The 'Selling Sunset' star and her husband, Tarek El Moussa, welcomed their son on Jan. 31.
Heather Rae El Moussa is getting candid about an aspect of motherhood. On Monday, the Selling Sunset star shared that her and Tarek El Moussa's newborn son, Tristan, experienced some health setbacks that made breastfeeding an initial challenge.
Heather, who welcomed her first child with her husband on Jan. 31, revealed that her baby boy had tongue, cheek, lip ties, as well as jaundice when he was born.
"Have been in mama hibernation mode for the past couple weeks but soaking up some fresh air today with my lovey," the 35-year-old reality star captioned the picture of her and her baby boy resting outside on the roof. "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!!!"
Heather continued, "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 🧚♀️."
According to the Mayo Clinic, tongue tie "is a condition present at birth that restricts the tongue's range of motion. An unusually short, thick or tight band of tissue (lingual frenulum) tethers the bottom of the tongue's tip to the floor of the mouth, so it may interfere with breastfeeding."
At times, tongue tie may not cause problems. Other times, it can be fixed with a simple surgical procedure.
The Mayo Clinic also lists infant jaundice as a "yellow discoloration of a newborn baby's skin and eyes. Infant jaundice occurs because the baby's blood contains an excess of bilirubin (bil-ih-ROO-bin), a yellow pigment of red blood cells. Infant jaundice is a common condition, particularly in babies born before 38 weeks' gestation (preterm babies) and some breast-fed babies. Infant jaundice usually occurs because a baby's liver isn't mature enough to get rid of bilirubin in the bloodstream. In some babies, an underlying disease may cause infant jaundice."
Heather shared that she and Tristan were able to overcome their breastfeeding issues with the help of a lactation specialist. She added that she "had many tearful nights in the beginning because I'd be up at 3 a.m. trying to feed him and felt so defeated."
The Flipping El Moussas star ended her message with some optimism, and shared that she and Tristan are on the right path in their journey.
"Even with all this going on, I genuinely love breastfeeding," she wrote. "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."
Heather's post comes the day after she shared a series of new pictures of Tristan and teased what she planned to share about motherhood with her followers.
"New to the El Moussa crew," she captioned the photos of her sleeping baby boy. "🥺 Mom life is staring at him non stop because I can’t get enough. The moment I held him in my arms he became my world. I’m thinking about sharing some things like my breastfeeding experience and how Tay and Bray have been with him so let me know if that’s something you guys want to hear or if there’s anything else 🥰."
Last week, the proud parents announced their son's name and shared the inspiration behind it, in addition to sharing that they had "some scary moments leading up to Tristan entering the world."
For more with the El Moussas, check out the links below.
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