Baby-wrassling, tag team style

It's so much easier when there's two of you.

Wayne & Braeden playing on the couch (note the posset-catching nappy & bib!)

Seeing as Wayne verbally kicked my butt for not asking for help, I have been less backward in coming forward when I need a hand. (Oooooh boy is he regretting he said anything, nyuk nyuk nyuk!!!)

This has added to his problems such as costing him a precious day when he delayed a job to give me a hand and was then thwarted by rain, but on the other hand, he's got a much happier wife to come home to - one who is more likely to greet him with clean hair (as opposed to puke-encrusted) and a saucy grin.

That wink and a promise seems to be good for a lot of mileage. Take last night - Wayne helped me with all the night feeds. The day before (with a grouchy kid on the fang) we'd had SIX feeds between 11pm and 7am, which in anyone's book is bloody ridiculous.

So when Robyn visited yesterday, she counselled that we might want to space those feeds out a bit (gee.. ya reckon?), and that if at all possible get kidlet back to the one feed between 11am and 6am that we'd achieved before things went to hell in a handcart when the antibiotics threw kidlet into an unsettled week of tummy aches and wrecked patterns!

Braeden woke at 1.30 and asked for a feed, so I got up to make him a bottle. This was the first step in the New Plan, because hitherto I had been breastfeeding all night, which we think contributed to the 'wake up every hour/hour & half" booby call. So Dad was to feed while I expressed, but when I got back to bed with bottle & pump, I discovered Wayne settling a sleeping baby back in his cot, unfed but satisfied.

Huh?? Tell me how you did that!

Oh.. the old "re-wrap you, shove a dummy in your mouth and say 'nightynight' " trick. Damn!

Well Robyn did say to drop as many unnecessary feeds as possible at night, so let's see if this works.

Hot damn! Next thing, it's 3am and he's just now grousing again. Can we wait him out a bit longer? (Mum with explody bosoms says no, Dad overrides and says yes... upshot was we waited in the dark another half hour before kidlet lost all patience and stopped grousing and launched into full scream mode. Nought to 60 in two seconds, LOL)

So Dad fed, and Mum milked. Cept Dad thought he was awful clever and decided to change another part of the routine (well hell, he was 2 for 2 so he figured he was on a roll). Instead of burping baby during feeds, he decided to wait til the end. Mum said "I don't think that's such a good idea darling" but was again overridden.

Yep.. Mum was right this time. Braeden was still awake and grumpy at 7.20, when Mum staggered out of bed to relieve Dad who was cold and starving in the lounge. Despite tag-teaming the kid (I'll do the first hour while you sleep, etc) it still until 9am before baby got any sleep at all.

So we gained some progress, and learned a bit more.

When Robyn weighed & measured Braeden yesterday, she leaned over him and conspiratorially whispered "You are big enough to sleep right through the night, young man. You are strong enough to easily last 14 hours between feeds if you need to!"

Braeden's answer to that was to yell at her, and follow it up with a stream of piddle that soaked her sleeve.

Moral: Do not suggest outrageous things to naked, opinionated babies!

Anyhoo, kidlet is now 11 pounds 4 ounces, ie has gained 10 ounces in seven days. He is clearly thriving and is way ahead of his age for motor skills, reflexes, responses and physical development. As you can see he's finished with both the staph rash and the hormone pimples, and in another week the redness will also fade. His clothes are now 3-6 months sizes, because the 0-3 month sizes are too short in the body, arms and legs (they fit around the body and limbs, just aren't nearly long enough!)

He's been quite difficult this week, but we're working through strategies to cope. First off, no more antibiotics thank you very much. We also tried Infant Gaviscon to see if it helped keep his dinner down (a: No! And made matters worse by making him think he was choking)

I've taken to mixing some Arrowroot in with his formula/expressed feeds to thicken the mix. Turns out Wayne's Mother used to do the same for him, only using "Pearl something-or-other" that I've never heard of. Yep, Wayne was another "pig out then chuck" baby! Mums these days use Cornflower (Corn Starch for the USA folk) but YUCK that stuff tastes phooey, plus I don't want to risk an intolerance, so it's good old Arrowroot which has no discernible taste, and doesn't make you allergic to anything.

Of course our midwife isn't too sure about this, as she's never used or recommended Arrowroot, but I only use a smidgeon and when I do, he keeps his dinner down, doesn't howl in pain/distress for ages afterwards, and actually sleeps.

Let's hope we've cracked it :-)

Btw.. saw the photo. Brilliant one of Wayne, Braeden looks very cute but not at all as interesting as he usually does, and ME.. omigod... well let's just say that was after a night I didn't sleep much at all, and you can tell. Pale, puffy, grey hairs (frosted actually, but they seem grey), bleary expression.. yeah.. scary stuff. The interview was pretty close - a few things not quite right but we'll let them slip by in the understanding that to say otherwise would have made redundant over-explanation and boring press.

Anyhoo, kidlet is still sleeping in his hammock, so time to make some sandwiches and get ready for when he wakes hungry sometime after 1pm! Like the hammock? Wayne took our bouncinette, and hung it from tie-downs attached to a bolt through a ceiling beam. Looks very bodged, but is very sturdy, and best of all, works 90% of the time to placate a bored child or rock him off to sleep.