My baby´s smile... now a Laugh!

Ever since my daughter was born she laughed, that was amazing... I always wonder what is she laughing about when she is sleeping, ever since day one she would smile in her sleep and sometimes laugh...

Yesterday was her first "real" laugh, I started talking to her and she just started laughing away, I felt so good since she had a rough day, reflux and I think she is coming down with the flu, my little girl, such a trooper, but yes, her laugh, such a bless, I just felt full of pride and joy.

Her reflux is acting up again and we have been giving her some medicine, I hope this goes away fast.

Be Patient...control your emotions and read

When my daughter was born I felt love, like never before, for her, for my wife and for life in general... I also learned that I needed to pay attention to myself regarding patience... you will need patience but mostly understanding, of each other as a couple, I have never fought with my wife and I love that, but sometimes we disagree in simple things and I have learned never to let arguments lead to a fight, and trust me, when you are washing baby bottles at 3 a.m. your emotions can be all over the place. 

Remember this is a learning experience, you are new to everything that is going on... I noticed myself and other friends that recently had babies that we (as men and dads) expect women to know everything about babies, that is just selfish, I don´t know if it is a cultural thing or what but we tend to do it... read everything you can about taking care of your baby, remember that your partner probably knows as much as you do, don´t put all the responsability on her, be a partner, an equal...

My best recommendation for you new dads is be patient, be patient with your selves, your partner and your baby, you will get used to waking up every 3 hours or so at night... and most of all enjoy every single moment with your baby, it is just wonderful.

I remember the first night we brought our baby home, I was so thrilled and scared, the few moments I fell asleep I woke up immediately to see if she was ok, it was such a huge new experience, as you know it´s been 3 months, we are getting more sleep time and believe me you will get use to doing everything your baby needs in no time, from changing the diapers to preparing the formula with one eye open and half asleep and you´ll do great.

We had a great book, I remember that before my baby was born we spent time toguether  (my wife and I) just reading away everything we could about the birth, feeding and everything involved with getting a newborn home... it really helps a lot being informed and never stop reading, learning and most of all trusting yourself.

Breast feeding, not at all what I imagined

I have to say that breastfeeding is not at all easy, for many women it is easy but for us and many other couples I have met it really hasn't... we did not know and I hope this helps all you new dads that care so much about your new babies that you really want to avoid formula for as long as possible, the first thing you baby should get is the milk produced by your partner, it is so important that you demand to your hospital or wherever your baby will be born that as soon as it can be done they give your baby to its mommy to start breastfeeding, it will not only be good for your baby but also for mommy. 

We didn't do it like that and getting the breastfeeding process started after they already gave my daughter formula was a real pain, and I mean that literary, my wife suffered tremendous pain cause the milk came down as soon as my daughter was born but the hospital staff fed her with the bottle, so the milk in my wife´s breast got stuck, she suffered a great deal because of that.  

I hope hospitals were more conscientious about the fact that BABIES FIRST FOOD NEEDS TO COME FROM THE MOTHER, and I am not saying this because of cultural beliefs, actually its a medical fact.

To us that was difficult, my baby received a lot of formula in the hospital and it was hard for my wife afterwards as I mentioned, but even though we did our best my daughter still got hungry after eating from her mommy, so we consulted our pediatrician and she recommended we gave her some Enfamil, at first it did the job but a couple of days went by and my baby started getting some reactions like little rashes on her skin and she was having a lot of reflux, one of our fears... ACID REFLUX!! Fortunately the doctor told us she was fine, its not acid reflux she said, its a result of intolerance, gladly it wasn't an allergy or a severe case of reflux. Still the news came to change everything again, my baby has an intolerance to the protein that comes from cows so we had to buy a special kind of formula and my wife had to go on strict diet in order to keep feeding her... this was hard, it not only meant my baby has an intolerance and she need extra care, but we had to buy baby bottles by the ton (since my wife went on a strict diet the mil flow decreased), my baby drank more formula and I kept on reading and reading about the protein intolerance.

I am happy to announce that after 3 months she is doing great, my baby is growing healthy and the reflux went away, but it took a lot of sacrifice from my wife, special diets, breast pumps  cause she got constipated since my daughter coudn´t drink her milk for 3 days until her body got rid of the last milk protein trace... I love her for doing all she is doing for our baby.

In conclusion, don´t panic, just follow your doctors instructions and always ask for second opinion, we ended up buying doctor Brown´s bottles, they are really amazing, almost cero collics, and the formula we are using is called  Nutramigen premium and so far it has done an amazing job.

From the dad side I have to say it makes me so happy to see my daughter growing up healthy and happy, on my part all the cleaning and sterilization of the bottles required some serious time... but in the end, I love giving my baby her bottle, such a great time to share...

I am a new Daddy!

Hello friends! I started this blog cause indeed, I AM A NEW DADDY! I am so happy, so many new experiences and emotions, it is just amazing... but it can also be a bit scary, but it is just the best feeling and I thought I would share my expriences with you, I will be posting personal experiences and also other peoples advice, products, and everything related to this wonderful part of life.

I want to start by saying that this kind of love is new, authomatic and above all pure, the moment I say my dauther I felt I loved her, I knew I loved her... without having to expect anything in return, it is just wonderful!