Diary of a New Mum

Liam George was born on the morning of Wednesday 22nd August 2007 weighing in at 7lb 15oz. Here, first-time mum Rachel shares her thoughts on parenthood. Just scroll down the page to see the latest installment.

September 19th – 9lbs 14oz

Liam is four weeks old today and I can’t believe where the time has gone.  Not only that but, to quote a cliché I’ve heard used many times before and never really understood, I can’t imagine what our lives were like before he arrived or would be like without him.

I’m not saying it’s been plain sailing.  If I’m honest, the first month has been quite difficult.  To start with we arrived home from the hospital with our precious little bundle and didn’t really know what to do or where to start.  That first night when we put Liam down to sleep was really scary.  I found myself not only waking up every couple of hours to feed him, but also in between times to check he was still there! 

Somebody had warned me there would be a lot of arguments in the first few weeks due to sheer exhaustion and the sudden realisation that you are totally responsible for this little person and they were right.  It’s been a steep learning curve for both of us, but I think more so for me because I am with Liam all day every day.  I consider myself an organised person who likes to be in control and everything to be ordered.  It’s amazing how one little person can totally turn that on its head!  But now several weeks in I’ve learned that I can’t plan for everything and to just try and relax if things don’t get done when I intended or as I wanted.  Also it’s amazing how things are actually second nature. 

For me the most daunting thing was the first trip out of the house on my own which was just to meet some friends for lunch.  I found it quite stressful trying to get him ready in time whilst thinking of everything I needed to be prepared for whilst I was out.  I can’t say I enjoyed the lunch that much because I was so stressed by the time I arrived half an hour late, but once I’d got back home again I felt as if I could conquer anything. 

I also had a real problem breastfeeding to start with.  For the first couple of days Liam was happy with the colostrum my body was producing but by day 3 he wanted something more substantial.  Unfortunately my milk didn’t come in until around day 5 so I had a very disgruntled baby who wanted to feed constantly to try and satisfy his hunger.  This led to cracked, sore and bleeding nipples which were very painful.  The various midwives who were visiting and a friend who is a health visitor assured me that it would pass and the best way to help them heal and to encourage my body to make enough milk was to continue feeding.  As you can imagine this meant spending many of the feeds in tears because of the pain but things did settle down and now I feed Liam comfortably without any pain at all.  I also found that towards the end of the day my milk wasn’t satisfying him so I express a bottle at the beginning of the day and give him that for his last feed around 11.30/midnight.  This fills him up and for the past few nights we have been lucky because he has slept for 6 hours, which is fantastic.

Liam spends most of his waking day wearing bibs because he can’t seem to keep his milk down.  At first they thought he was just guzzling and overeating because he put on a whole pound in one week, but it seems that it’s either colic or reflux as occasionally he’s quite distressed when he’s sick.  We’re now trying him with Infacol before each feed to see if that makes any difference.

I’ve recovered quite well from the caesarean.  I found the first couple of weeks quite frustrating because nobody would leave me alone for a minute.  If Mike wasn’t around then he’d arrange for his mum to be here and my mum and sister have also been to visit to try and help out.  But I won in the end and I have made them realise that I will only do what I feel I’m capable of and ask for help at other times (well maybe!).

October 22nd - 11lbs 11oz

Two months in and I feel much more in control than I did at the beginning.  We are still having a lot of problems with sick and reflux but getting used to changing his clothes several times a day.
Neither Infacol nor Gaviscon has improved the problem so now we've stopped using them and just relish the thought that it will improve once he's on solids.  At least we'll have lots of blackmail material when he's older - every time I get the video camera out he looks right down the lens and then promptly throws up! 

I'm amazed on a daily basis by how much Liam can do and how quickly he is learning.  His latest trick is getting hold of the bottom of his vest when he's on the changing mat and pulling it up over his tummy.  Very helpful when you're trying to change his nappy.  The only problem is he also likes to do it with my top when he's breast feeding which can lead to some embarrassing flashing when we're out in public.

In the past few weeks he has also started to gurgle and chat.  We have many meaningful conversations looking deep into each others eyes.  He very politely waits for me to finish a question and then gives me a gobble-de-gook answer followed by a great big smile.  A bit like his
dad does after a night out with the lads.

I think the worst part of the last month has been his 8 week injections.  Poor little boy was sitting there on daddy's knee with no idea what was going to happen.  He screamed and when she put the needle in his second he looked up at us as if to ask us why we were letting her do it to him again.  That evening he was out of sorts but a dose of Calpol and lots of cuddles got us through it and he was as right as rain the next morning.  I know how important his inoculation are so, although it's hard, we'll be going through it all again in a few weeks time. 

December 1st - 14lbs 2oz

Another month has gone by and I'm staggered by how much I love this little man and what he can do in such a short space of time. There seem to have been a lot of new skills acquired over the past few weeks.

We get lots of smiles, giggles and chatter now.  He is also able to pick up and grab toys, putting them easily in his mouth.  Recently he's been paying a lot of attention to food and to us when we're eating so I don't think it'll be too long before we start to think about weaning him.  He can hold his head very steady and why would you want to lie on your back once you've learned to roll onto your side?  It certainly makes nappy changing interesting!  We've been trying to put him down on his tummy occassionally.  Although he's not too keen on it on the whole, the other day he did manage to lift his head and shoulders up off the floor just before discovering his knees and feet when on the changing mat.

Over the past few weeks we have been trying Liam on some formula.  I still intend to continue breast feeding as well, but we were hoping that it might help with the puke.  We started off using the thicker 'stay down' formula which is particularly for babies with reflux, but it really doesn't smell very nice and I found that he wasn't producing as many dirty nappies each day which didn't seem good.  So now we are using ordinary formula for two or three feeds a day.  It's amazing how much more comfortable I am going out and about when I have a bottle in the change bag, but Liam still gets the benefits of breast milk during the night and first thing in the morning.  It will also make it easier for us to have a proper night out and leave him with a babysitter so we can go to some of the Christmas parties we've been invited to.  Having said that, up until last week I'd not had the courage to be away from him for longer than a quick trip to the hairdressers!

February 4th - 16lbs 15oz

This month, Liam just seems to have come on leaps and bounds.  He continues to roll onto his tummy but now enjoys rolling over and over - it had us in stitches the first time he did it.  But of course that means he is mobile so you can't take your eyes off him for a minute.

He is now on three meals a day and loves his food.  The past few weeks he's only been waking up for one feed in the night, which is also great.  His sleep, however, is a bit sporadic lately.  I think some of it is down to a cold that he's had for a week or so now, but apparently it's common in babies of 5/6 months.  They are learning so much that they just want to practice it all the time, so we very often go up to check on him and find him in unusual positions around the cot.  The most amusing being with his bum up in the air and both arms and legs stuck through the bars.  We're not quite sure how he managed it in his grobag, but understandably he was crying because he was
uncomfortable!

We're also getting lots and lots of chattering.  Mainly "a-da, a-da" at different volumes and even whispers.  Very cute, although not at 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning accompanied by banging on the bars of the cot.

It'll be interesting to see how he deals with the upheaval of moving house this week.  We've sold but not found anywhere we want to buy so it's a move into rented only to move again in a few months.  I'm sure he'll be ok - he seems to just get on with things.  We're about ready to put him in his own room as he is nearly six months old now.  So we'll sleep in the same room as him for a couple of weeks and then move out into our own room.  As a friend said to me this week "he'll be fine, you'll be the ones having the sleepless nights!"

March 31st - 7 months

I'm not going to put weights in each month now that he's over six months old.  As he is developing well and following his growth curve perfectly, I don't take him to be weighed every couple of weeks any more.  He is eating well and still taking his bottles so I know he's alright.

We've had an eventful couple of months, for good and bad reasons.  In particular, we're really struggling to get Liam to settle in his cot since we moved into the rented house.  I have weaned him off his night time bottle but, after seven months of interrupted sleep, I'm desperate for him to start sleeping through the night.

It was very cold when we first arrived because the house had been empty for over a year. Unfortunately I made a rod for my own back by letting him sleep on the bed with me for part of the night when he was full of cold.  Now it's become a habit for him and an easy way for me to get him to go back to sleep when he wakes at two or three in the morning.  Tonight we are trying to get him to settle himself to sleep but he is fighting it all the way.  I can't follow the "cry it out" method so we're taking it in turns to go in every few minutes to settle him down and reassure him we are still here.  It's something I think we should really have done before he was six months old so it may be a long night.  We are moving again into our new home in a couple of weeks and I really want to have him sleeping better by then so hopefully we won't have the same disruption all over again.

Having said all that Liam is still an absolute treasure and such a little character.  He can now sit up unaided but prefers to be rolling and playing on the floor.  I don't think it'll be long before he's crawling.  He can get up on his knees and shuffles across the floor on his elbows by rocking his bum.  Very funny and very cute.

He is also a really happy and loving little boy.  I get lots of huge smiles, especially when he first sees me after being asleep and he loves to cuddle in.  The funniest things he's learnt are to blow raspberries on our necks just like we do to him and he does a mean impression of an Indian war cry with the back of his hand on his mouth!

May 22nd – 9 months

Well we got through the sleep problems and after just three nights Liam was settling in his cot and getting to sleep with fewer problems.  We’ve started a structured bedtime routine which involves playing in his bedroom before bath, then a few stories, bottle and bed.  We’ve even had a few nights when he’s slept right through but this doesn’t happen every night or very often.  Finally I’ve started to get some longer spells of unbroken sleep.

We’ve moved into our new house and Liam has settled in really well.  Over the past two weeks he has been quite poorly with a throat infection but today he’s back to his old mischievous self.  He is normally a really happy little boy and I’d missed his laugh, smile and cheeky ways.  Now he’s feeling better I’m getting lots of kisses and cuddles again, which I’d really missed even more!

I can’t believe the developments over the past couple of months, it seems like he does something new every day.  He’s crawling now.  This started with a very hilarious cross between a commando crawling on his belly and swimming.  He had been doing that for several weeks and on the day I said to my mum “I think this is it, he won’t crawl properly” he decided he could get somewhere faster on his hands and knees and he was off.  He’s also started pulling himself up to standing using the furniture, my leg, toilet, side of the bath – basically anything he can get his hands on.  This morning he even managed to take a few faltering steps along the edge of the sofa – luckily I had the video camera rolling at the time.

He’s a chatterbox and his vocabulary to date includes ma-ma, da-da, ba and du.  This sounded like duck and I thought he’d said his first word but on reflection I think it was just random sounds flookily stuck together.

Another of his latest trick is clapping hands.  At first it was quite random, but now it’s to order with a little cheer, especially when you sing “if you’re happy and you know it…”  Waving is also another favourite pass time.  I felt like I was pushing royalty round town the other day because he had his hand out of the pram waving at anything and everything we went past.

I think the health visitor summed him up when I took him to have his eight month check-up.  He did everything she asked him to do right on cue and she said “he’s a little dream.”