stressfreemum

don't go on the first squirt

Important parent quiz here... your newborn has a bit of a pooey squirt in his nappy. Do you a) whisk him off for a change to avoid a dose of nappy rash? Or b) do you let him sit in his own filth?

Your answer will depend, I think, on how new a parent you are. Your instinct is certainly to head for the changing table. You are a parent. Nappies are part of the job description. So you're on! Go mummy, go. Change that sucker...

However babies have a cruel sense of humour. They watch, they wait, they feel for the moment when fresh air hits their bottoms... and they let fly with the real delivery. We are talking jet propelled sticky goo the colour of korma and the consistency of runny porridge. Nice. They might even give you a couple of squirts for your trouble, just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.

I remember the feeling of being totally lost with my first child, the victim of her random and uncontrollable schedules. Yet even newborns have patterns. The more you spend time with your little one, the better you get at judging those patterns. Even those relating to bottoms. You soon learn what time of day you are likely to get the big nappy action. And how long to safely wait before reaching for the wipes.

Nevertheless, if you value your carpets and/or wallpaper, don't go on the first squirt!

New baby growth charts are great news

High fives all round - the NHS has seen the light! From May 2009 UK growth charts for newborns have changed for the better.  

Until now, such growth charts (as seen in your child's red book) were based on the rate of growth for bottlefed babies. But bottlefed babies pile on the pounds quicker than their breastfed friends. So any breastfed baby's weight plotted on the chart would seem a bit lightweight.

Now health officials in the UK have at last seen the light. They will introduce new charts based on the growth rates of breastfed babies. Read the full story here...

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=101855209465&h=-8Txg&u=jQW1u&ref=nf

I don't know how quickly the new charts will take to actually appear in red books - ask your midwife if you are not sure which version you have. But hurrah for this change. It will help with all sorts of issues, from childhood obesity to stress levels of anxious mothers.

NHS, we salute you!

Help, I'm too skinny!

Of all the things I've ever said in my life, I don't think I've ever had the problem of not gaining enough weight.

Unfortunately it's one of the first pressures a new baby has to face. (Well, the it's generally the parents who feel the strain as midwives start weighing the new born, checking 'the chart' and looking very concerned.)

Babies are not used to such pressure to perform. In the womb all their nutrition came on tap. Out in the real world they have to work a bit harder to learn how to feed. Both mum and baby have to learn a new skill - latching on properly - and learn what feeding approach works best for this baby (on demand v a schedule, breast v bottle).

Therefore while this is going on it's completely normal for a new baby to drop 10% of its body weight in the first few days. But the medical professional generally likes a new baby to make that back within two weeks. So cue first parenting stress - feeding. And every baby has its own ways of doing things. so what works for one, won't work for another. Typical, huh!

If you are going to breastfeed, this weight issue is a bit tricky. And it's something that reduced me to tears again and again with baby number 1 who took 6 weeks to make back her birth weight.

But here's an interesting thing. Your baby's weight is tracked along a graph in its 'red book'. The graph is meant to indicate if the baby is falling behind in the weight stakes. But did you know that this graph is designed for bottle-fed babies, not breast-fed ones?

Bottle-fed babies are the sumo wrestlers of the baby world, putting on weight much quicker than breast-fed ones in the early days. Thus if you plot breast-fed results against a bottle-fed graph, the breast feeding mother is automatically going to feel a bit of a failure.

So if you're breastfeeding, just remember this when your midwife tuts and compares your baby's weight gain to the graph. Ask her if your graph is for bottle or breast-fed babies. And ask if she understands that the graph is asking your baby to put on more weight than is possible in the early days. And ask yourself if it's helpful to get stressed comparing apples with oranges.

Instead take a look at your baby. Is he or she healthy, thriving, alert and the right colour? Chances are things are fine. Don't get stressed out worrying about weight. Think of it as an indicator of how feeding is going. And if there's an increase - even if it's small - then that's OK.