Now that I have over a year's worth of combined milk production time, between both boys, I feel like I'm something of a lactation specialist. So let me share what I've learned with you, the sort of things that I did not read in the La Leche League manual:
1. The Eating/Milk Connection
You are what you eat. Thus, your milk is what you eat, and since your baby has your milk, your baby is also what you eat, and your baby's poop might smell like your dinner. You've probably heard all about eating beans and giving your baby gas, or the spicy food/fuss connection, neither of which seem to have had any effect on my nurslings. But what you eat does get into your milk, and into your baby. Even if what you eat is a chewy gob of high fructose corn syrup.
The day after Halloween, I was sitting on the floor, playing with Jonas. Something smelled sweet. Like candy. It seemed to be coming from Jonas' rear. Had Axel shoved some of his candy down his brother's diaper to save it for later? Did Jonas decide to do some late night Trick-or-Treating of his own? I opened up the diaper to check and, instead of finding a shiny yellow plastic package, I found mushy yellow poo.
Poo that smelled exactly like Swedish Fish.
Exactly like the Swedish Fish I'd gobbled up the night before. The Swedish Fish that went from my mouth to my stomach to my milk to my baby to his poop.
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