Thinking 'out loud'-- wanna help?

[hez]

I'll post my dilemma (and some rambling thoughts). Maybe it's not a big deal. Seems like a bunch of us are at this point (~1 year BF'ing), with some variations on a theme of 'what comes next'.

I posted a month or so ago about my decision process on continuing to BF Payton. We are still going strong, though the support from our friends is waning. I'm still able to squeeze in two pumping sessions a day at work, but barely. We haven't started trying whole milk yet.

I had posted that Payton was allergic to something in some ice cream DH gave him a little while ago. Turns out it was the eggs. DH did a little experiment after dinner last night, and we had major vomiting and a rash two hours later, just like with the ice cream. So, that scratches his chicken pox and flu vaccinations for the time being.

So, being the overprotective scared first-time mom that I am, I've been dwelling on the flu. Doesn't help that everywhere you turn Payton's been labeled as 'high risk' because he's under 2. Blech. So I wonder, will they give me the flu shot and I'll keep on BF'ing? Will that help anything? It seemed to have worked last year. Will they even let me get a shot with that line of reasoning?

I'd been looking forward to at least weaning from the pumping sessions at work. But I keep coming up with reasons for Payton to have as much fresh (not frozen) milk as possible. We're (hopefully) getting over an ear infection, for instance, and I don't want to stop before that's fully cleared up.

I don't know if I want advice or sympathy or what. If you've got any ideas, let me know. I get a lot of therapy from just typing these things out, too :)

[sntm]

I don't know if they will "let" you have a flu shot for those reasons, but if you either have the vaccine or are exposed to the virus, you antibodies will be protective for him.

Another consideration if you really want the flu shot for him is looking for one of the newer recombinant vaccines that are not incubated in chicken eggs. I think they are only available right now as part of experimental trials, but if you are near a university hospital, you could consider that. I don't know if the FluMist inhaled vaccine is recombinent or not. It isn't approved for kids under 5 now, but the pharmaceutical company has trials underway to study it.

Just to reassure you a little, I honestly believe the hype is entirely out of proportion to the actual risk, especially in healthy kids. Not to say it can't be serious, but honestly just making sure to wash your hands a lot, keep breastfeeding, and avoiding people with symptoms (meaning strict daycare policies on sick kids) will probably do more to prevent transmission than the vaccine will. I think the vaccine tends to lull people into a false sense of security sometimes.

As far as pumping, I'm still pumping once a day. I don't know how many pumps you are doing, but I've found once a day to be fairly easy to do, and it gives me an automatic break during the day. Just to share that you will be in good company if you wait a while.

Don't know if I helped, but hope so!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif[/img][/url]
Breastfeeding 16 months and counting

[nitaghei]

Heather,

I posted on the other thread, but let me answer some other stuff here.

The flu worries me too. DS is in daycare, and he's being tested for egg allergies. So as of now, no flu shot for him. Which is one reason I'm glad that we are still BF'g, though only once a day.

And I do totally empathize about wanting to end pumping sessions. At one year, I would pump once a day, and go in and nurse once a day. By 14-15 months, I had substituted cow's milk for EBM (over a 5 week period), and stopped pumping. You may want to consider doing something similar in a few weeks - for maybe one session. And the other one could be a break in the day, like Shannon says. I was fortunate that I could walk over to daycare and nurse DS, and only had to deal with one session.

I totally empathize about ear infections, too. DS had tubes put in a week after his first birthday, and I wasn't going to cut back on BF'g while he was recovering from surgery. BTW, because DS was constantly sick with ear infections last fall, he never got the flu shot, but didn't get the flu, either - even though he was in daycare 5 days a week. And I think BF'g had something to with that (don't disabuse me of that illusion, please, Shannon! :) ) And good hygiene at daycare.

And, BTW, once we hit 15 months, I totally lost all support for BF'g - from every single family member. But, you know what? It's my child, and ultimately, my decision to do what's best for both of us.

Not sure if that helps at all!

Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a cocker and a PWD

[lizajane]

schuyler is allergic to eggs and he has already had part one of his flu shot. the ped said it was totally fine for him to have it, unless another ped specifically said he could not have it. so be sure to ASK!!!!

[sntm]

I absolutely think BFing had something to do with that! :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif[/img][/url]
Breastfeeding 16 months and counting

[hez]

Thanks ladies. I appreciate the time you took to help me think!

Payton's ear infection is cleared up but he's still full of fluid in both ears. So, we're heading to an ENT sometime soon. Better to be safe than sorry. In the meantime, I'm giving myself permission to pump just once a day if that's all I can get in, no guilt about using frozen milk instead of fresh. That's why I've got the freezer stash, right?

I have a friend at the beginning end of the nursing relationship, and we chatted a bit with a bunch of preggos this weekend at another friend's baby shower. I'm kind of getting jealous that they're just starting out with nursing and we're starting to slow down. Never thought that would happen to me!

Thanks again.