Toddlers are Quackers

[kajira]

In Califoria it is fashionable for the rich to have skinny babies and children. Just look at the celebrity news magazines. Model-skinny kids. The problem is that small kids NEED good fats for brain growth and development. Also some of these kids (that I know) go on to use food to control their parents and they end up obsessed with food and have eating disorders.

@kajira did your pediatrician recommend that you still pump breast milk for your 2 year old when you have a 7 month old baby as well?
At 2 years old there are plenty of great alternative food sources, especially if you are considering having more kids as your body needs to be not drained of nutrients (bone/brain) required by a developing baby (and you!).

HE's a 24 weeker, and yes - his developmental pediatrician requested he continue to get breastmilk until age 4, as long as I could provide it. Not only has it kept him from developing asthma, it promotes lung tissue growth and meets his nutritional needs FAR beyond most other substances I could give him. most other forms of calories are junk food, when it comes to bulking toddlers up. #1 ingredients is usually corn syrup. Breastmilk is much better for him.

I'm extremely healthy, take vitamins and get my levels drawn, to see if i need to up supplements. The only thing I had issue with, was iron after my last delivery, but I was taking black strap molasses, with vitamin C to help absorption, along with upping my leafy greens, and red meat intake. Got my levels fixed with in a few weeks!

Do you know that breastmilk continues to be developmentally nutritious long past 1 year? The WHO recommends nursing past 2, and 3-4 is perfectly normal for extended nursing! While I've never nursed past 3, I've always nursed until 2-3 years of age. He doesn't nurse anymore, he weaned while I was pregnant. I pump for him.

He was supposed to be a twin, I make plenty of milk for multiple children, I've pumped and donated milk when I didn't have a spare around to drink it with my older 2 kids! LOL

Random fact, I've actually nursed 2 children who weren't mine, too when baby sitting!

Also, I'd love to tandem nurse, so i'm perfectly happy to nurse through a pregnancy! Doctor's monitor my labs closely, since I have some high risk considerations, including thyroid that requires monitoring closely. I nursed wyatt until I was 6 months pregnant with Zoey, then he weaned when it changed to colostrum.

Edited to add :

Wyatt also has part of his intestines missing - when he weaned, he stopped gaining weight, until I added breastmilk back into his diet. He doesn't have enough intestines to digest food well - which is why I'm trying to get him to drink goats milk - as it's closest to human DNA wise, to hope he can digest it easier with his loss of intestines.

He may always need some liquid calories, in order to gain weight or maintain his weight, due to missing a large chunk of intestines.

 

[Phage]

Glad it is working for you and your kids.
Just with all of your other medical ailments that you suffer from I worry about YOU!!

My second pregnancy was triplets. I lost 2 of them and was very lucky to have kept the third.
I was still breast feeding the second child when pregnant with the third but stopped due to strong uterine contractions when ever she fed, and I did not want to loose the pregnancy.

 

[kajira]

Glad it is working for you and your kids.
Just with all of your other medical ailments at at you suffer from I worry about YOU!!

Appreciate the sentiment. I've been lucky with both my midwives, high risk specialist and primary care doctor, working with me to help make sure I can meet the needs of all my family members, and stay healthy too!

my PCP is actually my children's doctor too, so we all see the same family doctor, which makes it nice, because then she knows history, genetics, etc

We work with nutritionists, GI specialists, oxygen doctors, eye doctors, developmental pediatricians... and we've been very lucky that they've been a huge supporter of our lifestyle choices, and extended nursing and encouraging breastfeeding.

Ironically, in the NICU they kept saying he couldn't gain weight on just breastmilk alone, probably would never eat by mouth, would be a kid who'd never be able to function, due to a grade-3 brain bleed over 3/4ths of his brain.

When he gained weight on just breastmilk, they couldn't believe it was possible, so they assumed he'd have to be deficient in vitamins. I had to pull up studies, to show they could be given via a dropper orally, instead of mixed into a bottle. I also insisted on doing labs, to make sure the vitamin levels were what they needed to be.

turns out - he didn't need the extra vitamins, when getting milk from his own mother (preemie milk) it adjusted to his nutritional needs. They actually adjusted some of their feeding protocols for mothers who could pump enough of their own milk for preemies... they were so used to formula feeders, or mom's drying up due to stress, that they had no previous history of a 24-weeker growing on breastmilk with out supplemental nutrition added to the milk.

Most 24 weekers are... in a lot worse shape than he ended up being. I'm lucky that the worst he has is a need for glasses, tubes in his ears, and pumped milk, all things considered.

 

[BullChick]

Glad it is working for you and your kids.
Just with all of your other medical ailments that you suffer from I worry about YOU!!

My second pregnancy was triplets. I lost 2 of them and was very lucky to have kept the third.
I was still breast feeding the second child when pregnant with the third but stopped due to strong uterine contractions when ever she fed, and I did not want to loose the pregnancy.

 

[kajira]

Glad it is working for you and your kids.
Just with all of your other medical ailments that you suffer from I worry about YOU!!

My second pregnancy was triplets. I lost 2 of them and was very lucky to have kept the third.
I was still breast feeding the second child when pregnant with the third but stopped due to strong uterine contractions when ever she fed, and I did not want to loose the pregnancy.

I am sorry to hear you lost two of them. It's heartbreaking. I'm sorry you had contractions due to nursing.

I have preterm labor if I get infections. I've never had preterm labor with out infections. (Uterine infections are the #1 reason for preterm labor.)

In my twin's case, I had ZERO issues in my pregnancy. No contractions, nothing, then my ex-doctor, broke my water at 21 weeks during a "routine" exam. I lasted 3 weeks leaking fluid before my body gave out and I delivered. No steriods on board... I was lucky they both made it to the nicu alive. His brother died due to infections acquired in the nicu - and it being a teaching hospital.... they missed simple things, and too many people were involved, so everyone took too long to pull the IV line that had the infection. By the time we were able to get the attendings involved to pull the line, it had done too much damage and he died.... on mothers day.

I had preterm labor with my oldest DD - but as soon as I got IV antibiotics, all symptoms stopped. I had signs of a uterine infection in the first trimester, and started having symptoms fairly early. by 28 weeks, my cervix was gone.

I didn't nurse through any of my pregnancies, except my last one. All my kids were spaced two far apart. When I got pregnant with my twins, my older daughter was a week from her third birthday roughly, when I found out I was pregnant on thanksgiving! She weaned the next day...... LOL said "milk tastes funny" and that was that.

She did however, nurse after I had my c-section, to get my milk in for me as I wasn't responding to the pump at first due to the early-ness of their birth, so I could pump for her brothers, she actually remembers that, at almost 6, that she had to help get the milk in for her brothers so they could have food. I didn't know anyone else with a nursing baby at the time, to borrow one! haha

They also made an exception for my kids, to go into the nicu to see their twin brothers, (they normally don't allow children under 12.)


With Z - I stayed on progesterone shots, suppositories, and took antibitiocs 2-3x during my pregnancy when I started getting sick, my cervix actually regrew length after the first course, when I started having contractions. After that, I had some medicine (procardia) to help with contractions... but that was added around 28 weeks, about 4 weeks after my son weaned. I didn't really have any contractions until after he weaned. They knew I wanted to nurse through my pregnancy, so we monitored everything carefully to ensure I could.

Had I had symptoms related to the nursing, I would have weaned for Z... but nursing didn't cause me any problems. Nipple stimulation actually doesn't help me in labor, either. LOL (I wish it did! can't tell you how many hours I spent on my yoga ball at the end, hoping to bounce myself into labor!)

I actually have a deep freezer full of pumped milk for Z, in case I get pregnant again and need to wean earlier than I want.

 

[kajira]

@MotorcycleChick So, something chewed through my diaper bag when it was in my closet. I couldn't figure out WHY they chewed a random hole in my diaper bag, until my son pulled out a bag of animal crackers, and that bag had the same hole in it that my back pack did. LOL

Note to self, do not keep food in my diaper bag.

 

[kajira]

Glad it is working for you and your kids.
Just with all of your other medical ailments that you suffer from I worry about YOU!!

My second pregnancy was triplets. I lost 2 of them and was very lucky to have kept the third.
I was still breast feeding the second child when pregnant with the third but stopped due to strong uterine contractions when ever she fed, and I did not want to loose the pregnancy.

Baby B - Wyatt John​

Baby A - Zeke David

Zeke's the baby who died.


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First time I ever got to hold wyatt, I think he was almost 6 weeks old.

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baby wearing in the nicu - right before we finally got to take him home!

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first day home. The kids hadn't seen him since he was first born for the most part... so he was a lot bigger than they remembered!

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he was not amused by "strangers" holding him. He was very clingy (and still is) after a long nicu stay. he also hates most doctors, dentists, nurses, and strangers. He's finally warmed up to our family doctor, but he's seen her a lot.

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it's amazing to think he went from being 11 1/2 inches long, and 1lbs 5.9oz.... to being over 23 lbs and who he is now.

He amazes me every day.

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Okay, sappy mom moment over.

I usually don't try to remember the nicu stay too hard, it was pretty traumatic....

 

[BullChick]

@MotorcycleChick
 So, something chewed through my diaper bag when it was in my closet. I couldn't figure out WHY they chewed a random hole in my diaper bag, until my son pulled out a bag of animal crackers, and that bag had the same hole in it that my back pack did. LOL

Note to self, do not keep food in my diaper bag.

I go through my diaper bag from time to time to take inventory. There are always snacks in there. That is funny though!
I only recently tossed some baby food that has been in there for at least a year. I'm pretty sure I got rid of the toddler flatware as well. The bib might still be in there.

Apparently, I will be going through it today! It's only been about two months since I last checked, but I may not have cold-weather clothes in there.
Cold weather: Those of us in the north east consider cold-weather anything below 55 during the day. Except for Liz who thinks that cold is anything below 95.

 

[kajira]

I go through my diaper bag from time to time to take inventory. There are always snacks in there. That is funny though!
I only recently tossed some baby food that has been in there for at least a year. I'm pretty sure I got rid of the toddler flatware as well. The bib might still be in there.

Apparently, I will be going through it today! It's only been about two months since I last checked, but I may not have cold-weather clothes in there.
Cold weather: Those of us in the north east consider cold-weather anything below 55 during the day. Except for Liz who thinks that cold is anything below 95.

I wore a sweatshirt this morning. It was 75 instead of 90+

 

[BullChick]