Parent Extremis

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My son is nine months old and I am not even thinking of weaning him anytime soon, but I’m getting mixed messages because all of those PARENTING emails I get each week are starting to mention weaning so I’m starting to think about when I will do it and how I will do it. I have been breastfeeding since Noah was born and for the most part it has gone well for both of us but it has definitely been drastically reduced as we have introduced regular solid foods.

Many women wean after six weeks or three months if they return to work, some set a goal of six months or a year or two plus years. While I am a champion for breastfeeding mothers I whole-heartedly support all mothers and their choices for whatever works best for them and their families. Pediatricians often recommend that babies who are fed formula switch to whole milk at age one. Also, my own pediatrician said I should start whole milk at age one but that if I wanted to continue breastfeeding I could.

Most recently the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that women nurse for a minimum of one year and into the second year if possible because of the significant health benefits for both mother and baby.

Regardless of when you decide to wean and for whatever reason, consider a few things to make the transition easier on you and baby. Wean over a period of at least a few weeks, choose a calm time so that this is the only major change happening at this time. Make an effort to spend extra time with your baby to make up for lost breast-time. Increase one-on-one time, cuddle, read and be close. Don’t be surprised if you experience some emotional changes from the hormonal shift. Take time to nurture yourself, ask for support from your partner, friends, and family.

SOURCE: PARENTS.Com

I took over this site back in February and I have always felt a little guilty for not posting more about, oh … those controversial parenting issues, you know, like bottle versus breast feeding and attachment parenting and the dreaded sleep-issues. I haven’t been living up to the TITLE of this blog, writing about parenting EXTREMES. Personally, I don’t parent in any of the extremes, at least I don’t think. I have my nuttiness, as my husband likes to remind me, but for the most part I dabble. I make some baby food, I buy some baby food, Noah sleeps alone, in his crib and he does get a little fussy sometimes and I don’t rush in to grab him, I do use Tylenol for those teething moments and post-vaccine fevers, I do use a sling and a carrier but only BEFORE he reached 20-pounds and mostly for convienence, not because I thought we weren’t bonded enough. So, I don’t really fall into any of the strong beliefs about attachment parenting and authoritative parenting and cry-it-out (Ferber/Weissbluth) versus Sears-method sleep training.

But! Some of you do! And I’d like to get some of those debates out in the open here at PARENT EXTREMIS. It’s what we’re all about, when I’m not writing about nose-picking and Cabernet play dates.

TypeAlice recently had a down and dirty comment war with another blogger about letting a baby cry and where to draw the line at ABUSE and WRONG. It is hard to hear your baby cry but sometimes when they are really tired they cry for like 30 seconds before they fall asleep, after you have fed and comforted and rocked them. Is that BAD? To me, that isn’t crying, its more like, fussing. Each parent has a different tolerance for hearing their baby cry and only each parent knows the line of a distress cry versus an I’m-annoyed-come-entertain-me cry. And to some parents, it doesn’t matter, a cry is a CRY.

I think the problem comes when one parent thinks THEIR way is better and RIGHT for someone else. But, who am I to judge? I buy baby food and put my baby in a stroller??

What are your thoughts on these extremes? Food, sleep, etc … do you dabble in the “methods” or do you follow one more than another?

Greetings!

I’m the new writer for Parent Extremis. I’m no more qualified to write for this site than I am to care for my own seven week old baby. So it should be a fun ride! No, really, I plan to use this site to evaluate and discuss a variety of parenting issues. I hope you will stay tuned for some potentially riveting, or at least mildly interesting discussions of all the issues I can dream up including breast versus bottle feeding, sleep issues (co-sleeping vs. crying it out), the effect of pregnancy on the family, dealing with pediatrician visits and vaccination controversy, dealing with toddlers, heading back to work, discipline methods and much more.

I recently became a stay at home mom, or a work at home mom who does some freelance writing, to Noah, born December 21, 2007. He is almost eight weeks old and I love him more than life itself. We live with my hardworking and devoted husband, Marc, four cats and a yappy little dog.