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You would think that we would be pro's when it comes to babies, having gone through this before. Yet, still, we find ourselves falling in the role of Supreme Troubleshooters.

As in, HOW DO WE FIX THIS???

Thank goodness for baby books and the internet, that's all I have to say.

Our first major issue was frequent diaper leaks. I mean, leaks which necessitated full wardrobe changes. Leaks which mysteriously sprung up the sides of his bodysuits. Leaks which seemed to escape snug, impenetrable diaper enclosures. One day, I think we went through 3 full clothing changes in less than 5 hours. ARG.

My mother was researching the internet and kept trying to give us advice. Perhaps we were using the wrong size. Were we using the right brand? ARG.

Our 2 week pediatrician visit, though, proved to be very useful as our pediatrician mentioned off-hand about not forgetting to point it down while diapering. You know, IT. Ah, so that was what we were doing wrong!  It hadn't even crossed our mind that this could be a possibility, but of course. Having had only a girl diapering experience, this opened our eyes to a whole new world: The male genitalia world. Scary!

Since we've been tucking IT down, our leak-springing has been MUCH BETTER.

The other major issue we've been dealing with is fussiness at the breast. But only the right one. For a couple days, he seems like he's getting so frustrated, only on the right side, and ends up giving up in protest and falling asleep. I noticed he'd pull off repeatedly, get mad, go back on, Repeat. Since he wasn't emptying that side and I wasn't hearing that rhythmic gulping, I was initially worried that he wasn't getting enough flow from that side. Although, when he was trying to nurse, he'd often hae milk coming out the sides of his mouth, and when he pulled back, he'd have milk all over his face. Occasionally he'd cough, choke or sputter.

I did an internet search and plugged in my symptoms and found the answer: Overactive let-down. Not low-flow but super heavy-duty flow that he's probably not keeping up with. This is due to an overabundant milk supply that hasn't auto-regulated yet, not actually related to let-down per se. Tips for making this better are to vary nursing positions, especially in favor of positions that use gravity to our favor by placing his mouth above the flow, such as nursing with the baby nearly sitting up or lying on top of the breast. Pumping a little first can also apparently help.

So, I tried positioning him with myself more reclined, so that his head was higher and it seemed to do the trick. No coughing, no sputtering, no mad, mad baby.

What did we do before having all this information at our fingertips?