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Tag: Things I Know

Thanks for the mammaries, Mum: how to introduce cow’s milk to a one-year-old
Holly making herself a drink in her big sister's kitchen.

MY WEAPONS of mass lactation look more like shrinking violets after a year of being sucked dry by Baby Holly. It’s the signal for her to transition from one old cow (me) onto a new cow (shiny plastic bottle in the fridge). Yes, goodbye free boobie juice.

That’s not to say I’m giving up breastfeeding just yet. We’ll be milking it for a while longer – pardon the pun. However, it is time to introduce the “other white milk’’ – aka, cow’s milk.

So far, it’s been a slow process. The first couple of times Holly wasn’t going to have a bar of not having her usual mid morning bazookas. She sprayed the cow’s milky goodness all over my face. Take that, Mum. This is despite having had cow’s milk on her cereal each morning for a while now.

Yesterday, I recalled a trick I used when Ella was weaning and put the warmed milk into a baby bottle instead of her sippy cup. It worked. She’s now on the road to saying goodbye to the best milk dispenser she’ll ever have. Ah yes, thanks for the mammaries, Mum.

Here are some other things I know about introducing cow’s milk to a one-year-old:
- They're also good for chewing on!
  
  Introduce it gradually. What worked with Ella was dropping one feed per week. This has multiple benefits – your “girls’’ have time to adjust, it prevents them becoming engorged and the child’s tummy gradually becomes used to the richer cow’s milk.
- If they refuse the milk, try giving it to them in a different cup or bottle. Although, our aim is to get Holly back onto her cup as soon as possible. But whatever works to start with.
- Give your child pasteurised full-fat cow’s milk until aged two, by which stage they can go onto reduced fat milk.
- We warm the milk in a container of hot water so it’s closer to the temperature of breast milk.
- Offer the milk AFTER meals as cow’s milk is quite filling and could lead to a lesser amount of solids consumed.
- There are lots of other ways to help your child meet their calcium intake requirements, including cheese, yoghurt, baked beans and tinned salmon. Variety is key.
- Some children may be lactose intolerant. It’s best to see an expert if this is the case.
- **UPDATE**: Have just seen the child health nurse this morning and she suggested giving Holly the milk straight from a glass. If she refuses, take it away and try again the next time.
I’m no expert, so if you want to learn more, I’d suggest you check out Milk Intake on the Huggies website or the Australian Breastfeeding Association.

What are your tips for introducing cow’s milk to a one year old?

Linking up Shae from Yay for Home’s Things I Know.
October 14, 2011
The not so Happy Birthday
Yes, that's Christmas paper. Like she's going to notice!

I KNOW I’ve had a right faeces of a week. Monday was meant to be all about celebrating Baby Holly’s first birthday. That point where I softly kiss goodbye to our dependent li’l bub and embrace a fully fledged toddler who’s ready to begin along a new path in life.

Sweet music was meant to play, princesses were meant to dance around the room and there was supposed to be lots of cake. Cake with pink icing. And I planned to talk about this gorgeous pop-up version of Guess How Much I Love You?

*INSERT screeching noise from old record player… or car breaks (whatever takes your fancy)*

Instead, enter skin that looks like it’s baked in the sun for four hours, chins dribblier than a cow chewing its cud for the fourth time and 4am starts to the day. Yes, welcome to Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. And before you do the “shock-horror’’ face, it has nothing to do with cows (I don’t know how many times I’ve repeated those words this week). And don’t fret, I won’t gross you out with photos of the blisters. But here’s her hands holding her birthday bracelet instead.

Here’s what I know about Hand Foot and Mouth Disease:
- It’s a mild viral illness, which includes slight fever, loss of appetite (never in this house!) and blisters on the hands, feet and mouth.
- There’s a 3-5 day incubation period.
- It’s spread through contact with the fluid in the blisters (ewww) or their faeces (double ewww).
- The blisters are infectious for as long as there is fluid in them and the faeces remain infectious for several weeks.
- No treatment is required. You basically have to allow the blisters to dry naturally (easier said than done when fingers are in mouths to help ease teething pain).
- Princess Ella and I have become slightly obsessive about hand washing.
- Bonjela (or as we call it, Bon Jovi minus the big hair) goes a long way in easing the pain of the blisters and ulcers in their mouth. They can also get a sore mouth a few days before the ulcers appear.
- The blisters on their hands and feet don’t appear to bother them.
- Someone suggested icy poles are also a good remedy for little ones who refuse to eat or drink.
Top this all off with the fact the groceries I’d ordered from Woollies online arrived yesterday – full of use-by-as-soon-as-you-can items for Holly’s birthday party. The party which has been postponed a week. I know we’ll be eating well this week.

NB: This information was gained from a leaflet provided by childcare and tweets and Facebook messages from fellow mums. Please, consult a health professional for expert advice.

Linking up Shae from Yay for Home’s Things I Know.
October 7, 2011
SHED: Boo you, Dad

“Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooo,’’ she said. I know you haven’t lived as a father until you have been booed relentlessly by your own three-year-old daughter.

She wasn’t mucking around either. “Boooooooooooooooooooo,’’ said Princess Ella in the back seat of the car. The boos were loud and continuous and in fact lasted from the time I picked her up from childcare till the time we went up the driveway at home. I’m not even exactly sure where she learned to boo.

Okay, explanation. Ella had been looking forward to her little sister, Baby Holly, spending some time with her at childcare. You see, as Holly’s nearly one, we’re slowly introducing her to childcare with an eventual view to her spending at least one day a week there.

Doing my bit, I dropped Ella off at childcare in the morning and travelled to my workplace in another city, while Princess Kel was to take Holly in later. Hours later I got a call from a frantic Kel, who’d been searching the house high and low for her car keys, only to then discover I’d taken both sets with me inadvertently.

A decision was made and due to my work commitments, Holly would not be going into childcare that day and was housebound. Needless to say, Ella was less than impressed when I explained to her what had happened on picking her up from childcare. “Booooooooooooooooooooooo,’’ she said. Yep, dad was in the poo with both mother and daughter.

Ella is immensely proud of her sister and loves to show her off to her friends at childcare and she was clearly upset dad had ruined her chance at gloating. Therefore, I know I deserved the “boooooooooooooooooo’’. Oh well, I know it probably won’t be the last time I deserve it.

Have you ever been booed by your children? Or worse?

Linking up Shae from Yay for Home’s Things I Know.

September 30, 2011
How to keep guests happy at a one-year-old’s princess party – birthday food ideas

NOW I’ve started this princess party planning thing for Baby Holly’s first birthday, I’ve become just a tad hooked. And because I still need to keep the blog up, I’m combining my two current obsessions. Aren’t you lucky. No need to thank me.

Now that the invitation is done, I’ve gone for the most important element next – the food. These are the things I know about keeping adults and children happy at an afternoon birthday party (recipes to come in a later post):

Heart Hamwiches (and Princess Ella has requested some with dots on them – ie a fairy bread version)

Baby BLTs (these are too cute. Enough said, really)

Chewy Chocolate Slice (no party is complete without white dresses covered in chocolate)

Pink cupcakes (yes, of course they’ll be pink)

Homemade sausage rolls (it wouldn’t be a party without sausage meat in pastry)

Dips, cheese, chips and biscuits (ah, did I mention it’s a party) Photo credit.

Fruit platter (just to balance out the sugar and salt. And Baby Holly’s got to eat something) Photo credit.

I also usually include baby rice cakes, dried apple and other finger food for those low on teeth (yes, that’s counting grandparents).

And, as per usual, I’ll cook too much and we’ll be eating it for the next fortnight.

I’m still undecided on the cake at this stage. Princess Ella chose this one for her baby sister. Of course.

And then this one:

Hmmm, talk about testing me.

What are your favourite party foods? Am I missing anything?

Images from Donna Hay Kids’ Magazine Annual 8, The Australian Women’s Weekly cookbooks Kids’ Birthday Cakes and The Australian Women’s Weekly Kids’ Perfect Party Book.

September 16, 2011
How to survive your baby starting childcare
THIS week was the start of a thousand tears. My baby girl made her first leap into childcare. OK, so it was only for an hour for orientation. And the tears? Well, they were all mine. Yes, we can see who has the issues here.

So, after that first experience, these are the things I know:
- This could be the longest orientation period of any child at that particular childcare centre. Baby Holly clung to me like cow excrement to a gumboot.
- Over the past year she’s been happy to go to anyone for a cuddle, but two weeks ago she suddenly became shier than an 18-year-old after their first night on the town. Wishing we had have started two weeks earlier now.
- A large part of the problem may be the vibes she’s getting from me. I know I need to chill out – or drink a shot of vodka beforehand. Or maybe not.
- Bringing her big sister into the room was a great idea, because she loosened up a little. Even if her big sister was more interested in going back to “her friends’’. “I need to go and see what *Gertrude’s doing’’. Of course you do, darling. Don’t worry about your mum and your sister. We’ll just continue our mini meltdown.
- There will be quite a few tears in the coming weeks – from her and me!
- Now, at age four, her big sister wants to go to “school’’ every day and happily tottles off without a backward glance. I need to keep remembering this early period of trepidation will be short lived.
- If we make little progress in the coming weeks, I know I need to just walk away. Even if it means crying for an hour in the carpark. In Ella’s early days, she always settled within seconds after I left, proving that sometimes it’s us mums who are the problem.
- Take tissues. Lots of tissues.
- My little girl is growing up all too fast. Please, someone, hit the pause button for me.
*Not her real name. Heaven help us if it was.

I’m linking up Shae from Yay for Home’s Things I Know.
September 9, 2011
What to buy a girl for her first birthday
Baby Holy showing off her tongue-twirling technique (please, turn a blind eye to the dust under the TV)

LAST week Shae from Yay For Home posted about the things she “didn’t know’’. Actually, I could write a book on that subject. But anyway, I digress. So, this week, because I have a burning question I need you all to help me answer, I thought I’d turn the Things I Know post on its head too to try and solve the mystery of what to buy Baby Holly for her first birthday next month.

So, here goes:
- I don’t know what to buy a girl for her first birthday when her sister got it all the first time around. Her big sister, Ella, suggested a beach towel yesterday. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.
- I don’t know what to then buy her for Christmas, which is only two months later.
- I don’t know if just going for the ol’ books and clothes thing will cut it. Maybe also one of those walker-come-bike contraptions considering she’s yearning to learn to walk at the moment. I’m not so crazy on the walking idea!
- I don’t know why it’s so easy to come up with a million ideas for Ella’s fourth birthday, but just one for Baby Holly’s first year celebration is doing my head in. In fact, Ella’s shopping is all done and her birthday is a month later.
So, any help would be gratefully appreciated. Feel free to add links to sites you know and love as well.

I’m linking up Shae from Yay for Home’s Things I Know.
September 2, 2011