Sixties /Seventies/ Eighties Mum...

My Mum has four children, and has the unenviable boast that she has given birth to children in three different decades.

Tiddler is her second grandchild, but the first one via one of her daughters. So, inevitably she has passed on a bit of guidance/ advice from time to time- probably more to me than to her daugter-in-law. Most of this advice is sage, welcomed and respected. Of course it is- shes been there, done that times by 4.

Mum has mentioned some of the things they did in "their" day... more by way of anecdote as topics have come up rather than cast iron "gospel" advice from her to me. Some is hilarious- its priceless stuff, some is darn scary. Wondered who else could share some of their mother's gems of wisdom/ tales of parenthood 60s/70s/80s style...

1. Wean at 3 months
2. Give raw egg as one of first foods
3. Put brown sugar in your baby's bottle if they are constipated
4. Give Marmite on toast as one of the first foods
5. Put the pram "down the bottom of the garden"

Any others?

Silent Sunday - 31st July 2011

 

First Step Away From Apnoea Alarm

We were very brave last night.

6 hours after Tiddler was born, she went purple and had what the medics call a "dusky episode". It was terrifying and was to happen again several times in her 1st 8 days.

The second time we were discharged from hospital, we were given an Apnoea alarm for Tiddler to wear.

At first she wore it all the time- in particular I remember one of our only trips out in the early days to Tesco... there we were terrified, totally unprepared in snow, trying to make some vague effort towards Christmas and in the pram was Tiddler, our ticking baby! Tick, tick, tick... After a while when things had calmed down a bit we made the conscious decision to take it off during the day so we all had a bit of normality. We have however always, put it on her at night. Its gone off periodically, most probably due to false alarms although we won't ever know for sure I suppose.

Anyway, last night at 2 am it went off again. The alarm is incredibly shrill and urgent as you would expect and I am too used to it waking me up! I instinctively reach out to touch Tiddler's tummy- this always makes her breathe in and so stop the alarm. You see its incredibly common for babies to hold their breath and its not normally a problem. It is probable that the times the alarm has gone off at home has been because of this. Anyway, last night the alarm wouldnt stop. Tiddler was fine though, she was breathing, asleep, and her colour was normal. The sensor pad had come off her tummy. Phew! As she was still asleep, we decided that rather than to risk waking her and creating a far larger problem (an incredibly angry baby), we would sleep without the alarm on. This was such a brave move, probably a bit too bold, but we were clearly both influenced by 2 am logic!

I woke quite a few times overnight but of course everything was fine. I felt we had really achieved something by not using the alarm all night. The last thing we want to do is medicalise our daughter- we have fought tooth and nail in the recent past to avoid tube feeding etc- and so its good that we the parents were able to go "cold turkey" like this.

Tonight the alarm is back on... I don't feel as brave somehow! She is still in a crib next to our bed and we are currently contemplating a move to her own room. I dont think I will be able to do this without the apnoea alarm. Thats such a terrifying prospect still. One step at a time eh?

Can You Get Vomit Out Of Velcro

What a great day! A friend and her two children came round this morning which was lovely - I especially loved telling her all our good news and she said she could see the difference in me and how less stressed I seemed.

This afternoon we had Hydrotherapy at the local hospital. As usual, an intense nursery rhyme fuelled session! She is doing really well but splashes so much, to the great irritation of the other (older) children around her! She splashes and then doesn't seem to understand why her face is soaked- the cause and effect thing hasn't quite kicked in there...

Further to my post yesterday about Tiddler's feeding, I have been trying to encourage her to chew a little and move on one step from purees. I tried her tonight with soft carrot, totally uninterested. Then for pudding I gave her mashed plums and unfortunately she gagged and threw all of her meal back up :( This was really gutting. My husband and I had just been discussing how much better her reflux seemed to be as well :( So... I dont know how to play this now. I don't want to go too quickly for her, and I certainly dont want her to throw up her meals and so slow down any weight gain. Crucially- I dont want to put her off her solid feeds (she previously had a very strong milk aversion). The Speech Therapist has said that babies with reflux often have a very strong gag reflex so its no surprise and did also happen earlier on when we had just started to wean. So, I am a bit unsure- and nervous about what to try next! So yeah, she threw up all over herself and the lovely feeding chair loaned by our Council. So, can you get vomit out of velcro?

Reasons to be Cheerful , 28th July

I really enjoyed doing this last time so here goes again:

1. Tiddler is still feeding! She cries for feeds, finishes her feeds AND is doing really well with solids too
2. I have spent lots of time with friends and their rugrats recently- nice as we have been out of action so much with Tiddler being unwell / in hospital etc In particular I really enjoyed spending time with a couple of old school friends
3. Tiddler is starting to sit! We have been told that she will be slow to sit / crawl etc as she has Hypotonia meaning low muscle tone. In effect, she is floppy. However, at physiotherapy the physio was really pleased with the progress Tiddler had made and she actually sat for the first time (propped up and at a really crazy angle!) when there. I am confident that she is well on the way to proving a lot of people wrong...

2am Shenanigans with Tiddler mark 2

Ho ho ho how I laughed to be woken up at 2 am for milk by Tiddler. Hilarious! The bizarre thing is that she has literally only ever done this once or twice when tiny tiny... now I know thats not normal, and indeed due to her size we were having to wake her in the night for feeds untill she was 4 or 5 mths old.

Its so funny, I keep saying it but I swear someone has swapped my baby! She has this voracious hunger (note to self- probably normal hunger) and its just so lovely to see. I don't really mind the 2 am thing, course I don't. Until you have had a baby who refuses milk to the extremes of dangerously low blood sugar or has been tube fed as the only means of getting milk down them, I don't think you can fully appreciate how bloody fantastic it is to have a baby that feeds!

This whole new baby malarkey (you know, the one that has been swapped) is confusing though. Solids are now also going really well, thanks to a special tumbleform chair being delivered by our Local Authority - very very swiftly I might add. Tiddler has Hypotonia (low muscle tone) and some breathing/ swallowing co-ordination problems and we struggled to get her to feed in her normal high chair as she slouched and was just plain not interested. This chair on the other hand has changed everything. She opens her mouth like a little bird and gulps her food down.

I am really enjoying cooking for her and watching her experiment with different flavours. I am trying to get the balance right though between solids and milk as I think at times she is filling up with purees to the detriment of her milk, hence the 2 am wake up call!! I am also anxious that we are behind a little in terms of food types- I am trying to encourage chewing but I will admit this is not going too well and I am terrified she is going to choke! Today I tried a bit of very ripe pear. Didn't go down too well it has to be said.

We are learning, but thats fine and thats normal. Normal is good. I have missed normal.

Time and hamster wheels...

A question for you all: how on earth do you fit things into your day? Especially those of you juggling paid work and more than one child? It is impossible I swear.... I know they say that if you want something done to ask a busy person and I do believe there is truth in this, maybe this is my problem. I am struggling to fit the essentials into my day let alone the luxuries such as blogging/calling family/non-urgent laundry/ eating cake etc

Tiddler has begun a new regime of "sleep is for the weak, sleep is for the weak, sleep is for the weak" and so baby free time where I can rush around the house like a whirling dervish are over, my activities are curtailed and the house looks like a bomb has hit it. Joy.

So, will this change? How do people get all they need done? I NEED TIPS! In particular I am finding the preparation of purees for Tiddler to be particularly time consuming but really do want to home cook her food if at all possible. Now she is eating what must be half her bodyweight she's getting through what I prepare pretty quickly and so its a bit of a neverending  hamster wheel. Oh hang on- is that the deal, maybe I am missing something... is riding the hamster wheel an essential feature of motherhood?