Isolating at Home

Jee whiz. What a week.

For those of you who are isolating at home with kids I am sending you a high five and a massive glass of wine for surviving the week. Even if you’ve gone grey and you now have a few wrinkles - you survived.
This is not easy. Otis is acting like a tiger trapped in a cage. The poor kid has SO MUCH energy to burn - maybe that’s my fault because he sleeps so well haha.
Each day I take him to the nature reserve across the road and literally let him run wild. I just follow him around and let him do what he wants. He’d spend all day there so when I say it’s time to go home 90% of the time there’s an epic tantrum that follows. Thankfully everyone is isolating at home so there’s no witnesses to judge me throwing him over my shoulder and carrying him home. Ahhh silver linings.
Disney plus is my new best friend and prevents the house from being destroyed whilst I’m feeding Casper - sometimes I feel guilty about using the tv and other times I want to kiss it for being my saviour.

How are you coping with isolation? Send me a message so we can chat! We are all in this together.

Colic? Reflux? Intolerance? Constipated? 
Poor Casper was unsettled again. He had gone back to being uncomfortable in the early hours of the morning.
I have been sending myself crazy trying to figure out what’s bothering him. Is it colic? Is it reflux? Is it an intolerance? Is he constipated?

I’ve started doubting my intuition. I’ve started losing control in a sense. I just want to know what’s upsetting my bubba.
I’ve spoken to so many of my Mumma friends, I’ve reached out on fb Mum groups and I spoken with our paediatrician too. He suspected reflux so prescribed Casper some medicine.
This didn’t sit right with me. Not only did he just so easily prescribe medication but he didn’t even ask many questions which made me feel that Casper wasn’t even properly diagnosed.
I spoke with my friend who is a chiro and works with both adults and bubba’s. She said she could come over on Sunday morning and have a look at him.

After another unsettled 5am session I asked Dr Google - ‘physical reasons my baby is unsettled at 5am’ and bingo I found what finally made sense to me. The digestive system kicks starts at 5am which makes sense as to why every morning he is unsettled at this time. I just knew he was having some trouble with his tummy.
I mentioned this to Kate when she came over and she said she suspected the same thing.
After assessing Casper she said his intestines were really tight which was causing him to have trouble digesting his milk and it was making him uncomfortable. His neck was also a bit out too.
Kate did some adjustments and would you bloody believe it he slept for 75 mins in his bassinet - he hasn’t done this for weeks! He was always waking up at the 20 minute mark unsettled so I had resorted to just baby wearing him so he would get the sleep he needed.

She suggested we have at least one more session for adjustments as well as me massaging his intestines to keep them loose. I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
That night he did some cluster feeding until about 10:30pm, he’s actually in a wonder week so that was to be expected however from there he woke at 3am and then 7am! No unsettled 5am session - Casper woke sooo happy and so did I haha.

Fighting Day Naps
Despite our fantastic nights sleep Monday was such a shit day. Casper fought all of his naps, Otis was in a bad mood and Paul’s work got disconnected when he had so much to do. Paul and I were snappy at each other and then to really top it all off, our exercise ball that we use to bounce Casper to sleep on popped. Now Casper hates being patted to sleep and doesn’t particularly like being fed to sleep either. He’s also not quite ready for 100% bassinet settling.
So Paul zoomed down to Kmart BUT because of all the gyms closing there were no balls. Target also had none. We tried calling sports stores and no one had any! Eventually a store on the Parade said they had some in stock so Paul went there and unfortunately paid $30 for a ball that could have cost us $8 from Kmart. Thank you COVID-19 for shutting down gyms and forcing people to panic buy exercise balls.

In the afternoon Otis woke from his nap in an even grumpier mood so I took him to the nature reserve for some fresh air. That was fun until it was dinner time and we had to go home. He threw an epic tantrum and I had to carry him home on my back all whilst having Casper in the carrier on my front - I would have been a sight to see that’s for sure.
Once bed time rolled around we couldn’t get Otis in his sleeping bag and into bed fast enough haha. Casper did a little bit of cluster feeding again but only until 9pm and then as soon as he was asleep I crawled into bed and passed out quicker than I ever have before.

Newborn Settling Attempt
I spent some time over the weekend bassinet settling Casper but I soon discovered he’s just not ready. He’s a bubba that still needs contact support from me when it comes his sleep so I’m going to give him another week or two and try again.
Some bubba’s don’t need support like that and will happily sleep in a bassinet for all their sleeps whereas bubba’s like Casper just need that closeness for a bit longer.
He will be close to 9 weeks over Easter which means he will be past leap 2 and another growth spurt so I believe that’ll be a good time to attempt bassinet settling again - keep your eyes peeled for how we go with that!

Being Stuck at Home is Draining
Being at home so much lately is definitely taking its toll mentally. I’m noticing my patience is starting to get a bit thin and so is Otis’s. It’s not easy keeping him stimulated whilst also having a young bubba. When he had kindergym and playgroup it was such a nice way to break up with week and have him expel energy.
He’s watched so much TV lately which makes me feel like crap but right now I know so many Mumma’s who are in the same position.

So I just want to say it’s okay if right now you’re not being the best version of yourself. It’s okay if all you are doing is surviving each day. We will get through this and when we do we ALL deserve a weekend away without kids, without husbands, without housework and without a care in the world.
When we get through this - and we will - Mumma’s far and wide will be so much stronger for this, you will be stronger and so will I.

For now, do what you need to survive. Reach out for help. Ask a friend if she’s okay. Go for a walk. Take some time to feed your soul xx.