Transcript: Birthmarks, Stork Bites and Belly Buttons

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Newbies
Birth Marks, Stork Bites and Belly Buttons

[00:00:00]

Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

[Theme Music]

CINDY CATHIE: When you have your baby you study every tiny inch from her sweet little body from head to toe she’s perfect. But what is that on her butt? Is that a bruise? You finally get your little one home and you wait and wait for her umbilical cord to fall off but it hasn’t yet. Is it supposed to look like that? When should you call your pediatrician? I’m Cindy Cathie. Certified postpartum doula, trained lactation educator, childbirth educator and you’re listening to Newbies.

[Intro/Theme Music]

KRISTEN STRATTON: Welcome to Newbies broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. Newbies is your online, on-the-go support group guiding new mothers through their baby’s first year. I'm your host, Kristen Stratton. I'm also a certified birth doula and postpartum doula. I’m the owner of In Due Seasonal Doula Services. If you haven't already, be sure to visit our website at www.newmommymedia.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also subscribe to our show through iTunes so you'll automatically get new episodes when they're released. Sunny is here to tell us about other ways you can participate in our new show.

SUNNY GAULT: Okay. So we want to hear from you guys. We want to hear from the listeners and we want you guys to be part of Newbies. We have several segments that you can get involved with. So the easiest thing for you is to head on over to our website at www.newmommymedia.com, click on the Newbies show link and that is going to take you to the Newbies show page and click on the Segments and you will see all the different segments. But there’s a couple I want to highlight right now. We have an Ask the Experts segment where you guys can submit your questions you have for you and your newborn babies, anything that’s going on in your life. Like oh I’m not sure if that’s quite right, we’ll definitely have our experts look into that for you and we’ll include your question and the answer on a future episode.

We’re always looking for fun apps to talk about. Did you guys know New Mommy Media has a brand new network app out there? All of our individual shows have their own apps. And so we want to know what apps you guys are using? What’s making parenthood and life just more interesting and helpful? What’s helping you right now app wise? So let us know what that is. We can talk about it on the show. We could do kind of a little review of it and put a link up on the website. And yes, there are a couple different ways. You can go to the contact link on our website to submit for any of those. You can also call our voicemail at 619-866-4775 if you want actually to tell your story yourself as opposed to Kristen and I telling it. If you want to share your story go ahead and leave a message. No one is going to pick up the phone so just leave a message and we’ll take care of that. We’ll get it on the show on a future episode.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Alright. Let’s introduce our panelists.

RUTHII SLATTUM: I’m Ruthii Slattum. I’m 28 years old and I own two businesses. I own Mama Ruthii which is a complete postpartum care and lactation support—sorry. That was the baby burp. I have 3 three children. I have a 5 year old boy and I have a 2 ½ year old girl and then Piper here is 3 months.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: My name is Turiana. I’m 27. I’m a stay at home mom of two. My daughter is 3 ½ and Elliot here is 5 months.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: I’m Stephanie Glover. I’m 33. I’m also the host of Preggie Pals. I’m a trained child birth educator as well. I have two children ages 4 and 2. Gretchen is my 4 year old and Lydia is my younger 2.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And I’ll go ahead and introduce myself too because I have some experience with our topic today. I am Kristen Stratton. I am the host of the show but I’m also the proud mama of 3 kids. I have a 5 year old daughter, a 3 soon to be 4 year old son, and a two year old son. Thank you Piper.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright. So before we kick off with our topic today—talking about birth marks, stork bites and more, we’re going to talk about a big baby that was born in India. So this baby came out at 13 lbs. a baby boy, delivered to a 25 year old mama via emergency cesarean and is being described by doctor as a miracle. So the mother weighs 220 lbs and is diabetic—increased in the risk of obesity in the offspring and that’s according to medical professionals. Anyways, this is a big deal in India. I know—I actually did some research when I first saw the headline I was kind of like is 13 lbs really big and I had a 9lb baby and I know we probably all have our own little stories like seeing big babies or being birth buddies with other big babies or whatever. But I think I’ve heard of other babies being bigger in the US or whatever. So I kind of want to do a little comparison. I found some information on the internet which is 100% reliable. And the biggest baby that was born according to record right, because we did not keep track of this way back when was 22lbs, 28 inches long.

RUTHII SLATTUM: That is this. That is this size.

KRISTEN STRATTON: I was going to say yes. In Seville, Ohio. Ohio is actually my birth state. So go Ohio on our big babies! But this took place in January 1879 - right because you know it had to come out one way. Mom was 7’11’’. That’s the mother. So gives you an idea of perhaps why . . .

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Was the father equally as large or was he like—

KRISTEN STRATTON: No it actually didn’t give any information about that and the baby did pass certainly after. It’s just kind of a sad story. But then in Italy, the second one that I found was again a 22-pounder so apparently the ounces were the distinguishing factor here. And that was in September 1955, so not that far ago. But anyway it just got me thinking about big old babies. What is the biggest baby you guys have seen personally like newborn baby?

RUTHII SLATTUM: 11lb 3oz

SUNNY: 11lb 3oz? Okay.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: 11 ½

SUNNY GAULT: 11 ½?

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes I think somewhere in the 10s something over the ounces

RUTHII SLATTUM: Now I’m like flabbergasted. I’ve never seen a larger baby than my own babies.

SUNNY GAULT: This article says newborns typically weigh between 5lbs 8oz and 8lbs 13oz. so when you look at that, 13 lbs is a lot.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: It’s impressive.

SUNNY GAULT: I mean when I was pregnant with my twins they got up to be like 5 1/2 lbs each so that’s 11

KRISTEN STRATTON: Plus the placenta, the amniotic fluid. That’s a lot of weight.

SUNNY GAULT: Yes. Right? So whatever India.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Good job Sunny. Good job with that. You should.

CINDY CATHIE: The point of the story is go Ohio.

KRISTEN STRATTON: So really we’re just advertising your state. That’s all this was.

SUNNY GAULT: Pretty much

[Theme Music]

KRISTEN STRATTON: Today on Newbies we’re discussing birthmarks, stork bites and belly buttons. Our expert, Cindy Cathie is a CAPPA certified postpartum doula, trained lactation educator and childbirth educator. Thanks so much for joining us Cindy and welcome to the show.

CINDY CATHIE: Thank you for having me.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Cindy as a childbirth educator and postpartum doula, you are working with parents before and after the babies are born. Are you available to explain to your childbirth students or at your postpartum consultations what birthmarks they might see on their babies when they are born?

CINDY CATHIE: We do that because no new mom is ready actually for the picture of what she births. They don’t know about vernix, they don’t know about wonky heads and so we do cover birthmarks. Yes.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And can you explain what a café au lait spot is?

CINDY CATHIE: Just like what is sounds like, it looks like, it’s a pigmented spot on the baby that’s just like the color of milky coffee. Café au lait sounds better.

KRISTEN STRATTON: It does sound good.

RUTHII SLATTUM: Milky coffee

KRISTEN STRATTON: And what do Mongolian spots look like?

CINDY CATHIE: They look like bruises. They’re bluish in color and they’re usually on the back, just at the top of the bottom and the lower spine.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And do those usually last beyond infancy?

CINDY CATHIE: They can because they are pigmented birthmarks. A lot of times they are mistaken for bruises. And there’s you know when a child is brought into a pediatrician or something, sometimes abuse is mistaken for a Mongolian birth mark.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes so that would definitely be something you’d want to discuss with your provider or your child’s school.

CINDY CATHIE: Yes exactly.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Okay. That’s good to know. And what are salmon patches or stork bites?

CINDY CATHIE: Okay so different from pigmentin which are like moles and café au lait, the stork bites and angel kisses, they’re macular stains. They’re pigments that are blood vessels that come up in the surface on certain areas. And salmon patches are kind of like the name and depending on where they are, they’re given different names. Like on the back of the neck, they call them stork bites. On the face and around the nose and the eyes they call them angel kisses but basically the same thing.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Okay. And what do hemangiomas look like?

CINDY CATHIE: They’re a little different. They’re more raised strawberry patches—you’ve heard that? Because they have the texture of a strawberry. They can be poofy so much more raised than the first two.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Okay. And what do port wine stains look like?

CINDY CATHIE: Again.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Per size. If you’re watching us five, you get a visual demo.

CINDY CATHIE: Port wine looks like port wine.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Just the spelling

CINDY CATHIE: Absolutely. Yes

KRISTEN STRATTON: And panelists, do you have any experiences with birthmarks on your babies?

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: My daughter has a red mark on her wrist which I didn’t know a thing about at first. There’s something wrong with her wrist. It’s just a small little dot. Looks like might have gotten poked with something sharp or something like that. But she still has it at 3 ½ and it’s not going away which is whatever. It’s an interesting little mark. She also has a white—I don’t know what it’s called but just like a white patch on the skin on her torso. I have one on my back. My brother and my sister also have one. I don’t know if they’re hereditary. I don’t even know what they are called. But it’s very interesting.

CINDY CATHIE: Was she born with it?

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Yup

CINDY CATHIE: Then it’s hereditary. It’s congenital

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Yes I decided. If he doesn’t have anything—it’s interesting. It may have come from my dad then because my brother and sister have so it’s interesting.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And Stephanie?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: I have—those of you just listening, I have a huge port wine stain on my left arm onto my left breast. And I expected to have children with birthmarks. Actually my cousin has a white large birthmark on the exact same spot that I do and my sister has café au lait, my mom had café au lait. Just kind of all mixed up. But my first has nothing and when Lydia was born, the pediatrician made a mistake and was trying to treat a diaper rash but it’s actually in the inside of her bottom. So she has like a little port wine, tiny but it’s there. So we were treating a birth mark. That was not a rash. And I also noticed on the inside of her arm, she does have a little spot like café au lait too.

KRISTEN STRATTON: My daughter, she has a stork bite and it’s actually in a shape of a star and she had no hair for the first three years of her life. It was really cute. It was a little star at the back of her head. She has also has two café au lait spots in the middle of her back. She’s three times less with birth marks. Not my second child but with my third, he also has café au lait spots on one of his legs next to his knee. My husband has one too. I don’t have any birthmarks that I can see. But I think it must be some hereditary component on it.

CINDY CATHIE: And a lot of times they’re not yet present at birth. Some of the stork bites, they appear later. Like I have a niece that was a beautiful little baby and then about two weeks she got a strawberry mark about here and it became like orbit chef. You know that huge thing? So she had that her whole toddlerhood but it was gone by kindergarten. But sometimes they come a week or two later.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes that’s true. I think the café au lait show up later because my son, my youngest didn’t have his show up until probably 12 months. Maybe some exposure has something to do with it too but same as with my daughter’s café au lait but her stork bite showed up pretty soon after she was born.

CINDY CATHIE: Did that grow as you grew?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: No it stayed—I mean it kind of grew with my skin. I have little patches where it seems like maybe it was stretched, maybe it was freckled to begin with. Doctors told my parents it might be gone by the time she’s 7. No. it’s still hanging on. But what’s really interesting is that my fingers are actually, like my ring sizes are larger on the fingers with the pigments.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Are you left handed?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: No I’m right handed. But my wedding ring like on one side it would be size 6 something but it’s 8.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes because I heard the hand that you write with is the hand that typically is larger probably because you use it more so the muscles—

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yes it’s almost like visually obvious fat pink fingers on my left side

KRISTEN STRATTON: You’re beautiful Stephanie. You’re beautiful.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: I like it much more now than I did as a kid.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes of course. I’m sure kids can be challenged sometimes when things are different

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Right.

KRISTEN STRATTON: So Cindy are birthmarks typically with you throughout your entire life? Dosome go away? Do some require treatment?

CINDY CATHIE: Yes a lot of them do fade with age but then others don’t. And depending on where they are like the stork bite and angel kisses they can be in a nose or in an ear. I had a baby that it was growing on her lobe of her ear and as it moved in they treated it. And it would be with steroids and or silver nitrate that would kind of burn them off but that would be a time when if you’re concerned, you seek your pediatrician’s help.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Okay well my daughter had a hemangioma inside her nose and it was actually causing—well she snored like a bear but they said sometimes those do shrink and go away but hers did not. So we ended up having it removed surgically so she wouldn’t snore like a bear.

CINDY CATHIE: And of course any baby born with a mole, you need to keep your eye on those. And then port wine stains, if it causes the child concern, if it’s something that bothers your child or you’re concerned about it because they’re harmless but they can be treated too.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Okay. Stephanie I’m just curious about you and your everyday life and do people stare? What happens?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Kids are so funny because they are unfiltered. I always know. I know if a kid is looking at me for more than one second. I know exactly what they’re looking at. It’s fun actually. I can make a game out of it because if I push on it actually turns white. So if I put all my fingers together, I can make paw prints on it and win any child over in a second. And that’s actually in school I would do that too and kids get weird about it or thinking they could catch it. I would just show them like look actually it turns purple when I’m cold which is kind of cool and it’s like bright pink when it’s really hot out like a thermometer.

RUTHII SLATTUM: It’s like a mood mark.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yes and I would like kids to kind of push on it. But it’s good you know, uncomfortable piece of it.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes you know I’m really glad you came on the show for that reason because some parents might be worried about that like oh my kid has this birthmark and it’s big or it’s in a really obvious place. How—they’re going to be traumatized forever. How are they going to get through their life and I’m glad to see that you can come out and say it’s not going to ruin their life.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: It won’t and I really don’t even see it anymore. When I was younger I would wear higher collars and then Iwouldn’t really even notice until someone asks what it is.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Well thank you.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: You’re welcome.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: So I’m curious. My personal experience with birth marks. I have one on the back of my right leg it’s kind of like the middle thigh area so sometimes you see it, sometimes you don’t depending on how short my skirt is.

KRISTEN STRATTON: I think that we’re meeting each other in a very intimate level.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: My kids think I have a marker on my leg and it’s like no. I don’t. my question is—I’d ask my mom these questions about my birth and she told me it just started out as a little, little, tinyred dot she’s like you couldn’t even see it and not that it’s super big now but it’s definitely something that sometimes people ask me about—people ask me when I was younger. Do you see that the birth marks can kind of grow with the person?

CINDY CATHIE: They can. From the research I studied. I don’t usually follow a family that long. But what color is it?

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: It’s a—it’s more like port wine.

CINDY CATHIE: They’ve been known to grow, the port wine. So you have a port wine birth mark.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: I guess. It’s pretty tiny. I’ll show you. My shorts are a little long today.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Take a picture and put it on the website, have everyone analyze it.

CINDY CATHIE: Exactly.

KRISTEN STRATTON: But I guess if anyone had any questions they could consult with their pediatrician or a pediatric dermatologist.

CINDY CATHIE: Exactly. Yes.

[Theme Music]

KRISTEN STRATTON: Welcome back to the show. We are talking with Cindy Cathie about birth marks and belly button care. Cindy what happens—oh thank you. Elliot’s going to help me. He’s going to help me make the show far more entertaining. Thank you Elliot. Cindy, what happens to a baby’s umbilical cord afterhe is born?

CINDY CATHIE: You mean once they cut it?

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes.

CINDY CATHIE: And then they put a little clamp on it and they’re just waiting for it to dry up like a scab. That’s all it is. It’s dead blood.

SUNNY GAULT: And that’s not something—the baby can’t feel that at all?

CINDY CATHIE: Not at all.

SUNNY GAULT: My husband is kind of weirded out by that. He’s like I don’t know if I should cut this. I’m like no they can’t feel it.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And if a mother has delivered in a hospital, how is the baby’s umbilical cord cared for until they get discharged?

CINDY CATHIE: It used to be the AP would say rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. But they don’t anymore. They found that just leaving it alone, it heals faster. They’ve done studies and it heals faster than the belly buttons that are messed with rubbing alcohol. No that should not help it come off faster. Just keeping it dry is the best thing. Clean and dry.

KRISTEN STRATTON: You know that is what I did with my first was with rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip kind of on the exterior because that’s what they were recommending. So it hopefully that wasn’t causing her any harm or pain. I kind of feel bad about that now.

SUNNY GAULT: I was totally mortified after my first born because I was waiting and waiting for the belly button—you know the skin stump to fall off or whatever. And it was there one day, you know it kind of had like a zipped up one syonners something like that or a sleeper and then the next day it wasn’t there. I was like where did it go?

KRISTEN STRATTON: The mysterious belly button.

SUNNY:Well we do have a dog. Because I did not sweep it up, you know I did not have any other kids that time. One can only deduce that the dog has the beef jerky.

KRISTEN STRATTON: I’m pretty sure that happened with one of my three. In the haze of having three kids in three years, I don’t recall which child it was but I’m pretty sure there was one. I think it was my second child where same thing. It came off and was never seen or heard from again. So that may have also happened where the dog came upon it and took care of it for me.
Cindy when should the parents call their pediatricianand they think their child’s belly button is infected?

CINDY CATHIE: well they’ll see he normal signs, redness, swelling, the baby has fever, the baby vomiting. If there’s an odor sometimes the belly button has pus definitely, immediately call the pediatrician.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And how does the pediatrician usually treat a belly button that has not healed inan appropriate amount of time?

CINDY CATHIE: They would use something to cauterize it to make it either come off and it hasn’t stopped bleeding. I’ve never heard one never coming off. So I don’t know what in the appropriate amount of time it would be but the pediatrician—isn’t it silver nitrate?

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: We had this when we were treating Elliot’s umbilical granuloma because it just wasn’t healing properly. Two applications of it because the first one it didn’t dry up. He’s got a really deep belly button. It’s like a cavern in there. The first application I think it was probably like 10 days maybe two weeks old it didn’t get it off. But I thought it was still working so I just left it. And then finally at his 6 weeks appointment they did it again and then that finally got it off. It is deep. So it makes sense why it just took forever to dry out.

RUTHII SLATTUM: There’s like a tortoise in there.

SUNNY GAULT: And there is an interesting question what causes it. Do you have any idea what helps form the belly button and shape you know innies and outies? Do we have any idea or this is just a mystery of life?

KRISTEN STRATTON: I don’t know.

CINDY CATHIE: It’s a mystery. It’s a crop shoot. Basically, they used to say my mom taped a penny to mine and it would help make an inny and I do have an inny so I don’t know. But no. it’s just however it falls off, how the healing goes inside.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And I also heard a rumor. It was how it was cut, how well it was cut and so that places a lot of unnecessary kind of pressure on those people cutting. I can’t imagine that’s true. I would assume it has more to do with how well it heals but that’s a very interesting question.

CINDY CATHIE: Because everybody wants an inny right?

RUTII: But I don’t know. I feel like some of my kids have both. It’s like innies then outies.

THURINA: Mine is angled. I feel like yes it is. I feel like half of it on one side is a little out.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Mine daughter’s a halfy. Kind of like flat. But after kids, mine is kind of like it’s making it’s appearance.

KRISTEN STRATTON: When you have kids, that’s a game changer

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And I wish I could have my cute belly button again. I mean of all the things, it would be my belly button.

KRISTEN STRATTON: I’m just thankful I can see my belly button. So Stephanie, did you ever had to go to the pediatrician with concerns about your children’s belly buttons?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Lydia’s had blood for a little longer than Gretchen’s did so we went in and I think they gave us not Neosporin. I think it was Bacitracin is that what it’s called? We used an ointment. But they said if it cut bleeding they would consider giving another vitamin K shot which I found interesting because it could have just been like a blood clotting issue that it could help with. But it ended up finally clearing up so it was fine.

KRISTEN STRATTON: So Cindy what is an umbilical hernia?

CINDY CATHIE: When the umbilical cord comes through the tummy wall to connect to the placenta, it has to part muscles and things. And so sometimes those muscles don’t go back together like they should. And they’re not anything to worry about. Sometimes you don’t even know your baby has it. Sometimes you can only see that there’s a little bump like when they get angry and they’re crying really hard, of course have your pediatrician look at it. But my experience has been that they don’t do surgery unless it’s massive and really big. Usually the wall will close and if they still have it—I’ve heard if they still have it by two years then they’ll consider surgery. That seems like a long time to me as a mom but it’s nothing to really worry about.

KRISTEN STRATTON: I’ve definitely had a few postpartum clients and a few birth doula clients whose children had them. They didn’t seem like there’s a big hurry to intervene. So I would definitely ask your pediatrician what the time frame for treating that and when is that necessary.

CINDY CATHIE: Right.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And when should parents notify their pediatrician if they suspect that their child has one?

CINDY CATHIE: Immediately. There’s no harm in doing anything immediately.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And panelists did any of your children have an umbilical hernia?

SUNNY GAULT: Katy did. Katy Stevens our guest photographer.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Tell us. Tell us Katy. Tell us about it.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Oh you have one. Tell us on the mic. Hop in.

KATY STEVENS: Hello. Well I don’t remember mine but my mother told me that when I was about 18 months old they suggested that I should have surgery so I actually have a smile scar right underneath my belly button.

SUNNY GAULT: Wow it’s like your belly button is constantly smiling at you. It’s nice.

KRISTEN STRATTON: I told you this is a very intimate show. I mean I’m just talked to Katy Stevens. We just bonded right now. Well thank you so much Cindy and our lovely panelists for chatting with us today about birthmarks and belly button care. And for our Newbies club members, our conversation will continue after the end of the show as Cindy will share her favorite postpartum doula tips for keeping diapers away from newborn belly buttons. For more information about the Newbies club, please visit our website at www.newmommymedia.com.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright so before we wrap up today’s episode, I have an email that I really wanted to share with you guys. This comes from Cindy. And Cindy writes:
“I just finished listening to your episode about the baby blues and your timing couldn’t be more perfect. My little girl was born a few months ago and she’s our first so we really didn’t know what to expect. I can’t really explain it but I just didn’t feel quite right after her birth. I felt disconnected like I was living someone else’s life and I just couldn’t understand why I wasn’t able to connect with my baby.
Since her birth, those feelings have subsided but I’m still not feeling 100%. After listening to your episode, I now know that it’s probably not the baby blues anymore and I should talk to someone about it.” Thanks again Cindy. Cindy we want to have a lot of fun here in Newbies and sometimes our topics are a little more serious. And this was an episode that I think fell into that category. It’s a little more serious and I really do appreciate you sharing with us. This is exactly why we release this episode. This is actually a part of an entire series that we’re doing on postpartum mental health. Baby blues is the first one and then we’re going to do one on postpartum anxiety, postpartum depression, postpartum OCD and postpartum psychosis. Because these aren’t really talked about and some moms really do go through it.it can be kind of scary especially if you’re trying to search stuff online and nothing’s coming up. So again Cindy thanks so much for sending this in. if you guys know someone who’s struggling with baby blues right now, please consider sharing that episode with them so they know that there are other moms going through it as well. And we’re so glad that we can help you through this.

[Theme Music]
KRISTEN STRATTON: That wraps up our show for today. We appreciate you listening to Newbies.

Don’t forget to check out our sister show:
• Preggie Pals for expecting parents and Stephanie is representing Preggie Pals for today
• Parent Savers for moms and dads with infants and toddlers
• The Boob Group for moms who breastfeed and
• Twin Talks for parents with multiples.

Thanks for listening to Newbies. Your go to source for new moms and new babies.

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. The information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. While such information and materials are believed to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, medical advice or care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

SUNNY GAULT: New Mommy Media is expanding our line-up of shows for new and expecting parents. If you have an idea for a new series, or if you’re a business, or an organization interested in joining our network of shows through a co-branded podcast, visit www.NewMommyMedia.com .

[00:29:57]
[End of Audio]

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Episode Transcript

Newbies
Birth Marks, Stork Bites and Belly Buttons

[00:00:00]

Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

[Theme Music]

CINDY CATHIE: When you have your baby you study every tiny inch from her sweet little body from head to toe she’s perfect. But what is that on her butt? Is that a bruise? You finally get your little one home and you wait and wait for her umbilical cord to fall off but it hasn’t yet. Is it supposed to look like that? When should you call your pediatrician? I’m Cindy Cathie. Certified postpartum doula, trained lactation educator, childbirth educator and you’re listening to Newbies.

[Intro/Theme Music]

KRISTEN STRATTON: Welcome to Newbies broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. Newbies is your online, on-the-go support group guiding new mothers through their baby’s first year. I'm your host, Kristen Stratton. I'm also a certified birth doula and postpartum doula. I’m the owner of In Due Seasonal Doula Services. If you haven't already, be sure to visit our website at www.newmommymedia.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. You can also subscribe to our show through iTunes so you'll automatically get new episodes when they're released. Sunny is here to tell us about other ways you can participate in our new show.

SUNNY GAULT: Okay. So we want to hear from you guys. We want to hear from the listeners and we want you guys to be part of Newbies. We have several segments that you can get involved with. So the easiest thing for you is to head on over to our website at www.newmommymedia.com, click on the Newbies show link and that is going to take you to the Newbies show page and click on the Segments and you will see all the different segments. But there’s a couple I want to highlight right now. We have an Ask the Experts segment where you guys can submit your questions you have for you and your newborn babies, anything that’s going on in your life. Like oh I’m not sure if that’s quite right, we’ll definitely have our experts look into that for you and we’ll include your question and the answer on a future episode.

We’re always looking for fun apps to talk about. Did you guys know New Mommy Media has a brand new network app out there? All of our individual shows have their own apps. And so we want to know what apps you guys are using? What’s making parenthood and life just more interesting and helpful? What’s helping you right now app wise? So let us know what that is. We can talk about it on the show. We could do kind of a little review of it and put a link up on the website. And yes, there are a couple different ways. You can go to the contact link on our website to submit for any of those. You can also call our voicemail at 619-866-4775 if you want actually to tell your story yourself as opposed to Kristen and I telling it. If you want to share your story go ahead and leave a message. No one is going to pick up the phone so just leave a message and we’ll take care of that. We’ll get it on the show on a future episode.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Alright. Let’s introduce our panelists.

RUTHII SLATTUM: I’m Ruthii Slattum. I’m 28 years old and I own two businesses. I own Mama Ruthii which is a complete postpartum care and lactation support—sorry. That was the baby burp. I have 3 three children. I have a 5 year old boy and I have a 2 ½ year old girl and then Piper here is 3 months.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: My name is Turiana. I’m 27. I’m a stay at home mom of two. My daughter is 3 ½ and Elliot here is 5 months.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: I’m Stephanie Glover. I’m 33. I’m also the host of Preggie Pals. I’m a trained child birth educator as well. I have two children ages 4 and 2. Gretchen is my 4 year old and Lydia is my younger 2.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And I’ll go ahead and introduce myself too because I have some experience with our topic today. I am Kristen Stratton. I am the host of the show but I’m also the proud mama of 3 kids. I have a 5 year old daughter, a 3 soon to be 4 year old son, and a two year old son. Thank you Piper.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright. So before we kick off with our topic today—talking about birth marks, stork bites and more, we’re going to talk about a big baby that was born in India. So this baby came out at 13 lbs. a baby boy, delivered to a 25 year old mama via emergency cesarean and is being described by doctor as a miracle. So the mother weighs 220 lbs and is diabetic—increased in the risk of obesity in the offspring and that’s according to medical professionals. Anyways, this is a big deal in India. I know—I actually did some research when I first saw the headline I was kind of like is 13 lbs really big and I had a 9lb baby and I know we probably all have our own little stories like seeing big babies or being birth buddies with other big babies or whatever. But I think I’ve heard of other babies being bigger in the US or whatever. So I kind of want to do a little comparison. I found some information on the internet which is 100% reliable. And the biggest baby that was born according to record right, because we did not keep track of this way back when was 22lbs, 28 inches long.

RUTHII SLATTUM: That is this. That is this size.

KRISTEN STRATTON: I was going to say yes. In Seville, Ohio. Ohio is actually my birth state. So go Ohio on our big babies! But this took place in January 1879 - right because you know it had to come out one way. Mom was 7’11’’. That’s the mother. So gives you an idea of perhaps why . . .

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Was the father equally as large or was he like—

KRISTEN STRATTON: No it actually didn’t give any information about that and the baby did pass certainly after. It’s just kind of a sad story. But then in Italy, the second one that I found was again a 22-pounder so apparently the ounces were the distinguishing factor here. And that was in September 1955, so not that far ago. But anyway it just got me thinking about big old babies. What is the biggest baby you guys have seen personally like newborn baby?

RUTHII SLATTUM: 11lb 3oz

SUNNY: 11lb 3oz? Okay.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: 11 ½

SUNNY GAULT: 11 ½?

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes I think somewhere in the 10s something over the ounces

RUTHII SLATTUM: Now I’m like flabbergasted. I’ve never seen a larger baby than my own babies.

SUNNY GAULT: This article says newborns typically weigh between 5lbs 8oz and 8lbs 13oz. so when you look at that, 13 lbs is a lot.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: It’s impressive.

SUNNY GAULT: I mean when I was pregnant with my twins they got up to be like 5 1/2 lbs each so that’s 11

KRISTEN STRATTON: Plus the placenta, the amniotic fluid. That’s a lot of weight.

SUNNY GAULT: Yes. Right? So whatever India.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Good job Sunny. Good job with that. You should.

CINDY CATHIE: The point of the story is go Ohio.

KRISTEN STRATTON: So really we’re just advertising your state. That’s all this was.

SUNNY GAULT: Pretty much

[Theme Music]

KRISTEN STRATTON: Today on Newbies we’re discussing birthmarks, stork bites and belly buttons. Our expert, Cindy Cathie is a CAPPA certified postpartum doula, trained lactation educator and childbirth educator. Thanks so much for joining us Cindy and welcome to the show.

CINDY CATHIE: Thank you for having me.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Cindy as a childbirth educator and postpartum doula, you are working with parents before and after the babies are born. Are you available to explain to your childbirth students or at your postpartum consultations what birthmarks they might see on their babies when they are born?

CINDY CATHIE: We do that because no new mom is ready actually for the picture of what she births. They don’t know about vernix, they don’t know about wonky heads and so we do cover birthmarks. Yes.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And can you explain what a café au lait spot is?

CINDY CATHIE: Just like what is sounds like, it looks like, it’s a pigmented spot on the baby that’s just like the color of milky coffee. Café au lait sounds better.

KRISTEN STRATTON: It does sound good.

RUTHII SLATTUM: Milky coffee

KRISTEN STRATTON: And what do Mongolian spots look like?

CINDY CATHIE: They look like bruises. They’re bluish in color and they’re usually on the back, just at the top of the bottom and the lower spine.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And do those usually last beyond infancy?

CINDY CATHIE: They can because they are pigmented birthmarks. A lot of times they are mistaken for bruises. And there’s you know when a child is brought into a pediatrician or something, sometimes abuse is mistaken for a Mongolian birth mark.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes so that would definitely be something you’d want to discuss with your provider or your child’s school.

CINDY CATHIE: Yes exactly.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Okay. That’s good to know. And what are salmon patches or stork bites?

CINDY CATHIE: Okay so different from pigmentin which are like moles and café au lait, the stork bites and angel kisses, they’re macular stains. They’re pigments that are blood vessels that come up in the surface on certain areas. And salmon patches are kind of like the name and depending on where they are, they’re given different names. Like on the back of the neck, they call them stork bites. On the face and around the nose and the eyes they call them angel kisses but basically the same thing.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Okay. And what do hemangiomas look like?

CINDY CATHIE: They’re a little different. They’re more raised strawberry patches—you’ve heard that? Because they have the texture of a strawberry. They can be poofy so much more raised than the first two.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Okay. And what do port wine stains look like?

CINDY CATHIE: Again.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Per size. If you’re watching us five, you get a visual demo.

CINDY CATHIE: Port wine looks like port wine.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Just the spelling

CINDY CATHIE: Absolutely. Yes

KRISTEN STRATTON: And panelists, do you have any experiences with birthmarks on your babies?

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: My daughter has a red mark on her wrist which I didn’t know a thing about at first. There’s something wrong with her wrist. It’s just a small little dot. Looks like might have gotten poked with something sharp or something like that. But she still has it at 3 ½ and it’s not going away which is whatever. It’s an interesting little mark. She also has a white—I don’t know what it’s called but just like a white patch on the skin on her torso. I have one on my back. My brother and my sister also have one. I don’t know if they’re hereditary. I don’t even know what they are called. But it’s very interesting.

CINDY CATHIE: Was she born with it?

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Yup

CINDY CATHIE: Then it’s hereditary. It’s congenital

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: Yes I decided. If he doesn’t have anything—it’s interesting. It may have come from my dad then because my brother and sister have so it’s interesting.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And Stephanie?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: I have—those of you just listening, I have a huge port wine stain on my left arm onto my left breast. And I expected to have children with birthmarks. Actually my cousin has a white large birthmark on the exact same spot that I do and my sister has café au lait, my mom had café au lait. Just kind of all mixed up. But my first has nothing and when Lydia was born, the pediatrician made a mistake and was trying to treat a diaper rash but it’s actually in the inside of her bottom. So she has like a little port wine, tiny but it’s there. So we were treating a birth mark. That was not a rash. And I also noticed on the inside of her arm, she does have a little spot like café au lait too.

KRISTEN STRATTON: My daughter, she has a stork bite and it’s actually in a shape of a star and she had no hair for the first three years of her life. It was really cute. It was a little star at the back of her head. She has also has two café au lait spots in the middle of her back. She’s three times less with birth marks. Not my second child but with my third, he also has café au lait spots on one of his legs next to his knee. My husband has one too. I don’t have any birthmarks that I can see. But I think it must be some hereditary component on it.

CINDY CATHIE: And a lot of times they’re not yet present at birth. Some of the stork bites, they appear later. Like I have a niece that was a beautiful little baby and then about two weeks she got a strawberry mark about here and it became like orbit chef. You know that huge thing? So she had that her whole toddlerhood but it was gone by kindergarten. But sometimes they come a week or two later.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes that’s true. I think the café au lait show up later because my son, my youngest didn’t have his show up until probably 12 months. Maybe some exposure has something to do with it too but same as with my daughter’s café au lait but her stork bite showed up pretty soon after she was born.

CINDY CATHIE: Did that grow as you grew?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: No it stayed—I mean it kind of grew with my skin. I have little patches where it seems like maybe it was stretched, maybe it was freckled to begin with. Doctors told my parents it might be gone by the time she’s 7. No. it’s still hanging on. But what’s really interesting is that my fingers are actually, like my ring sizes are larger on the fingers with the pigments.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Are you left handed?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: No I’m right handed. But my wedding ring like on one side it would be size 6 something but it’s 8.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes because I heard the hand that you write with is the hand that typically is larger probably because you use it more so the muscles—

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yes it’s almost like visually obvious fat pink fingers on my left side

KRISTEN STRATTON: You’re beautiful Stephanie. You’re beautiful.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: I like it much more now than I did as a kid.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes of course. I’m sure kids can be challenged sometimes when things are different

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Right.

KRISTEN STRATTON: So Cindy are birthmarks typically with you throughout your entire life? Dosome go away? Do some require treatment?

CINDY CATHIE: Yes a lot of them do fade with age but then others don’t. And depending on where they are like the stork bite and angel kisses they can be in a nose or in an ear. I had a baby that it was growing on her lobe of her ear and as it moved in they treated it. And it would be with steroids and or silver nitrate that would kind of burn them off but that would be a time when if you’re concerned, you seek your pediatrician’s help.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Okay well my daughter had a hemangioma inside her nose and it was actually causing—well she snored like a bear but they said sometimes those do shrink and go away but hers did not. So we ended up having it removed surgically so she wouldn’t snore like a bear.

CINDY CATHIE: And of course any baby born with a mole, you need to keep your eye on those. And then port wine stains, if it causes the child concern, if it’s something that bothers your child or you’re concerned about it because they’re harmless but they can be treated too.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Okay. Stephanie I’m just curious about you and your everyday life and do people stare? What happens?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Kids are so funny because they are unfiltered. I always know. I know if a kid is looking at me for more than one second. I know exactly what they’re looking at. It’s fun actually. I can make a game out of it because if I push on it actually turns white. So if I put all my fingers together, I can make paw prints on it and win any child over in a second. And that’s actually in school I would do that too and kids get weird about it or thinking they could catch it. I would just show them like look actually it turns purple when I’m cold which is kind of cool and it’s like bright pink when it’s really hot out like a thermometer.

RUTHII SLATTUM: It’s like a mood mark.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Yes and I would like kids to kind of push on it. But it’s good you know, uncomfortable piece of it.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes you know I’m really glad you came on the show for that reason because some parents might be worried about that like oh my kid has this birthmark and it’s big or it’s in a really obvious place. How—they’re going to be traumatized forever. How are they going to get through their life and I’m glad to see that you can come out and say it’s not going to ruin their life.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: It won’t and I really don’t even see it anymore. When I was younger I would wear higher collars and then Iwouldn’t really even notice until someone asks what it is.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Well thank you.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: You’re welcome.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: So I’m curious. My personal experience with birth marks. I have one on the back of my right leg it’s kind of like the middle thigh area so sometimes you see it, sometimes you don’t depending on how short my skirt is.

KRISTEN STRATTON: I think that we’re meeting each other in a very intimate level.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: My kids think I have a marker on my leg and it’s like no. I don’t. my question is—I’d ask my mom these questions about my birth and she told me it just started out as a little, little, tinyred dot she’s like you couldn’t even see it and not that it’s super big now but it’s definitely something that sometimes people ask me about—people ask me when I was younger. Do you see that the birth marks can kind of grow with the person?

CINDY CATHIE: They can. From the research I studied. I don’t usually follow a family that long. But what color is it?

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: It’s a—it’s more like port wine.

CINDY CATHIE: They’ve been known to grow, the port wine. So you have a port wine birth mark.

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: I guess. It’s pretty tiny. I’ll show you. My shorts are a little long today.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Take a picture and put it on the website, have everyone analyze it.

CINDY CATHIE: Exactly.

KRISTEN STRATTON: But I guess if anyone had any questions they could consult with their pediatrician or a pediatric dermatologist.

CINDY CATHIE: Exactly. Yes.

[Theme Music]

KRISTEN STRATTON: Welcome back to the show. We are talking with Cindy Cathie about birth marks and belly button care. Cindy what happens—oh thank you. Elliot’s going to help me. He’s going to help me make the show far more entertaining. Thank you Elliot. Cindy, what happens to a baby’s umbilical cord afterhe is born?

CINDY CATHIE: You mean once they cut it?

KRISTEN STRATTON: Yes.

CINDY CATHIE: And then they put a little clamp on it and they’re just waiting for it to dry up like a scab. That’s all it is. It’s dead blood.

SUNNY GAULT: And that’s not something—the baby can’t feel that at all?

CINDY CATHIE: Not at all.

SUNNY GAULT: My husband is kind of weirded out by that. He’s like I don’t know if I should cut this. I’m like no they can’t feel it.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And if a mother has delivered in a hospital, how is the baby’s umbilical cord cared for until they get discharged?

CINDY CATHIE: It used to be the AP would say rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. But they don’t anymore. They found that just leaving it alone, it heals faster. They’ve done studies and it heals faster than the belly buttons that are messed with rubbing alcohol. No that should not help it come off faster. Just keeping it dry is the best thing. Clean and dry.

KRISTEN STRATTON: You know that is what I did with my first was with rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip kind of on the exterior because that’s what they were recommending. So it hopefully that wasn’t causing her any harm or pain. I kind of feel bad about that now.

SUNNY GAULT: I was totally mortified after my first born because I was waiting and waiting for the belly button—you know the skin stump to fall off or whatever. And it was there one day, you know it kind of had like a zipped up one syonners something like that or a sleeper and then the next day it wasn’t there. I was like where did it go?

KRISTEN STRATTON: The mysterious belly button.

SUNNY:Well we do have a dog. Because I did not sweep it up, you know I did not have any other kids that time. One can only deduce that the dog has the beef jerky.

KRISTEN STRATTON: I’m pretty sure that happened with one of my three. In the haze of having three kids in three years, I don’t recall which child it was but I’m pretty sure there was one. I think it was my second child where same thing. It came off and was never seen or heard from again. So that may have also happened where the dog came upon it and took care of it for me.
Cindy when should the parents call their pediatricianand they think their child’s belly button is infected?

CINDY CATHIE: well they’ll see he normal signs, redness, swelling, the baby has fever, the baby vomiting. If there’s an odor sometimes the belly button has pus definitely, immediately call the pediatrician.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And how does the pediatrician usually treat a belly button that has not healed inan appropriate amount of time?

CINDY CATHIE: They would use something to cauterize it to make it either come off and it hasn’t stopped bleeding. I’ve never heard one never coming off. So I don’t know what in the appropriate amount of time it would be but the pediatrician—isn’t it silver nitrate?

TURIANA HAMEL-SMITH: We had this when we were treating Elliot’s umbilical granuloma because it just wasn’t healing properly. Two applications of it because the first one it didn’t dry up. He’s got a really deep belly button. It’s like a cavern in there. The first application I think it was probably like 10 days maybe two weeks old it didn’t get it off. But I thought it was still working so I just left it. And then finally at his 6 weeks appointment they did it again and then that finally got it off. It is deep. So it makes sense why it just took forever to dry out.

RUTHII SLATTUM: There’s like a tortoise in there.

SUNNY GAULT: And there is an interesting question what causes it. Do you have any idea what helps form the belly button and shape you know innies and outies? Do we have any idea or this is just a mystery of life?

KRISTEN STRATTON: I don’t know.

CINDY CATHIE: It’s a mystery. It’s a crop shoot. Basically, they used to say my mom taped a penny to mine and it would help make an inny and I do have an inny so I don’t know. But no. it’s just however it falls off, how the healing goes inside.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And I also heard a rumor. It was how it was cut, how well it was cut and so that places a lot of unnecessary kind of pressure on those people cutting. I can’t imagine that’s true. I would assume it has more to do with how well it heals but that’s a very interesting question.

CINDY CATHIE: Because everybody wants an inny right?

RUTII: But I don’t know. I feel like some of my kids have both. It’s like innies then outies.

THURINA: Mine is angled. I feel like yes it is. I feel like half of it on one side is a little out.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Mine daughter’s a halfy. Kind of like flat. But after kids, mine is kind of like it’s making it’s appearance.

KRISTEN STRATTON: When you have kids, that’s a game changer

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And I wish I could have my cute belly button again. I mean of all the things, it would be my belly button.

KRISTEN STRATTON: I’m just thankful I can see my belly button. So Stephanie, did you ever had to go to the pediatrician with concerns about your children’s belly buttons?

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Lydia’s had blood for a little longer than Gretchen’s did so we went in and I think they gave us not Neosporin. I think it was Bacitracin is that what it’s called? We used an ointment. But they said if it cut bleeding they would consider giving another vitamin K shot which I found interesting because it could have just been like a blood clotting issue that it could help with. But it ended up finally clearing up so it was fine.

KRISTEN STRATTON: So Cindy what is an umbilical hernia?

CINDY CATHIE: When the umbilical cord comes through the tummy wall to connect to the placenta, it has to part muscles and things. And so sometimes those muscles don’t go back together like they should. And they’re not anything to worry about. Sometimes you don’t even know your baby has it. Sometimes you can only see that there’s a little bump like when they get angry and they’re crying really hard, of course have your pediatrician look at it. But my experience has been that they don’t do surgery unless it’s massive and really big. Usually the wall will close and if they still have it—I’ve heard if they still have it by two years then they’ll consider surgery. That seems like a long time to me as a mom but it’s nothing to really worry about.

KRISTEN STRATTON: I’ve definitely had a few postpartum clients and a few birth doula clients whose children had them. They didn’t seem like there’s a big hurry to intervene. So I would definitely ask your pediatrician what the time frame for treating that and when is that necessary.

CINDY CATHIE: Right.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And when should parents notify their pediatrician if they suspect that their child has one?

CINDY CATHIE: Immediately. There’s no harm in doing anything immediately.

KRISTEN STRATTON: And panelists did any of your children have an umbilical hernia?

SUNNY GAULT: Katy did. Katy Stevens our guest photographer.

KRISTEN STRATTON: Tell us. Tell us Katy. Tell us about it.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Oh you have one. Tell us on the mic. Hop in.

KATY STEVENS: Hello. Well I don’t remember mine but my mother told me that when I was about 18 months old they suggested that I should have surgery so I actually have a smile scar right underneath my belly button.

SUNNY GAULT: Wow it’s like your belly button is constantly smiling at you. It’s nice.

KRISTEN STRATTON: I told you this is a very intimate show. I mean I’m just talked to Katy Stevens. We just bonded right now. Well thank you so much Cindy and our lovely panelists for chatting with us today about birthmarks and belly button care. And for our Newbies club members, our conversation will continue after the end of the show as Cindy will share her favorite postpartum doula tips for keeping diapers away from newborn belly buttons. For more information about the Newbies club, please visit our website at www.newmommymedia.com.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright so before we wrap up today’s episode, I have an email that I really wanted to share with you guys. This comes from Cindy. And Cindy writes:
“I just finished listening to your episode about the baby blues and your timing couldn’t be more perfect. My little girl was born a few months ago and she’s our first so we really didn’t know what to expect. I can’t really explain it but I just didn’t feel quite right after her birth. I felt disconnected like I was living someone else’s life and I just couldn’t understand why I wasn’t able to connect with my baby.
Since her birth, those feelings have subsided but I’m still not feeling 100%. After listening to your episode, I now know that it’s probably not the baby blues anymore and I should talk to someone about it.” Thanks again Cindy. Cindy we want to have a lot of fun here in Newbies and sometimes our topics are a little more serious. And this was an episode that I think fell into that category. It’s a little more serious and I really do appreciate you sharing with us. This is exactly why we release this episode. This is actually a part of an entire series that we’re doing on postpartum mental health. Baby blues is the first one and then we’re going to do one on postpartum anxiety, postpartum depression, postpartum OCD and postpartum psychosis. Because these aren’t really talked about and some moms really do go through it.it can be kind of scary especially if you’re trying to search stuff online and nothing’s coming up. So again Cindy thanks so much for sending this in. if you guys know someone who’s struggling with baby blues right now, please consider sharing that episode with them so they know that there are other moms going through it as well. And we’re so glad that we can help you through this.

[Theme Music]
KRISTEN STRATTON: That wraps up our show for today. We appreciate you listening to Newbies.

Don’t forget to check out our sister show:
• Preggie Pals for expecting parents and Stephanie is representing Preggie Pals for today
• Parent Savers for moms and dads with infants and toddlers
• The Boob Group for moms who breastfeed and
• Twin Talks for parents with multiples.

Thanks for listening to Newbies. Your go to source for new moms and new babies.

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. The information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. While such information and materials are believed to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, medical advice or care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

SUNNY GAULT: New Mommy Media is expanding our line-up of shows for new and expecting parents. If you have an idea for a new series, or if you’re a business, or an organization interested in joining our network of shows through a co-branded podcast, visit www.NewMommyMedia.com .

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[End of Audio]

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