Ohm

Lactation yoga - nurse lying on your side without getting up to switch sides.

Allies

Article at Kellymom: Information is Your Ally in preparing to breastfeed: 10 Tips for Success

Tongue-tie

When we were dealing with Ollie's 'mild' tongue tie issues, I had such a hard time trying to evaluate whether or not to get his frenulum snipped. And, I felt like everyone I asked (LLL Leader, OB, pediatrician and even the Otolaryngologist we consulted) just kept saying "its up to you." Well, OF COURSE its up to me! But where was I to find scientific, rational guidelines from which to make a decision? Even after researching it extensively, I still just felt ambivalent about the procedure, and whether the benefits would outweigh the negatives. Especially since the Drs would only agree to correct it under general anesthesia, and there are risks with anesthetic especially for an infant.

The Hazelbaker tool is an excellent method for performing this assessment, and gives an easy way to evaluate and score whether or not intervention should be sought. However, I wasn't previously able to find a good explanation of how to use it.

I would encourage any mom considering corrections to tongue tie to look at this article: http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/110/5/e63

From memory I completed the tool today (Ollie's 10.5 mo now) and found that Ollie scored a 7 & 11 on the two areas assessed. Scores of less than 8 of 10 *AND* less than 11 of 14 indicate significant tongue-tie; truly his was/is a mild case. That, combined with the pain I went through, makes me think in retrospect we would have both benefited from having the procedure done.

I wish one of the 'experts' I'd seen had gone through this assessment with me at the time - or that I had known about it and could have used this to guide our discussion! I hope knowing this helps someone else.

Originally published on ivillage, Info on tongue-tie, for anyone trying to decide whether to correct it or not and referenced at Breastfeeding a baby with tongue tie: links from Kellymom.

Using Antidepressants in Breastfeeding Mothers

Keynote address by Thomas Hale, PhD
LLL of Illinois Area Conference, Bloomingdale, IL
October 26, 2002

Attendee's report by	Eva Lyford
reviewed & edited by	Thomas Hale, PhD

published at kellymom.com with permission from Eva Lyford and Thomas Hale, PhD

http://www.kellymom.com/health/meds/antidepressants-hale10-02.html

Bedtime Routines

It has been a real struggle for me to balance the needs of both my babies since my second son was born when my first was only 21 months old. Even though my toddler can be very independent during the day, at night he shows how young he still is. Bedtime can be particularly hectic since that's when the boys seem to both need me 100 percent, and there isn't enough of me to go around. I have been tandem nursing them, but separately; I haven't been able to figure out how to nurse them at the same time. Now that six months have passed since I became the mother of two, I believe I can share some tips with other mothers.

My husband, like yours, is at work some evenings. I found myself dreading those nights each week. Bedtime in particular was really tough, since I couldn't manage my toddler's bedtime routine and still meet my newborn's needs. Finally, I reached out to my mother and asked for her help. Now, when my husband is away we spend some nights at my parents' house. For my parents and me, it is a throwback to my visits home from college (except I don't bring laundry anymore). For my sons, they have a great time seeing their grandparents for such a long visit. Plus, I get away from all the household chores that wait for me at my house. I make sure to lend a hand at my parents', but there is still less to do than when I'm at my own house. It is a nice break for us all, and of course, at bedtime there are more than enough hugs and cuddles to go around.

Originally published in New Beginnings by La Leche League International.

(Vol. 19 No. 5, September-October 2002, pp. 184 http://www.llli.org/NB/NBSepOct02p184.html)

Help! I dyed my 2 year old red.

I had a bug up my whatever today because the house is so disorganized - its to the point where I almost wouldn't be surprised to find a mattress on the kitchen floor. Elliot has learned the wonderful skill of relocating things in the house and has been practicing. So, the booster chair ends up in the living room, the coffee table in the kitchen, the kitchen chairs in the dining room, garbage cans stacked in the closet... and this in the approximately 30 seconds it takes me to go to the bathroom. When I take a longer 5 minute stretch to nurse Oliver, he's done things like blocked his doorway with his bed and screamed his fool head off for a rescue when he realizes he's stuck. So this morning, I set Elliot up in his highchair with some water, a funnel, a scoop, an ice cube tray, and some medicine droppers. Usually keeps him enthralled for 15 minutes so that I can go get the couch back from the porch (just kidding on that one.)

Anyway, so he's set and I'm off like a shot racing around the house with a laundry basket, collecting stuff and redistributing it to appropriate places. I look like one of those manic shoppers who's won a contest where they have 10 minutes to race through a store and everything they can carry out in that time is free. (Wasn't that an I love Lucy episode?)

Now, imagine if you will a tiny camera following each of us around the house...

Cut to kid cam: kid sees bottle of red food coloring which Mama set out for Easter eggs across the kitchen and against the wall. Ponders his good fortune.

Mama cam: Eva is retrieving videos from behind couch.

Kid cam: slipping easily out of highchair restraint, crawls over tray, across counters to bottle, obtains red bottle, returns to chair - leaving suspicious trail of wet sock prints behind on counter and restraints still buckled.

Mama cam: hearing noise, mama asks "what are you doing, kiddo?" response: "playing water." Mama retrieves child's socks from houseplant, continues.

Kid cam: opens bottle, dumps contents into tray. Proceeds to anoint head, arms, belly with fingers dipped in resulting concoction

Mama cam: retrieves Elmo-phone from cabinet to make room for videos, stuffs videos into cabinet, wishes for the 3,000th time it had a lock. . Heads past kitchen, noticing nothing suspicious, to child's room. Back out again to dining room. captures folded laundry from table and heads off to linen closet. Realizes kitchen is unusually quiet, and has sinking feeling....

kid cam: shot of mama's shocked face coming around corner. Gleeful cackles from child.

Any tips on getting the dye out?