there is something to be said for a "motherly instinct". i am by no means a parenting expert (far from it, as i frequently question every move i make), but when i had a feeling there was something more than i was being told, i sure am glad i listened to my gut.
since we brought him home from the hospital, poor aj really struggled to poop. he would grunt and cry (and sometimes scream) for quite a while before being able to evacuate his bowels. what's more is that it was never a complete evacuation. he would poop. we would change him. ten minutes later, more poop. this would continue for an hour or more so that by the time he fell asleep, i'd have to wake him to feed him again. i alerted the pediatrician, but he told me that aj was experiencing uncoordinated pooping and that he'd just "figure it out." (over a month later, this is still going on, by the way!) [also note: this is not the same thing as constipation. his poop is normal, he just struggles to get it all out.] his struggle to poop escalated, and my poor baby was skipping naps between feedings altogether. it got so bad, that he was only sleeping about 4 hours total in a 24 hour period. (just an fyi, infants this young are supposed to sleep about 16 hours per 24 hour period!) of course i alerted the pediatrician again and was force fed the same answer. we tried warm baths, glycerin suppositories, and anal stimulation. all to no avail. finally we decided enough was enough (and mama was NOT sleeping), so we took aj to an occupational therapist. we learned lots of helpful leg exercises to get things "flowing" and a better way to conduct tummy time to help build those belly muscles. but the most important thing we learned was that aj had mouth ties. (in fact, he had four of them: a posterior tongue tie, a lip tie, and both buccal [cheek] restrictions.) i immediately made an appointment with a preferred provider in nyc (who happens to be both a pediatric dentist and a medical doctor). while we waiting for our appointment, chris and i did tons and tons of research. what we learned made so much sense. all of these "things" that my baby was experiencing stemmed from his mouth: the inability to latch properly, my other struggles with breastfeeding (which i'll detail at a later date), his reflux (projectile vomiting after feeding; he's on zantac now to help mitigate that), his pooping issues, his lack of sleep, his constant tension and crying, his aerophagia (sucking in a ton of air while eating - he literally sounds like a squeaking mouse)... and on and on... so why weren't we told this by the pediatrician or other lactation consultants we met with before? simply put, this is a fairly controversial hot topic. there's a lot of research out there in support of getting ties released but, at the same time, there are still a lot of "old school" and/or untrained professionals out there. after lots of debate (and lots of tears), chris and i decided to move forward with the procedure (which was on saturday). [note: i know how to procedure was done, but i am one of those people who can't bear to watch, so i excused myself from the room and closed my eyes and plugged my ears. my husband was a real trooper and stayed with asher to help comfort him.] we first had a consult with the doc (who confirmed all four areas of need) and then he used a laser (which essentially cauterizes the areas so there is little to no blood) to remove the skin filaments that were preventing aj from having full mouth mobility. i got to nurse my baby immediately afterwards (using a shield, because we still can't latch) and we were taught how to do mouth stretches (5x a day!) to prevent reattachment. so how are we doing two days post op? fairly well! asher is sleeping much more (thank the heavens) because releasing the ties releases a lot of mouth an neck tension allowing him to relax more. he doesn't seem like he's in any real pain (but just in case, i made a homeopathic concoction of cold breastmilk, arnica pills, and camilla drops) except when we do the mouth stretches (then my house sounds like a torture chamber and part of me dies inside every. single. time.). there's still a lot of work to be done and we will be working closely with a lactation consultant (to help us re-learn breastfeeding) and a craniosacral therapist (think chiropractor but way more gentle). i'll keep you posted on our progress!
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Authorjust a girl growing into womanhood growing into motherhood. Archives
January 2018
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