Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Tricks of the trade

Disclaimer---I am, by no means an expert in this whole "mom-of-an-infant-and-3-year" old business. I am pretty much the opposite of expert.

Advice is free and therefore is probably worth what you paid. ;)

BUT, I have found a few things that seem to help me out a bit and wanted to share...anyone have tips/tricks of their own? Post 'em!!

1. Lose the purse and invest in a backpack--shoulder bags/purses/diaper bags hanging off my shoulder are too cumbersome...especially when carting around Alice in her carseat and holding E's hand. Someone usually gets whacked on the head with the shoulder bag when it falls off my shoulder. Backpacks are Supercool anyway. See below. :)


2. It is all about the stopwatch --- With feedings every two hours and enjoying sleep in merely 2.5 hour increments for the last month, you tend to lose track of when your last feeding happened. Enter my handy Polar HR monitor. It is not currently being used to monitor anything other than the time in between Alice's feedings. I find it a TON easier than remembering in my cobwebby head when the last time I fed Alice. When the clock says "2:00" we're ready to go.


3. My ring trick -- I am so proud of this one. When you're breastfeeding, you're supposed to start on the other side of where you finished (or finish the one side if your kid didn't get a full serving, so to speak). Like the time in between feedings, I would ALWAYS forget which side I was supposed to start on. Enter my super smart ring trick. I just change which hand I wear this band on.

Right hand? Start with right boob.


Left hand? Left boob. Can't miss.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

genius!

N.D. said...

Great ideas!

Michelle Simmons said...

Good tips!

I responded to your email the other day but it just came back undeliverable? Not sure what that was about but I'll try again. :)

Allison Chapple said...

Writing these down...

H said...

The ring thing is clever! Much better than the putting a pin on the bra side.

For feeding, I'm just feeding on demand and saving the When question, now that my milk supply seems steady, since her weight gain seems to be doing just fine.