NEWBORN BABY LIFE
0 – 6 months
Wow, time goes ridiculously quick when you have a child. Jet is actually nearly 8 months and I’m only getting to write this now. It has been the craziest, amazing, most beautiful and hardest 6 months of my life. As much as I’d like to write a peachy blog and talk about how perfect life is, that would not be reality and completely incongruent with the other blogs I wrote through my pregnancy. While the pregnancy was full of ups and downs, challenges and A LOT of self-enquiry, all of which has been amplified since the birth of Jet. Self-enquiry and figuring out life is a lot crueller when you are trying to keep a baby alive at the same time.
So let’s start from the birth.
Post-birth time is glorious! When my husband was off work and we would just bask in the glory of the little life we created. Jet would just sleep and feed and we thought how we totally have got this, haha I now feel so silly I thought that without knowing what is to come but have also witnessed other people thinking the same in the first 2 weeks.
The first 36 hours we had Jet skin on skin with either of us, not only for the emotional connection but also that exchange of microbiome to assist the foundations of his immune system, plus helping to bring my milk in.
Breastfeeding was difficult to get hold of and hats off to the ladies that do it with ease. Jet latched all good but gosh he had a mega suck on him. It was interesting to try all the different positions to put him in and I found the ole’ football position probably the easiest when he was small. Being so passionate about breastfeeding I kept up the nipple care intensively and was able to prevent any cracking, bleeding etc, however, I did experience a bruising pain and super sensitive nipples from Jet’s mean latch. It got to the point I would cry through feeding and even have little screams when he was latching. At this moment I did question if I could continue, as I had no idea how I would get through it, as much as everyone said it will pass and it will be a breeze in no time. This was around the 6-week mark and I had to do an emotional check in with what was important to me and how breastfeeding was high on my priority to be able to provide all the goodness it offers.
I felt I was constantly feeding and perhaps was, as Jet’s weight kept going up and up. Even after the first week when it is common for baby’s weight to drop lower than their birth weight, Jet had put on an extra 200gm. One week he even put on 800gm which was crazy! I put this down to the high fat and protein diet I was eating. Not only as my appetite was extreme to keep up with the milk production, but also to support Jet’s continual growth (especially neurological growth) but also to ensure healing of my own body from the birth. My normal daily diet would consist of the flowing in those first few weeks
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3 x scrambled eggs, half an avocado, 100gm smoked salmon (so exciting I can have smoked salmon again, it was expensive to keep up with my need)
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Coconut Yoghurt, strawberries & Papaya
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Chicken Salad, or slow-cooked meals that I had prepared and stored in the freezer
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Green Smoothie
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Acai Bowl with nut butter and topped with seeds, coconut
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Roast vegetables, red meat, stir-fry green vegetables
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And snacks of raw cheesecake that was Jets birth cake that we ate with our cups of chamomile tea
As you can see it was a lot and high nutrient dense food, being cautious of foods that can be harsh or interact with Jets digestion. Foods such as cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, spicy foods, refined sugars, grains, caffeine and dairy. After a few weeks, I would add in some of these foods and quickly found out that Jet wasn’t a fan of dairy, which wasn’t too bad as neither was I.
When we hit the 6-week mark my breastfeeding was becoming a lot easier and minimal pain. However, this is when Jet has bits of wind and pain in his tummy, one week there was intense and there was even a day when both Jet and I both cried all day. Another day when Jet passed out on me and whenever I would try and put him down or move he would crack it so we were stuck on the couch all day with his Sacred Earth music playing on repeat. I held in having to pee all day and didn’t drink any water, all to avoid Jet waking and crying. Looking back now it was obviously silly and now I know so many things I could have done to comfort him or attend to his needs. But as a new mum I had no idea, plus not having any family close by to drop in and help out I had to figure most of it out myself, which thankfully that motherly intuition does kick in.
The newborn phase was certainly more challenging than I predicted. I definitely would not say I thrived or loved this phase, perhaps with the next child I will as I will know more about what I’m doing. However, everyone says ‘oh but they are all SO different’…. so we shall see. But for now bring on the cruisey months of crawling, dancing and giggles 🙂
Much Luv
Talita xox
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