Happy to be back at the breast!

My 4year old daughter is so happy to be back at the breast and so am I to have her drinking milk from mom again! After a long bout with pneumonia and Covid the new strain she was unable to breastfeed for 2 whole weeks due to the strong antibiotic and steroids I had to take to heal. I Breastfeeding her for as long as I could while I had pneumonia and was on appropriate antibiotics that were safe for breast-feeding, but when I got sneezed on when I was picking my medication up and developed the new strain of Covid, I could barely breathe. It felt as if someone was crushing me on my chest with a cinder block and stabbing me every time I tried to breathe! I am incredibly happy that I’m feeling better. It was really a scary time for me.

Hopefully my daughters got all the antibodies that they could from my milk because neither one of my girls got sick at all!

Finally getting back on my feet this was our amazing morning together.

During my illness all I could bare to eat were salty soups, rice, noodles, bread and to drink Gatorade and pedialyte and loads of water!

I hand expressed in the shower when I could shower and in the morning and night when I had the strength to in order to keep a decent milk supply. Somehow I believe the steroids actually helped me maintain my milk supply! I was getting a lot of milk out! as you know or if you don’t know the more milk out the more milk in which means the more you express or get out of your breast the more milk, your breast will make.

Unfortunately, all the carbohydrates that I consumed while I was sick and not exercising as well as the prolactin from hand expression and producing milk caused my body to hold onto all the sugar calories and water weight gain was high from my sodium intake!

As you can see this caused me to gain quite a bit of weight! Hopefully now I’ll be able to get back in the gym and stick to a healthier routine again!

Fact: Breastfeeding can cause some women to gain substantial amounts of weight due to the release of excess hormones the body needs to create a healthy milk supply!

If you’re gaining too much weight talk to your doctor about a healthy diet and load up on your water intake to prevent bloating and water retention! Water is extremely important to flush out your system and helps with weight management!

If your baby is a newborn now, is not the time to worry about your weight, but as your baby grows into a two-year-old and beyond, you can still breast-feed and maintain a healthy weight by watching your diet and calorie consumption. Always remember your body needs about 500 extra calories per day in order to make a healthy milk supply for your baby or extended breastfed child.

Best of luck, mommies and families on your own breast-feeding journey. I hope that my page is helping you learn all about the things that you need to learn to keep yourself and your family healthy.

Sometimes unexpected illnesses pop up like mine did, and we have to do our best to make it through it so we can be here to love our children and family for a long time!

Take care of your health, Everyone, and be careful out there. That new strain of Covid is no freaking joke. It was horrible! If you can, wear your mask everywhere you go right now during this flu, Covid season, and other nasty super bug season that could possibly make you terribly ill especially if you have a weakened immune system

my wishes to you to be prepared so you and your family can stay healthy and happy during this holiday season!