Beach Craft

Today I am blogging over at Tampa Bay Moms Blog about a recent beach trip and related craft.  I am so excited to be a new contributor for TBMB and I hope you enjoy my first official post!

It's Monday...

It's Monday!! So that means linking up to the Mommy Mondays Blog Hop.  I haven't been 100% consistent in linking up, but I do enjoy seeing what other Mommy's have to say, so check out the others that are linked. 

I am back to work today but I was so glad to get home to my little girls last night.  Lately I have been posting a lot of about pumping and work but I hope to get back to some crafts soon.  I will also have my first official post as a Tampa Bay Moms Blog contributor later this week, so watch for that!

Pumping while Traveling

I have just returned from my first out of town trip since returning to work from maternity leave.  I traveled to Minneapolis for 3 days for work and then met my husband in Boston for the weekend so I was gone a total of 5 days.  I have traveled before when my older daughter was still nursing, so I have a little experience with traveling while pumping, so I wanted to share what has worked well for me here.

One of the most important things is preparation, knowing what to bring, knowing where you can pump, and knowing how you are going to store and transport your milk.

Packing

For my trip I brought my Medela Freetime, this pump was perfect for travel because I could easily stick it in my purse or computer bag.  It is very light and does not take up a lot of room.  I also brought along my strapless pumping bra, 25 storage bags (I actually used 24), 6 bottles, one freezer pack and a bottle brush.  I wish I would have put some dish soap in a travel size container, but I had to make do without.  I was able to put all of this in my suitcase for the flight and then I transported my supplied between the hotel and office in my computer bag. 

Location, Location, Location!

About a week prior to my departure I did some planning to make sure I would have access to a pumping location.  I contacted the office that I would be working in to inquire about the lactation room location and how I could get access to it.  I also did some research on if the airports I would be going through had facilities for nursing mothers (check out this listing for airport accommodations).  I was really impressed with the private facilities at the Minneapolis airport but less than excited that a lot of other airports only offer “family bathrooms”.  At the Boston airport, it was suggested to me to use a wheelchair in the bathroom to sit in, which made it slightly less awful.

 

 

Storage of Milk

Prior to my trip, I made sure that the hotel either had a refrigerator in the room or was able to provide one.  Most of the time they will provide it for free but some hotels do charge a fee (you could also maybe use the minibar for storage).  Any milk that I pumped in the hotel stayed in my hotel fridge and any milk that I pumped in the office stayed in the office refrigerator.  After pumping each time I transferred all milk into storage bags.  I put less milk in than the bags could accommodate so that I would not have any problems with the pressure change while in flight.

Transporting your Milk

I also requested assistance from an administrative assistant in the local office to procure the supplies necessary to ship my milk home.  I am very fortunate to work for a company that will pay for all reasonable costs to transport my milk back home.  For me this means that I was able to ship in an insulated box with dry ice and send the box overnight.  The assistant contacted UPS who provided both the box as well as the dry ice.  It can get expensive depending on if the delivery is a weekend, etc. so I am grateful to have a company that is very supportive of nursing mothers and will pay for it.  If you are organizing the shipment on your own, using a Styrofoam cooler and buying dry ice from a local grocery store is a good option (I would call around to local grocery stores before leaving to ensure this is a viable option).  If you can’t get dry ice while out of town, using freezer packs is also an option.  For the second leg of my trip I transported my milk back by putting it in a cardboard box with the freezer pack.  I checked the box with my luggage and when I got home (8 hours later) the milk was still cold and the freezer pack was mostly frozen.  

First Shipment of Milk

 Know your rights!

This trip I did not go through TSA with milk but I have in the past.  One of the most important things is to know your rights about traveling with your pump and milk.  The most important things to remember are:

1.      You are not limited in the amount of breast milk you can carry on
2.      Let an agent know that you have breast milk on you
3.      You cannot be required to show them how the pump works
4.      You cannot be required to have you or your baby taste the breast milk
5.      They may perform a test for explosives on your milk

A little preparation will make traveling while pumping easier and ensure that you are able to continue to provide your baby with breast milk.

If I could Cloth Diaper all over again...

This week over at Padded Tush Stats they are doing a series on If I could Cloth Diaper all over again...

They have asked moms to share what they would buy if they were starting all over again, knowing what they know now.  I love this idea because you learn so much as you go along.  Be sure to check out their recommendations as well as the links to other mom's recommendations.  I did a series similar to this about a month ago so be sure to check out my suggestions for a $600 budget, $400 budget and a $200 budget.

Breast Pump Comparison and Trial

After 3 weeks of very scientific “experimenting” I am super excited to release the results of my Breast Pump study!!!
 

As you may have gathered I am breastfeeding my second daughter and have recently returned to work.  With my first daughter I purchased a Medela Pump in Style so that I could pump while at work and she could continue to breastfeed (my work offers a great program where they subsidize the cost of a pump).  With my second daughter I was able to get 2 additional new breast pumps: the Ameda Purely Yours and the Medela Freestyle.  The Medela was part of my work program again and the Ameda I received from my health insurance company as part of the new requirements under the Affordable Care Act (if you are expecting or a new mom call your insurance to find out what options are available to you, most are providing free double electric pumps).  Now that I have 3 breast pumps and I figure that not many people really get to try out and compare pumps, I decided it would be fun to it was my responsibility to try them out and compare them.

To test them I used each pump at work for a week.  I work three days a week and I pump 3 times a day so that was 9 total uses each.  Also, to level the playing field I fed my daughter at the same time each morning and pumped right after with the Freestyle while finishing getting ready.  I pumped at the same time each day when possible and pumped for the same amount of time each session.  There may be other variables that affected my results such as diet, stress, my daughters appetite, etc, so take that into consideration when reviewing the results.

Ameda Purely Yours
On Amazon this pump is going for $180 and I have seen this as an option for many Health Insurance Companies.

 Total Milk Collected: 36 ounces
Average Milk collected per day: 12 ounces
Weight with bag but without bottles and bottle case: 3 pounds, 3 ounces
Weight of pump without bag: 1 pound, 5 ounces

Overall I thought this was a solid pump, it pumped the a little bit more than the PIS and less than the Freestyle but if pumped enough that I felt it was working appropriately and I had enough milk for my baby.  One of the big benefits of this pump is that it is a closed system and therefore milk is not able to get into the pump or tubing.  This means that the motor stays clean and the pump can be used for multiple people.  Some of the other things I really liked about the Ameda is that it has a place to put the bottles so that they don't tip over and spill (nothing like pumping for 15 minutes and then spilling milk!) and that the pump is removable from the bag.  Another thing I that is great is that the Ameda comes with 6 bottles, for me this  makes the most sense as I use 2 bottles per session and therefore need 6 to get through the work day.  Both Medelas come with only 4 bottles so it requires transferring milk and pumping into a used bottle or bringing more than fit into the cooler bag.
Another thing I like about this pump is that you can manually adjust the speed and the suction.  Because this pump does not have a 2 phases (let down phase and expression phase) like the Medela this comes in handy to manually mimic the let down phase.  I start with lower suction and higher speed and once milk starts flowing I switch to more suction and lower speed. 
Most of the things I don't like about this pump have to do with the parts.  My biggest parts complaint is the way the flanges are designed makes it so that milk has many nooks and crannies that it can get into and I found them hard to clean.  The shape also makes it more tricky to get into the hands free nursing bra I have, I generally have to put the bra on first and then push the flanges through.  Also, the valves (little white cone pieces) are really sensitive and I tore a few of them while washing them, I recommend having extra on hand because they tear easily (and are not cheap!).  Lastly the adapter cups do not lock into the flanges in any way and I would frequently end up with them falling out and onto the floor.  There are multiple pieces to these pumps and I found that everything had to be attached perfectly or else it wouldn't work.  This is my biggest complaint about this pump and I would estimate that 30% of the time I would have to disassemble everything and reassemble once or more to get it to work.  On a few occasions I wasn't able to figure out what is wrong and just switched to another pump.  Overall this is a good pump and will work just fine if it is the one provided for free by your insurance but I don't think I would have bought it at full price myself.


Medela Pump in Style
You can buy this pump on Amazon for $250 and I have seen this as an option for some of the Health Insurance Companies but not as many as for the Ameda.

Total Milk Collected: 35 ounces
Average Milk collected per day: 11.67 ounces
Weight with bag but without bottles and bottle case: 4 pounds, 8 ounces
Weight of pump without bag: N/A, pump built into bag

The Medela Pump in Style was the breast pump I used with my first daughter when I returned to work.  This one has been used more than my other pumps, but I only used it for 6 months at work so it still works like it is new.  When I used it for my first daughter I felt like I didn't get as much as I needed because I would frequently have to dig into my freezer stash to supplement what I had pumped.  I spent a lot of time on the phone with Medela's customer service (which is great by the way) troubleshooting.  In the end I think the problem was that I was pregnant with #2 and my milk supply was suffering, I actually had no milk left by Claire's first birthday. 
Overall this is a good pump and pretty much the industry standard for double electric pumps.  Out of the three pumps I tried, I would say that this is the most consistent pump.  I also like that the parts break down easy and are easy to clean.  I have never had problems with suction on this pump like I did with the other two I own and have never had to take it apart and reassemble to get it to work.  The Medela pumps have the two phase pumping (let down and expression) which I do think makes a big difference in how well they work. 
Some of the cons of this pump is that the actual pump is built into the bag and can not be separated.  This makes it so that you always have to have the bag and can't just put the pump in another bag (e.g. suitcase for travel or computer bag for work).  This pump is also extremely HEAVY!!  It didn't bother me much when I went back to work with my oldest, but now having lighter pumps to compare it to I really notice how heavy it is.  Also, I remember traveling once with it and thinking that it really was very heave, which is not convenient when you already have a suitcase, computer bag and a purse.  Another downside of the Medela pumps is that the cooler bag only holds 4 bottles, so at work I have to condense the milk into other bottles and then pump into an old bottle.  The Medela bottles do hold about 2 ounces more than the Ameda ones so it isn't that big of a deal as far as total capacity.  Since the pump is built into the bag and it takes up a lot of room, I also notice that I can't fit a lot of other things in the bag and still zip it. 
A common concern with this pump is that it is not a closed system, which means that milk can back up into the tubes and potentially into the pump motor.  In all of my use with this pump I have only see a bit of condensation about an inch into the tubing and never actually seen any significant amounts of milk get into the tubing.  To dry out the tubes, I let the pump run for about 2 minutes after I am finished.  This is about the amount of time it takes for me to get redressed and pack up my things and by this time the tubes are clear again.
Overall this is a good pump, I don't necessarily think that in terms out output it is any better than the Ameda but I do appreciate that it consistently works and I don't have to fuss with the pump parts as much as I did with the Ameda.

Medela Freestyle
You can buy this pump on Amazon for $318, I have not seen this as an option through any Health Insurance Companies.

Total Milk Collected: 42 ounces
Average Milk collected per day: 14 ounces
Weight with bag but without bottles and bottle case: 1 pound, 9 ounces
Weight of pump without bag: 13 ounces

Out of the three pumps I own this is definitely my favorite.  I think it has the best features and I was surprised that it actually pumped the most.  A lot of reviews online say that the motor on this pump is not that good and they had problems with output, but as you can see this pump exceeded the other pumps by 15-20%!!!
This pump really meets a lot of my needs, it is light weight, small, powerful and easy to clean.  As noted above this pump is less than a pound, which really makes a difference when you are lugging a bunch of stuff around.  It also is small and therefore fits easily in the bag with my pumping bra, bottles and pump parts.  I am going out of town next week (stay tuned for tips while traveling) and it will be so convenient to just throw this pump in my computer bag and go!  I can pack extra bottles, etc. in my suitcase and I will be set for travel.  This pump is intended for hands free use while moving around and it really lives up to that.  I use this pump in the morning while getting ready.  The clip is a little difficult, but it is nice to be able to clip it to my pants.  I also like that the pump parts break apart easily and are easy to clean and reassemble, probably the easiest of any of the pumps. 
Some of the cons that I noticed about this pump is that the tubing is not very long because it is intended to stay close to you therefore it might be more inconvenient if you put it on the table and try and move away from it at all.  Also the pump is maybe slightly louder than the other pump (although the Ameda is a little more quiet it does have an annoying beep).  Lastly just like the Pump in Style it does only come with 4 bottles in the cooler bag.  Like the Pump in Style, it is not considered to be a closed system and therefore should only be used by one person.  But unlike the Pump in Style I never had any problems with any condensation in the tubes.  Also there were a few instances that I would have to disassemble and reassemble the pump to get it to work, but it was not as frequent as the Ameda.
Overall this was my favorite pump, it was the lightest and easiest to use and of course the most important thing was that it pumped the most milk.

While I may have a favorite out the three I own, I would definitely say that any of these would work find for a mom returning to work. They all work well and make continuing to feed your baby breast milk when you return to work a possibility.  I think it is great that the new laws require health insurance companies to provide a pump to new moms, so be sure to take advantage of your plan!

Monday Mommy Blog Hop

It's Monday so that means back to work and linking up with the Monday Mommy blog hop.  This week is my final week of breast pump testing and I hope to have the results out next week, so stay tuned!!  Also be sure to check out the other Mommy bloggers at the link below!

Short-term Travel with Cloth Diapers

Last weekend we went back to my hometown to baptise my youngest.  My husband and I were married in my home town and my older daughter was also baptised there so it was important to us to also baptise her there.  We were only gone for 2 days and one night but I figured I would share some of the things I learned about traveling with cloth diapers. 

 

1.  I packed way more than I needed, but I was glad that I did.  I find that I think my girls go through more diapers than they actually do each day.  I could have consolidated my packing by selecting more of my AI2s and therefore I wouldn't have had to bring as many shells. 
2.  I thought it would have been hard or bulky to bring my cloth wipes so we ended up using disposable wipes.  In the end I think it would have been easier to just use my cloth wipes.  For short day trips I just bring dry wipes and wet them using a peri bottle that I keep full of water in my diaper bag.  I have some single ply wipes that would be great for travel so I should have brought those.  Instead we ended up using disposable wipes and then either had to figure out where to put them or stuck them in the diaper and they ended up going through the wash.  Not a big deal but it definitely would have been easier to just bring my cloth wipes.
3.  I have two kids in diapers so I think it would have also been easier to bring one size diapers that can fit them both.  That way in the end I could have brought less diapers because instead of bring extra diapers for both girls I could have just brought a few extra ones that fit them both.
4.  Our trip was only 2 hours, so I just changed the girls before we left and they were good to go for the drive.  For a longer drive, I would recommend staying away from Microfiber as it is prone to compression leaks while in a car seat.  It would probably be beneficial to double up any inserts to avoid a wet car seat as well.  But more than anything I would just recommend stopping every few hours to stretch your legs and change your baby's diaper, no one wants to sit in a wet diaper for very long no matter how much absorbency you have added!
5.  At home I have a diaper sprayer that my husband made (maybe a future post?!?!) and I can't imagine my life without it!!  The only bad thing about my diaper sprayer is that it is not portable.  For short day trips I just bring everything back and deal with it when I get home, but I didn't want any messes sitting around for 36 hours during this trip so I had to deal with any messes as we went.  I ended up using the aforementioned peri bottle as a makeshift sprayer while we were gone, and that worked alright.  I think in the future though I will bring some of my disposable liners and just use that.  The peri bottle can be a royal pain in the rear, so using liners instead seems much easier!
6. At home I have a plastic trash can and a pail liner that I keep my soiled diapers in.  I couldn't think of anything easier, so we just brought this along.  It contains the smell well and since we had the room in the car, it was nice to have it along.
7.  We were visiting family, so if we had been there longer it would have been easy to do my diaper laundry while there.  If we weren't visiting family, laundry would definitely pose a problem.  Some good options for longer travel with no washer/dryer would be to hand wash in the bathtub (flats and covers are suppose to be easiest for this), use a Laundromat or just use disposables.

All in all, I think it was a good trip and that everything went well.  My sister-in-laws wedding is coming up in 2 months and we will be gone 4-5 days, so I will be able to update for longer travel then!