Sleep deprivation and other stories

"Everything is at a hazy distance. I know someone's talking to me, but I can't quite focus on the content of their word stream and I find my eyes glazing over while I dream of my bed."

I used to feel like that the day after a after a night out while my still alcohol soaked brain attempted to recover. It isn't how I feel every day, but it was how I felt yesterday after, possibly, 2 hours sleep? Even then it was snatched from between 20 minute & 1/2 hour slots allowed by Little Man. Isaac has now reached the point in his young life where he doesn't automatically fall asleep when he gets tired. No no no, that would be too simple. He now gets overtired (Dianne I thought of you when I said that!). Lucky Mummy & Daddy! Especially Mummy as she's the one with boob juice. Seeing as how he doesn't sleep properly in the day unless he's in the sling, catching up with aforementioned lost sleep doesn't really happen. I think we're quite lucky though, that if he sleeps OK during the day then he settles after changing/feeding at night. For instance, last night we got 2 3 hour stretches and the last one might have even been closer to 4 hours!

I've been having a few issues with our breast feeding experience. It seems that he always wants to be on the boob (typical man LOL) and I worry that he isn't getting enough and that he's starving, especially as he hadn't put any weight on when weighed by a health visitor week before last. It doesn't help that we've had thrush either (me - nipples, him - oral). We initially thought it was bad attachment causing my nips to rub against the top of his mouth, but it's all cleared up now - for me at least. I think he still has it in his mouth, but it doesn't interfere with feeds and I don't seem to have got it back again so I'm hoping it'll go on its own.

Anyhoo, I digress (massively).

Breastfeeding is an unknown quantity for me. I can't see how much goes into him when he feeds and pumping isn't an accurate reflection of how much he gets as he's much more efficient at getting the milk out of me than a machine. It's extremely worrying when all he seems to do is cry when he isn't feeding or asleep. It's tied in with the not liking to be left alone thing. Everything muddles together and is very difficult to articulate intelligently, so forgive my jumbled description. I'm getting more confident with how to breastfeed, but I guess it's something that comes with time, experience and talking to those others with experience. I go to a breastfeeding group on Friday mornings at my local children's centre. It's very good and everyone is nice. Plus there are toys for when he's old enough to start appreciating them.

Isaac Andrew Wiggler has different cries for different things (as all babies do) and I'm getting better at distinguishing between them. Hungry is VERY loud and repetitive, which figures because it's a life threatening thing if he doesn't get to eat so he needs to make sure I can hear him! Wet/dirty nappy is more of a pissed off cry, figures. There's nothing worse than sitting in your own wee and poo! Tired is interesting. It's more wavering and half-arsed. Overtired is a combination of all of the above, making it the most difficult to decipher. We run through everything  (Clean nappy? Check. Fed? Check. Cuddles? Check) before realising that he's been awake for ages and needs to sleep. D'oh!

I remembered reading an article in the Spring 2009 edition of Juno magazine entitled "Crying: an explanation of why babies cry" by Teresa Pitman. I re-read it earlier this evening and it brought tears to my eyes, particularly the final paragraph which reads as follows:

"As a La Leche League leader, I often get calls from mothers who are worried that either they don't have enough milk or there is something wrong with their milk, because their babies cry "too much". When I ask them to describe what their baby is doing, here's what I get: "Well, I breastfeed for twenty minutes, then I put him down in the crib, and he cries,. I pick him up: he stops crying. If I carry him around, he's not too bad, but every time I put him down, he cries. And sometimes in the evening all he'll do is breastfeed and cry. I don't know if he's just starving or it's something I'm eating.

Of course I do explore those possible concerns with the mother, but most often it turns out that her baby is just being a baby, adjusting to beng out in the world and doing what his instincts tell him will keep him safe, ensure a good milk supply and keep him close to the parents he loves."

I feel almightily relieved, reassured and other brilliant words beginning with R that reiterate (!) how great it made me feel! Earlier in the article, the notion of spoiling a baby was discussed and the general consensus (based on years of research of Western and tribal cultures) was that in Western culture, we don't trust our instincts (this is what I took from it anyway). In tribal cultures, if a baby cries he's picked up and soothed. He's carried around in a sling in an upright position so that he's close to his mother and always protected. He's always offered the breast when he cries. These are all things that I think are important. However, my health visitor tells me that using the sling past 4 weeks is a bad thing. I think differently. The Hug-a-bub website reads as follows:

"Social conditioning has led parents to believe that if a baby is held or carried too frequently they will be spoilt, clingy or demanding. Modern research reveals quite the opposite. The physical and psychological benefits associated with baby wearing encourage children to feel secure and content and build a solid sense of self-esteem.

Babywearing not only promotes an intimate connection between parent and baby, it is hailed as one of the most important factors in the healthy physical, intellectual and social development of infants. It promotes good digestion which is believed to greatly eases the distressing symptoms of colic and reflux."

Now, I know that they want sales, but it's not the only place that I've read such positive things about baby wearing. For muchos información go to The BabyWearer.com, naturalmothering.co.uk, or check out some more bullet points on the Hug-a-bub website. So, ner to you HV.

Something else my HV said was that face spots was completely normal in babies. I remembered that Isaac didn't have any until, through exhaustion and lack of will to cook, I caved in and ate a pizza. The next day he came out in a rash of angry red pimples on his cheeks. I don't eat a lot of dairy as a rule so I decided to cut it out completely. I also (at the recommendation of an NCT friend) put some breast milk on the spots. Within a few hours they had calmed down dramatically and have only come back (on a smaller scale) when I've given in and had something with dairy in it. So. A decision has been made by me to go vegan. I'd considered veganism before he was born and have been gravitating that way for a while now, but it's through sheer laziness on my part that I haven't made the switch sooner. We have so many vegan cook books and our evening meals are usually vegan anyway; now I'm convinced that it's the logical way forward.

We have our 6 week postnatal check next week and an appointment has been booked for his immunisations, despite HV saying she'd get a message put in Isaac's medical notes to say we didn't want them. Typical.

Anyhoo, Little Man was weighed again this week and has put on some weight. Not much, but some. As goes the mantra - all babies are different. So I try not to worry, feed him when he cries and love him all the time.