Stuff We've All Worried About

Bring up any of the following topics to your new parent friends and they will all nod vigorously. Trust me, you are not a lunatic for worrying about any of the following things:

Your baby's weird breathing/noises - I am convinced that all newborns make the most alarming noises just to keep us on our toes. They stop breathing, make choking sounds, hack, cough, and splutter their way through the night. Although it does seem to sort itself out after the first couple of months, I don't know if any parent ever stops checking to make sure their kid is still breathing at night.

Poo analysis - Never in a million years would you have imagined yourself studying the contents of a nappy...and then discussing it with anyone who'll listen. Become a parent, and this becomes quite a normal part of everyday life. Baby poo goes through a myriad of changes (sometimes during the course of one day), most of which are perfectly normal but we analyse it anyway. I'm not sure when this phase stops. When they're toilet trained?

Rolling over during the night - Hurrah! Little junior has learned how to flip himself on to his belly! Holy crap, what if he does this at night? Babies shouldn't be on their bellies because of SIDS (cot death), right??!! Although it is advised that we place babies on their backs when they sleep, this is not really an issue once they can hold their heads up (and some babies just prefer to belly sleep right from the start). It doesn't take long for babies to learn how to flip themselves back over and if they get stuck trying, trust me, they'll let you know.

My baby isn't eating enough/I'm not producing enough milk - I really wish that boobs came with a visible milk gauge so you could see how much the baby is getting at each feed. Since they don't, you have to rely on other signs if you are worried that your baby isn't eating enough. If he is producing several wet and dirty nappies a day, this is a good thing (no really, it is). If he is gaining weight steadily and remains on the same percentile for weight, this is also a good thing. One thing that really surprised me was learning that what you pump (especially using a hand pump) may not indicate how much milk you produce during a feed. But now that I am not breastfeeding, I know how much he is getting, so I am not too worried.