New Mom Essentials (baby edition)

Hey y'all!

So today I am writing the first of a two-part blog post all about new mom essentials! This post will be about baby items that I have found helpful during the first three months. While these things worked for me and Porter, they may not work for everyone. Hopefully it can give you a place to start though!

1. Halo Sleepsack

Porter has slept in a sleepsack since the day we brought him home from the hospital. Not all babies like to be swaddled, but it really comforts P. He will usually fight it and squirms at first, but once he's all wrapped up and I start rocking him he immediately calms down. When he's not swaddled and falls asleep, he often wakes himself up with his arms. Darn reflexes. Those little arms will go all over the place if not wrapped up and then he won't stay asleep. He's approaching 3 months and getting close to being ready to roll over so we are going to transition him out of the swaddle soon...I'm nervous though! I've already started leaving one arm out. We are also going to try the Magic Merlin Sleep Suit. Anyone have advice on transitioning out of the swaddle???

2. Ergo Baby Carrier

This thing is amazing. Make sure you get the infant insert though so you can use it right away. Porter falls asleep almost immediately when I "wear" him in the Ergo. It's the only way we can go shopping or on walks because P is not a huge fan of his stroller unless its a bumpy road ;) Love love love my Ergo.

3. Noodle and Boo Newborn Shampoo/Body Wash

Oh my sweet goodness does this stuff smell (and work!) amazing!!! It is the essential newborn baby smell and it makes Porter's skin and hair so soft and yummy. Porter loves bath time and this stuff makes it such a calming and positive experience. I also have the lotion. They say babies don't need lotion but I use it from time to time for baby massage or if he has any little dry patches. Plus Matt started using it on his hands because he likes the way it smells and it reminds him of P! So sweet.

4. Gripe Water

If you have a colicky or gassy baby, gripe water will be your BFF. It helps soothe little tummies and you can give it to your babe up to 6 times a day. I think it made a difference, but even more helpful is that it tastes sweet and babies love sweet stuff. It would always calm P down. It also helped to give him a little bit before feeding to help him latch on the bottle!

5. Aiden and Anais Swaddle Blankets

I use these for everything. I think I have 6 of them and would recommend at least that many!

6. Bouncer

No that Porter is a bit bigger and fits in the bouncer, it has become a lifesaver! I plop him in there while I make breakfast/get ready/go to the bathroom, etc. It vibrates which P loves and is light weight so if I need to pick him up in it and move it to the next room I can.

7. Rock n Play Sleeper

This has been the only way that Porter will nap for longer than 20 minutes! Again, it vibrates which helps soothe him back to sleep. It also has a really cozy liner so he is nice and snuggled up in there. Love this thing.

8. Baby Shusher App

If you've read Happiest Baby on the Block, you know that one of the suggestions for colicky or upset newborns is to "shush" them. That really helped calm Porter down, but if we stopped shushing, he woudl get upset again. All that shushing can get tiring so we used this app that is literally just the sound of someone shushing. Its great. I would even turn it on (I think it goes for like an hour or so?) and leave it by the bassinet once I put Porter down. I don't use it anymore, but in the beginning it was really helpful.

9. Milk Snob Cover

I love this carseat cover. It protects little man from wind, sun, nosey strangers, etc. Plus it matches my JuJuBe diaper bag which I love.

Those are some of the items that have been lifesavers for me! What baby items have you found helpful? Anything you would recommend for a 3-6 month old since that is the next stage for our little guy? Thanks so much!!

My Struggle to Feed My Son

Hey y'all!

I received so much positive feedback and support from my last blog post about month one as a momma. THANK YOU! I was really nervous to post because there is that fear that you are all alone in your experiences and silently failing as a mom. Come to find out, so many other mommas have had similar experiences so thank you for sharing that with me.

Today I thought I would talk about the ongoing struggle that has been feeding Porter. I mentioned in the last post that I had a difficult time breastfeeding. Porter was unable to pull out enough milk and he lost a scary amount of weight. We began supplementing with formula and I pumped after each feeding. P got back up to his birth weight and continued to climb, but it was a major challenge. So many feedings consisted of me in tears trying to get him latch. Initially, we supplemented by using a finger feeding method. Essentially, you tape a tiny tube to your finger that is attached to a container of breast milk/formula, then put your finger in the baby's mouth and they suck the milk through the tube. While this worked, it takes foreverrrrrr. We would be up for 2 hours with each middle of the night feeding because it took a long time to breastfeed, a longer time to finger feed, and a good 45 minutes or so to get him back to sleep. Around the second week, Porter started to refuse my boob. He would pull away and cry and refuse to eat. As a result, we introduced a bottle. I started pumping exclusively and feeding him a combination of formula and breastmilk. Porter was able to eat from the bottle but was very messy. So messy that we had to change his outfit after each feeding (even while using a bib! And let me tell you, we've tried every bib out there too. I'll list my favorite at the end of this post). But, I didn't mind the mess because my boy was eating and gaining weight. He had been a pretty gassy baby from the start. We did a lot of "bicycle legs" and other leg movements, tummy massage, plus constant bouncing to help him move things along in his tummy. We started using the Dr. Brown's bottles because they reduce the air intake. Things suddenly went downhill 24 hours after his 6 week shots. Porter started to scream every time I would feed him and would refuse to eat. It was a battle to get him to take in even a few ounces. We saw our pediatrician who thought it might be a milk allergy. We put P strictly on Nutramigen (formula) and I continued to pump and save my breastmilk in case we could go back to using it. However, I found that with Matt back at work I had very little time to pump and my supply was rapidly going away. We noticed that the formula had greatly reduced his gas so we decided to switch to exclusively feeding formula. Unfortunately this did not help with the feeding issue. We then started on reflux medicine, although he didn't have any other symptoms (such as excess spit up). After a week, still no improvement. We went to a lactation consultant who thought P might be tongue tied and noticed he had a difficult time sucking and latching at the bottle (which is the problem we had with breastfeeding). We took him to a pediatric ENT. Although she said it was neither the worst nor the mildest case of tongue tie she's seen, she recommended we go ahead and have his frenulum cut to fix the tongue tie. Y'all that little procedure just about broke my heart. Matt held our sweet P while they did it and I stood in the hallway and cried. Hearing his cries made me feel physical pain my chest. Fortunately, the bleeding stops quickly and as soon as it was over I held my boy and he fell asleep. It has been over a week since the procedure and we have seen a lot of improvement! In fact, for the fist few days I thought things were completely fixed. However, the last several days have consisted of some more challenging feedings again. We are seeing the pediatrician weekly for weight checks and are continuing to explore more options on what we can do to help our little man. It is so hard as a mom because most babies enjoy eating and find comfort in that. It can also be a great bonding experience for mom and babe. Porter gets worked up and upset when eating plus it doesn't make him drowsy. I also have this fear that he will associate negative eating experiences (and stress) with me since I am the only one who feeds him. I am constantly reminding myself that he knows my love for him and the rest of our time together is full of snuggles, giggles, songs, and chats. We have an appointment to see an OT to help P work on getting a stronger suck. Right now, I pinch his little cheeks together to help him. Has anyone out there had any similar experiences? Please let me know if anything worked for you!

I would also like to talk for a minute about formula feeding. There is so much support out there for breastfeeding moms (especially where I live), but very little available for formula feeding moms. Formula feeding is challenging. I can't just pull P out of his bassinet and feed him in the night. I have to get up and make a bottle. It is a guessing game whether he is full or still hungry because I am the one deciding how much goes in his bottle. I have anxiety about feeding him in public (#1 because he still gets upset during feedings sometimes) because I worry about others judging my decision to use formula. Plus I need to make sure I always have a bottle prepped in the diaper bag. The "breast is best" notion of course makes sense, but it can be hurtful because not all women are able to breastfeed and they should not be made to feel that they are not giving their child the best. As moms, we are already under enough stress (not to mention exhaustion and helloooo hormones). We should be building one another up and providing equal support to all moms regardless of how they choose to feed their baby. I know a lot of breastfeeding mommas feel that they get unfriendly stares or comments from strangers when they breastfeed in public, but I feel like I get unfriendly stares for formula bottle feeding. Why can't we just let moms feed their babies however they want to? Ugh!! Ok rant over! Thanks so much for reading and joining me in this journey. Lets rally behind one another and continue to encourage not just mommas but husbands, partners, parents, grandparents, and friends of mommas. It takes a village y'all!

*P.S. If you formula feed your little one and don't know about the Baby Brezza, please go get one as it will change your life. It is like a Keurig for formula! Amazeballs. For real.

Baby Brezza

These Aiden and Anais bibs are my favorite. They are the most absorbent and wash really well. (I tried the burpy bibs by this brand and they are too bulky around the neck for such a little guy.)

These Dr. Brown bottles have been the best for us. They have vent inside that is designed to limit the amount of air that baby takes in while feeding which greatly helps with gassy, colicky, refluxy babes!