Then...
Now that Baby A is drinking his milk it really takes a load off your mind. When they’re this small you want them to eat and drink as much as possible. Mummy A always said she wanted a plump baby (mainly ‘cos a tubby baby looks cute) but that looks unlikely in Baby A’s case. Hey, as long as he’s eating, I’m happy.
It did get me thinking though, about how things used to be in the past, all those many months ago back in January…
- Our first experience of feeding was guided by the midwife at the hospital. We were taught to support his head with our hand (It was a great way of getting cramp in your arm). This is despite the fact that every other mother in the universe holds their baby at the elbow…
- We fed him Aptamil because that’s what the hospital told us. So of course it Must Be Right. We now feed him Cow & Gate and can’t see any difference – the ingredients are identical, but it is slightly cheaper. I’ll leave you to decide what’s best.
- We were feeding him about an ounce of milk…every hour on the hour. You know what that means…no sleep.
Now...
- We were worried about him getting sick, and his problems with feeding. A midwife told us that bacteria could rush in as soon as the steriliser containing the bottles was opened. Talk about scaremongering – how the hell do you get a bottle without opening the steriliser?
- We bought a set of Dr Brown’s bottles ‘cos we thought he had colic. What a waste of money that was. We were convinced he drank better with them – but in hindsight I don’t think it actually made much difference which bottle we used.
- Speaking of colic, I remember trying all sorts of medicines, such as dentinox, infacol and gaviscon (to name but a few). I thought they were great stuff, but wish we hadn’t bothered. Let’s face it, no one has been able to pinpoint exactly what colic is, so it’s something you’ve got to ride out.
Phew! There are lots of things we just never knew about or understood. I’d like to think I’m pretty clued up now, although there’s probably a million and one things I could still do with knowing about*. I’m sure it will all come in time. Although…maybe not in this lifetime.
*Like…how do you put a baby up for adoption? Just out of curiosity of course…
