Baby gates

With our baby boy pretty much walking now, baby safety is all important. Thankfully we bought and set up gates quite a while ago. We bought them both online and had them delivered.

We currently have two of this type:




One is sitting at the top of the stairs, and one is just outside of our living room area, which means he can't get to the stairs or the genkan. We bought these from Akachanhonpo (http://shop.akachan.jp/). They have a store about 40 minutes drive from us, but delivery was free when we ordered online. They were 5100yen each (but cheaper now- grr)

We also bought another gate of this type:




It's a step over type gate that means we can get in and out of the kitchen while carrying things (you don't need to open the gate). It's about Pi's shoulder height (but Pi is the size of a two year old). When we first put it in, Pichan screamed and hated it. But now he just accepts that he can't get into the kitchen any more. Which is great for both his safety, and because we don't need to baby proof every cabinet. We bought this from Rakuten.co.jp. It was about 4000yen plus delivery, taking it just over 5000yen

But that still hasn't stopped him from getting oww-ies. He has fallen into the Genkan twice now. They do make baby gates wide enough to cover the genkan, but with the baby gate near the stairs, he can't get to the genkan without me (both times he fell it was with me there). They were expensive to buy, but very worth the cost.

Mumps vaccination

Pichan had his mumps vaccination today and he didn't cry at all. Go little man!

Mumps vaccinations aren't free in Japan, and it isn't combined in the MMRV (Mumps, Measles, Rubella and Chicken pox) like it is in Australia. In Japan the Measles and Rubella are combined in one free shot. In Yokohama, the chicken pox vaccination is a separate shot, but also free (but not in other places, I have heard).

Mumps, however, is not. Which would explain why it is such a problem in Japan. It's 4500yen for the shot, with one shot now, and another shot in 4 years. There was a lot of vaccine in the shot, but Pichan still took it like a champ.

With all these separate shots, Pi is a little bit of a pin cushion and we still have a few more to go (just boosters though). But bit by bit, we are getting there. Thankfully my doctor is only an 8 minute walk, so it doesn't take up too much of the day.

what to wear under a sleep sack

With Summer here and the weather getting warmer (30 degrees today- blah), we have to check the weather report every night to make sure we know the minimum temperature before we select our baby's pajamas.

Pi has four different 'tog' rating sleep sacks: A 2.5og, a 1.5 tog, a 1 tog and a 0.5 tog.

We have three different brands too- Halo, Grobag and Baby Dee dee (another post on brands will come), but I am going by Grobags what to wear guide at the moment when it comes to what to dress Pichan in. This is from http://gro.co.uk/pages/what-to-wear

What to wear

Please find below a guide to what your baby should wear when sleeping in their Grobag Baby Sleep Bag. This information is for guidance only. This information is available in:  English  Turkish  Slovak  Czech  Polish  Hungarian
English Safe and sound The temperature in the room is shown by the number that illuminates. Do not place this thermometer over a radiator or in direct sunlight. Grobag Baby Sleep Bags are designed to be used instead of blankets and top sheets and you need to regularly check your baby to make sure he or she is not too hot or cold. What to wear A Grobag Baby Sleep Bag is a wearable blanket that will keep your baby at a comfortable temperature all night long. This table shows our guidance on the correct tog of Grobag and clothing to be used in different room temperatures. Short-sleeved and long-sleeved cotton body suits Long-sleeved cotton pyjama top and bottoms Gro-suit – All-in-one cotton sleep suit At the moment, the temperature is about 24 degrees when I put him to bed, but about 20 degrees over night. For this range I have him dressed in a long sleeved cotton onesie, and a 1 tog sleep sack. At the start of the night when it is warmer I have his fan going and the flyscreen door to outside wide open, but will turn off the fan and close the door as it gets colder. In winter it was really easy to select what to wear, as I had a heater in his room set to 22 degrees- so the temperature didn't vary overnight. In the peak of summer, we may turn on his air-conditioner, or have him sleep in a nappy and his 0.5 tog sleep sack. It is certainly a difficult thing, especially when you can't use blankets (Pi tosses and turns like crazy and the times that we trialed a blanket he ended up with his blanket over his head- we were watching with a baby monitor though and were able to pull it off).	Nursery temperature 3.5 tog 2.5 tog 1.0 tog 0.5 tog 24-7°C (75-81°F)       23°C (74°F)       21°C (69°F)       20°C (68°F)     Under 18°C (65°F)       Under 16°C (61°F)     Under 14°C (57°F)       This information is for guidance only. Back to top

Croup

Friday, after Pi's first nap he woke up wheezing like crazy, and coughing a little bit. After I fed him, the wheezing was a little better, but wanted to take him to the doctor anyway because he had been having soft stools for about two weeks and I was unsure if it was teething related (two molars are breaking through).

By the time I got to the doctors, the wheezing was minor, but she said his stomach was a bit gurgley, so she prescribed some medicine (probiotics and a digestive) and that was that. We had a nice day and I kept an eye on him with seemingly no troubles.

After his second nap, however, he woke up choking and unable to breathe. The wheezing was so bad and, between the coughing and spluttering, he was in quite a panic. I took him straight to the doctors again, and this time she could definitely hear it and was surprised.

They put him on a vaporiser with some medicine in it (he hated that though, and wouldn't keep it on his face), in the hopes that it would help, but when it didn't it was time to send me to hospital. They weren't sure if he had swallowed something or not and by this stage I was getting quite worried.

They called around to the local hospitals (in Japan you can't just show up to a hospital) and the second one accepted him. This one would also allow me to stay over if Pi had to stay overnight. So off we went in a taxi (I was hoping my husband could get the car- actually it ended up being an expensive hassle as we both had to take a taxi in the end because of a nurse at the clinic), and to the hospital emergency room we went.

By this stage I was trying not to panic, but the worst was running through my mind. I was finally able to get in touch with my husband who would meet us there.

When we arrived we registered with reception and then waited for our turn. It might have taken about an hour to see the doctor (though a nurse took his temperature and blood oxygen level shortly after we arrived).

Thankfully, he was diagnosed with croup. And while it is scary for a parent (and the baby) to witness their child not being able to breathe properly, at least it wasn't something major.

As it was after 7pm, most pharmacies would be closed but I was able to use the hospital pharmacy and the doctor prescribed a steroid, for him to take if he got worse.

Thankfully, child medicine and treatment in Japan is free (though not the taxi's to the hospital which was about 10000 all up).

Home we went and because of us still being scared about his breathing we set up the futon in his room, and turned the humidifier on high (it's supposed to help) and slept in there. The poor little man was having such a rough time sleeping. He usually sleeps quite soundly, but he started waking up every 30 mins, then 20mins, and then when he was waking up every 10 minutes or so we had him take the medicine. Thankfully, after that his windpipe must have opened up much more and he slept quite well in my arms. I moved him back into his crib shortly after midnight.

The whole episode meant that he only had about 7 hours of very broken sleep- usually he has 12 hours, and napped terribly the next day.

I am glad to say that the episodes after his naps yesterday were barely there at all, and he slept normally the following night. Which I am so thankful for.

Croup usually follows a small cold- but I think he was the reverse. Now he seems like he has a cold, whereas before he didn't. Though, most teething symptoms are similar to that of a cold so I suppose maybe he did have a mild cold before.

Either way, I am glad to report that he seems on the mend.



http://www.webmd.com/children/tc/croup-topic-overview

SCREAMING!!!!!

At the moment, my little one year old' favourite way to communicate seems to be to scream. He screams/squeals almost non stop all day. Almost.

He wants something to look at: scream
He doesn't want to eat that: scream
He's hungry but doesn't want me to put him down to make him lunch: scream.
It's a day ending in 'y': scream.


Thankfully there are smiles in there too, but he certainly is adept at letting me know when something is not to his liking.

Let's hope it is just a phase.

What to feed a one year old.

Pichan has officially turned one. Still not walking yet, but growing well all the same. He is a terrific eater, of which I am thankful. So that leads me to ask, what to feed a one year old?

Thankfully, all the dietary restrictions of before (no honey, no citrus, etc) are all a bit safer now (not that I will be running out to give him honey.

Apparently, according to the AAP, toddlers need about 1000 calories a day, which is made up of 3 meals and 2 snacks. Pichan still is breastfeed 4 times in the day, and 1-2 times at night, so I suppose that is a few good calories there. Plus, I am lucky that he does put away quite large meals. I am not too worried about overfeeding him as I still only feed him healthy food (the unhealthiest we go is he can have a chicken nugget from Mcdonalds, but we remove the batter). We still try to avoid the lots of salt and sugar in his diet. But he eats spicy foods like our curries and chillies, so he gets a lot of flavours in his diet.

This is a sample meal plan for a one year old from the AAP. I would love to say that Pichan eats this much, or this healthily but we try.

Breakfast

• 1⁄2 cup iron- fortified breakfast cereal or 1 cooked egg
• 1⁄4–1⁄2 cup whole milk (with cereal or without)
• Fruit can be added to cereal or on its own
• 1⁄2 banana, sliced
• 2–3 large sliced strawberries

Snack

• 1 slice toast or whole wheat muffin with 1–2 tablespoons cream cheese or peanut butter, or yogurt with cut-up fruit
• 1⁄2 cup whole milk

Lunch

• 1⁄2 sandwich sliced turkey or chicken, tuna, egg salad, or peanut butter
• 1⁄2 cup cooked green vegetables
• 1⁄2 cup whole milk

Snack

• 1–2 ounces cubed or string cheese, or 2–3 tablespoons fruit or berries
• 1 cup whole milk

Dinner

• 2–3 ounces cooked meat, ground or diced
• 1⁄2 cup cooked yellow or orange vegetables
• 1⁄2 cup pasta, rice, or potato
• 1⁄2 cup whole milk