I still nurse my daughter occasionally in the morning and before bed, but I recently stopped pumping. The sketch notebook pictured next to it, however, is still around. (Photo by Althea Peterson)
It started as a silly, but simple idea: Draw the baby, rather than share personal photos of the baby, using breast pumping breaks to get it done.
Since starting the baby sketches about 6 months ago, I have learned much from my daughter, and hope that I have helped at least one other, struggling, clueless new parent along the way as well.
At the very least, perhaps I gave some experienced parents some laughs about how things were back when they were new.
In honor of the New Year, here are some of the previous sketches from past entries, as well as an update on each of the topics featured in the sketches.
Happy New Year!
Issue:
Introducing a new baby to your pet cat and dogsBaby age: Four months
Status: Ongoing issues, such as the cat and one dog avoiding any contact with the baby. One dog, however, uses the baby as an extra way to get food: Licking her face clean after meals, or waiting for her to drop stuff.
Advice: Common sense goes a long way in how to deal with pets and children. Concerns will fade with time, patience, and a sense of humor.
Issue:
Delivering a baby by Cesarean sectionBaby age: Newborn at the surgery time, 4 months at blog entry time
Status: Still healing! My doctor recommended no scrubbing the area in the shower until one year after, but the scar is starting to disappear. There is occasional pain in the area, but nothing excessive.
Advice: Remember that it's major surgery you just undertook and let the area rest and heal as much as you can. Airing it out at night and wearing loose clothing seemed to help the healing process the most.
Issue: Breastfeeding. One entry was entitled "
Breastfeeding a baby is a challenging decision" and the update was "
Baby's appetite changes can make breastfeeding more difficult."
Baby age: 3 months during the first entry, 5 months at the second entry
Status: Breastfeeding only at morning and night, formula and solids are her primary nutrition now.
Advice: Store as much breastmilk as you can in the freezer during maternity leave, trust me. You'll be thankful for extra supply after you return to work and have less baby/mom and at-home time for nursing and pumping. However, don't be so firm with the breastmilk-only-for-XXX-months that you won't supplement with formula if you need to. Otherwise, a hungry baby may wake up in the middle of the night.
Issue:
When a baby can't sleep and won't stop crying (possibly due to her first cold)Baby age: 5 months
Status: Abysmally bad. Help!
No advice yet: Next week's entry will focus on the month-long problem that I'm currently having with baby sleep issues, especially around midnight to 3 a.m. As I write this, my baby is 10 days short of being 10 months old. Is it separation anxiety? Have I made my baby too reliant on mom and dad? Will my pediatrician's advice work, and what advice did she give? Tune in next week to find out!
In the meantime, please value any sleep you personally enjoy at night, and please give any advice you have on this very serious matter.
--Althea Peterson
This week, my baby is eating: Organic food from Whole Foods. Competitively priced with baby food you'll find in other stores (I was surprised too), our daughter is getting to try even more new foods while still not straying outside the "only non-citric fruits and non-cow's milk" specifications of a younger-than-a-year-old baby. Give organic a try if you see it at your store!
Baby bit: Due to holiday daycare closure, our baby's schedule is all over the place with a lot less structure and a lot of excitement from family and friends visiting and bringing gifts. Her favorite new toy? "
Baby paper." It's fun and very affordable at under $5. The colorful wrapping paper and sparkly bows she loved to see around the tree were even cheaper.
Mommy moment: I am not sure if it is me or a mom thing, but when there's very little down time, even when the opportunity presents itself, I find myself scurrying around trying to get even more things done. Is the dishwasher empty/loaded? Is baby's diaper changed? Are the dogs and cat fed? Does the garbage and recycling need to be taken to the curb? It's not the most fun thing to be busy with, but at least many things get done.
Althea Peterson is the proud, but very tired mother of a 9-month old girl. Althea returned to work at the Tulsa World in May after two months of maternity leave. Baby advice, baby questions or baby words of encouragement can be sent to althea.peterson@tulsaworld.com. Also, follow Althea and other parents on Twitter at twitter.com/twbecauseisaid. You can also follow Althea at twitter.com/a1a4ou.
