babyled weaning is the pits

So I wrote a post earlier about baby food and babyled weaning, yada yada yada, I thought I was cool shit with my BLW futuristic yet prehistoric ways, but then I decided that BLW is the pits and really for the privileged few. Here's why:

Once the sun starts setting, babies similar to gremlins start turning into a less cute monster version of themselves. If you're anything like me, evenings are a stressful, chaotic mess to try and get things done before bedtime, and those things are really just dinner.

Avi starts full meltdown around 7:30, so I have to find time somewhere before then to stuff my face and sometimes hers. Recently I decided that the "meal" I would start adding routinely would be dinner so that we could both enjoy dinner together. In all honesty, my goal is for me to eat some food with both hands free and baby not gremlinizing me.

I get my dinner all set and ready around 6, put Avi in her high chair with some sort of food nuggets for her to chomp happily on while I eat and throw back some shots. Just kidding. Kinda.

In reality, here's what takes place.

I'm so paranoid about her choking that I'm constantly staring at her while trying to get my own food into my mouth. The dog is breathing his hot breath at me begging for anyone's scraps. Food is flung onto the floor and into hair, basically anywhere but mouth which as you can imagine is frustrating which equals baby whining. This is like watching your drunk friend eat late night food. It's just awful. I have to give more food globs to gremlin baby and shovel more food quickly into my mouth with a swig of something alcoholic.The clock is ticking. In about 5 minutes I've consumed my entire meal of who the hell knows what and some beverage. Relaxing right?

Dinner time is over, but then I look at my child who is a food-filled sticky gooey mess. I dry heave slightly just from looking at her. How the hell do I clean this? Nothing will wipe all this down. The second I wipe one hand and move to the other, the clean hand is grabbing some goo again and the process continues for eternity I suppose. So apparently it's bath time.

I have to gather all the bath gear (we do bath's in the kitchen sink), so then I have to clean anything that's in the sink and prepare for a baby butt to be there. Off go the crunchy clothes and in goes baby. Luckily Avi loves bath time and all things filled with water.

The real exciting part is that once I get Avi to sleep and have time to myself, I get to clean the rest of the goo mess in the kitchen. Wipe down the highchair and all the nooks and crannies, finding old dried goo in there. Gag me. If the dog has wandered off and there's a mess on the floor, now I'm on my hands and knees like Cinderella wiping up food excrement and dust bunnies. Oh, that's right, the clothes have food drool on them, which will stain unless I start the soaking process now. Better go back downstairs to do that.

Finally everything is cleaned and I'm exhausted and think, "did I have dinner?" Oh yeah, I can barely remember because I swallowed it whole. I should just start having smoothies for dinner.

This is why it's nonsense to do BLW unless you have a cleaning crew like damn Martha Stewart. All I want is some organic, non-processed, real food that comes mushed up and ready for baby to eat so I can fill my pie hole with processed greasy dinner and we can all go to bed happy. Seriously. The alternative is to exclusively breastfeed Avi until she is probably around 6 or whatever age these gremlins can get food into their mouths without a mess.

The idea is cool, but lets face it, I'm way too lazy and just not trendy enough to do BLW full-time.

breastfeeding fashion for world breastfeeding week!

In honor of world breastfeeding week I thought I would talk about nursing fashion, and I'm not talking about scrubs for nurses, I'm talking about clothes that allow quick acccess to those boobies.

1. Baju Mama tops- First of all these tops are my all time favorite nursing tops. They can be worn on the weekend with leggings or jeans, but I also pair with skinny J. Crew crops for work. They are easy for both nursing and pumping. Not the cheapest, however they're amazeballs. If you're a little hesitant to nurse in public without a cover, these are the tops for you, super discreet, just get that 'lil nip out and you're ready to go. Baju Mama top from Figure 8 maternity, also, Figure8Maternity is my go to store for all things nursing, they steal my dollars.

Hard to tell but the top has a slit across the top and one part of the top folds up so you can nurse.                  Super sleuth style.

2. Another fave top is by Molly Ades, again not super cheap, but doesn't look like a nursing top and allows for very discreet nursing plus pumping. Molly Ades awesomeness. When I talk about tops being good for both nursing and pumping it's because some tops have slits on the sides for nursing as opposed to a slit across the whole top, and are horrible to try and pump from...no bueno.

The left picture I'm nursing Avi during a baseball game, super discreet I doubt anyone could see a thing.

3. Want to get crafty? The easiest style to throw together uses really stretchy tank tops as a base layer.  They need to be stretchy enough to pull down and under boobies, so make sure to test that out. No joke, my favorite stretchy tanks came from Costco. So weird, but like $10 for a 2 pack. Put tank on and any top over, then when going to nurse, just lift up first layer and pull down tank. Voila! No tummy exposed and no fleshy top boob exposed either. Good for nursing and you can still do this with pumping. Bottom left picture displays the fancy turquoise tank top from Costco layered with a black tee. I'm pretty sure these are the tanks Costco tank tops. Thank me later.

4. If you are smaller boobied (lucky you), there are nursing tanks that you could just wear around or pair with a cardigan and then you can skip the nursing bra altogether. I however, would be arrested if I unleashed these beasts without some sort of holding contraption. These should be a staple in your hospital bag and will also get you through the first few weeks/months post-partum. Love Glamourmom nursing tanks.

5. Another funky wardrobe staple that is good for pumping and nursing is the Undercover Mama tank, which allows you to wear a nursing bra, but only deal with the nursing bra straps, Undercover mama tank is strapless and attaches to any nursing bra. This gives you tummy coverage when you pull up another top and pull down this tank by un-clipping nursing bra. God that sounds complicated, probably just go look at the picture and you'll get it.

6. As far as nursing bras are concerned, there are so many brands out there and it really depends on chest size in my opinion. I think everyone should have a sleep bra, especially for the first few months, however I still sleep in mine. Bravado makes the most popular sleep bra. Since my milk tanks are the size of your head, my bra selection is limited. Nordstrom will fit you and they have a good classic selection of nursing bras, they will also take a non-nursing bra and convert it for you for a small fee. 

Some people get lucky with Target brand nursing bras, again, you have to have at least close to normal boob size, so those are a joke for me. I would recommend getting fitted professionally so the bra fits and doesn't cut into breast tissue which can cause plugged ducts and mastitis and decrease in supply and just pure awful. Also wait until 4-6 weeks to drop cash on a real nursing bra (other than sleep bra), because your full supply of milk won't come in until then and your size could change, which means you just threw money away on a bra that will give you a double bubble in your top.

HAPPY WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK! 

TAKE THEM BOOBIES OUT LOUD AND PROUD AND FEED THOSE CHILDREN!