When anyone said, “No two babies are the same,” I never believed it. So when my dear little girl Florence, my second born, flew in to the world in a swift manner (read my birth story here if you want the full deets) I had NO idea the level of shock that I was about to be presented with.
I *thought* Henry’s reflux was bad. But his is not comparable to what I was faced with my latest addition, Florence. Her first few days were purely spent with her bringing up (what felt like) gallons of mucus – common with babies born very quickly as they have little time to expel any substances as they enter the world! It became apparent that Florence had reflux that I had never previously witnessed, combined with the most awful case of “milk spots” I have ever seen. Red, painful and circa 300 acne-type pimples graced her beautiful little face and yet without complaint. *Cue the post-baby tears, anxiety and more from this mama!*
During this time I learned that she didn’t like to be put down. For the first 6-8 weeks of her life she was unsettled and distressed whenever she wasn’t in my arms. And her continuous regurgitating of my breast milk was heart breaking. Wasted, painful and time consuming. (And no, this was not a dairy matter.)
By week 5 I was at my wits end with her reflux. Her milk spots had almost passed, she was starting to be more at ease with the world and a little more chilled. The bond began to really blossom. I ADORE HER WITH ALL MY EVERYTHING.
However, her weight was proving to become a concern and now with regular weekly visits from the health visitor I had to react and was willing to try anything to soothe her reflux pains and to try and stop the vomiting. A few had mentioned trying CranioSacral therapy. A little “woo” and holistic for some, and even I was open minded about it. But as I say, I was willing to try anything. Natasha of CST FOR ME was recommended to me by a few so I booked in with Natasha was not disappointed.
I’ve been off radar (again) as 6 weeks ago I gave birth to my second little pot of gold. Florence Louise flew in to the world In a rather speedy fashion on 17th May 2019. She’s obviously adorable (I am biased) and Henry is such a proud big brother. How blessed do I feel right now!
After my ‘far-from-desired’ birth experience with my son Henry, whereby I endured a 3 day induction process, resulting in the (dreaded) hormone drip, an epidural, a catheter… (have I missed anything?) and making the whole process very ‘medical’ and completely out of my control. When I was expecting this time round, I REALLY wanted a natural birth. I was desperate to experience what it felt like to spontaneously go in to labour, and to feel/connect with my birth, to give me the option to ‘cope’ without unneeded intervention and to look forward to meeting my little bundle with every contraction that passed by…
As some say, “be careful what you wish for”. A spontaneous labour? No. A natural labour? Yes.
I want to share my birth story, partly as it was with huge thanks to the birth preparation classes I attended which allowed me to stay in control of my decisions and contributed to my birth experience. I believe it really helps to inform each other of how things can pan out. No matter what kind of labour you have, we’re all heroes!
Henry, the proudest big bother to his new sister Florecnce
Calling ALL parents with fussy-eating toddlers. Most of us have been there – once upon a time your little ones might have been the ‘perfect eater’ – and if they still are, you can close this page now, as it means we can no longer be friends… 😉
When weaning our babies around the 6-month mark, the amount of time, effort, energy (and sometimes money) spent can be obscene. We often put our heart and souls in to the encouragement (or enforcement) of a healthy and balanced diet from a young age, to get our kiddies liking (or at least used to) vegetables and other nutritional foods. We feel so proud of our achievements when they happily scoff large clumps of broccoli, eat scrambled egg, get excited for vegetable and lentil stews, enjoy the texture of meat and fish and could eat avocado all day long if they could. And if your kid is happily eating celery sticks and spoons of dry quinoa, again – we can no longer be friends!
This isn’t always the case as they get older. As they become exposed to other foods, or as naturally implanted in to their DNA, the fussy eating phase, for so many of us, is somewhat inevitable as they approach toddler years.
Suddenly, often between the age of 1 and 2, out of no where, that piece of broccoli is repeatedly thrown on the floor, they’re refusing the blueberries that you’ve spent a small fortune on, the homemade fish cakes you’ve lovingly batch made are now refused. As a parent it can actually feel frustrating and a sense of failure – well it did for me anyway.
Cue Lucy of TeenyWeanies, who runs workshops, courses and 1:1 appointments in person or via video call – she preps you for the weaning process – i.e. for new mums looking for support, advice and preparation for their weaning journeys, as well as the very popular fussy eating workshops. Lucy is also a paediatric dietitian working with the NHS.
Lucy has answered a number of questions for me for this blog post, all aimed towards fussy eating toddlers (as I am currently experience a slightly fussy 2 year old). She gives tips on a number of matters and clears up a few points which can often cause a debate as well as tips and tricks to help encourage their eating habits, taste buds and variety in to their diets.
In her own weaning experience, she found lots of information conflicting and came across many parents who were confused about introducing solid food – when to start, what foods to give, and thus Lucy is on a mission to help parents feel informed and receive up to date, unbiased, and evidence based information through her work with TeenyWeanies…
Henry with his kitchen on Christmas morning. Advice from friends suggested to learn about foods through play may help broaden his knowledge and interest in food.
Another day, another heartbroken news of another baby loss from a loved one… The saddening fact that 1 in 4 pregnancies end in loss appears to be a true statistic amongst so many in our worlds who long for a baby or even to grow on their existing broods.
With the shattering recent news of more loss in my circles has finally triggered me to put fingers to type. Not about my own woes necessarily but just to try and help fight the taboo on such a sensitive subject. Miscarriage does affect us ALL – even those amongst us that aren’t even trying for a baby or have never endured loss. The likelihood is that we all know someone who has or will suffer a miscarriage at some stage, and with the matter being of such taboo hasn’t helped any of us (myself included probably) with what to say, what not to say or how to react.
I’ve been wanting to speak of the subject of baby loss and miscarriage for some time now. By speaking out about it can only help, because taboo subjects don’t allow us to feel informed, comfortable or relaxed in our actions towards others who might be suffering…
I started writing this post after having a much needed summer off from a difficult first few months of 2018. But as I wrote the word ‘summer’ I realised it’s mid November, and then when I came back to edit I realised the Christmas lights are up in my town, the heating is on and I’ve taken my almost 2 year old to visit Father Christmas for the first time. It’s now December.
Where has the time gone, so many of us ask ourselves and on a regular basis?
It’s no secret, as I wish for an open forum in life, to enable transparency, trust, positivity and more, but late 2017-spring 2018 came with it’s challenges and after juggling too many balls I wanted and needed to focus my energy on myself and my purposes. As we all do from time to time, right?
However, I can see rainbow for 2019…
Flamingo Monroe 