Milk, it's What's for Dinner

The phone rings and it’s Dave.

“Lisa? What are you doing?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Well, yeah.”
“I have a baby hanging on me.”
“You’re still doing that?
“Yes. She’s only 9 months old and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for the first year.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah, and besides, it burns 500 calories a day.”
“Wow. I wish somebody would milk me. Well, I’m coming over. Do you think you can get those things put away pretty soon?”
“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll pack up the lunch before you get here.”

Baby Love, Etc.

I have mentioned before that the girls found the whole idea of breast-feeding fascinating. They are pretty much over that now and really don’t pay too much attention anymore. But every now and then they will say something that I find amusing.


A couple of mornings ago, Claire walked into my bedroom while I was feeding the baby. The baby is now at that stage where she is really interested in everything going on around her. So, when the baby heard Claire walk in, she immediately stopped eating and whipped her head around, Linda Blair style.

Claire looked at her, laughed and said, "Look, now her breakfast is in her ear!"


There are all kinds of good reasons to breast-feed, as you probably already know. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breast-feeding for the first year. So, why not? It’s always the right temperature and ready to go, nothing to clean or pack, and it’s best for the baby. Breast-fed babies tend to score higher on IQ tests, they are healthier with fewer allergies. Breast-feeding helps the mom get back to her pre-pregnancy weight more quickly and reduces the risk of breast cancer.


With that being said, there are times that the idea of a bottle sound tempting. Don’t get me wrong, I TOTALLY mean for the baby. What I am trying to say, is that it can really be difficult (or painful) to breast-feed a teething baby. Marin is starting to get her first tooth and she is not liking it. She is drooling quite a bit and constantly chewing on her fingers, at least when she’s taking a break from chewing on me.


Her tooth has yet to erupt through the gum but she bites incredibly hard for a kid with no teeth. Yesterday, she paused while eating and then clamped down hard and jerked her head to the side. The only thing I could think of is that I now know what a raw-hide bone must feel like.


Marin doesn’t limit the chewing to just me or her fingers. She will bite her sisters too. A few days ago, while sitting on Katie’s lap, she lunged at her big sisters arm. Katie thought it was funny and said, " Look! She’s chewing on me like I’m a hangaber!"*
Fortunately Claire and Katie love the baby so much that they aren’t concerned about all the drool. In fact, they seem to find it endearing.


Katie- "Do you know how you can tell if the baby kissed you?"
Me- "No, how?"
Katie- "Your face is wet. That’s how you can tell."







*For Katie, hangaber means hamburger. It’s one of the few words that she doesn’t pronounce correctly.

Moo

My little girls are incredibly fascinated with their newborn baby sister. They want to help with everything from diapers to bathing. They really wish that their baby sister was bottle-fed so that they could feed her too. They both find the breastfeeding very amusing however.

I explained how it worked before the baby was born. They both seemed to think that I must have been kidding, because honestly, it sounded completely ridiculous to them. Did I really expect them to fall for that? Katie really wants to understand the whole process in detail. She asks many questions since she is four and asking questions is pretty much her job. Which she takes very seriously by the way. Refer to earlier post about “The Quiet Game.”

She asked while gesturing towards my chest, “Why do you have two for the baby? Is this one for chocolate and the other one white?”

That kid is always thinking. Of course if one were chocolate, I would still have her hanging on me too.