Breastfeeding During Pregnancy

May 4, 2022December 12, 2022 hopeandhuggiesLeave a comment

Who knew that a woman’s body can be both growing a baby and feeding another one at the same time? That is amazing!!!! I was just under 7 months postpartum with my first baby when I became pregnant with my second. Yes, by that point your baby should be introduced to solids, but they are still very much dependent on milk. And if you are exclusively breastfeeding, that means you will experience breastfeeding during pregnancy.

Reminder: the purpose of this post is to share my personal experience only and is not in any way medical advice. Consult with your healthcare provider for any medical questions or concerns you may have.

Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links to which I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Does breastfeeding during pregnancy affect the baby?

According to La Leche League’s website, it is considered safe both to your unborn baby and older baby to breastfeed during pregnancy.

When I was doing “double duty”, I still made a point to let both my OBGYN and our pediatrician know. That way, each doctor is notified and then can share any specific information that they may have.

You will most likely be able to continue on with your regular dosage of prenatal vitamins versus “doubling up”. But it never hurts to ask your OBGYN if they recommend any additional supplements during this time.

This is the prenatal I am currently taking. I have experimented with several brands, and this is the only one so far that DOESN’T make me want to throw up when taking it (hello, first trimester!) or has a weird aftertaste.

When should you stop breastfeeding during pregnancy?

As long as both babies and your health are all good, there is no need to stop at any point during pregnancy.

Some mothers even breastfeed both children when the youngest is born which is called “tandem nursing”.

You may experience a dip in your milk supply once you become pregnant, which may or may not bother your older child.

Typically, around the 4th or 5th month of pregnancy your breast milk will start tasting different. It will probably be less sweet as your body is getting ready to produce colostrum again.

For some children, this change in taste will turn them off to nursing and wean themselves off. But others will keep on trucking! For my oldest, he was very close to being weaned by my 5th month, so it is hard to know personally if it was the taste change or he was just ready to be done.

Taking care of your health is now more important than ever

This is something I wish I grasped when I was breastfeeding during pregnancy. When you eat, take vitamins, exercise, and sleep, you are doing this for THREE people: your nursing baby, baby on the way, and you!

That is a lot for your body to do!

This is totally doable, but that means you have to put your health at the highest priority. Focus on foods that are high in protein, healthy fats, and fiber to give everyone the best nutrition possible.

I was SO hungry that I felt like I ate like a football player. But I wish I worked harder at finding the healthiest options so then I had more energy and felt better.

Please, take naps when you can. In the moment you probably don’t realize how hard your body is working but you need so much rest!

Hang on to that freezer stash!

As you get closer to giving birth, make sure to go through your freezer stash of frozen breast milk.

Frozen breast milk can last in your freezer up to 6 months. So go through your stash and toss/donate what is about to go bad but keep any that will still be good for when your next baby is born. You’re already a step ahead of the game!

Having a hard time tossing milk? I get it-that’s liquid gold baby! Even if your older child is weaned, you can still incorporate milk into their food such as oatmeal.

I did that a lot, and your child probably won’t even bat an eyelash. Phew!

Check if you are eligible for a new breast pump

Through most insurance plans, you should be eligible for a new breast pump every year. When I gave birth in 2019, I was again able to get a new pump for my 2020 baby.

Why would you want a new breast pump?

There’s a good chance that you put some miles on your old breast pump and could stand some new valves and other parts too. If your older pump is still in good condition, then you can have TWO pumps for your next baby. One to keep at home, one to keep at work or in your car!

Plus, you may want to try a different style or brand of pump-now’s your chance to try it out. I recommend working with Aeroflow to figure out insurance. It’s free and they make it so so so easy.

Breastfeeding during pregnancy almost seems impossible, but you can do it! God designed women’s bodies to do amazing things! Along the way if you decide to wean your oldest, that is completely okay too. Be proud of the work that you have done and continue to do for your children, no matter where you end your breastfeeding journey.

Comment below what your thoughts are about this topic, I would love to hear from you!

Take care,

Kathy

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Pregnancy/Nesting

Baby Nursery Checklist Printable

February 15, 2022December 12, 2022 hopeandhuggiesLeave a comment

As you get ready for your baby to be born and come home, you have a ton of things on your mind. One of the biggest preparations you will do is to get the baby nursery ready.

Even if they will be sharing a room with you or with a sibling, the baby’s section of the room needs to be setup as a nursery.

For me, nesting kicked in BIG time when it came to nursery prep. I wanted our baby nursery to be just Pinterest perfect to bring home our first child.

But I made one rookie mistake with getting the nursery ready……

I didn’t get a baby nursery checklist!

This is something I still regret not doing! You may be wondering what the big deal is in that, I give you two words:

Pregnancy. Brain.

Fast forward to bringing our first baby home, you want to know what was missing from our baby nursery?

Socks! How could I not have socks for my sweet baby boy??? Argghhh!

I’m going to help you get your baby nursery ready with a FREE checklist printable

By having a checklist, you can go through and evaluate what you need to get or what is ready to go.

Chances are you have already done the fun part of decorating the baby nursery, but we need to get down to the nitty-gritty practical stuff here.

I would recommend going through the checklist before a baby shower happens and after as well. When you go through items before the shower then you can see if you have anything that needs to get added to your registry.

After the baby shower is when you can really focus on what truly needed to be purchased or set up before the baby arrives or what could wait.

This checklist is MINIMAL for a reason!

Having a baby is wonderful, but also expensive! The last thing you need is a huge list full of items that you probably really won’t need, honestly.

Your baby doesn’t need a ton of stuff, they just need YOU!

If you are in the stage of creating a baby registry and would like to check out the small list of items I would make sure to get, read that article here.

But otherwise, this checklist is going to give you the essentials needed for your baby nursery.

You know why? Because I don’t want you to have to spend any unnecessary money and add unneeded stress about things that you probably won’t use at all!

I hope you find this baby nursery checklist as a sigh of relief in your preparations. Your baby will love you automatically, and if you focus on what matters most, everything else will fall into place.

Happy Nesting, Mama!

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Pregnancy/Nesting

Items I wish I added on my 1st AND 2nd baby registry

January 25, 2022December 12, 2022 hopeandhuggies1 Comment

Let’s face it-doing a baby registry can be super overwhelming.

What if I don’t get the “right” item? But what if something happens in the middle of the night and I have nothing that works???

I totally get that fear because I’ve had it too. When in doubt, register more versus less. If you get a gift that you aren’t 100% positive you will need, just hang on to the receipt and exchange it for something else if need be.

Here’s the basics that you will need for your newborn for that first night home-you ready?

A safe place to sleep
Diapers and wipes
Breastmilk/Formula
Warm and comfortable clothes

……That’s it!

If you are still in need of something, send someone to the store the next day for you. And if you forgot an item-it’s okay. You cannot expect to know everything about being mother if you haven’t given birth before (or any number of children really).

With that being said, here are some items that I really wish I knew about when creating my 1st and 2nd baby registry.

Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links from which I may earn a commission at no cost to you.

Gripe Water

Babies get tummy troubles pretty frequently; gas, hiccups, spit up, etc. While it may be expected to some extent, it can leave them feeling fussy and uncomfortable.

I give a few drops of these to my babies and within minutes they feel better. It’s safe and tastes good to them too.

This is the brand that I most frequently use and have the most success with. It can get pricey at times but typically I can find coupons for them all the time.

If you do any online shopping, the product frequently offers cashback on ibotta.com (not sponsored).

Milk Collector

Okay….I’m going to admit something that may be controversial here…..

I don’t like using a Haakaa……..gasp!!!!

Some of my friends have amazing results with it, and that’s great! But I found I had trouble keeping it on, putting it on, having a good suction, etc. I will still insert the link in case you would like to try it or just curious on what it is.

If you are getting ready to have your first baby, you may not be familiar with a milk collector.

When you breastfeed, both of your breasts will “let down” milk, even if you are only nursing on one side. Especially in the beginning, you will leak a lot when you let down.

That’s liquid gold baby! Put on a milk collector when you are about to let down and you can catch that let down that normally would go to your bra and instead start building up your freezer stash.

I WISH I knew about this when I created my registry. I would have had it ready to rock and roll and could have built up my stash so much sooner.

For my first baby, I used the Haakaa, but like I said I didn’t have as great of results as others do. By the time my second baby came around, I stumbled upon this little gem.

Seriously, this thing was a game changer for me. I could slip it easily and discreetly into my bra and let it do its thing! I was way more comfortable and could keep it in my bra while I nursed without worrying about it.

One word of caution-if you have to set your baby down and you’re still wearing it, keep upright as much as possible. I still laugh about the time I was just about ready to cry over (literally) spilled milk!

Disposable bibs

I’m still amazed at how I DIDN’T know about this until after my second baby was born.

I really didn’t give this much thought before because I just assumed that most restaurants offered plastic ones like they did in the 90s, right????

It was actually a waitress that said it to us one time, “Didn’t you bring some disposable bibs?”. My mind was blown.

This is the kind that I use. I like that it has a “catcher” like regular bibs do. We keep them in the car so when it’s time to eat, we just bust out one of these bad boys; and toss them in the garbage when we’re done.

They have a paper towel like texture, so I don’t worry too much about buying more plastic stuff.

Snack Cups

Speaking of eating on the go…..little kids love to snack. Though I definitely try to not use snacks as a boredom buster, they do help keep the peace on car rides.

I really rely on these, I definitely am planning to get some more. I love the handles and the little slots on top. This makes for less mess and is easy enough to grab for little 6-month olds to hold onto while eating their puffs.

Plus momma-they are dishwasher friendly. What more can you ask for in life? 🙂

Echo Dot?

Okay, I know this is definitely not a typical registry item but it has made my mom life easier.

We have two in our house; one in the living room and one in my daughter’s room. I use it as a white noise machine for her in there and it works great.

With us having a multi-level house, it’s nice to use it as an intercom system versus yelling up the stairs like a maniac. I use it to play music, set alarms, reminders, play animal sounds, and more.

My favorite feature? The shopping list. Usually I think of stuff while I’m changing diapers and I can just ask Alexa to add the item to my shopping list.

When you’re a parent, you have your hands full both literally and figuratively. Being able to do any task with a verbal command is a game changer. I use this thing so much that I packed it along for our Disney trip. If you need tips on Disney vacation with toddlers, you can find that here.

This is the version I have, even though I know there’s more updated ones. I have seen the prices on these go up and down frequently. The best deals I found were around Black Friday.

Kohl’s sells these too and I used Kohl’s cash to buy my second one (not sponsored).

Bonus: Here’s one item I’m glad I DID add on my baby registry

And that is, a portable highchair. I can’t take the credit for this one, my very wise friend told me to definitely get this.

She was so right.

When taking your baby out and about, that may include visiting people’s houses that don’t have highchairs.

Or I’ve run into it with my mom friends that they obviously only have enough equipment for their children, let alone yours.

This thing folds up like a lawn chair so it’s super light and portable.

Now this one actually isn’t the one I have, but this is the one that I would recommend. Not that there’s anything wrong with the one I have but the tray is very small and narrow.

This is the one I have. Obviously, it’s still great because I wouldn’t be mentioning this, but it’s better suited for beginning eaters who basically eat puffs or cereal. It gets a little cramped for the toddler crowd.

So there you have it! I hope you can find these items useful to you as you get ready for your next little one. But definitely don’t let THINGS determine if you’re going to be a great mom. If you are reading this article or doing research for a registry, then you already are a great mom, my friend. 🙂

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