It’s exhausting really!  And this morning, while waiting on my class to show up for Stroller Strides, I get a text from my mentor.  It stops me dead in my tracks.  She hit the nail on the head, and I knew I had to rush home and share.

So here’s the picture below that comes through on my phone.  The text from her that follows goes something like this:  “Look at the cover of ‘Thriving Family’, and tell me why it’s hard in our culture to live real life.  This is what ‘Focus on the Family’ is marketing.  Perfectly dressed parents and kids, tree in burlap w/ a gratuitous, perfect bow.  Everyone is happy, there’s not even a leaf or a smudge on the pavement!

Men have struggles with magazine images of a different sort.  But, this Photoshop/Facebook generation brings a struggle for us women too.  Perfection that is wired into a woman’s heart, yet impossible to attain.  Life is messy…  Learning to be at peace and rejoice in the promised perfection of our eternal home is key.  Look at the ‘fruit of the tree’ you can’t have or attain…  What will you compromise, convince or nag your husband into, just as Eve did with Adam?  This is the lie- there’s more and we can’t have it unless we make it happen!”

Does that put a knot in your throat and give you chills or what?  I’m guilty of it, and I had no idea.  Maybe that’s part of why the holidays were so difficult this year.  Harper’s 3 and Ellington’s 1; it’s Ellington’s first birthday on Christmas day to boot!  I have to have the perfect house, perfect traditions that must start from the very beginning of their life…  And, the pictures to document and brag, people!  Whew!

Maybe I should have taken a clue when I was bawling, late at night as everyone was asleep, because my Christmas tree (which I had perfectly planned in my head) was in reality a hot mess.  No perfect tree and house, how can my family really rise up and call me blessed?!

It’s hard to feel like I have any control over anything anymore.  So I compensate for that by nagging my husband and trying to keep my house spotless.  A little control over those areas, and voila!  I should feel better, but no…  You know as well as I do how that’s working out for me.  What husband appreciates and responds well to a nag?  What house stays spotless with a one and three year old?  Yeah, mine neither!

In the valley, the Lord is really working on me.  “Find your joy in Me!  I’m all you need!  Let Me define you!”  If I never look like that magazine cover, will I be content?  And, not to diss “Focus on the Family”, by the way.  Look at “Real Simple”, “Pathways”, any blog, most Facebook pages.  Everyone is pushing that perfect image out there.  It’s nothing new under the sun!  But, it sure helped this morning to have a little of this disappointment in my heart brought to light.  My hope is that this will bless and convict you, as it did me this morning!  Now off to do some real heart work, forget the house stuff for a minute…  One is eternal, have to keep that in mind!

I went to a sweet 1 year old’s birthday party this year on my birthday.  His mommy is a dear friend of mine, and his older brother has a lot of food allergies.  I don’t know how she constantly comes up w/ delicious foods to feed their family, but she does and she amazes me (as does the taste of her food).  My group of friends had a blast sampling all the healthy treats at Jude’s party.  And, Jim Bob, may have eaten ten done more than just sample these muffins.  Because they were such a hit, I had to get the recipe from her.  Thanks for sharing, Vanessa!  You have to try these muffins for yourself and let me know what you think…  I swear, you’ll be amazed that they have no sugar and no grains.  When mom sampled them, she kept asking me, “But, what kind of flour is in them?!”.  They’re full of healthy fats and protein too.  Next time I bake them, I may try adding some pumpkin; you know, in celebration of this gorgeous cooler Fall weather we’ve been having.  The recipe comes from here originally.

Grain-Free Muffins

1 cup of Nut Butter (I used Almond Butter from Whole Foods)

1/4 cup Honey

2 Eggs

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice (I used lemon juice)

Chocolate or Carob Chip (optional.  I used a little of both )

Combine all ingredients (except for the vinegar/lemon juice), and mix well. Then, add the vinegar/lemon juice and mix well.  Pour into either muffin cups or a greased muffin tin. I chose the larger muffin pan, and it made 9.  Bake for 25 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. They are done when an inserted toothpick some out clean.

Well, I finally got around to purchasing something I’ve wanted for quite sometime now.  I tried several cheap options, of which some ended up broken, others ended up forcing me to dig the final product out of the mold and others didn’t allow the product to turn out at all.  Why oh why didn’t I go w/ the high quality- oh so worth the money- machine to begin w/?!  Lesson learned!  I adore William-Sonoma and I could spend hours upon hours in that place.  Well, this recent purchase has only deepened my love for the place!  It’s gotten great reviews, and my family added in their thumbs up tonight too…  In order to get full enjoyment out of these hot Texas summer nights, you too need a Zoku Quick Pop Maker! In fact, Harper enjoyed his first popsicle from this little machine tonight.  He said, and I quote, “Mama, it is deelish-US!”

I can vividly remember as a kid some of my first experiments in the kitchen were popsicle recipes.  It was so frustrating to invent a really cool combo of flavors, poor it in a stirofoam cup and add a stick or pour it in ice cube trays and add toothpicks only to have to wait hours for the freeze so you could enjoy your hard cold treat.  Well, thanks to Zoku, the days of cups and trays are over!  And, even better, that long wait for freezing is really over.  Yep, this nifty machine really does produce your frozen treat in about 10 minutes.  In fact, you watch it freeze before your eyes.  Too cool, huh?

Mommypotamus hosted a giveaway for a popsicle cookbook recently, and I’ve heard great things about that book.  I tried a recipe off of their website for our first treat from the machine.  And of course, you know me, I can never leave a recipe alone.  This recipe is great because I’ve been fighting an itchy throat every morning, and there’s a lot of immune boosting in this popsicle.  Plus, if you use local honey it’ll help that itchy throat/allergy issue too.  And, grapefruit has one of the highest contents of vitamin C of any food.

Rooibos Red Tea Immunity Pops

3 Rooibos Red Tea bags (I used 2)

¼ cup agave nectar (I used less than 1/8 cup local honey)

1 whole grapefruit, squeezed (I used 1/2)

1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped

½ lemon, squeezed

1 cup of ice (I didn’t add ice)

(I added a handful of fresh mint from my garden)

Boil 4 cups of water on stove top and add in tea bags (I boiled 2 cups). Add agave nectar. Let simmer on low for 10 minutes. Let cool to a luke warm state. Pour tea mixture into blender. Add in grapefruit juice, strawberries, lemon and ice and blend to a smooth texture. Pour mixture into chosen pop molds. Freeze. Enjoy!

We will also be making this recipe again in our new machine.  We’ll enjoy licking them, you know like how actual popsicles are supposed to be enjoyed!  Instead of like last time, when we were digging them out of the cheap $1 molds because the sticks broke off…  Not enjoyable!

If you have a favorite recipe, please share…  I need new ones to enjoy making in my new toy machine.  Happy Summer!

1. In a medium-sized saucepan or skillet, combine the two sweeteners and the oil, and gently warm over low heat while stirring until the sugar crystals have dissolved. This should just take a couple of minutes.
2. Stir in the nut or seed butter, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Remove from the heat. Allow the mixture to cool for a couple of minutes.
3. Stir in the flaxseed, followed by the oats and cereal.
4. Now you have two choices here. If you want the chocolate chips to stay intact, let the mixture cool for few more minutes, and then stir in the chocolate chips. Or, if you are antsy like me, stir in the chocolate chips right away. They may melt a little against the warm pan, but I like them that way.
5. The mixture will be crumbly, but that is okay. Press it firmly into an 8 x 8 pan (use saran wrap or wax paper over your hand if it threatens to stick while pressing) or into 10 to 12 muffin tins. Make sure it is packed in there nicely, and then place the bars into the freezer to chill for 30 minutes to an hour.
6. Cut into bars or pop them out and eat. Store them in the refrigerator to keep fresh and from getting too soft.  Enjoy!!

Last week, we enjoyed a family breakfast of scrambled eggs and these biscuits.  It was so nice to have a biscuit option that didn’t have a ton of preservatives, wasn’t hard to cook and didn’t have wheat.  Thanks, Mommypotamus!  I thought they tasted even better as a snack than they did fresh out of the oven.  Again, these are wonderful for pregnant/nursing moms as they have lots of protein and healthy fats too.  Try them and let me know what you think.  I’d love to hear what you enjoy for breakfast…  It’s the one meal a day that I really need but have a hard time being creative with.

In case you haven’t heard, we’re expanding our community and we’re SO excited.  Sadly, a friend and long time patient is moving up north.  While in Texas, she’s established an incredible business and network of moms through Stroller Strides.  After literally years of wanting to get involved with this group, I was finally able to start up classes a few weeks ago.  Up until that point, midwifery school (you know all those births at odd hours and no sleep!), morning all day sickness, recovery from car accident, and travel had kept me from my goal of trying out Stroller Strides in my area.  There’s 2 classes literally less than a 5 minute drive from my house.  And, the fact that I’ve watched a lot of moms literally have their lives changed through these classes definitely fueled my desire to go try them out.  Plus, I’ve paid an unused gym membership for months because I can’t find time to pump enough milk to leave my baby, and my toddler isn’t fond of the nursery (not to mention- who wants to give up the little family time we all have together to go work out?!).  I’ve been looking for a solution, and I knew Stroller Strides would be a great option, and I’m so glad I was finally able to make a class!  Maggie announcing she was moving, and my friends and I absolutely loving our first class had me sold…  I wanted this added to my community!  Words cannot express how excited I am about this new venture and how grateful I am that Maggie is entrusting her years of hard work, friendships, community, network and business to us- she’s leaving me her ‘baby’.  I pray we make her proud because what she has done with Stroller Strides amazes me.

Now to the fun part of this post…  We’re throwing a BIG week-long party as we transition ownership of Stroller Strides of Hurst/Arlington/Mansfield.  Being new to Stroller Strides, you probably have the same questions I did…  Will my child sit still in a stroller through a whole workout class?  Am I going to be embarrassed doing these exercises as I try not to pee on myself in front of other people?  Will my stroller be ok to work out with?  Is this really worth paying the same cost as a gym membership?  Those are just of the few that popped in my head before I went; and, I could go through all the class details for you, but the best answer is just to come try the classes out for yourself.  Of course try them out for your kids too!  The best time to do so?  During our party week of course!  Not only will we have free classes, that Maggie and I will both be at, but we’ll have TONS of great giveaways too.  And, you’ll be able to see firsthand what the classes are like.  This is also a great time, should you choose to, to join because we’ll have a special enrollment price of $25 (instead of the usual $79)!

What are we giving away for free (besides the class you are taking)?  Some great prizes!

*1 Free Enrollment with 1 Month of Stroller Strides Classes (in Hurst/Arlington/Mansfield)- $125 value!

*1/2 Hour Massage from Lifetime Family Wellness Center- $40 value!

*Boba Baby Carrier- $100 value!

*Chae Organics Baby Lotion and Baby Soap n Suds- $18 value

*Baby Buttons Design Gift Certificate- $15 value

*Amber Teething Necklace- $25 value

*Roots Coffee House Gift Certificate- $10 value

*Whole Foods Gift Certificate- $30 value

*Amazon Gift Certificate- $30 value

*Chipotle Gift Card- $15 value

*T-Shirts, water bottles and more!

How do you win?  We’re having a drawing, and winners will be randomly selected.  You’re entered several ways:

~Show up for class during our Party Week, and your name is entered once for each class you attend: 5/3 Northeast Mall at 9am, 5/4 Chisolm Park at 9:30a, 5/5 Katherine Rose Park at 9:30a, and 5/6 Veterans Park at 9a.

~You join Stroller Strides the first week in May- Party Week, and you get 5 extra entries in the drawing!

~Bring a friend with you to class during Party Week, and both of you get 2 extra entries in the drawing.  Your friend joins Stroller Strides during the first week of May, you both get 5 extra entries in the drawing!

~Share this blog link on your Facebook, you get an entry in the drawing. Make sure you tell me you did so in the “Comments” section of this blog.

~Tweet about our Party Week and fun giveaways for an entry in the drawing. Make sure you tell me you did so in the “Comments” section of this blog.

~Blog about Stroller Strides and you get 5 entries in the drawing- I’d especially love to hear about your personal experience with the class. Again, make sure you leave a comment telling me you blogged.

I look forward to working out with many of you and your babies in the weeks to come!

I believe there are several reasons we are seeing this so frequently these days.  First of all, to quote Dr. Kotlow (and this quote makes me laugh out loud every time I hear his voice saying it in my head), “You see, it all started with the hippies!”  As he said this to me, I wondered to myself, “Does he really know who I am and what I do for a living?!”  Ha!  Anyhow, his point is this, for decades, moms bought into the lie that formula was as good as breastmilk.  So, we had generations of moms who did not nurse their babies.  Nursing is one of the biggest things that will clue moms in on their babies being tongue tied.  Moms know when they are nursing if the latch isn’t right and is something is off with their baby’s anatomy.  Trust that motherly instinct!  He went on to explain to us that as more and more moms were educated and eventually returned to nursing, and wouldn’t settle for anything better than the best- breastmilk- for their babies, that when it (nursing) was uncomfortable, they sought answers.  Therefore, tongue tie started being discovered more and more, and they’d have it corrected and their nursing pains relieved.

Now, we didn’t delve into this with Dr. Kotlow, but here are my thoughts after our conversation…  If you don’t use it, you loose it.  Right?  How sad!  I think over so many generations and years of so few moms nursing their children, we lost proper function.  Many people are familiar with Sally Fallon and Dr. Price.  They teach that what we have eaten for generations is so far from what we were created to eat that we have literally changed our facial structure; hence, the wisdom teeth removals, fillings, braces and weird teeth alignment.  Makes sense to me that this could also be the case for extra tissue and tissue placement where it shouldn’t be.

In addition, there’s research that shows when moms use cocaine there is a higher incidence of tongue tie in their babies.  After Mellanie mentioned this research to me the other night, when I quote it to moms they get the weirdest look on their faces.  ”I’ve never used cocaine!” some will quickly blurt out, to which I chuckle.  I’m not accusing you of wild behavior, but this study brings up some interesting points too.  If one researched chemical (cocaine) can cause this abnormality, what other chemicals- that no one has yet researched- might do the same?  Furthermore, one of the most prescribed drugs in our society are stimulants to treat conditions like ADD and ADHD.  Cocaine is a stimulant, and these prescribed stimulant drugs many times work on the same areas of the brain and cause some of the same side effects.  Countless studies have shown that many drugs- and several different types- have been found in our water supply.  Are we seeing increase in abnormalities due to all of this?  In my opinion, possibly so.

And, we can’t deny that with more education, there will be more awareness and more diagnosis and correction.  Again, no matter what the cause (or prevalence for that matter), we are so grateful for the cure!

Lifetime Family Wellness Center will be hosting Dr. Kotlow to speak on Saturday, May 14th from 9am-12pm.  Please spread the word, and I’ll share more details soon.  You will not want to miss his presentation!

When I asked Dr. Kotlow to show me exactly how to diagnose these ties and what specifically to be looking for, he quickly grabbed my paperwork…  ”You checked off every symptom on here.  What else could cause all of this?”  This statement so put my mind at ease.  Listen to mom, mom knows her body and her baby best!  If you, or a mom you know, is checking off every symptom that I mention in this post, then chances are your/her baby is tongue tied.  See, what I used to check for is that baby could protrude his/her tongue past his/her bottom gum line.  I also made sure that the frenum didn’t pull on the end of the tongue, causing a heart shaped looking tongue.  As seen in this picture: To easily check the tongue for a tie, put your index finger under your baby’s tongue and sweep across the floor of the mouth from one side to the other.  You should be able to slide the finger under the tongue across the mouth floor from where the molars will eventually come in without running into any tissue.  If you feel a smooth mouth floor, then there’s no problem.  However, if you run into what Dr. Kotlow describes as a “small speed bump”, you may have an issue.  If there’s a large speed bump, then there’s definitely a problem.  If the membrane under the tongue (that attaches it onto the floor of the mouth) feels like a very thin and strong- like a fine wire- then push on it and look to see if the tongue’s tip indents or bows.  This suggests baby has a tie under the mucous membrane in the back.  Remember that most of these ties whether presenting as small, medium or large bumps will usually turn into problems if not addressed.

Ellington has a very long tongue, and she could move it way past her bottom gum; these two factors led me away from diagnosing her as tied.  However, she was unable to move her tongue properly when nursing and never could really press it against her palate.  As she nursed, she’d gum at my breasts, which of course made me sore, caused me to peel, blister and develop and itchy rash with crack on my skin.  Her upper frenum- as the ENT in Dallas has shown me- came down into her gum line.  Therefore, she could not move her upper lip effectively, which also greatly affected our nursing.  Additionally, you could never see her gums when she smiled- something we didn’t really notice until after the surgery.

As we researched and found this to be congenital and genetic, we discovered that JB is pretty severely tongue tied too.  He was adopted and never breastfed, therefore it stands to reason that his issue was never discovered.  Interestingly enough though, his family always talks about what a colicky baby he was and the constant digestive issues he had from that.  It turns out that Harper- our toddler- has a maxillary tie too.  I went through my guilt stage over this; but, in the end, even though we missed it on him I’m so grateful that we’ve walked this journey.  Because of everything we went through with Harper, I really feel I have a whole new level of understanding for families with this, and I look closely for it now.

You see this diagnosis is so important because if a person is tied- baby or not, breastfeeding or not- he/she can not move their tongue and lips properly.  So much is affected by this!  Nutritional problem arise.  Why?  Because food can not be extracted properly (especially in the case of breastmilk), and it can’t be properly placed and digested completely.  Colic can occur because of this improper function more air is swallowed.  Babies tend to drool a lot, again because their mouth/tongue doesn’t work properly.  Gagging may occur.  You might see sleep problems like snoring and apnea.  And, it’s common for teeth/jaw issues to arise later because the teeth are pulled inwards toward the tongue or there might be gaps where the frenum comes between the teeth.  Speech problems have also been noted from this.

Even though Harper is weaned, we are still looking at possibly having his clipped.  We will still choose the laser, but it gets a little more complicated with older children.  The younger you can do this the better!  When a baby is only a few days old, there is very little blood flow to these frenums and hardly- if any- sensation.  Therefore, not only is it less painful- if at all painful- to cut, but it’s easier because newborns are swaddled and don’t fight the procedure as much.  Not to mention their nursing patterns and habits don’t have to be re-trained.

Looking back, we believe Harper wouldn’t have had as many sleep issues had we known about this and had it addressed.  He nursed around the clock, and once he fell asleep, he’d quickly wake up after very little sleep to nurse again.  Also, he was always very small for his age, especially for as much as he ate.  I now wonder if he’d have gained a lot more and faster too.  As his teeth came in, he developed deep notches with brown spots on them on two of his front teeth.  This bothered me so much.  How could a child raised mostly on vegetables and no sugar- outside of fruit- have this problem?  Well, Dr. Kotlow has now educated us on that too.  Even though he is not against co-sleeping and night nursing, he explained to me that when Harper nursed since his upper lip is tied tightly to his front gum line that lip and tongue don’t move normally.  They are unable to clear and clean milk (and now that he eats solid, foods) from his teeth.  You risk high chances of anterior caries (rotting teeth in the front) with this condition.  What’s that saying?  ”Hindsight is 20/20!”  Oh how I wish I’d have known!

Share with me: Have you or anyone in your family dealt with this?  I want to hear your stories!

Stay tuned, I’ll continue the series tomorrow!

Let me start with our second born, Ellington, even though this story really starts with Harper our firstborn.  When Ellington was born- three whole months ago!- I was still nursing her toddler brother.  In fact, he’s only been weaned for a couple of months now.  Therefore, suffice it to say, I didn’t get as sore starting a new nursing relationship as a lot of new moms often do.  In fact, the pain was nothing in comparison to when I started nursing Harper.  Now, it may surprise you since I nursed for such a long time, that nursing is one of my least favorite activities on the planet.  If I didn’t believe in the importance of it for every single aspect of development, I’d quit nursing my children before I even started…  As in, not do it at all!  I hate it!  However, I do it because I know there’s really not a better choice I can make for my children.  Nursing does so much for them; yes, so much that we have discovered about it in research, and so many benefits I believe we don’t even know of.  How could I, knowing all this, rob them of something just because I don’t enjoy it?  I couldn’t, so I press on!  The first two weeks with Ellington’s and my nursing were relatively easy.  I mostly just had her to worry about, we recovered from birth together in bed, slept the days away and ate when we felt like it.  Having 2 kids really wasn’t all that hard!  Then came back to reality with week 3.  What’d reality look like?  Well, lets just say it was feed a newborn around the clock, bounce and wear a newborn to try to keep her happy, and chase a toddler constantly.  Man, it sure was different nursing newborn #2 with big brother to worry about!  The positions you will settle for in order to do this while entertaining a toddler, it takes major talent!  I definitely wasn’t as strict with Ellington’s perfect positioning and latch as I was with Harper’s.  As long as she ate, I was okay.  Over the course of a few days, my happy little girl became this miserable baby. I was shocked when she got a really red diaper rash, especially since we cloth diaper.  Then, my breasts started peeling and they looked weird after a feeding.  Nursing hurt worse and worse, it wasn’t getting better as our relationship progressed.  Certain hours of the day- especially early evening- we could pretty much wager on the fact that Ellington would be screaming her head off.  She would nurse and nurse and nurse, then we’d be so happy when she finally fell asleep, only to have her wake up a few minutes later ready to nurse and nurse and nurse some more.  One day, I noticed that she was getting white patches inside her cheeks.  Oh no!  The dreaded “thrush” I had diagnosed so many babies with.  Could that be why my breasts hurt so badly and looked so weird?  I quickly ran to the health food store for some natural remedies.  I was praying they’d work fast to fix this because I knew the strict diet I’d have to go on if they didn’t remedy it, and I was dreading that!  We tried the remedies we knew of, and when nothing worked I called a lactation consultant.  I set up an appointment for her to come work on latch with me.  The other thing about Ellington is that she would spit up more often than Harper ever did, and it didn’t matter if I changed my diet, it didn’t affect it.  Also, she wouldn’t take a bottle, and we even tried to have her take a pacifier (which we never did with Harper) during one of her screaming periods.  She could never seem to grasp how to do a paci.  JB commented with the bottle that if she didn’t finally latch on to it if he barely moved the bottle she’d slide right off the nipple.  This was nice for me to have him see because I’d been trying to tell him how hard she was to nurse because I couldn’t make the slightest movement without her falling off the breast.  Again, so hard and frustrating to try to feed her while worrying about Harper!

So, Mellanie came over to help me with Ellington.  She agreed that Ellington did indeed have thrush, but was very surprised that everything I was doing wasn’t changing her condition.  When she examined her, she was also very perplexed with all we were dealing with.  ”Normally I just send babies with all of this to you guys.” She told me.  ”I know”, I chuckled and told her we’d already been adjusting her and working on soft tissue and treating me with supplements and diet changes.  Also, we’d taken her to one of our mentors and chiropractic colleagues.  I couldn’t say anything was changing her condition at all.  Mellanie informed me that she was going to a conference with a bunch of lactation experts, and that if I wanted to send her with some video footage of me nursing Ellington, she’d get some opinions for me at the conference.  I was so grateful to her!  I love people who will work hard to seek answers when they don’t know them!  We also agreed that I’d go see an Ear Nose and Throat specialist in Dallas to check Ellington and make sure we weren’t dealing with something we hadn’t caught that he could see.  We both said- because Ellington’s tongue is so long and she moves it well- that we’d be very surprised if she was tongue tied, but agreed he should confirm that for us.

I drove to Dallas with Ellington, and loved the staff, doctor and his office.  But, I was so disappointed in the answers I got from him.  Basically, he told me that we were dealing with a problem that was causing her nursing issues but that he wouldn’t really do anything about it.  What was the problem?  You guessed it, ankyloglossia or tongue tie.  He really didn’t feel that her tongue was tied to the floor of her mouth (the usual, common tie you hear of often), but that her maxillary frenum (band of tissue attaching upper lip to upper gum) was longer that what he would call normal.  However, he said he’d recommend not doing anything until she was older- at which time a dentist would probably be the one to recommend cutting due to possible teeth/speech issues from it.  He explained that he has to use sutures in that area and it’s a lot more involved, therefore he’d just leave it alone at this point.  What was I to do with this information?  I left there just so frustrated because I knew in my gut this band of tissue was causing our issues.  Especially since I could never get Ellington to flare her upper lip out, this explained it if there was tissue keeping that lip from moving properly.

Mellanie called me, exhausted from her conference, but excited to discuss with me what people at the conference had said from watching my video of Ellington nursing.  They were all convinced she was possibly tongue tied.  And, a name of a doctor in New York kept coming up.  Mellanie kind of laughed as she said, “New York”, when we talked about my options, but the other specialist whose name had come up was in Japan.  I told her I’d mention New York to JB and see his response; I honestly didn’t know what JB would say, but I was so ready to have an answer I wanted to go right then.  Why would I fly all the way to New York for something as simple as a tongue tie?  Well, you saw the results I got from the expert we refer to in our area, secondly Dr. Kotlow (New York) uses a laser with no anesthetic or sutures, he’s an expert who has been doing this for over 30 years, he’s written many studies on this condition, and he believes in the mother/child nursing relationship and desires to make that a successful/enjoyable relationship.  I was so happy when I mentioned him to JB that my loving hubby said, “Let’s go!”  No hesitation at all, and that made me feel even more peace about this.  I started researching and scheduling.

Tongue ties occur when embryological tissue does not disappear at birth.  Dr. Kotlow’s site is very helpful in diagnosing these ties.  However, when I questioned him about diagnosing these, I loved his response!  ”Look at your paperwork, you have all the symptoms.  What else could it be?”  It is so nice to have a doctor who listens to the mom!  Check out the list he was talking about on his paperwork:

Infant- no latch, un-sustained latch, slides off nipple, prolonged feeds, unsatisfied after prolonged feeds, falls asleep on the breast, gumming or chewing on the nipple, poor weight gain and/or failure to thrive, unable to hold pacifier

Mom- creased or blanched nipples after feeding, flattened nipples after feeding, cracked/bruised/blistered nipples, bleeding nipples, severe pain with latch, incomplete breast drainage, infected nipples, plugged ducts, mastitis, thrush

Sound like us?  Yep, I checked off all but like one symptom on those papers!  We flew up to New York a few days after talking to Mellanie.  I’ll share our journey up there with you in my post tomorrow.  And, remember how I said the story started with Harper?  Yep, my two year old has it too…  You guessed it, it’s a congenital/genetic condition.  But, like us, you may wonder why we are seeing so many of them lately?  I’ll talk about that in tomorrow’s post too.

If the question isn’t about what to feed an infant just starting solids, obviously the other popular one is when to start them on solids.  I’ll admit, there is a lot of fun to be had with this milestone of food introduction.  Who doesn’t enjoy snapping pictures of their baby’s funny grimaces as he/she takes his/her first bite of solid food?  I even really enjoyed being able to eat more of my meal because Harper was now entertained with trying to pick up peas off his tray instead of needing me to nurse him while I tried to eat to nourish both of us.  Like many new parents though, we anxiously rushed into that new stage with excitement.  As soon as we could fill his lil’ tummy up on all those yummy solids, we just knew he was going to sleep through the night  more than his typical one hour stretch at a time.  Well, remind me, and I’ll tell you the rest of that story- the eating helps sleep one (yeah right…)- another day, and what the research really says.  Hint:  If you are banking on solids helping you get some extra sleep, don’t throw all of your eggs into that basket.  It definitely wasn’t the sleepy happy ending we had hoped for!  And, like many parents often say, we sure are cherishing the stages this second time around.  With Ellington, you won’t see us as excited to rush into the solids stage.  No, in fact, we really enjoy being able to walk out of the house simply carrying her and a diaper.  There’s no huge bag stocked full of water bottles, peas, apple, clementine, almonds and seaweed like we have to lug when Harper comes along for the ride.  Plus, if Ellington’s appetite is anything like Harper’s, I’m not looking forward to the extra job I’m going to have to take on to help pay the increase in the Whole Foods bill!

Most major health organizations (WHO, AAP) and breastfeeding experts recommend that baby’s diet consist primarily of breastmilk for the first year of life- specifically that babies should be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life.  Many parents are unaware of the latest research that shows that introducing solids before six months of age- like in the case where babies are given rice cereal around 2 to 4 months- has been shown to increase risk of high blood pressure and heart disease later in life.  Breastmilk is the ultimate, perfect form of nutrition.  If you and your baby are unable for whatever reason to have an exclusive breastfeeding relationship, I recommend a homemade formula recipe instead of commercial formulas (due to commercial formulas content of sugar, corn syrup and/or poor quality milk- often containing hormones/antibiotics).  As long as mom’s nutritional intake is adequate for her and her baby, baby is gaining weight and continuing to achieve normal developmental milestones, it is fine to continue exclusively breastfeeding a baby through his/her first year of life, waiting until 12 months to introduce solids.  As a baby ages, his/her gut continues to mature and gaps in the stomach which are meant to allow breastmilk to move freely into the body slowly close up.  These gaps, with which a baby is born- a natural “leaky gut”, are important for breastmilk to travel easily into the body.  However, if a baby is given formula or solids before these gaps close, harmful substances may get into the body.  You really want this leaky gut closed and mature before introducing anything other than breastmilk, and waiting on solid introduction accomplishes this.  Furthermore, baby’s enzymatic function develops as he/she ages so as they aquire more enzymes- and different types of them for different foods- they are better able to digest foods.  One interesting fact about enzymes: The enzymes that digest carbs do not develop until babies are at least 6 months old, but some argue that it may not fully develop until 18 months of age.  So, remind me why some doctors recommend starting rice cereal (A CARB!) at 4 months- or earlier to help w/ reflux/sleep- and why so many baby foods (Puffs, teething biscuits) have carbs?!  It is important to remember that even though iron in breastmilk is lower than in formula and certain solid foods, it is a more readily available and digestible form of iron; therefore, there is a lot less chance of a baby being anemic while being exclusively breastfed.  Additionally, the brain is growing and maturing at a faster rate than it ever will in a lifetime during a baby’s first 2 years, and the immune system is also developing and maturing.  During this stage where such vital systems are perfecting themselves, why would we want to feed our babies anything other than the perfect food.  Breastmilk is that perfect food, and even when it’s not their exclusive diet, it is vital that is it their primary nutritional source…  Don’t forget that as you rush into the solid stage !

What do you watch for in your baby to show you that they are ‘solid ready’, since BLW is allowing them to lead this fun, new process?  The two most important things, given that you have waited until they are at least 6 months of age, to watch for is that baby can 1) sit up on his/her own unassisted, and 2) that baby can take things to his/her mouth.  These not only give us signs that baby is moving towards ability to eat solids, but it will make this stage a lot safer too.  Watch as they develop further and start to put things in their mouth and make smacking motion with their lips and chewing with their mouth.  To quote the book, “The very best sign that a baby is ready is when she starts to put food into her mouth herself- which she can only do if she is given the opportunity.  When the child on your lap grabs a handful of dinner from your plate, chews it and swallows it, then it might be time to push the plate nearer to her.”  I find that a lot of parents tell me that they feel it’s time to start solids because their baby “keeps looking at me like he/she wants to eat what I have”.  The more children a parent has, the earlier this comment arises.  Remember, babies are curious by nature, it’s how they learn!  And, the more siblings in the baby’s environment, the more the baby has to watch (hence those earlier comments).  Just because baby is fascinated by what is going on around him/her, does not mean he/she is necessarily needing solids yet.  Research also, counter to popular thought, has not shown that the addition of solids helps babies sleep through the night, and it doesn’t show that adding it to a baby’s diet is warranted simply because baby is underweight.  Solids are not warranted before six months, and weight shouldn’t be an isolated indicator for their addition (reaching normal developmental milestones and experiencing normal brain maturation tell us a lot more about health than weight does).  Many things can be done to increase a person’s- or baby’s- weight, but it doesn’t mean those things will increase their health!

One of the most important things I can emphasize about the when is that when a baby starts solids, they are mostly learning.  The actual eating part will take weeks to months to develop.  I think there is this idea in our heads early on in our babies lives that they need food, solids.  When you do start this food, they will be learning- learning what it looks like, how it feels, where it’s at in relationship to them, how to get to it, how to grab it, how to bring it to them, how to place it in their mouths, what texture it has, how that texture changes how it moves in their mouth, how to chew and swallow it, and so much more.  This new food will do way more for their brain than it initially will do for their stomach.  So please don’t buy into the fact that you need to feed them soon to simply give them food.  Breastmilk is the best food for your baby, homemade formula second to that- if breastmilk is not an option/choice; and, one of these needs to remain their primary food until they are at least a year old.

You may be new to the term “baby-led weaning”, and on seeing it may be wondering, “What is she talking about?  What is this ‘baby-led weaning’? ”  Well, contrary to what some may think, it really isn’t a new concept at all.  Like with many other parenting and child-rearing concepts, it’s something old and basic- innate really- that we’ve complicated and come away from.  However, I think many parents listening to their instinct- especially in our busy society where we need as much ease as we can get out of our day- are quickly gravitating back to this natural concept.  In a nutshell baby-led weaning is this: Babies will feed themselves when they are ready.  The authors explain, “Weaning is the gradual change that a baby makes from having breast milk or formula as her only food to having no breast milk or formula at all.”  The first solid food that baby has is the beginning of this weaning process.

Now, why should baby lead this process?  Well, several reasons really…  First, it plays an extremely important role in baby’s development.  Babies develop at their own pace, when they are ready, and we don’t want to rush this.  It’s just like other milestones- take crawling- because each one stimulates the brain, shouldn’t ever be skipped, and will lead to the next important stage.  Baby-Led Weaning, shortened ‘BLW’- will help with these vitally important skills:  Facial muscle development, chewing, swallowing, speech development, manual dexterity, and hand-eye coordination.  Just to name a few!  I feel like so much focused has been placed on the when and what of solids…  But, there’s an important reminder of the why!  In addition, BLW helps baby develop his/her self-confidence and independence.  It also helps make eating more enjoyable- whether that be snacks or family mealtime.  It allows baby to control what they eat, how much they eat and how quickly it’s done.  And, there’s a lot of money saved when families choose to do it this way too!

Also, like so many other aspects of parenting, starting solids and choosing BLW can be very convicting for the parents.  ”Convicting? Why and how so?”, you may ask.  Well, with BLW, most parents choose to let their babies eat what they eat.  If that image gives you a lump in your throat, maybe some change is in order.  Again, to quote the authors, “As long as your own diet is healthy and nutritious there’s no need for separate recipes.”  On this note, let me say, you may choose not to change your habits now and still do some aspects of BLW by allowing your baby to feed him/herself but still making seperate food items for him/her to choose from.  Let me encourage you to make the change now.  Move the family diet to something that you’d be happy for your baby to eat.  The change will need to happen at some point; otherwise, you’ll be looking at a toddler who is begging for pretty unhealthy choices!  Make this a positive move closer to health and wellness for the entire family.  The latest research is showing that our babies health has been affected by what our grandparents ate!  Isn’t that amazing?  So this food thing has so much more to do with a large picture we are just painting a tiny part of…  It’s so sad to me where we are at as a society when it comes to food, but it gives me so much hope to look at where we could be!

Stay tuned, we’ll soon look at the rest of the story…  What should babies be fed, when should it start, and what do the specific how’s look like?