Do you have an early teether?: Sophie La Girafe.

Mr Eli enjoying his Sophie; he particularly enjoys her head.

Poor Mr Eli has had it rough the past few weeks! Just after his 8 week injections he was extremely grizzly, crying A LOT despite the usual check list all being checked off! It was 4 days after the immunisations and he was really chewing on his little hands… more so than in the “oh I have hands!” way. I switched the big light on in our bedroom and noticed he had rosy cheeks. “OH NO!” I yelled out to my OH who was downstairs. OH raced up the stairs “HE’S TEETHING! ALREADY!”.

We managed to prise Mr Eli’s little jaw open and saw that indeed, on the bottom left, there was a REAL toothy peg. An actual tooth sitting there, ready to cut through the gum. At just 8 weeks old. Poor little mite 🙁

Obviously, at 8 weeks old, Eli was too young to understand the concept of a teether… or chewing for comfort… or even be able to grasp onto a teether for that case. We did try a few that had been purchased for us from friends and family while I was pregnant. Eli didn’t like any of them. And we REALLY did persevere.

We had the Sophie La Girafe large teether on our list ready to purchase when Eli was around 5 months old. Which is when we anticipated he’d NEED one! After looking around I saw that you could buy a small version, that was really soft and has two rings for easy gripping action… or in Eli’s case, more for him to chew and lick! At 10 weeks old Eli had mastered both grasp and chew! I firmly believe I have Sophie to thank for encouraging Eli’s gripping development!

I think the Sophie La Girafe teether is fast becoming Eli’s favourite toy. He literally cannot go anywhere without her! Eli particularly enjoys chewing really hard onto Sophie’s head (harsh, I know), which seems to give him great relief. This teether, however,  is not for the faint hearted as it makes the most almighty squeaking noise as he chomps down! Massive massive cringe (think nails down a chalk board, touching wet terracota, wet cotton wool etc).

I massively recommend this Sophie La Girafe teether to everyone I meet, best £7 I’ve ever spent! It would make a really nice stocking filler this Christmas too!

Buy Sophie La Girafe teether right now from JohnLewis.com

 

MM.

Mr Eli has Talipes…What happened next?

Just hours after Eli was born, 6th August 2012.

It’s just dawned on me that I have failed to write about Eli’s Talipes! I did blog about it when I was pregnant as it was found when I was having additional scans at UCLH, you can see the original post here: Hospital Update: Baby Boy bump has (mild) Bilateral Talipes. And I mentioned it in the 4 week update I did, here: An Eli Update: 4 Weeks Young. But I haven’t updated my blog with the developments since…

So from the top, it was found during an additional scan at UCLH that ‘baby boy bump’ had mild Bilateral Talipes. As the weeks progressed and I got bigger,  it meant that ‘baby boy bump’ got more and more squashed up inside me. This was the cause for Eli’s Talipes; it’s “positional” due to him literally being too big for me!

As you can see, from the first picture above (taken just a few hours after Eli was born), the Talipes looks really mild. But it turns out Eli was quite lethargic after my traumatic labour and birth. It wasn’t until he was home that we noticed how much he pulled his feet inwards (picture below).

This photo looks distorted, must have been a strange angle! Eli is 4 days old.

We were seen by a Paediatrician just before we left Broomfield Hospital and we were told that Eli would need his hips X-rayed and of course, Physio. I was told to expect both appointments within a few weeks.

After 3 weeks, I spoke to my Health Visitor who advised to wait one more week and then chase. I chased and chased and chased. I was pushed from pillar to post between departments. I couldn’t believe how badly organised everything was. (Hence why I haven’t actually written about this until now!). It was an absolute shambles. I finally received an appointment for Eli to have his hips scanned when he was 7 weeks old. During the scan I was told his hips were absolutely fine! (PHEW!) And again, that his feet were an isolated case due to him being so crammed in (Sorry boy).

I was STILL yet to receive an appointment for his Physio at this point. But as we have common sense, from birth, we had been massaging Eli’s feet ourselves with exercises we found on the internetz.

8 weeks old, after his first set of immunisations.

-You can see Eli’s left foot is much straight, but his right is still pulling inwards.

We saw a marked improvement with this – until about 9 weeks, when it just seemed to not get any better. It felt like we’d hit a brick wall. I finally had my appointment with the Physio when Eli turned 10 weeks. I’d like to point out at this is appalling. It took 10 weeks to finally see someone and the Physiotherapist, although absolutely lovely, gave me the exact same exercises to do. She said that it’s the muscles and tendons on the insides of both feet that are tight; causing Eli to pull his feet inwards. She suggested that Eli might need plaster casts, and in her opinion, it would only be for a week. I already had another appointment organised with a leading Talipes Consultant at Broomfield for when Eli was 12 weeks old. Again, this is terrible – we should have had Eli seen by a Consultant WAY BEFORE he got to 3 months old. I’m extremely unhappy about how long it’s taken and the awful communication, or lack thereof, between departments.

10 weeks old feets 🙂 

Last week we finally saw the Consultant at Broomfield. He looked at Eli’s legs, hips, spine, neck and feet. Which we didn’t expect, but was really reassuring. He agreed that Eli has Positional Talipes and has advised a course of plaster cast treatments. The casts will go from his foot and up his thigh – to avoid him kicking the pot off! When the Consultant left I spoke with the Senior Nurse (who organised our first appointment for THIS week). The Nurse advised that Eli will wear the casts for up to a fortnight at a time and will then need to wear special boots inbetween plaster cast treatment, the Consultant did not mention this, so I’ll see on Wednesday of this week what the definite course of treatment will actually entail. This sounds like Eli would be undergoing the Ponseti Method, but like I say, we’ll find out this week.

I am SO SO pleased that our beautiful baby boy is finally getting his little feets sorted out. Better late than never I suppose.

I’d like to hear from you. Has your little one undergone treatment for Talipes? What was your experience? Can you offer any advice or tips?

MM.

Happy New Year!

My first post of 2012! Pretty exciting! I’m going to have a baby this year! Now that IS exciting. Exciting, exhilarating and well, scary! But I cannot wait!

I just wanted to give a quick note that today I am 10 weeks and 4 days. I feel huge. I have a proper bump. If I hadn’t have had an early scan already, I would definitely not be mistaken for having twins! I will have to take some photos of my bump in progress!

I’ve had a really bad cold the past few days – which I have struggled with at times due to not being able to have medication. But at least I’ve had a few days off because of the New Year, so have just slept and rested my feet up. Bliss. It’s back to work tomorrow though. BOOOOO!

Hope you all had enjoyable Christmasses and New Year celebrations – wishing you all the very best in 2012!

MM.