So, now that I've posted some pictures from the first two weeks, I will go ahead and post our experiences having a new baby! Eliana slept so well those first few weeks, during the day at least. Night time was a totally different story! Even in the hospital, those first nights were difficult to say the least. She cried and cried and cried and nothing I did helped. I felt useless and like I was failing as a mother. I can't tell you how many times I called my mom crying because I didn't know what else to do. We were having some trouble breastfeeding, and thanks to some VERY helpful friends who gave me amazing advice on new positions to try to feed her to get a better latch we finally tackled that problem and nursing went a lot smoother. I am happy to say that 7 months later I have been able to exclusively breastfeed my daughter without supplementing with even an ounce of formula! It may not seem much to some mothers, but I know that there are others of you who know what an accomplishment that is! Our breastfeeding relationship is still going strong and I have no plans of trying to wean her until probably at least a year and a half or two years old. Unless, of course, she decides to wean herself off before then.
Anyway, back to those first weeks and months. Although we had tackled the latch problem, my poor baby was in pain and I felt helpless. The nurses told me that it was just gas, but even then I knew they were wrong. I mean, yes, it was gas, but it was worse on her because she has a milk protein allergy. I also realized later that she had what is known as silent reflux, also due to the allergy. This isn't talked about much so I might make a post specifically on that later. Hopefully it will help other moms out. I wish that the nurses had taken my worries a little more seriously and at least suggested trying to make some changes in my diet because it would have made a huge difference much sooner. If I knew that it was associated with my breast milk I would have asked the lactation consultant. But, the nurses told me that it was normal so I just hoped that it would pass. After the first week Eliana was sleeping better at night, and while she was still having problems with gas I didn't know what I could do. I gave her gas drops and gripe water, massaged her tummy, bicycled her legs, and bounced and bounced and bounced and bounced her *yes there was a LOT of bouncing those first months!* But while she was sleeping better my sweet girl was still in pain.
It is very normal for babies to have trouble passing gas in the first few months. After about three months old they start to have an easier time with that. So, my nurse and doctor at the pediatrician's office didn't seem to think there was anything abnormal going on either. So, I took it into my own hands and started doing research to find out what was causing my baby so many problems. Like I said before, it turned out to be a milk protein allergy, which also caused her silent reflux. She wasn't spitting up as much, but that's because it would go back down her throat which just caused her more pain. Since I didn't know what was the culprit I took pretty much everything out of my diet for two weeks. I ate plain chicken with plain rice for the first week. After that I started to add other things back into my diet, except for dairy products. I had a whole new baby! After the dairy was completely out of her system she was NEVER fussy! She stopped waking up really early in the morning crying, she stopped waking up from naps in pain...she was so happy! I believe she was over 3 months old at this point. Eventually I started to add some dairy products back into my diet. I can eat baked goods because the proteins in the milk change when they're cooked into something. I can eat most cheeses and yogurt. Anything rich I stay away from. I tried again at 6 months to see if she had possibly outgrown it, so I'll keep it out of my diet until she's a year old or until we're done breastfeeding. And, even with the problems that we had in the beginning I do not at all regret continuing to breastfeed. I am so glad that we stuck through it. There were times when I thought about switching to formula, but everything that I read told me that would be just as hard if not worse on her stomach so we just stuck it out. There were so many times that I felt like we were never going to get past the gas problems and the reflux, and now it just seems like so long ago.
I remember enjoying every second that I could when Eliana wasn't fussy, because so much of the day she was. But, those moments when I would get a smile or get to cuddle her without any crying, those were the best! Those moments when she wasn't fussy or crying or in pain weren't very often in the beginning, but they made all of our problems just melt away. Those moments made everything else a little easier to handle. Now, the long nights and sometimes even longer days seem so far away. It really is amazing how quickly time goes by and how fast my baby is growing! I am so amazed watching her grow and learn every day, and so excited to see how much she can accomplish!
I think this is probably more than enough for tonight. I started my first project last night (a bubble quilt!) and I'm going to continue working on that now. Tomorrow I will post more about Eliana's first 7 months along with all of her firsts that she's already accomplished! Thanks for reading :)
No comments:
Post a Comment