Certainly there are thousands of things I couldn’t have known until I face motherhood in the face myself, however, there are just some things I thought were impossible to have known through reading online etc.
Mostly, I was flabbergasted when when I found these out.
1) Babies store milk in their nipples. I was shocked when my CL showed me, she even squeezed my baby’s nipples and milk squirted out. Later, I found out you should be squeezing them, and they are also caused my hormones from the mother while in the final stages of pregnancy. They eventually will not have it anymore…
2) Breastfed babies don’t poo daily
In the first month, Josiah would do a No.2 in nearly every diaper change. So, I was surprised when he completely stopped pooing after one month old..I was so worried until I found out that breastfed babies only have bowel movements a several days up to 2 weeks. This is in fact good news as it means less mess and diaper washing.
3) Growth spurts
Babies have growth spurts at 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months when they will need to grow extra a lot and exponentially. At exactly 1 month old, Josiah started a feeding frenzy, he would feed on and on for hours without rest. At that time, I was frustrated and feeling crazy and wondering why, until I found out. Well, now I’m happy to let him feed as long as he’s growing healthily and having lots of wet diapers. It’s satisfying to watch him grow bigger each day.
4) Cloth diapering
I was using traditional cloth diaper in the first month and disposables at nights…until I discovered modern pocket diapers and started using them, and they are just amazing! They keep my baby dry and my sanity of laundry, not having to fold them dozens of diapers..this deserves a separate post.