My Toothless Wonder Is Better Than Yours

Sounds bratty, huh? Admit it though...our babies bring out the 5th grader in all of us. Moms are always sizing each other, and our babies, up? I'm as guilty as the next mother (not that I'm comparing, or anything). I think it hit me yesterday when I took my daughter to the neighborhood park for a quick swing on the swings. I stopped in my tracks when I saw a mom there, trucking through the mulch, in heels! Seriously, who are you trying to impress? That's when I checked out her daughter...


She looked a little older than my daughter...more hair, not quite as cute (hey, we're all bias), wasn't walking yet, still being carried around in the car seat (I give her mom credit for that! I wimped out on that thing a few months ago...although I did love what it was doing for my biceps). One thing I couldn't tell is if this little girl had any teeth. Probably did though, it seems every baby, but mine, has teeth. I'm a little sensitive about the whole teeth issue. I think it started when a little guy at the library, two months younger than Olivia, already had two...at barely five months no less. Even, my girlfriend emailed me, while on vacation in Florida, to tell me that her son (who's a week younger than my daughter) is now getting his top two to total four.

I started telling my husband this and he just looked at me and asked, "Does her baby crawl? Does her baby have hair? Does her baby say "mama?" Okay, I guess he has a point. All babies develop at their own pace. I think I knew all along but I finally realized, in the end, all babies will reach the same developmental finish line.

Afterall, aren't all 90 year old women pretty much the same...plus or minus a few teeth?

Patience Please

As you can see I'm changing my blog around a little. All the content is the same, but it's taking a little time to get everything back up and running. Thanks for your understanding and I hope you like the changes courtesy of Lena at Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates!

Nursing Strike???

I think I spoke too soon when I expressed (no pun intended) my excitement over my daughter picking up breastfeeding where she left off, after a week apart. She seems to be in a bit of a nursing strike right now. It's going to take all I have to continue nursing her and I sure hope I can get to the year mark.



In just two days my little Olivia will be nine months old. With more than eight months of breastfeeding, two weeks of finger feeding (oh that was fun), two months with a nipple shield, and a week of exclusive pumping behind us, I hate to see it end like this. I'm hoping she's just on a nursing strike...dare I say "teething?" I feel like teeth are the answer to everything these days. She's cranky - teething. She's waking up at night - teething. She won't nurse - teething. She prefers dog toys, to her own - teething. You get the point. (By the way, she is still all gums!)

I've been doing a lot of reading on this and it seems that around this age many nursing strikes are blamed on teething...but I'm not sure if that's my little girl's problem or not. Here's how it started: for about two months now (since she started 3 solid meals a day) she's only been nursing 4 times a day, typically 6:30 am, 11 am, 3-3:30pm, 7pm. I would also pump at 10pm just to get a little extra milk in the freezer. Then about two weeks ago she all the sudden refused to nurse at 7pm. I thought it was possibly because she had just eaten dinner around 5:30 and perhaps she wasn't hungry. I pumped and offered her that milk and she took it right away. For a week this went on; all the while she was nursing fine the other three times during the day. Then I went away for a week without her and her grandparents gave her bottles of breastmilk the entire week. I returned and she went back to her old routine, still refusing the 7pm nursing. Then I figured out every time I nurse her during the day, with the exception of the last feeding, it's immediately after she wakes up. That's when I realized she's probably tired at the end of the day and she doesn't feel like working for the milk. So last night I decided, I'm not going to force her to eat. The last thing I want is to force-feed my daughter. I skipped it altogether and didn't even offer her a bottle. She slept until 6am. At that time she woke up, nursed like a mad woman and then went back to sleep until 8:40!!!! I then tried to get back into our routine of nursing at 11 and 3 but she refused both times. I should point out that since she slept so late this morning her schedule was thrown off and 11 and 3 are usually when she wakes up from naps, but today it was when she was about to go down for her naps.

I realize this all sound very confusing, but it is a confusing matter. While I like breastfeeding and want my daughter to have the benefits of breastmilk as long as she can, I am not so dedicated that I will exclusively pump and give her expressed breastmilk for the long term. For me, breastfeeding has a convenience factor along with all the other benefits.

So is this a nursing strike or is this a sleepy baby? Is this a baby who's eating too much solids or a baby who is just too curious about the world to spend 10 minutes breastfeeding?

I guess I'll just chalk it up to...just another challenge of newmamahood. And in the meantime, I'll ask the pediatrician what he thinks when we go for our 5th visit in 3 weeks tomorrow.

Recommended Reading:

Increasing Breastmilk Supply

Tips for Breastfeeding Moms When Returning to Work

Breastfeeding & A Baby-Free Vacation

Donate Unused & Sample Formulas

TSA Rules for Traveling with Breastmilk (with and without baby)

Pumping & Dumping

Pumping & Dumping

If Le Leche knew what I did last week I might be tarred and feathered. I threw out a week's worth of breastmilk. More than 100 ounces of precious breastmilk down the drain...as if it were simply water.


I can't believe I had to do it! And I wish there was another way, but being away from my 9 month old daughter for a week and with no way to bring back all that milk I had to "pump and dump." I poured a good 10 oz of milk down the drain of two different airplanes when I had to sit in that tiny, smelly bathroom and hope we didn't hit turbulence. (Of course, that was only after I ran my pump through security and the female TSA officer coudn't figure out what "it" was. "It's a breastpump," yelled her co-worker from three aisles away. Gee, thanks!) I pumped in an airport bathroom carefully balancing one butt cheek on the paper seat cover while trying to hold the pumps in place with on arm and stretching to keep the bathroom door pulled shut since it had a bum lock. I dumped about 12 oz there. I pumped in the passenger seat of a two seater, lowrider convertible (top up, of course) going 75 mph down I-17 from Scottsdale to Sedona....forgot a blanket, so that was a little tricky keeping everything covered. As you can see, the highway pumping session was well worth the view!

If there's a bright side - I did enjoy a few drinks, a caesar salad, goat cheese and ahi tuna...a few favorites I've had to stay away from the past 18 months. And my fears, that my daughter would refuse the breast when I returned from a baby-free vacation, were unfounded. She latched back on like we were never separated. But after a week of exclusive pumping, 4 or 5 times a day I can't imagine how mom's who exclusively pump do it. Breastfeeding is just so convenient.

Ah, the things we do for our kids!

Recommended Reading:

Increasing Breastmilk Supply

Tips for Breastfeeding Moms When Returning to Work

Breastfeeding & A Baby-Free Vacation

Donate Unused & Sample Formulas

TSA Rules for Traveling with Breastmilk (with and without baby)

TSA Rules for Traveling with Breastmilk

I swear I think I'm the first mom on earth to leave her 8 month old for a whole week. Okay, maybe not...but I maybe the craziest for doing it while I'm still breastfeeding. (On top of that worry, now I'm trying to figure out how to avoid swine flu while traveling.) As you know the TSA has restrictions on what you can take as a carry-on when you fly. I had a few unanswered questions even after reading TSA's policy's. I contacted the agency by email to clear a few things up and I thought I'd pass the information along to you.


My main questions were: Can the breastmilk be frozen and how much can I bring? (The TSA restrictions just say "reasonable"...well, to who??) Reasonable to me would be to bring the week's-worth of liquid gold back home for my daughter, but somehow I don't think that's included in their definition.

Anyway, here's their response:

"Thank you for your e-mail regarding the permitted amounts of breast milk and other liquid items necessary during travel for infants and young children.

Passengers flying with or without an infant or young child may bring more than 3.4 ounces of breast milk (in a liquid or frozen state) into the security checkpoint. The breast milk must be declared to the Transportation Security Officer (TSO) prior to entering the screening checkpoint and be separated from other liquids, gels, and aerosols.

Although TSA does not specifically limit the amount of breast milk or other items a passenger may bring in their carry-on bags, TSA encourages travelers to be practical about these amounts. The amount should be reasonable and consistent with the traveler's itinerary. TSO's have discretion in determining whether the amount of breast milk and other items carried by an individual constitutes a "reasonable amount." All passengers are encouraged to ask to speak with a supervisor at the security checkpoint if they have any questions or concerns with these procedures.

Individuals are also allowed to bring more than 3.4 ounces of pre-mixed baby formula (in a liquid or frozen state), milk products, juice, gel or liquid-filled teethers, canned, jarred, or processed baby food into the screening checkpoint. These items must be declared to the TSO's prior to entering the screening checkpoint and be separated from other liquids, gels, and aerosols.

Please note, the recent modifications also allow bottled water that is presented as an infant/child or medical exemption is allowed into the secured area after it receives additional screening. Passengers traveling with bottled water necessary for medical reasons and/or intended for their child's use through the security checkpoint must:

declare it to the TSO prior to entering the screening checkpoint and prior to x-ray examination;
inform the TSO that the bottled water is necessary for medical reasons and/or intended for an infant or young child; and
open the bottle for additional screening, if required by a .
Frozen gels and liquids are permitted if required to cool medical and infant/child exemptions.
TSA recognizes that the information on our website is not all inclusive and that many passengers have additional concerns regarding traveling with items intended for use by infants and young children. Many of these concerns include how the current screening procedures accommodate the handling of essential food items passengers must carry onboard the plane for their children, such as breast milk, milk products, formula (to include related mixing products), baby food, and juice.

Breast milk and other liquids and gels intended for infants or young children are in the same category as medical liquid exemptions and are normally x-rayed. However, as a customer service, allows a passenger the option of a visual inspection of these items. A passenger must request a visual inspection before screening begins; otherwise, all of the items must undergo x-ray inspection and might be subject to additional screening. It is important to note that if breast milk or other items cannot be cleared visually, they must be submitted for x-ray screening. In addition to a visual inspection of the items, TSOs will test these items for explosives, including breast milk. Passengers may be required to open the containers but will never be asked to test or taste any of these items.

TSA continues to explore opportunities to further modify screening procedures to minimize the concerns of passengers without compromising aviation security. The most current processes in place for bringing breast milk and other food-related items intended for infants and young children safely through the security screening checkpoint can be found at www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/children/formula.shtm.

Passengers are also invited to contact their airline in advance to request any special accommodations for their flight. In addition, please visit our website regularly for updates to special screening procedures.

We hope this information is helpful."

Recommended Reading:

Preparing for a Baby-Free Vacation

Tips for Avoiding Swine Flu While Traveling