experiencing the classic parent experience... "he is not like this at home"

Sooo many years of speech pathology practice, working with kids who came in and did abominably on testing, parents saying "he can do this at home", and me just wisely nodding "yes, I am sure he can with your help, but when we do tests it is different"....

Today we went back to the breastfeeding clinic where Little Man did nothing in terms of his feeding... just promptly fell asleep every time. At home he has been doing really well for about ten minutes at a time... I was hoping that we might get some good news from the consultants. But Little Man had decided that he would instead sleep... not performing like a dancing monkey, thankyou! So, in spite of my explaining to the lactation consultant that this didn't work last time (when dad was down for a week and spent the time walking the hall with our screaming baby!), she decided the best way to get him feeding was to take him off and leave him "til he gets really hungry". So began the screaming. "I'm hungry I'm hungry I'm hungry I'm hungry!!!!"

By the end of the day (we were there from 9am -3pm) after four failed breastfeeds and only 150mLs expressed breastmilk top up which I had to go into battle for, I was red faced, puffy eyed, Little Man was red faced, puffy eyed, and the lactatation consultant had decided that Little Man had severe food allergies/intolerances and/or reflux because he is "such an unhappy baby". Such an unhappy baby? She clearly hasn't seen this video, or spent time with him when he has a full tummy.

I tried to explain that "he is not like this at home", to which she responded by wisely nodding and saying "yes, things are different at home". In spite of my written records (anyone who has been to our house lately has seen the pages on pages of records of every feed that Little Man has ever had), or discussion, the lactation consultant believed that I was popping him on for a feed every half hour which was teaching him to snack and leading to a terribly destructive cycle... anyone who has read our did do list will know what our routine looks like, and there just isn't time (nor the inclination!) to try to get him to feed every 30 minutes.

So, where do we go from here?
The lactation consultant wants me to take Little Man to an allergist osteopath (nope!) and for me to start an elimination diet immediately (not yet). She said that this would "sort out his behaviour" (!)
Instead today we are going to our paediatrician for some good advice... and I am going to have fun playing with our happy little boy.

Chat soon xo

handy hints for new parents...

It is always helpful to have some friends or family on standby for baby advice (especially when it's invited). Thankfully I have some great sources of baby/mum advice, who are happy to be on-call at all hours of the day - special thanks to Tam & Tash!

Sometimes advice is a little less welcome... in a favourite online forum this week a group of us were chatting about how often we are stopped in the street by complete strangers, telling us that our baby is cold/hungry/tired etc. It seems that the end of pregnancy does not signal the end of strangers crossing the line in terms of what would be considered inappropriate in any other circumstance!

However, some unsolicited advice from unknown sources is much more useful, like this little gem emailed to me this week by Mr Pickles.

I am really sorry to not know the source of this, so cannot give credit where credit is due... this is just one in a whole hilarious series, which I will share here over time.

Whilst wanting to pay attention to this valuable advice, I am wondering if perhaps the airhorn might come in handy at our house??? Check out this video of Little Man Pickles waking up yesterday (or, at least, trying to avoid waking up!).... do you think an airhorn might be warranted???

xo