Out of the pram and into the cot etc

Isaac slept in his cot for the first time on Tuesday. It was very exciting for me! He had his last nap in there & then slept the whole night through! Dad and I constructed a bed tent between us.

I wanted to do this to help him with the transition from pram to cot bed and to reduce the enormity of our room for him. He seems to like it in there and it’s working so far. He continued his streak of through-the-night sleeping until last night when he woke up at 1.30am which makes it 9 consecutive nights.The towels will be removed gradually so that he has more room to move about. I think he likes the restriction for now. It was only about a month ago that we stopped swaddling him, again because he told us that he didn’t want it anymore.

So…the erroneous night-wake of last night: the poor wee mite was screaming at the top of his little lungs because his eyes were glued together with Gunk – 2nd attack of the conjunctivitis methinks (apparently acquired from youngest step-sister from her half brother). How terrifying it must be to wake up and not be able to open your eyes! I didn’t want to have to go to the doctors for more drops again because I know tears often clear it and so decided then and there to see how things went. I cleaned The Gunk from his eyes, fed him & put him back to sleep & there he stayed until 7am. I was fully expecting to be woken again several times with Gunk-related issues, but no! The Gunk has mysteriously vanished! Go self healing! I think that if it weren’t for The Gunk then he would’ve slept through again last night. He’s not doing so well with going off to sleep tonight, but I think that’s more to do with lack of naps today and the excitement of eldest step-sister’s 6th birthday tea. There’s a fair bit of noise about the house while Dad fixes our stupid doors, but it’s only a temporary measure and worth the end benefit of not-stupid-anymore doors. Let’s hope his routine isn’t compromised permanently.

I was thinking today about things I don’t like about caring for a baby. The single thing I can think of is essential and so easy that you take it for granted as an adult. The task in question is: cutting nails. Seriously – it’s a nightmare and I put it off until I can’t stand the scraping at my breasts during feeds any longer. The first time I did it I managed to pinch his skin terribly making him scream until he had boob. Since that awful introduction to the world of baby nail cutting I live in fear that I’ll actually cut him. I’m so careful when I do it and often take the clippers away from his nail & reposition it to make doubly sure I’ve got nail. He’s recently decided it’s fun to hit my nail cutting hand with his free hand while I’m doing the deed; all well and good until someone loses some skin young man! Each successful clip is a mini victory. I used to nibble them off when he was smaller, but that just leaves sharp bits now & hurt even more that long nails when he grabs at my breasts during feeds.

I can’t believe he’s almost 5 months old! The time really does fly. Weaning is under way in our NCT group, but I’m not rushing into anything just yet. He’s starting to be much more interested in food, but I’m waiting for grabbing. He has found his knee to be an object of fun and spends quality time each day slapping it. He tries to do this in the bath as well, but ends up splashing instead, which I suppose is consequential when slapping a knee immersed in water. He quite likes this, well, doesn’t dislike it any. Still isn’t a fan of hair washing though, not even with warmed up shampoo.

Sleep news!

After waking only once in the night at roughly 4am for about a week, Isaac has now slept through for the last 4 nights in a row!

HOOOOOOOOOORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! This momentous occasion has been duly recorded in his My Baby Book

Ner to HV who said BF babies don’t usually ever sleep through until they’re weaned. It does mean my boobs are like rocks by 7am! We haven’t done anything special – usual routine etc. He seems to have come to this on his own. He’s also seemingly reducing the number of daytime naps he takes from about 5 to 3 or 4 depending on what we do during the day. He now usually has at least 1 2 hour nap, but varies which in which nap slot (i.e.: morning, lunch time or afternoon) it falls. I can’t tell you how pleased I am that he naps regularly now, and for longer than 10 minutes. I was worried that he would become sleep deprived. The best tactic for parental sanity is to not get used to it, or expect it, because then there isn’t any disappointment if he does wake in the night. As it is, it’s great that he is sleeping through!

We had planned to move the cot bed into our room this week & “um”ed and “ah”ed about going ahead with the plan since he started to sleep through (didn’t want to tempt fate!), but did it anyway a few days ago and are making gradual changes to his sleeping arrangements to complete Operation Transfer. The first change we made was putting his pram thing in the cot to get him used to the different perspective. Next we made stopped tying his pram blanket around him, instead we lay him on top of it (so he can still pull it down over his eyes- cos he likes that) and put him in a sleeping bag. That seems to work successfully, but when I put him to bed I have to “tuck him in” as it were; he’s used to me tying the pram blanket, which I obviously don’t have to do with the sleeping bag, so instead I straighten his blanket out & give his tummy a little rub & say good night etc before leaving the room. He seems to like this & it replaces the blanket tying quite effectively. The last time we tried him in a sleeping bag it was a  complete disaster so we’re very pleased that he’s taken to it this time.

The latest change has been that I only put the pram hood up one notch, rather than the two to extend it fully. I’m contemplating making a hood for his cot bed, for two reasons. 1) He’s used to it in the pram thing & 2) our room is very big & possibly a bit much for such a small little Wiggler who is still, in the grand scheme of things, not long out of the womb. It would be something like the Ikea bed tent and would, I imagine, make his space a little cosier, plus mute the light from above the door (stupid 70s glass panels).

When the time comes to take him out of the pram thing completely we’re going to move the pram blanket with him so that he has something familiar in there with him. I have plans to make a larger version of the blanket if necessary because he loves it so very much it does what he needs  effectively. I think we’ll put some stuff around him too, so that he isn’t overwhelmed by the amount of space he’s got & reduce it in stages. I’m sure he’ll be Wiggling around all over the mattress in no time!

Our Little Man is quite amazing. He’s leading the way with his sleeping & eating. I thought I wouldn’t have a clue, which I didn’t really at first, but now I know my son (my son! still sounds strange) more I’m happy to follow his lead. I’m still quite gutted that the co-sleeping didn’t work out for us. He does like his own space at night. We do have a little bit of bed time – I bring him in bed with me when he wakes up and he has his morning feed lying down next to me. It’s lovely all snuggled up together I’m enjoying that while it lasts because I know it won’t be for much longer. I can see why people want more babies, they’re kind of addictive and you forget the first 3 months pretty much as soon as they’re over!

Anyhoo. That is our big news. I can’t stop grinning like the proud Mummy that I am

Hat(s) & food

I saw on From A Sesame Seed that Shiloh has a hat very similar to the pixie-esque one I knitted for Isaac in the final few weeks of pregnancy. I have to admit lack of faith in my knitting skills, being more of a crocheter, and so put it away in the too-big-at-the-moment bag of clothes. While going through said bag today I found the hat and tried it on for kicks and…it actually fits rather well! Not sure how long it’ll fit for, but I’m glad to know that it does. Here it is:

The hat may fit, but I’m not sure orange is Isaac’s colour. Hmm, might be able to do something to detract from the vibrancy of the orange? I bought this before he was born, I couldn’t resist it! It has very funky trousers with funny little shaped creatures on. Sucked. In.

In other hat news, I made his new crocheted one. I’ve posted it on my other blog. Yes, that’s right, my other blog. I noticed that crafting was starting to take over Isaac’s space so I decided to create a new one specifically for crafty related items. Not everything I make is for Isaac, although it seems that way at the moment…*drums fingers impatiently on table top while still waits for new sewing machine*…

I found some other pictures on the camera while downloading the above image for editing.

Hmm, starting to show an interest in food perhaps?? He doesn’t yet try to grab things, but he LOVES to watch the food LOL Just another little observation. I love watching him change & grow, it really is the best thing in the world! I also love writing about it all because I can look back on things and remember how he was at the time. It all happens so quickly!

I had the most horrible dream last night. I dreamt that he started to get really skinny and looked quite emaciated. His face was guant and almost alien looking. It was awful. I had to give him formula, in my dream, and I can’t believe how it made me feel! I felt guilty, sick, disgusted, bitterly disappointed – it was quite harrowing. I clearly remember making up a bottle with the powder and the water and it being in slow motion. I was thinking “I can’t believe I’m actually going to give him this stuff, what happened to get to this point?” I woke up feeling terrible and rushed over to see that he was OK. Of course he was, but still. That such a little person can have an enormous impact on me is scary, yet reassuring in a way. I’m quite a detached person (in that I can quite easily remove myself from a situation for reasons of self preservation), but I don’t think I’ll be able to detach so easily from all things Isaac related, but I guess that’s part of our programming, right? Not something I want to override

Getting my craft (back) on…again…and breastfeeding gush

So I couldn’t help myself. I’ve stencilled again!!

I think I like his face the most…smug, yet benign.I couldn’t stop myself buying some plain tops today from H&M. Watch this space for more freezer paper antics!

Isaac at 12 weeks, with hat

In other crafty news, Isaac needs a slightly bigger hat. The one pictured left is now not quite big enough to comfortably keep his 19 week old cranium completely covered. It’s amazing the growth that occurs in only 6 weeks! *scratches head & tries to remember what size hook was used for this hat*

Now for the breastfeeding. The more I learn about breastfeeding, the more I marvel at the wonder and beauty of nature. We went to our NCT weaning course on Sunday, yesterday. We got onto mixing breast milk with mashed up fruit etc in the early days of weaning to up the calorific value and so we talked about expressing. Now, I’ve given up trying to express because it’s soul destroying to only get 1/2 oz from each boob each time. What I didn’t realise is (and call me stupid for not) that if you do it regularly at the same time every day, your body actually starts to produce more at that specific time. WOW! That wow has 2 parts – A) I cannot believe that I missed that completely. You really do lose part of your brain post-birth huh? B) How incredible is that? How totally and utterly mind bogglingly amazing? Not only does the human female body  provide everything a baby needs up to approximately 8 months (depending on which government you decide to listen to), it constantly changes it’s milk production to meet the exact needs of its growing baby, factoring in such things as illness (& the provision of antibodies) and calorific content AND it can schedule in additional production times/change feeding schedules/reduce feeding schedules in accordance with the baby/ies feeding from it. Now that’s what I call absolute perfection.

Right, I’ve gushed enough for one evening. T’ra!

Getting my craft (back) on

What’s this?? 2 posts in 3 days?! Goodness. Calm yourself Sarah.

So anyhoo, I’ve had my roll of freezer paper since before Isaac was born with the intention of stencilling many things. I’ve been building up a stash of fabric paint since then too (having painted some climbing flowery stuff on a hoodie of my own already). Last night I actually got around to doing some proper stencilling. I have to say that I’m rather pleased with the result!

I did a base layer of the yellow colour & then painted on the brown, white & black. I think I probably should’ve done a second layer of the yellow so the stripes underneath don’t show as much, but still – I’m so pleased! I’m not a huge fan of many of the t-shirts designed for kids as they have stupid words on like Trouble Is My Middle Name etc. Also – plain tops are cheaper – hurrah!

Isaac enjoying his new t-shirt

So. If it sits still long enough, it’ll probably get stencilled LOL

4 month update including The Weight Gain Issue

Bless me Father for I have been slack. It’s been over a month since my last post!

Isaac is now 18 weeks old and officially in 3-6 month sized clothing He’s mostly such a happy wee chappy (only grumping when he wants something i.e.: food, clean nappy, sleep) with a smile for nearly everyone. He’s (literally) getting to grips with his toys more and more each day; his developmental progress is incredible to watch. It’s such a pleasure to see how he approaches things & observe thought processes being cultivated (hmm…I can use these arm and hand things to put that really exciting blue thing in my mouth!) You can see him learning! Amazing! It’s all quite manageable at the moment because he’s still stationary, but as he gets older I’m sure it’ll be less cute & more – I wonder what happens if I put this down the loo?

Double handed elephant grab

So the festive period was lovely. We had planned to celebrate the Solstice, neither of us being Christian thus finding Christmas a little hypocritial, on 21st December, but our boiler’s condensing pipe froze, several times, meaning that when we had planned to be out walking & doing Yule tidey things we were watching Dad re-route the pipe through the house so it didn’t freeze again. We did go to Matlock to the Green Way Cafe on the 21st which was lovely. Dad treated us – and we had cake! On 25th we didn’t really do anything, just stayed at home the 3 of us. Isaac had his first 2 hour nap since he was very small. It was weird!

He still sleeps well at night, and in the day, in our room in his pram thing. He knows it’s time for sleep now. No buggering about with boob; just change nappy, put him in his bed, he rolls over onto his left side & off he goes. Helps enormously being able to tell what he wants & when. It’s all about routine. He even fell asleep in the car seat/pushchair combo a few weeks ago. It was only for about 1/2 hour, but it’s a start. We’re definitely going to have to move the cot bed into our room in the not too distant future though because he’s absolutely going to be too long for the pram thing soon. His length is good – following in between the 25th & 50th centile (for those that know) which is “normal” (for those that don’t). His head circumference is about the same. His weight, however, remains a contentious issue. He has officially dropped off the  centiles on the WHO breastfed baby chart (average weight gain chart) which has my HV a little worried & wanting me to start weaning at 22 weeks I’m not worried. He’s fine dagnammit! He isn’t bony or emaciated, merely slim. He eats when he’s hungry, sleeps when he’s tired, excretes as necessary (also “normal” according to the bumph) and the rest of the time he’s busy playing, watching, chewing, smiling his face off, wiggling etc.

I’ve read that between the age of 4 & 6 months the human digestive tract matures to accommodate solid food, but there is no way of knowing when this happens. From reading people’s experiences it would seem that those who were weaned too early develop digestive disorders such as IBS. I can see from a medical point of view that he isn’t conforming to “normal” weight gain and that this could be bad because…he DOESN’T FIT ON THE GRAPH (!), but he really is happy enough and I don’t want to rush him into eating before he’s ready. Does he look underweight to you?

Mr Big Eyes

He might look a little slim, but that’s because he’s  NOT A PORKER!! Anyhoo, we have our NCT weaning course this Sunday so I’ll ask about it then. Just as I thought breast feeding was going really well too :-\

Gosh – I digress. Back on track. Sleeping. Yes.

Bedtimes aren’t the trauma they used to be. We have a little song that denotes bedtime. I swear blind that this helps him go off. We both sing it to him & give him a kiss, then I take him upstairs, change his nappy & put him in a sleep suit (while still singing the song) then take him into our room, put him in his bed, wish him goodnight & sort the covers & he’s off within 10 minutes. No grumbling anymore. It seems that only when we don’t do it in the right order he doesn’t get off  to sleep properly, for instance if I’ve been in the bath with him & am drying myself etc while Simon gets him ready for bed. Again, it’s all about routine. Hmm. I’m noticing similarities between child rearing & raising a puppy. Let’s hope he doesn’t turn out like Rinny!

Continuing the singing business – he LOVES it when I sing to him. Particular favourites include: The Grand Old Duke Of York and 1-2-3-4-5 Once I Caught A Fish Alive. With actions of course, usually involving lifting him up and down & he’s a big fan of being wiggled about. Hearing him laugh is actually the best thing in the world. He’s got such a funny little cute face when he does, all goofy & lovely Daft sap Sarah…*slaps self out of Mummy stupor* ahem. With this in mind I’m definitely going to investigate the rhyme time group nearby. I don’t think we’ll do baby signing until he’s about 6 months though. Don’t want to overload the poor chap! I think it’ll work best if we build it up gradually

When we went the the doctor’s for Isaac’s 8 week check, Dr G said his right hip was clicking & to make an appointment at the hospital for an ultrasound to check that the joint had formed properly & was articulating correctly. Holy crumpet! That was 10 weeks ago! Anyhoo, I did & this week we went  to the hip clinic at Derby Royal Hospital. I’m pleased to report that “they don’t come more normal than that”. Isaac enjoyed his first bus ride and spent the whole time gawping out of the window at Derby whizzing past. On the way back he slept in-sling while Mummy tried her utmost not to break her neck on treacherous pavements.

I’ve signed us up for baby swimming. When I read about it on the Puddle Ducks website, the classes nearest to me were on a Wednesday afternoon which would’ve been ideal. They’ve now been moved to a Saturday afternoon which is turning out to be a logistical nightmare. what with step-sisters & other weekend activity. Should’ve listened to myself at the time of booking when I thought, Saturday? That’ll never work. I’m going to see if I can swap to the other classes on a week day instead. They’re further away, but the timing is better. I think he’s more ready for stuff like that now. He’s starting to stay awake for longer between naps and is more interested in other things.

I took him into town in the pushchair today. It felt weird not having him next to me in the sling. I felt guilty almost. He seemed OK & spent much of the time looking around. I’ve noticed that he likes his own time. Don’t get me wrong – he likes to be cuddled & played with, but he really does enjoy alone time when I’m close by and he’s doing things himself, even if it is just watching the world go by. He’s got quite long for the sling now and I don’t think he enjoys it as much anymore because he can’t see so well what’s happening around us. I do put him facing outward sometimes, but I’m loathe to do it too often. We’ve got our new carrier, but I’m going to wait until he’s bigger to use it I think. I expect I’ll use it like a backpack so I want to be confident that he’ll be happy up there before I embark on that adventure.

I almost forgot – he fell asleep in his cot bed the other day! On his own! I sneakily put him in there while I was doing something, knowing it was his nap time, and I came back a few minutes later & he was zonked He didn’t sleep for as long as he usually does at nap time, but it was a big thing for us! Bodes well for the future (fingers crossed). I think it helps that he’s comfortable in there already. He’s used to it because we put him in there when we wash our hands after we change him; sometimes we put him in there just for something different for him to do with one of us being close by. He likes looking at the mobile I made for him & all the teddies we’ve been given.

Cine Babies was great, although not very busy at all, this month – not surprising with all the snow & ice. I’ve just checked & the next one (on 4th February) is *drum roll please* Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll!! Holy cow! I LOVE Cine Babies I’ll be gutted when he’s too old to go. Will mean relegation to Cine Kids (kids films) & evening cinema for me without him

So, next time will probably be 5 months? Until then…Pie out.

P.S.: Updated 17/01/10 13.18. Just been into town with him in the sling & all is good again. He was quite happy in it – I just need to tie it so that the pieces of fabric at the front are the other way round to the the way I usually tie it. This supports his head better (now that it’s bigger) when he has a little sleepy.

3 months today!

Well…at 11.42pm at least.

My GAHD! Where does the time go? I looked at the calendar yesterday and it’s December?? During the last 3 months we have been officially travelling at Warp 8, fcuk Impulse! (No disrespect J-L.P.).

I think the 3 month mark is the magic moment for us. I finally have a firmer grip on life with Isaac. It’s all been a bit of an ordeal so far, but the past 5 days or so have seen the return of Sarah as she was known, pre-Isaac. She isn’t mentally 100% as she seems to have lost some brain power, and now seems to be referring to herself in the 3rd person. Hmm.

So anyway, back to Little Man. Breastfeeding/milk is now definitely established & there’s less frustrated screaming because it doesn’t let down quick enough. Although he did feed every 2 hours today – 3 month growth spurt methinks? Would also explain the feeding every 2 hours on the dot. Bless him. Still haven’t got into expressing. Might wait until this growth spurt is over & then give it a go as it shouldn’t upset supply & demand then.

I put him in his door bouncer for the first time proper the other day. His feet now reach the floor. He doesn’t bounce as such, but spins it round while he surveys his kingdom (and has stare downs with the dog).

Surveys Kingdom

Doggy Stare Down

We’ve been to Cine Babies at the Quad for the past 2 months. Only 9 more of those It’s such a good idea, mainly because it doesn’t matter if your baby screams because there will be other babies screaming too & everyone expects it! Hurrah! Next month: Me & Orson Welles.

I’ve taken him swimming twice. That one is tricky because the swimming class I went to is at 11.15am which is when he usually wants to be asleep. I’ve found another one which is MUCH closer (within walking distance rather than 20 minute drive) in the hospital hydrotherapy pool. Have emailed the woman so will see what comes of that. Took him into the teaching pool with Simon & the girls today. I don’t think he was that impressed with the actual in-the-water bit, but there was minimal crying & only a bit of whimpering, until back in the changing room when I unwrapped his towel & took off his baby snug. Even then it was OK because he went straight into another dry towel followed closely by clothses. I think he was tired. Which leads nicely into my next topic.

Sleep.

The Little Man won’t sleep until he’s the-most-tired-ever.com. During the day that is. At night he sleeps from about 6.30pm-7pm for between 5 & 7 hours, wakes for a feed/nappy change & then goes back to sleep for between 2& 3 hours. This was great when his last wake up was 6am, but it’s been 4.30am of late. This does not go down well in the Turner house, for Ma or Pa. It’s difficult to keep him up until 7/7.30pm though because he’s so tired and grumpy. I think it’s time to re-evaluate his nap schedule. He still naps best in’t sling. He does sleep in his pram basket for about an hour, but only after 10 minutes of grizzling. Balls to HV. I’m sticking to my guns about baby wearing. He also doesn’t settle properlyuntil he’s had some comfort sucking on me. I’ve tried to slip my nipple out of his mouth & replace it with a soother to no avail. The boy ain’t stupid. He knows what he wants & that’s real live boob. People say it’ll develop bad habits, but I dunno. He’s a little tiny baby who wants his Mamma, who am I to deny him that?

We’re looking to get a new carrier in the New Year as the Hug-a-Bub is great while he’s still relatively small, but as he grows it’s going to become  impractical. The H-a-B is supposed to be worn with the loose bits tied around ones hips. Having a waist smaller than my hips makes this difficult because it rides up & then loosens the rest of the sling meaning he’s all flopping everywhere & his head falls back at some weird ass angle. So. We’re going to get an Ergo carrier. I’ve spent hours, literally hours, pouring over different types of soft carrier wondering which would be best.  Should we get a mei tai type (which I very nearly did) or a clip fastening type? I saw a lady the first time we went to Cine Babies with a backpack style carrier & when we went again I asked her what it was. I had a look at it & it seems great! If you can be bothered there’s LOADS of information on their website all about baby wearing, its benefits, why it won’t wreck your back (HVs new tactic to discourage). It has a sleep hood which is very important for us as Isaac loves to sleep in the sling. It can be worn front, back & hip. Sold. Galaxy grey to the lady with the tattoos.

Something that reassures me in my baby wearing ways is the reading I’ve done about how humans are parent clingers, i.e.: not meant to be left in nests like birds/mice etc – makes sense as we’re descended from apes (sorry Mrs Palin) whose young are carried constantly during the early part of their lives. Research shows that baby wearing doesn’t make clingy, spoiled children; it reassures them and creates emotionally balanced and secure individuals. So, we’re meant to be carried around all of the time until we want to walk on our own? Yes! Sucks for people who don’t really like their kids!

Little Man smiles lots of the time now. He’s such a charmer I think I even heard a silvery peal of laughter the other day! His hair is getting thicker and his legs longer. However, longer legs = unable to tuck up in the sling anymore so feeties get cold! OH NO! Fear not! I’ve just found these brilliant things. Extra long merino wool booties From the rather awesomely named site, Fanny Fanackapants! Back on track. He likes singing & being jiggled about on his changing mat so I think we’re going to start going to rhyme time and maybe even TinyTalk in the new year. We just weren’t ready before. I’ve even discovered how to tie my scarf so that he’s not suffocated by it while in-sling.

Spot The Baby

So now it’s time for me to go to bed, at the rock n roll hour of 10pm – here’s hoping tomorrow doesn’t start at 4.30am!

2 months on

Now that he is just over 2 months I feel things are settling down into some semblance of a routine, on more days than not. Nights aren’t always as unpredictable and horrific as they used to be, we manage between 4 and 5 consecutive hours sleep at best and he slept for 7 straight hours the other night! Incredible! During the day he naps in the sling and at night he sleeps in his pram in our room on the floor (the basket bit detaches from the chassis – this will help transition to crib no doubt). We think the sense of space in the crib was a little too much for him and the size of our room was overwhelming. The pram has a hood that comes up so he feels more enclosed. With hindsight I think a Moses basket would have been more appropriate for this particular Little Man, but we weren’t to know. HV wasn’t convinced that the sling was appropriate after 4 weeks, but I think the sense of closeness it promotes is invaluable while developing our bond and means that he really does sleep during the day rather than snatching 20 minutes sleep between draining feeding sessions. I forgot the sling when I went to Mum’s on Monday which was a complete nightmare until we improvised on out of 2 pashminas!

Improv sling-prov

I have since been into town and bought 4 pashminas from the lady in Westfield with a view to making an additional sling. Now…when will I have the time to do that?!

Also whilst at Mum’s I looked through some baby pictures of me. My GAHD! He rather looks like I did!

Isaac 8 weeks

Sarah 5 months

Breastfeeding is now going well; milk seems to be established. I’ve given up trying to express apart from at weekends when Simon can sling him. Seems that whatever I express only gets given to him a few days later. I’ll get back on the case again, just not yet. It seems whenever I’m getting low about something Isaac related, I pick up a copy of Juno and find an article that reassures me and makes me feel a million times better. The latest edition has a brilliant article about breastfeeding. The author practises energy work and incorporates this into her breastfeeding strategy. I love the approach and it made me realise that I’d been quite selfish while feeding my boy. Since I’ve stopped watching things on the TV while feeding him I’ve noticed that he feeds better and is much happier. This might seem obvious to many, but I think I was being a little short sighted about the whole affair. Breastfeeding isn’t just about filling a tummy, it’s about building a relationship with your child and how can you do that it you aren’t even paying attention? *Slaps forehead* It’s easy to forget that he’s only an ickle bebe and get worked up that there’s so much you need to get done, but just can’t. I’m getting used to the levels of dust with which we co-habit. I get so frustrated sometimes, especially at night when I’m tired and crying for sleep, or when we’ve planned something that we can’t participate in fully because he’s tired or hungry. I think having a mantra to repeat to myself helps enormously. It removes me from what’s right in front of me, just long enough to get fresh perspective so that I can carry on with the same love that he deserves all the time. Kudos to Dad for suggesting the idea.

Having read about Ayurvedic eating for myself (being a Kapha sucks), I decided to see what I thought Isaac was. From what I can tell about him so far he seems to be Vata. Boo! I found this out about Vata babies from here:

“Babies and children with a predominance of Vata find it hard to gain weight.  Their sleep is easily disturbed and they have a tendency towards wind and colic.  They dislike the cold or being exposed to windy conditions. On the whole they have low, delicate appetites and love sweet, warm food. By nature they are daydreamers and enjoy watching trees blowing in the wind or clouds moving across the sky.”

To a tee. He’s underneath the bottom line on the weight gaining chart in my red book which I think the HVs are going to get excited about tomorrow when I get him weighed, BUT he has wet & dirty nappies and doesn’t look emaciated at all. He feeds OK, seems fine to me. Isn’t too windy any more as I wind him meticulously when he needs it (thanks to Dunstan Baby Language for word/cry understanding!) He does love to watch things and has a good nose whenever possible. I took him into town in the sling the other day and it was the first time he’d really experienced a bitter cold wind. He really didn’t like it and kept burying his face into my chest. I think there’s definitely something in it and will bear it in mind when weaning. Talking of which, we’re booked onto an NCT weaning course in January.

I still haven’t managed to go out. It isn’t really possible while I’m not expressing  and I frankly don’t have the energy or the inclination. I had half a cider (all I was allowed by the landlady!), a glass of pink fizzy stuff & half a can of Carlsberg (spread out over about 7 hours) on Halloween and I felt bloody awful!  Is this a new non-alcoholic Sarah? The odd glass of wine every now and then seems to be OK, but I can’t even think about drinking lots.

Auntie Kate

Auntie Anna

Isaac has now met 2 out of 3 not-Godparents. Auntie Kate & Auntie Anna have both been to visit We need a better name than not-Godparents. Any suggestions? The official title as used by registrars is Special Adults. Special Adults? Hmm. Not for us!

The days are literally flying by and I’m sure he’ll be 6 months before I even know it. I’m trying to enjoy him being so little because it won’t last forever, it’s trying at times because I know it’ll be easier when he does sleep for longer and my head doesn’t feel like it’s full of cotton wool. Then I’ll be wishing he was small and cuddly again!

Sleep deprivation and other stories

“Everything is at a hazy distance. I know someone’s talking to me, but I can’t quite focus on the content of their word stream and I find my eyes glazing over while I dream of my bed.”

I used to feel like that the day after a after a night out while my still alcohol soaked brain attempted to recover. It isn’t how I feel every day, but it was how I felt yesterday after, possibly, 2 hours sleep? Even then it was snatched from between 20 minute & 1/2 hour slots allowed by Little Man. Isaac has now reached the point in his young life where he doesn’t automatically fall asleep when he gets tired. No no no, that would be too simple. He now gets overtired (Dianne I thought of you when I said that!). Lucky Mummy & Daddy! Especially Mummy as she’s the one with boob juice. Seeing as how he doesn’t sleep properly in the day unless he’s in the sling, catching up with aforementioned lost sleep doesn’t really happen. I think we’re quite lucky though, that if he sleeps OK during the day then he settles after changing/feeding at night. For instance, last night we got 2 3 hour stretches and the last one might have even been closer to 4 hours!

I’ve been having a few issues with our breast feeding experience. It seems that he always wants to be on the boob (typical man LOL) and I worry that he isn’t getting enough and that he’s starving, especially as he hadn’t put any weight on when weighed by a health visitor week before last. It doesn’t help that we’ve had thrush either (me – nipples, him – oral). We initially thought it was bad attachment causing my nips to rub against the top of his mouth, but it’s all cleared up now – for me at least. I think he still has it in his mouth, but it doesn’t interfere with feeds and I don’t seem to have got it back again so I’m hoping it’ll go on its own.

Anyhoo, I digress (massively).

Breastfeeding is an unknown quantity for me. I can’t see how much goes into him when he feeds and pumping isn’t an accurate reflection of how much he gets as he’s much more efficient at getting the milk out of me than a machine. It’s extremely worrying when all he seems to do is cry when he isn’t feeding or asleep. It’s tied in with the not liking to be left alone thing. Everything muddles together and is very difficult to articulate intelligently, so forgive my jumbled description. I’m getting more confident with how to breastfeed, but I guess it’s something that comes with time, experience and talking to those others with experience. I go to a breastfeeding group on Friday mornings at my local children’s centre. It’s very good and everyone is nice. Plus there are toys for when he’s old enough to start appreciating them.

Isaac Andrew Wiggler has different cries for different things (as all babies do) and I’m getting better at distinguishing between them. Hungry is VERY loud and repetitive, which figures because it’s a life threatening thing if he doesn’t get to eat so he needs to make sure I can hear him! Wet/dirty nappy is more of a pissed off cry, figures. There’s nothing worse than sitting in your own wee and poo! Tired is interesting. It’s more wavering and half-arsed. Overtired is a combination of all of the above, making it the most difficult to decipher. We run through everything  (Clean nappy? Check. Fed? Check. Cuddles? Check) before realising that he’s been awake for ages and needs to sleep. D’oh!

I remembered reading an article in the Spring 2009 edition of Juno magazine entitled “Crying: an explanation of why babies cry” by Teresa Pitman. I re-read it earlier this evening and it brought tears to my eyes, particularly the final paragraph which reads as follows:

“As a La Leche League leader, I often get calls from mothers who are worried that either they don’t have enough milk or there is something wrong with their milk, because their babies cry “too much”. When I ask them to describe what their baby is doing, here’s what I get: “Well, I breastfeed for twenty minutes, then I put him down in the crib, and he cries,. I pick him up: he stops crying. If I carry him around, he’s not too bad, but every time I put him down, he cries. And sometimes in the evening all he’ll do is breastfeed and cry. I don’t know if he’s just starving or it’s something I’m eating.

Of course I do explore those possible concerns with the mother, but most often it turns out that her baby is just being a baby, adjusting to beng out in the world and doing what his instincts tell him will keep him safe, ensure a good milk supply and keep him close to the parents he loves.“

I feel almightily relieved, reassured and other brilliant words beginning with R that reiterate (!) how great it made me feel! Earlier in the article, the notion of spoiling a baby was discussed and the general consensus (based on years of research of Western and tribal cultures) was that in Western culture, we don’t trust our instincts (this is what I took from it anyway). In tribal cultures, if a baby cries he’s picked up and soothed. He’s carried around in a sling in an upright position so that he’s close to his mother and always protected. He’s always offered the breast when he cries. These are all things that I think are important. However, my health visitor tells me that using the sling past 4 weeks is a bad thing. I think differently. The Hug-a-bub website reads as follows:

“Social conditioning has led parents to believe that if a baby is held or carried too frequently they will be spoilt, clingy or demanding. Modern research reveals quite the opposite. The physical and psychological benefits associated with baby wearing encourage children to feel secure and content and build a solid sense of self-esteem.

Babywearing not only promotes an intimate connection between parent and baby, it is hailed as one of the most important factors in the healthy physical, intellectual and social development of infants. It promotes good digestion which is believed to greatly eases the distressing symptoms of colic and reflux.“

Now, I know that they want sales, but it’s not the only place that I’ve read such positive things about baby wearing. For muchos información go to The BabyWearer.com, naturalmothering.co.uk, or check out some more bullet points on the Hug-a-bub website. So, ner to you HV.

Evil spotties!

Something else my HV said was that face spots was completely normal in babies. I remembered that Isaac didn’t have any until, through exhaustion and lack of will to cook, I caved in and ate a pizza. The next day he came out in a rash of angry red pimples on his cheeks. I don’t eat a lot of dairy as a rule so I decided to cut it out completely. I also (at the recommendation of an NCT friend) put some breast milk on the spots. Within a few hours they had calmed down dramatically and have only come back (on a smaller scale) when I’ve given in and had something with dairy in it. So. A decision has been made by me to go vegan. I’d considered veganism before he was born and have been gravitating that way for a while now, but it’s through sheer laziness on my part that I haven’t made the switch sooner. We have so many vegan cook books and our evening meals are usually vegan anyway; now I’m convinced that it’s the logical way forward.

We have our 6 week postnatal check next week and an appointment has been booked for his immunisations, despite HV saying she’d get a message put in Isaac’s medical notes to say we didn’t want them. Typical.

Anyhoo, Little Man was weighed again this week and has put on some weight. Not much, but some. As goes the mantra – all babies are different. So I try not to worry, feed him when he cries and love him all the time.

Odds & sods

After the initial telephone call of doom on Friday afternoon, the visit went well and I actually really like my Health Visitor! She gave me some really useful breastfeeding tips and advice. Looks like I’ll be going along to her breastfeeding group across the road on Friday mornings. Turns out the Well Baby clinic is only over the road too so that makes things easy She put things in perspective, in that at the moment all Little Man knows is sucking, crying, sleeping, weeing & pooing. He’s doing well on all those fronts so I guess I must be doing something right. Apart from maybe the sleeping thing, but not all babies sleep as much as each other do they? He does OK at night; obviously we don’t get as much sleep as we’d like, but I seem to have night feeds down so that helps.

She also talked to me about the birth. She was surprised that, as I’d had spontaneous membrane rupture & planned a home birth, that I’d ended up having a caesarean. I explained that the midwives who came at 4am asked me to go into hospital for a CTG & I’d ended up staying & she was of the opinion that, as I’d been taken out of my own surroundings into a strange unfamiliar environment, that my body had shut down & decided not to give birth then. Sounds about right to me! I’d thought this already, but didn’t want to really believe it. I can’t help wondering what would’ve happened if I’d gone home. There’s absolutely no point doing this though as it’s now in the past, Le Wiggler est ici & he’s healthy etc. Anyhoo…food for thought.

The trolley of no-bags-to-carry-wheelie-greatness

How are things going? They’re going well. We’ve had a few nightmare days when I wanted to curl up & die, but who doesn’t, right? The dummy/soother has died a death after only really being wanted by Isaac for about 1/2 a day. So now he sucks my finger instead. Although, last night I put a few drops of lavender oil on the muslin that goes under his head in his crib and he didn’t need any kind of other soothing for the whole night! (for the times that he wasn’t feeding etc). Lavender is good stuff I’ve decided – the knock out stuff of infants. We’ll see how it goes tonight.

The sling continues to be daytime salvation. Isaac doesn’t sleep during the day unless he’s in the sling. I tried to have a nap the other day, which was hideous. I nearly got to sleep a few times in the course of an hour, but Isaac didn’t sleep at all & I eventually gave up & felt like rhubarb for the rest of the day. Dad bought me a granny trolley to use in town when I’m wearing the sling & don’t have the luxury of being able to carry lots of bags plus baby. It’s amazing – thank you me Da!

I shall be glad when Simon has finished with enrolment at uni & he’s home at a decent time in the evenings. I don’t know what I would’ve done without Dad being here. He’s been great – made me lunch every day & offered words of encouragement and understanding.  He’s ace and will be missed when he goes home on Friday…alone at last Bring on the visitors!

Super Pa!

That is all I have to say for now, other than this…

(not Isaac!)