Positive Birth + Postpartum Care + Food

List-mania – Part 8 – Play

You could go crazy buying baby toys but you don’t really have to.  First, babies aren’t really interested in anything except sleeping and eating and pooing for about the first three weeks.  Second, once they are interested in toys they are just as interested in a paper plate as they are in some expensive plush rattle.  But there are a few things that I think are worth buying.
1. Playmat
I looked at so many playmats on amazon.com that I was practically crossed eyed.  We ended up with this playmat from Tiny Love because it seemed like a good middle of the range option.  It has some bells and whistles…it plays music and has little lights that light up in time with the music…but isn’t totally over the top.  This playmat also folds flat which is nice for when you have grown up company over and want to contain the baby mess.  After watching Baby C use his play mat I would say the important things to look for are dangling toys, a mirror and something that crinkles.  Baby C loves the crinkly elephant ear on his playmat.  You can use playmats basically from day one…you can put your baby on their back and let them look…and eventually try to grab…at the dangling toys or put them on their stomachs for the all important tummy time.  Before he started rolling I could put Baby C down on his mat and he would entertain himself for fifteen minutes or so…leaving me with fifteen minutes of mommy time!  Now that he is rolling I have to keep more of an eye on him but he is still entertained by the playmat.  I am not sure how long he will continue to find the playmat exciting but I think getting nearly six months of baby fun out of it makes it good value! 
2. Lamaze Toy
Baby C LOVES his Captain Calamari.  In addition to having clever names, these toys by Lamaze are a one stop shop…each toy includes just about everything that a baby finds interesting and stimulating.  There are different textures, mirrors, teething rings, crinkly bits, rattles.  And if an octopus isn’t your thing they have dogs, butterflys, robots, elephants…just about anything that you can think of…I was torn between Captain Calamari and Sir Prance a Lot the horse with a knight!  We keep Captain Calamari in the pram and I am thinking about getting Dee Dee the Dragon for the car!

3.  Teething Toys
The teething toy you will hear most about is Sophie the Giraffe.  So great were the raves about this toy I felt like if I didn’t get one I was going to be a bad mother, depriving Baby C of some magical experience.  And this toy is pretty good.  It is marketed as a teething toy…it is made of some eco-organic-whatever rubber and all natural paint and the ears and feet fit easily into a baby’s mouth…but the part Baby C likes the best is the squeaker.  The squeaker is fantastic for distraction…say your baby is on a plane about to have a melt down…squeak, squeak…no more tears!  In addition to Sophie I would also invest in some old school teething rings.  Baby C loved to gnaw on these as soon as he had enough coordination to get them into his mouth…and now that he is nearing teething age I imagine they will get even more of a workout.        

4.  Puppy Bunny
We couldn’t decide if this was a puppy or a bunny…hence the name Puppy Bunny.  Since naming him Puppy Bunny we have read the tag and it is indeed a puppy.  Anyway, this is Baby C’s special bed toy.  I noticed when Baby C was breastfeeding he liked to grab a bit of my shirt and kind of…for lack of a better word…fondle it as he was nursing.  Clutching at my shirt seemed to relax him so I thought if we gave him something to cuddle in his bed it might help to soothe him.  And Puppy Bunny does a wonderful job of easing him to sleep.  I take Baby C off the boob when he is just drowsy, put him in his crib, he usually finds a thumb to suck and with his other hand he snuggles Puppy Bunny…and off he goes to sleep.  Our Puppy Bunny is made by North American Bear and is technically called a Baby Cozie.  Like the Lamaze toys, you can get a Baby Cozie in just about any animal you desire…the platypus is pretty darn cute.  Also I should note that my friend Mommy B, a very clever mommy, just bought her baby some cotton handkerchiefs and they serve the same purpose at probably half the cost…and her baby, Baby T, looks like an adorable old man with his hankie!  

It really doesn’t take much to entertain babies…they will play with their own feet for hours and at the moment Baby C’s favorite toys are a wet washer and the crinkly package his wipes come in.  But babies do need stimulation so invest in a few toys…but no need to fill up the toy box right away!

Starting Babies on Solid Foods

Like breastfeeding, when to start solids is a personal decision that has become very political.  Ask other moms about when they are going to start solids and some say they will start experimenting around four months and others say their baby won’t have anything but breast milk until six months to the day.  As with everything baby all the well intentioned advice, all the different opinions, all the google searches in the world won’t tell you what to do…you just have to know your baby and trust your instinct.

I decided to start solids at four months mostly because Baby C was drinking me dry.  And because developmentally he was ready.  Here are some of the developmental cues that you should look for before starting solids.
– good head control and is able to sit fairly well…no slumping forward in the Bumbo
– has lost the tongue poking out reflex…I think this is officially called the tongue thrust reflex…it is when the babies tongue protrudes outward when something unusual…like food…is placed on the tongue
– is interested in food…try to eat around the baby and see if they pay any attention to what you are doing…eating in front of the baby also helps them to see how eating works…the spoon goes in the mouth not the ear
– is interested in getting anything and everything in their mouth and then chewing on it once it is in there
I think that if you decide to start solids before six months it is important to remember that breast milk should still be the main sounds of the baby’s nutrition…the solids are just an introduction to food, a taste of things to come!

So, how to start.
You will need some equipment.  Firstly, baby spoons.  These are little rubber spoons that won’t hurt the baby’s mouth…remember they are used to nipples…or their eye if they are like Baby C and grab the spoon and jam it somewhere in the vicinity of their mouth.  Heinz makes nice weaning spoons that are available at Coles and Woolies.  You will also need some sort of small bowl or dish…no need to get fancy here, just use whatever you have around the house.  You will also need a sippy cup so you can introduce water…water that has been boiled and then cooled.  I think this is more crucial when your baby is six months and you are using solid meals as a replacement for breast milk but I figured Baby C might was well get used to holding one and so got him a sippy cup for his five month birthday.  After spending hours standing in the sippy cup section at Woolies I went with the Mag Mag Step 2 cup.  Unlike other “no spill” sippy cups this cup doesn’t operate on a valve system so it allows Baby C to get water without too much effort…he just chews on the soft spout and gets something to drink.  I always give him the sippy cup after meals and as it is getting hot here in Brisbane I try to encourage a few sips throughout the day.  Finally you need someplace to feed the baby!  I think all the moms I know, myself included, started off feeding their babies in the Bumbo baby seat…it is easy to use, it is easy to clean and you can get an attachable tray if you want it to look like a high chair.

Okay, so now you have your gear…time to eat!  We started with rice cereal mixed with breastmilk and then moved on to rice cereal mixed with boiled water.  Baby C wasn’t too excited about rice cereal but he was excited about the spoon…when they wanting to put everything in their mouths I am sure it is a relief for babies to find something that is actually supposed to go in there!  I started with one weaning spoon of dry rice cereal and added liquid until it was fairly runny and Baby C ate this once a day in the morning before his mid-morning feed.  I think he had plain rice cereal for about five days…then we added fruits and veggies!

So, fruits and veggies.  At first I was buying bananas and avocados and mushing them up but then I decided that was too costly and too time consuming for just a tablespoon of food…enter Rafferty’s Garden “+ nothing else” sachets.  These are mixes of fruit and vegetable purees with, surprise, surprise, nothing else added.  They are great for the first month or so of feeding.  The sachets cost from $1.00…look for them on sale…to $2.50 for the full priced organic range.  When Baby C started eating fruits and veggies I was getting about four meals out of a sachet and since once I started with the fruits and veggies I also started feeding him two meals a day this meant I got two days of food for about the price of one banana.  The one potential issue with these sachets is that they do mix different fruits and veggies so if you are particularly concerned about the only add one new food item every three days rule then these might pose a problem for you.  A solution might be making your own purees…I think every mother says they are going to do this and then gets caught up in being a mother and goes for an easier option…so check out this website.  A mother in my mothers group gets her purees from Yummabubba and says they are great and because you get purees of just one fruit or just one vegetable you can either feed the baby just the single food or you can mix two or three if you are feeling more adventurous!  

So over the course of Baby C’s fourth month our feeding went something like this
– week one: one weaning spoon of dry rice cereal with breastmilk or water, once a day, no change in number of breast feeds
– week two: one weaning spoon of dry rice cereal with water, one weaning spoon of mashed banana or avocado, twice a day, dropped one breast feed
– week three: two weaning spoons of dry rice cereal with water, one fourth of a sachet of puree, twice a day, dropped one breast feed…keep in mind he was feeding at least every two hours at the beginning of the fourth month so at this point we were still feeding every three hours during the day
– week four: three weaning spoons of dry rice cereal with water, half a sachet of puree, twice a day, stable breast feeds feeds at 6:00, 9:00, 12:00, 3:00, 6:00 and then at some point at night usually around 10:00

And that is where we are at now.  I imagine we will continue on this way until six months and then I will add lunch and start introducing a larger variety of foods and textures.  And somehow between six and eight months I will have to drop all but the morning and evening breastfeeds because I have to go back to work!  So if anyone has any advice on how to wean down to two feeds a day please leave me some tips in the comments section!

A few other notes about solids and feeding.  Baby C LOVES his Tommee Tippee Fresh Food Feeder…this is a little mesh pocket that you put chunks of solid food in so your baby can suck on it and gum it.  I just put a piece of apple or rock melon in there and he goes to town.  And I imagine the Food Feeder will also be great when he starts teething…I can freeze some fruit, put it in there and hopefully that will help ease any pain he might be feeling in his gums.

As I mentioned, the Rafferty’s Garden sachets are great for the first month or so when your baby isn’t really eating all that much but once your baby picks up the feeding pace then they do become costly.  Time to break out the steamer and the blender and make some baby food!  A friend, Mommy K, showed me this book today and while I haven’t had a chance to really look through it I plan to go out and buy it tomorrow.  It is done by one of the “4 Ingredient” ladies and seems just as simple as the original “4 Ingredient” cookbook.  Not only does it provide recipes but it also covers general preparation and storage rules, what ages to introduce foods and even strategies to help actually get the food into your baby’s mouth!

I have found myself checking out this website a fair bit as they have good food charts…and for those of you baby led weaning fans there is a bit about that strategy on the website too.

And one final note about solids.  Don’t start them just because you are bored with breastmilk and want to have a bit of fun.  Your baby needs to be ready for solids.  And you need to be ready for solids.  Solids are WORK…you have to make the food, then feed the baby…which can be a MESS, then you have to do the dishes and clean up…which now includes more laundry in the form of dirty bibs and soiled outfits.  And solids are not as cheap as just whipping out a boob.  And then there are the solid poos!  So if your baby is thriving and is happy with breastmilk then I would say just stick with it!

Bon appetit!

List-mania – Part 7 – Clothes

You obviously need clothes for your baby but I seriously doubt that you will need to BUY clothes for your baby.  Besides blankets, clothes are the number one thing that people will give you.  And in addition to gifts hopefully friends and family will give you some hand-me-downs.  Believe me, your baby will not go naked.
But, so you can be prepared, this is what you should have in the clothing department.
1. Hats
You always see newborns wearing hats.  Beyond the first few days I am not really sure why this is necessary but far be it from me to break with tradition.  And anyway, in our case Baby C was a winter baby and it was freezing…at least by Brisbane standards…so he always had a hat on.  So yes, get some hats.
2. Singlets
As far as I know singlets are an Australian thing and an Australian thing that I like.  For you Americans out there singlets are undershirts.  For winter babies I do think they help the baby to feel cosy and to stay warm…and when you change a diaper they prevent the baby from being totally naked in the cold.  And for summer babies a singlet and a nappy and you are done!  You can never have too many singlets.  
3. Footed onesies
Now I am not sure if a onesie is an American term but just to be clear I mean a one piece outfit…in this instance one with feet.  Like singlets, you can never have too many footed onesies.  I personally don’t really see the point in dressing babies in shirts, pants, socks when you can just put them in one thing…the onesie!  Baby C wore his during the day and he wore them at night.  Bonds makes some great ones…their Wondersuits are classics.  
4. Separates
If footed onesies aren’t really your thing…or if you only want to use them as pjs…then you will need a whole wardrobe of separates.  You will need shirts or bodysuits…shirts that snap at the crotch, pants or leg warmers and socks.  The shirts or bodysuits should be either long sleeved or short sleeved depending on the climate and on the season.  Pants and shorts are not always the easiest things to get on and off which is why leg warmers are great…as their name implies they keep the legs warm but you don’t have to take them off for diaper changes!  Socks and booties are both fine to keep those little toes from getting cold…on very cold days we would put booties on over Baby C’s footed onesie…double whammy!  
5. Outerwear
Again depending on the climate and the season you might want a zip up sweatshirt or a vest.  We had a hooded vest that was great to help keep Baby C warm on chilly morning walks.
6. Sleepwear
For the first three months your baby will likely sleep in a footed onesie and some sort of swaddle apparatus.  If it is cold you can tuck another blanket in and around the baby.  Or you can put them swaddle and all into a sleeping bag.  After about four months when your baby no longer needs or tolerates swaddling then sleeping bags are a must.  Blankets will be kicked off in about two seconds…and then become a suffocation hazard.  So you must zip the baby into a wearable blanket.  We have a few of the Grobag brand sleeping bags and they are great.  They come in different thicknesses for different climates and seasons, their sizes are cut to last for six months to a year and the patterns are adorable.  Target and Big W also sell sleeping bags although I have only been able to find one thickness, their sizes are the traditional sizes and their patterns aren’t as cute.  I usually love Target and Big W but in this case I say go for the gold and get a Grobag.  A note about sleeping bags…when buying them look for ones that have slits for a pram or car seat safety harness to fit through…that way you can take your sleeping baby in their sleeping bag in from a walk or a car ride and put them in their bed! 
  
So that should just about do it.  Like I said Baby C wore footed onesies pretty much exclusively for the first three months.  Now that he is a big boy of five months he still wears a footed onesie with his Grobag at night but during the day I put him in a bodysuit and either shorts or pants depending on the weather…although since he now rolls all over the place and dressing him is much like wrestling a pig in a blanket I am looking forward to the days when a singlet and a nappy will suffice!
And remember pink or blue is the new black!

Bringing Up Baby – Tips and Hints

While I am thinking of it, here are some tips and hints that I have discovered along the way.
1. Hand towels
I founds hand towels to be very…well, handy.  
As I mentioned in the bath time post, putting a hand towel in the back of the baby tub makes it much easier to hang onto the greased watermelon that is your baby.  
I still have a hand towel stashed under my pillow in case of night time boob leaks.  An aside, everyone talks about how great it is when your baby starts sleeping through the night.  And it is great.  The problem is that no one gives your boobs the memo.  Your baby is asleep but you and your boobs are up.  And your boobs are likely leaking all over your bed.  So grab that hand towel from under your pillow, spread it out under you, roll over and try to go back to sleep.  Soon enough your boobs’ supply will realize that there isn’t as much demand and then you will be sleeping through the night too!
Hand towels are also obviously great for mopping up spit up, you can use them as a change pad…they are excellent as another layer if you think it is going to be an especially nasty diaper, and for any other baby clean up issues.
And another bonus is that they don’t take up much room in the laundry.
So stock up!
2. Night lights
After discovering that it was not fun for baby, mommy, daddy or puppy to turn on a bright light for every night time feed and change we went out and bought some of those little LED battery push lights…I am sure they have a real name but I have no idea what it might be.  Anyway, I kept one next to my side of the bed, Daddy R had one next to his side of the bed and I think we had one on the change table as well.  So if Baby C was fussing I just clicked on my dim little light, changed him, fed him and popped him back into bed without waking anyone up too much…even I would remain half asleep.
Now that he is in his own room, we still have these lights on our bedside tables and if we hear him fussing we bring the light with us to see what he is fussing about and then use it to guide the way back to our bed!
  
3. Baskets
When you are carrying a baby in one arm opening drawers just doesn’t work…and when you need both arms to carry your baby because he is a very heavy baby just forget about it.  Baskets to the rescue.  I kept three big baskets on top of Baby C’s dresser and filled them with things that I often needed to grab…swaddling flannels, muslins and clothes.  I got mine, shown below, at IKEA.  (Look at me getting all fancy with an embedded link!)
I also had baskets on the changing table shelves to keep things organized…washers in one basket, towels in another and a third for extra wipes and nappy sacks.
4. Delayed reaction time
When babies are crying because something is bothering them…say they have to burp and then they do burp and you think they should feel relief and stop crying but they don’t…this is because they have a delayed reaction time.  It takes babies a few seconds or minutes to process the fact that their tummy isn’t sore any more and then to actually stop crying.  So be patient.  Of course babies do sometimes cry for no reason…you just have to be patient then too!

5. Accept help
I am a control freak but I think it took even me about two days to realize that I was just going to have to suck it up, accept help and therefore not be so particular about the way things were done.  Who really cares that Daddy R puts on diapers differently than I do…when it is the middle of the night and Daddy R offers to get up and change the nappy I certainly don’t.  And does it really matter that Daddy R bathes Baby C in a manner that doesn’t make sense to me…as long as Baby C gets mostly clean then I don’t think it matters at all.  Let people…especially your partner…help you!  Let your sister-in-law do your laundry.  Let your friend take the baby on a walk so you can have a rest…or watch Project Runway.  Accepting help is good for you and therefore good for your baby!

List-mania – Part 6 – Bathing

Rub a dub dub, baby is in the tub.

Or rather in the bucket.  At least that is what we bathed Baby C in for the first two weeks.  Keep in mind this was not a fancy “tummy tub” bucket…it was actually more of a bowl.  It was given to Baby C by work colleagues…usually we donate the unused bowls to animal shelters but this one was donated to the Baby C cause.  Anyway the first few weeks…or months really…you don’t need to bathe your baby all that often.  All newborns do is sleep, eat and poo so as long as you are reasonably diligent about cleaning up dribbled milk, spit up and their nappies then they shouldn’t be very dirty.  I suppose it depends a bit on the season…summer babies might benefit from a daily bath…but Baby C was a winter baby and our house was so cold it felt cruel to strip him down and dunk him in water more often than was necessary so he got bathed every other day.   

After about two weeks in his bowl, Baby C graduated to a baby tub.  As with all things baby you can get some really flash tubs…ours was the most basic.  One tip if you get one of these plastic tubs is to put a hand towel between the baby’s slippery back and the tub’s slippery sides…it provides a bit of extra grip and makes it a bit easier to handle your baby.  Also, because obviously you can never leave your baby alone in the bath make sure you have everything you need before you begin.  Everything you need includes wipes to wipe up anything nasty that might be in the diaper you are taking off, a washer or two, baby soap, baby shampoo, a towel or two, a new diaper, baby lotion and a clean outfit.

After about three months Baby C got too big for the baby tub…he could still physically fit in the tub but he was too big for me to hold with one hand.  So now we are on to our bath sling seat.  This thing is fantastic.  I just put Baby C in it and while he splashes away I have both hands free to wash him, pass him the rubber duck or take a picture of him looking all cute with suds in his hair.  Baby C loves the freedom of being unconstrained in the big tub and I love not having to man handle a wet, slippery twenty pound baby.  This seat even has a little pocket at the back to store washers or a bath toy…although for Baby C washers are a bath toy.

In retrospect I think instead of going through three different baby bath options I would have just gotten this…wait for it…three-in-one seat.  It has a sling for newborns, infants use the reclining seat and once the baby is able to sit they use the upright end.

So, to recap, you need some sort of baby bath.  Which one is right for you depends a bit on what your bathroom set up is.  When Baby C was bathing in his newborn bowl we actually just used our kitchen table as our bathing area.  In our bathroom we have a shower stall and a separate tub.  We put the baby bath in the shower stall…we have a hand held shower head that was handy for filling up the tub.  The sling seat goes in the stand alone tub and I sit on a stool so I don’t have to kneel.  And of course you also need washers and towels…the hooded ones are great, you need something to clean your baby with…I went with Gaia hair and body wash, and I also use Gaia body mosturizer after the bath because I like to give Baby C a little massage and because it smells amazing.

Baby C absolutely loves his bath.  We now do it every evening before bed.  He splashes up a storm, he gets a little relaxing massage, he gets put into his pjs, popped into a Grobag, he gets the boob and then zzzzzzzzzzz.