Deep Stuff - Our Labial Adhesion Story

So, this is something I haven't talked about yet but I feel like needs to be told because it's something I had never heard about, yet from all the research and googling I have done I know it's not too uncommon of an occurrence.  And I hope Silver will forgive me for sharing her story with the world.

When the PA was taking a look at Silver's lady parts at her 9 month checkup she made a discovery: Silver had a Labial Adhesion.

A what?

An adhesion on her vagina, which means that the inner lips of her vagina — her labia minora — had become stuck together with a clear-ish like membrane that seemed like should just separate, yet was fused together.

Now you want to talk about freaking a mama out, this totally did it for me.  Not to mention that at this appointment the PA had also discovered that Silver had her first and only ear infection.  Completely freak me out, worst doctor's appointment ever.

The PA prescribed us a hormone cream, Premarin, which I of course had plenty of questions about.  A hormone cream?  Really?  Is that safe?  Yes, the PA assured me, it's perfectly safe and better than the alternative - if the cream doesn't get the adhesion to open, when Silver gets older she will have to have it surgically separated.

So I take the PA's info for what it's worth, nodding at all the right times while thinking through my shock, oh my gosh I've gotta get home and start researching this.

And what exactly is Premarin?  Well, to put it simply it's:
PREgnant MARes' urINe

Hmm, the hormones of a horse soaked into the human body... That combined with that it's not approved to be used on children, it's for menopausal women, yeah, where can I get some?  Let's slather my daughter up with some of that, ASAP.

And, further to boot, "Parents should be aware that some girls, and even infants, will experience a small amount of breast development during treatment with topical estrogen cream because the hormone can be absorbed into the blood stream.  If this happens, consult your practitioner.  It may be reassuring to know that the breast tissue usually goes away once the estrogen treatment is stopped."

After learning more about labial adhesions, I found out that as long as the adhesion does not cover her urethra opening or she doesn't have a UTI, it's not dangerous, and that girls will eventually start to create their own horomones around 8-12 years old and that will cause the adhesion to go away on its own.

But, in the meantime, I also read that if the adhesion is severe enough, urine can get backed up in there causing the UTIs, and even making potty training difficult because the urine can dribble out long after the child has finished pottying.  That would be devastating for a child.

Oh my goodness.  So began the search for a natural remedy.  I couldn't imagine having bladder control problems all the way up to possibly 8+ years old.  That would just be terrible.  I wanted the adhesion gone, but no way in heck were we going to use the cream.

I found two great conversation threads on Mothering.com and BabyCenter.com.

I decided to first try Calendula cream.  I applied it a couple of times, but then Silver started teething so I decided to take a break and not put her or her body under any more stress.  I backed off for a month or so.

And then Silver started to crawl!  YAY!  And I get my first period post Silver.  There's just lots going on!  :)  I'm distracted from her problem and actually manage to put it aside for a little bit.  Finally I decide we need to get back to using the cream and take a look.  And, oh my gosh.  The adhesion had started to open.  ON ITS OWN.

A couple days later I look again, and it's GONE.

What can this be attributed to?  Was it that Silver started crawling and all the wiggling helped open it up?  Maybe.  Or maybe it was that my hormones had changed when I had my first period and I'm still breastfeeding, so those got passed onto her...  That's what I think it was.  I read this from a midwife on one of the conversation threads I shared and it makes sense to me:

"Hormones are in your breastmilk and reach your babies. Baby girls are often 'closed' and it is normal for breastfed baby girls. Like a couple pp's said, when their dd's turned 8 yo or so, it went away. Again, normal, because the girls have hit pre-puberty and make their own hormones. Adult doctors in Western medicine seem to think infant girls are supposed to be 'open' like adult women are, and that is just not true."

If the adhesion hadn't gone away on its own, we would have proceeded with the Calendula.  If that didn't work we would have moved to flax oil which is a little more aggressive.  But, flax oil works because it is a phytoestrogen - which means it exerts hormonal effects.

Praise God it went away on its own!  At our one year appointment the PA was surprised to hear it went away on its own without the use of the cream... :)

Cereal. Or... Not.

The munchkin's four month checkup went really well.  Doc says she's super strong and will probably be an early crawler!  She weighs 15 pounds, 14 ounces (95-97 percentile!) and is 25 inches (75-90 percentile!). She's a healthy, growing girl who's showing us new things she's learning everyday!

Doc also said we can start silver on 'solids' now starting with rice cereal.  But... we're not going to be participating in that.  Rice cereal is just not necessary for breastfed babies.  There is little to no nutritional value, with the exception of iron, which generally causes constipation.  It's like empty calories, and since Silver's obviously growing quite well, we're skipping the rice cereal and waiting for something of more value.

While I'm at it, I'll go ahead and take a second to introduce what we will be doing with Silver, which I'm very excited about: Baby Led Weaning!!!

Baby Led Weaning means offering your baby (age appropriate) foods that are soft-cooked and sometimes cut or mashed into small easily manageable pieces. You then offer the food to your baby to eat, and then, this is the important part - your baby does the rest.  In short, Baby Led Weaning is skipping thin and runny purées and not feeding your baby with a spoon – it's where you rely on your baby to self-regulate and lead the way.

I am very excited about this!  It's cool for lots of reasons.  We will be starting when Silver starts giving me some signs - sitting up on her own (without tripod-ing it), getting some teeth, getting her hand/eye coordination down to where she can get objects to her mouth...

It's funny how many people have already freaked out because we're waiting to do food - maybe even until Silver is one, who knows, we're playing it by ear folks.  But, the good news is, I'm a huge researcher and am not going into this uneducated.  Baby led weaning makes tons of sense!  And it's how people did things before technology took over, which makes me love it all the more.

Here are the top ten benefits, according to Gill Rapley, the author of the book Baby-led Weaning.

It’s enjoyable!

• BLW babies look forward to eating; they enjoy learning about different foods and doing things for themselves
• Playing an active part in mealtimes and being in control of what to eat, how much to eat and how fast to eat it make eating more enjoyable; the opposite can make mealtimes miserable
• Being able to watch their child learn about food, without any pressure to ‘get her to eat’, means that mealtimes can be enjoyable for parents too

It’s natural

• Babies follow their instincts to eat when they’re ready – just like any other baby animal
• BLW uses the skills that all healthy babies are developing in the second half of their first year to help them to explore food at their own pace
• BLW allows babies to follow their instincts to use their hands and their mouths to find out about all sorts of objects, including food

Learning to enjoy and trust food

• With spoon-feeding all the tastes are puréed into one; BLW babies can discover different tastes and begin to learn how to recognise foods they like
• BLW babies are keen to try new foods; they rarely become ‘picky’ eaters or suspicious of food as toddlers – probably because they are allowed to use their instincts to decide what to eat and what to leave
• Enjoying a broad range of food is good for babies’ long-term nutrition as well as their enjoyment of eating

Learning to eat

• BLW babies learn to manage different shapes and textures of food from the very beginning, so they quickly become skilled at dealing with a broad range of foods
• Handling food himself and then putting it in his mouth helps a baby to work out how to manage foods of different sizes, shapes and textures
• BLW babies learn how to move food around inside their mouths and how much they can safely put in; they tend to bite off small pieces to chew, whereas older babies who have been spoon fed often over-stuff their mouths when they are first allowed to feed themselves
• Learning to chew effectively makes it more likely that babies will get all the nutrients they need – and it helps digestion too
• Practising chewing as soon as they are ready helps babies to develop the facial muscles that will be needed as they learn to talk

Learning about their world

• For babies, play is essential to learning; they learn about concepts such as less and more, size, shape, weight, texture and gravity just by ‘playing’ with their food
• Because all their senses (sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste) are involved when they feed themselves, babies discover how to relate all these things together for a better understanding of the world around them

Reaching potential

• BLW babies practise hand-eye coordination every time they use their fingers to take food to their mouths
• Gripping foods of different sizes and textures several times a day improves babies’ dexterity
• Allowing babies to do things for themselves helps them to learn and gives them confidence in their own abilities and judgement

Being part of family meals

• Being included in family mealtimes, eating the same food and joining in the social time is fun for babies
• Babies copy mealtime behaviour, so they naturally move on to using cutlery and adopt the table manners expected in their family
• BLW babies learn about how different foods are eaten, how to share, wait their turn and how to make conversation
• Sharing mealtimes has a positive impact on family relationships, social skills, language development and healthy eating

Developing healthy eating habits

• Allowing babies to choose what to eat from a range of nutritious foods, to eat at their own pace, and to decide when they’ve had enough helps them to develop natural appetite control. This may be an important part of preventing food conflicts and obesity when they are older
• Because they are involved in shared, healthy meals from the beginning, BLW babies are less likely to choose unhealthy foods when they are older (or to need separate ‘kids’ food’) and are therefore more likely to be better nourished, long term

Easier, less complicated meals

• Puréeing food is time-consuming and fiddly, and can be expensive. With BLW, it just isn’t necessary. Provided the parents’ diet is healthy, they can easily adapt their meals for their baby
• Eating out is easier too. BLW babies are used to eating round the table with adults and they enjoy ‘grown-up’ food – so families aren’t limited to restaurants with a ‘kids’ menu’
• With BLW everyone eats together; the grown-ups don’t have to spoon-feed the baby while their own dinner goes cold and everyone is part of what’s going on

No mealtime battles

• When there is no pressure on babies to eat, there is no opportunity for mealtimes to become a battleground, so problems such as food refusal and food phobias are much less likely
• BLW respects babies’ decisions about what to eat (or not to eat) and when to stop eating, so there is no need for games (“Here comes the train!”) to try to fool a baby into accepting food she doesn’t want or to ‘trick’ toddlers into eating healthily
• The whole family can enjoy stress-free meals together, meaning relaxed parents and happy children

Silver's First Doctor Visit

Today was our first time to go to the doctor, for Silver's two week checkup.  She was poked and prodded and moved around, yet no tears!  She's my happy, easy going baby.  And she's already gained over a pound!  She now weighs 9 pounds, 5 ounces and is in the 75th percentile.  And she's longer too!  21 1/2 inches - the 90th percentile!  A healthy, growing girl.