After making it through a tough pregnancy, Heather Rae Young is opening up about some of the unexpected challenges she’s been dealing with in her first few weeks of motherhood!
Heather and husband Tarek El Moussa welcomed their first child together just three weeks ago, a son named Tristan Jay El Moussa. Taking to Instagram on Monday, the Selling Sunset star got more candid than we expected about the ups and downs she’s experienced while trying to breastfeed him! Sharing a series of snapshots of her cuddling the baby boy in her arms while lounging on her balcony in the sun, Heather explained:
“Have been in mama hibernation mode for the past couple weeks but soaking up some fresh air today with my lovey. As promised, I want to talk to you guys about my breastfeeding journey because it’s definitely been a journey !! I thought…. I’ll just pop him on my boob and feed him anytime. Ya no!!!”
If only it was so easy!
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The real estate agent quickly noticed her attempts to feed Tristan just weren’t working — and he was actually beginning to lose weight! As she’d soon learn, he was suffering from tongue, cheek, and lip tie — making it hard for him to actually eat anything. She revealed:
“Tristan had tongue tie, cheek tie, lip tie and jaundice which were all caught very early on thanks to my incredible lactation specialist and @tonguetietribe, they’re literally baby fairies. I’m so lucky to have found them for the knowledge & support
but it made it very hard for him to latch & suck and it made it so that he was burning a lot of calories because it was so hard for him to eat so his weight was dropping. We’re now 2 weeks past getting his tongue tie fixed and he’s latching so well on the left side and we’re still working on the right side using non-traditional positions which were shown to me by the baby fairies.”
If you don’t know, tongue, lip, and cheek tie are all conditions present at birth. Basically, skin tissue impedes a child’s ability to move those areas normally. Scary, but luckily all easily treatable. Meanwhile, jaundice is a condition in which the skin and whites of the eyes turn yellow because of a high level of bilirubin, a yellow-orange bile pigment. In babies, the cause is often an immature liver. Dealing with all of this amid the already overwhelming and stressful time as a new parent is a lot!
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The reality star went on to thank her lactation specialist for helping her figure these issues out after “many tearful nights in the beginning” while she was “up at 3am trying to feed him [and] felt so defeated.” She also encouraged any new mommas to focus on their nutrition and hydration while breastfeeding because self-care is important even as a parent! Not to mention, she and Tarek are juggling his kids Taylor, 12, and Brayden, 7, whom he shares with Christina Hall, so, it’s a busy household! Heather continued:
“You get so focused on your baby & that you really have to remember to take care of yourself so I have lots of water and special drinks like coconut water and greater than drinks. I also suggest getting on a meal plan if you don’t have time to cook especially in the beginning.”
Despite these unexpected hurdles, the 35-year-old is grateful for the experience of breastfeeding, gushing:
“Even with all this going on, I genuinely love breastfeeding. I love the skin to skin connection and think it’s such a beautiful bonding experience. It might be hard and challenging at the moment but it is such a special experience that I get to share with our baby boy and we’re working together to make it easier like we’re a little team.”
Aw!! Just check out how cute the mother-son duo is (below)!
Adorbz!
We’re so glad to hear she has finally gotten a handle on breastfeeding, especially after a scary birth! Reactions, Perezcious readers?! Send Heather your tips and tricks (below)!
[Image via Heather Rae Young/Instagram]
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