Category Archives: Parenting

Aug 09
0

Organic Mama Wisdom: Postpartum Care Tips

By | Natural Health, Pregnancy | One Comment

My dear friend is having a baby in a few months. As we celebrated her and her entrance to motherhood this weekend, I thought of a few practical tips I wish I’d known or accepted the first two times I had babies. This last time, as I’ve gotten back into the swing of baby-mothering, I feel so much more equipped and at peace with my role as my baby’s primary caretaker.

This postpartum healing experience is so different from my previous births, largely due a shift in my own attitude, approach to what really “needs” to get done and my willingness to let Rob pick up the slack. This time, I only took care of the bare minimums around the house and focused my energy on healing, nourishing my baby & loving his daddy and siblings.

As far as practical tips go, here are my suggestions.

 

Rest

You just ran a marathon

Climbed Mount Everest

and swam the English Channel

All that energy you feel

Is adrenaline

It wears off

 

Bask in the moment of your triumph

Let your body recover

It will take several months

To feel even close

To your old self

Yes

You are normal

 

In the meantime

Allow your friends and family

To celebrate you

And your new small one

 

Nurse right after labor

And every chance you get

See a lactation consultant

Birthing centers and hospitals have them

If you have trouble with your baby gaining weight after birth

See one again

It’s much easier to fix nursing problems at the beginning while supply is not yet established than it will be later

 

Rub coconut oil on your nipples after every nursing session

It is better than lanolin & won’t stain your clothes

Use it on your baby (it prevents cradle cap)

and all over you

 

Pretend you’re relaxing on a beach

Where there are no dirty dishes

 

 

Go to bed early, you’ll be up a lot in the night

Take naps, especially if your partner is home

Rest every chance you get

 

Eat watermelon

And you won’t fear your first post partum bowel movement

It’s better than stool softeners

Use your peri bottle

It will help you heal and cool things off down there

 

Don’t try to do housework your first week back

Let your love help you

In fact, let him be your servant

It’s part of his daddy job

Thank him often and kiss him lots

 

Eat nourishing food

Cooked veggies

Or Salads

Fruits

Protein

Carbs

Plenty of healthy fats

This is not the time to try to lose weight

You have a baby to feed

And a body to restore

 

Ask friends for help

Let loved ones bring you food

And pamper you

 

Start every day in the sunshine

Sing

Drink herbal tea

With friends

And relax

It will help you avoid

Postpartum depression

 

There’s plenty of time

To show off

Your new

Super-mom powers

 

Later

 

Congratulations, Mama.

 

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Read more: Motherhood. Am I Going to Survive This?

Read more: Making the Hard Parenting Choices. I Promise I’m Not Judging You.

Aug 08
0

You *Are* the Perfect Mom

By | Honest Mothering, Spirit | 2 Comments

 

My dear friend

 

It is true

What they say

About having a baby

 

Your life will never be the same again

 

It can be better

If you let it

 

You will make mistakes

And that is ok

We all make mistakes

 

“Perfect mom”

is not looking

Over Your shoulder

 

You are the perfect mom for your baby

 

 

Be patient

with yourself

Be willing

To apologize

Don’t be afraid

To admit you need help

We all need a little help sometimes

 

When you look

In the mirror

Don’t worry

About the body parts

That look

or feel

A little saggy

 

They are your Mother badge

Of courage

Love

And strength

 

You are so much stronger than you think

 

You will be

a WONDERFUL

Wise

Smart

Compassionate

Kind

Intuitive

Faith-filled

Strong momma for this little person

 

Books and advice on parenting philosophies

can be helpful tools

But in the end

If you put down the books

Turn off the phone

And just be still with your baby

 

You will find

A quiet

Wise

Voice

Whispering inside you

All you need to know

To care for

And love her perfectly

You already know what to do

 

Relax

 

You got this

 

You are going to be amazing

 

Welcome to motherhood

Jul 05
14

Flourless Lactation Cookies: Monster Cookie Style

By | Breastfeeding, Recipes | 116 Comments

Do giant chocolate chip oatmeal cookies studded with almond slivers sound like  the perfect snack today? You’re in luck.

If it seems like a lot of my posts are recipes lately, it’s probably because they are. I’m settling into life since adding Giant Baby to our family and I’m working hard to keep up with his milk needs.

Unfortunately, like my other two kids, he’s had pretty significant latch issues, including a high narrow palate and a severe upper frenulum tie. So, I’m pumping again this time to keep my supply up. Still, I’m pretty happy about the fact that he nurses at all since I didn’t get to nurse my other two babies.

Whether you’re nursing “Giant Baby” like I am (he’s 19 pounds and just turned 3 months today!) or nursing a normal sized kid, there are days when you might need a little boost in supply. As a mom who’s struggled to keep up my supply with latch-challenged kids, I have a laundry list of lactogenic foods, drinks and herbal galactagogues that can help.

Here’s one of the more fun ones!

I’d run across several lactation cookie recipes, including one that contained kale and carrots. The ingredients that are standard in all of them are nut butter (protein), oats (milk booster!) flax seed and brewer’s yeast. I added slivered almonds because these also contain lactogenic properties. Plus, they’re delicious and healthy.

Just a note about brewer’s yeast. I’ve heard it lauded from time to time as a milk-booster but in three babies, I’ve never tried it till now. Boy, I wish I’d found it sooner! It definitely boosted my supply. I don’t know if it’s the B-complex vitamins or what but it works.

Some people suggest drinking Brewer’s Yeast in water but I found that caused some stomach issues for me. Eating it in a baked good with flax seed meal seems to be even more effective and there are no unpleasant side effects.

The great thing about this recipe is that it contains no flour and includes more oatmeal than most recipes. It’s modeled after the Monster Cookie recipe my mom used to make for us as kids, though it only has 3 1/2 c. of oats instead of the 6 that her recipe used. I only had dark chocolate chips on hand but if you have butterscotch chips or some other favorite candy, you can use it too.

Even if you’re not nursing a new little one, these cookies are absolutely delicious.

Chocolate studded, oatmeal lactation cookies


Flourless Lactation Cookies

Wet ingredients

  • 1/2 c. butter (softened)
  • **16 oz REAL peanut butter – as in smooshed peanuts, not Jiffy or Skippy or any of that high fructose corn syrup enhanced stuff. (that’s how big my jar was but 14 oz would be ok too)
  • 1 1/2 c. brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 T. real Maple syrup (optional)
  • 2 t. vanilla

Dry ingredients

  • 1/2 t. salt maybe 1/4 if you’re using really salty butter
  • 3 T. Brewer’s yeast
  • 1 c. flax seed meal (Grind the flax seeds in a coffee grinder for freshest taste.)
  • 3 1/2 c. oats
  • 2 t. baking soda
  • 1 c. dark chocolate chips (or toffee, butterscotch etc.)
  • 1 c. almond slivers

Preheat oven to 350º F

1. Stir together butter, peanut butter and brown sugar till thoroughly mixed.

2. Add eggs and beat till mixed.

3. Stir in vanilla and maple syrup.

4. Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Nothing like biting into a pocket of baking soda. Yuck!

5. Use an ice cream scoop to shape cookies. Press flat on cookie sheet before baking. They are kind of sticky and a little hard to shape but press on. It is worth it.

6. Bake 17 minutes. The cookies should be chewy and soft, not crunchy. Your oven might be a little more or less so keep an eye on them.

7. Pour yourself a glass of milk and nosh.

Yum.

**You can substitute almond butter for the peanut butter.

Like this? Try my Zucchini Coconut Bread.

As with all my posts…If you like it, spread the sweetness! Tweet, Facebook or email to anyone who might benefit from it. 🙂

Remember to take care of yourself mama!

 

Jun 27
1

Zucchini Coconut Oil Bread: Or How to Re-focus Destructo Girl

By | Honest Mothering, Recipes | 4 Comments

Baking isn’t something I do much of in the summer. In fact, as I mentioned to my friend Dani today, all I want to do lately is drink my meals. Before you start judging (or laughing)… While I’m tempted to imbibe large amounts of consciousness altering beverages during these sleep deprived, crazy preschooler-centric days, I’m actually drinking smoothies. Mainly veggie heavy smoothies. Yesterday, two of my three meals were smoothies. It was heavenly.

Of course, after that many smoothies, we all wanted a little something to “stick” to our ribs. Plus, we needed a distraction from the stir craziness that heat advisory house arrest creates for a mom with a younger kids.

Yesterday and today, exhaustion, the frustration of monotonous tasks and the feeling that I never get anything done anymore finally got to me and I felt myself rapidly approaching insanity. First, I gave in to my inner bi-atch and, I’m ashamed to say, was a total grump with my poor kids. Then, I freaked out and cried hysterically for a few minutes. I’m not joking. There. I said it in public!

Annoyed with myself for my lack of control, I took a deep breath and decided to change direction. When my sweet giant baby finally took a nap, I got out the mixing bowls and ingredients to make a sweet treat that would use up the zucchini overload in my fridge.

As I prepared the tools for baking, Destructo Girl came in and said, “Mommy, I would like to watch you cook.” I said, “You bet!”

We had so much fun! Doing something unusual like baking together in the middle of a hot, hot day really changed the whole attitude of our house.

I didn’t intend to create a recipe out of this. I wanted to learn a lesson about self discipline – the art of taking a breath and choosing a different path. The awesome recipe was just a happy accident.

First, I should warn you that because I didn’t intend to post this, my baking time is an estimate. I’ll update the post the next time I bake this. Second, while this recipe uses nutrient dense ingredients that are good for all of us like Coconut oil, whole wheat pastry flour, zucchini, eggs and milk, I consider it cake though most would consider it a quick bread. Nursing mamas will love that it also includes ingredients that encourage more milk – brewer’s yeast and flaxseed meal. The final result is a moist, flavorful and satisfying treat!

p.s. Please, please, PLEASE don’t ruin this recipe by trying to substitute nasty canola oil for the coconut. Ugh. If you need to sub, try melted butter or avocado oil.



*If you don’t want to heat up your house, do what I do and bake this in a convection/toast oven on the back porch. YES!

Zucchini Coconut Oil Cake

Streusel topping

  • 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour
  • 3/4 c. brown sugar
  • 1/2 t. nutmeg
  • 2 t. ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 c butter

Cake dry ingredients

  • 2 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 c. flax meal (I just whiz some flaxseeds in my coffee grinder)
  • 3 T. Brewer’s yeast
  • 3/4 t. nutmeg
  • 1 t. fine sea salt
  • 1 t. baking soda
  • 1 t. baking powder

Wet ingredients

  • 1 c. coconut oil
  • 2 c. brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 t. vanilla extract
  • 2 cups grated zucchini (not drained)
  • 1/2 c. milk

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.

2. Grease and flour two loaf pans. (I used 1- 8.5×4.5×2.5″ and 1-5.25x9x2.75″ because I don’t have matching ones! This, along with my being distracted by three kids, is partly why my baking time is fudged.)

3. In a medium bowl, measure the dry streusel ingredients and mix in the butter with a fork or fingers till it resembles small crumbs. Destructo Girl used her fingers on this step and was integral to its deliciousness.

4. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and stir together thoroughly. 

5. Finally, in a larger bowl, mix the coconut oil and sugar together till well combined. (I used a hand mixer.)

6. Add the eggs one at a time till just mixed.

7. Add vanilla, zucchini and milk.

8. Finally, dump the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until just combined.

9. Divide batter between the two loaf pans, being sure not to fill more than 1/2 to the top.  (Believe me, I did this over the weekend for my oldest’s b-day cake and it was an epic mess!) This batter is pretty wet looking.

10. TOP with streusel.

11. Pop in the oven and bake somewhere between 45 min and an hour. Ok, I realize this part might freak some of you out – so here’s how to tell if it’s baked all the way. Bake it at least 1/2 hour before opening the oven because you don’t want your cake to drop. I waited about 45 before checking.

You can tell a cake is done using two tests. First, if you press gently into the middle, the dough will spring back instead of staying indented. Second, if it springs back and a toothpick inserted deep into the middle comes out clean (or with just crumbs on it – not wet!), you’re golden. If your cake is already pulling away from the sides of the pan, chances are it’s overdone.

Hope you enjoy this! Let me know if you bake it.

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