Parenting

Of course, 99.9% of any one will say, YES! Breastfeed!

With my first baby Megan, I thought “Of course I’ll breastfeed.” I didn’t realize it was really hard to breastfeed.

1. The baby doesn’t know what to do.
2. The latching on is the most crucial step. You don’t get it right, it’ll affect milk supply and how painful it is.
3. The first 2 weeks are awful.
4. Not only is the mom sleep deprived already, breastfeeding is time consuming.
5. You are leaking, your breasts are engorged, and sore nipples.

It took me 10 days. I had to stop. I did not look forward to each feeding and I knew that was bad when I was delaying the nursing. I was still in pain from my labor. I had a perineal tear that had its stitches torn within an hour of my labor. So I was restitched up a 2nd time.

The perineal tear made my recovery longer than most. It took me 10 weeks instead of the usual couple of weeks. From the pain to low milk supply, I was frustrated, in pain, and sad/depressed.

Switching to formula really helped my family.

With Emma, I decided to try breastfeeding again. I felt good! Emma was latching on (not perfectly but adequately) enough to get enough dirty and wet diapers. I was supplementing with formula also. I got through 5 weeks of pain. It was worth it.

But my decision to change to formula was a sad one. I loved the closeness I felt when breastfeeding. As much as I wanted to continue breastfeeding, it was time to go back to work. I had missed a lot of work time because I was put on complete bed rest since of my 31st week of pregnancy.

My doctor recommended me to continue to breastfeed in the morning and at night but I also work from home too. To make ends meet, my time breastfeeding had to stop. Everytime I look at Emma, I feel melancholy that I couldn’t do more for her.

I’m glad I breastfed both my kids as much as I could. Circumstances now compared to in the past are different. We’re working women and working moms.

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Megan is now 2 years old. Along with a new baby in the house, I am struggling to control Megan’s behaviors. She had always been a great 1 year old toddler. Well minus her constant urge to get into every nook and crany of everything.

Yeah, so she’s a handful.

But recently, (well 5 months ago), she started to have sleeping problems. She would get into bed at 9pm but wouldn’t sleep until midnight. Around 20 months, she got the nerve to climb out of bed and walk through the door. We would find her in her play room at midnight. We put her back into bed and she would fall asleep … an hour later.

We had to sleep by her side. If she wakes in the middle of the night, and one of us is not there, she would burst into tears.

So now at 2 years of age, and with a newborn, we need to make some changes. PRONTO.

I am at wits end when I ran across a parenting advice column. 2 parents recommended “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.” I bought it and I’m reading it and already I see some hopeful and helpful tips.

Keep yours fingers cross

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Megan is starting daycare on Monday. And I’m nervous. I know she’ll cry. I know I’ll cry. I don’t even know if I can leave her in the care of strangers.

I just have to do it. I’m 5 months pregnant, working and grandma is very taxed from watching a growing 19 month old. Megan is stronger, faster now. She’s injured grandma on several occasions and is getting very heavy for anyone of us to carry around.

I’m hopeful that we’ve chosen the right daycare. I was recommended to Primrose School but online reviews give me a bad feeling.

I don’t know if I’m making the right decision. Well I know Megan needs to go to daycare to interact better with other kids her age. And she seems to like to play with other kids.

Our plan is to drop her off Monday at 9am or 10am. Play with her a bit and get her situated with the class. We’ll probably pick her up at 1pm for several weeks. After several weeks, we’ll extend the pickup time to 3pm. The latest we might leave her til is 5pm. But that’s very rare.

Cross your fingers for us. I’ll keep everyone updated.

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My 19th month old baby girl is really growing. She’s just sprouting super fast. At her last checkup she was 34.5 inches tall and weighed 26lbs. The doctor was asking how many words she can really say and I was worried that she wasn’t talking much. Mostly it was in baby gibberish that 90% of time no one could understand.

She says:
Mom
Dad
Ba – for grandma
Um – pick me up in vietnamese but it’s been like 3 months since she said that word.
Where’s that?
What’s that?
Who’s that?

Today she said something new! I had turned on the TV for her and she replied, “Tank You.” hehe. I was shocked.

It made me happy and it’s kinda promising that I’m doing something right.

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