Newborn ailments

It can seem to be a full-time job, helping a newborn adjust to life outside of mama. Peely skin, baby acne, jaundice, diaper rash, clogged tear ducts…not to mention an umbilical cord that needs to heal, feedings to accomplish, thrush, and diapers that need constant changing. Often, I feel like I am helping Mariam achieve balance, and I guess that I am! Clear up one problem, and there is another one. And so it goes – welcome to life little one!

I’m guessing that most of my male readers have checked out for this series. Good thinking, guys. Not to exclude you or anything…but…some of this is definitely for the post-partum or nursing mother.

Let’s whittle away at these problems one by one. (I like to do things as naturally as possible. I love my doctor, but don’t care to visit any more than I have to. Most infant ailments are perfectly treatable at home….but by ALL means, let me offer a disclaimer. If you are ever in doubt and it concerns your child’s health…check with a doctor!)

Jaundice: Most of my babies have had jaundice at birth. Benjamin needed a portable bili-light. Although it made him into an adorable little glo-worm, and eliminated the need for night-lights, it was a pain. Mariam developed a relatively high level at one week of age, but our doctor was willing to give us a few days to see if we could bring it down. I was so thankful! Sunlight can do wonders for jaundice in an infant. We put Mariam in a sunny patch in the living room, wearing just a diaper. We made sure to run a heater a few feet away from her, so that she was not chilled. (In order for this to work your windows can not be UV protected.) We placed her there 3 times a day, for about 15 minutes each. I had to watch that she did not get a sunburn on her tender skin. I also made sure to nurse her every hour and a half to 2 hours, as the excess bilirubin is excreted in the waste. The more frequently they eat, the sooner it is processed out of the body. A jaundiced baby may be sleepy, and hard to feed. You have to work to wake them up, and encourage them to eat. If you are diligent and blessed with sunlight, this method can really work, and it is as effective as the bili-light. With forbearance by our doctor, we were able to avoid the $500 a day bili-light.

Peeling skin: If you soak in amniotic fluid for 9 months, there is bound to be some peeling once you emerge. I’ve always wished to avoid this in my infants, and finally found a way: Olive oil and lavender essential oil. A few drops of the lavender mixed in with a teaspoon of olive oil and rubbed on the baby’s skin works wonders! No more peely hands and feet. It also makes a great cleaner for the diaper area. I have some in a spray bottle that I keep handy for changes. It is very protective of the skin, and leaves baby smelling wonderful. I’m not generally horribly picky, but I will absolutely ONLY use an organic essential oil on a baby’s skin. Essential oils are absorbed by the blood stream in something like 30 seconds – and won’t risk anything but a pure oil on a newborn. I use the Young Living brand. I also have a salve that is carried by Midwives Connection that I think is pretty great for treating other skin ailments. It’s called BabySoft Body Butter.

Clogged Tear Ducts: This one has a very simple remedy, but it can seem weird to the uninitiated. I’ve had several children with clogged tear ducts, and this never fails to clear it up. It’s such a shame for a beautiful little newborn to have goopy eyes, and so frustrating to have to make an appointment, go to the pharmacy, etc., etc., etc.

If you are nursing, you need to put a little breastmilk in the baby’s eye. Nursing mothers can get quite a laugh about the logistics of this when they try to picture how to do this…but it really does work. If you want to, you can express a little bit of milk into a clean cup and use an eye dropper to place it in the baby’s eye. If you are adventurous, you can forego the dropper and make it a challenge to improve your aim.

Whatever your method, be sure and do it every time you feed your baby. You can gently massage along the sinuses (outside of the eye, between the eye and the nose.) Don’t rub too hard – it should just be a small massage. Consistency is important. I’ve had friends who have tried this but given up after a day or so, only to have their child need surgery to unblock the duct. A mother’s milk has THE MOST AMAZING healing properties. God knew what He was doing!

Mastitis: This isn’t a newborn issue, per se, but is a problem often for the mother of a newborn. I used to think that mastitis always required an antibiotic. Now, I realize, that usually if you catch it when it is first setting on, you can head it off before it fully occurs. If you’ve never had mastitis, you may not know when you are coming down with it. If you’ve had it, you’ll probably know!

The most important things to do are: 1) keep nursing on the affected side. You won’t hurt the baby. It is the tissues that are inflamed, not the milk. 2) Nurse frequently. It helps. Really. 3) Drink lots of water. It helps to flush the inflammation out of your body. 4) Rest. 5) Warm moist heat on the afflicted area.  Do these things until you begin to feel better, and you will most likely be able to avoid illness.  This too, is better than a doctor’s visit, a prescription, and 2-3 days of feeling horrible.

These are things that I wish I would have known back with my first baby.  Some day, by the time I am done bearing children, I “might” have figured it all out, but probably not!

Experienced mothers, please feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comment box!