Everyone says that every baby is different. And WHAT DO YA KNOW, IT'S SUPER SUPER TRUE. I wrote this post 3 days after Emma was born, when everything was new and fresh and exciting, but since then, there have been some challenges that I didn't see coming. Real talk: having Aiden did not prepare me for having Emma! Sure, I knew some things...but so much has been different, and it's been humbling to learn and experience so many different things (like baby probiotics?! I didn't even know were a thing when Aiden was a baby!!) this time round.
Differences between Aiden & Emma as babies:
Aiden nursed and slept like a champ from day one (with a brief intermission when he started teething, but then he went right back to sleeping straight through the night). I actually got mastitis (boob infections from clogged milk ducts) three separate times because my boobs made too much milk and he was sleeping all night and not drinking it up!
While those were my struggles with him, Emma on the other hand.....
Emma got an ear infection at 2 months old, and she screamed and refused to sleep for a week straight. Sometimes when I nurse her in my rocking chair, I have flashbacks to that week, trying to nurse her for the 209th time at 3am because she just. wouldn't. stop. crying. (Devin also bought a $200 fancy swing for her at 1am when she was breaking his spirit with incessant screaming, but it's fine, a new swing didn't fix the pain she was apparently in but it did give us false hope that maybe she'd sleep in it.)
Then, around 2.5 months old, she got diagnosed with reflux because she wouldn't stop spitting up and was still crying all the time (despite the fact the ear infection was treated & gone!). The new swing still wasn't helping.
Amidst her ear infection and reflux, I was really struggling with postpartum depression, which still isn't easy to talk about even though I've been feeling balanced and at peace for weeks now. I had a baby that cried all the time, a toddler that needed my attention constantly, and I just felt horribly inadequate. I couldn't keep both of them happy.
I'm not saying Evivo's infant probiotics cures reflux and that a happy baby makes postpartum depression go away, but I am saying that you should use everything in your wheelhouse to keep baby happy and healthy. I first read about it on Susannah's blog, and then Evivo sent me some to try out for Emma.
What I've learned from Aiden and Emma as babies:
- Nursing is not easy and you might get mastitis
- Expensive baby swings don't solve all your problems, and if your baby suddenly seems colicky, maybe you should talk to your doctor because they might be in pain (like ear infections, or reflux) and the swing won't make them sleep, no matter what.
- Reach out to friends and family for help with the kids when you're feeling overwhelmed, and if the feeling persists, talk to your OB/midwife to see if taking something might help balance your postpartum hormones.
- Be proactive about your baby's health and use Evivo probiotics to keep their gut balanced (and avoid being higher risk for autoimmune and metabolic issues). Sidenote: I chatted with our pediatrician before giving Emma Evivo, just to get their take on it, and they said to definitely go for it!
- It helps babies keep a balanced stomach, which is SUPER important in those first six months
- There's good and bad "gut" bacteria, even in exclusively breastfed infants, and too much bad bacteria in a baby's gut leads to higher risk of autoimmune and metabolic issues like colic, eczema, allergies, diabetes, and obesity later in life.
- Infant probiotics like Evivo help keep the baby's gut balanced, so that there is more good bacteria to protect the baby's digestive tract from bad bacteria.
- Evivo is activated B. infantis (the good bacteria), which interacts with your breastmilk nutrients (Human Milk Oligosaccharides) to protect your baby's gut from the bad bacteria.
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