Before Ellie made her way into my arms, I spent weeks (more like months) doing research on breastfeeding, baby wearing, sleeping situations, vaccines - the works. Well, who doesn't right?
But as they say, you can never be fully prepared. And I wasn't. I suppose that I'm still not. There were so many things in these few months that I have experienced that I never knew even existed. Here's a few of them:
1. Lip and tongue tie. We've all heard the term "tongue-tied" to describe inability to use words well, but who ever thought of this being a situation you'd face with a baby? Certainly not I. This was one of those things I had never come across in my research. It's actually not something I even heard about until Ellie was around 2 months old. Here's my tale... In the hospital, she latched like a champ. Ate 20 minutes at a time, sometimes more. For two days. On the third day, the day before we were to go home, I could not get her to latch on. I remember shamelessly standing in my hospital room, shirtless and braless; nipples cracked, bruised, bleeding; begging and pleading with my tiny child just eat. Seemingly endless crying was met with short spurts of sleep, only to be woken with more screams. The hospital's lactation consultants would come in, help me latch her, nod in approval and leave. Although, I was in complete discomfort, lacking in confidence and unsure that I could make it on my own the next time she ate. I figured, hey, it's a new world, new things, we got this, we'll do fine. The first day home from the hospital was a disaster. I felt so overly emotional, and very defeated. I called every resource I could possibly find - WIC, Le Leche League, various other pro-breastfeeding groups. Help me! I begged. Why can I not get this baby to latch? I feel like I'm starving her! What is going to wrong? We considered formula for a brief moment out of sheer guilt that I could not feed her, and I knew she was hungry. (Luckily we never moved forward with that idea) Well, with a mountain of patience and a manual pump, I was able to feed my sweet girl and eventually transition her back to the breast. But I could tell there was still something wrong. I read everywhere that breastfeeding shouldn't hurt, if it does, the latch is off, correct it and continue. Except every time I latched her on, it hurt. I'd fix it, it still was uncomfortable. Eventually, my nipples toughened up and we adjusted. But then, I discovered an incredibly useful information on why we could be struggling. I was instructed to simply "flip the lip" and see if my daughter's frenulum was attached to her gum and lip in such a way it kept her lip from "flaring" while she ate. With one small flip, I noticed a deep attachment from gum to lip. How did I not come across this information before? What do I do? Well, fast forward to two months later, I have not yet had her lip tie (and possibly a posterior tongue tie) corrected, mostly due to the holidays and other crazy aspects of life, but I hope to find a reputable ENT doctor soon to get this inconvenient piece of skin removed from our lives forever! Note: ties can cause a lot of issues for moms; it can effect milk supply, prevent emptying from the breast during feedings, cause poor weight gain for baby, etc. These things have NOT effected us, if they are doing so for you, flip that lip!
2. Thrush. Now this is something I definitely should have come across, right? Despite being totally normal, it is totally terrifying to discover that your small child has a yeast infection.. in her mouth. WHAT? That's possible?! Yes, and again, totally normal. If you notice any white spots/blotches on your baby's tongue or cheeks, I suggest immediately grabbing a damp, soft wash cloth and wiping it off. Won't budge? Try wiping a little harder. Still there? Then it may be thrush. It is something we faced three times in her four months of life, all within the first two months. First she had it, then I (worse than childbirth, may I say), then I thought she had it again, only to discover it was milk REALLY stuck to her lip. There's not a lot you can do to prevent it, maybe incorporate probiotics into your diet. Essentially what happens is the "good" bacteria in your baby's mouth is killed off, allowing yeast to overgrow (because the good bacteria isn't present). Taking antibiotics is the common culprit, although neither Ellie or I did, so that's not always the answer. It sounds yucky and painful, but it's mostly annoying. It's great to be aware of this and keep an eye out for it. Tip: if your baby drools a lot, saturating onesies and bibs, he or she can develop a yeast infection in the rolls of her neck, so keep an eye out.
3. Sleep. Perhaps one of the easiest or most frustrating aspects of a newborn. I was lucky enough to have Ellie fall into her own routine (that worked well with ours) in a matter of weeks. She was sleeping 8 hours a night in addition to naps all day. We'd rock her, put her down, swing her - she didn't care. She would be out, solid, too. Man, I'd think, why do people say this is so hard? Then Ellie turned 4 months and fell into sleeping patterns from hell. People refer to this as the "4 month sleep regression" and say "babies sleep like newborns again." But as a newborn, Ellie was amazingly easy. She'd float off to dreamland in her bassinet. This is nothing like that. Not only is she waking multiple times a night, she's incredibly difficult to pacify and keep asleep. Those creeky floor boards are public enemy number one. Though this stage is sure to be grown out of soon (I mean, in a blink of an eye she's somehow 4 months old) this is painful. It requires every ounce of patience I have, which isn't much, but we'll make it through. As we do. I'm trying to adjust our routine to make it more relaxing, soothing and quiet for her in the evening. We'll see how it goes in the coming weeks.
So, there you have it. Three things I feel as though I know a pretty decent amount about. Enough, at least, to give other moms a heads up or perhaps an explanation. Have you dealt with these things? How did you cope? Share your thoughts and experiences below!
xo, The Stylish Momma
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