I’ve always been the friend who gives very tactical, pragmatic advice. It’s not right for every situation, but for sleep deprived new moms, I’ll try to get to the point pretty quickly.

This is part 1 since we’re in the midst of trialing some other solutions in the sleep/eczema/gut health spaces. Depending on how they go, I’ll write a part 2 on that space. If this interests you, subscribe to get part 2!

Feeding

Someone once told me having a reflux baby means you have a different version of motherhood—and I agree. It’s hard, no doubt about it. And if you’re in that camp, solidarity girl. But outside of the “hold upright for 10–20 minutes” rule, here’s what’s working for us:

• Put a pacifier in right after a feed while holding baby upright
  → Helps them swallow spit-up back down (sounds gross, but better than it ending up on you, your floor, or your hair).

• During the feed, hold baby more upright (almost sitting) instead of side-lying while breastfeeding. Basically means my arm is going down behind babe’s back to support him sitting and feeding.
  → Horizontal positions = more spit-up
  → Boppy/nursing pillows didn’t work for us for this reason

• Bibs, bibs, more bibs. We’ve tried 5 different bibs and like these Gerber baby ones best. They are wide rather than long which is helpful because spit up can come out of the side of the mouth often, and they are lined with fleece on the back which makes them more absorbent than other unlined or muslin ones. We’ll eventually grow into plastic, but like these opotions pre-solids.
  → I don’t snap them in the back (paranoia about choking) and just tuck it behind him

• The art of the burp. Every reflux mom knows that a baby is not comfortable until that burp (or 2 or 3) comes out after the feed. But it can be hard to do so without feeling like you are patting their back for 5 minutes. SO this sounds crazy but it works… Put baby over your shoulder so their chin is above your shoulder (you can place hand on back of neck lightly to provide head control if needed). THEN, and this is key, then you will walk up and down the stairs twice. The light pressure walking up and down puts on their stomach is the perfect amount for releasing a burp

Transitioning to Formula

Whether it’s CMPA, being done breastfeeding, or any other reason—this transition can be tricky. It’s a longgg story of why we transitioned but as someone who really wanted to be EBF, it felt like a double whammy when I had no idea how to transition little guy to all bottles and all formula overnight.

What helped us:

• “Wash” the bottle nipple with breast milk
  → Our baby refused hypoallergenic formula at first, but this made a big difference

• Gradual transition over 4–5 days:

  • Day 1: 0.5 oz formula + the rest breast milk

  • Day 2: 1 oz formula

  • Day 3: 50/50

  • Day 4: 75% formula

  • Day 5: 100% formula (still washing the bottle)

• Switch to a slower-flow nipple. We used to do 1 bottle a night of pumped breast milk using the smallest size of Pigeon, but that is still larger than the Dr. Brown wide neck size 1. We knew he needed something slower because he would make large gulping noises then cough a little then pull back and cry. Poor lil guy was getting overwhelmed! Keep in mind breast fed babies will often do best with “wide neck” nipples on bottles.

• A warm bottle isn’t always the answer. For us, the only thing that worked was to keep the bottle very cold (but not the bottle nipple at first)
  → The cold factor is likely because he had to transition to an extremely hypoallergenic medical grade formula that is amino acid only/elemental. Having it cold masks the taste better than having it warm

Transporting Bottles

Skip the traditional cooler and get a Packit. I turned my SIL and my best friend on to these and they’ve never looked back. The entire bag is an ice pack, so you throw the full thing into the freezer. No more stray ice packs! I first discovered these when I needed a way to transport Humira and keep it cold from New York to Paris…and it worked!

• I use this one for quick errands and fits 1-2 bottles depending on size

• I purchased this one for an upcoming long haul flight where I’m going to need several bottles. And reminder a cooler doesn’t count against your personal carry on quota on Delta/United/American!

Cradle Cap

We’ve tried everything (mustela/crappy cappy/frida mom/J&J/tubby todd)—and our son still has it.

What’s worked best so far:

• Frida Mom cradle cap system
  → The brush + comb combo is great, superior to other combs and soft bristle brushes we’ve tried. Use VERY LIGHT pressure, remember babies have soft spots!
  → Bonus: our son actually enjoys it and our pediatrician told us it’s because we’re essentially helping him scratch an itch because babies don’t understand how to do that.

Eczema

This one is tough—and we haven’t fully figured it out yet. More to come in part 2 (and likely a 3 and 4). We’ve tried steroids and creams, but personally I’m pretty conservative when it comes to steroid use. My goal is to ultimately bring a functional health approach, which means looking to activity in his gut to as the source of inflammation.

We used the Tiny Health test, which revealed imbalances and helped guide a tailored probiotic. Iwill do a separate post on this, but I’m generally a fan of gut-first data for anything inflammation-related. Code REF-AVANAS0478 will give you $40 off if you want to try!

Sleep, Probiotics, and Gut Health

Will do a deeper dive in part 2 for each of these topics as they are actively something we’re actively solving right now! And no the sleep method is not cry it out :)

Some real talk

Comparison is the thief of joy, and it’s a special kind of evil when it comes to the postpartum phase. I admittedly got caught in the social media spiral watching daily schedules with time stamps, babies who sleep through the night, PP weight loss hacks….and it all overwhelmed me. I’ve never really been someone to compare or envy on social media, but blame it on the hormones or lack of sleep, seeing other moms have it easier was really ruining me. And yes social media is fake but why pour salt on an open wound? I felt infinitely better when I stopped taking advice from momfluencers and started trusting my gut and using data to solve my problems. And yes, I understand the irony of me writing this :)

And finally, none of us kmow what we are doing! It’s going to be ok! I tell myself this every morning in the mirror after a night of no sleep. If you have a great hack that’s worked for you, please reply here or DM me on insta. Crowdsourcing mom advice feels more valuable than gold coins in my pockets right now.

You’re doing great honey xx

TGG

The nursery has been my favorite room to decorate and the only one I would consider “done” in the house currently. Nothing like a hard deadline ( a new human entering your world!) to force decision making.

I had three guiding principles when designing the nursery

1. Bring in whimsy and play that would still mature well

2. Bring in “story pieces”—items with meaning or sentiment behind them

3. Bring in tasteful organization to hedge the chaos of kids! play! and diapers! so many diapers

To move from abstract constraints to a furnished room, I spent lots of time browsing, scrolling, clicking, and sourcing. And now it’s my time to pay it forward to the internet, including a guidebook of sorts to the room and where I sourced it all. For reference, everything I used in the nursery can be found here, but I’ll break it down below.

1. Whimsy and play

Two main ways I brought this in was color and shape. Most of the furniture is curved in some way and there no sad beige baby happening here. For the color palette, I think it’s always easier to start with an item or couple of items you love, rather than pick the colors first (decision paralysis). For me, it was the Palais lampshade and baby quilt that inspired the palette. More on those later.

With shape, I went for curved lines in furniture where possible—think crib, dresser, and even bookshelves—and organic movement, like in this Ballard Designs mirror. I kept the furniture largely neutral so it could grow with baby an changing tastes, and brought in color with pretty much everything else.

2. Story pieces

Bringing pieces with heritage in the room made it feel special, which is deserving considering babies ARE one of a kind! My stories are things I want to share with him, as well as stories I want us to embark on in the future (hello manifesting).

The Palais lampshade, Chagall art, and lumiere candles are a nod to travels in Europe, where baby boy and his cousin took a trip together in utero! And me wishing/hoping/praying many more travels across the pond with him in the future, oui oui!

The Haptic Lab quilt is of the Catskills, and the locations embroidered happen to be all the areas my husband and I have visited over the years. This is a very special Brooklyn based brand that makes map quilts of areas throughout the country. Bonus, you can get the quilts personalized.

And finally, the Nestig wallpaper is an upgrade from the glow in the dark stars I had growing up, although I’m sure he’ll want those when he’s older. And I’m sure I’ll be giving in.

3. Organization

Closed door storage is a lesson I learned the hard way, when open shelves overwhelmed my tiny NY apartment with a view of clutter in my early 20s. Fast forward to now, I have a new appreciation for cabinet doors.

The new Ikea Fryksas collection looks more expensive than it is, and the shelves are wide+deep enough to hold these blue checkered bins from target (toys/blankets/etc). We mixed in these pieces with the dresser from Jake Arnold’s Crate and Kids collection—I fear a matching bedroom set, and love the mix of texture across rattan and walnut. The dresser doubles as our changing table with the Keekaroo perfectly fitting on top. Small but important are the drawer dividers, a simple basic pack from amazon that allows us to bring some sanity to the pile of bibs and onesies and undershirts galore. Currently, each drawer is for a different stage across 0-3 months, 3-6, and 6+ months.

4. Bonus!

If you’ve gotten this far, take this design tip from me: get the washable rug for newborn stage. Yes they are plasticy and yes they are more like mats than true rugs. But hear me out, I originally purchased a beautiful dusty blue hand knitted wool rug because I wanted to stick to natural fibers with baby. Turns out he is a “happy spitter” and soon the wool was simply a landing pad for milk that came right back up. Looked bad, smelled worse, and we used 4 different cleaning methods before I called it quits. Get the washable one and move to a natural fiber when they actually start crawling/coming into contact with the rug.

I love and ended up with this gingham one from Annie Selke!

The part of the nursery I’m still working on? How to get a baby to successfully sleep through the night! Send tips :)

This was fun, thanks for indulging me!

Ava

So I turned to the doctor I trust most when it comes to supplements (and who, I might add, healed my SIBO and SIFO through the regimen she gave me): Dr. Sarah Steinberg to weigh in on the topic.

This post is a run down on what we were looking for and where we landed

*Obligatory disclaimer: For any wellness/health focused content, I provide this information to empower you as a patient to ask your doctor questions (because well you don’t know what you don’t know). BUT please don’t take this as personalized medical advice, all guts and gals are different!*

Nuances to Look for in a Prenatal

• CoQ10 + NAC for egg quality and support. Going a higher amount is more important in the TTC phase, but once pregnant, there’s limited evidence around safety so probably good to taper. Dr Steinberg’s rule of thumb? You probably don’t need more than 50 mg of CoQ10 (there will be special exceptions to this, that’s why its a rule of thumb!).
  

• Methylated folate (instead of folic acid) for folks with IBD or celiac who have a harder time absorbing regular folic acid. Also for those who don’t tolerate folic acid well (can cause headaches/anxiety/insomnia in some).
  

• Third-party testing to prove the potency and purity is accurate on the label. Fullscript makes it easy to tell what is third party tested with their enhanced testing badge. I generally get all my supplements here. The link above will bring you to Dr. Steinberg’s Fullscript account where you can access the Prenatal/Pregnancy options and you can get a 15% discount on all Fullscript products here. (No! I’m not making any money off this, I’m including it since you need a provider account to purchase through fullscript, and this link allows you to do that)
  

• Choline

  • Most prenatals are too low in choline, which is necessary for baby’s brain development, memory, and neural tube formation. Existing research targeted getting in the high 400s for mg/dose but more recent research coming out of Strupp/Levitsky suggests going to 930 mg per dose.

“ We hypothesize that adolescent offspring born to women in the 930 mg/day group will perform better in domains of attention, memory, executive function, and mental health than offspring of women in the 480 mg/day group. This study is unique because the total maternal choline intake is precisely known, and the offspring are followed into adolescence, a time when group differences are indicative of lifelong effects of prenatal intervention.”

• Look for choline citrate over choline bitartrate, it tends to be more bioavailable (will actually be absorbed) and facilitates magnesium absorption. Ritual choline (the stand alone, not the prenatal) uses choline citrate if you can’t find it in your prenatal and want to layer it into your regimen. You can use 1 cap daily (550mg) for prenatal/early pregnancy and go up to 2 caps for the 3rd trimester.

• DHA/EPA

  • You may already be taking an Omega3 fatty acid, but when you get pregnant, you want to switch to one with a higher ratio of DHA:EPA for fetal brain development. EPA is great for cardiovascular health and inflammation in adults, but DHA is the primary structural fat in the fetal brain and retina. Because it takes A LOT of DHA to help build a baby’s brain, your own DHA stores can get depleted during pregnancy, so you should keep taking this one for 9-12 months post-partum. There are a lot of good ones out there, but Thorne makes a nice prenatal DHA and it’s only 2 capsules.

Note: this is not an exhaustive list of total ingredients a prenatal should have, but rather things that can be hard to spot otherwise

Flags to Be Aware Of

• Some prenatals include iron. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing (I took additional iron supplements myself) and some people need it. But just a flag, iron can upset your stomach and cause (or worsen) constipation.

Where we landed

• Xymogen – This is the one I ended up taking. It’s 5 pills a day (which is a lot), BUT checked all the boxes above. Plus, it didn’t upset my tummy and my hair is still going strong in PP. that counts for something
  

• Close runner ups were Thorne Prenatal, Needed and FullWell. The latter two almost made the cut but didn’t have the form of choline we were looking for. I could have added a separate choline citrate supplement, but who wants more pills? Honestly, you can’t go “wrong” with either of these. If they are missing things it’s on the margin.
  

Extra Credit (pregnancy and probiotics)

Many of you have heard me go back and forth on probiotics. I think they’re often used too liberally, and most are nonspecific “do-nothingers” if they aren’t tailored to your gut.

However, B. infantis is one exception. It can be helpful because you want your baby to receive it from you. Microbiome labs makes a great product - Pregnancy support - that provides B. infantis but also lots of good bacteria for the changing vaginal microbiome (estroblome). This is also on Fullscript!

I skipped this one—and now, with a baby who has gut challenges, I wish I hadn’t.

Extra Extra Credit

If you don’t like swallowing pills, here’s a trick: tilt your head down when swallowing. It makes it easier!

Cheers,

ThatGutGirl

I started ThatGutGirl initially to sift through the sheer amount of NOISE that surrounded gut health and nutrition. There was a world of wellness, waiting to cure my bloat with just one gummy.

How enticing! How…deceptive.

What I found, through a maze of providers, podcasts and books, and what was in retrospect likely an obsessive amount of information consumption, was that the best advice was science backed, evidence driven, and guided by trained practitioners. And with ThatGutGirl, I wanted to curate an edit of the world of wellness, to share tactics around recipes, supplements, and workouts that all were effective in my journey.

And now, as I enter a new chapter of life, motherhood sounds and looks much the same. I find a similar noisiness with motherhood, with promises of 12 hours of sleep if you JUST have the right sleep environment for baby. Of 12 oz pump and pours, from just ONE power pumping session! Of 9 week abdomen bounce backs, with new moms proudly reclaiming their 6 pack. But for every claim, it seems there is also a Wizard of Oz behind the curtain. A sigh, I’ve seen this plot before.

In wellness and health, there is science—which I am a strong champion for— and there is nuance. Of knowing your body or your baby, when something feels just a little off, and that is intuition.

This is hard to capture in 90 second reels, it needs time, it needs references, it needs expert opinions! I’m hoping a longer form newsletter is the place where those nuances can shine.

So with Trust Your Gut, I hope to continue to curate the world of wellness, now alongside the world of motherhood.

What you’ll find with Trust Your Gut

• Personal experience- what I’m working through, what has previously worked, who I worked with, and the results

• Clinical credibility- There are enough non-licensed people doling out advice on the internet. When we’re talking health, I’ll pull in a provider to weigh in with references to research when I can

• Whimsy- health and wellness are at the core, but your author loves an artful delight and “the hunt” (IYKYK). So you may find a curated set of general favorites at a given time. I do love a good find ;)

Here’s to trusting the process—

ThatGutGirl(mom!)

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