Weaning- Part one (During the night weaning)

Pichan was weaned at night from about 19 months. By that age, I was just getting up twice or so, once at 11am and once at about 4am. I would feed him and then he would happily go back to sleep until about 7:30 or so. The arrangement was fine, but it was tiring and as he didn't need the milk, we thought it might be time to cut out the night feeds.

It was actually quite easy to do. We started by agreeing that if it was before  3:30am, my husband would go in and sing him/ pat him back to sleep. At first, Pichan was REALLY upset that Mummy Feedbags wasn't coming in, but after two nights he was pretty used to it, and then just started sleeping through. He stopped waking at 4am too. It all just kind of clicked into place- so we just dropped all feeds during the night.

 For a little while there, he might wake up once  a night, but Daddy would just sing to him and he would go straight back to sleep. Within 4 weeks, he stopped waking at night all together.

He wakes up earlier than he used to. Usually about 6:30am, but that is fine for his age- sleeping from 7:30-6:30 is 11hours, which is pretty darn good in my books.

 For a while there he was waking up at 6am, or 5:30 am, but that was our fault as we became inconsistent with his bed time (usually his bedtime is from 7-7:30, but for a while there it was more like 8-8:30). A quick change back to a stricter bedtime, usually between 7:15-7:45pm, and he is back to sleeping until 6:30am.

Ahh, bliss.



(not Pichan :p)

Re-peat

Pete is getting really great at repeating things...

Last night after getting after the bath, I was drying him off while my husband was drying himself off:

(Petey stands up and is eye height with Daddy's goods).

Me: Petey, be careful or Daddy might accidentally Teabag you.

Pichan: Teaaaaabaaaag. Teaaaaaabaaaaaaagggg....

:/

Night-time nappies

Petey's nappy started leaking at night. Doh! Not good for him and not good for me with all that extra winter washing. I am not sure how far into the night it leaks, or, if it leaks just after his morning feeding but either way something had to be done.

Pichan gets milk before bed and with the amount of bath-water he drinks  (much to my dismay) it wasn't really a surprise that his nappies have started leaking. Usually I would just go up a size but as I find it hard enough to get Merries 'L' size and the 'big' size is even harder to find, I thought I would try a different route,

The "OyasumiMan" nappies are really great. They are night time nappies and have a really high waist and fit well everywhere. So far no leaks! They claim they won't wet the futon (or bed, in my case) and so far they have lived up to their claim.

They are a bit more expensive than regular nappies- for a pack of 22 is about 1400yen (so about 64yen a nappy). I buy them from 'Create drug store'- where I get all of my nappies.

The extra cost isn't great, but at least I don't have to worry anymore about helping my little man get a dry night's sleep

The WOW cup

Pichan loves water. He loves it so much that he is quite happy to shake water out of a cup, sippy cup, or even a bottle, any time, any where. We have a water bottle that seals, and should be leak proof, but if he tips it upside down and shakes enough then water can still come out. Yay! I also found that water can rise up through the sealed straw when there is a change in temperature- which has meant my bag has gotten wet a few times.

I heard online ages ago about a WOW cup. They are a special cup that, supposedly, is leak proof. Given my son's penchant for spilling anything and everything I really wanted to put one of these to the test, however I wasn't quite wanting to pay the shipping cost from America.

Happily, I stumbled upon them the other day at AKACHAN HONPO in kawasaki. Happy days! They are kind of expensive- 1380yen per cup- but as it is a cup and not a sippy cup I figured that he would still be using it in a few years.

It really does live up to it's name- just WOW. Pichan can shake until the cows come home and he still can't get water out of it. He really can drop it too and nothing comes out. They are also easy to clean. I am in love, and intend to buy some more. It did take my bub a few goes of trying over two days before he could drink the water out (it is a little weird to drink), but now that he can, it is perfect for our needs.

Here is a link to Akachan Honpo online store which has them too: http://akachan.omni7.jp/search/?keyword=wow&searchKeywordFlg=1

And the WOW website, if you want to know what I am going on about: http://www.wowcup.com/

Absence and Injuries

It has been a long time since I have posted. And I mean a looooong time. Having a toddler who won't let me near the computer is the main issue- the only time I have free is when he naps- and like today, that was only for one hour- 1 out of 24 hours that I get to myself,( when I am not sleeping) - which at the moment means is the time when I eat my 'no babies allowed' food (like chocolate) and binge-watch 30 Rock.

It's going to be my new goal to update a post every Monday- and hopefully with relevant ramblings.

Today's offering is all about our big ouchie last week.

I have bought myself a (second hand) electric bicycle to help with the hill *cough- mountain- cough* that we live on. And last Tuesday, after taking him to the baby playroom- and then him not wanting to go- we decided to go the park instead. I put him on my bike and the handlebars swung wildly around and the the whole thing fell over. Poor little Pi went chin first into the concrete.

I was rattled as hell as I picked him up and there was blood everywhere. Luckily, this happened about a kilometer away from my G.P. so I picked him up, grabbed my bag, abandoned my bike and the rest of the things in the basket, and ran to the doctors- all the while carrying my 13kg toddler in one arm, and the other with a facecloth desperately trying to stop the bleeding. We made it there and the doctor ushered us in right away. She was able to look at it, but as they are a smaller clinic, she could not treat him.

They called us a taxi to take us to a bigger clinic about 10 minutes drive away (while detouring home to get his health insurance card and other medical documents.).

Funnily enough we had been sent to this doctor a few days before to check out my husband's aching foot and were not that impressed with the doctor- a long wait, and then x-rays only to have his diagnosis of "your feet are foreign, and Japanese people don't have high arches like that, so it is probably a foreign problem....". With nothing else- not even a 'try RICE-ing it'. So I was not all that impressed with going back there.

We got there and apparently regardless of the fact that both me and my baby were covered in blood, and my baby was SCREAMING in pain- we waited in line like everyone else (none of whom were covered in blood). An hour and a bit later, the doctor finally saw us.

It was bad. He had split the skin on his chubby chin down to the bone. The doctor investigated and the insisted on showing me- so he pulled apart the skin again just for my benefit! I will say I have little problem with blood and gore- I have a MAJOR problem with causing my baby any more pain than necessary. Anyway...

He explained that it needed stitches, and that it is incredible painful without anesthetic, but young children can react dangerously so....- he explained it in such a roundabout way that I couldn't tell what he was going to do- use it, or not. In these situations, usually I just say "do your thing". However, I was not going to let him stitch without numbing the area first- so I called up my friend to double check what he was saying (my Japanese gets me far, but in some cases knowing 80% of what is going on isn't enough...).

Turns out he was going to use anesthetic, so we had to straight-jacket my baby by wrapping him in a towel tightly so he couldn't move his arms- then I climbed on top of him to pin him down to the bed- while three nurses held his head still for the doctor to inject... It was fairly traumatic for him, and me, but the job got done.

We then unwrapped him and I held him for 10 minutes for the anesthetic to kick in. Once it had, it was sausage baby time again, and back to all of us pinning him down. Then before the doctor did it, he investigated it again, and then got my attention saying "Mum, look" and then sticking his forceps all the way into the wound down the the bone- for my benefit! Pi was still screaming and distressed as hell, and all I was thinking was for the doctor to just fix him. I knew how serious it was, we were covered in blood.

He started stitching and the after about 2 minutes, he got a one of those surgical covers out- you know the kind that is like a huge sheet of green paper with a circle cut out of it, so they only see the wound area (there are pictures on google, but none without gross wounds so I won't post..). Needless to say,  his face and body being covered freaked him out even more, and the damn doctor waited until Pi was loosing it like crazy, and wetting the sheet with tears sweat before he took it off. We finally thought the doctor was finished when he stopped, but had only finished with the internal stitches.

Long story short- many internal and external stitches, and a lot of trauma and tears later, and he was finally done. My bub passed out from exhaustion as soon as he last stitch was pulled through.

We had a course of antibiotics and some topical antibiotics, and we have been back to the doctors every second day to check on the stitches and make sure there is no infection. We change the dressing twice a day, and more if it becomes wet/soiled. He hates that.

I am about to go again to the doctors now to have them taken out. I really don't like this doctor, but sometimes I feel in Japan there isn't much of a choice.

 Good luck little man...

The nap dilema

Even at 18 months there are still sleep problems going on. I am sure there will always be a sleep problem, but this particular one is a fun- screaming hysterically after a nap for an hour, and then cranky for the rest of the afternoon- kind of problem.

I have googled it and apparently it is a common enough thing, and babies as young as 1 years old, and old as three years old do it. I am going to try to see if putting him down to sleep earlier helps (I often get a longer nap if he goes down after 1pm, but maybe he is too tired by then). Fingers crossed for long naps and no more screaming  :)


(not Pichan, btw)

Kirkland brand wipes review

So I finally did it... I went to Costco.

I went to the Costco in Kawasaki and was actually impressed. Husband, who hates shopping, was also impressed. They have a fair range of all sorts of products, including kids toys, clothes and seasonal items (including Xmas things).

One of the big reasons that I wanted to go was to get a box of the coveted "Kirklands Signature Baby Wipes"



They come in a huge box of 900 wipes- which are 9 packets of 100 wipes in each.
They are very thick compared to most Japanese wipes. You may have read here that Pampers are my favourite wipes in Japan; so how do they compare:

Well, the size is about the same.

Kirklands  wipes seem thicker, but I am not sure if wipes this thick are actually necessary. It feel like wiping with a square of cotton, which seems a little wasteful. But, at the end of the day it is all about how it biodegrades and I am not sure if it is better/worse than Pampers. Kirklands does say on their website that they do biodegrade so good for them.

Pampers wipes have a lotion on them which is really nice. Silky smooth. It kind of works like a barrier that makes the next 'mess' a bit easier to clean. But providing I get to the 'mess' before my little one sits down, then it usually isn't a problem anyway.

They are both alcohol free, but it looks like Kirlands are paraben free. The old formula used to have formaldehyde in it but not any more. These are the ingredients: WATER, ALOE BARBADENSIS, LEAF JUICE, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, DISODIUM COCOAMPHODIACETATE, POLYSORBATE 20, CITRIC ACID, DISODIUM PHOSPHATE, DISODIUM EDTA, ETHYLENE BRASSYLATE, PHENOXYETHANOL, SODIUM BENZOATE

Pampers on the other hand have parabens and other not nice sounding things: Water, dimethicone, PG, (acrylates / isodecanoic acid vinyl) crosspolymer, phosphoric acid Na, sorbitan oleate, benzoic acid Na, methylparaben, EDTA-2Na, hydroxide Na, ethyl paraben, propyl paraben, Bizabororu, tri (caprylic / capric acid) glyceryl, aloe vera juice, chamomile extract.

Kirklands come with a hard flip lid/seal on each pack of their wipes (to keep the freshness in). Pampers use a re-stickable seal. But this isn't a feature I care too much about, as I have the refillable container for the Pampers wipes, so they were always fresh.

As for price: 

On Amazon Kirklands are 3980yen for 900. Which is 4.4yen a wipe. (I will update after my next Costco visit with the Costco price, but I forgot the correct price...) 

 *** Update- Costco price is 2738yen-  so that is 3.04 per wipe, being much cheaper. At the moment they are on sale at Costco for 2188yen (2.43 per wipe)***

On Amazon Pampers wipes are 2590yen for 756wipes. Which is 3.4yen per wipe. 


~In Summary~

When I first bought the Kirklands box I regretted it. I really liked the lotion of the Pampers, and thought wipes as thick as Kirklands were a bit of an overkill. However, after learning they they are paraben free I am quite happy with Kirklands, and would probably choose them over Pampers for that reason. 

Pampers are cheaper, and can be obtained easily from drug stores and baby stores in Japan. But I think that Kirklands wipes are probably the more baby friendly and environmentally friendly, so because of that they have my vote (but only just...).