A Nurse in Your Purse

Ever wish you had a nurse on speed dial to ask questions about your baby's health? Even just to ask about the little things, like what to do for a stuffy nose or how to handle spit up? That's where A Nurse in Your Purse comes in. As a pediatric nurse, I've worked with a lot of babies and their mamas. And after working in a pediatric office for 8 years (over 10 years in the nursing field altogether so far), I found myself educating parents on the same issues over and over again in the office and answering the same questions on phone calls. They were usually for basic things that new moms just didn't know and were never told about. If they were told, I certainly never held it against them for not remembering it amidst the chaos of bringing home a new baby! I mean, come on, there's the healing of themselves from the whole birthing process, losing track of what day it is due to lack of sleep, and endless feeding times that seemingly blur into a never ending cycle. Good gracious! There is no way that we can expect new mamas, even veteran mamas, to remember everything we tell them with all those things going on! And let's be honest, everyone knows something typically happens when the doctor's office isn't open, and unless it's a true emergency, who wants to take their new infant to the ER?! We would have countless messages left on the patient line after business hours by moms needing guidance on what to do (or not to do) for their baby due to some minor health issues, like how to help with a stuffy nose, or what to do if the umbilical cord bleeds. These poor mamas would be stressed all night waiting for a call back at 8 AM by us nurses. When your kid is sick, hurting, or has a tick stuck on them (cue the heebie geebies!), you don't have time to go researching a 20 chapter health book (if you have one) for that one little paragraph you vaguely remember reading. Truth be told, most of us don't have the patience either to wait for a call back from a doctors office who's actively seeing scheduled patients or is closed. And no one wants to make a trip to the ER for a non-emergency situation (even though as a new mama, every situation feels like an emergency). You could always Google it, but if you've ever done a Google search for something health related, you'll basically find those symptoms you're looking for are a symptom for more than 30 different kinds of diseases and your child apparently has all of them. (Insert rolling eyes!) So I wanted to provide all moms, especially new mamas, a quick way to reference what to do for non-emergency situations that they may run into with their infant. A reference that wasn't full of fluff, overwhelming, and hopefully is somewhat comforting as it's coming from a nurse and mom who's been there twice over now herself, with one child having all the things going on - colic, allergies, eczema, digestive issues, etc. Think of this little guidebook like your own nurse in your purse on speed dial. My hope is that this will provide some basic, practical guidelines to help you feel more confident in caring for your baby in regards to minor health issues within the first few months after birth. This is not meant to be an all inclusive guide of everything that goes on with an infant, just the most common concerns that you think you should know the answers to, but it's totally okay that you don't! These are all topics I would frequently have to advise or educate on under the direction of some amazing pediatricians and providers in the pediatric office. I want this information to be more readily available to moms everywhere ... especially when it's the middle of the night! Keep this guidebook in the diaper bag or your purse so you know where it always is!