Hello there, mommas and papas. Thanks for tuning in again :)

I can’t believe that a year has passed - it is incredible that my anniversary as a mom (and of course Sam’s birthday) and mothers’ day fall so close together and I get to celebrate both occasions.

Sam was born on the 30th of May last year, on that day I was reborn as a mother. And today I celebrate my first Mothers’ Day with Samuel, and I am very excited. Today I want to share with you some ups and downs of this journey. Coming so close to that year mark feels like the ending of a cycle and the start of a whole new phase for myself and my family.

The importance of vitamin D for newborns and new mothers

For newborns, Vitamin D is needed to support healthy bone development and to prevent rickets, a condition that causes weak or deformed bones. Vitamin D deficiency rickets among breastfed infants is rare, but it can occur if an infant does not receive additional vitamin D from foods, a vitamin D supplement, or adequate exposure to sunlight. I am in favor of supplementing whenever the natural vitamin source isn’t available, but getting enough sun exposure is the best way for me and Sam to absorb vitamin D, so we were out in the sun as much as we could.

For new moms, vitamin D is not only important for calcium absorption, but also for hormonal balance. The drastic hormonal changes after pregnancy collaborate for the onset of mood swings and postpartum depression in many new mothers, justifying the increased interest in the relationship between vitamin D and postpartum depression.

Thankfully, despite the social isolation, the opportunity to enjoy longer and warmer days helped me to cope with the symptoms of puerperium and the challenges of learning how to raise a newborn.

The tough 4th trimester

Most people close to me advised regarding how tough the 4th trimester is. For those unfamiliar with the term, the 4th trimester refers to the first 3 months of life of the baby after birth. We believe that babies are born still underdeveloped, and that birth happens around the 40th gestational week basically because the baby would be too big to pass the birth canal if nature waited longer. Because of this, newborns are still super dependent on their mothers. They should be in close contact with their moms most of the time, hence the need for a lot of skin-to-skin contact and nursing. This goes on for three months.

For me, this was the most amazing and at the same time challenging period of my life. To situate you, last year in May we were in complete pandemic lock-down, and we did not receive any visitors (friends or family) and had to learn how to care for a newborn completely on our own. Tiredness soon hit us and we were on each others’ nerves.

On the bright side, Samuel was doing great. This baby was thriving. I am still not sure how we did, but we did. We were able to manage parenthood pretty well. We were also lucky that he was born in the summer and as soon as we both felt ready we were out and about enjoying the sunshine. And let me talk a bit more about how important this was for his development and my recovery.

Breastfeeding: the untold truths

That breastmilk is important everyone knows. Every pregnant woman is told how important breastfeeding is for nourishing the baby and promoting healthy growth and development. Breastfeeding is also a bonding opportunity for mom and her child, and there are benefits for mothers as well. Breastfeeding will help the body to heal and the release of oxytocin during nursing helps to combat baby blues, mood swings and depression. As the mother breastfeeds the body recovers more quickly from labor and the energy burnt to make breast milk helps the mother return to her pre-pregnancy weight. All that are more than great reasons to breastfeed, but the truth is: breastfeeding is hard. The baby doesn’t know how to latch on the breast, and poor latching can hurt (a lot). The baby will cluster feed, and it will feel like all you do is to feed your baby day and night. This is extremely tiring. It can also be super frustrating, because most of us are not told that this isn’t a natural process, that it can take time for both mom and baby to learn how to do it. We expect that our babies will know how to do it right out of the womb, and when this doesn’t happen we get frustrated. Sam was good at latching, I think I was lucky to have people around me that alerted me that this process could be harder than what we are told, and I had the chance to inform myself and learn what to expect. And even for me it was challenging.

Feeding another human being is hard work, especially during these first few months. The energy your body needs to make milk is so great that I was feeling tired and hungry all the time. Top that with lack of sleep and you can imagine how drained I was feeling. I can only feel for women who have hard time nursing and I understand why they chose to bottle feed or switch to formula. Breastfeeding is hard (yes, I am saying it again).

Thankfully, for me any hardships were outnumbered by the benefits of seeing my baby thriving. I was also able to share an uncountable number of bonding, nourishing moments with Samuel. Moments that no one else could share. I love breastfeeding and I am still doing it a year after.

The light at the end of the tunnel

It is Mother’s Day, which means Samuel is almost one year old. I don’t want to sound cliche, but this year has passed so fast! It is like the days were long and tiring, but looking back it feels like yesterday that I welcomed our newborn to our lives. He is more independent now, playing and roam around the house by himself. I am feeding him mostly solids and he needs breast milk less and less each day.

It is wonderful to see how he grew from a being that did not have any idea it was even human (and separated from myself) to a little person with his own wishes and personality in so little time.

I am not going to tell you it is less work, but that the workload shifts. While now he doesn’t need to be held and breastfed as much, he asks for more playtime and attention. He knows more what he wants and when he wants. It is fun to be able to interact with him and see how he responds to different stimuli. And I believe that is one of the beauties of motherhood. Although I still feel tired most of the time, mothering gives fulfillment a whole different meaning. Because of Samuel, I was able to find my way in my nutrition journey and start my own practice. I found meaning in what I choose to do for a living. My willingness to share my experience as a new mother and help others like me to thrive and find balance is all thanks to this little human being.

I know that this article got a little bit somber, but I could not write about my experience and how I feel about motherhood without mentioning the lows as much as the ups of my journey. Today I know that I am not the same person that started this journey, and I will never be. I am more knowledgeable about myself, I have more focus when it comes to my work and I have a whole different view of how my choices impact my relationships and the world. I learned to love my new self and I am looking forward to knowing the person I am still maturing to become.

Thank you for reading. I hope my experience can bring light to your life as well :)

As always, if you need any help adjusting to the challenges of fertility, prenatal or motherhood let’s connect. I will love to learn more about you.