Baby diary: Week 5

Drama this week. Little I had her first visit to A&E. Her big sister decided it was a good idea to stick something in her mouth. I couldn't tell for sure but it looked like one of Little E's metal hair slides. Little I gagged and I immediately went into panic mode and whipped her out of her bouncer chair. She didn't choke and I soon realised that either she had swallowed it straight down or it had come out of her mouth. Despite being asked repeatedly what she put in her mouth Little E was not forthcoming. She decided the best course of action was to repeat 'it was an accident' over and over again... That was her story and she was sticking to it.

I found a hairslide in the bouncer chair and rationally I could see the most likely scenario was that Little I had spat the clip out as I rushed to help her but I just couldn't shake the worry that maybe she had swallowed something despite not choking. I knew this was unlikely due to the size of her throat but a Mum in shock isn't always rational! So Husband took us to A&E. He was so calm and obviously wasn't concerned about the incident. He later informed me he took us to hospital to calm me down not because he was concerned. In fact he was so relaxed he fell asleep in the cubicle!

The hospital staff were wonderful and very reassuring that we had done the right thing bringing her in but agreed that is was very, very unlikely she had swallowed anything the size of a hair clip due to the size of her throat plus she was relaxed and feeding well. I felt immediately calm.

The upside of our A&E visit was getting Little I weighed and she tipped the scales at a whopping 9lb 9oz. No wonder my arm has been going numb during feeds! That is a weight gain of exactly 2lb in two weeks. We've had to go up to size 2 nappies already.

Little I looking bored during her trip to A&E

In other news this week, our GP diagnosed Little I with reflux explaining her sickness and trapped wind after feeds. We were given infant Gaviscon to thicken the milk in her stomach but this resulted in constipation which just made her even more unhappy. So after a few days we have decided not to continue with the Gaviscon and instead to try more regular winding and keeping her as upright as much as possible after feeds and raising the head of her bed at night.

She is getting so much stronger and is holding her head up much more. Her little arms and legs really get going when she is in a mood and she has begun pulling at my hair during feeding. Today my Dad was sure she smiled at him so Husband and I are now in a competition to get one.

Aside from hairclip-gate, Little E has been much better behaved. If we have visitors she tends to act up to get attention but overall we have seen an improvement and she is sleeping later using the Groclock (much to sceptic Husband's surprise) which is helping the sleep deprivation. Blackout curtains are arriving next week which should help even further as the mornings get lighter. Speaking of sleep Little I seems to think three hours is a good gap between feeds at night so if I time it right I am averaging 5-6hrs total most nights which is bearable. Saturday night was shocking with Husband and I barely sleeping but fingers crossed that was an anomaly.

Little I, 5 weeks old

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