The ergoCocoon

Image from here 

Before Little Mr 0 was born, my gorgeous wonderful friend Mrs M gave me three gifts - the Baby Blissful book, Infants Friend drops and an ergoCocoon.

We are using the Baby Blissful book and the Infants Friend drops - and I am so thankful to her for these gifts as I have found them invaluable.

This post, however, is about the ergoCocoon.

Our Little Mr 0 is a wriggler, arms and legs are continually moving so he always manoeuvred himself out of the muslin wraps. We tried bigger wraps and still he escaped.

Then we tried the ergoCocoon and he is as snug as a bug in a rug.

It is made of organic cotton with a hint of spandex with a two way zip which allows for easy nappy changes and transferring to a car seat. It also has arm poppers for an easy transition into a sleeping bag.

Also, anyone can use it so leaving our Little Mr 0 with Nonna and Poppy won't mean he is wrapped differently, he will still be snug (and hopefully asleep).

I would highly recommend it to anyone!

Have you used the ergoCocoon or something similar?

The "witching hour/s"

Image from here

Our Little Miss 4 had the "witching hours", she seemed to scream from about 5pm to 10pm - at least it seemed that long. At the time we thought it would never end - thankfully it did.

It seems that this week Little Mr 0 has developed his own "witching hours". I am not sure of the exact time as I am normally getting things organised for Little Miss 4's bath and dinner - isn't that always the way!

But it tends to depend on when he has a bottle in the late afternoon, early evening that dictates when the "witching" begins. It usually lasts a session, from one feed to the next. This is commonly on Hubby's watch too - sorry buddy.

These are the times when your little angel seems to be completely inconsolable. Why? There are so many stories of these "witching hours". Are they overtired at the end of the day? Are they hungrier?  Is there something really wrong that a sane adult person (insert Hubby and myself) can't figure out?

Our coping strategy is to basically pat him in the cot until he is settled, then leave the room (or lie on the fold-out bed in his room, depending on how tired the grown-up is), then repeat if he screams again. After about 30-45 minutes of this tango, we pick him up and try to get him to sleep by rocking, swaying, etc. If this too doesn't work, we put him in the bouncer and bounce him until his next feed.

At least this is the team tactic at the moment....today is after all a new day - and what worked yesterday may not work today.

I should digress quickly into the story from last night though....

I actually had a go at settling him during this time and settled him at about 8.20pm (he feed at 6.30pm) - GO ME! Then fell asleep myself on the fold-out bed I have set up in his room for those unsettled times when you can't be arsed to stumble back to your own bed only to get up five minutes later.

I woke up at 10pm and the cot was empty and his bedroom door wide open! HOLY SHIT, I thought, I have slept through the kidnapping of my five week old son! I jumped up and ran out the door, to be meet in the lounge room by Hubby who said, "I just can't wake up him for his next feed". (Another team tactic at the moment is feeding him during the day every 3-3.5 hours, with his last feed being 9.30-10pm, even if we have to wake him up.) So he drank about 70ml of milk and was back in bed quick smartly, as were Hubby and I.

Have you experienced the "witching hour/s"?

Sleep deprivation is a BITCH!

As anyone with a newborn can attest you don't get much sleep in the first months of their little lives.

They tend to want to feed between two to four hours, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Over and over and over again. It really feels like you are living a groundhog day, whilst trying to snatch an hour or two sleep here and there.

Throw in a preschooler and trying to catch those most wanted zzzz's becomes even harder.

Currently I am doing the following in an attempt to cope:

• Caffeine - I am drinking two coffees per morning and would drink more if I didn't start to shake from the caffeine overload.


• Eating well - I try to eat five meals a day; brekkie, morning tea, lunch, arvo tea and dinner. I find when I don't do this I feel even worse.


• Attempting to go to bed at 7pm and Hubby feeding Little Mr 0 his 9pm/10pm bottle- some nights my Little Miss 4 even puts me to bed. If all goes to plan I don't have to get up until 1am/2am (ish).


• Hubby doing the weekend shifts - Hubby has been feeding Little Mr 0 his overnight bottles on Friday and Saturday nights, while I try to get a solid block of sleep.


• Attempting to sleep when Little Mr 0 sleeps - sadly this is easier said than done with everything else that needs to be done!

Sleep deprivation is definitely some kind of torture!

What coping mechanisms do you have for sleep deprivation?

It's been a month...

ALREADY!!

Can you believe it?

Little Mr 0 is one month old today.

It has passed in a blur of burps, bottles, bodily functions and bad night sleeps (and some tears from Mummy).

I can't really remember where one day ends and the next day starts. I never know what day of the week it is....except the weekend of course.

I live for the weekends when Hubby can help me out with the night time feeds.

But I wouldn't change it for anything.

He is my little man and when he looks up at me with his beautiful big eyes and holds on so tightly to my finger my heart melts every time.

In the future I may not remember a lot about this first month (if I remember anything) but I will always remember how my little man stole my heart.

Do you remember much about your kids first month?

Dealing with newborn constipation

Never did I think that the bulk of my topic of conversations would be about newborn poop! My poor friends and family! All they have heard about for the past few weeks are the bowel motions, or lack of, of our Little Mr 0.

Little Miss 4 never had issues with pooping - she had other issues, reflux (at least I think it was reflux) and was just basically a screamer for the first few months as soon as she gasped that first breath of sweet air.

However, our Little Mr 0 has trouble pooping. More than likely due to the fact that he is bottle-fed and not breast-fed (check out my When breastfeeding is hard post if you want to read all about that story) but who the hell knows. Maybe he would have the same issue if he was breast-fed.

Newborns are a complete enigma to me, I have no idea why they do the things they do - does anyone?

I have taken Little Mr 0 to the doctor twice about his pooping situation (and am headed back tomorrow) and thought I would share our experience - because doesn't everyone need to know the pooping habits of my 4 week old.

Clearly I am no doctor so it is best to seek medical advice!

• 1/4 teaspoon of brown sugar in each bottle - we tried this for over a week and he still needed assistance to poop.


• 4 drops of Coloxyl in each bottle - we then moved onto Coloxyl and he has done a couple of poops himself, however the majority of the time still needs help.


• Tummy massage in a clockwise direction - sometimes he likes this and sometimes he really does not!


• Bicycle legs when they are lying on their back - sometimes he likes this and sometimes he really does not!


• Lying on their tummies on your legs - he really likes this.


• Holding them upright or sitting in a bouncer upright for a while - apparently it is easier to poop when upright than lying down.


• Putting a cotton bud with a lot of Vaseline just in the tip of their little bum - this really helps him to start the pooping process....and I really hope he never finds out that we did this to him.


• Using gylercerol suppositories - we haven't got to this stage yet....and hopefully we won't.

Presuming the doctor will give me some more tips tomorrow, or tell me to keep on keeping on.

Do you have any tips on newborn constipation?

Nothing gets done pyjama days...

Having one of those Bananas in Pyjama days today and wearing my PJs like an outfit. Still in my pyjamas at 11am and nothing has been done - no tidying, no washing, no dishes, no bed making (who I am kidding I don't make the beds anyway), no calls to HCF to change our cover, and no time to call back friends.

To top it all off, the milk was off so I am drinking instant black coffee. (Since meeting Hubby I have been a coffee lover - a cafe cappuccino lover. We do have a coffee machine, however I don't know how to use it and don't have the brain space at the moment to learn....so instant coffee it is and this morning it is minus milk.)

Oh and should I mention - munching on Iced Vovos for breakfast.

There have been a lot of cuddles for Little Mr 0 though. Today he seems to have found his voice and he isn't afraid to use it. Actually I think he found it last night when Hubby was on duty - bless him.

I had forgotten these days when it approaches midday and you are still in your pyjamas and the house looks like an explosion of plates, cups, toys, arts & crafts and clothes has gone off.

Mind you, there is nothing wrong with it. Reminding myself again to not put pressure on myself to be perfect, have a perfect baby, a perfect preschooler and a perfect house with dinner on the table when Hubby gets home - it ain't going to happen! No-one is perfect.

The most important thing at the moment for us are our kids, so if I spend a day (or more) in my pyjamas surrounded by a mess plates, cups, toys, arts & crafts and clothes, so be it .....I just need to remember to at least get changed before I pick up Little Miss 4 from preschool this afternoon.

Ever had one of these days?