parenting – Page 13 – yummyblogger.com

Week 10 of becoming a mummy – the case of a missing shoe

Last week was busy. Daddy was going away for work for a few nights so we decided that baby W and me would go and stay with my parents for 3 nights…

Sunday – spent the morning emptying my boot and packing the car (who knew I had so much space in my boot when all the random junk is taken out?!), hit the road about lunchtime and travelled across half of Wales to get to my childhood home in Mid Wales, calling with my auntie then my nan on the way – lovely to see them as always and they absolutely loved seeing how much W had grown but it was a tiring day!

Homeward bound - a reservoir in the Elan Valley, mid Wales (instagrammed) — Homeward bound – a reservoir in the Elan Valley, mid Wales (instagrammed)

Monday – after yesterday’s marathon drive and visiting session, W and I had a nice relaxed day watching Tour de France while my parents were both out. W had a long afternoon nap (3-4 hours) which was funny to see as he has long naps when we go out in the day (sleeps very well in the pram/car) but didn’t know he was capable of them indoors too!

Tuesday – we all went to nearby beautiful, Georgian Aberaeron and had a delicious lunch in ‘Hive on the Quay’ before a short walk around the town where we lost one of W’s shoes (I’ll come back to that later). We caught up with a friend and W fell asleep about 8pm in my dad’s arms which was a lovely treat as he’s normally a bit grouchy around that time in the evenings!

Wednesday – caught up with another friend before heading home to Cardiff, daddy arrived home shortly afterwards so we were reunited and had survived our 3 nights apart and W’s first overnight stay away from home!

Thursday – as it was ‘strike day’ W and I went for a big family lunch with his nan, great auntie, auntie and cousins – lots of cwtches and behaved like a dream in the pub before his long afternoon nap, and nice and chilled again in the evening 🙂

Friday – this momma went for a girly lunch an hour away in Swansea to celebrate the start of a friend’s hen weekend. We had a lovely lunch in the Grape and Olive (I treated myself to scallops then lobster!) and it was great to dress up a bit and be something other than a mummy after a busy few days with W! Daddy was out Friday night and I’m not sure if W was missing him or annoyed with me for going out in the day but he was back to his usual grouchy-ness and didn’t go to sleep til 11pm! I actually used a dummy for the first time to calm him down which did help a bit – haven’t needed to use it since 🙂

Saturday – As Daddy had gone out the night before, I took W for his usual Swimkidz swimming lesson and I spent a lovely half hour with him in doing so, however when it came to it I couldn’t dunk him underwater like his daddy does! And then…. chill!

The missing shoe

So we lost one of W’s first shoes in Aberaeron. It was funny – I posted it in a local Facebook group a couple of days later and it had been spotted by 3 people on a windowsill but by the next day it had disappeared again so it really is lost now… I’m not a particularly emotional or sentimental person but losing the shoe did make me feel a bit of both…. his first shoe…. gone….. I guess it got me thinking about how quickly he is growing, how many of his little first things we will lose along the way as he kicks them off and throws them… how he will never wear that shoe again! It got me thinking about what items we’ll keep and what we won’t… these shoes we definitely would have kept…. they were so cute…. and his FIRST shoes!

W's first shoe - has anyone seen the missing one? — W’s first shoe – has anyone seen the missing one?

*Sighs* So to cheer myself up I’ve bought him exactly the same pair, in the White Company sale (£12) but the only size they had left is 6-9 months… and turns out they’re slippers not shoes! Obviously it won’t be the same as if we’d have found his first shoe, but at least I will think of every time he wears his new slippers 🙂

In other news…. W continues to get cuter by the week with his smiles, coos and chats. He’s now grabbing toys in his playgym. He loves….. smiling and chatting to the owl in his bouncer….. being held so that he can see what’s going on…. still loves his teddy/comforter… trips out so he can nap…..

So over this last week he’s definitely been more chilled in the evenings, despite last week’s update suggesting I might need to use some medicine, there was no need this week! The nights are still tough – he is still waking up every 1hr 30 – 2 hours although it has been absolutely boiling in our room! On the plus side, I essentially ‘dream feed’ him through the night, he doesn’t wake up properly so no tears or screams! (I do this so well that at 5am the other morning by OH (sleeping next to me) said ‘wow has he slept through?!’ and I was like ‘no, we’ve been up 3 times already!’ It would be nice to get some more sleep though – any ideas?!! Oh, he also did his first proper ‘up the back’ poo – I was actually secretly proud (!)… not so much so when he did it for the second time a day or two later 🙂

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Weeks 8-9 of becoming a mummy – weight gain, jabs and yoga

Our little baby W turned 9 weeks on Saturday and as usual we’ve had a fab, busy few weeks: W’s development

At his 8week weigh-in, his first for over a month he weighed in at a whopping 11lb 14 oz…. He’s jumped from the 25th percentile to the 75th! The doctor checked his reflexes etc and everything’s good… We were all chuffed with his weight!
Last week he had his first jabs, the nurses were fab… One on each side while I held him and they were very quick and soothing! He cried for a minute or so then slept for hours!
We started using his jungle play gym for the first time last week…. It’s fab seeing him looking up and around at all the various toys, and he’s sort of trying to grab stuff

Hiding in the fisherprice jungle play gym!

Talking of grabbing, he has a teddy/comforter that he now loves to bits… So cute how he holds on to it while sleeping, feeding, playing and trying to use it to cover his face when he’s tired!
We’ve started chatting! When he coos, we coo back at him and it turns into little chats… Again, so cute!!
Sleep? Generally he sleeps for 3 hours between about 12 and 3am, then wakes up every couple of hours, but only for short feeds (about 10 mins) so hoping this means he’s getting closer to sleeping through… And he always has a big feed about 10-11pm. A couple of times he’s slept for 4 hours so I think we’re getting there slowly…. Not entirely sure if he’s hungry in the early hours as the feeds are quite short or whether he just wants comfort so not sure if a dummy would get him back to sleep just as easily?
Every evening he has a grouchy hour or two when he cries whether he’s feeding or not… The health visitor suggested I might be a bit dehydrated and he’s crying when feeding as he’s not getting what he needs…. I’ve tried drinking more but doesn’t seem to have made a huge difference. His wind is at its worst this time of day too so I’m tempted to try something like infacol but haven’t succumbed to it yet. Any tips anyone?!

What else we’ve been up to…

We went to our first mother and baby yoga group last week and loved it… My back’s been in bits for weeks so enjoyed the stretches, which we did over our babies so tickling them on the way up/down… Much fun! We did some moves on our little ones… I was mortified as I don’t the know the words to any of the nursery rhymes they use! The other 4 mums there were lovely and it’s in a perfect location (beautiful insole court, Cardiff) so I will definitely go back 🙂

Lovely view from our yoga mat, Insole court, Cardiff

He still goes to Swimkidz every Saturday morning and on his 9week birthday he was let go underwater twice... Eek! He’s very calm in the water which is a great start!
Lots more trips out… Shopping with mummy and aunty in the local designer outlet (cr*p celeb spot: Daniella Westbrook!), family day out to Margam park for the first time (lovely, defo will go back!), a coffee with mummy’s boss, his nanna’s retirement drinks in a busy pub on a Friday after-work… And he slept through all of these!!

Purchases

New clothes for me from Oasis (post to follow!)
A haul for W from a NCT nearly new sale (post to follow!)
100 thank you cards from Vistaprint!

Co-sleeping – a common reality and guilty secret?

NICE announced their new guidelines this morning, recommending against co-sleeping in baby’s first year due to the increased risk of SIDS.

I’m no expert on SIDS and I have no idea on how many precious babies die because of co-sleeping.

I am, however, a new mum and it was made very clear to us during pregnancy and these first couple of months that babies must sleep on their backs and NOT co-sleep, whether that be from midwives, health visitors, antenatal classes, books, magazines, apps….

‘No problem!’ I thought, when W came along, he’ll sleep in his moses basket next to me. I went mad with my OH if he brought W into bed with us or had a nap on the sofa with him. Then sleep deprivation and reality hit in – W settles ok in his basket ’til about 3/4/5am but then gets difficult to settle so I tend to bring him into bed with us.

At first I felt awful about this, and nervous, and scared. Then something strange happened – whenever I sheepishly mentioned this to family/ friends/ colleagues/ other bloggers and tweeters it turns out I wasn’t alone and I’d say 90% of them admitted to co-sleeping at some point or another… to comfort their babies and get some much-needed sleep.

I’m sure I’ve read that sleep deprivation has the same impact on reflexes as drinking a load of alcohol. So what’s riskier – co-sleeping for a few hours? or being in charge of a baby on very little or no sleep??

As I said, I’m no expert and I’m not disagreeing with the guidelines. What I’d like to suggest is that the experts at NICE and the NHS recognise that a large number of parents co-sleep, and give guidance on how to do it as safely as possible.

In my experience, co-sleeping is a common reality, but at the moment feels like a huge guilty secret. Again, could we reduce risk by making it less of a taboo?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this – do you agree with me, or do you think more should be done to stop people co-sleeping?

Weeks 6-7 update – becoming a mummy – smiles, pelvic floors and cocktails

Apologies it’s been a while since my last update… it’s been busy! Baby W – turned 7 weeks old on Saturday… lots more ‘first’s’ since I last blogged…

First smiles – the last week or so he’s been smiling, cooing and trying out new noises a lot… much fun and very very cute!,

First 4 hour sleep – about a week ago he slept for a full 4 hours in the night.. ‘hallelujah’ I thought… ‘we must be getting close to sleeping through…’ Alas, the next night he woke up for a feed ever hour!

Just the last few days he’s been awake a lot more in the daytime, so hopefully we’ll see some longer night-time sleeps soon. We’re lucky in that once he’s had his night-time feeds he goes back to sleep pretty well. I should add that in the day too, his feeds have become a lot shorter and more frequent (perhaps increased thirst due to the hot weather?)… can’t work out if this is easier than longer feeds – they both have their pros and cons!

He’s become grouchier in the evenings, a lot more wind and tears… this seems pretty normal I think but we’re seeing the health visitor this week so I’ll ask about things like infacol just in case…

First Father’s Day – a special day for his daddy! We didn’t actually do much, as daddy’s been out for a few beers the day before and W was going though a grouchy few days but we did spoil him with a Moonpig card, his fave chocolates, personalised hankies (don’t ask!), the World Cup sticker album…. and a BabyBjorn carrier which he’d been fancying for a while 🙂

First expressed-bottle feed – a week ago, he took his first bottle from his daddy. I will blog about it separately in more detail but it was a very proud, bittersweet moment – so proud to see him taking the bottle without a problem… so nice to see him being fed by his dad…. but also slightly sad as I guess it’s already the beginning of the end of his beautiful relationship with my breasts!

Getting bottles ready for mummy's first night out! — Getting bottles ready for mummy’s first night out!

First night out for mummy – so with all that expressed breast milk, on his 7-week birthday this momma went out to a big work’s party (Olly Murs being the headline act) and drank a few too many Cosmo’s…. I wasn’t planning on getting quite so tipsy but I got totally over-excited by seeing so many of my colleagues, it was a great night! We had no idea how long the milk would last but it took him right through the night feeds and to an 8am feed… so by the time I needed to feed him the cocktails were long gone from my system, and my boobs were very full and sore! Obviously I missed the little one (and the night feeds as I was in the spare room!) but it was really nice to have a decent break away from him although I’m sure I talked about him all night 🙂

First pelvic floor class – this has to be one of the most surreal moments of my life but due to the ‘perineal trauma’ from my labour, I was invited to a pelvic floor workshop in the hospital… cue a handful of us sitting in a hot room for an hour being shown diagrams and demonstrations of our muscles ‘down there’ and how to heal them… I learnt a couple of new things but overall it was very random!

The rest of the fortnight…

met friends and colleagues for lunch/coffees (which has involved more unplanned feeding in public, due to his aforementioned increased thirst!)
washing machine died – every new mum’s worst nightmare 😉
car exhaust died
carried on with baby W’s swimming lessons
mummy went clothes shopping (blog post to follow!)

Overall, as he’s getting busier I’m finding myself with less spare time which is fine… but trying to balance chilling out at home with getting out and about, and staying busy… I hope for us to start some classes next week, so that might help give us a bit more routine to work around….

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My Breastfeeding Story

I was never going to blog about my breastfeeding journey… I’ve had a very easy ride so didn’t think I had much to share… but when Medela sent out a press release about what’s ‘normal’ when breastfeeding, it got me thinking that we should all share our stories and journeys to make sure that the next lot of mums-to-be have a wealth of resources and stories at their fingertips….

Medela's normal breastfeeding graphic — Medela’s normal breastfeeding graphic

My breastfeeding story

So…. before little W came along I’d decided that I’d like to try breastfeeding but if it didn’t work out we’d happily use formula. We didn’t buy any equipment or formula in advance…. we were just going to wing it…. and how lucky we were…. as soon as he was placed on me, he latched on and took his first sip/meal

We were in hospital for just over 24 hours after he was born, which was handy as I was able to check with midwives that he was latching on ok, and they also advised me to take him off if he fell asleep/ stopped feeding… they also taught me to tickle his cheek to wake him up a bit while latched on.

And that was it, we got home and little W wanted feeding every 2-3 hours on average. He’d usually start nibbling on his fingers or fist when he was thirsty/hungry but didn’t always… generally if he cried, it turns out he wanted feeding… even if he’d just had some a few minutes prior…. feeding on demand indeed!

After a few days he had lost 9% of his body weight – totally normal but the midwife suggested I hand express into a breastfeeding cup to top him up, she didn’t want him losing any more weight otherwise we’d have to discuss ‘feeding plans’ etc. This brought out the competitive edge in me – there was no way my baby was going to put on a feeding plan! So I made a conscious effort the next few days to make he was even fuller than normal….. it worked, at 10 days old he was heavier than his birth weight 🙂

So I’ve been very lucky – he’s had no problems latching on, I’ve had no problems with my milk supply, I’ve not needed to use the nipple creams my friend gave me… I feel very lucky and blessed that I’ve been able to feed him in this way, without any problems, as it feels very natural and special to me. I love the look he gives me when he’s latched on, and I love how it’s our private time… just him and me…

I feel so proud that he is growing and thriving purely down to my milk. I feel thankful to his daddy who’s been making sure I’m well fed – he feeds me, I feed baby!

I feel sorry for all the women who struggle with breastfeeding, and even worse than that feel pressures and failures when it doesn’t work out. I feel bad that there’s no advice I can offer any of them as I haven’t encountered any problems. The only tip I can share (if it’s even valid) is to relax… I’m generally relaxed and laid-back, I wonder how much that is passed on to baby who feels comfortable feeding as he can feel the calm vibes?! if you’re struggling and stressing about it, can baby pick up on that? I don’t know but it’s just an idea…

Having said all of this, breastfeeding isn’t some kind of paradise club. Nobody told me how exhausting and messy it is. With an (over-?-)active milk supply, whatever I’m wearing (and our bedding) get covered in milk. (I then use these T-shirts as bed sheets for W to comfort him at night!!).

I downloaded an app called ‘Baby Connect’ (cost: £2.99) to help me track the feeds to see if any trends are emerging… I can tell you:

I feed for 5-6 hours in a normal day – so close to a full-time job! I can now see why maternity leave was invented…
on average I feed for 25 mins, (Medela say the ‘normal’ range is 12-60 mins) just under every 2 hours
on average this works out to about 16 times a day (slightly higher than the ‘normal’ range of 4-13 that Medela suggest)
the left side is far more popular than the right! (always was ;)) with about 3/4 of all feeds taking place on the left side
Most of our feeds occur in the morning, evening and nights – very few in the afternoon (again, slightly different from Medela’s findings)

Some screenshots from BabyConnect – I recommend this app for tracking feeds (can be used for bottle feeding, tracking sleep, nappy changes, activities etc too)

The next chapters in my Breastfeeding story will hopefully involve expressing so we can bottle-feed, trying to reduce the nightfeeds eventually and feeding him in public if needs be…. if you’ve enjoyed this post then please follow me on my journey via WordPress, Twitter or Bloglovin.

What’s your Breastfeeding story? How do your findings compare with Medela’s?

(Please note I wasn’t paid by Medela to write this post – I just wanted to support their campaign!)

PS I’ve linked this up to Zena’s suitcase – new linky – Breastfeeding Diaries….

Week 5 update – becoming a mummy – a few firsts this week

Little W is very similar to last week, we’ve had some better sleeps this week but other than that he continues to be extra cute and chilled, getting slightly bigger, louder and stronger by the day and week… This week we had a few firsts to share with you….

First swimming lesson! – we had a free taster lesson with Swimkidz, daddy was his swimming partner as I am a wuss in water… And the 3 of us loved it! I was one proud momma especially when he got dunked underwater and didn’t cry! We’ll now book a course and go every week, we’ll keep you posted!
First trip to the hairdressers with mummy – I haven’t had my hair done since January so it was a bit of a mess! My hairdresser Maggie at Sweeney’s in Cardiff is a new mum on maternity herself but she was back in for a couple of days so I booked us in…. He would normally have slept through this time of day but he was awake for most of it and I had to do my first breastfeed in public! Then when the Hairdryer was on he finally slept in my arms 🙂 I was very lucky that Maggie and her colleagues were all hugely baby-friendly so I felt at ease the whole time despite his awakeness!
First mother/baby group – before having W I knew I wanted to go to groups to keep busy and meet other mums. One of my best friends and her 18-month old go to Jellybabies so I went along with them, it was nice to catch up with them and check out what a mother and baby group is like but it made me realise I’d get more out of them months down the line, not when W is as young as he is now! Although they had a health visitor and sling library set up which could come in handy over the next few weeks…
First pub dinner – you’ll know that W has already been out for lunch, but this week he came up with us for a proper pub dinner as my parents were in town for the night, so we had a lovely meal in Cricketers, Cardiff and good little W slept through the entire 3 hours or so… Brilliant!
First family walk around Roath park – one of Cardiff’s most popular walks with young families, we used to go there for walks long before W was a twinkle in our eyes, so it was lovely to go there with him and turn into one if those families we used to look at and think ‘aww how cute’!

Purchases and presents So it was a busy week! On top of that when my parents visited they brought him even more presents, inc. from their friends bless! We still haven’t had to buy him anything since be was born really as he was so spoilt, we did stock up on Bepanthen cream and got a free teddy with it this week, oh and had to buy our first lot of swimming nappies!

Mamgu's (my mum) knitted nursery bunting — Mamgu’s (my mum) knitted nursery bunting

Lovely outfits from family friends (L-R Mothercare, Next, M&Co)

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Bepanthen offer at Boots

Little W got nappy rash quite early on at a few weeks old, we tried a couple of creams including Sudocrem but family members recommended Bepanthen and since we’ve tried that we’ve not looked back!

It cleared up a sore rash within 1-2 days (using it every time we changed his nappy, making sure his skin is clean and dry first) and now we use it to prevent future rashes coming back (it looked so sore bless him!) by using it nearly every time we change his nappy.

I’d recommend it to anyone so imagine my delight when I saw this offer in Boots (Cardiff) today… Buy any 2 Bepanthen products and choose a free cuddly toy! (Apologies for the rubbish photo, I was in a rush as W needed feeding!)

Bepanthen cuddly you offer in Boots — Bepanthen cuddly toy offer in Boots

I had a really tough time choosing between the tortoise and the dragon (the bunny is a bit too girly for W!) but plumped for the tortoise as mummy and daddy love tortoises! It’s good quality, soft, mostly blue with some pink….

I have no idea how long the offer is on for (update: scroll to bottom!) and I can’t see it online but if it’s still on next time I pop in I will probably buy 2 more tubes to get the dragon as it was the softest, cuddliest thing ever (but not enough to justify buying 4 tubes at the same time….)

The 2 tubes cost £15.42 (£7.71 each) but you get 150 boots points on it if you’re in the parenting club) which is £1.50 I’m sure you can buy the ointment cheaper online but if you’re like me and do most of your shopping on the high street and love Boots then I think it’s a good deal – hope you manage to find it in your local store before they run out! (Update: scroll to bottom!)

UPDATE (25/09/14) A lot of people seem to be finding this blog post when they’re searching for ‘Bepanthen toys’ – the Boots offer is now finished so I got in touch with Bepanthen to see if you can buy the toys anywhere. You can’t buy them but they do have some competitions where you can try to win one – good luck!

https://www.facebook.com/BepanthenUK/

http://www.netmums.com/baby/bepanthen-baby

http://www.netmums.com/pregnancy/bepanthen-pregnancy

UPDATE (27/11/14) – the offer is back on in Boots! You can buy it online…

http://www.boots.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SolrSearchLister?storeId=10052&langId=-1&catalogId=11051&stReq=1&searchTerm=bepanthen#container

What’s a Cwtch?

I’m Welsh, I love cwtches and ‘cwtch’ is a word that’s part of my daily vocabulary especially now we have a newborn in the house.

One of my blog readers recently asked what this word was – was it a typo? should it have read ‘catches’? Most of you probably cwtch every day without knowing it….

So for all you non-Welshies out there…. this is a cwtch…

In simplest terms – ‘cwtch’ is the Welsh word for a cuddle/snuggle…. but it’s more than that….

It’s a feeling you can’t describe… it’s holding on to someone with love and affection, squeezing them in tight to make sure they’re ok and letting them know that you’re looking out for them. Being in a cwtch is feeling warm and safe.

The urban dictionary describes ‘cwtch’ as ‘the Welsh word for an affectionate hug. There’s no literal English translation, but its nearest equivlent is “safe place”. So if you give someone a cwtch, you’re giving them a “safe place”.’

How to pronounce ‘cwtch’

I’d describe it as ‘coo’ (as if you were starting to say ‘cool’) and then ‘tch’ like the ‘tch’ in ‘itch’ or ‘witch’. That probably isn’t that helpful, so I found this link which has a really helpful button you can press to hear what ‘cwtch’ sounds like!

So there’s only one thing for it….

Week 4 – 4th week of being a mummy – wind and trips out!

4 weeks today our little W was born, and what a week this week has been!

The bad

Daddy had to go away for 2 nights with work… Pretty sad for all 3 of us 😦
A few bad nights sleep… Similar to last week, we’re having unpredictable nights… Sometimes he’ll settle in his Moses basket, sometimes he won’t! We try a variety of tricks, candles, white noise apps, heating etc but seems to be pot luck as to how well he settles!
Wind! Little W has gotten a lot more windy this week, poor little thing! So adds another task to the feeding, changing, sleeping cycle (variety is the spice of life eh !?) Also related to this, he poos less often… So fewer nappy changes but when he does poo my gosh they can fill a nappy (and seep out, gross!)

The Good

Little W still getting stronger, cuter and louder by the day! We love his cute noises and expressions so much:)
Trips with mummy – while daddy was away this week, my sister came to stay…

Tuesday – was supposed to visit some family but cancelled after a bad nights sleep as didn’t think it was a good idea driving for over 2 hours! Lazy day

Wednesday – got as far as McDonald’s and a visit to the hospital to drop off a thank you card and gift to the midwife who delivered W

Thursday – with the help of my sister we took W into town (Cardiff city centre) for the first time... We had fun working out how the bugaboo and maxi-cosi combo worked… Had an amazing lunch at torre cafe (very baby/ family-friendly, great food and cool decor, crockery etc) wi took a look round some non maternity clothes shops 🙂 then we had coffee and a cake… Perfect afternoon!

Delicious quiche and salad at Torre cafe, Cardiff

Friday – I did the same trip into town by myself eeek!
Crazy the things to get nervous about..
Where to park to be able to get the car seat out with space
What if I can’t get the pushchair to work ?!
What if he screams and won’t stop crying!?
What if he needs feeding? (I try and time these trips in the afternoon when he sleeps the most!)

I had nothing to fear, met my mate for lunch and she kindly chose the cafe in very mum-friendly John Lewis (I checked out the feeding areas they have there, and was encouraged to see women breastfeeding in the cafe itself)
After lunch I took him into work and was there for about an hour passing him around for cuddles and catching up with people!
Then we called in to see his nan at work – she loved showing him off to colleagues!

I couldn’t stop smiling as I pushed him back to the car park… The day had felt like a real accomplishment and my confidence had gone through the roof…. We can go anywhere and do anything now W!

More good stuff

Monday we took him for a newborn photoshoot with the amazing and lovely Leah Roberts. We were there for 4 hours as he needed feeding a couple of times but he behaved apart from pooing and peeing over Leah… A lot! Amazing what goes on when the nappy comes off 🙂 Haven’t got the photos back yet but pretty sure she got some amazingly cute shots!
I’m back in my fave Diesel pre-maternity jeans 🙂
My body isn’t quite back to normal but it’s getting there… I have good genes and breastfeeding to thank for that!
Presents and purchases…..
The presents keep coming!

Fab romper suit from mummy's friend Haf, from BlueZoo (?) at Debenhams — Fab romper suit from mummy’s friend Haf, from BlueZoo (?) at Debenhams

Gorgeous Jasper Conran (Debenhams) outfit from Daddy's colleagues — Gorgeous Jasper Conran (Debenhams) outfit from Daddy’s colleagues

Toy and books from mummy's friend Carys - she also gave us a bag of nappies, accessories etc that her twins had grown out of :) — Toy and books from mummy’s friend Carys – she also gave us a bag of nappies, accessories etc that her twins had grown out of 🙂

I bought these milestone cards for photos with W - love them! — **I bought these milestone cards for photos with W – love them!**

How did you feel about going out and about with your 4-week old? When did your body get back to normal? When did the sleep patterns get back to normal? I’d love to hear from you!

Read my previous weekly updates here – week 1, week 2 and week 3.

Week 3 – 3rd week of being a mummy – sleepless nights!

Can’t believe our little man is 3 weeks old… nearly a month old! This week’s definitely been the toughest week due to sleep deprivation which I’ll come on to later but first let’s focus on the positives which far outweigh the negatives 🙂

Week 3 highlights

I still love him SO much – I love it when he’s awake and looking around (not that often!!), I love his headbanging move and the ‘fist confusion’ when feeding, I love how sound asleep he is when I hold him… I love watching him have Daddy cwtches… I love his little noises whether he’s awake or asleep…. love, love, love….
More visitors this week – 2 of my good friends – it’s been so nice hosting visitors, they all adore him and it’s broken my week up nicely!
Sunday was sunny and we over to the in-laws for sunday dinner then sat in their garden all afternoon – was funny seeing W sleep through all sorts of drilling and other loud DIY noises being made by his Bampa!
Monday was also sunny and daddy was home so I decided to tag on to one of their walks – my first ‘proper’ walk since giving birth so I may have pushed myself a bit too hard as we ended up being out for a couple of hours… in the heat… with me wearing jeans as I still need to dig out summer clothes that fit! On the plus side – great exercise for me, W slept through it all (as per usual) and we stumbled upon a local delight which I’d not been to before: Insole Court

Insole Court, a Victorian mansion in our Cardiff neighbourhood

Wed and Thurs some of mummy’s good friends visited which was lovely for me to catch up with them and lovely for W to get even more cwtches (Welsh cuddles)
Friday – the health visitor weighed him and he’s now 8lb 6oz! So 1lb 4oz heavier than his birth weight – all on target and unbelievable that my milk alone can do that!
Friday afternoon I took him out in the car by myself to see a friend…. it was a sense of achievement 1) fitting the car seat by myself (thank god for youTube videos!) and 2) driving miss daisy! Next challenge: car plus pram!
In addition to all the gifts I listed in his haul, his presents keep acoming….

Beautiful booties and blanket from The White Company, from a supplier at work

Cutest outfit ever from mummy's mate Gemma - from Next — Cutest outfit ever from mummy’s mate Gemma – from Next

Gifts from a Great Aunt and Uncle - outfit from Next, bibs from Tu and a Welsh T-shirt! — Gifts from a Great Aunt and Uncle – outfit from Next, bibs from Tu and a Welsh T-shirt!

Present for mummy and daddy from a work supplier - champers and chocs — Present for mummy and daddy from a work supplier – champers and chocs

Next butterfly scarf for mummy from her mate Gemma :) — Next butterfly scarf for mummy from her mate Gemma 🙂

Sleepless nights

So either because of the hot weather and/or a growth spurt (according to internet sources) or maybe as I dared to suggest last week that we had some routines… this week, we had some tough nights!

Sunday night he was a bit grisly all night
Monday night he woke for a feed every hour (instead of his usual 2-3)
Tuesday night was better – we gave him a big feed before bed (including some expressed milk), gave him a bath, burnt lavender candles in the bedroom and put one of his ‘daytime blankets’ on top of his moses basket mattress…. also, we packed daddy off to the spare room as he needed his sleep after the previous 2 nights…. and normal service was resumed – fed about 11pm, 2am, 4.30am…. also, I didn’t change his nappy between about 10pm and 4.30am (health visitor suggested that if there was only pee/light poo then not to worry about night changing)
Alas, it was not to stay like that.. Wednesday night was tough…. he had a mammoth 2 hour feed in the evening (9pm-11pm-ish) so I figured he’d have a great nights’ sleep but no I ended up feeding him on and off for about 4 hours (between 2.30am and 6.30am) – every time I put him down, he wanted more – I couldn’t believe this little man could be so hungry!
Thursday night – another big feed but earlier on – I think it was about 1.30am-3.30am. Our tranquil turtle nightlight had stopped working, so I was struggling with light and checking every time I put him down – so I took him and the moses basket to the spare room and as soon as we settled in there, he slept through from 3.30 til 7.30 = Bliss!!!
In the spare room he was right next to me, so we decided to try that in our bedroom on Friday night (whereas he was at the foot of our bed)… he went a while without feeds (his main feed now seems to be between 11 and 2, instead of 3-5) but now he keeps struggling to settle in the basket despite loving being sound asleep on mummy/daddy

Every night is unpredictable.. wonder how he’ll be over the next few weeks…

Other bits ‘n’ bobs

He’s had spots on his face pretty much since he was born – the health visitor suggested he might be allergic to mummy and daddy’s bio washing powder/fabric conditioner so we’re going to switch to his non-bio and/or wash everything together (we had been keeping his stuff separate)
He also had a nappy rash last week and early this week – we tried a couple of creams but the one that worked for us is Bepanthen – it’s all cleared up now 🙂
He peed on his face when I was changing his nappy one time – ooooops!

So that’s it ’til next week – catch up with our Week 1 and Week 2 updates if you haven’t already 🙂

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