One is that a baby is too young to vaccinate, or get a Hepatitis B vaccine after birth, or the subsequent infant and toddler vaccines. Yeah, I just went there.  There’s a lot of hooey on social media with all these purported risks, when vaccines have been studied and improved for decades.

In fact, our healthcare system has been designed to continually monitor vaccine safety, and it periodically removes one from the market for additional study when the situation supports.

A less controversial myth I hear is how superior breastfeeding is to formula feeding. While there is data to show benefits to breastfeeding exclusively, there’s a steep drop-off to those benefits after 6 months of age.

I think many mothers put unnecessary pressure on themselves to nurse. I want a mom to decide what to do with her body, and then just feed her baby. A FED baby is best. 

I advise that they pick one that is manufactured domestically, and that it be cow milk-based. Domestic, because it’s subject to FDA regulations—how it’s made, stored, shipped, etc.

For a while, it was popular to source formula directly from Europe, since some parents prefer other carbohydrate sources to those in brands like Similac, Enfamil. When those weren’t being made in the US, I was worried about how they got here, could they spoil in transit.

Now that brands like Bobbie, Kendamil, etc are made here, I’m fine with them.  I would just prefer cow milk protein-based vs goat milk, since the goat milk version has 1/3 of the B12 content. 

The newest research supports early introduction of peanut and egg protein at age 4 months to babies with significant eczema or who have siblings with severe food allergy.

For those who don’t meet this criteria, we advise introduction between 6 and 12 months of age of the top 7 most allergic foods (egg, wheat, soy, peanut, tree nuts, dairy and sesame).

YES! No such thing as over-reacting as a new parent. There’s a steep learning curve for the nuances. Any good pediatric group has phone availability 24/7, either daytime or on call. We as pediatricians expect more questions early-on, so never worry you are bothering us!

The first 2 months are HARD, physically for delivering mom, and emotionally for both partners. But it does get better (there’s a reason people have more than one!).

Find ways to treat yourself. Share your feelings---don’t bottle them up. Find safe short cuts to take on things to preserve your bandwidth, so you have more to love on your baby. If you like routine, and are missing it, be quick to create new routines with the baby, so you feel more normalcy in this big transition.