Gripe Water, Vinegar, I Love U

Twenty-Six days old, and Edward has grown from a 21 inch 8lb baby to a 22 inch 10lb baby. This is a testament to Beth excellent milk production and feeding regime, for  nothing, until yesterday, had passed Edward's lips except breast milk.

While he is packing on weight faster than an ounce a day, he has been somewhat fussier in the last week or so. Was this the dreaded colic that upsets so many babies? It was certainly gastrically related, as he was passing poops less frequently with more effort, burping more often, and generally showing signs of abdominal discomfort.

Our midwife's recommendation is Gripe Water, a naturopathic remedy that, despite scepticism from the  medical community, has been around for over 160 years (in various formulations) and seems to work for many babies. Off to Market of Choice then, and we procured a couple of bottles. He had his first dose (5ml) yesterday evening, and it does seem to be helping him bring up those burps more easily, and possibly pass those poop with less effort. In any case,  we're giving it a try.

He has also been suffering increasingly from spots on his skin, and Colleen disgnosed this as a yeast-based problem, caused by breast milk left on the skin. Breast milk is sugary and alkaline, and provides a nice home for yeast. The solution, forgive the pun, is dilute vinegar patted onto the affected areas. The mild acidity of the vinegar neutralises the sugars and alkalinity of the breast milk, and certainly after just a couple of applications his spottiness seems to be easing off.

I Love U? This is another midwife-recommended method for reducing his abdominal discomfort, basically a targeted belly rub. The I is a vertical downstroke to the left of his belly button (his left, not the massager's). The L is a horizontal stroke above, right to left, followed by a vertical stroke down. The U is a vertical stroke up the right side, horizontal stroke above, and vertical stroke down the left. Those of you who studied human anatomy at school should recognise these strokes as massaging his large intestine, the part of the alimentary canal immediately preceding his rectum where poops are stored prior to evacuation. Simply, we're helping his poops move along.

These three simple adjustments to our Edcare routine seem to have helped him become a more relaxed and happy baby, and relaxed happy babies have relaxed happy parents. Now we need to have him sleep through the night, or at least from midnight to 5am, without requiring a feed, change, and two hours of observation.