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The Today Show this morning featured a segment on a research study that found some additional benefits of folic acid in pregnant women. As many of you know, or should know, folic acid when taken prior to and during the early stages of pregnancy helps to reduce the risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida in your developing baby. It is recommended that women of child bearing age get 400 mg of folic acid every day.
As if reducing the risk of neural tube defects isn’t enough reason to stay on top of your folic acid intake new research has found that folic acid may also reduce your risk of going into premature labor. The study found that women who were taking a folic acid supplement for at least one year prior to becoming pregnant cut their risk of a very early pre-term birth (between 20 and 28 weeks) by 70 percent compared with women who did not take folic acid. There was also a reduction in pre-term births between 28 and 32 weeks of 50 percent.
The recommendation remains that women of child bearing age get 400 mg of folic acid every day. It can be difficult to get adequate folic acid from foods so a supplement may be your best bet. Foods that do contain folic acid include fortified cereals and breads, green leafy vegetables, legumes, some berries, and sunflower seeds. Talk to your doctor about the best way for you to get enough folic acid in your diet.
A majority of pregnancies are still unplanned so your best bet is to take a multivitamin that contains one hundred percent of your folic acid if you are of child bearing age that way you will get the benefits if you become pregnant unexpectedly. Folic acid is also thought to aid in heart health as well, so even if you aren’t planning on getting pregnant there are other benefits.
Talk to your doctor if you have questions about folic acid and its benefits.
This week’s edition of the Carnival of Family Life is now available. The host of this week’s carnival is Confessions of a Novice. I can’t believe how big the carnival has gotten lately. There are a ton of great submissions this week including my article, Breastfeeding and Chocolate.
I encourage you to stop by when you have a moment and read a few of the great submissions. You will find everything from an article on the dilemma of buying brand name versus no-name to Valentine’s Day gift ideas to tips on meal planning, plus many, many more.
Suddenly when you become a mother poop takes on a whole new meaning and you find yourself inspecting your baby’s poop, talking about your baby’s poop, and researching baby poop to make sure what you find in the diaper is normal. I never would have imagined when I was younger that one day I would be inspecting the contents of my child’s diaper let alone researching and writing an article on baby poo.
The reason for this weird obsession we moms get over our baby’s poop is that we can learn a lot about what is going on with our babies based on what is going on in their diapers. Often the first sign of illness or a problem can be found in the diaper. It can also provides good reassurance that everything is fine, your baby is healthy, and getting plenty of nutrition.
When you first come home with your new little one it is hard to know what is normal and what is not. The nurses in the hospital and the teacher of your prenatal class (if you took one) will try to explain to you what you can expect in your child’s diaper. You can also ask your pediatrician in the early visits. But when it comes right down to it you will still likely worry if what you see is normal or not. Over the first weeks of your baby’s life you will get to know what is normal for your child and be able to recognize when something is wrong.
So what is normal in the early weeks and months? The contents of your baby’s diaper will change over the first few days of your child’s life and again a few months later and then again when you introduce solids. What you find in your baby’s diaper will vary depending on if you are breastfeeding or bottle-feeding.
Meconium: This is the black, sticky, almost tar like bowel movements your child takes in his first few days after birth. Your child swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid while in utero, the result is meconium. It can be difficult to wipe off your baby’s bottom due to its sticky consistency but don’t worry in a couple of days you’ll be on to the next kind of poop.
Breastfed Babies: Once your child has passed all the meconium and feeding has been well established you will begin to find bright yellow or mustard colored grainy poop that is loose in consistency. In the early weeks your child will likely take a bowel movement at every feeding, or almost every feeding. Once she gets a little bigger and you are on more of a schedule you will find that she takes less bowel movements. Most babies will take 3-4 bowel movements each day, often on a bit of a schedule. This routine will continuously change as your baby gets older and her body is better able to absorb more of what she takes in. Some breastfed babies eventually can go several days without taking a bowel movement. It is important to get to know what is normal for your baby so you can recognize when something is amiss.
Bottle-fed Babies: The color and consistency of the poop passed by a bottle-fed baby is different than that of a breastfed baby. You will find your baby’s bowel movements are pale yellow or a yellowish brown color and are more solid and formed. This is a result of the formula not be as well absorbed in the digestive system as breast milk. Also, you will find that bottle fed babies produce a pretty pungent smelling poop. Bottle-fed babies often need to pass at least one bowel movement every day so that their systems don’t get backed up. Again, it is important to get to know your baby’s routine so that you can recognize when something isn’t right.
Once you introduce solids things in the diaper will change again. Your baby’s poop will be more solid as they are taking in less fluids than before and will be greatly affected by what they eat. Peas will produce green poop. You will also find the smell changes. This may be particularly troubling for a mom used to the sweeter smell of a breastfed baby’s poop.
So what isn’t normal and a sign that it’s time to give the pediatrician a call?
Diarrhea: It can be hard to recognize diarrhea since a baby’s poop is fairly loose to begin with. You will notice a change in the consistency with the stool becoming more runny. There is often a change in the color as well. Breastfed babies are less likely to suffer from diarrhea than bottle-fed babies as breast milk helps fight off bacteria. If your baby has diarrhea call your pediatrician to find out what they recommend and if you need to bring the baby in to get checked out.
Constipation: If your baby is constipated you will find she has trouble passing her stool, it is harder and pellet like in consistency, and is often accompanied by a tight tummy, abdominal pain and fussiness. Again, breastfed babies are less likely than bottle-fed babies to suffer from constipation. If you think your baby is constipated take her in to see the pediatrician.
Green Poop: If your baby had green, frothy poop it is likely caused by too much lactose. This can happen when your baby feeds often but not long enough on one breast to get the rich hind milk. There is more lactose in the fore milk. It is important to let your baby finish on the first breast before offering her the other breast. The green poop can also be a sign of a stomach bug. If it persists longer than 24 hours you should head into the pediatrician to have your baby checked out.
Bloody Stool: If your baby is constipated you may find blood in her stool, which is caused by too much straining. It can also be a sign of many other illnesses and problems. If you ever find blood in your baby’s stool call your pediatrician. Your baby will need to be checked out to find out what is causing the bloody stool.
Over time you will become familiar with what is normal for your baby. You will recognize what a normal bowel movement looks like, the normal frequency of her bowel movements, and when something appears to be amiss. If you have questions or concerns about your baby’s bowel movements be sure to consult your pediatrician. Don’t worry we all obsess over the contents of our baby’s diaper, it is part of being a good, conscientious parent.
Sleep challenges are par for the course when you have a newborn. Every baby is different and finding what works best for your little family takes time as you try out different routines and schedules. I’ve been lucky though, my daughter has been a pretty good nighttime sleeper from the very beginning. In the first few weeks she was up every 2-3 hours at night but by the time she was 3 or 4 weeks old she was pretty consistently sleeping 4-5 hours at night. She was also napping on a pretty regular schedule by 4 weeks old too. Unfortunately, things seemed to change when we returned from our trip up to Canada for Christmas.
While we were in Canada she continued to sleep pretty well. She would occasionally only go 3 hours but most of the time she was sticking with the 4-5 hours (and even sometimes 6 hours). Towards the end of our trip she came down with a cold and that, of course, caused her to wake up more frequently. The poor little thing could hardly breath at night. For about 2-3 nights she was up every couple of hours because she was gagging or couldn’t breath (I was up most of the night as I could hear her labored breathing and couldn’t fall asleep). By the time we got home the cold was starting to improve, but the sleeping habits were getting worse.
For the first couple of weeks after we got back from our trip she was up almost every 3 hours pretty much every night. There was the occasional night where she would sleep longer (usually in a really big chunk of 7-8 hours, I think she was exhausted), but for the most part it was every 3 hours. I talked to the pediatrician about it at our 2 month check up and she said that there were probably several things that were disrupting her sleep schedule, the trip, overstimulation from getting way too much attention from way too many people while we were in Canada, the cold she had come down with, and maybe even a growth spurt thrown in there for good measure. The pediatrician advised that often times when something is changed about a baby’s routine or they are suffering from too much stimulation they will regress a little in their sleeping habits. The good news, I was told, is that they usually go back to their regular routine after a little while. She gave me a couple of recommendations for the next time we travel that may work (of course there is no guarantee), try to stick with the same schedule she was on at home (even if you are changing time zones), try to keep her from getting overstimulated even if that means ticking off a few relatives by saying no they can’t hold her, make sure she spends time playing, again even if it means having to say no when someone wants to hold her.
After a few weeks of lack of sleep (on my part) she seems to returning to her regular sleeping schedule. For the last few nights she has gone longer stretches at night and is sleeping more soundly too. I hope that by the end of this week we’ll be back to normal. I’m glad that the pediatrician was right about babies typically returning to their schedule after an interruption.
It is amazing how a little 10 day trip could cause such chaos. What I learned was that the best way to try to maintain a good sleep schedule when you travel is to stick with your routine, avoid overstimulation (which is really hard to do when everyone wants to hold her all the time), and hope for the best. Luckily she’ll be older the next time we travel with her so that should make things easier.
This past couple of weeks of little or no sleep has really made me realize how lucky I am to have a good sleeper. I can’t imagine how those parents who have a baby that doesn’t sleep well do it. Do you have a baby that doesn’t sleep well? What tricks have you learned that you think might help other parents who are going through the same thing?
There is an old-wives tale out there that you shouldn’t eat chocolate while you are breastfeeding as it can result in a very fussy and gassy baby. I hadn’t heard about this old-wives tale until I heard someone mention it on an episode of TLC’s “Bringing Home Baby” that I was watching the other day. It sparked my interest because I had noticed that some days my daughter was gassier than others and I was trying to figure out what the cause may be. I am an admitted chocoholic and there is almost always some form of chocolate in my house. So I sat down and thought about it and figured that maybe I was eating more chocolate on the days when she was a little gassier. I tried eliminating chocolate for one day and she seemed to be ok, the next day I only had a little and still she was ok, the next day I had a little more and she was a little gassy. The culprit was identified, much to my dismay too much chocolate seems to give my daughter gas, bummer.
The old-wives tale that you shouldn’t eat chocolate while breastfeeding does not apply to everyone. You cannot make a blanket statement that every mom needs to avoid chocolate, cause that simply isn’t the case. Chocolate is just one of those things that may cause more gassiness in a breastfed baby. However, there are lots of other things that can do the same thing. Every baby is different and each mom will have to figure out what foods seem to be the culprit for her baby. There is not one size fits all recommendation that can be made. Talk to your pediatrician about what may be the cause of your baby’s gassiness and what foods they recommend that breastfeeding moms avoid.
Here is a list of the most common foods that cause gassiness and fussiness in breastfed babies.
- Chocolate
- Gassy vegetables like broccoli, asparagus, and cauliflower
- Citrus fruits, including orange juice
- Coffee and other caffeinated beverages
- Overly greasy foods
- Onions and garlic, even in seasoning form
- Dairy products, particular if you consume a lot.
The best thing to do if you notice that your baby is particular gassy when you eat certain foods is to avoid them or just eat them in limited quantities. For me that means no Mexican food and I have to watch how much chocolate I eat. If it means my daughter is happier and less gassy I’m fine with that.
What foods did you find most affected your baby while you were breastfeeding? Was it hard to avoid those foods?