One year old!

So, I haven't posted in ages... More than 6 months. Some blogger I am.

I can hardly grasp that Baby Milk is already one year old. She's crawling everywhere, understands absolutely everything, and is incredibly cute and funny.

I especially love this silly photo :)

How we survived baby's first diaper rash from hell

Baby Milk just started daycare, and you know how everyone says kids get sick right away in daycare? We're no exception.

Happily, Milk caught a very light bug, just some very mild coughing, one day of runny nose... and super frequent, battery acid poop.

Poop comes and diaper rash follows. Within a day, it went from slightly irritated to a disaster area.

Milk's poor bottom became all red, with several alarming, raw-looking burns. Poor baby was crying at every diaper change.

Our relief came from a treatment cream called Inotyol, an over the counter cream from the local pharmacy. That thing is magic in a tube!

I've smeared a good layer of Inotyol before bedtime, and by morning baby's bum was well on its way to recovery. It healed everything but the scariest burns, within 24 hours.

I wish I took some before and after pics, but I was way too concerned and distracted to document this for posterity...

Inotyol. It's, magic, I tell you!

Sweet relief (or 5 months is awesome)

Baby Milk is now 5 months old!

I love, love, love 5 months. Milk has suddenly turned into the perfect little baby. Literally overnight.

No more random screaming, no more hating on every person who isn't me. She actually smiles at her daddy, is content to be held by strangers and is really well behaved in the car.

Good job baby Milk, keep at it!

Ewww, eww, mold in my breast pump

I've been using my Medela pump pretty regularly ever since baby Milk was born. Always washed it before use, too.

What I didn't do, was remove the yellow filter thingy before washing. I figured, water was passing through and cleaning everything anyway... right? Wrong!

Couple days ago I've noticed some discoloration in the bend of the top piece. I've removed the yellow filter and peeked in - to my horror and disgust, I've discovered black slimy mold virtually filling the bend of the top.

Quick google search revealed a multitude of blog and forum posts about moldy pumps... and they all seem to be Medela pumps too. I did not find any indication that this mold can be particularly dangerous, though.

So, yeah. Pumps get moldy, instructions should be followed. Today I learned.

Sleep training work in progress

Baby Milk started sleeping through the night when she was about 2 months old, which is amazing!

However, she'd always been hard to put to sleep and an especially terrible napper. She only napped when held or worn and usually the nap lasted 25 minutes exactly.

This is something I've been working hard to change.

Two weeks ago I accidentally discovered that Milk can, in fact, fall asleep all by herself. That time I was putting her in the crib asleep and she woke up - but I really, REALLY needed to pee, so I told the baby "nighty night," and left.

Bewildered by the lack of bawling, I came back 3 minutes later to find her fast asleep.
Since that fateful night, I've been putting the baby in her crib awake every night, and she would magically fall asleep.

*Self soothing - Achievement unlocked*

Now I'm working on her naps and it's not as easy. We got the self soothing down pat, BUT, Milk just won't stay asleep. 25 minutes is all I get, and then she'd start fussing.

I used to let her fuss it out for a few minutes, but the baby found a way to outsmart me. Now she flips to her tummy, gets stuck that way, and then screams.

Baby Milk, don't you think it's time to learn tummy-to-back?

Hair hair everywhere!

I washed my hair the other day.

That wouldn't be a dramatic occasion for most people, but it is to me! At that point I haven't washed or combed my hair in 3 weeks. Gross? Yes it is.

When I finally got to it, in the shower, I discovered that a large patch of hair dreaded, and had to detangle it.

By the way my hair is curly and butt length...

I also suffer from postpartum shedding.

If you're either a longhair or a mom, you probably know where this is going. It was pure misery. The ordeal took me 2.5 hours and produced a wig-sized hairball in the drain, big enough to make hubby gasp when he saw it.

Lesson learned. Too bad I didn't take a picture.

Weight loss, unwanted?

Since starting my elimination died, I've been steadily losing weight.

It's been a month, on the diet (god, I miss my chocolates) and I'm 5 kilos lighter than pre-baby weight, lighter than I've been in 10 years.

I feel self-satisfied about the weight loss, in a way that disturbs me. I was never overweight, my old weight was healthy and fine, the new skinniness will not last when I'll be able to eat normally... and yet!

Really disappointed in myself for buying into the skinny standard of beauty. I don't want to be proud of my unhealthy weight loss, but I am.

Green poop woes

The elimination diet I previously wrote about? Not working!

Despite me eating an extremely restricted diet for a month, baby Milk still has green diapers every day, all day, blood traces every other day. I'm starting to think it's not an allergy after all.

Just in case it IS an allergy, I ordered a book about dealing with allergic babies... Should arrive any day now, and maybe I'll get some insight and ideas.

Milk's doctor finally took me seriously and ordered poop testing. I do hope it comes back with some answers. Preferably something easy to treat, but at this point any clear answer will be welcome.

Finally figured out the Moby

Baby Milk is 3 month old, and I just figured out why she used to hate her Moby Wrap so much.

Turns out I wasn't positioning her legs correctly. Baby's legs need to be spread wide apart and supported knee to knee. The bottom should be positioned below the knees.

No wonder she used to scream Iike a banshee, she was uncomfortable! Sorry, baby.

Once I finally got it right, baby Milk really took to the wrap and spent a lot of this last week being worn. Yay!

It's hard on my back, but I love it!