Brass Monkey

I am on my second pediatrician for my daughter in 16 months - we left the first because every time we went she was sure my daughter had some new rare disease, but also because she seemed very against breastfeeding when my daughter was an infant and I figured it would only get worse from there.

Now, My daughter is still nursing at 16 months. She was born at 9lbs 4 oz, and lost 1 lb before leaving the hospital. She still nurses about 8 times a day now, and has only gotten up to 20.5 lbs. Her father is very tall and super skinny so the doctor thinks it's genetics but has still recommended that I cut down to no more than 3 nursings a day because she says my milk is "low fat" and not as calorie dense as solid foods at 16 months. I know there are a lot of moms who know a lot more about breastfeeding than I do on here so I was curious to see your thoughts on this. Should I cut down the nursings? I have tried but it has made my daughter very very irritable and she's just drinking more whole cow's milk, not eating more food. Any thoughts?

I know they say not to lose more than 1-2 pounds a week for healthy weight loss, but I wonder how true that actually is. I see on the biggest loser for example, people lose much more than that and end up very fit and healthy in the end. So, is it just unhealthy to lose weight to fast from dieting alone, and safe as long as any extra is due to exercise? Or is it just unsafe no matter what? Can someone explain it to me?

I always hear people say you should only work out on an elliptical 3-5 days a week (and even my user's manual says this) but my doctor says to do 30 minutes 7 days a week. I have been doing 30 min 7 days a week and feel fine - is there really a reason to do less?

I have been trying to lose weight for the last few months - for the past few weeks I have been keeping a food and exercise journal. I am currently quite overweight - 5'4" and 270 lbs. I am also lactating which increases my caloric requirements. Based on all of the "calorie calculators" I have used, I supposedly need to take in 3300 calories per day to maintain my current weight. Now, I do 30 minutes a day on an elliptical machine, at a heartrate of about 160. This supposedly burns about 500-600 calories. I also do heavy farm chores for 30-60 minutes a day. I eat 1600-1900 calories a day, and somehow I am gaining weight (about a pound a week). Can someone tell me how this is possible? What am I doing wrong here?

I just read this story - this mom from NJ refused to have a c-section when in labor. The doctor said it was necessary because the baby was distressed, she went on to deliver vaginally and had a healthy child. However, the newborn was taken from her because she had been "non-compliant", "combative", "erratic" and "inappropriate" while she was in labor. There was no evidence of child abuse. She appealed the decision and the verdict was upheld - her parental rights have been terminated.

So, what are your thoughts on this? Should the state be allowed to take a child away because a mom doesn't want major surgery? Or because they are cranky while in labor? I am sort of frightened by where this might lead.

Here's a link to the story: http://www.examiner.com/x-233-Denver-Parenting-Exa...

I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this - I am nursing my now 13 month old. She nurses only about 6-8 times a day. Up until she was 6 months old, I had a normal temperature. At 6 months, I got strep throat and a fever of 104. Since then, my temp has not come down below 100 very often, and never below 99.6. My general physician says it's because I am breastfeeding, but I haven't been able to find anything on the internet supporting that. Anyone else have this experience?

I see questions asking how to get babies into modeling all the time on here and I often wonder what the motivation is for it. Is it just the obvious, or is there something more to it?

We don't have air conditioning because we don't like it, but when people have found out that we don't have it they seem appalled. I have answered a couple of questions on here and gotten similar responses. I have never had A/C in my life and I am fine. Am I the only one with a baby that doesn't have A/C??

If you need a laugh, check it out. http://www.nataliedee.com/063009/baby-food-pyramid...

So what has your baby eaten today? =P

For the last week it's been very hot and humid in our house (about 85 degrees and 80% humidity). My 1 year old daughter broke out this morning in a light rash of tiny raised red bumps - it's hardly noticeable and I didn't really even see it until I gave her a bath, but hubby says she had it this morning when he got her dressed. She has been in nothing but a diaper for most of the week. It's only on her shoulders and torso. We also started giving her whole eggs on Wednesday of last week, but she has been eating whole eggs cooked into food for months now. So, my question is, do you think it's heat rash, or an allergy to eggs? I do plan to call her doctor tomorrow, but I was curious to see what others thought.

I am making a princess tutu for my daughter for her first birthday. The skirt will be made from tulle, and then I plan to attach some type of ribbon (probably satin) to the edge. I am trying to decide if an iron on adhesive would be best for this, or if stitching it would be a better bet. If stitching, do I need to iron the ribbon in half so that I can attach it to the front and back of the tulle? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated =)

My daughter has been eating the same things as we do for several months now, however I have always broken her food up into bite sized pieces. I have started trying to give her things like rice cakes, crackers, half a sandwich, sections of orange, etc. instead of bite sized pieces, but she jams so much into her mouth that she ends up gagging. She doesn't seem to get the concept of biting a piece off at a time. How can I help her learn to do this? I'd love to not have to spend so much time preparing her food, but I also don't want her to choke.

My daughter has a fever of 102.5 that is being brought down by Tylenol to 100.5 (It has been going on for almost 12 hours now). 4 hours after giving her a dose of the Tylenol, her fever is back up to 102.5. The doctor said to watch her tonight and that she can have Tylenol every 4 hours and to bring her in tomorrow if she isn't better.

My question is - should I wake my daughter up every 4 hours to give her the next dose of Tylenol, or should I let her sleep as long as she can and only give it to her when she's up? I'm worried that if I don't give her the Tylenol, her fever might get to high without me knowing it, but I also don't want to wake her unnecessarily.

I have a new horse that I will be bringing home in a couple of days. She has not had any grass so far this year, and we have fairly lush pastures. I have had to wean horses onto pasture before, but never one that has had no grass whatsoever. We do have an area we could temporarily fence off that is full of small weeds and very sparse grass - would that still be too much grass to put a horse out on who has not had any?

I just purchased a beautiful Palomino frame overo and I was just curious how common they are. I have never seen one before and I have had horses for 30 years! Am I just sheltered? =P

Of all the women here who say that they don't like uncircumcised penises, how many have actually been with a man who was uncircumcised. Having experienced both circumcised and uncircumcised men I have a hard time believing that anyone who has actually had sex with someone who was not circumcised would consider it a negative, so I am curious. Are you for or against circumcision and have you ever been with someone who was uncircumcised?

I am curious - I see a lot of people on here say they wouldn't breastfeed past 6 months- 1 year, and then a lot of others say they are trying for more than a year. I am curious to know if there are certain types of people who think either way.

So here are my questions whether you breastfeed or not:

When do you think is the right age to stop breastfeeding?

How old are you?

Where are you geographically (i.e Northeast, Midwest, etc)

What is your education level?

What is your socio-ecoomic status?

Feel free to answer any or all of the questions you feel comfortable with. If you don't feel comfortable with a question, just don't answer it.

My 9 month old daughter was just sitting in my lap as she just woke up from her nap and was cuddling and I was reading when she leaned forward and planted one on me with a big smile =) It's the first time she's kissed me without me saying "give mama a kiss" and it melted my heart. Anyone else's LO's doing heart melting things today?

I was recently told that babies should be able to start using crayons some time between 8 and 12 months. My daughter is 9.5 months and we just played with crayons for the first time today. She made a few marks on the paper, but mostly she wanted to eat the crayons =P So I was curious how old other people's babies were when they started using crayons?

And our 9 month old daughter didn't recognize him and was crying for a while any time he came near her - she's still looking wary of him as well. Has this happened to anyone else?