This one’s thrown me for a bit of a loop. Our son LOVES bathtime and looks forward to it every night. For the longest time he would scream as soon as we took him out, wanting desperately to return to his tub and water toys. This seemed to carry over to a trip we took when he was about 8 months old. The weather cooperated and we were able to go swimming in the complex’s swimming pool pretty much every day. Our son’s reaction was similar to his daily baths. He loved the pool. He was happy to splash about for as long as we’d let him, kicking his legs and attempting to mimic his mother as she blew bubbles and motored him around in the warm water.

Fast forward to his first birthday. We’ve registered our son in weekly swimming classes geared specifically for infants his age. Either my wife or I join him in the pool throughout the session and play the primary role in moving him about in the water, following the instructor’s guidance. Here’s the thing, despite being surrounded by other children his age who seem to enjoy their baby swimming lessons, and despite the pool water being quite warm, he appears not at all pleased to be there. Week after week his face shows concern while in the pool and in cases where he’s temporarily given over to the instructor before being returns (via the water) to one of us he lets loose completely.

I’m hoping this is just a temporary thing and that he’ll warm up to both the instructors and the public pool because at this point he gets upset enough that it disrupts the session for the other families involved.

Any suggestions are eagerly welcomed.

Tummy time sounds innocent enough. Your baby has until this point been sleeping on his or her back, and spending much of their waking time there as well, however friends, family and books are suggesting that you should introduce the little one to tummy time. Nothing wrong with introductions right? We’ll just turn him slowly on his side and then over onto his stomach, right? We’ll do it for a few minutes then back and see how it goes and over time we’ll increase the duration, right?

Wrong.

We’ve been trying tummy time with the Kidlet for many weeks now and the only time we’ve had any kind of success is when he’s so @#%@$% tired that he falls asleep before he figures out how pissed off he is to be on his tummy. Outside of those rare occasions he loses his mind immediately when turned over regardless how gently the roll is performed. I was hoping that by this time he’d come around. His neck is getting stronger (though his head is still enormous) and I would have thought he’d see some progress at this point. Lord knows he’s strong. He punched me in the face this morning and based on the impact I no longer buy into the thought that he can’t support himself with his arms. At this point I’m calling laziness with a side of cranky.

I will not be defeated. Tummy time will continue if for no other reason than my belief that he’s faking it.

8lbs 2oz at birth isn’t a terribly large baby. It’s certainly not small, but in the grand scheme of large babies passing through small holes its not huge either. That said, at 9 weeks the size difference between the Kidlet and other children of similar age is… ahem… noticeable. After a checkup we’ve been reassured that there’s nothing to worry about, that despite his being in the 95th percentile for virtually every measurement there’s no need to consider restricted diet. Everything is fine. That said I think I’ll take a more active role in positioning him beside things that de-emphasize is stature, at least until college scouts are able to start checking him out.

So to you, lady in the street who asked Kidlet’s age then virtually recoiled in shock, I say save your horror for the true monsters

They’re out there. Surely they are. Leave the Kidlet alone.

Absolutely. There is no question.

What frustrates me?

• Lack of sleep
• Kicking when I’m trying to wipe poo from his butt
• Peeing on me in the middle of the night when I’m fumbling for a clean diaper or the wipes bucket, or the trash.
• Not using his words (I mean come on, he’s almost 2.5 months
• Screaming when there’s no obvious reason for screaming
• Taking a dump in the bath when we’re seconds away from finishing
• Possibility that he’ll be accepted by Harvard for undergrad and post grad studies but not qualify for a scholarship.

What frustrates him?

• The fact that I’m an idiot and can’t get it through my thick head what he needs

I would give almost anything to understand clearly what he’s trying to tell me. There’s nothing worse than a baby screaming a scream that’s different than you’ve heard before. Screaming so loud and hard that he almost drives himself to choke. Screaming so hard that he can’t focus on your face, or anything for that matter and darts his gaze from point to point in panic. A baby screaming to the point that he’s sweating. A baby screaming so that you see tears for the first time.

What frustrates me? Nothing of importance… other than the fact that I can’t always understand what frustrates him.

Click here to review or purchase Desitin diaper rash ointment.

So we all hear about diaper rash and how miserable it can be for a child to experience. We’ve taken great care over the past 2 months to make sure that our little one doesn’t experience it and at the first signs of redness have taken steps to stop it before it can start. Or so we thought.

The other night during a change we noticed slight redness on either side of his penis that seemed to be giving him pain, particularly when urinating. After a quick search a number of sites suggested that we could be dealing with essentially diaper rash in the folds around the base caused by urine and some small amount of poo. This seemed to agree with his recent pattern of wet (only) diapers followed by less frequent, but more substantial than previous blowouts of number 2 which covered more surface area than was typical.

Anyway, after a short discussion with the pharmacist we were recommended Desitin diaper rash ointment with a checkup to the family doctor if things didn’t clear up. Fortunately they have. What has also become clear is that we have a whole lot of learning ahead of us…

Click here to review or purchase Desitin diaper rash ointment.

Click here to view the Zo-li Buzz B Nail Trimmer on Amazon

A short while back I wrote about how trimming my little guy’s finger nails completely freaks me out and I’m just waiting for the day when I mess up and pinch is finger. Anyway, I heard from the folks over at the Baby Products Mommy Blog who had posted recently about the Buzz B. While I was, and remain somewhat hesitant to admit I can’t pull off nail trimming they assure me that the Buzz B will get the job done without screaming, crying or parental guilt.

If I can find one for a reasonable price here in Canada I’ll go for it, otherwise it’s a run for the border to pick up a Zo-li Buzz B Nail Trimmer from Amazon… though I will be giving the Safety 1st Prograde Gentle Vibes Nail Filer a look given its slightly better rating and lower price.

Until then I’ll continue to tie stupid little mittens on his hands before we put him down to sleep.

Click here to view the Zo-li Buzz B Nail Trimmer on Amazon

I’m sure we’re not alone in that in the hospital the nurses gave a few options on how to handle fingernails. The first option just grossed me out – pulling them off. What the hell. In movies that’s torture, but on the ward its apparently acceptable practice. Needless to say I couldn’t bring myself to give it a shot despite how soft they clearly were.

Next up was filing which we did try for the first couple weeks. Let me tell you, filing is slooooooow going at the best of times though I guess it did work. For whatever reason that soon fell by the wayside as well as his nails started to grow faster and become harder.

That then left us with the clippers which scare the crap out of me, but not as much as the razor sharp danger posed by his actual nails. So, for the last few weeks we’ve been using the nail clippers to trip his finger and toenails with no shortage of certainty that at some point we’ll end up clipping his skin. What recommendation can I provide? Don’t do it when he’s awake and just chillin in a seat somewhere because we all know he’s going to get excited, flail and get you locked up by child protective services. What we’ve found works is to wait until he’s feeding and then when milk drunk takes his hands and feet and do the rounds.

I have no idea how long this will work, but for now I’m thankful that it does. What i don’t understand is why they haven’t come up with some kind of automated sander that stops immediately when it encounters skin. If they can build a table saw that stops without breaking skin surely I don’t need to be sitting on pins and needles each time I want to trim my son’s fingernails!

As seen at Thingamababy

Done in the style of the recent iPhone 4 vs HTC Evo videos… this one is hilarious.

Does gripe water actually work, and if so what brand of gripe water do you recommend?

I tend to be skeptical of many, MANY products related to babies and their development. People’s desperation to give their child every possible advantage, not to mention their desperation to be seen by others as having everything under control combined with sleep deprivation etc etc etc make it easy to be convinced to part with money in exchange for promises, real or otherwise.

For the past couple weeks our little one has been crying and straining often after feedings. All indications point to gas, or attempts to have a bowel movement with discomfort either driving these or caused by them. Generally the cries subside after a reasonably short time, but obviously I’d love to help him a long so that he doesn’t have to go through it each time. I’ve found that sometimes holding him upright and walking around seems to help. The only reason I can think of is that the change in position helps the gas (or whatever) move past any possible obstruction and the changing scenery distracts him while whatever happens happens. Other times he’ll just drop a fart the likes of which can’t be described in text. Once the bomb drops the cries generally subside.

So, this brings me to gripe water. Being someone who until his own child arrived had little to no interest in babies, I consequently had no knowledge of gripe water. Following my description of his troubles a couple people have suggested that I give it a try, and I’ve seen it mentioned in more than a couple forums, I just don’t want to be a sucker and buy it if it’s a parental placebo. Has anyone out there tried gripe water in circumstances like the one described above… and if so did it work… and if so do you know by what mechanism?

That last bit is just personal curiosity. I see it has ginger and I’ve heard that ginger settles the stomach in adults (same for fennel and chamomile… man, the ingredients almost have me buying some for personal consumption), but I’d like to know how much is actual active ingredient vs snake oil.

Here’s something else I didn’t know. I assumed that when babies weren’t screaming they generally sat pretty quietly or made quiet coo-ing noises, like on TV. That’s not how it works. In an attempt to save ourselves having to get out of bed to soothe our little one in the middle of the night we’ve set up a co-sleeping arrangement using the Cooshee Changer (see my previous take on that magical device) to keep him in place, and to keep us from rolling on top of him.

Here’s what I expected. When he woke up and was hungry or otherwise upset he’d scream bloody murder and one of us would soothe him with a finger or a pacifier, or if it was feeding time my wife would nurse until he’d had enough and would fall back to sleep. Wrong. Here’s the deal. Babies are crazy noisy whether they’re awake or asleep and ESPECIALLY AT NIGHT. Our little guy can sit in his bouncy chair asleep for hours in the afternoon and not make a sound. At night it’s all snorts, whistles and what sounds like congestion. The doctor says that everything’s fine and it’s normal, and from what I can tell that’s true as he doesn’t wake up at any point during these symphonies, but man, good luck sleeping through it if you’re the parent.

So, Dad’s out there who haven’t gone through this before, be warned. Sleep doesn’t mean silence, and you’ll hear some of the craziest noises you can imagine while trying to rest. My best piece of advice is to arrange alternate sleeping arrangements somewhere else in the house so you can manage a couple hours of rest and still function at the office. At first I was hesitant to do so, but soon kicked that concern to the curb.

Good luck