Maureen weaned her last baby & Updates from Heather's life

The Milk Minute may have taken a summer break, but life and motherhood never missed a beat! Today, Maureen shares her weaning journey with Lyra, while Heather updates us on some exciting happenings in her life. Packed with laughs, honest conversations, and practical tips for fellow parents, this episode is all about navigating this wild ride together. So grab your coffee and join the fun!

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THANKS TO OUR NEW PATRONS, Franziska Ronquillo, Jennifer, Gracia, and Leigh Campbell!

Listener question: Can you please talk about when baby is 8 to 12 months, and you’re trying to pump at work: Why aren’t we making enough milk for the next day?

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Transcript

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Milk Minute Podcast. Welcome, welcome. Happy to be here in the IV slash podcast room in a recliner. And I'm in my hot airless exam room. I'm still laughing because Maureen shortly before this snapped her headphones in half just with her bare hands.

She just like fucking Hulk snapped them in half and then taped them together. And she looks Really awesome right now. I did not, I just picked them up and they broke in my hand and I don't know what happened. And now I have like medical paper tape on them which is like possibly the worst kind of tape to repair anything with.

It's like good at pulling your hair but bad at keeping your headphones together. That's it, right now. But it's my only option because it happened literally as we like logged on here. So anyway, hey everybody. If you've been like a day one listener, you'll probably remember that Maureen has had Several pairs of headphones, all of them cheap.

At one point she bought like a Hello Kitty pair from the gas station on her way to record. Yeah, I just maybe I should buy a 200 pair, but I just don't. Fucking want to, okay? Yeah, well with your track record. Like, what if I also break that? What if? What if? I'm just gonna keep buying 20 headphones and breaking them and telling you about them.

This pair was black and from the dollar store, so. I love it. Yeah, so we have, I mean, there's a lot of updates actually since we took that break and then Martie has just been growing like a weed. So I have a lot of updates. I know you have a lot of exciting updates and this episode is mostly going to be focused on your weaning experience with Lyra, which is really exciting because it's really different from your weaning experience with Griffin.

Yeah, I don't know if I'd use exciting as the word, but different is Yes, that's it. Very different children. They are so different. Yeah, so I'm excited to hear about that and where you are mentally. I definitely want to check in on that piece because that's one of the biggest fears that I hear coming from my patients is when I wean.

Am I going to have depression? And it's like, okay, well, yeah, that's good that you're asking about it. So anyway, I want to know that piece. But before we do that, let's thank a few patrons. Who do we have on the list today? Okay, so thank you to patrons Franziska Ronquillo, thank you to Jennifer, Gracia, and Leigh Campbell.

Yeah, thank you so much. Your support helps us keep this project going, which we greatly appreciate, and people all around the world that listen appreciate as well. Yeah, we really appreciate you, and if you want to join, you can head over to Patreon. com slash Milk Minute Podcast. Very easy. Mm hmm. We'll see you in there.

Do we have a question today? Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. I have a question. So our question is on Instagram from username Kelsies, and she asked us to please talk about months eight through twelve. When you're trying to pump at work, why aren't we making enough milk for the next day? This is a great question, a very common experience.

We would love to do a full episode on this Heather is currently living this and you guys know that I also experienced this. You know, the short answer is that there is sort of a lot of complicated stuff going on with your body, your hormones, and baby eating solids and drinking water and all of that, and it just, you know, combined with pump stimulation just being less than ideal.

Yeah, it can be a lot of things but let me just level set expectations here for everybody. Martie is ten and a half months old. Yesterday, I pumped two times at work. And I made a little over three ounces total. And, that's fine, because simultaneously, they've dropped down to two bottles at daycare instead of three, because they noticed a lot of the kids up there that were around her age were We're not finishing their bottles and their naps are changing a little bit.

They're going to more like a one big nap in the afternoon. So she's actually now getting two, two ounce bottles because she wasn't even finishing that. Girl is eating like Texas chili every Friday. Every Friday is chili Friday. So like. God bless for the poop diaper the next day, but yeah, at first I was like, is this fine?

But then shortly after my milk supply kind of dipped a little bit, she followed suit and was like, all right, good. Well, I just ate that whole bowl of chili. I just need a little swig here of your breast milk. And she wants it cold, like a cowboy. So whatever. And Yeah, so I have also stopped pumping before bed because that's what I used to do to kind of like make up the supply is I'd pump it like 10pm and every once in a while I will, but I'll still only get two ounces.

I used to get four, maybe sometimes five. My period's definitely back. I'm going to get it probably before this episode's over. I honestly, I think that often has a lot to do with it. We just see a really major hormonal shift for most people in the postpartum between six and 12 months. Right? That's when most people are going to get their period back.

And that introduces just completely different hormonal levels that influences milk production. And you know, I'd really like. to get further into this in a full episode, but I am afraid we are lacking in research. And by that, I mean, there's none so far that I can find. Yeah. So we're going to get back to you on a more scientific answer there.

And for now, sympathize and say, this is very common. We have both experienced this and we're going to keep it on our minds. Yeah. But also just to make you feel a little bit better before we. Put a period at the end of this answer. Your period? Yeah, put my period at the end of your answer. I am on my period right now.

God, we're cycling together. I love it. From afar. So, what I wanted to share with you guys is when you are finding yourself getting a little bit obsessed with the numbers, like, how many times did I pump? How many minutes did I pump? How many ounces did I pump? How many ounces did the baby eat? How many ounces?

It can be really overwhelming, and you start to see those numbers go down, and then you look at the numbers even more. Stop and look at your baby. Are they okay? Are they peeing? Are they happy? Is their weight stable? Are they doing normal baby things for their age? Meeting developmental milestones? Chances are pretty good, all is well.

And you're trying to fit yourself into an imaginary box that doesn't exist. So, just take a beat, and look at your baby, have a snuggle, get a good night's sleep. And don't worry about it. You know, follow up question, if we are cycling together, does that mean we can choose to only record in, in the beginning of our cycles when we're not tired and bitchy?

I hope so. You know, I know it's always coming. Unless you guys like it. Unless you like This, when we're really just not having it. I know it's always coming when I start saying the F word a lot, just like, over everything. And I'm like, no, I'm not bitchy. And then it's just like, F, F, F, F, and it's like, yeah, it's probably imminent.

Well now I can't quite remember what I had said. Said last time we brought this up, but I know I had mentioned I had gone off Wellbutrin for a little bit. Don't worry I'm back on it Because my first like real luteal phase hit off of it and I was like Everything is terrible and I might just die. I don't know what's wrong.

I'm does the world is not is horrible Life isn't worth living. Like I hate everything. I'm useless. And it took like three or four days of that. And I was like, Oh, okay. I should call my doctor. Yeah. Your hormones are attacking your brain chemistry. That's it's fine. Not good. I've just had a lower dose now and it's fine.

That higher dose was getting you like rocketed to the fourth dimension every day. I liked the higher dose, but I was like, do I need it? I, I would like to be able, I'm on so many medications right now also. Yeah. My, my new, I got referred to a functional ENT for my Hashimoto's, which, she's great, but she was like, oh here's this new medication, it's actually twice a day instead of once a day.

And then here's this other medication for your asthma, since she's also an ENT, this is like her purview. She's like, you're, the pulmonologist doesn't know what he's talking about because it's not working anyway. And I was like, you're right, those meds aren't working. And she was like. So take, get off those inhalers, here's an oral, it was like, it was crazy, it was a whirlwind appointment.

I was like, now I'm leaving with a lot of prescriptions, I don't know what's happening. But also, thank you for answers and new things to try. Yeah, and like, my TSH just went down from 5. 1 to 5. 2. 2. 9. Okay. In a month. Great. Yeah. Is that too fast? It doesn't, I actually haven't really felt very different at all.

Interesting. I have noticed though that my eyelashes look nicer, so I'm like, maybe I'm not losing as much hair. Yeah, there you go. I don't know, because I cut it all off, you know, so I wouldn't notice when I lost hair. Why can't we ever just lose all our pubes? Dude, why, like, why is it eyelashes? Eyelashes and eyebrows and the hair on the crown of your head.

And you're like, take my pubes, for the love of God. Literally, the rest of my body's freaking. Anyway, let's take a little commercial break. And when we get back, we're going to talk about weaning Lyra and There's some updates in my life. Welcome back, everybody, Maureen. Are we done? Are we done nursing? We are.

Since when? I'm going to pull my notes app up quick so I can give you the full story. Okay. We are completely done nursing. Like I can't even tell you how much, how much done we are. Do you miss it? That is a really complicated question. Yeah. Yeah. And. I, okay. Yes, I miss it but also not at all. I don't know. I, I think the only reason I miss it is because she's my last baby.

Okay, if I were planning to have more children, I'd be like, I don't miss it at all. This is fantastic. I'm so excited to be weaned. But knowing that I will never breastfeed again is harder than I thought. Yeah, weaning the last baby is I have found with my clients harder for them. Yeah, yeah, and also, like, I have to say I wasn't super intentional about this.

So it was not very long ago but it was before I started my new thyroid medication. I was in a really rough Hashimoto's flare up. And, like, we had talked about it before, I had been trying to kind of, like, passively, with intent, wean Lyra for a while, you know, and, like, occasionally actually telling her no, but just, like, never really taking a hard line on it, and she is just, like, not suggestible, like my son.

You know, I would be like, don't you want to be, you know, a big girl who doesn't need milk? And she'd be like, no, you know, like you're crazy. And that like totally worked on my son, totally duped him. You know, like he was fine with it. And I was in this really bad flare up. I had had just a horrible day. I was in so much pain all day.

My whole body was like swollen. And our normal bedtime routine is we lay down in my bed. Because our kids share a room, so it's really hard to do bedtime at the same time with them. We'd lay down in my bed, I would nurse her, and like, we'd listen to an audiobook story, and then like, she'd fall asleep and I'd carry her to her bed.

And this night she asked for milk, and I was just like, no. I can't fucking do it. Nope. No more milk. We're done. Like, this was not premeditated. This was not planned. I just could not. stomach the thought of like doing that at that moment while I was in so much pain. Yeah. And I, I, I don't know, Ivan had also not had a good day and wasn't like, I don't know, he was, he's been really struggling with sleep apnea and so he's been really exhausted and he was, so he wasn't like in a great space to be like, okay, no problem.

And we like take the baby and just go deal with it. It just didn't happen. You know, so I ended up just laying with her while she screamed at me. Because she wanted milk. And I was like, no, I, I just can't. And in my head, I was like, okay, if she cries for 10 minutes, I'll just do it, I guess, because I don't know what else to do.

And she cried for seven minutes and then fell asleep. A long seven minutes. like, it was the longest, the longest seven, it was long because she's also three, so it's not like baby crying. It's like violent toddler crying with like hitting and, but she did fall asleep. And. So, I was like, okay, did I just start weaning, question mark?

And I like didn't really think about it too much till the next night when I was like, okay, I did that once. And I still feel like shit and maybe I could just do that again. I don't know. And so again she asked and I was like, nope. And she cried for like five minutes, you know. And I was like, okay, it is getting better.

She also like is at a point where she never asks to nurse any other time but bedtime. It's not like an all-day battle. But does that make you feel guilty? Yeah, absolutely. 100%. I feel guilty about the whole thing, but I'm telling you anyway. And so I think three nights then she asked for milk and cried when she didn't get it and would not accept like alternatives, you know, no juice, no cow milk, whatever.

Last night, I think she accepted cow's milk and kind of whined while she like chugged a giant cup of it, you know? And that kind of started the bedtime routine that we're in now where we lay down together. I don't offer her anything. And she hasn't asked, I think she asked for milk like one more time. She hasn't really asked since then.

But we lay down and then she's like, I want mommy juice, which is liquid IV, which I always have next to my bed. And I'm like, sure, have a sip. And then she's like, I want cow milk. And I'm like, great, whatever. We will deal with breaking that habit eventually, but it's, it hasn't been that long. And I'm like, I don't really care.

It's not going to rot her teeth out forever to have cow's milk after brushing her teeth for a couple of weeks. So anyway, so yeah, now she just like we give her this little, you know, a glass of milk that she drinks with like this, the, this crazy intensity and stares at me. Stares at my husband, like with these wide open eyes while she's like, gulping, gulping milk.

And we're like, okay. And then she falls asleep. . Oh my gosh. That little baby. That little baby that used to be in the podcast studio, all like six. Yeah. Little used to furiously gulp milk is still doing that now. She's just huge. She's 47 pounds . Oh my . Wow. She's a giant. And I love her. And she has not been like mad at me about it.

There was one day. She didn't ask for milk, but she kind of like rubbed my boob and was like mommy milk is really good. And I was like, mm hmm. It is. And then she didn't say anything else about it. And I was like, okay. Do you feel like that? Do you feel like she'll start forgetting about it or is she just like used to the boundary?

You know what? I think she will forget about it. I am kind of sad, but my son forgot his nursing experience and he stopped when he was just about four. No, because I think something happens neurologically. If you're a neuro person out there, tell me. When my kids turned five, they forgot everything that happened before then.

For real. But when they're like three and four, they remember things that happened when they were one. They, they remember the one time you burnt their grilled cheese two years ago. Yeah. Yeah. But then they hit kindergarten and they're like, did I even have a life before this? Did I ever wear diapers? I don't know.

Yeah. Yeah. It's weird. He like, cause he had been talking to me about weaning Lyra. He's like a very sentimental child. Lots of nostalgia for his age. And I was like, well, do you remember breastfeeding? Like, you were still breastfeeding when we moved into this house. And he has like pretty clear memories of moving in.

And he was like, no. I wasn't. And I was like, I have a literal picture of us on the trampoline in the backyard nursing as our last time. Aww. And he was like, no. That didn't happen. I'm like, okay. That's fine. So yeah, like, I mean, I don't know. I think, I think she will forget about it. She still plays breastfeeding with her dolls.

And, like, to her, that is, like, the way babies are fed, but I don't know how much longer she's gonna be like, Oh, my mother has milk that I used to drink not that long ago, and maybe could still drink if I ask. Yeah, that's really interesting. I don't know. Did you feel like you had the emotional slump after?

Well, I don't really think so, but to be honest, I've had so many, like, medication changes and stuff in the last month that I just don't know. Yeah, it all kind of comes together. It does, but I have it, but nothing crazy, right? Like no major depression no major anxiety, nothing like that. Like everything's pretty manageable, but I also weaned so damn slow.

Like, you know, she's three and a half, so. God, I forget that she's three and a half sometimes. She is. She's a giant. I saw that little picture of her with her helmet on, and you guys were camping. Was she paddling? Well, no, but the creek was really low, so Ivan just puts them in wetsuits and helmets so when they fall, because the bottom of the creek is like straight bedrock, so when they just like slip and fall, they don't have major head injuries and have to go to the hospital.

It's actually great, because the wetsuits are like body armor, you know, so they just like roll around on the rocks, and they're totally fine. Cool. God, your kids are having a good childhood. That's the other thing. It's like, breastfeeding is just one way. That you are raising your child. There's like other, your kid is three and a half, able to wear a wetsuit and tumble around on bedrock.

There's a lot of kiddies, kiddies, there's a lot of kids in inner cities that will never get that experience, you know? Yeah, I just have to say, I never, if you'd asked me a year ago, I would have never, Said like, oh yeah, one day, I'll just say no and stop. Yeah, that is pretty opposite to every single parenting thing that you've done in the past.

I just lost my shit, Heather. Well, when you're sick and there's no end in sight, it's not like, I have a cold and in three days it's going to be better. When you're in like an autoimmune flare up and you're like, if I don't start taking care of myself for real, like getting sleep and drinking water, a lot of water and moving my body.

And, you know, having a bit of a routine, something bad's going to happen, and then we'll be in a situation. Yeah, and this flurb hit me out of nowhere. I think it was actually exercise induced. No way. Which is so frustrating, because I have to be super careful about movement, where, like, you know, doing too little is not good, but doing too much will immediately send off this, like, inflammation chain reaction thing.

And just, like, land me in bed for two days, and I think I had, I just, like, spent three straight days doing absolutely, like, the most exercise I was capable of. You know, because it's summer, and that's what I want to be doing. Yeah. God. Well, I'm proud of you because I think it's really important to consider yourself a person, a whole person, and we obviously recommend that the entire time that you are a parent.

But, it's harder to do early on. So like, when your baby's first born, you're basically one person still. That's why they call it the fourth trimester. And then over time, through weaning, We are becoming two people, and now you've got this little person who is absolutely her own person, and you're taking care of you, and I think that's beautiful, and I think however you choose to wean is great, and your kid won't remember it, even when you want them to, and it's kind of heartbreaking.

Yeah. So overall you feel good? I do now, yes. I do feel good overall. I also just I feel like it was time and it was, despite being kind of a spur of the moment, not very well thought out rage decision, it was a good one. Yeah, but if that didn't happen, I think it would have been harder because you would have gone back to your natural tendency to like, well, let's replace it with something else and we'll draw it out for six to nine more months and then, You know, not that that's bad either, but I think that sometimes things happen like this for a reason and Lyra being the particular child that she is does really well with those like hard boundaries where she's like, Okay, fine.

I tried it for three days. It's not working. It's time for me to move on. Whereas other kids are a little tougher. She responds initially with intense rage, and then is fine. Pretty much with everything. I don't know, one of our friends on a message group, Heather Nairam, was talking about like her three year old in pre K getting like write ups for very normal behavior, and I was like, wow, that, if Lyra was in that class, I just, Kind of can't imagine the things that I would get sent home.

I think they don't even tell me half the stuff that goes on with my kids. Sometimes it's better that way. It's better to not know. Well, I'm proud of you, buddy. And for all of you out there who are wondering about your weaning choices, I hope you weren't looking for an algorithm with this one. Because there isn't one.

You have to just go with what feels right to you and try to be consistent with whatever you choose, even if that's being lackadaisical about it. Be consistently lackadaisical. You know, don't draw a hard line one day and then be like, whatever the next day. Yeah, I think that's really key. I think that was a good A good, like, more conscious part of the decision I made was like, okay, now that I drew this line, I'm just gonna stand behind it.

Yeah. Well, good job. Thanks. Let's take a little break to thank a sponsor, and when we get back, I'll give you a few updates of my own. Welcome back, everybody. Heather. Why don't you tell me what's going on to wrap up this episode? Well, I have a milk blub. Oh, really? Yeah, I've had it for a month. Really?

Really, and I'm not a candidate for a blub, other than the fact that I have nipples. But Yeah, what have you done to try to resolve it? Okay, so I did all the things. But, initially, I started feeling a little bit of like a twinge of pain in my lower right boob and I was like, oh, that's kind of weird, but I didn't feel a lump or redness or anything like that.

So I just took ibuprofen and, you know, did that a couple times and I was like, oh, okay. And then every once in a while, I'd still get that twinge and I'd be like, oh, that's weird. And I think it just started with Martie sleeping a little bit longer at night, like right on the heels of, you know. sleep training her a bit.

And then one day I actually happened to look down for once at my nipple and I was like, I've got a freaking blub. So I don't know if it like wasn't there before, but I clearly had some ductal inflammation during that little pain episode. And it seems like the lining of the duct mixed with milk is trying to escape, which is what a blub is.

And my body was like, Nope, What if we just wall it off? And so I have that little area, but what I tried to do was I tried to soften it with coconut oil, also triamcinolone steroid cream, and I gently exfoliated it with some gauze. And when that didn't work after a month, I tried, I didn't do the steroid for a month.

I did it for like a week with no change. Yeah, that usually works. I know. One day, I had had some wine, I will say. I didn't do anything too terrible, but I grabbed my Korean washcloth, and I was like, I wonder if I need to exfoliate it just a little bit more, and I, and I started doing it, and I was like, no, ow, actually, No, actually, no, that was horrible.

That was really stupid. And so then I was like, well, I've tried all the traditional methods of ibuprofen and ultrasound and triamcinolone and exfoliation and all that. So maybe now I'll try some random stuff for the podcast to see if it works. So I did the Korean washcloth and then I did a drawing salve from, oh, like a black salve.

Yes, a black salve. That did nothing. And then I was like, what if I just squeeze it a little bit and I squeezed it a little bit and milk did come out of it, but like the duct is still kind of open. And I think it's constricted. It's just constricted. And so I just don't care about it anymore because it only hurts when I.

Try to exfoliate it. So I was like, maybe I just maybe don't do that again. Maybe I'll just leave it. So I'm now my experiment is I wonder how long it will take my body to absorb this thing. Yeah, yeah. Well, let us know if it just mysteriously disappears. But honestly, if it's not causing pain, it's not causing like functional issues, whatever.

Yeah, I mean, and who knows if it is causing functional issues. I can feel it sometimes when Martie's tongue is, you know, doing the thing. But it doesn't hurt that bad. So I'm like, whatever. Yeah. Whatever. Like I'm not gonna go take a needle and unroof it. That's not the recommendation, just so you know. No, but I will be interested to see how long you can possibly resist that urge.

Well, it's becoming less appealing to pop it because I will say it looks like it's starting to get absorbed. Okay. I'm actually, I am surprised you did not already do that. I know. Are you proud? I am. I, now hearing the story, I feel like I should have gotten a text last week with a picture of like a bloody nipple bleb and a needle.

Yeah. No, I didn't want to do it because I don't have I don't have time for drama like that right now. I got stuff going on. Okay, everything's coming up Heather this month. I'm just telling you, maybe not even this month this week. We've had a very weird. Yeah, week. So couple weeks. So Abigail resigned. Right.

Very sad, sad, but I mean, the friendship is intact. So nobody panic. I'm talking to myself. Nobody panic. She just really hates dealing with insurance companies. That is like, not her dream. And that turned into a lot of her job. And yeah, it's fine. I also wish that she didn't have to deal with a lot of insurance companies in that position.

But alas, healthcare. So she's moving on to different pastures and I hope they're greener for her. And that her leaving has caused a windfall of change in many other areas. Cause now I have to reappropriate job duties and just kind of do that business owner thing where you're like, what am I doing?

What's happening? What's going on? So I, yes, also Meredith, I don't think she'll mind me saying this, but Meredith has to have a double jaw replacement, so she was a lactation consultant here, and she's got some health troubles, like obviously that causes severe migraines and pain, and she's that is very intense, and she's got two little kids, so she's gone and taking care of herself, and that's wonderful, and I'm happy for her, and then so now it's me, Julie, and Sarah And Maureen's gonna come on, and she's gonna see some people with me, which is exciting.

And I think that's happening soon, right? Soon ish? Yeah, it should be happening really soon. Yeah, and that way you can sit for your IBCLC exam and see those hours. Just more money to spend. Yeah, don't you want to keep up that cert? I'm feeling very cynical right now. I do. I know I do. I don't want to in this moment.

I know. Not today. Today's not today. Today's tiring. So then Friday, we also got word that we got a contract that we'd been waiting on for a really long time. So the Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield contract finally came through. There was a lot of drama there where our credentialing company screwed us over big time.

We should have been in with them in March and it took this long and lost lots of money and lost lots of sleep. And anyway, so that's officially through. And the same hour that we got that contract, my husband got a job offer for a different job that he's going to take a better job. A better job. Yes. With benefits, which is exciting because we've not ever had benefits like other than when I worked at WVU as a nursing instructor.

So this is like, ah, change, change, change. Oh my God. So mostly good change though. Yeah. Mostly good. And now I'm just waiting for, if, if I want to really go for it with the universe, I would love to find out that that STAR program through the federal government approved me for loan forgiveness. Because of my work area and what I do.

So I applied for that and I should find out by September 30th. So if you all out there could manifest this for me, it would be life changing. So send me all the best loan repayment vibes. I have already paid a ton in interest. I've basically already, I would have paid it off already if it wasn't for the interest.

So isn't that the worst part of it? Like, I don't know, every time someone complains about those like loan forgiveness programs, I'm like, have you actually looked at the math? Yeah, the math is Have you looked at it? Because the loans are paid. Mm hmm. Actually. Mm hmm. And also like There's not a lot to forgive.

Also how much money, you know, which I'm happy to do, but how much money we've invested in this service for the community. And that hopefully can be long lasting. It's like, come on, like, we're trying to help everyone. So anyway, lots of big changes coming up. Not sure how they're all going to shake out, but I know it will all be fine.

And I signed up for Noom. Oh, because it's time. Yeah, I previously in my life lost my job. 18 pounds doing Noom. Yeah. I did it once and liked it, but I just had a hard time keep to like, continue with it. Yeah. I don't find it difficult. And the thing that stopped me from doing it earlier was that I thought I would fail at it because I am so busy.

And then. I kind of just got to the point where I was like, no, like, I can't exercise every day, so like something has to give, I can control the food, I can't control my time, and I can't control my thoughts around food, and they were getting like messed up because I'm starving all the time from breastfeeding, even though I'm not breastfeeding that much.

So that also I'm curious about, I'm like, how many calories extra could I really be burning by lactating if I'm only breastfeeding like four times in 24 hours? Yeah, hard to say. It's hard to say. So I'm, I'm doing that and it's going okay, I think. We'll see. TBD. But yeah, I'm nervous about it because I'm older and like what if it doesn't work?

Oh well. Then it doesn't work. Then it doesn't work. Right. But they do have a lactation setting on there. Yeah. So it adjusts your calories for that. So really, they set me at like a 3, 100 calorie a day limit and I was like, well, that's a lot. Like, I think I can do this. Yeah. So, well, and I don't know, the only thing that I really have ever liked about calorie counting and I, I mostly feel like it's beneficial for me in like short periods of time if I do it for like two weeks or three weeks is I can get a better idea when I like look at a plate visually of like what portion of my day that represents for energy.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, absolutely. And I do like that since so I didn't know him like several years ago. And since that time, they have improved how to log the food. So, oh, that's cool. Like for lunch, for example, I was able to take a picture of my salad that I ordered from somewhere else. And it, AI recognizes what's in it and then does the portions for you and it's like, it's probably 400 calories and you're like, that'll do.

Log it. Yeah. Cause that's the most annoying part about any of those is you're like, I don't know, two cups of lettuce, a quarter cup of Parmesan and fucking fuck. Yeah, exactly. So it's really not that hard. And also you can scan barcode labels and it'll tell you exactly what stuff is. I know a lot of the free apps let you scan barcodes, but not the Neil.

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I will keep you posted on that, but I feel pretty good about it so far. The whole point of that really is to say, I stepped on the scale for the first time since before getting pregnant. That's scary. And that was hard. It was hard because my body is just so different now. And I was not surprised, but it also wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be emotionally.

I thought it was going to be way worse. I mean, it wasn't great, but it was fine. I survived, and we have a plan, and I'm doing okay. Yeah, so that's that. And let's see, I rearranged the entire office. So when you can't control anything else in life, rearrange the furniture. It's a nice dopamine hit and we were able to deep clean and that was fun.

And I had to lower Martie's crib because thanks to our excellent visit with Kathy at Cornerstone Pediatric, she is no longer dragging her left leg behind her while army crawling. She is able to engage her core, get up on all fours, and then subsequently started pulling up immediately after that. And I was like, Oh yeah, I forgot about this part where you have to lower the crib.

So we did that and now she's not standing up on her own, but she's getting there quickly. So it's exciting. That is exciting. I love to see that little kid grow. I know. I know. Oh, and I did, I found out something about my body. So you know, a lot of people as they start breastfeeding older babies, they find that it's harder to get a milk let down.

Sort of twiddled my other nipple just to see what would happen, and I got a letdown. Woohoo! It was weird. It's like I needed both of them stimulated at the same time. Like she's sucking on one and I was like, not to be weird, but I'm going to just twiddle the other one. And my body was like, Oh, that's what you want.

It's very bizarre. It's like they're not on the same page anymore. Yeah. These boobs are too independent. They are. They're just like long distance friends. Yeah. So if you're struggling with that, try tweaking your other nip and let me know if it works for you too. Yeah. Okay. Bye. Bye. Okay. Well, I think on that note, we can say goodbye for today and follow up next week.

Indeed. All right. Well, I know that was a lot of information for you all and thanks for putting up with us and constantly being our companions. We really appreciate it. Thanks for listening to another episode of the Milk Minute. The way we change this big system that is not set up for lactating families is by educating ourselves, our loved ones, and sometimes our providers.

Oh, and if you're wondering about awards, it's me. I get the award this week because I weaned. That's right. That's right. Badass weaning bitch award. Mic drop. Bye. It's a mi

Yeah.