On Becoming Babywise: 41 to 52 Weeks

I blogged about our Babywise experience with Caden and I am sharing how the experience with Babywise is going the third time. This is the last post I will be sharing in this series. Here are the links to the previous posts:

Schedule

Jesse dropped several nursing sessions during these weeks, going from four to three, three to two, and now down to one. The last session happened at night and became shorter and shorter. He transitioned to eating more solids and drinking a few ounces of formula each day as we weaned off the breastmilk. I am thankful to have been able to breastfeed all my babies for a year.

Week 40 – 46
  • 6:50am: Eat/Waketime, Diapering
  • 7:30am: Breakfast*
  • 9am: Nap
  • 11am: Eat/Waketime, Diapering
  • 12pm: Lunch*
  • 1pm: Nap
  • 3pm: Eat/Waketime, Diapering
  • 5pm: Dinner*
  • 6:30pm: Eat/Diaper/Bedtime

*Jesse joins us for family mealtime at the table for his cereal, fruits, and veggies.

Week 47 – 50
  • 6:50am: Eat/Waketime, Diapering
  • 7:30am: Breakfast*
  • 9am: Nap
  • 11am: Eat/Waketime, Diapering
  • 12pm: Lunch*
  • 1pm: Nap
  • 3pm:Waketime, Diapering
  • 5pm: Dinner*
  • 6:30pm: Eat/Diaper/Bedtime

*Jesse joins us for family mealtime at the table for his cereal, fruits, and veggies.

Week 51
  • 6:50am: Eat/Waketime, Diapering
  • 7am: Breakfast*
  • 9:15am: Nap
  • 11am: Waketime, Diapering
  • 12pm: Lunch*
  • 1pm: Nap
  • 3pm: Waketime, Diapering
  • 5pm: Dinner*
  • 6:30pm: Eat/Diaper/Bedtime

*Jesse joins us for family mealtime at the table for his cereal, fruits, and veggies.

Week 52
  • 6:50am: Waketime, Diapering
  • 7am: Breakfast*
  • 9:30m: Nap
  • 11am: Waketime, Diapering
  • 12pm: Lunch*
  • 1:15pm: Nap
  • 3pm: Waketime, Diapering
  • 5pm: Dinner*
  • 6:30pm: Eat/Diaper/Bedtime

*Jesse joins us for family mealtime at the table for his cereal, fruits, and veggies.

Nursing

Jesse is went from four nursing sessions down to one. I only nursed at night before bed for about two weeks after he turned one. I dropped the afternoon feeding first and kept the three times a day feeding schedule for a few weeks and then dropped the lunch time feeding. For each of these feedings I dropped I added more solids and also offered formula to supplement. Once I dropped the two nursing sessions during the day and was only breastfeeding in the morning and night my supply began to taper off, which was the same with the other two babies also.

Additional Reading: Pumping, Dumping, and Freezing Breastmilk & Bottle Feeding

Merge Seven

All three times we have done Babywise the final feeding of the day has always been my last nursing session to drop. I slowly allowed my supply to finish tapering off and continued to offer Jesse a bottle of formula if he wanted one.

Solids

Jesse is trying many new foods and while half of what he eats ends up on the floor he is enjoying eating more solids. We started out with baby oatmeal/breastmilk, pureed fruits/veggies (sweet potatoes, apples, pears, carrots, bananas), and have moved on to puffs, little pieces of banana and avocados as well as thicker purees. Now he is bite size pieces of grilled cheese sandwiches, turkey, chicken, bacon, ham, he loved stuffing at thanksgiving, bread, waffles, yogurt, cheese, pomegranate seeds, watermelon, mango, and peas.

Waketime, Naps, & Night Sleep

He loves helping me in the morning get Caden and Maisie from their room. Jesse is usually up by 6:45am and has been drinking 4-6oz of formula after I pick him out of his crib. Then Caden and Maisie’s alien light turns green and we go eat and get them at 7am. He claps his hands and is so excited to see his brother and sister. They are both so sweet with him. Maisie likes to baby him, even after he bites her, which unfortunately has happened several times. And Caden likes to crawl around on the floor and play cars with him or pretend wrestle him.

His naps in the morning and afternoon last about an hour and a half each. He sleeps soundly and for the most part only fusses for several minutes before he is sleeping. He lays down at night around 6:30pm after a bottle and sleeps until the morning. Yay!

I am still in shock that he is a year old now. How? I don’t understand, but I am so thankful that I got to experience this baby stage again and don’t take a second of it for granted. Each morning I wake up and I am grateful for another day with my family surrounded by so much love.

Overall I am still a huge fan of the Babywise method and after three kids can only say great things about the book and having a solid routine/schedule for your baby and family!

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On Becoming Babywise: 25 to 40 Weeks

I blogged about our Babywise experience with Caden and I am sharing how our experience with Babywise is going with our third baby. Here are the links to all the posts I have done in this series:

Schedule

Jesse dropped a feeding and is now nursing 4 times in 24 hours. The transition happened at 38 weeks. He began sleeping longer for his first nap and instead of waking up at 10am woke up a 11am. Which was perfect! Because the older two are back in preschool now and his feeding/nap schedule works great for drop off and pickup!

Week 25 – 37
  • 6:30am: Eat/Waketime, Diapering
  • 8:30am: Nap
  • 10am: Eat/Waketime, Diapering
  • 12pm Nap
  • 1pm: Eat/Waketime, Diapering
  • 2:45pm: Nap
  • 4pm: Eat/Waketime, Diapering
  • 6:00pm: Nap
  • 7pm: Eat, Diaper, Back to Crib
Week 38 – 40
  • 6:50am: Eat/Waketime, Diapering
  • 7:30am: Breakfast*
  • 9am: Nap
  • 11am: Eat/Waketime, Diapering
  • 12pm: Lunch*
  • 1pm: Nap
  • 3pm: Eat/Waketime, Diapering
  • 5pm: Dinner*
  • 6:30pm: Eat/Diaper/Bedtime

*Jesse joins us for family mealtime at the table for his cereal, fruits, and veggies.

Nursing

Jesse is nursing every 3.5 to 4 hours during the day and is now going to bed around 7pm and sleeping 12 hours at night. The only bummer about nursing right now is that Jesse has 7 total teeth now, 4 on top and 3 on the bottom. He is also cutting more teeth! Which has left my nipples (sorry if that is tmi) super sore and cut up. I have been having to pump a few days worth of bottle here and there to allow them to heal up. He total thinks the biting and grinding is a game and I can sense when he is going to do it or tell by this smirking grin/look he gets. It is getting a little better over this last week but yikes! Teething and nursing can be rough.

Additional Reading: Pumping, Dumping, and Freezing Breastmilk & Bottle Feeding

Merge Five and Six

Jesse didn’t drop his afternoon/before bedtime nap (Merge 5) until he started sleeping longer stretches for the first nap of the day. Once that happened he dropped from a five feed-wake-sleep cycle to four (Merge 6). On pages 101-103 there is more information about these merges. There is such a huge span of weeks separating Merge Five and Six that you have to figure out what is going to work best for your individual baby. 

All three times we have done Babywise there has been huge variations with our babies during these weeks. For our family while the book proved helpful up to this point the first time around with Caden I felt like I was flying blind in sense because there can be such differences depending on your baby, family schedule, and routine.

Solids

I was a little reluctant to add foods because nursing is just so easy, well when your baby isn’t biting you that is, but then I started feeing him food and I remembered how much fun this phase is too. The faces when they try something new, the eagerness to put more in their mouth if they like it, and the chubby fingers learning to grab puffs.

So here is what we have fed Jesse so far. We started out with baby oatmeal/breastmilk, pureed fruits/veggies (sweet potatoes, apples, pears, carrots, bananas), and have moved on to puffs, little pieces of banana and avocados as well as thicker purees.

Jesse comes to the table now for all of our meals and has his own mini meal with us. He really enjoys table time and seeing what Caden and Maisie are doing.

Waketime

There is so much waketime and he loves to try and get into whatever Caden and Maisie are playing withbecause he can crawl now! He is into everything and putting everything in his mouth! We even had to take him to the emergency room because he swallowed something he shouldn’t have.

He LOVES bath time, and being cuddled, sitting up, drinking water out of sippy cups, eating at the table, and chewing on anything.

Naps & Night Sleep

He will generally wakeup in the morning around 6:15am or so and cry for a few minutes before falling back asleep for another 30 minutes.

His first nap in the morning is usually 2 hours now. Although I am sure I will post this and it will change again ;).

Jesse is now ten months old! When did this happen. He is the sweetest and best natured baby full or smiles and laughs.

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EverlyWell Breast Milk DHA Test Review

I recently had the opportunity to check the levels of DHA in my breast milk from the comfort of my own home. I am sharing my experience using the EverlyWell Breast Milk DHA test kit. Technology is seriously amazing and I think it is great that there are health and wellness tests like this available.

This post was sponsored by EverlyWell through my partnership with Fit Approach. With that said, all opinions and test results are my own. #BeEverlyWell #WhyIBreastFeed

WHAT IS DHA?

You might be wondering why anyone would care to check the levels of DHA in their breast milk in the first place. DHA is an omega fatty acid that aids in the brain and nervous system development of children and is crucial in the first years of your child’s life. It is estimated that 75% of Americans are deficient in DHA. 

DHA is not only crucial for your baby but it is also important for you! DHA stands for docosahexaenoic acid and is commonly referred to as omega-3. DHA along with EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) promote a healthy immune response that are behind the relief of many chronic conditions but is too often inhibited by poor nutrition.

THE BENEFITS OF OMEGA-3S

  • Supports heart function
  • Promotes positive mood and well being
  • Maintains fluid and flexible eye cells and tissue
  • Promotes joint mobility and flexibility
  • Nourishes skin, hair, and nails
  • Protects against free radicals
  • Supports the immune system

Despite the great health benefits of omegas, individuals around the world suffer from omega–3 deficiency and one that is counted as the 8th leading cause of preventable death in the US, among dietary, lifestyle, and metabolic risk factors.1 Americans have the lowest intake of omega-3 essential fatty acids of any developed country.

RISKS OF CONSUMING TOO LITTLE OMEGA-3S

  • Inflammation (sometimes severe)
  • Higher risk for heart disease and high cholesterol
  • Digestive disorders
  • Allergies
  • Arthritis
  • Joint and muscle pain
  • Mental disorders like depression
  • Poor brain development
  • Cognitive decline

TAKING THE EVERLYWELL BREAST MILK DHA TEST

This test is simple and can be done at home! The results are emailed to you and you can share them with your doctor. The kit arrived in my mailbox within three days of ordering it online and the directions were very easy to follow.

The breast milk sample needed to be taken in the morning and before any supplementation of DHA was consumed. I am currently taking this Ultimate Omega from Nordic Natural daily and made sure to wait to take my supplements until after I collected the sample.

Sample collection was very easy and required only a drop or two of breast milk on the test paper. I was then able to package everything back inside the box that was shipped to me and easily applied the included shipping label on the package. Super easy.

Once it was mailed back I received an email that let me know my sample had been received and I could expect my results in 5 days.

THE RESULTS

5 days later I had an email waiting for me in my inbox letting me know that my results were ready. It really doesn’t get any easier.

The website is easy to navigate and the results were presented in a clear and concise way. I appreciated how I could track the entire status of my order from when it shipped to when my results were ready.

I learned that my DHA levels are above average and in the optimal range. This means that what I am doing I need to keep doing. In addition to supplementing with omega-3s here are 3 things I consume weekly with high amounts of DHA:

  • Chia Seeds: 2,457 milligrams in 1 tablespoon (61 percent DV)
  • Flaxseeds (ground): 1,597 milligrams in 1 tablespoon (39 percent DV)
  • Sardines: 1,363 milligrams in 1 can/3.75 ounces (34 percent DV)

I am thankful to have had the ability to breastfed all three of my babies. It was a pleasure to write this review and I am thankful for the opportunity. It is nice knowing that what I am feeding myself is also nourishing my six month old. Recommended Reading: My Breastfeeding Story (Caden), Pumping, Dumping, Freezing Breast Milk and Bottle Feeding, and Jesse’s Birth Story.

I am seriously amazed at how God made our bodies! Being able to breastfeed my babies has been such a gift. And just for fun here are some interesting facts about breastfeeding. Breastfeeding helps mama heal faster in the postpartum. The hormones released when you breastfeed make your uterus contract back to its pre-pregnancy size. Also, in case you were curious, the more babies you have had the stronger your uterus will contract during those first few days of breastfeeding your newborn. You’re probably a righty. The majority of moms (75%) produce more milk in their right breast, whether they are right or left handed.

EverlyWell is the exclusive provider of this test directly to consumers in the United States. Visit EverlyWell to get your own kit and use code: WOM15 for 15% off your order. (Code only good for Breast Milk DHA Kit)

PS…EverlyWell offers a wide range of home health tests ranging from food sensitivity, male and female hormone, metabolism, fertility, vitamin d, and more!

1Danaei G, et al. The Preventable Causes of Death in the United States: Comparative Risk Assessment of Dietary, Lifestyle, and Metabolic Risk Factors. PLoS Med 2009;6(4)

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