I’m always impressed at how a visit to A&E can make a poorly child well again – even before they see a doctor

Yesterday, at about 10.00am, Eli started throwing up. He then proceeded to sleep, wake, scream, arch his back, retch, vomit, scream, relax, sleep in a regular cycle that lasted about 20 minutes at a time for hours.

By 16.30, when it clearly wasn’t abating, I thought I’d give NHS Direct a call so they could tell me he probably had a virus and I should just keep him hydrated. Basically I wanted them to validate what I thought was the right course of action but, without access to my GP (why do these things always happen on a weekend?) figured NHS Direct would be the next best thing. They told me to go to A&E. Dammit. Of course, once you’ve been given advice like that you have to go otherwise what if it really is serious and you ignored it…

Packed up a bag with all the muslins I could lay my hands on and off Eli and I went. He finally asked for a feed whilst we waited in the waiting room and then proceeded to be violently ill about 10 minutes later. Yay to another mother in the room who helped me clear up the mess as cuddling Eli meant I couldn’t do much but stare at it. We didn’t have to wait long after that incident for a nurse to see us and she rolled her eyes when I told her what NHS Direct had said. Eli was looking ok, just a bit pale, but she had to double-check he could tolerate fluids so she started us on a fluid challenge, 5 ml of water every 5 minutes.

Poor Eli, he was so thirsty that he sobbed each time the syringe of water finished. He wasn’t sick again though and by the time we saw the doctor it was pretty clear we didn’t need to be there. Two hours after we arrived Eli was waving at other children in the waiting room and trying to talk to them. He was having 10 ml of water every 5 minutes and had had 5 minutes of milk without incident. Honestly, you would never have known he had been so ill for most of the day.

Eli today – if you hadn’t just read this you’d never know he’d been ill yesterday…

It’s always a bit embarrassing when you take your very ill honest! baby to A&E and they are clearly in absolutely no danger of anything except an over protective mother by the time they are seen. That said, all I have to do is remember the time I thought Lex (at 4) had a bit of a temperature and a cough and I eventually took him to the walk-in centre and he ended up in hospital for a week with pneumonia (in my defence he’s always been a bit stoic about pain, it really wasn’t obvious at all how ill he actually was!). So I go to A&E when advised even if I don’t think I should, even though I’m 99% sure it’ll just lead to a miraculous recovery and the doctor will think I’m nuts – ‘So he’s your first?’, ‘No my third.’, ‘Oh…’ – just in case!

Guiding hands and growing up

Eli is currently putting shapes in his shape sorter for the 5th time in a row. Each time all the shapes are in the sorter he complains until they have once more been released. It’s a bit of work for his helper – he’s still too little to find the correct hole for each shape and needs some help at points to orientate the shapes to fit them through – but the shouts of glee once the shape is in definitely make you smile.

Other than shapes, Eli most likes to play with balls. He’ll play by himself, throwing the ball and then chasing it, or with someone else, throwing the ball to them and waiting for it to be rolled back to him.

It’s in these games that his growing understanding and ability to communicate shine through. He was playing with a little toy golf ball the other day and when he threw it, it rolled under the side table next to the sofa I was sitting on. Unable to retrieve it himself Eli decided a big person should help and so he pulled himself up on the sofa, grabbed my hand and pulled it down gently willing me to get the ball for him. As we then passed the ball between each other it became my job to find the ball as it got stuck under the sofa. He’d have a good attempt at getting it himself but when that didn’t work my hand would be grabbed once more and I would be directed to do my part.

Moments like these remind me that whilst he is still my baby, it won’t be long before Eli is no longer an actual baby – toddlerhood is almost here.

It’s a recurring theme but we have a poorly boy again

A poorly (but smiley) Eli.

It is fascinating, in a completely sleep-deprived way, how each of my children has suffered teething differently. Lex’s first teeth resulted in fevers and a clingy, limp, sleepy (except at night) baby. With him Medised, now outlawed, was brilliant as it helped him sleep despite his discomfort. Tilly didn’t have the fevers, I do remember disturbed sleep but generally teething did not bother her too badly (that I remember – maybe I’ve blanked the memory!). Eli seems to be following in Lex’s footsteps and throwing in a couple of variations of his own.

It’s been a rough couple of days and nights for Eli and those of us he has been depriving of sleep and I think that he has another tooth (or two) on its way out. Of course whether or not I’m right won’t be proven for a day or so but it helps to have something to blame!

Just like last time he cut a tooth we have a feverish boy – his temperature’s been up for the last two days, at its highest reaching 38.9°C (easily controlled using paracetamol or ibuprofen luckily). A new variation on the theme was the D&V he had after his nap this afternoon. Whilst smelly and messy it was a good opportunity to end the extended play date Lex and Tilly were having with some of Lex’s friends from school who live nearby. Eli’s nappies generally have been yuck and frequent for the past couple of days.

No sign of any other illness though and there is a massive bump next to his one existing top tooth. I really hope I get some sleep tonight but I won’t expect it, pity it’s R’s turn for a lie-in tomorrow morning.

Guiding hands and growing up

Eli is currently putting shapes in his shape sorter for the 5th time in a row. Each time all the shapes are in the sorter he complains until they have once more been released. It’s a bit of work for his helper – he’s still too little to find the correct hole for each shape and needs some help at points to orientate the shapes to fit them through – but the shouts of glee once the shape is in definitely make you smile.

Other than shapes, Eli most likes to play with balls. He’ll play by himself, throwing the ball and then chasing it, or with someone else, throwing the ball to them and waiting for it to be rolled back to him.

It’s in these games that his growing understanding and ability to communicate shine through. He was playing with a little toy golf ball the other day and when he threw it, it rolled under the side table next to the sofa I was sitting on. Unable to retrieve it himself Eli decided a big person should help and so he pulled himself up on the sofa, grabbed my hand and pulled it down gently willing me to get the ball for him. As we then passed the ball between each other it became my job to find the ball as it got stuck under the sofa. He’d have a good attempt at getting it himself but when that didn’t work my hand would be grabbed once more and I would be directed to do my part.

Moments like these remind me that whilst he is still my baby, it won’t be long before Eli is no longer an actual baby – toddlerhood is almost here.

Why is a developmental milestone so often followed by a parenting fail?

Yesterday Eli figured out how to climb stairs for the first time. He has been trying to figure out how to climb – mainly into the shower cubicle to access toys he’s thrown in there – for a little while but yesterday it clicked and off he went.

It probably helped that one of Tilly’s toys was sitting there, tantalisingly out of reach, providing a great target for an almost one year old to try to reach.

Of course, no good developmental leap is finished without a bit of parenting fail attached. I didn’t move the toy. I just left it there, sat on the stairs, and then we fast forward to today. Today Eli had the most epically awful pooey nappy – it was one of the reasons why cloth nappies are both perfect and horrible. It was in his night nappy and thankfully contained by the wrap so not many of his day nappies would have coped and a disposable, no chance. I mention this not in the way that parents feel they need to talk about the contents of their baby’s nappies but to explain why I might have been a little distracted.

Eli was playing with Tilly in the lounge (or so I thought), I was finishing sorting out the dirty nappy and then I heard the – in hindsight inevitable – bump, BUMP, WAAAH! I gathered up Eli from the foot of the stairs, cursed my shoddy parenting, despatched Tilly to her bedroom with the offending toy and was thankful that said toy was only a few steps up. The boy had given himself a fright but had no injuries. We now have a policy that nothing is to be left on the stairs and I’ve had a reminder that new skills will be practised, preferably supervised and regardless of pootastrophies.

Kids always have to prove you wrong

Today at our baby group (only allowed to attend one more session <sob>) while watching a 5 month old who had just conked out on the mat, I said to those around me that I have never had the type of children who could just fall asleep anywhere, like in a highchair for, I don’t know, an example.

Guess what Eli did tonight… How does a baby do that – you say, oh he never does x, y or z and within no time, and despite not having the receptive language skills or forward planning to make their parents look silly, they’ve done whatever it is they never do and you look like you don’t know your child very well.

Today it is possible that Eli had just not had enough sleep during the day as a trip to the zoo and then baby group had scuppered his ability to nap but it was, almost certainly one of the funniest things I have ever seen. The poor child was trying desperately to eat but just. couldn’t. keep. his. eyes. open. He then tried to sleep in the high chair but only lasted a minute before he realised he was horribly uncomfortable and started screaming. After I released him from his plastic not-a-bed he snored happily on my lap until bath time. Of course I was concerned that his impromptu nap would mean difficulty in getting him to sleep at bed time but no, he really was tired and had no issues dropping off in bed.

Sadly of course, this type of one-upmanship does not take place when you say things such as ‘they never sleep through the night’ or ‘they never spend days not bickering with their siblings’ <sigh>.

Teething – here comes tooth number 3

Teething must be one of those topics that sends a shudder through all but the luckiest parent. It seems that all unexplained fussy/cranky behaviour after the first couple of months is generally assumed to be the ‘T’ word, of course whether it is or not is never proven except for the odd occasion when the screaming does in fact yield a tooth the next day.

Eli has been a little slow in gathering teeth – although strangely aside from one notable exception this seems to be true for most of his baby group peers. For the last few weeks though I have been suffering with screaming at night (sometimes this is not only from Eli) that only abates with pain relief and today, finally, I can feel a new tooth! This will be Eli’s third, he has the two bottom central incisors and this is the top left central incisor (thank you Google for the names of the teeth!).

I am hopeful that this means I will be getting less interrupted sleep soon – a girl can dream can’t she?

Eli at 11 months

It’s hard to believe that Eli is only one month away from his first birthday. My baby is moving steadily towards toddlerdom – at a coffee meetup in a local café he was not at all content to sit on my lap or in the high chair, he wanted to be down on the floor exploring. I really hope he learns how to walk soon – crawling on café floors makes me feel somewhat queasy but currently it’s that or a lot of screaming sadly. Handily this particular café is in an old church and has the space (and general tolerance of babies and small children) to allow him some freedom but my quiet coffees with friends are certainly going to be a thing of the past soon.

So, what is Eli like at 11 months?

• Weight: 19lb 2oz
• Length: 75cm
• Clothing Size: 6-9 months
• Teeth: 2 bottom central incisors and top left central incisor (this one only came through today)
• Mobility: crawling, cruising, able to stand by himself but is generally too cautious to do it and sits down without support, can walk holding onto 1 hand
• Communication: babbles and coos, screeches if he feels ignored, says something that sounds like ‘wow’ when he’s looking at something interesting (e.g. the cats), makes a ‘heh, heh, heh’ sound if I ask him if he wants milk and he’s hungry, waves sometimes, gives high 5s if asked and he wants to, holds his arms out for cuddles, responds to his name and has started stopping what he’s doing if you tell him ‘no’
• Sleep: he just cut a new tooth so it’s been a bit lacking recently, can now put him to bed in the evening and get an hour or more before needing to settle him again
• Playing: likes cars and balls, can make either go around the ramp on his toy garage, loves rolling a ball between himself and another person
• Eating: generally only interested in feeding himself, loves most food especially peas, throws food on the floor or onto the table when he’s done
• Personality: easy going, likes cuddles and being around other people, will happily pootle about the lounge playing with his toys, when he’s tired or hungry he crawls up to one of his grown-ups and head butts their shins until he gets a cuddle

All in all he is a gorgeous ball of scrummy cuddles – I can’t wait to see what kind of toddler he’ll be.

Summer fun with the cousins

Sunday was a fun day at Grandma’s – all the cousins (with Tilly missing) had a great time. Lex and his same age step-cousin T discovered they both are big Lego Ninjago fans – all the better to break the ice when you haven’t seen each other for a year. A game of boules kept the boys entertained in the garden, complete with a measuring tape to check distances and action replay on the camcorder (although they never figured out if T’s ball brushed or not). Finally a game of football in the park and a few runs around the obstacle course completed the day. Lex had a brilliant time but was so tired he was sobbing through most of the bedtime routine. Eli was ok when he was with me, sadly summer events (and lots of people who would like a cuddle with him) and ‘stranger’ and separation anxiety have arrived hand in hand at the same time.

Today SIL and the local cousins came to visit for the afternoon. A trip to ELC after our family dentist appointment yielded a new paddling pool with a shaded area, sprayer and slide which (after I finally worked out how to get the air bed inflater to work) wasn’t too bad to inflate and fill. This, plus the water play table and SIL’s paddling pool enabled us to sit and watch whilst the kids had a great time.

Well, the big kids at least. Eli clearly isn’t feeling 100% and was not impressed by the padding pool, being wet, the grass – pretty much everything. He cheered up at points but really just wanted to have an afternoon of cuddles poor dot. Currently he is in bed but waking up every half-hour or so needing another feed to settle him. The air-con is on so he won’t be too hot at least.

The only hope now is that this won’t be the single decent week during the summer holidays – looks like it’ll change by the weekend sadly.

Now, off to settle the baby once more.

Poorly boy (yet again)

I’ve just dosed Eli with painkillers just as I did last night when nothing else would settle him. As usual I have no idea what is unsettling him – teeth/cold/upset stomach or all of the above?

I just hope it settles soon – after the screaming at midnight last night I’m even more exhausted than usual.