Sense to Save: Other Blog

A NIP experience

The temperatures are in the upper 50s here (temporarily) and I just had to get out of the house. Johnny and I went shopping. First, we went to a little mall because there used to be an Old Navy there. It’s gone. Dang. There was a Marshall’s nearby so I thought I’d peek inside. I saw some clothes I wanted to try on, but Johnny would have none of that. He was throwing quite a fit! He’d only calm down a little if I kept moving, but I can’t exactly be in constant motion and look at clothes, so I left.

I snapped him back in his car seat and headed to Target. I was hoping the car ride over there would calm him down and maybe even lull him to sleep. It sorta worked.

We were at Target for all of 5 minutes before he started freaking out again. I was in the shoe section, so I sat down on one of those try-on-shoes-here seats. I thought maybe he wanted to nurse, even though I had fed him right before we left.

(By the way, did you know that babies also nurse for comfort, instead of just for food? I didn’t until recently. That’s one thing you can’t get from a bottle. Johnny will not take a pacifier anymore (he did, briefly) so if I want to feed him or comfort him, I have to nurse.)

There was nobody around and I felt fairly at ease. I got out my nursing cover to use while I got him latched on, and since it was pretty durn hot in the store, I ditched it once he got going and I made sure all of my skin was covered by my clothing or him. I felt pretty inconspicuous, and just sat there taking a little break.

Out of nowhere, an employee pops over and tells me I can use the fitting rooms if I wanted. I smiled and told her, no thanks, I’m fine. She left me alone.

I think someone saw me and complained to the employee. Arg. Maybe she thought I would be more comfortable out of public sight, but honestly, we were fine. I was totally decent, and to a casual observer, I probably just looked like I was holding a sleepy baby.

Oh, busybodies.

After about 10 minutes sitting in the shoe section, I realized that I’d never get my shopping done if I kept on like that. I put him back in his sling and arranged things so he could continue to nurse, but I’d be able to have my hands free.

Slings are wonderful for nursing in public!! They hide the baby so well, and hold him in position without me needing to use my hands. Awesome.

One lady saw that I had a newborn and wanted to have a look. Before I could say anything, she was peeking in at him. I think she did realize that I was nursing at the same time, but she didn’t seem freaked out. She certainly couldn’t see any part of my body.

It is a bit nerve-wracking to nurse in public. I’m not worried about flashing anyone, since I have the technique down pretty good and I use a cover when I’m latching him on. The thing that makes me sort of uncomfortable is dealing with busybodies who might shoot me dirty looks, complain to someone, or otherwise give me a hard time.

In case they didn’t know — it’s abosolutely legal for me to feed my child in public. Yes, I do take care to feed my baby before we leave the apartment. Yes, I do try to be discreet. But, I will not feed him in a fitting room unless I happen to be trying on clothes at the same time. And don’t even think about suggesting I go to the restroom to nurse. I don’t eat in the bathroom; do you?

And no, I will not pump and feed him with a bottle. That’s extremely inconvenient for us. Why should I add to my workload so some random stranger won’t be uncomfortable?

So, I really hope nobody ever says anything rude to me. I’m sorry that it makes some people uncomfortable, but ya know what? They’re uncomfortable because in their minds, breasts are sexual. In actually, breasts are for feeding babies. Deal with it, pervs.

A few weeks ago, I spotted a new mom nursing her tiny baby on a bench at Sam’s Club. I so wanted to catch her eye and give her a thumbs up or a big smile or something. She looked really uneasy and saw me, but didn’t maintain eye contact long enough for me to respond.

Maybe next time.

6 weeks

Top picture was taken at 3 days. Second pic was taken at 6 weeks. He’s wearing size 1 diapers in both pictures and is clearly upset in the first, and is a super hero in the second.

Jonathan turned 6 weeks old on Saturday. I’m convinced he’s over 8 pounds now, but my home scale isn’t sensitive enough for me to know for sure. He’s definitely starting to fill out and look less fragile! On Saturday or so, we finally upgraded him out of his newborn-sized diapers into size 1s.

We went through two boxes of Pampers 96-count diapers, and I think two packages with 40 or so in them. So let’s say we used 272 diapers in that size. BUT — for his first week of life, he was in size 1s the hospital sent home with us. So really, we used 300+ diapers in his first 6 weeks.

On many occasions, we’ll change him and a few minutes later, he’ll fill his diaper again. We always try to wait a little bit to change it, but there’s no predicting his pattern. And sometimes, he’ll go while he’s being changed. Ew.

Speaking of my baby’s BMs, he just had one. Heh.

His head control has really improved, and he’s no longer such a mega bobblehead. If you hold him in a sitting position, he can hold his head up reasonably well, with just a little help needed.

It’s been a lot of fun having him here, but goodness, are we tired! I just woke up after lightly sleeping for oh, 2.5 hours, and it’s been the longest I’ve slept in about a week. I’m guessing that I get about 5-6 hours per sleep in a 24-hour span. I wish it was 5-6 hours in a row. I think that would feel a lot better.

My schedule is all out of whack, and I’m awake in the middle of the night a lot. It’s hard to get anything done when you’re always trying to catch a 30-minute nap here or there.

You know that advice, “Sleep when the baby sleeps”? I try to do that. But for whatever reason, my baby prefers to sleep while being held. It’s really hard to get your own sleep that way. I sleep much more soundly when Shane is home and is taking care of the baby. I can rest knowing that he’s ok, and that if he needs me, Shane will wake me up. When it’s just Johnny and me, my sleep is much lighter and infrequent.

Honestly, the whole sleep deprivation thing is really hard. Taking care of a newborn would be a piece of cake if I had a good 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Sigh. I know it will get easier soon. For my sake, I hope “soon” means within a few weeks, and not months.

I’m really really hoping I can be alert enough later this morning to go to the mall. I’m in dire need of some pants that fit! I’m officially back to my pre-pregnancy weight. My pants are still way too tight in the hips and if I do ever get to the point of them fitting again, I know it won’t be for several more months. It would be fabulous to do some mall-walking and shopping. We’ll see!