Tricky, Tricky...

So, my baby recently went on "bottle strike." My husband was getting really frustrated and his reasoning was that he would have to take the bottle eventually because that was all he was willing to offer him. I watched from afar as my son freaked out more and more. My heart was breaking as I pleaded with my husband to just let me give him my boob. My husband was persistent until he couldn't take it anymore. We gave in and I breast-fed him. Well, by day two of this, I had read all the blogs on how you are supposed to follow the same rules as bottle introduction: holding him differently, having mom leave the room, etc. Well none of that worked.

Finally, it was like a light bulb went off in my head. What if we "tricked" him? By this, I mean make him think he is getting the boob when he's really getting bottle. So I gave it a try, I strapped on the "My Brest Friend," laid him down, and watched him root as I scooted the bottle in there. Sure enough, he took it! Once we figured that out, the next time my husband gave him a bottle we had the baby lay on a pillow (that I use while nursing sometimes) on his side like he was breast-feeding, waited for him to root, and slid the bottle in his mouth. It worked again!

If you or someone you know is having trouble with a "bottle strike" baby, give this trickery a try...it may just work.

Free is good...for the planet too!

We've all heard the saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure, " well, there is an online community called Freecycle (Freecycle.org) where you can find and give away items for free. The idea is to recycle items instead of having them fill up landfills.

The Orange County, California group is run through the Huntington Beach community. So if you go to the website do a search for "Huntington Beach" and click on OC - Huntington Beach (California, United States) Follow the directions found in the next box and you will be directed to the groups Yahoo page. Click on "Join This Group" in the upper right. You will need a Yahoo ID to join. Once signed up you will be able to get notifications about all the items being offered.

There are a few rules within the group such as making sure you format your postings correctly and how often you can make a "wanted" post. The moderator will send you an email with the details of all this when you first sign up.

There are a lot of different things posted including (just today) a TV with VCR, computer, laser printer, digital camera, and workout items. This is especially great for moms because I notice that there are tons of baby items offered daily (just today I saw a Leap Frog learning table).

So get out there and save the planet and get some free stuff while your at it!

Sites with Benefits

When I found out I was pregnant I joined certain sites like What to Expect and Baby Center. These sites have been great sources especially after the birth of my baby.

Right before my baby was born I also joined a few other sites.

Sites like Parenting Weekly, Fit Pregnancy, Planning Family have lots of great information and offers like coupons and free trial magazine subscriptions.

Pampers and Huggies both have a rewards program where whenever you buy their products you earn points towards stuff like Shutterfly credit. Since new parents are going to be buying diapers and wipes anyway they might as well be getting something out of it. Both Huggies and Pampers also gave me a free trial pair of diapers...free is good.

I also get a lot of coupons from Enfamil, Gerber, & Similac. I am not giving my baby formula yet, but I'm sure it will come in handy at some point.

If you are a mom take a look at what these sites have to offer. There's a lot out there, take advantage of it.

Visiting Hours

When visiting new parents here are a few really great tips:

Don't overstay your welcome. New parents are sleep-deprived and every opportunity to nap needs to be taken advantage of. Keep visits short, 1-2 hours at the most.

New parents: don't be afraid to let your guests know "Hey, it's 8:30 pm we're tired and are going to hit the hay, so your going to have to hit the road," or something to that effect.

Come bearing gifts. Bring a bag of diapers or better yet, food. New parents rarely have time to feed themselves let alone cook. Never expect or ask new parents to pick some food up for you all. Again, time for sleep = important.

Lend a hand. If you don't bring something with you then offer to do a chore. In addition to having little time to cook, they also have little time to clean. So, don't be surprised when you visit and the house looks like a tornado rolled through. If it doesn't, then they obviously went to a lot of trouble to skip naps to make it look presentable for you.

Mini-babysit. If possible, offer to bottle feed the baby while they sleep. You get to enjoy the one-on-one time with the little one while they catch up on some z's.

Don't expect much. Until the child is at least 3 months old, don't expect new parents to hang out long, be on time, or have anything but tentative plans. New babies require a lot of flexibility, time, and energy.

MOMS Club

I went to a membership meeting for MOMS (Mothers Offering Mothers Support) Club of Huntington Beach South this morning. There is a Club group for just about every city. Since my little one gets bored easily (and by bored I mean cries after 2 minutes of anything, especially being in the house too long) this sounded like a great idea.

The groups meet weekly according to the child's age. For example, the group I would go to would be the 0-2 year olds which meet on Tuesday at a group member's home. They also have monthly meeting in the park which is what I went to today. There were about 12 moms and 20 or so kids. They had a craft table, snacks, and a raffle. There are also various other activities the Club members can partake in such as going to museums, movies, and dinner. They even have a service day where they give something back to the community.

I highly recommend any mother out there to get involved in their local MOMS Club if they have the opportunity. We moms need all the support we can get!

Here's the website if you're interested: http://www.momsclub.org/

Hitting the Bottle

Let me begin by saying: what works for one baby doesn't always work for another.

As far as bottles go, we tried the Avent and he hated them. So after quite a few failed attempts, I did some research on the internet and got some advice from some other mothers. I kept hearing about the Playtex Drop-ins with the Latex nipple. The nipples are brown in color and you have to buy them separate from the Drop-ins system. He took to it on the first try.

Other things to think about:

It was recommended that the baby not be hungry when trying to feed him a bottle for the first time. We found this to be true even the second time around. They don't seem to like trying new things when they're bellies are empty...neither do I.

When trying to get him to take the bottle for the first time I was in the other room because allegedly they can smell mom and will refuse a bottle if she is nearby.

We also made sure the nipple was warm and dipping the nipple in breast milk also helped in getting him to drink.

The deal here is trying to mimic mom's breast which is what they've grown so fond of.

Bringing Home Baby

I thought that after giving birth I would be able to do anything...run a marathon, surf in shark infested waters, tame wild tigers. Turns out giving birth was the easy part...caring for a newborn, now that's a different story. I honestly was jaded and completely fooled by all the commercial and magazine advertisements of mothers with their smiley, happy newborns. I am the second oldest of six children, but I honestly don't remember my parents having this difficult of a time. When we came home from the hospital it was just my husband & I, no family members camping it out on the couch while they help us out (which I would recommend, if they don't offer...beg). We were in charge of this tiny little human who had no other way to communicate but crying, and cry he did. But during those first few days the lack of sleep was the worst. It even had me hallucinating. I would swear I heard him cry and go running to see what was wrong, only to find him sleeping peacefully! Even the real noises he made caused me to jump out of bed to check on him. As always, he was just fine. It took quite a bit of adjusting, but I can finally get a fairly good nights sleep...about 4 hours on a good night. I do have to say I am proud of us though, we did it on our own. But don't get me wrong, raising a newborn has its wonderful moments, when he shines his toothless little smile my way...it all might be worth it.