Don't tense up while pumping

I've found that when your pumping the worst thing you can do is tense up or stress out. You need to be calm collected and focused on your little bundle of joy to be able to extract as much milk as possible. I know it seems very odd to think that our mood will dictate what we pump, but its true. This can be hard when your pumping at work, because of the environment your in. Different moms use different tricks while they are pumping. Some moms, bring a picture of there child, others bring there phone with videos and picture of there loves. I do a combination of things. I find relaxing for me includes finding a way to think of my son (who i am pumping for) by either running through in my head things we did the night before, watching videos of him on my phone and just enjoying thinking of him. other times i flip through a magazine or play games on my phone. Anything that gets me to relax in a high pressure work environment. Also try not to stress on the time, it'll work against you. I find that when I'm really pressed for time, and trying to fit my pumping time in between my appointments, I pump less and I end up needed to use a emergency frozen pack for the next day. That's the most frustrating part when I work so hard to get a stash of frozen breast milk and then need to use it because I cant relax. Its suppose to be for emergency not for non relaxing pumping sessions... So I guess my point is RELAX, easier said than done right!

Know your stuff! Healthy People 2020 initiative

There has been a huge push for creating healthy individuals for the United States. The idea is if we start out a human from the first breath as a healthy person, this should carry over throughout there entire life! That's where the idea to promote breadfeeding to the public from many different professional started. There are many different benefits to both the baby and the mother when you choose to use breast milk as a source of nutrition for your child. The antibodies in breast milk help fight any virus, or bacteria that may enter into the babies body. By far babies who are breastfed have less illnesses, and are hospitalized less as well! How could you not consider this choice with all those benefits to your youngster. But It gets even better moms also have benefits associated with choosing to breastfeed. You return to your pre-pregnancy weight faster, along reducing the risk of osteoporosis, and studies have also shown that it decreases the chances of breast cancer. With all this good , what are the down falls to breast feeding and why do people choose not to do this? One may be the Time commitment! Its a lot.... of time and dedication. Here are a couple great links to refer to: http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs73.pdf and http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/health/breastfeeding-state-laws.aspx

How to transition to cows milk

After the one year mark, pediatricians ok you to start transitioning from breast milk or formula to cows milk. I can only hope that my son will make this transition easy. Thinking back to when I started to integrate this into my daughters schedule, she drank whole milk like a champ. But then again she never fussed about taking a bottle either. I'm a little worried that my son will be different. He refused the bottle for 8 weeks straight a very stressful time because I was returning to work. So with this upcoming transition I'm anxious about this whole thing! Here's how I slowly transitioned my daughter.
I would start with only adding a 1/4 - 1/2 of an ounce at first and slowly increase it after a couple of days. Then go to 1 - 1 1/2 ounces so on a so forth. I'd much rather do it slowly than cold turkey for the babies. Also you have to think of what temperature you've been giving the milk at. Because if your child is like mine, he likes his milk very warm.... so the coldness of the cow milk might shock the system!
I'm interested to learn if any other mothers have tips or ideas for the transition?

New Stuff!

I'm excited to share a new blog I'm starting that I hope many of you will follow as well.
Today's Working Mom
www.todaysworkingmom.blogspot.com
You can link over to it right from this page!
here's a little snip it of whats to come:
On a side note: this week has been one to put into the books for our household. This was the first time that all four of my family members (this is including me) were sick all at the same time. Both my husband and I trying to still work and juggle the kiddos sick was a challenge in its self. After our bedtime routine and both kiddos fast asleep finally we fell into bed to start it all over again in the morning. (well at least for my husband, for me I still have to get up for my youngest feeding time at night.) But some how we survived! I'm sure we lost some part of our sanity this week to lack of sleep, or energy!

The inventor of the pump should be kissed!

I have to say even though I despise pumping after months and months of doing it at work, the inventor of the pump should be thanked! This is an irreplaceable item, that allows us working moms to continue to breast feed our children and work. Many of us today don't have the choice to be a stay at home mom. There are more and more families ever year that need two incomes, and that's nothing to beat yourself up over! The pump allows us working mom's to relieve some of our guilt of not staying home with the ability to feed our babies breast-milk.
So what exactly are the options of pumps to choose from:
There are two main sources of pumps. One being electric or battery-powered and the other one being manual. With those you can either single or dual pump. Its all in what you prefer. There is a bra online that actually holds the pump to make it hands free too. (such a great invention!)
Here is a great resource to help you figure out the in's and out's of picking out and using a pump.
www.mayoclinic.com/health/breast-feeding/PR00002