Freak out #872

My 6 week postpartum appointment was scheduled for last Tuesday. I was dreading it, to say the least. That morning, I got up extra early to make sure I had time to get myself and beanie ready, feed him, pump, eat breakfast....the list goes on and on. Right before we left, I fed him one more time to ensure good behavior at the doctor's office :) When I was feeding him, I noticed little black spots on his tongue.

I.Freaked.Out.

I immediately called the pediatrician. The receptionist asked if we were able to be there in 15 minutes...someone had just cancelled. I took the appointment and called Dustin on the way. He opted to stay at school and assured me that everything would be fine. As I drove to the doctor, I ran a list through my head of other worries that I had had since our last visit. Dry skin, perhaps a mild case of cradle cap? Spitting up and dirty diapers only once a day...were we reverting back to our old problem of not getting enough food? I jotted it all down. I was ready.

<3

When we arrived, I took a moment in the waiting room to call my OBGYN and let them know that something had come up and I needed to reschedule. Shortly, Xavier's name was called and off we went.

First, the nurse took him back to the scale. He weighed 12 lbs. 10 oz. He had gained an entire pound in 10 days!!! (Clearly, there was no reason to be worried about the spitting up and diaper situation). We went into the little room and waited for the doctor. When she arrived, she spent several minutes answering my questions and assuring me that the spitting up was not an issue. She also gave me several tips to prevent it in the future, all of which have worked wonders! Also, she told me that it was normal for the messy diapers to slow down at this point. She was impressed with his weight gain and applauded our great efforts toward breastfeeding. We were doing great!

Little Piggy!

After checking him over, she took out a tongue compressor and opened Bean's mouth. He was not pleased. She was able to get a good look despite his cries of outrage. After asking me a few questions, she diagnosed it as thrush and wrote him a prescription for a solution. I must mention that it was very obvious that she was unsure of this diagnosis. Her speech and body language let me know that she was making an educated guess. We made a follow up appointment and were on our way. I left, but was not confident in her diagnosis. I had heard of thrush as one of my friends had just gone through this with her baby. I did not have any rashes and the residue in his mouth was black not white. I called Dustin (who had been bombarding me with texts the whole time we were at the doctor) and told him what went on. He also disagreed. I held off giving Bean the solution until Dustin could further research the issue.

After speaking with several of his professors, both of which were pediatric doctors, he convinced me to bring Bean into his school so that they could have a look. The first two were not familiar with it, however, the last one was able to identify it. It was a simple bacteria. It occurs when the baby cannot slosh off the food properly because their tongue hairs have not shed yet. It was nothing to worry about. Whewww! I felt so much better...and was very glad we had not administered the prescription for nothing. We were told to brush his little tongue with a fine bristled tooth brush and he would be good as new!

Chill out Mommy, I'm fine!