#66 - I'm back! Baby & Business Updates

Well hello there! It has been a long long time since I recorded a solo episode and it feels SO good to be back on here with you again. 

In the coming weeks we’ll definitely be jumping back into all types of sensory, feeding, and development tips & tricks. BUTTT before we do that, I thought it would be fun (and maybe a little therapeutic for me) to do a life and business update. You guys have had TONS of questions (and many many kind wishes) over on Instagram (it’s @DrSamGoldman if you haven’t connected with me there yet). So in this episode I figured I would share some of what’s been going on behind the scenes.

If you’ve been here a while, you know that my life has looked quite a bit different these past two months. If not, I’m so excited to share with you that J.R. and I welcomed a baby boy to our family!

And let me tell you, these first 2 months have been filled with lots of ups and downs. Everyone tells you how magical having a baby is…but they forget the part about how challenging the newborn phase truly is. Especially postpartum - it’s wild how your life totally changes and you now are completely responsible for taking care of this new little person when you can hardly sit up or take care of yourself. 

Now that we’re about 2 months in, things have definitely started to become a bit easier, and it feels more like we’re starting to speak the same language as baby C. We’ve learned his cues, his cries, and what helps him soothe. Right now his absolute favorite is bath time. 

There’s a couple questions we’ve been getting asked pretty frequently, so I’m gonna share a little about what we’ve been up to in our personal life. But remember, this is all just our personal experience. Every baby is different and benefits from different things.

Question #1: How is he sleeping?

I would say he’s sleeping as well as a baby could at his age. Every single night is so so different, but in general C does give us anywhere from 4-8 hour stretches. Last night was his first 8 hour stretch and we could not have been more grateful and excited. He definitely makes lots of noises and wakes up frequently through the night, but recently he’s seemed to put himself back to sleep. We’ve been following the Taking Cara Babies newborn plan, and it has been so helpful for us to have a guide. Naps on the other hand is where we struggle. They range anywhere from 2 minutes to 2 hours. I love a good contact nap, but something he really just isn’t that into it, and will stay awake for hours before we can finally help him relax and fall asleep. If you’re struggling here I see you - this sleep deprivation is probably the hardest thing I’ve felt in my life aside from grief. Remember every single baby progresses at thier own rate. There’s so much that can go into this like how do they nap during the day, how many weeks are they, are they drinking formula breast milk…the list goes on. I think of this more as a rollercoaster, tons of ups and downs and we’re just along for the ride. 

Question #2: How’s eating?

Overall, C is a pretty consistent eater. While I would have loved to breastfeed, my milk supply never came in even though we tried it all - pumping, supplements, the works. I never even made the decision to stop, the amount just went down and down until we hit zero. So now C is exclusively formula and bottle fed, which he thoroughly enjoys.  We’ve been using Dr. Brown bottles since day 1. I think I’m a little biased towards Dr. Brown since that is what we primarily used when I was working as a feeding therapist at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. I personally really like how the shape of the bottle fits my hand, the different choices of flow rates, and the fact that all the nipples are test multiple times for consistency. What I don’t like is cleaning all those parts. But we did try many different bottles at the beginning to see what worked best for him, and he just always seemed to do the best with Dr. Browns. 

From the very beginning what’s been really important to me is establishing positive feedings. So we are using cue based and responsive feeding, meaning that we let C guide us on his feedings. We noticed that the flows were initially too fast for him, and until recently were using one of the slower flows. Now that he is a little more confident and organized with his eating, we’ve moved up to the level 1. We’ve also chosen to feed him in elevated side-lying and hold the bottle horizontally to his mouth instead of tipping it up. Both of these slow down the flow of the milk, and allow him to pace himself with eating. However, if we notice that he starts to gulp, seem overwhelmed, or loose milk from the sides of his mouth, we tilt the bottle down to pace him so he doesn’t cough, choke, or aspirate. We also allow him to tell us when he’s full. Thankfully, we haven’t had any concerns about his eating or growth, and he’s been staying in his percentile according to his pediatrician.

Question #3: How’s his head?

It’s adorable of course. Kidding aside, I shared on Instagram that C was born with a little bit of torticollis and a flat head because he stayed in the same position in utero for a full 20 weeks. They literally identified the head preference and tilt immediately after delivery, which was so crazy for me to see, because I usually see torticollis get diagnosed super late. I’m not a wait and see kind of person, so we immediately got started with positioning and working on turning his head to the other side. 

But, I quickly began to realize that it is way different practicing with your own child, so I reached out both to a private PT and early steps. We’ve been working super hard, and it’s gotten so much better, but there is still a lot of flatness. No matter how many times we reposition or turn him he will always turn back to his left during sleep. We’ve got about 2 more months to work on it before going to get evaluated for a helmet, so we’re doing everything we possibly can to prevent it. But I also know that if we need one it’s not the end of the world. We’ll do whatever he needs to help him. I know it can seem super overwhelming when your little one needs OT, PT or speech therapy, especially when you’re thinking about the finical implications. I do want to remind you that early intervention is available absolutely for FREE for qualifying kids from 0-3 years old across the US. We decided to do a combination of both because even though C qualified, we still have yet to have our first session with Early Steps. 

So I think that’s about everything personal that was asked so far. Now, onto the business.

Obviously the biggest question has been - what’s going to happen with my business now? 

For now, I’m going to be home with C, AND working on the business.

But having a child of my own has really changed my viewpoint on my business. And I mean this in a couple ways. On one hand, I truly understand what it looks like to have zero time, or mental energy to focus on anything except keeping my child alive but knowing I need to learn and continue to take steps forward in order to support baby C’s development. And I know that’s what a lot of you feel too. So I’ll be making some adjustments and changes to my programs over the rest of the year, to help you get the information you need, as fast and as easy as possible, without the fluff. So you can immediately start to try things out and see wins and changes.

I’ve really been focusing on listening to you and gathering info over the last couple months, and I’m so excited to start putting these changes into affect. 

On the other hand, having a child has also changed how I want to run my business as a business owner. I have to admit I might have had some unrealistic expectations of what coming back would be like. I’m realizing that I don’t have the same opportunity to sit down and focus. Even this short podcast has taken me 5 days to write.

So all that to say I’m not really sure what it’s going to look like right now. My goal is really to stay with the weekly newsletters, blogs, and podcast episodes. But, I’m going to give myself grace and just go at my own and C’s pace, getting out whatever content I can without losing its quality. 

I also accepted a position for little side hustle, doing virtual handwriting tutoring. Babies are 7x more expensive than I ever imagined. Especially when you’re frantically ordering at 3am during night feeds. Many of you have reached out to me about handwriting in the past, so if you’d like to work with me, send me a DM on Instagram @drsamgoldman. I’m not sure if I can share with who I accepted the position with yet, but it’s someone many of you should be familiar with! 

Little man is currently waking up from a contact nap, so that’s all for now, but if you’ve got any other questions, let me know, I’d love to answer them. 

In our next podcast we’re going to start getting back to someone normal content, so I’ll see you then!

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