unusable after the trip but it totally wasn’t; we just shook it out.
Have lots of room for sleeping. We used one full size air mattress and I regret it. If you co-sleep, try to have as much space for everyone as you do at home, especially if you are using an air mattress that will launch you off the side if the weight distribution shifts!
Bring your easy-to-clean stroller. I also brought a sling and a mei tai and wore Sebastian more than I ever have, BUT strollers are for more than strolling. Sebastian ate in his, pulled up to the picnic table or around the campfire with us, safely buckled in. Sebastian also loves dogs, which the campsite had many of, and he could see them more easily cruising around at stroller-level than being carried.
Bring lots of changes of clothes. We did a load of laundry in town mid-week and still went through most of what I’d packed. Most of the changes weren’t for dirt but for diaper leaks and food spills, which happened more often than at home. (Dirt actually brushes off the easiest.)
Lay down your own turf. We used one of those (toxic?) play mats inside the tent and a roll of astro turf outside. Sebastian got to play in the dirt as well, but it was nice to have a clean-er area when he went booking it out of the tent at 8am.
Stick to routines. This is pretty obvious. Sebastian naturally stuck to a tighter schedule camping than he does at home, napping easily on the dot. We made sure to go away from our campsite in the hour or two before naptime or bed so that he would make the association with sleep when we returned back to the tent. He slept on the air mattress in the open tent where we could peek at him and he could see us when he woke up. On a couple of occasions I nursed him to sleep by the fire before laying him down for the night.
We’ll see how next year goes when he is running around the campsite under his own steam. Feel free to share your own tips for camping with babies & toddlers!
Breastfeeding a child who can chew steak
There is an episode of Sex and the City where the four women attend a baby shower. If I am obsessed with SATC now, I don’t even know what to call my relationship with the series when I was 19. Point being, I have probably seen that episode dozens of times, and I can remember the first time I watched it. Although the baby shower scene is great for the most part, there is a bit of dialogue between Carrie and Miranda that I cringe to remember. Not only because it is something I am so passionately against now, but because of my initial reaction. Here is the scene:
Carrie: There’s a woman in there breastfeeding a child who can chew steak.
Miranda: You know how I feel about that; If you’re old enough to ask for it, you’re probably too old to have it.
And the worst part: Me, nodding along. Not just nodding along, but turning to my roommate with a slight smirk and saying something like, “For real.”
I know, right.
But it is because of that clear memory that I have to honestly say that I get it when people are put off by nursing toddlers. I used to be ignorant too. I wrongly believed that being too attached to your child would turn them into a clingy adult. I assumed that my ex was a total mama’s boy as the result of too much coddling. Truth be told, I thought that breastfeeding an older child had to be doing something sexual for the mother, and I nodded along with Miranda as she blamed her men troubles on overly dedicated mothering.
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My advice to new mamas: Breastfeed lying down
Chances are that when you picture a breastfeeding mom, you envision her sitting down with an infant cradled in her arms. When I was pregnant, I thought forward to the nights I would spend rocking my son as I cradled him at my breast. I did spend a handful of nights that way, and nursed him in that position while away from home. If you look at the majority of our breastfeeding sessions, however, he is not in my arms at all. Instead, I typically feed Sebastian in the side-lying breastfeeding position.
I have two pieces of advice for new breastfeeding mothers. The first is, give breastfeeding six weeks before you give up – At that point it gets much easier. My second piece of advice is, co-sleep! Safe co-sleeping is easy and will save you from waking up in a panic because in that instant you can’t remember where you put your baby. (Seriously, when you are sleep-deprived, that shit happens.) Co-sleeping will help you get the rest you need to function during the day. When your baby learns to latch on their own, you just may be able to sleep through the night while they help themselves.
Exclusive breastfeeding on demand can effectively prevent pregnancy up to six months. I read an article which stated that the side-lying breastfeeding position increases the effectiveness of this family planning method, but I unfortunately cannot find the link. I would hypothesize that side-lying is linked to natural birth control because mothers who co-sleep or have frequent ‘nursing naps’ are likely breastfeeding more often in general.
Other mammals lie down to feed their young and it is the perfect position for a new mama to catch some rest while she nourishes her baby. Although Sebastian enjoys ‘nursing gymnastics’ for his daytime feeds, he still typically falls asleep at the breast while we lie down together. If he is especially fussy or has a cold he sleeps on top of my body facing downward. Lack of sleep is the most common complaint among new mothers and learning to breastfeeding lying down just may be the biggest sanity saver in your nursing relationship. Those extra baby cuddles aren’t bad either.
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