Nursing Your Kids

One of the things I’ve been considering for baby number two is an Arm’s Reach Co-Sleeper. When Sam was born he slept in the bassinet attachment of a pack n play next to our bed (when he wasn’t actually sleeping in our bed) for the first four or five months of his life and it was fine. But one of my complaints about the pack n play was that it wasn’t level with the bed so I had to lift him in and out of it every time he needed to nurse. That is probably why he spent so much time actually sleeping in our bed.

The Arm’s Reach Co-Sleeper looks as though it solves that problem. With the leg attachments we could make it level with our mattress, eliminating my need to stoop or bend, but looking more closely at the actual product I wonder if it makes sense at all. It looks like the fourth wall, the side that butts up against the bed, doesn’t go down completely. Based on the images from the site it seems like there’s still a partial wall which means I wouldn’t be able to just slide over and nurse, I’d still have to lift the baby from the co-sleeper and return the baby to the co-sleeper.

If that’s the case, what’s the point? Aside from being slightly more level than a pack n play what are the advantages, if any of using an actual co-sleeper? Unfortunately our crib doesn’t have a drop side. If it did, we’d be able to sidecar the crib, completely eliminating any barricade between me and baby, an idea which seems to make more sense.

Does anyone have any experience with the Arms Reach Co-Sleeper or a crib side-car that you can share?

Because motherhood has turned me into a hippie (see my first post about BPA) I’ve moved on to yet another cloth product- nursing pads. Instead of the crinkly, crunchy papery pads I used those first six months with Sam I decided to go for a softer, more environmentally friendly alternative. It’s not that the disposable pads didn’t work- they worked just fine. But now that we’re using cloth diapers it just doesn’t make sense to use a product that creates trash instead of something I can wash and reuse.

Not really knowing what to expect from washable nursing pads I read a bunch of reviews of the more popular brands and couldn’t really come up with any consensus. I imagine, that like the disposables, it’s a matter of personal preference. I know I don’t want anything plasticky, like Lily Padz- for some reason the idea of walking around with silicone stuck to my skin kind of creeps me out. I may want gel pads like Soothies for the first few weeks, but not so much afterwards. Since I had some overproduction issues I don’t want to run the risk of embarrassing leaks just using a simple cotton pad, so most of the washable pads available in drugstores are out.

So I turned to the cloth diaper message boards. Again, there was no consensus on which brands work the best, but people overwhelmingly recommended using pads that are backed in wool. Wool is used as a diaper cover because it’s absorbent, breathable, and doesn’t leak. The same principle applies to nursing pads. Everyone who uses them likes them. The only complaint is that they don’t always look right under shirts, but that applies to the disposable pads as well- I used a ton of different brands and never found one that didn’t show through a shirt.

I ended up buying a several pairs of organic bamboo velour pads with wool backing and a few pairs of thinner pads made from bamboo which is really soft. I’ve only leaked once so far this pregnancy, but I’m sort of looking forward to leaking again so I can see how well they work. The worst that can happen is that I won’t like them and I’ll have to sell them. Believe it or not, nursing pads, like cloth diapers have a pretty high resale value.

One of the things that made life with a newborn much easier for me was the purchase of a ring sling. When I was pregnant I registered for a Baby Bjorn, since I’d seen them everywhere. But Sam was too small to use it for weeks so I returned it and found myself desperately in need of a carrier. I’d read about Hotslings and Peanut Shell slings, so when Sam was about two weeks old I loaded him in the car and went on a mission to buy a carrier. We tried a Hotsling first. I plopped him in the pouch and bounced a bit to get him comfortable. He cried and fussed, but I decided to buy it anyway just in case he needed time to get used it.

We headed to the next place, The Breastfeeding Resource Center, to try out some other carrier options. Sam screamed the entire way there. When we got into the store I put on a Peanut Shell and stuck him in. He screamed even louder, seemingly outraged by the suggestion that he might actually enjoy being carried in it. Next I tried on an Over the Shoulder Baby Holder, the biggest, bulkiest, ugliest ring sling ever. I slipped him in and he immediately quieted. I asked if there was a place where I could sit down and feed him. One of the women offered me her office. I lifted my shirt and found with the sling I could nurse him discreetly and still have a free hand. He nursed for close to an hour and fell soundly asleep.

Clearly the choice of carriers had been made for me. I hated the Over the Shoulder Baby Holder. It was comfortable for a while, but I felt completely overwhelmed by the bulky padding. Even so, I wasn’t taking any chances with other carriers. I returned the Hotsling (which was too big anyway) and I stuck with the OTSBH which we used daily for the first year of Sam’s life. Using the sling I was able to nurse him without drawing attention to myself in a variety of places. We nursed at Sam’s Club, on the Yeungling Brewery Tour, Target, the beach, restaurants, and the dinner table. Sam nursed while I vacuumed, took long walks, did yoga and used the bathroom.

Buying a sling was one of the best moves I made. There are a ton of other slings and carriers available. I’ve already purchased a new, non-padded ring sling made by Sleeping Baby Productions and a Gypsy Mama water wrap for the new baby. When the baby is a little bigger I will probably buy some sort of Mei Tai or carrier with straps for back carries. You can buy some of the more popular brands online at Amazon or Target and there are countless smaller online and brick and mortar stores to buy and try as well. The Baby Wearer is an excellent place to read reviews of different types of carriers and get advice from seasoned baby wearing moms and dads.