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superatomic-poop-a-blast

10th May, 2007 - Posted by karen -

A few nights ago Gwen was changing Evelyn after a big poo and once the diaper was off, according to the eyewitnesses at the scene, there was some “projectile pooing” which shot out and all over Gwen! It somehow managed to miss most everything else, including the couch (thank goodness) but Gwen definitely had to wash her clothing. Which leads me to an important piece of advice: the best way we have found to get baby poo stains out is to spray with a wonderful product called Oxyclean (the liquid, not the powder), let sit 5 minutes and wash in cold water, spray again and wash in warm or hot water. If it isn’t possible to wash right away, then it’s best to soak the article in question in cold water with some detergent.

I have also learned another wonderful thing this week - the best way to clean the windows is … to hire someone else to clean them. If you live in Montreal you have probably seen the ads posted on lightposts for window cleaning (with a happy sun shining on The Mountain). I knew it wouldn’t be possible for us to get them clean ourselves and they were filthy from the pollution on Sherbrooke street. I expected that it would be really expensive but it turns out it’s ridiculously cheap - he came to our place, brought tarps to cover our stuff, cloths and non-toxic cleaning supplies, and cleaned the inner & outer, upper & lower windows and the screen (which constitutes one “set”) for $8 a set. Seriously. They are so clean now you almost can’t see them. The only question that comes to my mind is “why ever bother trying to clean them yourself again?”. I would recommend this service to everyone. If you want his phone number just email me and I will send it to you.

Evie had her first doctor’s appointment yesterday and I am happy to say she has regained her birth weight and a bit more. I am really pleased about this since we had another bad week last week - it seemed like she wasn’t getting enough food again and was very upset. I had to supplement with some formula a few nights. Out of desperation I called a lactation consultant (from the West Island Breastfeeding Clinic) on Monday and she came over for 2 hours. She had some very good advice. I knew most of it already “in theory” but it really helped having someone there to put it in practice. She strongly advocated co-sleeping to make the nighttime feedings easier so I have been trying it since Monday night. I had thought about it before but was too afraid to try it.

Oh. My. What a difference! I think part of the problem was that Evie seems able to sense when she is alone and when she is near someone. If she is left alone she usually wakes up very soon after being put down (which is why I would end up nursing for over an hour since I would try to put her to sleep 2-3 times), but if she is near someone she can sleep for hours. Since we have been co-sleeping she has woken up to eat 2-3 times between midnight and 6 and doesn’t eat for nearly as long as when I was feeding her on the couch. I think she gets a lot of comfort from being right near us and doesn’t cry at all unless I take her out to change her. The only drawbacks are 1) that I am super-paranoid that she will get too close to me and 2) that when she poos I have to get her changed right away. Her cloth diapers are a bit large around her legs still and depending on the volume and force of the poo, it sometimes comes out the sides. Fortunately it’s hard to miss since it is a very “explosive” event and even if I am asleep I wake up to hear it.

Another amazing thing happened when the lactation consultant was here - she encouraged us to let Evie sleep on her side a bit and after she had fallen asleep we put her on her side and she rolled over on her tummy by herself. The really crazy thing was that she was already making some pushing movements with her legs which is at least foreshadowing of crawling. We sat with her on her side again today and she rolled over and was able to wiggle around quite a bit in her sleep but wasn’t awake enough to try and lift up her head. I really need to try this with her when she is awake and see what happens.