A Poopy Conversation

My sister called me yesterday afternoon,

"SHE POOPED!"

Yes, as a mother I immediately understood her joy and excitement behind those words. There's nothing worse than having a baby (especially tiny infant) who is having bowel problems- be they vomiting, diarrhea, or (and personally I think this is the worse) constipation.

I am a major proponent for breastfeeding. I know that it is a LEARNED trait. Both mom and baby have to learn how to coordinate everything, get all the lips, tongue, nipple, etc all in the right place at the right time. I know it takes about 4 weeks for it to become non-painful and actually routine. That's as true for #1 as it is for #3. Each baby is different, each one has to learn the right way, and each time Mom has to remember how it's done and how much coaching is involved.

My sister was a champ at attempting breastfeeding. She worked so hard, and after battling 30 min stretches of sleep, nursing for 45 min and pumping for an hour, and still her baby would take 4oz of formula afterward, and dealing with mastitis and galactocoeles, her husband said she had to stop. She was willing to try again with baby #2, but quickly saw the same pattern forming and was willing to nurse (well, she pumped) and switched to bottlefeeding completely by 4 weeks.

I admire her. I am impressed that she did so much to try to give her babies a good start! I don't know if I could have stuck with it that well if I'd had as many problems. I also wish I could have lived closer to maybe help her more.

My sister called me when Violet was starting to become constipated (right around the time she was switching to formula only). I said she could switch to a new formula, or she could try watering down the formula. She ended up needing to use suppositories to get the rock-hard stool out. OUCH!

She called me again the day before yesterday and said that she'd asked the pediatrician/nurses and they recommended Karo syrup (dark), and mineral oil. The Karo worked ok, but she wasn't thrilled with giving her baby a daily dose of high fructose corn syrup. She really didn't want to daily dose with mineral oil. Did I have any other ideas?

Again, I urged her to STOP using the suppositories for every poop (one can become dependent on them). I recommended switching formula, but she said that, cost aside, none of the grocery stores carried the type I recommended (Nestle Good Start). I said she could also add prune juice to her bottles. Finally, knowing that me just saying it wasn't going to be enough, I offered to call my friends who bottle fed and see if they had any suggestions.

One of these friends happens to have a doctor for a husband, who walked in the door just as I was calling (serendipity or divine intervention?). He recommended the prune juice as well (about 0.5 to 1 oz in a 4oz bottle). I called Yvonne back and she went that night and got prune juice.

As I was relating this saga to my husband, he started laughing. "So, you had a poopy conversation, huh?" He chuckled more. "Since I've known her, your sister always uses the word "poop" to describe things: ' That's poopy!' about something she doesn't like."

Yeah, she always has had a potty mouth- I responded.

"Maybe a Rainbow Brite potty mouth!"

So, dear sister, and all other mommies out there with whom I've discussed the bodily fluids of our babies, thanks for the Poopy Conversations! I've learned a lot, and I'm so grateful for all your support and tips of advice.