Week 28
1. Sing and Sign.
We started a new baby class that was recommended to us by lots of other mums, and I was looking for something that involved a bit of music and singing. And we found what we were looking for.
Sing and sign is great fun! It is just what it says on the tin but the lady that runs it is really engaging and charismatic so Pads was engrossed throughout all the little songs, which of course all have signs that go with them to encourage mum and baby to communicate better. We learnt the signs for 'more' and 'eat' and 'all finished' and 'no' and a few animal ones too. Then Paddington got to play with a tambourine and shaker and had a really fun time bashing his instruments and shaking them when told to (probably just a fluke but it made him look super skilled!) and stopping shaking when commanded too (again I think more of a fluke but I will take it!). We have been trying out some of the signs at home so hoping a few will sink in for both of us and aid our communication. Either way, the class is fun and there are a few other mums there from our other classes too so it's a friendly crowd. Plus he slept for nearly 2 hours after the first class so anything that achieves that result is a winner for me!
2. Countdown to crawling.
I really don't think we can be far away from crawling now. The manic rolling is at its peak and the shuffling, pivoting and grabbing his way forwards and backwards is incredible to watch. He puts so much effort into moving around and is desperate to crawl. He has done a few little backwards crawls already - just a couple of pushes, but not very far or for very long and has just started going on all fours and pressing himself up into a sort of bridge position, then rocking back and forth really quickly as if trying to propel himself forward. It takes such intense concentration and effort and often results in a few tears of utter frustration - or a fart. He could not be trying any harder and I think he will get there soon. I believe he can do anything frankly and deserves to succeed just for trying so hard. That's my boy.
3. Sense of humour.
Our boy loves a laugh and a smile and is displaying a very fun and cheeky sense of humour already. He knows when he has splashed really hard and wet us when he is in the bath by our reactions and thinks this is hilarious. He loves a little game of peek-a-boo, chuckling away at the surprise element. He loves being held upside down or with his belly resting on my head when I am standing and giggles away at this new sensation of height and weightlessness. And when he has dropped something off the high chair onto the floor and I have to keep going to get it, he knows that is funny and gives me a super cheeky grin before he drops whatever it is.
The other day we went to visit my gorgeous pal Cathy and her mum Rita came into the room and stood by the doorway, quite far away from Pads, and started making raspberry blowing noises at him and funny faces. He thought this was the funniest thing ever and chortled out loud over and again. Then when she wiggled her glasses up and down he was almost thigh slapping, he was so entertained. Ah, the simple things in life! He loves to laugh and finds joy in so many things, it's a real inspiration and a great outlook to have on life. Plus his laugh is simply adorable. It does funny things to my ovaries....(watch out Jon!)
4. Sleeves are the enemy.
All of a sudden, every time we have to change little man's clothes, he freaks out when it comes to putting his sleeves on. This is a recent development and it makes dressing him really slow and complicated as he makes little fists or spreads out his fingers to make putting any sleeves over his hands really taxing. He also doesn't like things going over his head much either so change time is just a wrestling match accompanied with him crying and wriggling at the moment. Great fun.
5. Breastfeeding photo shoot. #normalisebreastfeeding
Pads and I took part in a fab photo shoot this week, all to promote the normalisation of breastfeeding. It's the brainchild of a lovely local photographer, Hannah Merrett, and has the backing of the midwife team who took care of me and my boy and I think it's such a great idea.
Hannah is basically taking pics of breastfeeding mums at home or out and about just feeding their babies as they would normally do, to create a real life style photo campaign which she kicked off with a Facebook page called The Beauty of Mummy's Milk: Hannah Merrett Photography this week and Pads and I had a starring role as the first mummy and baby duo featured! (please like and share to help us gain more exposure - pardon the pun!) #normalisebreastfeeding
She is also going to put up some of the photographs as posters in local cafes, hospitals and gp surgeries, and hopefully, if further funding is received, to reach out further across Wales perhaps, to normalise breastfeeding.
It will also show people how different breastfeeding is for every mother and baby and that it isn't just about one position, the cradle, which is all most people are ever shown or aware of - I know I wasn't aware of other positions at the start, so hopefully it will also give people the option to try another position if one isn't working for them, and to let them know that there are lots of different ways to feed your baby. This is such a worthwhile cause and the more people that see breastfeeding as a normal, natural, everyday thing, the more likely they are to try it, keep at it, accept it, support it and encourage it, and importantly for this country, the more likely the stigma that still shockingly surrounds breastfeeding, will be removed.
The rates for breastfeeding in Wales are awful, we have one of the lowest rates in the world - only 46% of women even try breastfeeding and this drops by half within the first 6 weeks, largely because of lack of support, lack of easily accessable information and guidance because of a stretched Nhs, and lack of peer encouragement. (If your mum/Aunty/sister/friends didn't breastfeed and you have no breastfeeding groups to turn to, then who do you go to for help and advice?) In rural Wales and the valleys the figures are even lower - and something needs to be done about that. The message that breast milk is the perfect 'first food' for babies perhaps still isn't getting heard loud enough or more than likely, it is being heard but mums aren't getting the support and help they need to really give it their best shot and stick with it when it inevitably gets hard or when problems arise and are spotted or sorted out.
'Breast is best' is a well known phrase and I think people are starting to understand why but they need support to do what is often perceived as a really natural, easy thing (I thought it would be easy to pick up as its instinct and Mother Nature right?! How wrong I was!). There are SOOOO many reasons that breastfeeding support needs to be given greater priority of importance by health professionals and more funding by the government, as not only is breast milk free, convenient, portable and always at the correct temperature and always sterile, it also and most importantly, contains all the nutrients a baby needs for 6 whole months! Its a complete whole food. It's incredible stuff! On top of that, it is packed with immune boosting properties and puts both mum and baby at a significantly lower risk of diabetes, breast and ovarian cancer, a host of infections, bugs and more - it literally saves lives and saves money (for mums because it's free food for your baby and for the Nhs because it keeps mum and baby healthier so less doctors and hospital visits all round).
There was an article out this week about the most recent findings by The Lancet, a U.K medical journal, that if every mum who could breastfeed did, it would save around 800,000 children's lives (from various diseases and infections) and 20,000 mum's lives (from breast cancer) so anything that can be done to support, help and encourage breastfeeding mums and remove any unnecessary barriers, such as the stigma that is still shamefully attached to breastfeeding, should be applauded. "Powerful political commitment and financial investment is needed to protect, promote and support breastfeeding at all levels: family, community, workplace and government" (The Lancet).
**Of course, not every mum can breastfeed successfully and not every mum wants to breastfeed either, and I by no means judge any mum for how they feed their baby and do not ever want any mum to feel bad about not choosing to breastfeed or having to stop breastfeeding as there are so many circumstances that make it so hard to do or to continue to do. I am just passionate about breastfeeding personally and passionate about ensuring mums have all the information and support they can possibly have about it to make an informed choice about how to feed their baby in the first instance and then ongoing support to keep breastfeeding if that is the path they chose.
I really enjoyed taking part in the shoot and Pads was a little star just happily feeding away and giving some lovely smilies to camera when he was finished too! We did a variety of shots doing biological feeding in the rocking chair and armchair and then doing lying down feeding in bed, and I was totally happy to have my boob out feeding my son while Hannah snapped away, because it's just normal to us. Breastfeeding is just that. Just feeding, using a breast. The photos are beautiful and something we will treasure forever as a reminder of such a special time between me and my boy. I am proud to be involved in this campaign, and hope it gets the further funding it needs to roll out across Wales.
6. Adventures in weaning part 2.
Paddington's culinary introduction continues and this week has seen a huge leap in the way he eats and anticipates food already. He gets really excited when I put his bib on and when he sees the orange bowl and opens out his arms as if to say 'give me whatever you've got in there now!'. I think he is enjoying food and exploring new tastes and textures and we have had some serious winners this week. Here's the tasting menu so far:
Parsnip. He ate the whole bowl! He loved it and kept wanting more, reaching out for the spoon and looking really happy when I gave him another bit. He was sucking it off the spoon and swallowing with some vigour. I have been a bit disorganised on the baby led part of the weaning this week and didn't cook up whole parsnips to go with the purée, but am not sure he cares, so we will get back on the baby led now we have done our little intro to flavours fortnight.
Carrot. He grinned and laughed out loud while eating this and ate the whole bowl again. Loved it. He really delighted in smearing carrot streaks across the high chair tray and just looked like he was having so much fun.
Peas. New texture sensation - this was quite a chunky, thick purée with bigger lumps in than any of the others he has had so far, and it was so cute to see him pressing bits against the roof of his mouth with his tongue to sort of chew it before swallowing. He really liked it and again, ate almost the whole bowl. I think I may have fed him too quickly though as he was so excited by it, as about 45 minutes later, after he had done some energetic play on his mat, he did some rather large pea-speckled sicks, so I think I need to slow down the pace when feeding and try and make sure he has finished what is in his mouth before giving him more. Not always easy to tell as sometimes he hides a little food stash behind his tongue. Also, I probably need to try and keep him upright and still (ha! Good luck with that!) for longer after a feed, like I would after a breast feed.
Peas really do get everywhere though. During the feed he was shaking the spoon and bowl - standard - and bits of pea were literally flying all over the kitchen. I found some on the wall and the skirting as well as all over the mat and of course, all over the floor beyond the mat. It was the worst food clean up yet and seemed to take forever. I am still finding little green flecks now!
Avocado. Well this was a fun one. We went baby led on this one mainly and he really enjoyed picking up the slices of avocado and sucking on them and trying to chew bits. He loved feeding himself and ate a fair amount considering he doesn't have any teeth! He did bite off a bit more than he could chew a few times and I had to help him spit some large chunks out but then he would try again and suck a little piece off instead. I only offered him the mashed up avo on the spoon a couple of times as wanted him to feed himself more, and he lapped it up each time. A total winner and a total mess! Avo spreads far and wide!
Pear. This might have taken the number 1 spot from parsnips or be a close 2nd at least. He couldn't get enough and loved holding the pieces of cooked parsnips I cut up for him as much as, if not, more than the puree.
Banana. He was really unsure about this one and made some pretty disgusted looking faces. I also hated bananas when I was little and only started eating them in pregnancy as they are so good for you. I think Pads my have inherited my initial dislike for this weirdly textured fruit. He seemed to be much sicker in the day following his banana breakfast too, bringing up a LOT of watery sick - around 4 or 5 times after each feed and sometimes over an hour later, and the next day he had some diarrhoea bless him so I am extra wary about the banana as it may have contributed to that.
7. Cot training continued.
Our 'routine' was a bit broken this week as we stayed at our cottage last weekend where there is no cot so we had to revert back to co-sleeping and the sleep wasn't great again to be honest. Then when we were back to the cot, the first night was not a success and really broken sleep again. And we were doing so well!
However, the next evening was good again with a 4 hour stretch of sleep and Ewan the dream sheep doing his bit to help soothe Padster back to sleep. All in all sleep is much better at night now we are putting him in the cot as much as possible with an average of 3.5-4 hours straight sleep a night now (such a big improvement I can't tell you!), and around 3-4 wakings instead of double that, as we were doing.
Day sleep is good, with us pretty much hitting our 3 hours in a day target everyday this week which is fab. The only way is up right! We are definitely all feeling better for some more sleep finally and I just hope it continues! (Please!)
This weekend we stayed at my aunty's in the Gower for a couple of nights, so again no cot and the bed was really small and dipped in the middle so it wasnt possible to use the sleepyhead in the bed as I had planned as it kept tilting towards the middle and was too close to the edge of the bed so didn't feel very safe either, so I ended up putting it on the floor where he slept for a bit! But because it was a new environment he didn't sleep well, so we did some co-sleeping again with him resting on me tummy down, just to get a few more zzzzz's.
I decided to buy a travel cot to make it easier (hopefully!) to sleep in new and different places with the little bear, and Asda have a good baby sale on at the moment so we got one for just over £20, plus we picked up a spare cot in a gorgeous navy blue for the cottage, which will then be a spare cot for the grandparents once we move, for under £40. Bargains. Hope he likes them!
8. Bumps versus bumpers.
Now he is back sleeping in his cot mostly, we have a problem and it goes bump in the night.
Whenever he wakes up, he wants to move about as his first instinct, but in the cot this inevitably means he will roll to one side and end up bumping his head on the side bars bless him. This happens a couple of times a night love him and usually makes him cry - not a lot but enough to properly wake him and make settling him via Ewan or soothing in the cot virtually impossible.
Now, I know that cot bumpers are deemed unsafe and we are told not to use them because of the dangers of suffocation (we do own some lovely ones that were given to us as a gift and I used them as decoration in the cot at the opposite end to where he was, up until he started moving around basically and have since removed them) but can a bump on his head several times a night be any good for him either and is there anything I can do to help him? He pretty much has a little red mark on his head most mornings now where he has bashed his bonce on the bars and I feel so sorry for him.
He is inevitably going to move about and roll, and the bars are hard so it doesn't take a genius to do the maths and see why it keeps happening. Has anyone else had this problem and what did you do about it? I was recommended some small bumpers to just go over a few bars where he regularly bumps his head by a pal, but he has started to regularly bump it in a few different places now as well as start sticking his arm through the bars to reach out so am concerned he is going to get himself stuck soon. I was also told about air wraps, which are breathable mesh like cot bumpers that won't cause suffocation and are ideal for stopping limbs being poked out of cots and getting caught apparently so am thinking of trying those out, but have also been told they can encourage the little ones to try and use them to climb out of the cot too. Its a mine field! Will report back!
9. First beach trip!
This weekend just gone we went to visit family in the Gower and Pads saw the sea for the first time! He loved it. It was very windy and fresh out but he chattered away to me the whole way along the Langland to Caswell bay path, excitedly shouting at things we passed such as surfers running down the beach into the sea, trees with the leaves blowing wildly, flocks of seagulls overhead and the waves crashing on the ocean. He had gorgeous red ruddy cheeks and an expression of wonder and joy. I think my boy may be an ocean babe which is excellent news as Jon and I are massive fans of the sea.
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