Happy Breastfeeding Week Day 3

While searching for some great breastfeeding topics the other night, I came across some funny short clips by Dadlabs at http://www.dadlabs.com/. This is a hilarious clip obviously over dramatised by men. Maybe just a little bit?



If you have a problem viewing it then link directly here.

Happy 2ND Day Of World Breastfeeding Week!

The second day of celebration and I want to talk to all of those mommies in their third trimester getting ready to nest and get that hospital recovery plan together.

Now, by this time you're pretty sure what you're feeling on the subject of caring for baby. You've been practicing this whole time you've been pregnant whether it's exercising and watching everything that goes into your mouth or maybe you've been scrap booking every photo of your growing belly to the ultrasound photos they hand you. Whatever you've been doing to take care of yourself and the details of your pregnancy, you've been connecting with that baby growing in your womb. You know what time is the most active time of day for your baby. You know what triggers activity from your little one, maybe after eating or right after exercising. You know when they may get their daily bat of the hiccups and you know just how to get them to move in you...maybe pushing down on your belly in a specific location to get them to kick. You may love to talk or sing to your little one and about now you're starting to know exactly what you want your birth plan to be but what about your recovery plan while in the hospital. You have an idea that you may want to breastfeed although you may know that it may be a challenge but you're going to give it your best. So let me suggest not only a birth plan but also a recovery plan for you to succeed at your breastfeeding goal.

A birth plan is the plan for your labor. Usually the rules you want the hospital staff to carry out during your labor. It is a plan communicated to your birthing team prior to labor because once there and in labor let's just say it's an experience we've never experienced and never will forget. Discussing the plan with your partner is a must. Some will decide to go natural as long as they can, some may decide only natural no matter what and have their partner there working hard through each contraction. Some women have decided that as soon as the first contraction hits they have to get right to the hospital and be medicated yet others may have no choice and have a cesarean planned due to positioning of their baby or complications. Whatever your plan may be remember that the plan does not stop there. What is your recovery pan? A recovery plan is when your recovering post partum. Have you thought out if you will breastfeed once baby is delivered or will you wait until you have privacy in your recovery room? Will you allow your baby to be taken to the nursery so that you can rest or will the baby be right by your side while you recover? Will your partner stay with you in your room to transition through it all with you plus be there when you have to go to the bathroom, shower or if you're unable to get up right away to attend to the baby? Will your baby be circumcised and if he is will your partner be accompanying him? This is what goes into the recovery plan. It may be a lot to think about but they are little details that will help you to succeed at breastfeeding and transitioning.

You may have your mind set on breastfeeding but so much changes when other factors set in like a screaming baby that freaks you out. Yes, that's what happened with me. A screaming baby that needs some sort of consoling but you have no idea what to do. Yes, that also happened to me. A screaming baby that causes your nurse to ask if she can take the baby for an hour or so into the nursery so that you can get some rest. Yes, that also happened to me. So I got some rest and 8 hours later I woke up rested with my baby still in the nursery on a full belly of formula. This takes me to my next point, your recovery plan will allow all staff to know exactly what your intend for your baby. Practices unfriendly to breastfeeding are a fact and it happens everyday. Unfriendly practices means hospital staff feeding babies formula, sugar water and water supplements while in their care just to calm the baby down occurs everyday without consent from the new mother. According to the article written by the CDC (centered for disease control and prevention) on U.S. hospitals, most of them don't do very well when it comes to promoting breastfeeding.

Shameless Plug: This happened to me too. I had my plan. I was a first time mother but I knew that I was going to breastfeed. Once the baby was here though, I was very uncertain of what to do that first night in the hospital. I took advice from my nurse to have my baby placed in the nursery so that I could get rest after a 24 hour labor and woke up 8 hours later to a baby away in the nursery, very deep in sleep with a full belly of formula. I could post another blog entry on how that made me feel so I'll share what that inspired me to create, The Note to Nurse set.

Recovery Suggestion:
1.Get both plans ready
2.Be well prepared
3.Have your knowledge ready and take advantage of the Lactation consultant available for you. 4.Be prepared to tell your visitors to exit your room if you have to nurse and practice latching on and off those first few nursings in the hospital.
5.Take some books with you to read on postnatal care and especially breastfeeding.
6.Be prepared to rest with your baby and accept the pampering you'll receive from all who love you.
7. Last but not least, have a Note to Nurse set ready to place on baby after their first bath :-)

(Lena and Breast by Terri Frank)

Happy Breastfeeding Week!!!!!!

Today marks the first day of world breastfeeding week!!!!! I'm in the mood to do a happy dance and celebrate. So excuse me as I do a little fancy footwork........okay, back in my chair.

Although I am no longer breastfeeding I am a happy advocate and fully support the movement. So this is how I'm celebrating this week: I'm going to bring you a bit of awareness each and every day. Great products, books, links & articles plus supplies that help the movement in every little way they can and do.

So on with the show!

DAY 1 Today I am writing to all those Mamas that have just found out they are about to have a little monkey of their own! What to do? What to do? There is so much to do!!

First, I hope that you've met your Doctor. Second, you should have a pile of paper, books and pamphlets that every health professional in the OBGYN's office could possibly load you up with. Well, start reading it. Third, let us get on the subject of BREASTFEEDING!!!! Here are some books to get you edumacated on the subject :-) (Man is my spelling check going to hate that word).

1. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding because "babies are meant to breastfed" by the founding mamas of La Leche League. A really nice, informative and supportive book for all new mothers seeking knowledge and answers to breastfeeding and also childbirth.

2. Although this is a movie it's a must see with natural living and birthing choices plus they do talk about breastfeeding- The Business of Being Born! Loved it! I cried, laughed, got a bit angry yet rejoiced and felt so proud to be a woman after watching it. A Must see!

3. New Mother's Guide to Breastfeeding by Joan Younger Meek with Sherill Tippens. Great book with an Anatomy break down and great advice on caring for yoourself in the early days after baby arrives plus more.

4. Happy, Healthy Moms and Babies A Lactations Consultant's advice for Breastfeeding during your hospital stay by Rose deVigne-Jackiewicz. Now, I had the pleasure of being consulted by Rose after the birth of my first baby. After running into her a while back she mentioned that she wrote her own book and I had to get it. After reading it I do have to recommend this book because it is so great. Tips like taking your breastfeeding plan with you to the hospital, keeping baby with you at all times during recovery plus latch and positioning baby on breast are emphasized in the book. Get it and take it with you to the hospital to read while recovering next to your baby.

So that's my post for today. There's some breastfeeding knowledge for you.

Stay tuned for DAY 2!!!!

~Evie

Thumb update


We recently went for our 6 month dental check ups. Everything checked off perfect for all three little monkeys and myself. Our appointment was followed by an orthodontic consultation for both Princess Monkeys and that's where we ran into some dental craze.
Princess Monkey Mia has a tiny bit of overcrowding. Nothing unexpected coming from a family of snaggle toothed crowded mouths (yes, I admit my genetic code will take the credit for that). Princess Monkey Nina on the other hand has the same overcrowding BUT she also has a sucked in upper jaw and a severe cross bite or something like that's caused by her thumb sucking. The doctor informed me if we didn't get her to stop she would eventually have to have an operation. UGH! This thumb sucking is so hard to break. I did have the doctor help me this time though. I mean why not use a total stranger to Princess Monkey Nina to explain to her what could happen if she didn't stop (even if I made him lie a bit). In fact the thumb sucking fiend has actually been a bit better and has been working with me because of what I asked the doctor to tell her. So what were the magic words? I made the doctor explain to her that she had to stop or her face would fall off. So far so good.

~Evie

Mother Earths RAW Minerals

I've never really been into make up. In fact the only necessity I have really ever had is my eyebrow pencil (of course, I hardly have eyebrows) and my eyeliner (to help fill in the eyelash line). Foundation is something I have probably worn on a handful of occasions including my prom, wedding day and possibly a couple of other events I've attended with my hubby.
Well, reaching my wonderful thirties really opened my eyes to the changes in my skin. I'm sure some of you know these changes like the ever so wonderful crow's feet, liver spots, deep skin acne and dry patches. UGH!#$%^ Believe me if you ever spoke to me you would hear only positive things on aging. I refuse to speak harshly on the subject because it's going to happen to every one of us and we need to accept all that comes with it UNTIL I saw myself starting to do it. So when I researched foundations to help cover up some of the stuff sent from God on my face, I hesitated to wear liquid foundation. I wanted natural, non- clogging, earth friendly and natural make up. Also the requirement had to be that it contained no harsh chemicals and because I have a cancer phobia it had to be non carcinogenic. I FOUND IT!
Raw Minerals all natural make up covers my blemished complexion, hides the liver spots (the small ones I'm starting to get), and helps hide the small crow's feet I know are there. What's even better is that it's lightweight and feels like you have absolutely nothing on your face. It's very affordable and the line in extending everyday with foundation powders, eye shadows, blush and more. Yes, I know you've heard of mineral make up but do the ones you know of contain Bismuth? Well, this company makes their mineral make up without Bismuth which is known to irritate the skin. They have a tutorial as well for those of you hesitant to try mineral make up because of the application.
Check it out.

~Evie

PS The company gives away gift packages every month....Register to win some great make up!

Summer update

Well, I'm officially insane! 4 Weeks down and 8 to go until school starts again. The Monkeys have been sick with some wacky virus that kept us in doors for a week and a half so that didn't help out one bit. This week they're feeling better and up to getting out.

~Insane Mom

Summer is Here!!!!

Today was the last day of school. I officially have the kids home for the next 12 weeks (3 months).

I'll keep you posted on my insanity :-}

~Sane Mommy (at this moment)

Change is Coming

Mommy's Little Monkey is due for a face lift and will receive one very soon!!! We've been working extra hard on the new changes. Stay tuned!

~Evie

Thumb Addiction

When my little monkey princess~Nina was born there were a couple of indications she would probably suck her precious little thumb. Actually, I guess the first one came before she was born. Her ultrasound showed her peacefully sucking her thumb in womb. Once born, she was a pro nurser. Immediately she went straight to the breast and was very ready to nurse or pacify. This was a very different experience from our first Monkey Princess~Mia.

Princess Monkey~Nina was calm and very peaceful mostly all of the time but even more so if she was nursing or sucking on her hands until she found her thumb at about 2-3 months old and from then on that's what she always preferred in her mouth (of course other than her nursing tool).

Monkey Princess~Nina will turn 6 soon and the habit that was once so cute and photo worthy has turned to not so cute and forget photos if she's caught with it in her mouth. It just has to stop. You see, I never had problems with Monkey Princess~Nina sucking her thumb. Not when we recently witnessed her permanent teeth start to come in a bit crooked or even when I gave her a manicure making sure to skip the thumb that has flattened and widened over time knowing if I paint it it will scrape off in a day or two. I did however get very bothered once we started trying to quit. I realized what an addiction and small problem she has that will need much motivation, diligence and bribery to attack.

The first night we tried to quit cold turkey, and this was a mutual agreement with a bit of a bribe attached, she had a panic attack/temper tantrum. She literally kicked and screamed on the floor until she got it out of her system then I invited to hold and lay with her on the couch until she fell asleep. The next night was a bit better and then the next better than the night before the previous one but then I went to my best friends home to visit about 5 days into the quitting and did not put her to sleep as I routinely had been doing so and it messed up our achievement causing her to relapse and go back to the dirty little habit. We've been trying but as you can see inconsistency really has hurt our goal. Back to the start and trying over again. Tonight she cries (more like whines) wanting to suck her thumb as I wait patiently for time to go by to see if she can put herself to sleep without her not so little thumb. As I end this I hear nothing in the distance....I think she has conquered our first night again. Much better this time.

Any suggestions?

Monkey Man Update: Popcorn Kernel in your where???

I believe that someone should invent a device of some sort that would allow all mommies and daddies to extract the unpopped kernels in a microwave bag of popcorn. Wondering why I even mention this? Well, because I have three little monkeys that LOVE popcorn! They also love the unpopped kernels. They love to suck the salt off the unpopped kernels, chomp on the unpopped kernels and recently my little monkey man decided he loved to stick them up his nose and in his ear!
Yes, he actually stuck one up his nose but luckily he was able to blow it out.....the one in his ear he was not so lucky with. Yes, if you follow along with this blog then you would know that little monkey man is a mischievous, curious and a very active little monkey. He just so happened to be a little too curious and stuck one in his ear which led us to the Emergency room then led us to surgery..........I know he has fed his curiosity with popcorn kernels and has recently mentioned that they do not belong in the ear or the nose.
Glad to know that probably will not happen again considering what he had to go through to get it out.

Goal Update!

Well, I wrote to you letting you know that I had a goal for the month of April and that was to add a boutique to my retailers list. Well, guess what? I did!!!

Champagne Taste, a sweet boutique with a very kind owner, Andrea, is a place I've been hoping would make Mommy's Little Monkey a part of their shop and has done just that, made The Simple & Sweet Nursing Curtain a little sweet home. For anyone in the San Diego area wanting to do some very cute and quality shopping for your little monkey you must check out Andrea's shop, Champagne Taste where you can find Eco friendly candles, lotions and potions, baby clothing and great children's books plus more. Champagne Taste is located at 2248 30Th St. San Diego, CA 92104
(619) 234-3585‎

www.champagnetaste.com

Quote of the day

"Imagine that the world had invented a new "dream product" to feed and immunize everyone born on Earth. Imagine also that it was available everywhere, required no storage or delivery -- and helped mothers to plan their families and reduce the risk of cancer. Then imagine that the world refused to use it." -Margaret Porter

Red Box

I Have to share this great new Red find with you! Red Box. Let me tell you what it is, it's a red box (yes, literally a red box) with movies you can rent inside of it. They're located in several different places and they hold current and fun movies you've been wanting to watch. The way you use it is just press the "rent a DVD" touch screen option and choose the movie you want, check out with a easy touch screen option, pay with your debit or credit card and whalah you have a movie rental for just $1.00 for one night. Return it by 9PM the next evening and you're good to go but go over the 9PM time frame and you're charged another $1.00 fee. If you should want to keep the movie the Red Box company will charge you everyday for 25 days maximum and it's yours to keep. Genius! No lines so far, no one to hassle you or ask you questions you just go, choose, pay and return the next day.

March Update

Let me catch you up on what I've been doing the last month and a half. Let's start on my personal side first. Well, I've had a little monkey man accident about every two weeks. 1 Broken shower faucet, 1 clogged toilet which he chose to clog with a plastic bottle cap, a clogged sink which he chose to play with the faucet water stopper (whatever they're called) a couple of times too many and then it broke off so off to the hardware store we went to buy a drain stopper and then he took that off and stuck one of his sisters barrettes down the drain. Up until today nothing had really be destroyed by monkey man for about a week but then he came into the house with a broken light bulb that he mentioned he just so happened to be trying to help me screw it on tighter but he actually unscrewed it causing it to fall off my sewing machine and break. Ugh! The RULES lecture has come up a million times in that last month in my house.

Spring break has passed and it was relaxing and nice to spend time with my little monkeys. Monkey man is on a three week break from preschool (looking forward to that starting back up) and of course Easter came and I was able to spend a very nice time with our family.

On the business side of things I landed an account with a W.I.C. office here in town! That's a great and wonderful step for my business. I've been working hard planning, organizing and getting ready to update my website and change out my nursing cover fabric and need to add baby tees plus I'm getting myself mentally prepared to get out into more stores. Which brings me to a little vulnerable subject to share with you......I am terrified of approaching stores! Why you ask? Well, I don't know why exactly but after reflecting on this subject I'm assuming is that big ole rejection factor I personally hate and am fearful of. So, knowing I need to do it no matter what and trying to gain knowledge on the whole subject I went to my good and knowledgeable friend, Google, and he led me to so much information on cold calling and business approaching. I found a wonderful and to my surprise a local business that blogs about her business experience and after reading it for a while I was in tears! Yeah, I'm an emotional wreck at times but Amber of Baby Fabulous hit all of my fears, excitement and struggles of creating a business from scratch and bringing it to fruition on the nail. I can create, I can organize, package, and have details in order but sales.....let's just say I'm terrified of it. I love her blog and she is such an inspiration and has honestly motivated me. I wrote to Amber hoping to meet her someday.

My goal for April, which I will blog to you about and work on, is to make it into 1-2 new boutiques. Cross your fingers, your toes and say a little prayer for me while I do this and I'll keep you posted.

Talk to you soon,

~Evie

Big Apple Moms Encouraged to Breastfeed for 6 Months

New york City's Mayor Bloomberg is launching a multimillion-dollar good-parenting campaign that includes a push to put more newborns to the breast. The city is spending more than 2 million to encourage mommies to nurse for up to six months where at this point 75% start to breastfeed and 38% stop before 6 months.

The campaign will really help turn New York's hospitals into baby friendly hospitals where they will not encourage formula feeding or automatically give away formula filled diaper bags and information. Two new programs will ride the campaign to help low income mothers providing health workers to check up on the new mothers and another where health workers visit families every two weeks up to two years.

This should be something we all tune into to see how it works and if the rates increase with this great campaign.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Hope you're day has been wonderful and full of love! Mine has been full of Valentine's for the kids, cookies, candy, parties that were full of cookies, candy and sugar, plus a ton of cards...oh and did I mention candy? With three kids a valentine's day is sure to promise cavities :-)

I did get the best card from my gorilla hubby though. I had to share it with you because I love it and promise to keep if forever......oh gosh I'm such a mess. Just in case I did a horrible job photographing it, it's a photo of king Kong in boxers.

Have a great night!

~Evie

Hello Again

I hope you had a wonderful holiday and New Year's.

So I'm back into the swing of everything and it's been a little hard getting in the groove. Christmas vacation was wonderful. Sleeping in, baking and relaxing with the kids was very nice. We did have a lot of running around to do though too. Last minute shopping, wrapping and gifting made our vacation a little hectic but it's all over now and I look forward to spring break :-)

We here in San Diego had so much to celebrate with the Chargers going to the Playoffs the last couple of weeks. The whole city was really in the spirit. I Just happened to go downtown this last Friday evening and many building were decorated with lightning bolts and Charger signs. It was too exciting! My Gorilla hubby went downtown for all of the festivities on Friday morning and had a great time too! To make it even better he won a autographed L.T jersey in a contest. He even made it on the evening news because of it. Let's skip the sad lost though and go on to the next subject.......

Babies, babies, babies!!!!!! It seems that there is a baby boomlet going on in the United States. The rates are the highest since 1961. Reports state that the expected number of children a woman is to have in her lifetime is 2.1 compared to other countries at 1.3 per woman . The Rise has been blamed on a larger population and an increase in Hispanics! We're having all the babies according to the CDC. Hispanics have a higher fertility rate, about 40% higher but I will agree with the experts that middle America just has a more favorable out look on family and children in general. As for me and the surrounding women in my life, we're all averaging three children each with the exception of a couple that have more than three. I do have to agree with Nan Marie Astone, associate professor of population, that "Americans like children. We are the only people who respond to prosperity by saying, `Let's have another kid,"'.

Love That!

Until next time

~Evie

Pretty Embarrassing

For my business promotions and spreading the word I use a great service called Constant Contact. This really works well because it keeps all of my customers informed on the latest happenings with Mommy's Little Monkey.

So I sent one out last night to my contact list at around 12 am. Being that I've stayed up every night until 12-1 am I was pretty beat. No excuses, I sent out a email with a misused word! That is very embarrassing! It wasn't a small word or hidden mistake either, it had to be right at the entry of the email and one of the main point words :-( of course spell check didn't catch it because it's a word, it's just not the word I wanted to use!

Here it is:

Need to but that special gift for that special mommy or baby in your life? You're invited to A Mommy Soiree!
To celebrate this holiday season, Mommy's Little Monkey is offering you 20% off of your next purchase. Present this coupon at the event or order online to receive this special offer.
*Discount will be refunded after on line purchase.

Event: A Mommy Soiree
DATE: Sunday, December 9Th
TIME: 3-6 PM
Location: 2802 Juan Street In Old Town, CA. 92110 (right in front of the boutique)

Really bad and embarrassing. If you received one please excuse my mistake.

I think it's time for a new and higher resolution camera.....don't you?

I have spent so much of my day trying to get my camera to take a good picture of my products. It's not working.

Santa will you please bring me a great new one?

Thanks,

~Evie

To my Wonderful Nurse......

When I was pregnant with my first little monkey I made sure I went over my birth plan with my doctor. Because he was not guaranteed to be there for the delivery he told me not to worry and to have it ready to fork over to my delivery team once I arrived at the hospital.

My husband and I had it all planned out. I was not to have any medication, I was also only going to breastfeed and we had chosen to save and donate her cord blood along with some other little details in our plan. So once in labor and in a ton of pain we set off to the hospital. In between contractions and concentration I made sure to remember my paper with my golden birth plan on it and tried to hand it to my nurse. The attitude I received from my nurse was more like the paper was written in a different language and was immediately disregarded. However this made me feel, a bit insecure, irritated and ignored, I continued laboring to get what felt like a 30 pound watermelon out of my pained body. As expected from people who had no idea of what my wishes were there was pressure to medicate, anger directed to my poor husband by the staff who was first of all only trying to carry out my original wishes, and of course a bottle feeding of formula.

I was an emotional and not to mention a hormonal wreck while recovering. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, I wanted to just be heard and not treated as the inexperienced mother I was. Although I knew why I was so emotional, I still struggled against my emotions because I felt the staff had so much more knowledge then I could have had in the few hours I had become a mother. Clearly my nurse acted as if she knew what was best for me. She suggested we get rest and have our new crying baby taken to the nursery. So, after a 24 hour labor and a new baby that would not stop crying who would resist her invitation? I guess I should have. I didn't though and 8 hours later I woke up without my baby realizing we had been separated for a very long time and insisted on having her back with me. My nurse brought her to me bundled and comfortably asleep filled up on a bottle of formula. That 's when I knew my time was up at this birth plan disregarding hospital and I wanted out!

This experience and recent conversations with other women and their similar stories has inspired me to make a little difference. Giving mommies a little reassurance is what I hope to achieve. Introducing my new little "Note to Nurse" shirt/beanie set by Mommy's Little Monkey. The note reads:

To my Wonderful Nurse,

I am learning how to breastfeed.

Please no bottle or pacifiers while I'm in your care.

Mommy is waiting for my return to feed me.

(heart),

Baby

Beanie reads:

Breastfeeder in Training

Each set in carried in a stylish drawstring organza bag and come in size newborn. This is the perfect baby shower gift. Check them out and pass on the news about this great new product!