Many women look up to motherhood, because being a mom is a great achievement. It is a beautiful feeling to be able to get pregnant, carry the pregnancy full term and deliver safely to nurse one’s baby. But after the excitement of bringing a child in the world comes the hard part, nursing and caring for your baby.
As a mother, you deal with lots of dirty nappies. You have sleepless nights and you hardly have time for yourself, you no longer do your own things first but you come second because your baby comes first. That’s some of the things many women know about being first time mothers.
But in reality, some of these things are nothing compared to some shock some mothers have after seeing their babies for the first time or as they get older. There are some surprises along this almost unending journey of motherhood. Most women are at a loss of what to do when they are faced with these situations because they didn’t prepare for it.
Mrs. Oluchi Nwokedi didn’t prepare for what she saw after her baby was handed to her last year May. Her head looked so strange, she almost starting crying at the sight of her baby’s head. Being a beautiful woman, she had envisioned a picture-perfect baby, round, rosy, and cute. But the reverse was the case.
She said: ‘’My newborn’s head looked a little strange and cone-shaped at first. They say it’s because of the way her tiny head was pressed against my cervix during my prolonged vaginal delivery. Her imperfections got to me. She even had few bruises on her face. I was afraid she won’t look as beautiful as me or her father. But today, I see a beautiful baby.
Mrs. Nwokedi noted that another thing she was unaware of while getting ready to be a mom was the fact that her baby would jumpy. After spending months curled up in a bag of water inside her cozy womb, she now has all the space in the world to move, with no restrictions on her limbs. ‘’And because she jerks a lot, I became scared something was wrong with her. I was just being over protective because in the end, she was certified okay and healthy. She said.’’
But the one that stressed her out the most was that she was always hungry. In the first weeks, after she delivered her, she felt as if she was feeding her around the clock. But she later understood that her frequent demands are nature’s way of increasing my milk supply to meet her growing appetite.
She later discovered that breastfed babies tend to eat more frequently, because breast milk is more quickly digested and more completely absorbed than formula.So she devoted more of her time to breastfeeding her baby and gave her little formula just to balance her eating pattern.
I felt that as long she was gaining weight and had no abdominal pain or bloating, her pooping frequency was fine. It can be hard to distinguish normal bowel movements from diarrhea, particularly if one is nursing. My best bet was to become familiar with what’s usual for my baby.’’
She also learnt to do away with old wives tales when it comes to caring for her baby. Anything she didn’t understand was directed to her doctor. That way, she didn’t jeopardize her baby’s health.