6 Months Old and in the Wars

Well, we have reached the six month mark, unfortunately marred by Stella pulling a Houdini two nights in a row and wriggling her right hand out of her mitten, her wrap and her Safe-T-Sleep and having a hardcore scratch at her cheek (night 1) and ear (night 2). A trip to the doctor yesterday secured some ghastly tasting (but apparently least troublesome for her stomach) antibiotics to clear up the infection that had set in within a matter of hours in spite of our efforts to clean her up and keep her hand away from her face. Things were starting to heal up nicely until I heard a peep at 3am this morning and found her scratching away again, not a pretty sight. It took us a couple of hours to get things under control as she threw up her antibiotics, requiring a bath to clean things up. She enjoyed having Mum and Dad's full attention in the middle of the night while we tried to remain chirpy despite blaming ourselves for this all happening in the first place.

I guess you live and learn... we have reassessed our swaddling technique thanks to The Sleep Store, this has worked so far, I think one of us will be bunking in with Stella until we are convinced her arms are staying in. We are also investing in some arm socks from Kumfy Cotton. A lot of their stock is sold out after exposure on the TV show Dragon's Den and now that I'm a parent of an eczema sufferer I can understand why, their stuff is a godsend. The Nature Baby footed pants are doing the trick and stopping her from scratching the backs of her knees with the opposite toenail while lying in the cot - she really is very clever.

In spite of all of this (plus a runny nose), she has been in good form today, full of smiles and not too scratchy as long as we keep her hands busy while she is awake. Her right hand is now permanently covered until the scratches heal up a bit, as you can see, the sock on her hand didn't stop her from getting stuck into her rusk - she makes quite a dent with her bottom gum but no teeth have popped out yet, hopefully we'll see them soon.