For the expecting mama: this is a must read product review!
“I love the DockATot so much that I bought it twice.”
Not because I wanted to, but because we left ours at home after driving four hours to the outer banks for a week long vacation, and we knew how vital the DockATot was for our son’s sleep (and thus our survival) while we were away.
This glorious baby sleeper is safe, portable, washable, versatile and stylish. The DockATot is worth every penny and is a registry must have. I’m able to carry & quite literally dock it throughout the house as he naps during the day and he sleeps soundly, nestled in its soothing comfort at night. Both guaranteeing incredible value, the Deluxe is geared towards babies 0 – 8 months old, and the Grand is designed for toddlers aged 9 – 36 months.
Because I hadn’t heard much about it, while pregnant I posed a question on Facebook about the necessity of the dockatot and I was shocked at the amount of positive feedback I received from other mamas on my feed. So convinced I needed it, I added it to my registry and my friends (who are angels) gifted it to me at my shower. The DockATot is available in a variety of styles. The covers are removable and washable which is HUGE because my baby is a big spitter and has the occasional blowout.
“This glorious baby sleeper is safe, portable, washable, versatile and stylish.”
Great for co-sleeping and crib to bed transitions, the DockATot allows for a safer and more comfortable way for families to share sleeping quarters if they so choose. Additionally, it’s ideal for bed transitioning, thanks to built-in sides that allow young children to settle more easily in a bigger bed. The DockATot Grand gives little ones a snug sense of security in a new sleeping environment.
My only complaint is that I didn’t have the DockATot for my firstborn! For more information click here. Happy sleeping, Mamas.
Each year we gather around the table to feast on a grand Thanksgiving dinner. It is one of my FAVORITE holidays and one that I love to host. In doing so, I always try to drum up some fun activities to do while the whole family is in town.
As a host, I find that the best way to make Thanksgiving more memorable is by growing family connections through intentional conversations. This means really putting forth the effort to dig deep with those I don’t see often.
But I’ll be honest, it is hard to multitask the prepping, the cooking, the serving, all while trying to soak up precious moments together with family.
This year, I have a plan: a table talk game to spark dialogue and hopefully lead to deeper conversations between guests.
I created a few table talk conversation questions to break the ice and I have made them available FOR FREE below. Simply download the file, print, cut and throw into a bowl or festive container.
I just used my resources and found a tin bucket that was lying around. Guests will pick a question from the bucket and answer and repeat OR guests can all go around in a circle and all answer the question individually.
I created a few table talk conversation questions to break the ice and I have made them available FOR FREE below!
The best thing about this game is that you will leave knowing more about those you have spent the holiday with. And you don’t necessarily need to keep this as a once-a-year game.
You can always recycle the questions for dinner conversation starters, Christmas get-togethers, car rides – you name it (as long as the pumpkin designs don’t bother you).
Enjoy!
Download Our Freebie!
Subscribe to our blog to get your FREE Printable as well as our latest blog posts and freebies sent straight to your inbox!
Thank you!
You have successfully joined our subscriber list. Download your FREE Thanksgiving Table Talk Printables here.
I introduced this unique, fall activity to my son over the weekend and it was a hit! My oldest loves playing with daddy’s big tools and pumpkin hammering was the perfect way to let him have at it (with adult supervision of course!)
All you need is a pumpkin, small pegs to act as nails and a hammer. You can use your own discretion on whether to use a real hammer or play hammer with your little. We used a few colorful pegs from an old peg board as nails. I’ve also seen golf tees used for this activity.
It takes a bit of force to penetrate the pumpkin skin so you may have to encourage them to hit harder!
While hammering out some energy (and Mama enjoys a moment of quiet) your kiddos will also be building fine motor muscles while practicing the art of persistence.
Pumpkin hammering is also a great exercise in hand eye coordination.
There you have it! Easy to set up, engaging and FUN! Enjoy.
It may seem simple to many, but it felt like a huge success when I was able to breastfeed my second son, Mateo. A bit of a background – I had struggled with my first son Rylan and moved forward with exclusive pumping and then supplementing with formula thereafter, so I was very relieved when Mateo was able to latch right away.
But…that’s not to say it was easy. The pain was new and unbearable in the beginning. The nights were long comparatively and I felt helpless in the moments when he wouldn’t latch right away but was screaming at the top of his lungs from hunger. Fortunately, I worked with lactation consultants with success and trudged through those first few days unaffected.
Then it happened suddenly – an experience that I never read about or prepared for. As I lumbered through the 2-3 hour increments of our nursing schedule, I was at the same time becoming overwhelmed with an extreme sense of sadness and dread as my milk was coming in. The feeling as if I had done something horrible, something bad was going to happen, or if I had a million bills to pay tomorrow and no way of paying it. A homesick, heart racing, pit-in-my-stomach-feeling I couldn’t explain or wrap my head around. A sudden need to be alone and just breath through the sadness with no interruptions as I nursed. And as fast as it would take over my emotions, it would dissipate just as quickly.
It almost made me quit breastfeeding.
Knowing I have a past of anxiety, I immediately became very concerned for my mental health and even more worried thinking it was, yet again, going to creep back into my life. I would certainly need to get in touch with my doctor and hope there was a way to work through this debilitating experience. I started to get vocal about it, just to get feelers out. To my husband, I feel very anxious and I’m not sure why…am I acting weird? What do you think could be happening? To my close friends (who had just had babies within weeks of me), Hey guys, are you feeling this way? Have you felt like this before, I’m feeling like _______”. I was met with unfamiliarity yet persisted to research what it all was, and thankfully after some intense internet searching, I found out what I was experiencing:
Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex or D-MER
Described on d-mer.org, “Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex is a condition affecting lactating women that is characterized by an abrupt dysphoria, or negative emotions, that occur just before milk release and continuing not more than a few minutes.”
Dysphoric milk ejection reflex cannot be fully explained but is linked to an overly-excessive drop in dopamine during the “let-down” in order for prolactin levels to rise, resulting in a brief dysphoric reaction.
Also – because this is a temporary feeling while breastfeeding, the actual condition is a physiological response versus a psychological response – which did give me a sense of relief that this wasn’t anxiety-related at all. A case report in 2011 by Heise and Wiessinger concluded that “Imagine tapping your knee to cause a reflexive jerk. Now tell yourself that you are going to resist the reflex with all your will, and tap again. Does your willpower make any difference? This is precisely the problem for the mother with D-MER. The emotions are unavoidable. She can feel them coming, but cannot stop them.”
Upon further research (and after joining this Facebook support group), I realized that my feelings of negativity from D-MER were not the only symptoms and feelings of intensity one can be presented with. There is actually a “Spectrum of D-MER”, ranging from mild to moderate to severe.
Thankfully – I found myself between the mild/moderate range, which I feel is as much as I could handle mentally. Anything more, I would need to stop breastfeeding. I also have an amazingly supportive husband, helpful 5-year-old and Mateo has always been an easy baby, so it could have been worse. Unfortunately there is very little research on treatment of D-MER and the best advice I have seen is to avoid breastfeeding altogether (and even some women continue to have it afterwards). But for me, simply just knowing the feelings I experience have a name and there is a reason for it gave me validation and eased my mind.
If you are experiencing similar feelings, be sure to talk to your doctor and research more about D-MER. I highly encourage joining the linked Facebook group above, as it has helped me immensely and has reminded me that I am not alone. And if you want to chat more, feel free to contact me.
Rock It Mama uses cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok
