**BF & Pre-BF Check In**

TheDairyQueenx3

Sorry I missed last week everyone! Hope you all had a lovely Easter! 

1. How old are your LOs:

2. Short term/ Long term goals: 

3. Accomplishments / Struggles: 

4. EBF, EPing, Supplementing?: 

5. Any questions this week?: 

6. GTKY:  Whats your favorite activity do with your children? 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Sweet and Salty Lactation Brownies

- Brownie mix

-2 tablespoons Brewers Yeast 

-2 Tablespoons Flax seed meal

- Pretzels, crushed

- Chocolate chips, melted

- Caramel Sauce

Bake the brownies as box directs only mixing in brewers yeast and flax seed meal first.  As they cool crush the pretzels and melt down the chocolate chips. Once cooled cut into triangles and arrange on serving plate.  Spread a bit of the melted chocolate on each of the brownies followed quickly by the pretzel pieces, so they stick.  Finally, drizzle with warmed caramel sauce and enjoy!

*recipe is not my own but I can not seem to find the blog from where is originated. 

Mommy tip of the week: Buy plain colored band-aids and a box of washable markers. When LO gets a scraped knee or cut let them color the bandaid and they will have so much fun adding their own pictures they will forget all about the ouchie! Plus is saves money on the expensive character brands.

Resource links (feel free to post them in your comments so we can add them as we go along) 

https://kellymom.com ;

https://www.llli.org ;

https://www.who.int/topics/breastfeeding/en/ ;

TheDairyQueenx3

1. How old are your LOs: 5 1/2 months

2. Short term/ Long term goals: We are 2 weeks away from our original long term goal I can not even believe it! Our short term for now is 7 months. Long term is past a year. 

3. Accomplishments / Struggles: A: They are gaining weight well although they are still very small they are up over 10 pounds from their NICU weights! S: OMG WHY WONT THEY SLEEP!!! they were up 8 times last night from the hours of 9pm - 6:30am. This growth spurt is never ending and I am so over it. 

4. EBF, EPing, Supplementing?: EBF with 1 supplement bottle that is now down to 1 oz that they take with their vitamins 

5. Any questions this week?: When did your babies hit growth spurts? Was there one around 6 months? I forgot when my oldest had all of his.

6. GTKY:  Whats your favorite activity do with your children? We live on a lake so we spend a lot of time there as well as going for walks. My oldest son we do a lot of sensory boxes and he is in a few different sports that keep us busy. 

Jenn06L80

1. How old are your LOs: They will be one month on Saturday

2. Short term/ Long term goals: My goal is to pump as long as possible.

3. Accomplishments / Struggles: I am currently pumping enough for 4-5 full feeds a day. The other feeds are neosure. Biggest struggle was getting through the disappointment of them now breast feeding.

4. EBF, EPing, Supplementing?: pumping and supplementing. I am giving them more breast milk then formula now which is great, but I am open to doing more formula when I return to work.

5. Any questions this week?: How many ounces of breast milk should. 3-6 week newborn take? I am currently giving my girls 2.5-3 oz every 3-4 hours. They are close to one month and weigh about 5.5 pounds.

6. GTKY: Whats your favorite activity do with your children? With my 3 year old DD we just like to get outside - park, pool, playground. She also loves art and crafts.

karah4816

1. How old are your LOs: 5 months old today

2. Short term/ Long term goals: get my daughter to stop trying to rip my nipple off haha/ one year

3. Accomplishments / Struggles: everything is actually going aside from the nipple biting and I'd also like to start pumping to build up a stash. 

4. EBF, EPing, Supplementing?: EBF

5. Any questions this week?: how do you get a baby this young to stop biting down and turning her head 

6. GTKY:  Whats your favorite activity do with your children? I love taking them outside for a walk and i'm really looking forward to swim lessons starting next month

SV917

1. How old are your LOs:

6 months

2. Short term/ Long term goals:

We made my short term goal of 6 months! I'll say a new short term goal of 9 months with 1 year as the long term goal.

3. Accomplishments / Struggles:

Six month appointment went well. They are still on the growth chart (1 & 2%, but hey, it's on the chart). They are in the 15/20% on the height chart so they are long & skinny. E grew almost 3 inches since her 4 month appointment!

4. EBF, EPing, Supplementing?:

H breastfeeds & I pump for E. We started solids last week.

5. Any questions this week?:

Baby led weaning. I feel like I should be doing this but I don't want to. I think solids will help with H's weight gain and a purée is more likely to end up in his mouth than a chunk of banana. Also, I like making purées. So talk to me about BLW. What worked for you? What was the hardest thing about it?

6. GTKY: Whats your favorite activity do with your children?

They are only 6 months so we don't really do fun activities. It's nice to see them improve with tummy time, but even with that I get bored. I don't want them to grow up too fast but I do look forward to being able to do things like puzzles, playing with blocks and Legos, and making arts & crafts.

SmallCityLiving

1. How old are your LOs:
3.5 weeks

2. Short term/ Long term goals:
4 months (when I go back to work) / 1 year

3. Accomplishments / Struggles:
Both are EBF now, no more formula and DH just giving them the occasional pumped bottle!
I'm trying to pump once a day to build up a stash before returning to work. I have heard to do it first thing in the morning but DS is always hungry again right after I pump when I don't really have anything left so I know that isn't a good time, I just need to figure out a better one for us.

4. EBF, EPing, Supplementing?:
EBF

5. Any questions this week?:
Does anyone's DH give a bottle at night? DH suggested it the other day so I could get one long 5-6 hr stretch of sleep (tempting of course). I don't have any supply issues but wasn't sure how this would affect it.

6. GTKY: Whats your favorite activity do with your children?

At this point family walks when the weather is nice. I think it's more for me at this point though as it reminds me I'm more than just a milk machine!

TheDairyQueenx3

@sv917 We did BLW with our first born. He never once had purees or baby cereal. I would give him a spoon (we love our tommy tippe explora spoons for this because of the shape) to get his mouth familiar with having something in there that was solid. I started by giving him avocado and steamed veggies then we moved on to fruits. We started around 6 1/2 or 7 months when I noticed him watching us eat our meals and a few times he reached for our foods. Once or twice a day I would sit him in his high chair and just let him play with the bits of food. It took him about a week or so before he stopped playing with the food and then just loved it! I will be doing the same with the twins but slightly different because they were premature. I have picked up a few pouched of the stage one plum brand organic pouches and will warm them up and add a bit of either gel mix or baby cereal to thicken it due to C-Js swallowing issues. I only bought 4 pouches because I just want to get them familiar with the swallow/tongue motion concept before jumping into solids. C-W has shown interest in our food so this week I might start him in his seat with some avocados. See how it goes from there. BLW differes so much for child to child. If you like to make purees I say go for it! and watching for their cues is more what its about I think rather than what types/form of food they get...did that make sense? You can always try a few days of purees like we are doing then let them explore with bits of food while they are being given the purees. and congrats on making it to the 6 month mark! 

TheDairyQueenx3

@smallcityliving I found the best time for me was to pump right before I went to bed for the night and then pumped after their last morning time feed. after a few weeks of doing that my supply bumped up to accommodate both babies as well as building a stash! I wouldn't Let DH give bottles quite yet unless you wake up to pump as he is doing so. You are still in the early stage where that can really hurt supply. Right now your prolactin levels are rising and not even beginning to regulate I think that happens after 3 months (ladies correct me if I am wrong) . I would wait until your supply regulates. Mine did around  4 1/2 - 5 months suddenly I wasn't leaking any more and I didn't have that full feeling all the time but had plenty to feed the little guys. But even once your supply is regulated as soon as he does that feeding and you don't pump during, your body will stop producing milk for that feed and supply will dip. I never have had DH get up with any of my children because it was just easier for me to nurse than it was for him to get up, warm a bottle, feed, burp, change, etc while I am pumping. so then we both lose sleep. 

xtina78

1. How old are your LOs: 22 weeks (still inside me!)

2. Short term/ Long term goals: to prepare as much as I can before they are born so we can have the best shot at successful breastfeeding

3. Accomplishments / Struggles: I accomplished ordering choosing and ordering my breast pump (Medela PIS) through my insurance. I don't think they will send it until a month before my due date.

4. EBF, EPing, Supplementing?:  n/a

5. Any questions this week?: 

-if you tandem feed, where do you do it? I've heard that in general gliders don't give you enough room for tandem feeding twins (I'd also like to avoid buying another piece of furniture if possible). I am hoping to use the living room couch during the day and then the daybed in their room during night. I'm getting the twin z pillow.

6. GTKY:  Whats your favorite activity do with your children? Right now I just love to feel them kick. With my fur-child (see below), favorite activity is taking her to the dog park or the beach.

TobieRose

1. How old are your LOs:

5.5 months. 

2. Short term/ Long term goals: 

Almost to my first goal of 6 months ... long term I would like to nurse until they're a year. 

3. Accomplishments / Struggles: 

My littlest guy's reflux is better now that I've eliminated certain things from my diet ... much less back-arching during feedings! But we still struggle with it. And night feedings are so hard these days. I am tired!

4. EBF, EPing, Supplementing?: 

EBF

5. Any questions this week?: 

6. GTKY:  Whats your favorite activity do with your children? 

Reading books to the twins and my toddler. Or else singing--that seems to keep everyone happy. Looking forward to when the weather warms up and we can all take walks!

SV917

Thanks, @TheDairyQueenx3‌