rub-a-dub-dub

Oh how the baby loves a bath! If ever there is a go-to activity to cheer up a cranky mood, it is a nice warm bath. While we were in hospital, just days after Claire's birth, one of the beautiful midwives showed us how to bath our new baby. Having never really been around babies this small, we weren't sure how to go about it. Thankfully we had someone to teach us. We were taught a few things by this wonderful woman that we applied in the weeks and months to come. Here's a few of her tips that we loved:

• There is no need to use fancy-shmancy (chemical filled) soaps or bath oils for your newborn. Plain old water does the trick and will do no harm to sensitive, delicate baby skin
• Same goes for moisturisers and lotions. What she suggested instead was to use olive oil - the kind you find in your cooking aisle in the supermarket. This is pure and has no added nasties. "Here's the key" she said, "if you can't pronounce the ingredients, don't put them onto your baby's body" - simple, right?
• Fill the baby bath up deep so that baby can relax and float around (obviously this means your supporting their head and neck, not letting them float solo), kick their legs, and also so that their body is submerged - none of this 1cm deep water business for Miss Claire. It was the middle of winter, so it made sense to have her able to be covered and not all out in the cold.
• Have an extra washer to put on their back or belly that you can keep wetting to keep them warm.
• Have everything you need post-bath ready to go - towels, olive oil, nappy, clean singlet and clothes. You want to be able to get that bub dry and dressed as quickly and easily as possible.

 

happy, clean baby

 

 

The thing is though, that somewhere along the line I got sucked in (by great marketing) to buying bath products and baby lotions. Some good, some not-so-good. Here's a what we tried and what we thought:

Billy Baby Body Wash

 



 

We liked this one. It was lovely and gentle and didn't really have a strong soapy scent. I love the properties of goats milk, and I had actually bought it before Claire was born. When I was a kid we had goats which mum used to milk. When she was bottling the milk each morning, she would wash her face in what was left over, and swore it made it fabulously soft, hence my motivation to use a goat milk based soap for my bubba.

Johnson's Baby Bedtime Bath

 

 

 

 

I loved this one to begin with. The relaxing lavender aromas are fabulous and you just feel like you're doing a good thing for your baby using it, because it just smells so great! However, after a couple of weeks of using this every day, Claire's skin got SUPER dry. I'm talking flaky skin, almost to the point of peeling. It was really bad. At first I thought it could of been the laundry detergent or fabric softener, and it actually could of been, because I changed that too. It could also of been the fact that she was having a bath every day, which she had previously not been doing. However, as soon as I stopped using the Bedtime Bath, her skin returned to normal. Once again, this was just our experience. I know other mum's who love the Johnson's range.

 

 

Johnson's Baby Oil

 

I didn't mind this one either, and we used it for months, but I had to change to something more hard-core to get some moisture back into her skin when it got so dry and flaky. I liked the slight fragrance this has - it just smells like 'baby' :)

 

 

QV Bath Oil

 

 



This was what my GP sent me to buy after I saw her regarding Claire's dry skin. It's for sensitive, dry skin and is recommended for people with eczema and other similar skin conditions. Just pop a cap-full in the bathwater and Bob's your uncle. It has no scent whatsoever, and kind of makes the water cloudy, but boy-oh-boy is it great! A combination of using this, cutting back her baths to every other day and using the moisturiser below, and within about a week Claire's skin was COMPLETELY back to it's former flawless glory! Win!

 

 

QV Kids Moisturising Cream

 

 









This was also what my Doc prescribed to work in conjunction with the QV Bath Oil. I didn't realise when I bought it, but see how is says: "the fun way to moisturise"? Well, it actually has little coloured dots all through the cream that spread out and disolve as you rub it in, but it is so cute! I can't wait till Claire is old enough to actually use it herself and get a kick out of this awesome novelty! It is such a smooth and nourishing cream too. It is not greasy at all and kind of smells like sorbelene cream, so not much in the way of smell. Definately a great discovery!

So, there you have it, a post that has taken me all week to finish! There has been a couple of other bath/body related things we've tried, but these have been the main players. Morale of the story - listen to what the smart midwife suggests, and don't get sucked in by marketing and pretty smells! Well, for us anyway (although I'm sure once she's old enough to choose her own stuff, the marketing will win).


Love,

H. xx



a new way of thinking - UPDATE

So, last week I posted about how I was going to try to: " to take each moment for what it is - and enjoy it, to give myself room to make mistakes in my parenting, without it being a personal failure, and to fight for an environment of peace, harmony and unconditional love in my home - for everyone, INCLUDING MYSELF!" and I promised that I would update you all and let you know how I went with this after a week. Well, it's a little over a week, but I have to say that things are going great! After writing those words, I had a number of occasions where I would of normally got frustrated, or gotten annoyed at myself for something, but I was able to catch the negative before it turned into anything and move on straight away. It's amazing you know, how much it helps when you actually write down your goals, it holds you accountable - whether other people read them or not.

I hope those words I wrote might of helped some of you out there too. Feel free to share your update with me!

 

my loves ♥

 

 

Love,

 

H. x



 

co-sleeping

While I was pregnant I wasn't super keen on the idea of co-sleeping. I wasn't actually keen on it at all. I had read all the SIDS warnings, heard the stories about 6 year old's refusing to sleep in their own beds because they loved mummy & daddy's bed too much, and I thought I'd be A-OK with bub in her own room. That's all well and good until you've spent most of the night (in the middle of winter) lying on the floor in the nursery because every time you try and put baby in her cradle she wakes up, so you figure if you can lay on the floor and she sleeps there curled up with you, then that's better than a crying baby - right??? Wrong. What's worse than a crying baby is a mumma who hasn't had a decent nights sleep in a long time. Tired mumma is not pretty (and I'm not talking about physically, although that can be the case too). So I got to a point of desperation - I needed sleep. The only way this was going to happen at that stage was if I took Claire to bed with me. I think she was probably about a month old, but don't quote me on that cause those first couple of months are all a bit fuzzy in my memory bank.

When you talk about co-sleeping, you are often prone to receive a label. Concepts such as 'attachment parenting' are thrown around. In our culture co-sleeping is not the norm, but in many parts of the world it is the only option. For us, it wasn't a planned thing, it just kind of happened. To be honest, I actually didn't love it. Because Claire was a June baby, it was the middle of winter. I was so paranoid about not letting the doona get too close to her, that I was usually barely covered by a blanket myself, which wasn't great at that time of year. I also didn't find it terribly comfortable, as once again I was so conscious of her safety in the bed (and her comfort) that I would find myself in a rather contorted position. But yes, it was FAR better than laying on her bedroom floor. I was able to (breast)feed her to sleep, and get a couple of hours sleep myself, and if she stired I could easily resettle her again from where we lay.

It was never going to be a permanent arrangement, and it possibly only lasted a few weeks. When I had taken her to bed with us, it was always my goal to try and get her to sleep and then get her back into her own bed. Didn't always happen, but gradually she got used to the idea and was sleeping in her big-girl cot in her own room by the time she was 10 weeks old (not sleeping all the way through every night by any means though).

Claire's day time sleeps have always been a challenge for us too, with her rarely sleeping for more than a 45 minute cycle at a time. However, I was encouraged lately to try a little harder to get her to take some longer naps (aiming for 1.5 hours 2 times a day). I FINALLY found a way to get this to happen more often - take her for a nap in/on our bed! I snuggle up with her, she falls asleep and will sleep for that 45 minute cycle the wake up. As soon as I hear her I quickly go back into the room and re-snuggle her, give her a bit of a drink, and often (not always) she'll sleep for another 30-45 minutes. This has been such a great development, as it's meant I actually get a bit of time to do stuff during the day. Oh, and while she's sleeping on our bed I put our pillows all around her so she can't roll off, because that would be very NOT fun!

Claire looking all comfy and cute napping on our bed

Co- sleeping, or bed sharing, is something that has been a useful part of our lives. It helped this mumma get some rest in those early newborn days, and works great for us now for the day time sleeps. Will I do it with our next baby some day? Yes, if we have to. I know I won't go out of my way to make it a priority, but as everyone always says: "you gotta do what you gotta do!".

Love,

H. x

smooth as a baby's bottom

The dreaded 'nappy rash' has a tendency to attack the poor bubba when mumma least expects it. Like a thief in the night it can come and take up residence on that smooth baby bottom skin. Thankfully, Claire has only ever had the mildest of cases - just a bit of redness now and then. Since she was a teeny tiny newborn we have been using Palmer's Bottom Butter:

 

 

It is made with Pure Cocoa Butter with Vitamins A, D and Pro Vitamin B5. The great thing is that it not only soothes that sensitive area when it is a bit sore, but acts as a barrier cream to prevent rash and redness in the first place, which I think is the key.

 

I find that when I slacken off in using it, and don't apply it at every nappy change, then that's when I start noticing a bit of a red bot. But lather some of this stuff on and she's back to normal so fast it's not funny.

 

I know first hand that this product doesn't suit every bub though. I recommended it to a friend and she tried it on her daughter, and it wasn't the thing for them. But for Miss Claire it is perfect. An added bonus too is that it smells so yummy! After changing a poo-y nappy, it's nice to be able to freshen up the area with a nice smelling cream.

 

If you're looking to try it yourself, I get my supply from Priceline and it comes in a handy little 'nappy bag sized' tube as well as the big fella, so that you can use it on the go too.

 

Gosh, this post really sounds like a sales pitch, but honestly it's been one of our fave products. In our family we're not all about having every single baby product that you're told by the magazines that you need, cause in reality babies don't need/want all that stuff (it's usually the everyday items that they find most amusing - like mummy's water bottle or daddy's watch), but this one makes our 'essentials' list.

 

I'm interested - what have YOU found to be a lifesaver when it comes to nappy time?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love,

 

H. 





a new way of thinking

Why are we mum's so hard on ourselves sometimes? Why does it feel like as soon as this new little person enters our world that we are suddenly expected to be perfect and know everything? When will we learn to accept that we are flawed and will mistakes in our parenting, possibly daily? This is something that has been sitting heavily on me lately and I don't claim to have found the answer yet, but I know that if I don't get this thing figured out then the rest of my life as a parent will not be as enjoyable as it should be. So, today's post about what we're trying is about trying to eradicate the always-lurking mummy guilts. Below is a photo of my amazingly beautiful, wildly funny, and perfectly imperfect daughter. Some days with her are fabulous (like yesterday), others are extremely exhausting and challenging (like the day before). After a hard day, I am often bombarded with guilt; for not always reacting to her the way I should, or I blame myself for doing something personally wrong to cause her to behave poorly. I know in my heart that it is not my fault, and I am now on a serious journey of learning to not give in to the guilts and get myself down about my perceived failure as a parent (and person). My goal is to be able to hold my head up after a challenging day and say "I did my best, I'm not perfect, neither is my child. We had a bad day, but tomorrow we get to start over." It sounds like a cliche, but I want to get this dealt with.

So, what we're trying this week is this: to take each moment for what it is - and enjoy it, to give myself room to make mistakes in my parenting, without it being a personal failure, and to fight for an environment of peace, harmony and unconditional love in my home - for everyone, INCLUDING MYSELF! I'll let you know next Monday how we're going!

Happy Monday everyone.

Love,

H. xx