Breastfeeding vs Formula Feeding

Breastfeeding Charlotte in Hampstead Heath in April

I am so grateful that I have been able to breastfeed Charlotte without problems.  I have a very healthy supply and Charlotte has a healthy appetite.  All is well in the world . . . and all would continue to be well with the world if I weren't leaving for ten days at the beginning of next month.

Since we arrived in London three-and-a-half months ago, I have been pumping/expressing milk in every free moment I have.  While it is perhaps the most unglamorous activities I have ever engaged in, I wanted to make sure Charlotte had enough milk for her two days of daycare a week and enough to last her the ten days I will be traveling.  But try as I might, I failed; there isn't enough milk in the freezer.  I am absolutely heartbroken over it.

One of the main reasons we ran out of milk is that Charlotte goes through more milk at daycare than I am able to express while she's gone.  I think this is due in part to the daycare facility not treating the milk like the liquid gold it is (ie:  throwing away half drunk bottles instead of putting them back in the fridge for later) and Charlotte seizing the opportunity to drink all of a ten ounce bottle if it is given to her.  I spoke with the daycare (who is generally really great) about being more careful about wasting the milk and there seemed to be a big improvement after that.  But not a big enough improvement, as today Charlotte has officially started to drink formula at daycare.

My goal is for her to have at least a couple bottles worth of mama's milk for each day I'm away.  As for me, I am going to travel with my breast pump and will have to find time to express milk between rehearsals, traveling and performances.  Luckily, I am very familiar with the members of the group I'm performing with and I know that they will be supportive in my efforts.  I am going to look into getting dry ice to travel back to London with my expressed milk, but if that is too complicated, I will find a milk bank to donate to.  Mostly, I want to make sure that my milk doesn't dry up while I'm away and I don't want to waste any of the milk if I don't have to!  (There are milk banks that provide breast milk to families with moms who can't produce milk and/or to families where the mom is ill or has passed away.)

From what I've read, breastfeeding until a baby is six-months is considered a huge accomplishment and is recommended by the World Health Organization.  While we have already reached this milestone (I accidentally just typed "milkstone".  Haha!)  I would like to be able to continue breastfeeding Charlotte until she is at least one.  It is just so much better for her brain and general development than formula and I feel fortunate that it has worked so well for us thus far.

Hopefully this first round of traveling will go smoothly as I am traveling again in October, December, March and June (so far).  I am working on transitioning my work to London so I don't have to return to the states to work, but that will take some time.  Luckily, I already have some positive responses from sending my CV out to some London opera companies!  In the meantime, Jason is looking forward to having one-on-one time with our sweet Charlotte and my mom is looking forward to flying out to help as well.

As for me, I know that being away from Charlotte will be difficult, but I am happy and proud to be continuing my career.  Singing isn't just a job for me, it is huge part of who I am.   It gives me life and makes me a better person.  And despite throwing a wrench/spanner into my breastfeeding efforts, I truly believe that it is good for Charlotte to see her mom doing what she loves to do!

A Desk!

I have spent the last few months in search of a desk to fit the little alcove behind the couch.  I scoured Gumtree, Craigslist, Ikea and Ebay but everything I found was just too big (or too cheapy looking) to work.  Then, while on an Ikea trip with my friend Mary, I found a tiny, not too cheapy looking desk that had been marked down to £10!  Score! 

 

(Notice the bottle in the shot above.  My milk supply is still way down since I spent the day vomiting.  Now that I'm feeling nearly 100% better, I'm going to spend the day eating well and drinking tons of water to get my supply back up!  Extra calories, here I come!)

Now would be a good time to mention again how annoying it is to shop at Ikea when you are car-less.  The trip to Ikea from our flat requires a bus (or tube) ride, a train ride AND a tram ride!  If you are buying more than a bag or two of small items (while also pushing a stroller) it can require Herculean powers to get it all home.  

Between Mary and myself this is what we were looking at at the end of our trip:

To make a long story short, Mary ended up taking all the goods by taxi while Charlotte and I took the tram, train, and bus back to our flat.  And it was all worth it in the end.  Check out how happy this baby is with her new desk:

A London Breastfeeding Flashmob!

This afternoon Charlotte and I hopped on a bus and headed up to Paddington Station.  We were headed to participate in our first ever flashmob!

For those of you unfamiliar with flashmobs, they basically involve a group of people making some sort of unexpected performance in public.  There are loads of YouTube videos (like this one to music from the Sound of Music in Belgium) of choreographed dances, songs and even opera scenes sprung on unsuspecting grocery shoppers and cafeteria patrons.  (My personal favorite is when Oprah's audience surprised her with a flashmob during a live broadcast.  For some reason it always makes me cry!  You can watch the video here.)

I can't entirely remember how I found out about the booby flashmob, but I think I may have stumbled upon it while looking for a breastfeeding support group I had heard was on Facebook (The Leaky B@@b).  I signed up for the "UK's Biggest Breastfeeding Flashmob" Facebook page and made a note of the date in my calendar.

As the day drew nearer, I wasn't entirely sure if I was going to participate, but then I heard of a woman in Hampstead who was kicked out of a pub for breastfeeding her baby.   She was told that "people are trying to eat".  Huh?  What?  I decided in that moment that I would definitely join the flashmob.

Charlotte and I arrived at the station about fifteen minutes before the flashmob was scheduled to start.  I saw a lot of moms and babies wandering around and started chatting with a group of them. 

At 2:00 on the dot, all the moms made their way into a big open space and began to sit on the floor.  (I didn't think ahead enough to bring a blanket so I borrowed some space from another mom.)  Once I got Charlotte settled I was able to get some shots of what was going on.

My favorite shot is of this guy who was so caught up in his phone that he didn't realize he was in the middle of a flashmob!

He started laughing once he realized what was going on. 

And that was basically it!  There were lots of moms and babies and boobies.  I have gotten more comfortable breastfeeding in public without my Hooter Hider (yes, it is really called that) and this helped me feel even more confident about it. 

There were a number of people from the press there, so I'm hoping it might make the news.  Here is a shot of some of the photographers after the mob was wrapping up:

Afterwards, Charlotte and I joined some other moms at Hyde Park.  Charlotte took her first ride on a swing!  She loved it!

Happy (UK) Mother's Day!

We began the day with a sweet post-breakfast photo shoot:

We were having a lot of fun . . .

. . . until someone decided it would be more fun to eat her hands . . .

We then had a mama and baby photo shoot in the living room. We dressed Charlotte in a dress that we bought while on our honeymoon in Mexico. My friend Alli made her gorgeous sweater.

Bare white walls and bright morning light (and a talented photographer) made for some great photos!

Then we were off on an adventure in our new city. After quite a bit of walking, we enjoyed a lovely tea service complete with tea sandwiches and the most delicious scones (sufficiently slathered with clotted cream) I have ever had:

We all enjoyed our meals:

We then did quite a bit more walking (and a bit of shopping at Covent Garden) before heading to a lovely little Jesuit church for an evening Mass. It was a short walk from there to a tube station that took us home in no time.

It was a fantastic first mother's day. The best part, by far, was spending it with my two favorite people in the whole world: