Nursing while Running

In reading my title you probably got a great visual of a woman jogging down the street wearing leggings, a sling, and nursing...  

peacefully sleeping after a "jog" lol

Although that would be hilarious, I was actually thinking of my four month son. He has recently taken to "running" while I try to nurse him... He takes his feet and just kicks furiously at my leg, trying to fling himself out of my lap, as if to run away. He grunts and flails his head too. It is quite sight. I just laugh... Where does he think he is going? It  is as if he found his milk and  is running away with it.

What is your experience with nursing? I would love to hear your nursing adventures.

Going green a nursing miracle

Finding the perfect bra is always a challenge but I never thought I'd find the perfect one in the grocery aisle!! I grew up around nursing mom's so I always just assumed that you grew up got married popped out a baby and nursed. 

I swiftly discovers that nothing was further from the truth. We struggled with nursing from the start, but my efforts were further complicated by a nagging breast infection, yeast infection, general iteration... call it what you like. I saw a Lactation consultant, two midwives, my primary care doctor, none of whom could find a solution :-)  but don't worry, I got lots of creams and antibiotics which were promised to help but didn't. 

It was hard to choose a favorite... There was option #1 which clearly stated do not let this come in contact with mouth... Which is very reassuring to a new mom, I won't eat it but I'm just letting my baby nurse with on it, then we switched to Nystatin which is basically like cough syrup so everything I put it on I had to wash everything because it was so sticky. Oh and all the lovely antibiotic pills.

Then finally on health provider #6 we found our answer! Cabbage leaves! I couldn’t believe it when he told me that. My directions were to go buy a cabbage wash the leaves, cut out a small circle for the nipple then stick them in my bra for about 10 minutes until they wilted 4x a day. Shockingly enough I began to get relief almost immediately. The heat in my breasts went away and the red rash and tenderness began to fade. Cabbage leaves worked the miracle for me. It was like a blast from the past and suddenly I was cabbage patched for my kid.

UPDATE:
My OB recommended cabbage leaves for my situation... As pointed out by Lenetta in the comments cabbage leaves can also decrease supply so check with your OB to see what is best for your situation. Kellymom.com has lots of great information on nursing, cabbage leaves etc

Good luck nursing!

The miracle of nursing

     Today was a crazy day with a lot of unexpected bumps. As I finally sat down, I was simply amazed by the love of my little son. I was holding him nursing, and he kept grabbing my finger with his little hand. I was already snuggled with him nursing, but that wasn’t enough. It was as if he were saying, no mom... don’t look at the computer, or your phone, or your tablet. Just love me. Enjoy the beauty of me for a moment. When I stopped for that moment my heart just overflowed with love. Here was my little son with total trust and love for me. Depending on me for his every need, and so in love. I smiled as we finished nursing his one hand snuggled on my breast, and the other tightly gripping my hand. 

     What a blessing to be a parent! I just hope I can remember to savor every moment I share with him. I would love to hear some moments that just take your breath away as parents?

Nursing faster than Pumping...

Have you ever had to leave your nursing baby?  

I felt like I was part of the great race today. I had to leave my little guy with a substitute babysitter while I went to work today, and I wasn’t feeling totally confident because last time she sat with him he cried the entire time and she looked like she was ready to throw herself off a bridge by the time I got home . And the day before lil Charlie cried the entire time while he was home for daddy. Basically this girl had no hope. So I decided, I would race home and nurse him instead of pumping... 

State laws require that I be allowed to pump at work and that is wonderful, there is even a room right in our office where I can. However it is also awkward, because there are lots of guys and sometimes they need the room while I’m pumping so I get a text asking me if I am almost done because people needed to get into the room. 

While home on lunch one day I realized that it was almost as quick for me to go home and nurse vs. setting up the pump, blocking off the room etc. So today I was going to try it. Little Charlie hadn’t been taking his bottle so I thought this is it.
We breaked from our meeting at 2:50. I gave my co-worker the “I’m pumping nod” grabbed my keys and hit my stop watch.

I had to see if I could nurse and return faster than I could pump. 

Trying to still look professional, I ran to my car, sped home, ran inside and was nursing by two minutes in. 

My little man was just starting to fall asleep, but he was so happy to see me, he was just staring in my eyes and cooing... now this is the kind of stuff that just melts your heart. I could have just kept staring in his eyes forever, but I knew that i had to be back on the road in just 10 minutes so I’m trying to rush him to nurse... and if you know anything about nursing and your milk letting down you know it doesn’t happen when you’re stressed. Another minute passed and he got a little more interested, started nursing and I started to relax. We rocked and nurse, as I really savored the moment with my precious child during my workday. He finished without throwing up on me, a true miracle, and I was off again. I even managed to have time to grab a piece of beef jerky to refuel on after nursing. 

I dashed back to the office, I rounded the corner of cubicles and they were just getting ready to go back into our meeting. I wasn’t even missed.


I felt like supermom at that moment. I went home, nursed my baby sharing that moment of love and still managed to be back to work before my pumping break was up. This was a glimmer of hope that it is really possible to live the dream of being a great mom, while still working to help provide for our family.