Baby Soothing Tips

I think I’ve mentioned some of the struggles we’ve been having with Harper the last few weeks, including her milk/soy protein allergy, reflux, and tongue & lip tie. In a nutshell, she goes through good and bad days, and at times is in what appears to be extreme discomfort. It honestly kills me. She arches her back because the reflux gets so bad, and her voice gets wheezy because it’s literally burning her throat…her tongue tie causes her to suck in air while feeding and gives her a gassy belly that hurts…her milk protein allergy was causing blood in her stool and a prolapsed rectum. AWFUL THINGS. Things that have made me want to sit in a corner and sob, hysterically, and hurt anyone who couldn’t help me make her feel better. It has definitely brought out the mama bear in me.

In the last 4 weeks I have cut ALL milk protein and soy (literally checking every.single.ingredient. in anything I’m eating) as well as reducing my caffeine intake to one cup of coffee daily. We started Harpy on Zantac for her reflux, and on the 12th she’ll be having her tongue and lip ties cut. ;-( All of this is helping, but there are still really bad hours, and sometimes days. My husband and I have tried everything, literally anything, that claims it will soothe and calm a baby – colic calm, gripe water, simethicone, probiotics, bouncing, rocking, shhh’ing – and we’ve found a few things that are really helping, and I thought I’d share for any of you that may be experiencing similar issues with your littles.

Swaddling is without a doubt the most effective way we’ve found for soothing Harper. We swaddled Camryn for the first 6-8 months also, and knew how calming it could be (Camryn LOVED being swaddled), but we were having horrible luck swaddling Harps for the first few weeks and couldn’t figure out why… And then our Ollie Swaddle arrived and changed everything. Our other swaddles weren’t fitted enough, and didn’t tighten the entire length of her body, which she desperately needed to help soothe her upset tummy. The moisture wicking material is so soft, stretchy, and easy to clean (in the provided washing bag). My husband always comments on how sweet Harper looks swaddled like a little pink mermaid. This was a complete game changer for us.

The Mama Roo is another favorite around our house. It has 5 different motion settings that mimic real life movements, like “car ride” (Harper’s favorite), as well as sounds that soothe (we like the rolling waves). My husband and I have both downloaded white noise app’s on our phones and blast those when she needs extra sound to soothe her. My favorite feature of the MamaRoo is the reclining chair because Harper needs to be upright for at least 30 minutes after every feeding for her reflux. This (somewhat expensive) machine is worth every penny in my opinion, and I’d honestly buy it 3x’s over if I had to. It works miracles, and allows me to be hands free when Harper is sleeping so I can play with my big lady!

In conjunction with swaddling and mamaroo’ing, we’ve begun using a pacifier because Harps was constantly wanting to pacify (either on the boob or sucking on my pinky), and that has helped her learn to self-soothe. We’re giving her a probiotic (Gerber brand), and doing bicycle legs constantly to help her get the gas out. I’ve also changed the way I was burping her from the traditional shoulder lay to a sitting position that looks like I’m strangling her…IT WORKS! Mylicon drops before feedings have also helped to break up the gas bubbles.

Since becoming milk/soy free I have discovered TONS of great food alternatives and recipes and will share those with you soon. They are honestly some of my favorite meals ever, and I would request them on a regular basis even if I could eat milk/soy. They are also 100% paleo.

If any of you have tips/tricks for the baby lady, or yummy paleo recipes to share with me, leave comments below please!!

XO – Samantha