Erika meets Grandma

Posted on 2012/09/16 11:22:47 (September 2012).

[Friday 14th September 2012]
Quite a bad night last night - Erika was crying almost constantly for about four hours between midnight and 4am. She'd stop briefly when she fed, but then started again soon afterwards. We think it's probably some combination of wind, her digestive system still getting used to actually processing food, and possibly the fact she isn't feeding for long enough in each session - something about foremilk and hindmilk.

Chie had arranged for a Japanese breastfeeding specialist to come and visit at 1pm, which I think turned out to be a really good idea - she actually gave lots of general baby advice, and it was good to get a Japanese perspective on things, and reassuring for Chie to be able to ask questions in Japanese.

I made a tomato and courgette soup for lunch which we didn't get round to eating until about 5. I've found this week I've been able to find enough time to cook, but what has been more of a struggle is actually finding the time to sit down and eat together.

After that, Mum came to visit so that Erika could meet her Grandma for the first time. Erika pretty much slept the whole time and seemed to be little angel making our reports of constant screaming seem a little hard to believe! Mum had the honour of being the first relative to meet Erika, and held her for quite a while - Erika seemed very relaxed around her Grandma. Mum also brought some cakes so we had a sort of afternoon tea whilst holding the baby. It was a rather lovely afternoon (and a stark contrast from the previous night!).

Mum headed off a little after 6, after which I popped out to pick up supplies - more baby things and some things for dinner. I ended up doing one of these little forays pretty much every day this week. Today I headed to Victoria station and bought various things in Boots, Holland and Barrett, and the little Sainsbury's there, and also picked up some sushi for dinner. It was rather a nice feeling to be taking dinner home for my family on a Friday night. Once back at home I supplemented the sushi I'd bought with a few extra bits and pieces - miso soup, hiyayakko, avocado sashimi and some pickles. The two bad nights we'd had so far had been after we'd eaten fairly milk/cheese heavy meals, and so I thought it might be good to try avoiding dairy for a bit - making Japanese food an obvious choice.

I'd been almost falling asleep whilst I'd been out shopping, and so decided to have a nap almost immediately after dinner. Tonight we planned to just not really try and sleep between midnight and 4am, and instead concentrate on giving Erika whatever she needed. This worked to the extent that she didn't cry very much overnight, but obviously isn't a great long term solution in terms of us actually getting any sleep!

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