Since she hasn't been grizzly and has happily chewed on Pinky Boo's arm (bunny in header image), kicked her legs and babbled to Billy, I'm eliminating any illness. Perhaps she's overtired from yesterday(guess work here). She woke up yesterday (after 9 hours of sleep) at 9.30am and did not go to bed till 7pm! I tried putting her to bed at about 2.30pm -- after two hours of meeting other mums and bubs -- but failed. I am mystified and have gone through the baby books at home. Nothing mentions babies suddenly not sleeping one day. Sigh.
Why am I giving you a breakdown here? Because that's pretty much what I do everyday. I monitor Mia constantly and she still manages to confuse me. Like that no-sleeping-thing yesterday. Or the reason why she has spewed thrice. Or when suddenly from being khaki-green and sort of wet-cementy, her poo suddenly turns light lettuce-green and somewhat watery. Or when most of it is khaki green but the borders (well!) are yellow. I have never stared at anyone's poo this diligently, not even mine.
For that matter I've never poked a turd before either. (Warning: this is going to be gross) Like the other day when she poo-ed after two days. Normally I wouldn't have worried but I'd given her some rice cereal and needed to confirm if it was making her constipated. Does this make me sound like an evil mom who's treating her baby as a lab-rabbit? Too bad. I don't have anyone else's baby to try it on there's no other way to find out for sure.
So when she finally poo-ed after two days of smelly farts and a lot of grunting, I looked. And there it was. A cherry-sized turd. Only I hadn't seen a turd before, as in, her turd. I needed to be sure it was a turd and not just her regular poo masquerading as one (can only explain as formula-fed baby = plasticine-like poo = folded nappy = folded poo, looks turdy, is not!) So I wrapped my finger around a wet wipe and poked it. Only Mia kicked right then, nearly slipped off changing mat (kept on slanting washing machine top, I know, sooo bad) and I caught her and while catching her the wipe slipped and my finger went right into the turd. I.n.t.o.
It wasn't squishy, rather a sort-of-solid feeling. I'd probably be able to describe it exactly if it happened again, but I'd rather it didn't happen again. I remained calm. Didn't freak out. Didn't run screaming to the basin. Reminded myself it was only formula in a different shape. And stopped giving anymore cereal to Mia. I think I'll wait for her to be five months before trying again.
Do you have (favourite) poo stories to share? Do tell.
PS: The constipation got worse after that. No more turds but she got really, really gassy and kept curling her legs to her belly and crying. My poor bubba. I dealt with it by giving her a teaspoon of sugar (spare teaspoon) in every bottle of formula after that. This is the tip given in Robin Barker's book, Baby Love. It worked and by the end of 24-hours -- recommended period for trying sugar-shit trick -- she'd stopped being uncomfortable and did a nice, big, normal poo.
PPS: To avoid further episodes, I've started increasing the amount of water in her formula. Eg., instead of 120 ml with two scoops, I mix 125-130ml with two scoops. She refuses to drink water, so that's how I'm giving it to her. Seems to be working.
3 comments:
In India, we give Woodwards gripe water to babies, surely you must know. Not sure whether it's available in Australia. But don't worry, you will have more poo stories to tell as she grows.
One of my nephews used to poo after 7-8 days when he was a few months old. The docs said that was okay but it used to freak us out.
Try giving her some water in between feeds. :)
your baby is really really cute!!
@ Raza: Thanks. I think so too. ;)
@ Maddie: They dont recommend gripe water here. It's supposed to make them addicted etc since it has sugar. Will start with the water anyway, bought a little sippy cup for her.
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