The Standoff

Today was our official "Standoff". In actuality, it was our second. Approximately 3 weeks ago I left our son, our sweet baby Gabriel with his dad. I initially left for 4 hours. Our son nurses every hour (I know, crazy!) so I know he was very hungry. He refused the bottle and after 4 hours I came home, nursed him then left again for nearly 3 hours, hoping he would take the bottle when I left the second time. Unfortunately, he did not. We have a seriously stubborn baby on our hands. He loves his mama, I don't blame him. :)

But in all seriousness, I am going back to work in 4 days!!! For everyone's best interest, this boy NEEDS to take a bottle. So today after much thought and reading other successful stories, I decided to do a "Standoff". This is our last resort, you can read what we have done in the last 5 weeks in a previous post ( http://polishedwithgrace.blogspot.com/2013/01/when-your-baby-refuses-bottlewhat-every.html)


The last time Gabriel was nursed was at 8:21 AM. I decided I would not give him the breast. I would pump and give him expressed milk. He fell asleep at his 8:21 feeding and woke up at 10:37 AM. He usually realizes he's hungry a couple minutes after waking up. When he gave me the signs, I offered the bottle. Gabe was royally pissed! He arched his back, cried, wailed, moved his hands and arms, gave the pout and moved his head. Finally I stopped trying. I didn't want to stress him out so I attempted to soothe him and he calmed down. Then I tried again and same thing. We repeated this cycle until he finally fell asleep, exhausted at 12:30.  I felt horrible, I knew that in an instant I could end his suffering. But I had to remain calm and strong.

I received a call from my husband that he would be coming home early. Hallelujah! The heavens had heard my cries.

Hubby came home around 1:30 and he tried, by this time Gabe was a little more than pissed. He fell asleep again...5 hours without eating didn't seem to faze him. Finally around 2:47 PM he drank 2 ounces! It came with lots of opposition. My husband had Gabriel suck on his finger then stuck the bottle in his mouth. Right before he finished the two ounces, he stopped, cried and was getting upset then cried to sleep.

Oh how heartbreaking this whole situation is! Gabriel woke up at 3:30 with another bottle waiting for him and he refused. He seemed even more upset! Oh good lord!
at 4:20 I left to pick up my older kids from school. We went to get gas and dinner. I came back home around 4:50pm and Gabe had still refused the bottle. We kept trying until 5:21 PM so in 9 whole hours, he only drank 2 oz with angst.

This standoff did not go as hoped. He nursed for 50 minutes after this, then 23 minutes then 10 minutes. He made up for what was lost. He usually nurses 5-10 minutes every hour.

I hate hate hate that we are even in this position. I just wish he could understand, perhaps he does but doesn't mind waiting for me. It looks like on my lunch breaks I will be nursing him. Im so worried for him. He really is a good baby. I can only continue to hope and pray he will take it...if not PLEASE dear lord let him continue to sleep through the night.


Tomorrow my husband will be doing another standoff with him. Hopefully it goes better.

Gabe exhausted :*(

To be continued....

CVS drugstore makeup haul

Hi everyone!
Last night I went out with my daughter and decided to get some goodies from CVS. I purchased some Loreal and Wet-N-Wild products. If you know anything about store brands, Wet-N-Wild is really old school and CHEAP! Fergie is now a spokeswoman and I was super excited to see her stuff but almost everything was sold out. I was bummed. I did manage to get two eye shadows. :) So here is the list of stuff and what I rate them on a scale of 1-5 stars


1. Loreal Nail Color in Butterfly Kisses #380:  The color is gorgeous. It is a pale pink/purple. I applied two coats but it could have used 3 instead. For this price of nearly 7 dollars, I would skip it. You can get the same quality for much cheaper. The color is a 5 but the quality is a 3 star .

2.Loreal  the one sweep sculpting brush dup in Nectar #825 : The colors on this are gorgeous and the blush/highlighter reminds me of MAC's Melba. Unfortunately, this has no pigment! It was chalky, dry and did not adhere at all. For the price of around $13, I felt a little ripped off. Do I really need to give this one star? Ugh.

3. Loreal Colour Riche Lipstick in Rose Tafetta #174 : This lipstick is very moisturizing, comes in a pretty case, the color is comparable to a mauve/rosy color but does not last long and is not very pigmented, when applies you can still see my natural lip color underneath. I give this 2.5 stars

Loreal lipstain gloss in Infinite Fuschia #187: This goes on really thin but dries to a semi matte. The color is gorgeous but I do not like the smell of it. I give this 3 stars.

Wet-N-Wild 3 eyeshadow palette in Cool As Cucumber 382B: I actually love this palette! For  only $2.49 it was a bargain. It goes on great and is really pigmented but you must use a primer, I would recommend Urban Decay for the price and quality 4.5 stars.

Wet-N-Wild single eyeshadow in Sugar/Sucre 250A: I also like this, it is not an everyday use but will be good to place in the corner of your eye for a quick highlight. I give this a 3.5 stars.


I have attached a video for your viewing. :D

Without Primer

With Primer

besitos,

Lisa

When your baby refuses the bottle...what every working mom should know.

With my first two children I supplemented. I did not exclusively breastfeed. I did more so with my second, my son Noah. I breastfed until I returned to work, however, he also received formula. If we went out he received formula or when I left home he also received formula. He received breastmilk while at home when we were together. Unfortunately, I did not get educated on lactation nor did I have the support that I needed. My son Noah has allergies and asthma which makes me wonder if I breastfed him instead, would he still have these health problems? Research suggests so many health benefits for breastfed infants. This time around with my last child I decided early on that I was going to breastfeed and pump once I return to work. 

During our hospital stay I requested a lactation consultant because I wanted to be successful and have all questions answered. She noticed that we had given our son a pacifier. The lactation consultant warned that nothing but the breast should be given until breastfeeding has been successfully established which is a minimum of 4 weeks, this would prevent nipple confusion and supply issues. She also recommended to hold off on the bottle and to pump 2 weeks prior to my return to work date. I listened to the expert advice and was very strict about it. 

Unfortunately, at 3 weeks postpartum I suffered an appendicitis and required surgery, thus, had to "pump and dump" and my son was forced to receive formula in a bottle. Initially my husband said he had trouble but then quickly took the bottle. We used the Similac Simply Smart bottle which I had purchased prior to my son's birth. Although I was determined to breastfeed I wanted a bottle that was good for both formula and breastfeeding. The bottle has a inbuilt mixer, does not leak, is shaped like the breast, BPA free and reduces colic. 

(Image Source: Cafemom)

Shortly after this episode I decided to buy a Medela pump so that I could store milk incase any other emergency happened. Formula did not agree with my son's digestive system. At around 5 weeks old my husband tried to give him a bottle but he didn't take it too well so I purchased 3 bottles from Amazon, the Comotomo, Adiri Nurser and Lansinoh mOmma.

Gabriel immediately took to the Lansinoh mOmma. Although it doesn't look like the breast, it feels like it to the baby because when your baby is latched, the nipple and areola are in the baby's mouth all together just like the Lansinoh bottle. Gabe was unable to latch to the other bottles.

(Image Source: Amazon.com)

From that point forward he received breastmilk in this bottle with no issues. I was finally able to leave the home! I was able to get things done but usually my husband would call me and tell me to come home to feed the baby, he didn't like to give him the bottle unless I was going to take a very long time (mistake #1). Gabe received the bottle about 1x per week. At 9 weeks old my husband and I decided to go out for dinner. My mother in law watched the kids and called us after 1.5 hours to let us know Gabe was crying and refusing the bottle. Perplexed, I naturally assumed she was doing something wrong. The next day my husband tried to give Gabe the bottle and sure enough he refused and that started our crazy bottle buying experience.

At 13 weeks old now here are some of the bottles we tried:

Similac Simply Smart, Lansinoah Momma, Adiri Nurser, Comotomo, Gerber Nuk, Born Free, Playtex Ventaire, Playtex Nurser Drop in, Tommee Tippee, Dr Brown, Mimijumi, The First Years Breast Flow, Avent, Medela Original, Medela Calma and I feel like im forgetting something?????

We even tried a finger feeder, doppler, syringe and sippy cups (Nuk and Playtex)

The Mimijumi is the one that we solely practice with now. It seems to be the only one that he does not gag on. At first the nipple was hard so I emailed the company and they sent me a softer one that they just changed. The bottle does tend to leak if not placed on correctly which can be hard to do. He is doing better , however, he is still not taking the bottle.

I have left the house for 6 hours and the only way for him to receive some milk is the syringe. I have extended my maternity leave by one week and will go back when he is 14.5 weeks old. Today he is 13 weeks old and although some progress has been made I wonder if he will ever take the bottle. Fortunately for me, our daycare is 5 minutes away so I will be able to nurse him on my lunch breaks, we will also try to start solids at 4 months old, which is right around the corner.

I had no idea that this was a possibility, that a baby would refuse a bottle. If you are planning to breastfeed and return to work, give a bottle every day from 4 weeks and on. Even if the baby will prefer the bottle over breast, it is better than to have your baby starve in daycare or to be stressed out like I am. The sucking reflex goes away from 6-12weeks old so introduce the bottle BEFORE this period. Sometimes I think nipple confusion is overrated! I wish you lots of luck with breastfeeding and if you have ANY questions, shoot. :)

Besitos
Lisa

Tarte Cosmetics: Smooth Operator Finishing Powder Review

You may have heard about Make Up Forever Brand HD finishing powder. I have wanted to try MUFE's HD powder for the longest! I have really oily skin that is acne prone. Since I breastfeed, I have real bad acne that is hormonal so for the time being I try to limit what I put on my face. A couple months back I found that MUFE had a "dupe", E.L.F. brand also makes a HD powder, I purchased it at Target for around $10. It's main component was silica and went on smooth, however, it did not combat my oil and shine and needed to be reapplied within 1-2 hours. On one of the perks to shopping at Sephora is being a member of their "Beauty Insider" program which is free. For every dollar you spend, you earn points which can be redeemed for certain products. Usually I pass on everything because nothing catches my eye until they had this Tarte finishing powder. I had never heard of this brand and after some minimal research, I had found it was created by an everyday woman, this excited me even more. It wasn't made by a big corporation, this woman used to create cosmetics from her own home, all natural! After trying this product, I can say I LOVE IT!!! I did not need to reapply like I did with the E.L.F. brand. A little goes a long way and it left my skin looking smooth. This is now a must have for me, it has decreased oil and gives me a matte and flawless look.

If you have big pores and oily skin, you will NOT regret this product. Here is a picture of my skin, I promise to get better at pictures. :)

Besitos
Lisa