First thing first, here are 3 pictures of Mason when he was 2,3, and 4 months old. Can you see the changes?
Okay, so now onto some of the problems that we have been dealing with. I wanted to post about these in case any other moms have dealt with these or are dealing with these problems. Tremors, colic, tongue-tied, and slow weight gain.
Since birth Mason has very noticeable tremors in his legs and arms. People always thought he was cold because he was always shaking. His paediatrician ran lots of tests to see why he had tremors. We were told that for some babies it is normal to tremor after birth for a few days. Hoping that it would go away after a few days. It did not, so he had more tests done, blood drawn for tests every 2 weeks pretty much. As well as a head ultrasound around 4 weeks old. Of course I googled it and stuff like CP and autism came up as a result of infant tremors which scared me. But all of his scans all came back good and the tremors have disappeared around 2.5 months old. So if anyone is dealing with a baby with tremors after birth, they can go away on their own and be nothing to worry about. I wish someone had mentioned that online earlier as it would have saved me 2.5 months of stress.
For those who have not heard of a tongue tie it is when the tongue is tied down near the tip with extra skin, meaning baby can not stick his tongue out and in our case can not breastfreed properly without the use of his tongue. Many tongue tied babies go unnoticed until they are older. We knew that Mason was tongue-tied from the day he was born, and since then I have been doing lots of research and have been wanting to get it snipped for a few months. My doctor kept telling me that he did not need to be snipped as it MIGHT correct itself. So we continued breast feeding and started to notice that Mason was quite colic. Trying to put him to bed at night was a 2 hour long nightmare. During the day if he was awake and not feeding he was fussy, and crying. It made for long days and long nights.
So at 3 months I decided to try him on baby cereal, even though it is recommended to wait until 6 months. I should add that Mason first rolled over from tummy to back at 3 weeks old. Around 3 months he was rolling over from back to tummy. He has had great head control from birth and sits well in the high-chair. Mason took the spoon very quickly. He knew what to do and hardly made a mess right away. Later on that day I had noticed that he seemed happier, and it was easy to get him to bed. So I continued giving him cereal once a day for the next month and, and yes his colic was gone.
Well, 4 months later, his tongue tie did not correct itself. Me being shy, and uncomfortable with breastfeeding around people, finally went and saw a lactation consultant. I thought that breastfeeding was going alright, ahh... Wrong! She had advised me that Mason did not have a proper latch and he was getting alot of air when he feeds because of the tongue tie. Which could have been the cause of the colic in the first place. She then refereed us to a specialist out of town and they booked us in for the next week to have his tongue to snipped. Our appointment was last Wednesday (Mason 17 weeks old). At the appointment we were told that Mason also had a lip tie! So with no pain meds and a very sad mommy, Mason had both his tongue tie and lip tie removed by laser in 5 minutes. I nursed him right after the procedure and noticed right away a huge difference. No more pain while feeding him and no clicking sound. He was getting so much more milk as well. It has been 3 days now and we have stopped giving Mason cereal and he is exclusively breastfeed. He seems fuller and happy most of the time. You may notice that in his 4 month pictures, taken yesterday, his top lips is still a little swollen from the procedure. I only wish that I would have pushed harder to have his tongue tie corrected a few months ago.
Last but not least, slow weight gain. Looking back now, it all makes sense. At Masons 2 week old check up he was still under his birth weight so we were sent back to the hospital for him to be checked out. With his tremors he was always moving and obviously burning lots of calories that breastfeeding just could not keep up with. And now knowing that his tongue tie was affecting brestfeeding, it all makes sense. At 4 months, Mason now weighs 13 pounds 7 ounces.
As a new mom you cant help but worry and stress so I wanted to post about some of the problems that I have dealt with in hopes that it might help someone else out.
I look forward to seeing Mason grow and learn new stuff over the new few months. :)
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