P.U.R.P.L.E.

P--Peak of crying. The worst crying tends of occur around 2 months of age and decline from 3-5 months

U--Unexpected. The crying often come on and stops for no apparent reason.

R--Resists soothing. The baby is often difficult to soothe.

P--Pain-like face. The baby may appear to be in pain even if they are not.

L--Long-lasting. The crying may go on for several hours a day.

E--Evening. The baby often cries more in the late afternoon or evening.

November is national Period of Purple Crying awareness month. Purple is not refering to the color but it is an acronym for the above. Check out all the info at purplecrying.info there's tons of fantastic info on there. What's normal, what's not. Suggestions for soothing your fussy baby. My favorite part of the website is the link that says, "How to save your babies life." I was intrigued, I clicked and I found a plethera of coping stratagies. One of the questions that we ask our patients before they go home is, "will you have the help you need when you go home?" Everyone needs someone. Sometimes the daddy's aren't as helpful as they think they are. If that happens, find someone else, hire someone. I don't know, just get help.

I was lucky in that my husband was extremely helpful. His mother came to help and she really was helpful. My mother came a couple of weeks after my baby was born and she was really helpful. Thank goodness cause I had one of those totally refluxy, fussy, spit up tons, cry more than any one kid should, not sleep at night babies. The kind that make you feel like a total failure as a mother. The baby that you JUST. WANT. TO. QUIT. CRYING. Ugh, thank goodness for the helpful arms and patience of my inlaws and my mother. Thank goodness they had the good sense to send me out, away, and down for a nap. I had no idea what the Period of Purple Crying was back then but I'm positive now that we were in it. It was purple all around. I was purple, she was purple we were just one big egg plant. Don't be an egg plant. It's not a pretty color. Not on me or on my baby girl anyhow.

The good news is, I'm not a failure as a mother. Not because of that anyhow. I love my daughter more than life itself. The Purple time of our life was short and painful and it's over. It's another one of those times that I told myself "this too shall pass" and it did. You are a woman. You are a mother. You are strong and capable and you can do anything. Take it one day at a time. One hour or one minute. Remind yourself of your worth and the worth of your child. Hold onto the love you have for that baby.

Bottle Feeding....again.

I know, you are thinking we’ve been there done that with this. When I posed the question on facebook about whether to breastfeed or bottle feed your infant  I didn’t realize how often it comes up with new moms. So how do you decide what to do?

 1. Research, not too much though. Knowledge is power but sometimes people educate themselves so much with what I like to refer to as “book knowledge” that they loose their common sense.

2. Poll for opinions. You’ve heard the old saying, “opinions are like butt-holes, everyone has one” (LOL, I love that it’s my blog and I could use that phrase. It makes me giggle every time.) Ask people, ask your own mother, your sister, friends. Ask the nursing staff. They see a lot of babies. You will find a broad spectrum of answers.

3. Go with your gut. If your gut is telling you that your baby would do better bottle feeding, then do it. If your gut tells you that YOU would do better bottle feeding your baby. Do it!

There are three  things I don’t want you to do.

1.       DON’T ask lactation! If you need help with breastfeeding then ask them for help but if you want their opinion on the best way to feed. Don’t ask.  If everyone bottle fed their baby then surely these gals would be out of a job. Although some of them would tell you very honestly that if your babies blood sugar is low or your baby is loosing a lot of weight quickly that you would be better off to supplement with some formula after you breastfeed. 

2.       DON’T feel like if you give a little formula that you won’t ever be able to breastfeed. No baby is gonna want a cold rubber nipple with formula over a warm, soft mommy with sweet breast milk. (unless you are my baby and then you LOVE formula cause you’ll never get breast milk.)

3.       DON’T feel guilty!

So, you’ve taken the steps, made the decision and you decide to BOTTLE FEED! J Now what? Are all formula’s created equal? How will your baby take to the bottle. The good news is that now days all formula’s are made to be as similar to breast milk as possible. The FDA regulates how little and how much of the essential nutrients that babies need that the companies must put in the formula. Some companies are adding DHA and ARA to their formulas. These are essential Omega-3 Fatty Acids found in breast milk. The companies state that adding DHA and ARA to the formula help infant eyesight and brain development. Do I have an opinion as to which kind is best? Well OF COURSE I do. I feed probably no less than 6-8 babies a week at my job. Of the formula’s that are used Nestle Goodstart is my current favorite due to the whey protein they use. It is made to break down into smaller pieces and are easier for your baby to digest. Typically with babies we have that are bottle feeding for the night with Goodstart are less spitty than those taking Similac and Enfamil. 

Bonding with a baby who is bottle fed is the same as bonding with a baby who is breastfed. You can still do skin to skin. Hold the baby against your skin when you feed her. Open up your shirt and allow baby that close sensation. This helps your newborn learn to regulate her own temperature, feel  and smell you and is all around comforting to them.  Always hold your baby when you are feeding it a bottle. Never prop the bottle. I am guilty of doing it and it seems so easy to hurry and do the dishes while the baby eats but you are not only depriving yourself and baby from some very important snuggle and bonding time you are also putting your baby at risk for choking, ear infections, and tooth decay. Take it slow and don't always feed baby on the same side. Don't rush the feeding. Sometimes with bottle feeding babies eat much faster than a breastfed baby. If you take it slow you can enjoy the parent/infant bonding. Feeding baby on different sides allows baby to develop muscles on both sides and to see the world from a different perspective.

Enjoy these first few weeks with baby. Before you know it she will be holding her bottle independently and you will be missing all the snuggles and bonding you had before. They get big so fast. No matter how you feed your baby take time to smell the baby lotion.

Got Milk?

Alright! It's no secret that I haven't been as supportive of breastfeeding as I could be. In fact, I work on a postpartum unit as an aid and I frequently THANK HEAVENS that aids aren't supposed to do any breastfeeding teaching. I bottle fed my babies because when I tried to do the nursing thing with my first it was a night mare. Strange old ladies touching my boobs. No way I was doing that again with baby #2. SO....I have become the #1 supporter of the formula companies. I once recently joked with the Similac Rep when he came to the hospital that I would like to grow up and have his job one day. Changing the world one bottle at a time!
I have to admit though, lately, I am starting to see the error of my ways. I'm not admitting that breastfeeding is for me, I'm just saying that perhaps breastfeeding isn't as bad as I pretend it is. I have a friend that recently had twin baby girls. She is amazing. She will be the best little mom. She is VERY dedicated to strictly breastfeeding. She would never do so if it for any reason was dangerous for the babies. (for example if they had low blood sugars or lost too much weight) This got me thinking, for the moms that are really dedicated and determined to make breastfeeding work and work for the long term what could I do to be more supportive. So, let my research begin........here's what I learned. The most interesting for me wasn't how to build and sustain a good milk supply, it was the mechanics behind breast milk. I went HERE and learned about what they call endocrine control of milk which basically means that in the beginning your hormones control your milk supply. I love the way they describe it as "a safety net for the milk supply in case things between mom and baby don't get off to an ideal start." Then after the first few weeks as your mature milk comes in it is called the autocrine control of milk. This period basically means supply and demand. Your body is going to produce based on what is emptied. So if you have a baby that doesn't eat well or if you are spending long periods of time away from your baby then your milk supply will decrease. SO, what was the best advice I found on  keeping a good milk supply? Pump after each feeding. Keep in mind if you have a crappy pump then it's not going to do you any good. Best advice for if your milk supply decreases? POWER PUMPING! Anyone know what that is? I sure wish I had. Apparently the advice from lactation nurses is to power pump. To power pump you pump for 10 minutes then rest for 10 minutes on and off for 1 hour.  It's like tricking your body into a growth spurt. Well, a milk spurt. Lol. The other thing I found that they recommended was to take fenugreek. Stay tuned. Who knows maybe my next post will be about breastfeeding holds and other tips. Well, maybe not either. :)

If I have favorite lactation consultant the author of this book is her. Anything good I know about breastfeeding is from her. I <3 Michelle. Check out her book.

I found the following review of her book and I love it!

"When my daughter was born and wouldn’t latch on to my breast for the first ten days of her life I felt very helpless and alone. I had no idea that breastfeeding would be this difficult, had no one in my immediate circle who was able to help me figure things out and had no time to read a book. I eventually sought out the help of a lactation consultant and La Leche League but I wish I had Mommy’s Little Breastfeeding Book: 101 Tips Your Baby Wants You to Know About Nursing by Michele Leigh Carnesecca, RN, IBCLC in my hands.
Though there are plenty of breastfeeding books out there, what I like about this one is how to-the-point and easy-to-read it is. Written by a registered nurse and lactation consultant who realized that she was repeating the same breastfeeding tips over and over again to nursing mothers, the book is divided into three categories — Before the Hospital, At the Hospital and At Home. Each page offers important information without scaring off the reader. I also like that it offers product suggestions and can, at times, even be funny while still sharing crucial tips. The book’s small size is also appealing as it can easily be carried in a bag."

Baby Boot Camp

You have earned the carseat carrying rights into motherhood. Delivery is over, you are EXHAUSTED but thankfully you also have at least 2 days with Dr's and Nurse's that know what they are doing. They see over 300 babies a year. This newborn thing. They've got it! Thank goodness for modern medicine right? So, while in your exhausted stuppor what will be happening? Once you are transferred to the post partum unit you and baby will be again reunited. Where has baby been? In the nursery. One on one with a nurse, getting a full work up. As long as everything checks out normal (don't worry, that cone head that's all squishy on top or the bruise your baby has on it's arm, even the little baby zits that have appeared, all normal) your pediatrician most likely won't see your baby until tomorrow. What are the normal things your nursing staff is watching for? They are listening to your babies heart rate, counting it's breaths per minute and taking it's temperature. Are you freaking out because your babies hands and feet are blue! Holy Crap! Just kidding, perfectly normal too. Your baby is learning to regulate it's own circulation and temperature. Cuddle your baby close and give it a couple of days and this will subside. :)
So what is the nursing staff expecting from you? We are expecting you to let us know if baby has wet or messy diapers. We want to know when it feeds and for how long. If you feel like you are nursing ALL the time, you very well may be. Colostrum digests in 45 min. No wonder baby acts hungry hu? What should you expect from us? We will check mom and baby to make sure things are normal and staying normal. While we will help you take care of things, we want you to be as independant as possible when you go home so you don't go through the oh holy crap I can't push the call light here syndrome.

My next few thoughts are just dirty little secrets that I have learned over my many years working on the postpartum unit and from having raised 2 little blessings myself. But, before that, I found an awesome article on WebMd with great info on those first few hours/days with baby and what's normal/not. It talks more technical talk then I would get into here but non-the-less I thought it was an awesome article. Go here: Is my newborn normal if you want to read it. Now the dirt. (Disclaimer: keep in mind these are my opinions, there may or may not be medical evidence to support them but I have seen A LOT of babies and several different types of family dynamics) 1. Most of the staff doesn't believe in "nipple confusion" 2. Sometimes until your milk comes in a little (5-10ml) formula will make all the difference in the overall contentment of the baby. 3. We don't mind when you send your baby to the nursery for the night with a bottle. But don't expect to breastfeed exclusively and go 3-4 or more hours between feedings. If you feel like you just sent your baby to the nursery and now we are bringing it back to you. That's because it's hungry again! Lol 4. Hand hygiene is IMPORTANT, make sure your visitors are using hand sanitizer and/or washing their hands. 5. Don't let visitors come if you are tired! It's ok to say no. If you don't wanna turn them away, we are more than happy to do so. That also goes for your other children. Send the daddy home! He can watch over your little family while you and baby get the needed rest to Take On Life after the hospital. 6. Most of the delays in your care or discharge are due to the Dr.'s. We have to call them, wait for them to call back, give them certain test results or information and then implement whatever instructions they give us. It's like kindof a process. 7. Going home isn't just as easy as putting baby in the car seat and leaving. (stupid legalities and paperwork) 8. We really DO want to do whatever we can to help you in the decisions you have already made for your baby. You just have to be open and honest about what it is you want. We don't read minds. 9. Be flexible. We have to be and the nature of parenthood should make you do so to. :) and last but not least......10. Remember that we can't go home with you (although, you could hire Time 4 Me) but we want you to be prepared TO go home so listen and take in as much as possible. Write things down, whatever you have to do. Although it is a job for the nurses and Dr.'s we really are so excited for you. This is a major life milestone and is such a blessing. Congratulations and best of luck. The newborn period goes by so fast. Take time to smell the baby lotion and snuggle your little.