Mommy Guilt and Pressure Cookers

This past week I decided my days of lactation needed to come to an end! I have been exclusively pumping with Alice for the past 3.5 months. She refused to nurse at 2 months and has continued her nursing strike with a vengeance. She will not nurse... AT ALL! I have shed a lot of tears, been to 2 lactation consultants, the Pediatric GI specialist at Stanford, and Alice's pediatrician and we have come to the conclusion that her reflux is so bad nursing aggravates it and so she refuses. So I was once again chained to the pump. At first it wasn't so bad because Alice was sleeping so much. Then she started being awake a lot and needed attention! Ava also HATED when I pumped. She would cry and yell "Momma, NO PUMP, NO PUMP, HOLD ME" every time the pump came out. I would try to hold her while pumping and then Alice would start crying. Have you ever tried to hold 2 squirmy kiddos with a pump attached? It was awful. Alice's reflux also seemed to be aggravated by everything I ate; Dairy, soy, beans, tomatoes, garlic... everything! She was spitting up less on sensitive formula and gaining weight faster when I gave her more formula. I decided it was best if I stopped pumping all together... cue the Mommy guilt. Mommy guilt is the absolute worst! So how did I deal with it? By making over 120oz of baby food!!! That's right 120oz in one rainy afternoon! 

Alice started eating solids about a week and a half ago and my goodness this chick was ready for food! The first 3 times I fed her she ate about a half of an ounce but then she started packing it in! She is up to 5oz at every feeding! I was able to channel my "Mommy guilt" into a baby food making marathon! With Ava I made a little bit of baby food but steaming veggies for 20 min in a double bioler was exhausting! A few months ago Peter got a pressure cooker and that has been a game changer! 

You can cook 8 peeled sweet potatoes in 20 minutes, 10 cups of green beans in 5 minutes, and an entire butternut squash in 10 minutes!!! I was able to make 120oz of pears, apples, butternut squash, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, and spinach in an afternoon! After each veggie steaming I placed them in our food processor and within 3 minutes had perfectly pureed food!

 I then placed them in ice cubes trays over night (please excuse my messy pouring. I am sure I was holding one or both children while pouring this) 

and then popped them out and put them in labeled plastic bags in the freezer.

 Between the purées and the fresh avocado and bananas she gets she'll have enough food for about a month... just in time for finger foods!!! Gotta channel that "Mommy guilt" somehow!