So..whats your best advice on parenthood

[photon]

Yeah I forgot about that breastfeeding stuff, that was crazy, totally agree.

There's a clinic at the end of Crowchild Trail (in that residential area after the overpass to Glenmore) that was great though in aiding with breastfeeding, they were awesome.

[Knut]

Originally Posted by Russic

To piggy-back on what Flamesoholic and red sky said:

- If your wife is induced the epidural shouldn't be much of a discussion (imo). My wife was induced and we failed to understand exactly how bad it would be to go without. The doctor even tore a bit of a strip off the nurse who induced us for not explaining further. In the end it was our mistake to make, but a gentle reminder would have been cool.

- I'm shocked at how many people have problems breast-feeding. There are many nurses who will understand, and there are many who will basically try to make your wife cry if her body isn't reacting. It blew my mind how many have the attitude that not being able to breast feed is because you aren't trying hard enough. If you have to supplement with formula don't let a**holes get you down. Yes breast-feeding is better but don't let the boob nazis sink their teeth too far into you.

Boob-Nazis... haha. I have to let my wife know that. She would appreciate it.

[zuluking]

Talk to / get a midwife asap. They book up fast.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Russic

- I'm shocked at how many people have problems breast-feeding. There are many nurses who will understand, and there are many who will basically try to make your wife cry if her body isn't reacting. It blew my mind how many have the attitude that not being able to breast feed is because you aren't trying hard enough. If you have to supplement with formula don't let a**holes get you down. Yes breast-feeding is better but don't let the boob nazis sink their teeth too far into you.

I have noticed this as well, and it can be quite upsetting for the moms. My wife had trouble breast feeding from day one, and eventually had to stop for her own health and sanity. I get that breast milk is better, and if it is possible to do it, great. My wife tried motilium as well as some herbal supplements, which according to some, end up turning most women into human geysers. No luck. She spent most of her time either breastfeeding or hooked up to a pump to try and get things flowing. Some public health nurses still made her feel guilty for wanting to stop, and even suggested that we go to the breastfeeding clinic and get our baby's frenulum (the little stringy connecting thing under your tongue) because they said that he may be "tongue tied", even though he had no trouble latching and had a good suck going on (that's my boy!). This was later dismissed as BS by our doctor and he said that it wasn't worth continuing because some women simply can't breastfeed.

I appreciate the public health system that we have in place, and our experience has generally been positive in all other areas. But some of the nurses were damn near militant when it came to breastfeeding, even when every technique, medication, and effort had already proven unsuccessful.

Of course breast milk is best, but some people just can't. Formula isn't something evil, and it sure beats starving. Our boy was actually underweight during the first month because of our trouble feeding.

I never thought I'd rant about breastfeeding on an internet forum.

On the topic of public health, be prepared for some "advice" on vaccinations from family and friends. Just remember to separate the medicine and science from the conspiracy theories and come to your own informed decision. That's as far into that topic that I am going to wade, as I don't want an otherwise helpful thread to be hijacked by a debate on vaccinations.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Flamesoholic

Skip forward 5 months and now my little man is teething. Does anyone have any good advice for that? We've got Camilia Teething Liquid, but does anyone have better suggestions? We've been told he's still a little young to give ibuprofen which they say would work better than tylenol.

Who told you that? Our doc recommended baby ibuprofen (advil) over tylenol. It is WAAAAAAY better. He was around 5.5 months when we were told that iirc.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Flamesoholic

Yeah I did the same thing. We had been going to some classes before our son was born and had decided between the 2 of us that I would try (try) to go as long as possible without meds as I could (silly broad). Well I ended up being 10 days overdue and had to be induced. Well that crap makes labour hit you like a fricking freight train to your tender bits and after 5 hours of constant 30 second contractions with 30 second breaks and no gas (cause they ran out with the patient before me), I was BEGGING for the drugs.
Once that doctor rushed in and spoke those beautiful words, "I'm here to give you your epidural" and had it done mere minutes later, it was relief I didn't know was even possible. After another 18 hours of labour with no results, my boy was delivered by emerg c-section (had the cord wrapped 2x around both legs). I'm not sure how I would have been able to get through that without the epidural. Marvellous things they are. I completely admire women who can go through labour and delivery without any drugs by choice, but I'm happy with the choice I made.

TL;DR epidurals are awesome. Support your wife if she asks for one.

Skip forward 5 months and now my little man is teething. Does anyone have any good advice for that? We've got Camilia Teething Liquid, but does anyone have better suggestions? We've been told he's still a little young to give ibuprofen which they say would work better than tylenol.

Keep a supply of clean damp to wet facecloths in the freezer, the kid gets to gumb the hell out of it, they like the cold on their teeth and the texture seems to help as well.

[Knut]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Who told you that? Our doc recommended baby ibuprofen (advil) over tylenol. It is WAAAAAAY better. He was around 5.5 months when we were told that iirc.

Both of these are fine. It comes down to doctor preference.


If you baby has colic and is getting upset after feeding (a good sign is watching his back arch up while he is crying) ask the doctor for baby Zantac. They take it for the first 4 to 6 months and it works fantastic.

You can try Gripe Water first, but know that it is unproven scientifically and its results are largely based on anecdotal evidence. (Our kid hated it).

[Boblobla]

Our son wasn't colic, but the advil really helped with the teething pain and swelling.

My advice to the OP, I am pretty sure I have posted it before here:

Regardless of what you say to each other at 2AM, or 3AM, or 4AM, or 5AM you still love each other.

[Knut]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Our son wasn't colic, but the advil really helped with the teething pain and swelling.

My advice to the OP, I am pretty sure I have posted it before here:

Regardless of what you say to each other at 2AM, or 3AM, or 4AM, or 5AM you still love each other.

Honestly... once my Wife stopped breastfeeding i took over all the late night feedings/wake ups (usually only 1 a night). It has saved me a tonne of grief as my wife is well-rested. That makes home a happier place.

I have it down to a science now. About 10 minutes.
1) Baby cries
2) grab bottle from a little fridge upstairs and plop it in the bottle-steamer (2.5 minutes to warm up)
3) Get baby and plop him on the change table and change him using wipes from a wipe-Warmer (nothing worse than cold wipes on warm bum).
4) Wrap burp-cloth around the bottle and pop it in babies mouth. Use overhang of burp-cloth to catch any spillage.
5) Try not to doze off as baby eats or check hockey pool stats on Iphone
6) Burp baby and lay him in his crib in the position he prefers to sleep in.
7) Back to sleep

[red sky]

Side question. How much are the "weekly" EI cheques? I hear around 450 or something?

[northcrunk]

If your wife is having troubles producing milk at first you can try and use a breast pump. The more the breast is stimulated the more milk usually is produced.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by red sky

Side question. How much are the "weekly" EI cheques? I hear around 450 or something?

This is off the top of my head, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that it is 55% of her earnings up to a maximum pre-leave salary of about 42,000. So if she is making close to that maximum amount per year right now, then you'll see about 850-900 bi-weekly (which, obviously, is what you've said here with $450 weekly).

If she's pulling in more than that, it'll be the same EI payment. If she's pulling in less, it'll be less.

[yads]

First few weeks you'll think it's easy and you'll wonder what all the fuss was about. Then they start crying for no reason and don't let up.

Try to get them into a routine as quickly as you can.

Never wake a sleeping baby.

Don't let your kid sleep in your bed. It'll be next to impossible to wean them from it, once they get used to it.

If you want to have a social life, try to get your child used to staying over at grandma and grandpa's quite soon.

[Knut]

The Maximum is about $1600 after tax for EI (yes they tax it).

[Barnet Flame]

The importance of routine has been emphasised regularly here. The link relates to recent evidence supporting many posters' views.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16354869

To sum up, kids with set bed and mealtimes generally perform better at school.

[afc wimbledon]

Avoid seeing Eraserhead until the kids at least 4 or 5.

[Flamesoholic]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Have you tried putting some of those teething toys in the fridge or freezer to cool them down? Our daughter loved that when she was teething.

Yeah we do and they do seem to help some. A lot of his issues seem to come when he's trying to fall asleep. He's started being really restless and even screaming/crying a bit in his sleep. I'm assuming it's his teeth that are causing that because he keeps rolling his tongue around his gums while asleep. He's never done that before now.
We'll try some facecloths in the freezer, that's a good idea.

[Flamesoholic]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Who told you that? Our doc recommended baby ibuprofen (advil) over tylenol. It is WAAAAAAY better. He was around 5.5 months when we were told that iirc.

We were told by our Doctor that it wasn't recommended for babies under 6mos old. He didn't really say too much as to why, just that because it lasts longer it can hide a fever longer than tylenol would. I guess that doesn't really matter when it comes to teething though so we could probably start using it at this point. I'm probably just being overly cautious. I'll pick some up and give it a go. I've been hearing that same as what you said, that it works way better than tylenol.

[Regulator75]

Originally Posted by yads

Never wake a sleeping baby.

False.

A good tip is to never let a baby sleep longer than 2 hour intervals during the day. Otherwise they won't sleep during the night.

Trust me, it works.

[photon]

Yeah try not to let the baby get their day and night routines switched. That's always a hoot.