Jida Choura changed her baby's life, and her own when she decided to go all in and get help from Áine. 

Jida's Story

Let's start from the beginning...

I gave birth on the 24th of May 2018 at 6:46 a.m. in Montreal, Canada. After being in labour with my water broken since 9 a.m. on the 23rd of May. 22 hours of labour, with no epidural. No drugs. Not because I’m a champ, I had back surgery, and I couldn't take an epidural, and I’m allergic to laughing gas. I have scoliosis, so my pain was at one point in my leg, and that was harder than the pushing part, in my opinion.

Bassel arrived in the world and went straight to the NICU. He had swallowed meconium - pooped in my uterus - it was nothing serious he was just breathing a bit faster than they liked per min.

4 days in the NICU, and we were discharged; in the Montreal hospital I was in, if you are discharged, you get a single bed next to the NICU shared with other people. My husband and I shared the bed for 4 days, pain stitches and all.

We were finally discharged.

I was expecting newborn bliss, where my son would sleep like a baby.

To my surprise, Bassel just wouldn’t sleep. He wanted to be held constantly and was feeding every hour and a half.

He was crying hysterically. In my desperate attempt, I googled and realised I had a lot of dairy, so decided to go dairy-free. He cried less in two days but still didn’t sleep and wanted to be held constantly.

I hadn’t slept in a proper bed since before I gave birth; I was exhausted.

But everyone said this is normal; he misses being inside me, it will pass.

A few days later, my son was still waking up as soon as I put him down crying and would fall asleep as soon as I carried him.

I couldn’t believe this was how newborns were, but nurses insisted this was part of the journey and that I should carry him and try to put him on his back flat. As soon as I did that, he would wake.

So a week in, I realised I needed to carry my son and sleep - terrified of SIDS - my husband - who was on paternity leave - and I, would take turns.

My mother was there, so she also helped.

We alternated.

I was so tired I used to wake up when I did sleep alone, searching for my son in bed, hallucinating. But all of this was normal. I was told. 

A month in I was still carrying my son, who would no way sleep flat in his bassinet - cocoon baby saved my sanity - so using it made it a bit better, as I could put him down for 30 minutes.

He was feeding continuously, and I was told to suck it up, that all mothers go through this and that babies are meant to sleep, but my son seems not to need much of it. I was told I was coping badly.

I tried and held him during the day so he sleeps and held him at night and basically held him 20 hours of the day.

I knew something was wrong.

He would hiccup a lot and would keep feeding and arching his back, but he was gaining weight they checked him for a tongue tie. He didn’t have one. Be patient, they said; it’ll pass, they said. 

3 months in I was sure he had silent reflux, but no Dr would believe me cause my son was gaining weight. My Dr told me, "Of course, he’s gonna cry. He’s a baby, this is motherhood". And it’s my first baby.

I refused this; I googled and decided to hold him up after feeds or sit him up, not change his diaper after feeds. "Be patient," they said, "your son is just a difficult sleeper". That’s what they said when I complained that he wakes every 90 min to feed.

6 months came, and all hell went loose. We started solids; I was told to start with carrots.

He threw them up, sweet potato or potato  - we didn’t sleep that night- he did well with certain veggies, then suddenly projectile vomited. He was losing weight, and I was still holding my son to sleep.

Only when he started losing weight was he diagnosed with reflux and put on medication. I was told to wait it out. It will pass as he grows. But he was scratching his ear for months now, and no one would tell me why. "He has allergies, he’ll outgrow them."

At 8 months I was going crazy. He wouldn’t sleep, I spent a month carrying him at night with him waking every house, and I was at my wit's end. His eczema was bad, and no one was helping me.

This is when I decided to fend for myself.

I FOUND ÁINE HOMER, THE BABY REFLUX LADY

I started working with Áine at 9 months, and she has been a dream; she saved me from myself. I think I was so close to depression.

My son was nagging and fussy all day. I didn’t know what was wrong. A few days in with Áine, I had a different baby.

The month with Áine saved my sanity and cured his itch. His eczema and my eczema I discovered I was histamine intolerant, and this was causing my son problems while nursing.

I discovered that dairy-free means beef-free and learnt how to look out for allergy signs and what I should and shouldn’t be eating.

She taught me patience with the process and gave me hope as she had been through this. Áine saved us!

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