Conrad’s blog

Yesterday (Wednesday 23 July) Conrad’s farmor and farfar came over to visit for the first time since back from their holiday (which only was Monday, so it was nice that they wanted to pop around so soon after). They stayed with Jessica while I went over to our local doctor’s surgery for my 6 week check-up, bringing Conrad with me, to also pop into the health visitor weighing clinic with him on the way back. He was weighed and measured at the clinic, the latter in anticipation of his 8 week check-up 6 August, which also will involve his first ever jab (not looking forward to that one – should be a sleepless night for all of us…). He now weighs 5.8 kilos (12lb 12oz) and is 60.5 cm (1ft 10.8in) long, so quite big for his age!

As I put Conrad on the scales, he started throwing up quite a lot, as he tends to do if I don’t hold him upright a fair while after a feed – I hadn’t been able to this time, as he’d fed at 1 o’clock and my appointment was at 1.30, which meant I had to lay him in his pram only 5-10 minutes after he’d finished his bottle… As Conrad also tends to complain after having thrown up, I had been considering giving him baby Gaviscon against the acidity, but hesitated, as it’s another kind of medication and he’s already regularly being given Infacol and occasionally gripe water. The health visitor suggested instead trying an alternative formula, which expands slightly in the stomach, which makes it less easy to throw up again. It’s not readily available in shops, but can be ordered in by pharmacies on request, and she suggested getting some in to try – one bottle only the first day, then two bottles the following day and see how we go. Only if this doesn’t help would she suggest Gaviscon.

The health visitor also commented on Conrad’s chin being less pulled back now and how he now sounds much less noisy when breathing, suggesting that his floppy larynx is sorting itself out too. Otherwise, she was very happy with his weight and general health and I felt reassured when leaving.

Conrad spends more time awake now, sometimes just looking quietly around himself, sometimes stretching his arms and legs, sticking his tongue out, making little grunting noises or cries (though not like when he’s colicky or wanting a feed, more like if he’s testing his voice). I try to put him in the baby bouncer for a while every day to give him things to look at, gradually building it up a bit so he gets practice sitting upright, but trying not to push it and leave him in there for too long either.

With the weather being so glorious this week, I’ve tried to keep the kids out in the garden most afternoons. Conrad gets to lie on a blanket on the grass if I know I’ll be able to stay right next to him (to guard him against a sometimes over enthusiastic older sister…!) or in his carry cot on the garden table under a parasol.

Jessica shows interest in her little brother and I have been a bit amazed over her actions at times. On a couple of occasions when Conrad has been crying and I’ve been sitting on the sofa with him over my shoulder stroking his back, to try and help him burp, she has come over to us with a troubled expression on her face and started gently stroking his back too. When she wants to go out (i.e. to the playground in the park), realising that her baby brother has to come with us nowadays, she’ll go fetch his jacket or blanket and bring them to me with an urging motion towards the double buggy in the hallway. When we come back home and I’ve lifted her out of the buggy, she goes straight up to Conrad, still in the seat behind, trying to undo the clasp on his belt and pulling his socks off, as if to say it’s time for him to come out of the buggy too. (Sometimes Conrad’s asleep at this point, and she takes some persuading to leave him to it…) When I go to change Conrad’s nappy, Jessica is right there watching with interest, sometimes wanting a front row seat, but her sitting on my lap doesn’t exactly make it practical to change him…! She’s too young to ask to fetch a new nappy for her brother or anything like that, but at her own initiative she has taken the lid off the nappy bucket for me once or twice, and it’s great to see all those little signs of her wanting to get involved.

Unfortunately, it seems like Conrad’s colic has gotten worse. For a couple of days, he’s not only had late afternoon/evening colic but also early morning colic… Saying that, though, three nights ago he wasn’t colicky at all – he slept soundly, fed regularly every three hours without complaining and went straight back to sleep after each feed. I managed to sleep a total of around five hours that night and felt quite fresh the following day…! It made me think about how much easier things will be once Conrad has got out of his colicky stage, and even when he starts sleeping through the night, and that it’s not too far away in time.

Gabriella

Thursday (17 July) I decided to brave it again for another first for Conrad: one of the mums had invited people over to her place in Woodhatch for the afternoon, and as there’s a bus going pretty much directly to hers from ours in only 15 minutes, I thought it’d be worth a try, provided that Conrad and his sister co-ordinated themselves nicely for me again. And they certainly did – the bus only goes about five times a day, but both Conrad and his sister were nicely fed with nappies changed in time for us to get out the door to catch the 2.15pm one. The bus was pretty much empty too, as it wasn’t rush hour in any way, and the double buggy – being the same width as a normal push chair though slightly longer – fitted just about in the space for wheelchairs/pushchairs.

There were several other mums and toddlers at our destination, so slightly chaotic, but this didn’t seem to trouble Conrad much. Just in case, I thought it’d be safer to keep him out of toddler-reach and Conrad got to snooze in our host’s nursery for a little bit. We couldn’t hear him over the baby monitor downstairs, as the noise levels were quite high with all our 15 month+ ones running around the place, but every so often a mum volunteered to pop upstairs for a quick listen. Conrad slept soundly, until I decided to combine a nappy change for his sister together with a trip upstairs. Jessica, still being very curious about her little brother, couldn’t help going up to the cot and prod him through the bars… And so he woke up. It was just time for his afternoon feed though, so I brought the two kids downstairs. With a couple of the other mums fetching my bags for me and distracting Jessica, I fed Conrad his bottle on the sofa. After he’d been fed and burped, he was passed around for a bit of a cuddle.

Ian came in the car to fetch us after work, and so turned up about 4.45pm. It took the two of us a little while to get the kids ready and all our stuff out the door, but some of the mums said again how chuffed they were that the kids and I had managed to get out of the house, let alone to come visit. I don’t want having two children out me off going out being sociable, though, and I would like Conrad to get the benefit of being around other people from as early on as possible. He’s too little still to be awake enough to take much in, but hopefully by the time he does, I’m well seasoned in taking him out and about.

Yesterday (Sunday 20 July) I reassembled the baby bouncer we’d tucked away in the loft since Jessica grew out of it, so that Conrad would get some practice sitting up more and to get to see a bit more than just the ceiling… After an hour he started to slump a bit in the bouncer, but his neck seems pretty strong and he’s holding his head up well, sometimes for a good 5 seconds off our shoulders without wobbling much at all. I’m very curious about how soon he will sit up all by himself…!

Gabriella

I guess we’re getting a little bit into every day life now, and each day feels a little bit less daunting for me. In the mornings I bring Conrad downstairs around 5am, wash and change him, then give him a feed when he’s ready for that. If things work out reasonably well, he’s all fed, burped and settled in the carry cot in the living room before I go to fetch his big sister for breakfast and bath. After Conrad’s had his next feed, at 8/8.30am as it tends to be, I take them both out in the pushchair, sometimes to the shops but lately it’s more often than not turned out to be the playground in the park. After Jessica’s had a go at the swings and anything else she might fancy we go back home again, when it’s time for Jessica’s morning bottle and, around 10.30/11am, nap.

When Jessica naps is pretty much the only time I get to spend properly with Conrad, without him being grizzly and unsettled as in the evenings or night time. I like to sit on the sofa and hold him for a bit, sometimes I’ve made both of us as comfortable as I can and dozed off myself with him in my arms – it’s lovely to hear his delicate little breath in my ear and feel his little head resting on my shoulder.

I do try to make plans for the three of us to see people if I can, though – apart from wanting to be sociable, it works well to keep Jessica busy and distracted so she’s less likely to be jealous of me tending to Conrad, plus it’s always nice to see Conrad admired by others…!

It seems Jessica is getting used to Conrad being around, and she entertains herself more and more on her own. At the moment, Conrad spends most of his days sleeping in the carry cot up on the old gramophone, but it won’t be too long until he’s awake more and I will want to put him in a baby bouncer or baby gym to give him more to look at and eventually do. I’m thinking things will be trickier then, as I will need to stay nearby at all times when Jessica’s around. She wouldn’t want to hurt him, of course, but she could do so by accident. I reckon the toughest times are still to come – I’ve ain’t seen nothing yet…

Sunday (13 July) Ian and I took Conrad and his sister over to Earlswood Lakes, for some fresh air, Conrad to have a feed in the great outdoors and Jessica to run around a bit more freely. We took a stroll around the lakes, fed the ducks and swans and, true to form, Conrad snoozed through most of it.

I have forgotten to mention, by the way, that when he was a couple of weeks old, I discovered a birth mark in Conrad’s right palm: a small, round, red dot about the size of a petite pois. It can well have been there since he was born, but he’s kept his little fists clenched so well that I didn’t spot it. I’m curious as to whether it’ll stay or whether it’s the sort of thing that’ll fade away with time.

I’m hardly expressing anymore now, and it still feels like such a shame, but I realise that there’s nothing I can do about it. Conrad’s having pretty much formula only now and I only hope it won’t make his tummy troubles worse, as I’ve heard that formula can cause constipation in babies. We’re avoiding the powder for now, anyway, using only the tetra carton-packed, ready-mixed stuff, probably until Conrad’s about 6 months.

Gabriella

PS The health visitor was just here – Conrad now weighs 5.57 kilos (12lb 4oz) – and when I told her I’d decided to stop expressing and feed Conrad formula, she said: “Can I just say, I think you’ve made the right decision”. She added that she knew plenty of breastfed babies with allergies and lots of formula-fed babies that were as healthy as anything, so I shouldn’t let any concerns for Conrad’s future health make me feel bad about not expressing. I’ve only had support from Ian, friends and family regarding this, so I know it’s the right thing to do.

Saturday (12th July) Ian spent the afternoon and evening at a couple of friends’ wedding, which meant that I was on my own putting both kids to bed for the second time ever. With Conrad so little still, we didn’t feel we could leave him with a babysitter. I was dreading bedtime, expecting Conrad to be right in the middle of his early evening colic when I’d have to put Jessica in bed. And he did start to grumble after his 4pm feed, needing lots of burping and rocking and singing to calm down. Thankfully, Jessica was happily playing on her own (apart from bringing a few books over to me on the sofa and trying to put them on my lap at the same time as Conrad was there having his bottle, and at one point jabbing him slightly in the ribs in the process, which didn’t go down too well with the baby…!).

Since the beginning of the week I give Conrad a double dose of Infacol before each meal, which seemed to help for a few days but not anymore. So I decided to try some gripe water. This is supposed to be good at easing acidity too according to a friend of ours, who used it for her baby, actually in combination with Infacol – Infacol needs to be taken before a meal, to line the stomach, but gripe water can be taken during or after the meal, so one can try Infacol first and if it doesn’t help also go for the second option.

As Jessica now feeds herself pretty well with a spoon, she had her dinner all by herself without spilling very much of it while I was busy jiggling Conrad. I danced around the living room singing a song I used to do folk dancing to when I was little (actually the same song I used to sing to Jessica when she was a baby and upset after feeding – very good as you can do a bit of bouncing to it, which sometimes helps bringing baby’s wind up) and managed to both get Conrad settled and Jessica giggling at the same time (me obviously looking very silly in the process!). The gripe water seemed to do the trick. Conrad cried for a while after having been fed but was happy enough to take his new medication, and when he dozed off after a while and I put him in the carry cot he stayed soundly and peacefully asleep for another couple of hours, giving me plenty of time to look through a few books with his big sister, and get her ready for and tucked in bed.

The night turned out so completely different to the previous! Conrad slept peacefully in-between feeds and even for 4 hours in one go between 8pm and midnight. I carried on giving him gripe water towards the end of each feed and it didn’t take him long to settle back to sleep, giving Ian and myself a much more relaxed night too.

Gabriella

Wednesday (9th July – Conrad one month old already!) the kids and I went over to the baby weighing clinic at the baptist church in the afternoon. It was chucking it down, so thankfully it wasn’t far to go. Actually, I haven’t done badly in getting Conrad and Jessica out of the house in good time for things – I take them out in the double buggy most mornings, to do some food shopping or to the park to let Jessica have a go on the swings while Conrad snoozes away in the shade – and they seem to time themselves nicely feeding-wise. Especially Conrad, who hasn’t got a real routine yet (i.e. no fixed times for feeds).

The health visitor saw us straight away as there was no one waiting (possibly the weather had put people off). Conrad now weighs 5.3 kilos (11lb 10 1/2oz), which is a little bit above his line on the graph, so there’s no worries about him not feeding well, even if he does throw up a lot. As the breastfeeding advisor had done, the health visitor suggested trying nipple shields, but she also said that she thought seeing a cranial osteopath would probably not be worth our while, as it wouldn’t really help Conrad’s particular situation. She also said that ‘to be honest, when I have seen babies with chins like Conrad’s, the mums have had to give up on breastfeeding because it simply hasn’t worked’. I had a feeling she had tried not to discourage me from keeping on trying before, as she saw how keen I was, but this time maybe she felt that she could speak more directly and openly. ‘You must be exhausted’, she said, when I admitted to not sleeping any more that 3-4 hours per night still. ‘Take at least one or two nights when you don’t express, just to try and catch up on some more sleep!’.

When I tried using nipple shields, I felt encouraged at first – Conrad seemed to feed, staying on for half an hour, with obvious gulping sounds from his throat and stomach and not frustratingly pulling away. But afterwards he still wanted almost a whole bottle of milk and I was able to express quite a lot… So feeding through the nipple shield didn’t seem to have been very efficient. Which didn’t really surprise me: there must be a reason for there being so much emphasis on using the correct technique when breastfeeding, and Conrad obviously still wasn’t using that. So that is a no go too…

The health visitor had said that there were a couple of people she could phone for potentially some additional advice. But the news wasn’t great – she hadn’t been able to get any new suggestions, only what I had already tried. She said to ‘keep going’ and she’d see me next week, but I was starting to doubt my persistence. Conrad’s still not latching on after a month of trying and the problem is physical, something that neither he or I can do anything about. I started to feel more and more like it was becoming a case of grasping at straws.

Ian and I had a chat about the situation and I made the difficult decision to give up on trying to breastfeed Conrad. Over a month on, I can’t afford losing this much sleep expressing, as I need to be awake enough to be a proper mum to him and his sister. When I was expressing for Jessica, I remember jealously watching other people playing with her, making her giggle, being too tired and busy expressing, sterilising, etc., to have fun with her myself. I don’t want that to be the situation now, especially that I now have two little kids that need me to be there for them. I want to be a proper mum, not just some robotic feeding machine.

Thursday afternoon, three of the mums from the post-natal group came over, two of them to meet Conrad for the first time. He was so admired and passed from one pair of arms to other – fed by Nicola and then Paula before he got a cuddle from Lisa. It’s lovely how excited all the mums in the group have been for us, both in anticipation of Conrad’s arrival and now. Several of them have boys and I can’t help hoping that, when they’re all a few years older and the age gap maybe not so much of an issue, Conrad might be playing with them too.

Last night was a bit awful, with Conrad not wanting to settle for most of the night. It’s horrid when I don’t know what’s wrong and can’t help him and he just keeps crying. Ian went downstairs to try and get some sleep on the living room floor. I know this is all normal for little babies, but it’s strange how some nights seem worse than others – if I only knew why, I could hopefully do something about it, but I guess we and Conrad are not unique in any way. We’ll get through it, I have no doubt about that.

Today I experienced that thing which a lot of mums say ‘makes you think it’s all worth it’: Conrad smiled at me for the very first time! It wasn’t one of those windy smiles, where the eyes aren’t involved, but he was looking straight at me, I smiled at him and then he smiled back. As it happened, I was in the process of taking a few photos of him using my mobile phone, as I wanted one of him for a wallpaper, so I managed to capture his very first smile on camera – not at the greatest quality resolution, but still.

Gabriella

Saturday (5th July) it was time for another smaller social event: Auntie Wendy’s house warming. As we live only a few minutes away from her ow, both kids got plonked in the double buggy and we headed off on foot. Conrad try to form slept through most of the event, unperturbed by being passed around and not taking the slightest bit of notice of his big sister climbing the stairs and running in and out of the house.

Yesterday (Monday 7th July) I took Conrad and Jessica to the Baby Café again, to see the breast feeding advisor. She sat down with me and Conrad straight away in a quiet corner, while Jessica was playing with a shape sorter toy by our feet. The advisor had a look at Conrad’s tongue and said that it looked fine after the ‘snip’, but that he still wasn’t using it the way he should for breastfeeding. Also, she had a second look at his chin, commenting that him pulling it back as far as he does really presents a problem.

As Conrad was coming up to wanting a feed, we had a couple of goes at helping him latch on before he got too hungry and it was time to give him the bottle of expressed milk that I’d brought. So no joy this time either… I just don’t know how to help him and, to be honest, that makes me feel really inadequate. I’m his Mum, so I should be able to guide him to sort this out. The advisor suggested trying nipple shields – it might help Conrad latch on as it would be more like drinking from a teat, which he is fine with. She also suggested seeing a cranial osteopath. There isn’t much scientific proof that what they do works, she said, but some people have found that what they do has made a huge difference.

The three of us joined a circle of breastfeeding mums around a padded area full of toys, and Jessica got stuck in playing alongside the other toddler and older babies, while I fed Conrad. The health visitor responsible for the café together with the advisor offered a mug of tea and then to look after Conrad for a bit while I drank it. As I always worry about hot drinks near wriggly babies I welcomed the suggestion, and Conrad enjoyed ten or so minutes being admired by yet another person.

So another option to try: nipple shields. But it feels a bit like we’re heading into ‘desperate measures’ now, running out of ideas…

Gabriella

Partway into July now, with Conrad turning 4 weeks old on Monday – time’s really going quickly and we just realised how long it’s been since the last blog entry…!

Unfortunately, Conrad still hasn’t taken to breastfeeding, which means I’m still expressing, through the night too… He’s seemed to latch on a couple of times in the last few days, but comes off again pretty soon and seems to lose interest. He still feeds well on breastmilk from a bottle, so it’s not an issue of him not being fed, thankfully. I spoke to the breastfeeding advisor on the phone today, as Conrad and I haven’t managed to see her in person yet after his tongue tie got sorted out, and she said it seems strange if he’s getting that far but not managing to stay latched on – perhaps the cut under his tongue wasn’t deep enough. We agreed that I’d try to come to the Baby Café on Monday and she’d see what she could do to help then. Thing is, if Conrad and I can’t get to grips with breastfeeding soon, we’ll have to seriously consider raising Conrad on formula – I’m not getting anywhere near enough sleep at the moment, a situation that obviously isn’t sustainable in the long run., if I’m to be a good Mum to Conrad and his sister

Conrad is sick quite a lot, needs plenty of burping and is restless for a few hours every evening and/or night. It sees such a shame that feeding should be such hard work for someone so little, but I guess it makes sense if his digestive system isn’t quite up to speed yet. in 3-4 months time though, I’m hoping it’ll be better and Conrad will be happier.

It has been commented on a few times now how long and strong Conrad’s legs are. As with his sister, his Daddy’s already started putting him in training in anticipation of Conrad walking – moving his legs and encouraging him to push against resistance with his feet. No fear of Ian being a ‘pushy parent’, though – it’s really just a fun way of playing and bonding.

Gabriella

Thursday to Friday night (27th to 28th June), Conrad wasn’t restless at all, but went back to sleep straight away after each feed, including the ones in the evening and early part of the night, which was a great relief – it is possible for him to do it and the night turned out better for the three of us.

Friday I was pretty impressed with myself, as I decided to take both kiddies along to one of the mums from the post-natal group I used to go to with Conrad’s sister Jessica. A group of mums with toddlers were meeting up at hers for afternoon tea. She lives in a lovely flat near the hospital, so I opted for the train to Earlswood, and to put Jessica in the run-around buggy and strap Conrad on me in the baby carrier, hoping that it would be the best solution for getting off and on trains and platforms. Jessica was being patient in the buggy and Conrad slept through most of the journey, so I managed to make it to the gathering in reasonable time.

Conrad was much admired (“oh, he’s gorgeous!”) and got a bit of a cuddle, plus curious looks from some of the toddlers. I got accused of being both brave and well organised for going out and about with both kids this soon after Conrad’s birth. I wasn’t feeling very brave or organised at all, only sweaty (it was a hot day and I’d put jackets on all three of us) and spaced out – one of the mums suggested maybe that was why I seemed so cool and calm about everything: I was on a high from sleep deprivation… It was lovely to see everyone and to get to introduce Conrad to more of my friends. We only stayed just over the hour, as I wanted to make sure we got on the same train as Ian on the way back, so we could make a joint effort in bringing the kids the last bit home.

This morning Ian got up early to look after Jessica while Conrad and I stayed in bed a while longer. As usual, I didn’t get much additional sleep, but it was nice to not have to co-ordinate two kids but to rest for a bit. After feeding Conrad just after 7am (sometimes in the mornings he has a 4-hour sleep before ‘breakfast’, otherwise he’s still sticking with 3-hour intervals both day and night), I put him in the middle of our bed to just lie next to him and watch him sleep. He can be quite noisy sometimes, and it’s funny how little babies in reality make a lot of noises that you wouldn’t normally associate with babies, including sounding like a creaking door… It’s lovely to watch him stretch and curl up, exercising his little arms, legs and facial muscles. He is quite noisy when he breathes too, as if his nose and/or airways are blocked, which makes me worry sometimes, and I have to keep checking that he is breathing. He seems so fragile still – how can such a tiny little person not be…?

He has his eyes open more now, looking about himself, and they seem to follow my face when I move around a little (I did that a couple of times keeping quiet just to check that it wasn’t the sound of my voice he was following). We popped around to Conrad’s farmor and farfar briefly this afternoon, and Conrad spent most of our time there with his eyes wide open. They still look very dark blue – like two tiny little universes – but with a slight yellow to the whites of his eyes still lingering from the jaundice, it’s hard to tell whether they’re actually turning into e.g. a warmer shade, like brown.

Gabriella

It has been a few days now since the last entry, mainly due to my lack of sleep. I’m still expressing, and as Conrad wakes up for a feed every 3 hours, that only gives me 1-2 hours worth of sleep in-between feeds. As Conrad also spends 3-4 hours per night being restless, crying and wanting to feed and Jessica is an early riser, I’ve only managed 3-4 hours of broken sleep per night for the last two weeks, which has started to take it’s toll a bit.

Tuesday Ian and I brought Conrad to Bourne Hall Health Centre in Ewell village, about half an hour’s drive away, to have the suspected tongue tie checked out by an expert. It turned out that tongue tie was indeed the case, so we decided to have the small incision under Conrad’s tongue done straight away. Conrad was swaddled, as he’s a wriggly little thing, and I was dreading watching him being cut, but it was very swift and he seemed to be more upset about the gauze being pressed against the cut to soak up he little bit of bleeding afterwards than about the cut itself. I tried breastfeeding him immediately afterwards, as per recommendation, but he wasn’t keen, so we gave him a bottle of expressed milk instead, of which he only had about half his normal amount. Then he slept all the way home again.

Yesterday, Wednesday (25 June), our health visitor came over for the first time to meet Conrad and myself and see how things were going. She asked his name and when told her reaction was: “that’s a nice, strong name!”. Conrad was weighed again: 4.64 kilos (10oz 3lb) this time. He was also supposed to have a hearing test but the machine was broken so we decided that the health visitor would come back next week to do that instead. Conrad got his little red book, with his head circumference (36 cm) logged in it too. I explained about the tongue tie, why he wasn’t breastfeeding yet, and the health visitor said that Conrad seemed to be troubled by mucus still, and also have a habit of pulling his little chin back, and she also confirmed something that had been mentioned at the Health Clinic the previous day, that in addition Conrad also has a ‘floppy larynx’. All of which Conrad will grow out of soon, but which will not have helped him find breastfeeding easy. To get rid of the mucus, the health visitor showed my simple facial massage using strokes over his sinuses that I can easily do myself (and have done a few times now already).

I want to stick it out with the expressing until I feel I have had a proper go at breastfeeding Conrad, but there has been another little set back, as the NCT breastfeeding advisor called me today to say that she had to cancel her appointment with us tomorrow as she’s ill. Conrad and I will just have to keep trying over the weekend, and then I’ll see if we can speak to the advisor at the Baby Café on Monday. They will have moved to a new venue not too far from us, so I’ll bring Jessica along and see how it goes.

Today, in the afternoon, a few friends came over: Cara and Daisy, who Jessica and I see on a regular basis, and Julia and her two boys Cian, 4 1/2 years old, and Daniel, only a month older than Conrad. The latter three were meeting Conrad for the first time. Once again it was commented on how big Conrad is for his age. Daniel has only now almost reached Conrad’s birth weight and isn’t as tall. It’s nice that the two little boys are so close in age – hopefully they’ll become friends as they grow up.

Monday (23 June), by the way, was Conrad’s first outing in the baby carrier, as we decided to go over to Priory Park in Reigate for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Jessica ran around the playground with Daddy, trying out swings and slides, while Conrad and I sat in the shade having a bottle of milk. It was a really hot and sunny day and Conrad grumbled a couple of times. I had a muslin over his head and arms as he was resting against my chest, hoping it would keep the sun off him well enough, and it seemed to do the trick. Just before we were going to pop over to the café for an ice cream, we bumped into Paula and Michelle from the little group of post-natal mums I meet up with from Jessica’s early days, with their boys Kai and Luke respectively, and Conrad got admired again.

And, because I couldn’t resist, a piccie showing Conrad (on Daddy’s lap) just as I’m writing this:

Gabriella

Conrad and I had our last visit from the midwife on Friday (20 June). He was weighed again and was noted as weighing 4.20 kilos, so he’s gaining nicely. The midwife also checked his jaundice and noted that the slightly yellow shade is fading. As he’s alert and feeding well too, the midwife was happy to sign Conrad and his Mummy over to the care of the local health visitor, which we shall hopefully see on Wednesday.

Yesterday we also had a visit from a couple of the mums I still have been meeting up with (if very infrequently while I was working) from the postnatal group I went to with Jessica. Paula with her little boy Kai and Becky with her Joseph both come over for a couple of hours in the afternoon to have some tea and cake and admire Conrad. Paula brought a little teddy for him as well. He hasn’t got many toys yet, so that was really lovely.

The last couple of nights, Conrad hasn’t taken quite as long to settle again in-between feeds and he has been complaining less. Hopefully that is a sign that things are getting easier for him. His feeds are still around every 3 to 4 hours, day as well as night. I still only sleep around 4 hours per night, though, as I’ve kept expressing in anticipation of the check of Conrad’s tongue on Tuesday. I suspect, though, that it’ll turn out that there’s nothing wrong with his tongue and that not using it effectively when he’s trying to latch on is just something he does. If so, will it be possible for us to get around it at all…? I so wanted to give him breastmilk for his first 5-6 months, for the supposed health benefits of doing so. But maybe I’ll ultimately will have to make the decision not to…

Conrad’s eyes are still dark blue and his hair brown. I’m not sure how long it can take for eye colour to change, but as it’s been twelve days now, I’m thinking maybe they will stay blue now…?

Gabriella