Sleepless Nights...

Last night one of my oldest friends came over for some mommy and baby time (oldest meaning I've known her all my life)!  Brittany brought her three month old  son, Grayden, over to visit and spend time with me and Brody. It was a lot of fun sharing stories about our trials and triumphs of being a mommy!

We decided to cook dinner (she brought the food; thanks, Britt!) and it was pretty interesting trying to cook with crying babies in our arms. It took a lot of teamwork and time, but we managed to make a delicious dinner!



After they left, it took several hours for Brody to fall asleep. My poor baby is a little constipated, and although I gave him breast milk before which made him have a BM almost instantly, the past few times I've given it to him, it didn't work. So instead of taking care of my normal deep-sleeping baby, where rarely any sound make him wake up, Brody has been extremely sensitive to sound and movement.

Last night, I became extremely frustrated when the dogs would bark at nothing or I'd accidentally hit something or make a noise that'd wake him up.

Since we moved into our new house, we've had issues with our microwave; it'll randomly beep and won't stop until you unplug it (apparently the keypad is going out). And of course by the time I finally get Brody down, the microwave starts going off, waking him up. This was at 3 a.m.! I don't know why things like that always happen at the worst time!

Needless to say, I had to call my mom this morning to see if she'd come over to let me get an extra hour or two of sleep. Luckily, she did. Thanks, Mom!

The past two days and nights Brody has been a little more irritable than normal, and it's hurts me to not be able to make him feel better! So, I'm praying we get a good poopy pretty soon!



Ok as a proud aunt, I have to mention this! Brody and I went to watch his cousin Presley (my sister's daughter) at her first t-ball game today! Here's a pic of Presley (left) and Emma (right), Staci and Mark's beautiful little girl. Aren't they adorable?

It was a lot of fun watching them play and have fun. Although I don't want Brody to grow up, because thinking about it already makes me sad, seeing these little ones having a blast playing ball makes me excited for Brody to get that age! Plus, let's admit it's hilarious watching kids try to play ball at this age. Presley would just let the ball roll right by her when she was in the outfield. I guess we need to work on that!

Anyway, this post is going to be pretty short today! Brody is asleep so I'm going to try to take a nap while I have the chance!

Crossing my fingers and praying for the best tonight...

Cassidy

Mommy Trade-Offs, When to Ask for Help & Tips for Friends & Family of New Parents

I'm not so happy to say that our seven-hour sleeping record was short lived. Last night, Brody fell asleep around 1:30 a.m., woke up at 3:30, went back to sleep around 4:30 and back up at 7 a.m. Truthfully, I didn't think the longer sleep was going to last too long. I'm still hoping that this was just an "off" night and was only just a little "bump" in our road to sleeping success. I imagine his sleeping pattern won't become incredibly consistent just yet, but I hope we can get some sort of consistency going soon. But I'm still hoping for the best for the many nights to come!

Amidst all the restless nights and exasperation, there are joys of waking up in the middle of the night with Brody. Lately, we get to see, what I like to call, little Brody "smile sessions." Seeing my little baby smile is not only one of the many precious moments that make me feel like I'm doing something right, but his beautiful grins never fail to put a smile on my face.

I think this is one of the many trade-offs of being a mom. Through the fatigue, exhaustion and many breakdowns, come these sweet amazing moments that let you know that it was all worth it.

By far one of my favorite things is watching him smile when I sing. He's the only person in the world who likes to hear me sing! Watching him smile because he likes to hear my voice, not only makes me an extremely happy mom, but it also helps keep me sane.

Here's a little peek at one of our singing/smile sessions:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmi7gVkzQaY&w=420&h=315]

I know many moms are struggling with sleep deprivation and feel like they might "lose it," and one of the things that's hard for me to do is admit when I needed help. I'm not really one to ask for help (or admit that I need it) because I like to prove that I can do it myself. Pediatricians and nurses will constantly tell you to sleep while your baby is asleep. But how are you supposed to do that when you need to clean, wash bottles, do laundry, shower and make you something to eat?

My exhaustion took priority over all of those things and led me to neglect taking care of myself. I was so tired that even though I was starving, I didn't want to make myself something to eat because all I wanted to do was sleep. By the time Brody and I woke up, I'd have to feed and change him, leaving me hungry and never having the time to eat or make anything. I'd go all day without barely eating anything (which probably had to do with the decrease of my breast milk).

Although your priority is making sure your child is taken care of, it's important to remember you have to take care of yourself and part of that is knowing when to ask for help.



In the first few weeks after Brody was born, my mom came over and stayed with us overnight a few times to let Klay and I get some much needed rest. Getting more than 4 hours of consecutive sleep helped restore some of my sanity. If you can't get someone to stay overnight, have someone come stay during the day and let you sleep; it will help you regain some of your energy. But remember you have to ASK for help, and LET people help you!

If you're a friend or family member to someone who's recently had a baby, cook a meal and take it to their house, help them clean their house or offer to do laundry.  Two great friends of mine came over and made a meal for lunch, helped clean my house and even made a freezer meal that we could heat up in the crock pot. Amber and her mom, Wanda, relieved some of our stress and frustration through spending a few hours of their time to help around the house. This simple act of kindness goes a long way and is truly the best gift any new parent could ask for!

Having help like this--whether it's having someone watch the baby to let you sleep or letting someone clean and cook for you--can make a huge difference through this exhausting time and give new parents a little break.

So, reach out and help someone you know that just had a baby or remember to return the favor when someone helps you!

P.S. Never forget to utilize the grandparents!

Cassidy

Formula, Diaper Rash & Constipation Frustration

I'm so excited and happy to announce...we had another night of 7 hours of sleep! Woo hoo! Sorry, had to get that out there.

I honestly think that the sleeping longer all stems from switching formulas. I've learned that one of the toughest things about formula is finding the right kind that suits your child. This is one of the main reasons I'm still pumping.

We started using Similac Advance, which was one of the samples given by our pediatrician. This seemed to be working fine, and we had absolutely no constipation with it (Brody was producing at least 5-7 soiled diapers a day). We did, however, have absignificant amount of spit up with this brand.



The number of stool-filled diapers Brody was producing a day seemed normal to me because that's how much he'd been pooping since he was born. However, I was having a major issue with his diaper rash (and also tiny bleeding under his scrotum from irritation) and diaper creams really weren't cutting it. My expert googler of a husband, researched and thought we weren't leaving diapers off long enough to air out the irritated area. So, we were tried everything to fix it. We left his diapers off for an hour at a time (after his nightly bath) and kept him wrapped in a towel, we'd tried Butt Paste, Butt Aid, Desitin (not a recommendation by the way), Baby Powder, Vaseline and even corn starch (this usually works according to my sister and grandma and there is even baby powder with corn starch in it apparently). But nothing seemed to completely heal it; they'd make it appear like it was getting better for a few diaper changes, and then it'd be red, irritated  and bleeding again.

Anyway, because of his spit up we decided to switch to Similac Sensitive for Spit-Up.

Within the first day of using this formula, Brody went 12 plus hours without a bowel movement. Being the worrier I am, I began to fret that he'd get a tummy ache and the constipation would worsen. Although I figured the formula switch might constipate him until his body got used to it, the drastic change from 5-7 soiled diapers a day to not producing one in a solid 12 hours didn't sit right with me.

I immediately wanted to switch back to Similac Advance. But I fed him breast milk, hoping he'd poop soon after digesting it, and within two hours he produced a thick, muddy-like dirty diaper (this is another reason why I love breast milk worked like a charm!).

We saw Brody's pediatrician Tuesday and discussed our butt/scrotum issues and formula and constipation problems. She told us that since he's over a month old, he may only produce a stool-filled diaper once a day or once every few days depending on his body and routine. "His pooping will start to slow down at this point," she said. And in the two days we switched formula, his butt rash completely healed  (obviously from the lack of pooping) and we haven't had any issues since.

According to Similac's website, supplementing with formula will cause changes in your baby's behavior: "If your baby refuses the breast, eats faster, goes longer than usual between feedings, or does not pass stool after a few days, don't be overly concerned — these changes are common and do not always signal a problem."

Going through some Similac samples I'd gotten from the hospital, I found reading material on baby stools. (This might be gross to people who don't have kids yet, but you quickly learn in the hospital the color of the stools and what your child is producing in their diapers lets you and the doctors know everything is functioning properly! Also once it's your kid, it changes the way you think about changing diapers or at least it did for me.)

The info had some images of different baby stools. I soon realized I was mistaking his formula stools--they were actually more like diarrhea. Brody was producing a lot of watery-looking stools (not overly watery because they were still yellow and seedy), but because I knew formula stools were different from breastfed stools, I thought it was normal.

My poor baby had diarrhea (off and on) for a solid week and a half, maybe even longer, which caused the irritation on his butt and under his scrotum, and maybe even some dehydration. The dehydration might also explain him waking up every 2-3 hours and his vigorous and sometimes difficult feedings where he'd act like he'd never eaten before! Now that he's staying fuller longer, he's sleeping longer, keeping mom and a dad a little more sane, and his butt rash has completely healed. He seems to be a very happy little baby!

So for especially new moms and all moms out there, here's a link to Similac's Diaper Decoder. Click the stool that looks most like your child's and get info on why it appears the way it does! It should help put an ease to worried moms and assure you that you're baby is ok.

I hope this was knowledgeable and other new moms learn from my experience!

Wishing all babies to be rash- and constipation-free,

Cassidy