Keeping baby cool at night.

We are kind of struggling with this lately. The temperature is rising and rising- and even though all three of us are Aussies (though Pi was born in Japan)- we don't do so well with the heat. Pi gets so incredibly sweaty... Must be all that delicious baby chub.

Before we give him a bath each night we check the weather report and see the minimum temperature. As it isn't dropping to anything under 25 most nights (sometimes it is still 28 degrees at 9 pm), we have him dressed in his 0.5tog sleep sack.

Yeah, it's girlie- but he doesn't mind :P

He wears a nappy and we have bought him a super light, gauzy onesie from akachan honpo (http://akachan.7netshopping.jp/shopping/g/g144005003)






I like the fact it is so light and breathable. You might not be able to see it, but it is like wearing a cotton mesh suit.

We also set his airconditioner onto dehumidification mode and set the temperature to 26 degrees- so it is cool, but not cold. We also have a fan going (but that is also for white noise).

I turn off the airconditioner at about 9 or 10pm, when we go to bed and it is a little cooler, and open up his sliding glass door and bedroom door so that the air can really flow through the room (when there is a breeze- when there isn't a breeze it is very stuffy). So he sleeps just with the fan on, and all the doors open. I get up at 4:30am (when the sun wakes me) and close all his curtains so that the sun doesn't wake him. It stays a reasonable temperature in there, and he usually wakes a 6:30ish.

If it ever doesn't drop below 28 degrees, then we might look at keeping his aircon on all night. Not so great for the power bill, or him to sleep in- but we can't have him sweating up a storm.

Goodness gracious, great balls of fire...

On Friday I felt really run down, and started to get a pain in my right breast. I thought maybe I was just tired after waiting with a toddler at city hall for over an hour, but by the next morning the pain was stabbing, and I felt absolutely horrible. There was also a big red patch on my breast- under the nipple.

Yep, mastitis. I really thought I wasn't going to get it at all as most people get mastitis during the first few months. I didn't have cracked nipples or anything either so at first I wasn't sure just what it was.

Pichan had a night or two where he almost slept through (I had to wake him for a dream feed at 4am, as my boobs felt like balloons about to burst). Couple that with the fact he is down to three feeds a day instead of four- and it is dropping about 3 feeds in a 24 hour period. No wonder.

Mastitis really hurts, and the thought of feeding while having a massive pain is a huge turn off. Also, I felt like I had the flu- body aches, run down etc. It wasn't great.

Thankfully I received some great advice from a lactation consultant. So I rested as much as possible, I took showers where I left the water pressure massage my boob, and I fed as much as possible. I was also advised to feed in a weird position- with me on all fours over my baby (talk about feeling like a cow). The idea was so that gravity emptied the breast as much as possible. It also felt good to feed that way as it didn't have his head pressing into the sore spot.

I was lucky in that it cleared up by the next day- so no antibiotics or anything. Which is fantastic. It was tender for a few days, but after that was all back to normal. I certainly wouldn't want to get it again, but as I don't feed entirely by a clock (not really 'on demand' though either- more of a middle ground) I must be careful. At least I know what to do now.

Hepatitis B becoming free (so I've heard)

Good news for soon-to-be-mothers in Japan. I was talking to some of my students the other day about vaccinations, and was telling how how we are following both the Australian and Japanese vaccination charts. But doing it this way means that we pay out of pocket for some- namely Hepatitis B, and Rotavirus (Hepatitis B cost us 4500yen). She hadn't had her baby vaccinated for Hep B, so at her next visit to the doctor she asked about the vaccine.

Her doctor told her that from 2016, the Hepatitis B vaccine will be covered by the government- no out of pocket expense. How great is that! I have tried to find some articles on the internet which confirms this and *think* I have: http://www9.nhk.or.jp/kabun-blog/200/207285.html


So, hopefully (and please don't quote me) Hepatitis B will be added to the list of routine, free vaccinations in Japan. Lucky you, 2016 babies.