Bottle Feeding for Baby and Me !

50 days since I stopped working. 27 days since the Little Monkey arrived.

While it’s been fabulous going out and about with baby and the diaper bag that accompanies her, we were looking forward to an evening out with adults (yes .. I know.. it’s been less than a  month!). A pub crawl was hosted last night in honour of a co-worker who had boldly decided to quit work in pursuit of truly figuring out what she’d like to do ( I’m so impressed by her decision!). What better night to test out my mom’s baby sitting skills?  Not to mention that  she’s only here for a few more days so we are definitely planning on abusing the free  childcare services on hand!

I  had pumped about 25 oz of milk over the last three days and a 6p.m feed was completed. Now the challenge of what to wear – fed up of the pregnancy outfits (which were mainly regular flowy dresses as I  refused  to give into the boring pregnancy attire or pay upwards of $150 for an outfit I’d only wear for a couple months) and my old clothes are still over 6 inches from being able to zip up or wriggle up the wide wide hips. Ten wardrobe changes and an hour late from the scheduled departure we embarked for dinner at the Keg and an evening of bar hopping.

When  I told some of the moms  in my circle that we were going out for the evening most of them mentioned something along the lines of not  being fully comfortable, guilt and that we’d be constantly checking in every 30 mins– that didn’t sound like me but I figured we’d take it  in stride and we weren’t too far from home if either of us had a  pang to rush home. Let me tell you – once we were out and catching up on the latest gossip and happenings, it’s not that we forgot about the Little Monkey but I definitely was not checking in every half and hour. It’s true, I did check in twice over the course of six hours and the internal clock (read sore boobs) would tell me it was  feeding time but I definitely did not feel guilty. She had a good supply of milk and she was in capable hands. I wasn’t depriving her of anything- what did I  have to feel guilty about? Nothing.

I had stayed away from hard spirits ( I did enjoy an occasional half glass of wine during pregnancy and a couple times since delivery) till today. So what bottle was I going to feed myself? I opted for the Keg’s famous Kiwitini for the starter – rumour has that it’s made from 1 oz. ABSOUT CITRON, 0.5 oz Melon Liqueur , 1 muddled Kiwi ,0.5 oz. Lemoncello and 2 0z. of white cranberry juice. SHHHH!  White and red wine flowed with dinner…but once we got to the next destination I was neither tipsy nor did I have an urge to continue drinking. Which was weird. I guess that’s something that comes with the new territory of being a mom- all in moderation. Once the clock struck midnight I definitely got antsy and wanted to go home!  We did just that… to be greeted by a wailing baby who up to that point had been serene and peaceful all night long. Go FIGURE!

Given that I’d been  drinking, the game plan was  to bottle feed till about 6 a.m (since  the rule of thumb I was told  by a doctor friend was to wait 4 hours from your last drink, then pump and dump and you’re good to go).  Now that felt  a bit odd – 4 hours no matter what weight class or how many drinks I had. Say what? A bit of research led me to stumble upon the following article – Drinking alcohol while breastfeeding: Will it harm my baby?   Now I know how much to pump for the office Christmas Party! Pumping and dumping isn’t  necessary (more for your peace of mind and of course engorgement issues).

Here’s a great site that calculates how long you should wait after drinking! http://www.obfocus.com/calculators/alcoholinmilk.htm