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

being a rookie mum ain't so bad... challenge #1

Not sure if I have mentioned here before that I have joined being a rookie mum ain't so bad challenge hosted by temporarily me. I am a wee bit behind, but in the first challenge we were to record our baby talking. And here he is!

I was determined to get some footage of Liam talking, and after many nappy changes, wake ups, play times with me with the camera at the ready, I got one on tape! Here is Liam at just two months, holding a fabulous and very stimulating conversation with his mum... while having his nappy changed and managing a terrible case of the hiccoughs (he is a clever boy... multitasking!).
For those of you who know phonetics, Liam is using the following...

manner: plosives, fricatives, affricates, nasals, clicks, approximants
place: bilabials, labiodentals, labiolinguals, alveolars, palatals, velars, glottals
voiced & voiceless

He is growing up so quickly.

Enjoy! xo

some days (with screaming baby and naughty dog) are better than others

some days (with screaming baby and naughty dog) are better than others
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

They certainly are.

The little man has not had a happy start to the day, but somehow I have still managed to eat brekkie, pump two feeds and get dressed (no hair or make up, but gotta be impressed by the rest surely!).

Somewhere in amongst all of the chaos I felt and heard my glasses fall off the top of my head... and promptly forgot about them. Sadly, James Brown did not not forget and immediately got into remodelling them for me...

The next great challenge? Finding the lenses without my glasses on...

Have a fun one (I think we will!)
xo

hanging out on the lounge....

hanging out on the lounge....
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

have to post just to say this...

how gorgeous is our little boy?!?

have a great weekend xo

my did do list...

Inspired by Rookie Moms (http://www.rookiemoms.com/categories/001/) I have decided to dump the to do list this week (excepting our appointments) and embrace the did do list.

So, this is what I did do today (up to 6.15pm)...

* fed the boy... at 3am, 7am, 9.30am, 12.30pm, 3.30pm... and again any minute I am sure!
* expressed 720mLs for my little man... so far!
* changed little man's nappies... 7 times
* emptied and repacked the dishwasher
* visited a childcare centre
* went for a walk, boy in baby bjorn
* managed to eat breakfast and lunch
* caught up on my online baby group
* had three phone calls
* organised little man's two month injections
* sent two text messages
* heard some fabulous news about another couple of friends who are up the duff (yay!)
* sang heads shoulders knees and toes four times, and a carpenters medley, once
* tummy time
* played with the playmat from uncle rhys and auntie sars
* stayed calm

Now that I have written it down... not a bad effort for twelve hours?!?

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

my, how you've grown

Our little man is one month old today!

And how he has grown!

He is now 4.515kg, is a whopping 57cm long and has a decent 39.5cm head circumference. Looks like our little boy will also be experiencing life unable to buy hats!

He is a real delight. This past week he has really gotten the hang of eye contact, so has been completely melting his mum and dad's hearts by making lengthy eye contact. He is also doing beautifully on his tummy, and is really working very hard to lift his head... no mean feat when he has such a big one! Yesterday morning he even managed to turn his head from one side to the other when on his tummy... this was such hard work, he completely collapsed afterwards!!! He loves a good play on the playgym uncle Rhys and auntie Sars got hime in the morning, either after his early or mid-morning feed, and has started batting at toys. He really likes the hanging lion - perhaps because it has a clear face... he is so into faces at the moment.

He has a few favourite songs... "Liam On Me", "Liam, don't you lose my number", "God gave Liam H to you" --- all sung by his dad (hint: take a daggy 70s or 80s song and whack in Liam's name), and also some more traditional ones "You're just too good to be true" (or whatever that song is called), "Close to You" (yes the Carpenters classic) and "Mr Sandman" (not to be confused with "Enter Sandman") --- all sung by his mum.

He is also LOVING bathtime, and we will pop some videos up soon of him loving his bath... we just haven't had a whole lot of time out to spend on the computer (he is napping at the moment and has been napping for about 40 minutes now, woohoo!). It will be amazing when we get him into swimming lessons in the next few months.

For photo updates exclusively of our little man, visit our flickr ... there are just a few photos there...

Thanks again to all of you for your congratulations and excitement on Liam's arrival, its has been wonderful to be able to share this with all of you.

Hugs to all xo