Lennox & Me

"You burn off so many calories breastfeeding!"... "i'm hungry and eating all the time because i'm losing so much weight breastfeeding!"... "it's so great i don't have to work out and i totally went back to my pre pregnancy weight!"... etc  I heard phrases like these everywhere before i gave birth for the first time. It was one of the things i was looking forward to before i became a first-time-mom with Lennox almost 2 years ago. I knew i would try to breastfeed if i was able to. And another selfish reason i wanted to breastfeed was because i've heard tons of stories of women who lost their pregnancy weight (and more) just like *that*. Ok let's back track a little here. I am always in favour or being strong & fit rather than thin & weak. All my life i've never been the small/skinny one and that's been ok. I've always been active since my teenage years with canoeing/canoepolo, wakeboarding and now crossfit. I h...

I've previously written about breastfeeding Lennox while he was at age 14 months ( see blogpost here ). It's hard to believe that Nox would turn 23 months in a few days, and his 2nd birthday is just around the corner! And yes i'm STILL breastfeeding! :) Currently i am breastfeeding both my newborn Sterling (he is 10 weeks old -- is he still considered newborn??? hmmmm) and Lennox. This blogpost is not meant to be about the pros of tandem breastfeeding (there are many other more reliable sources i used like kellymom.com  and the amazing FAQ ), but this is just my how i experienced it the last 2 months. Breastfeeding while pregnant When i found out i was pregnant, one of the first things i wondered is if i would continue breastfeeding Lennox. Many moms would choose to stop, which is totally understandable. After speaking to my midwife and my lactation consultant, i decided to just continue. They advised that there was no reason to stop if i felt good. As long as I wasn...

It's 27 june and we are 3 weeks into Ramadan! It didn't feel like it went quickly (especially in the beginning) but Hari Raya (Eid / Suikerfeest) is just over a week away! After a few compulsory non-fasting days (hello period), i was full on fasting while breastfeeding. I must admit, although I did the research and science says that milk supply would not be affected, it was still something i thought about a lot during the first days of fasting! It was all just in my mind though. After 2 days i was sure my milk supply was lesser than usual... but on the 3rd day (as though also a sign from the guy up there) when breast feeding, i was spraying milk from one side and leaking on the other just like the first newborn months!! Ok, so no dip in supply then! :P Totally what i felt like on day 3 :P

Tomorrow marks the first day of Ramadan in 2016. Last year i did not fast as Lennox was born on the 5th day of Ramadan, my little ramadan baby! :) This year I plan to fast as usual. Only difference is that I'm breastfeeding. Lennox is almost 1 and nurses on average 4 times a day: in the morning, before nap #1 (about 1130am), before nap #2 (about 5pm) and before he goes to sleep at night (about 830pm). Throughout the night he still wakes up sometimes and the quickest way to get him back to sleep is to nurse him. The night needs are comfort feeds i think, i don't think he's having a full meal in the middle of the night. There are fears that my milk supply might run out when i fast. But I guess since Lennox is already almost 1 and also having solids, it would be very different than a newborn or 4-5 month old exclusively on breastmilk. I did some research about breastfeeding during ramadan and it pretty much says it's up to the mom whether she wants to fast or not. Re...