Personal budgets

He did good in the hospital but wasn't getting enough and they would not discharge us until the kid made water so the nurse gave him a bottle.

His big problem was that he wouldn't latch on correctly. Babies are supposed to take a very large part of the breast into their mouth and he'd just take the nipple. My wife pumped for 3 months and suddenly one day he starts to latch but by that time my wife couldn't get her supply back up to meet his demand so we regretfully started formula.

We still fully intend to try again with the next one.

 

If your wife has trouble - I'm sure Thelt can help.

 

That was the big advantage, other than the nutritional value, of going the breastmilk route. I was eye opening to see how tired it made my wife though. Now it's $30 in baby formula every week and a half.

 

Dude. I have twins. Formula is over, though.

Wifey breastfed one until he was about 8 months and the other until about 10 months. Then the formula and daipers were about $225 month. They huffed it down.

Yours is only gonna drink more!

We also rented a pump and bought a deep freezer - $150 - which we used. Wifey produced more than both twins needed. She also had to pump and dump twice when she got sick and had to take meds, so the frozen was awesome.

Matter of fact, I still got a bunch in there. May have to whip up a milkshake.

 

The doctor gave my wife some meds to help her up her production. A few times she ran low and we had to suppliment with formula but not most of the time. The nurse giving him a bottle in the hospital is probably what sunk you. If I were you I would consult with a lactation specialist if I had another one.

My wife is an RN and she told me all about this stuff.

 

We meet with the lactation consultant twice and were doing ok with the pumping and little bit of feeding but also had to suppliment wiht bottles. Poor little guy was probably confused as hell. The problem was my wifes production and she did not want to take the Fenugrek herb.

Hell, with the next one I might try breatfeeding if it'll save me some money. I've heard it's possible.

 

My wife took that herbal stuff and then the doctor gave her something stronger to help out.

 

Mine tried some type of herbal tea. It was hard to tell if it actually worked. My wife was too hardheaded to try any other medicines. She was afraid the medicine would go to the breastmilk and then to the baby.

 

Medicines can do that , but you have to check and see which ones are safe.

 

The only items that matter to me:

1) Take money out for savings/investments before you see it, automagically (10+% 401(k), and whatever else you can stomach for IRAs and other stuff). I've done that since I started working. Flat percentages are good, as your income grows so does your savings and you never even notice it.

2) Don't do debt - house debt is about the only good debt.