Advice for a six week old baby

Moomies

Thank you so much for the advice

I will relay the message and hopefully they can find a suitable doc and clinic.

My paed charges R607 for a consult its very expensive especially if visiting due to being sick cos it usually comes with some sort of prescribed medicine, so each time its a R1000 round trip!

Re topping up / formula / expressing I would suggest that she tries to increase her milk by expressing more regularly and so building up a supply to give during the day instead of formula top ups. But I know its not always possible to do this so its only if she can really manage. If she knows in advance she needs to build up a supply she can start now by expressing in between feeds or extra at night once baby is sleeping through (ie 4-5 hour stretches).
The milk can be safely frozen for up to 3 months. She must label the bottles clearly.
She can buy medicine bottles in 50ml and 100ml sizes from plastics warehouse or similar for very cheap and use these to store the milk, but only once off, do not reuse, and sterilize them first. Let the milk cool down to room temperature before putting into the freezer and to reuse pour warm water into a jug and put the bottle in the jug of water till its thawed. Can be done an hour before a feed is due.

Having said this, if it just doesnt work out, and baby doesnt appear to have any allergies, I used Lactogen for Kaylee. It's the 'same' as Nan or any of the others, but is a bit cheaper, around R80 for a 900gram container.

Re storks nest I'm pretty sure you dont need to have given birth at netcare to make use of them, as you pay separately for their services. Most clinics private and government are given a certain allocation of government stock as stock is available.
But there is just about always a stock issue with government stock and so most times with any of these private clinics (dischem / clicks included) so most times you land up paying partly private and partly government.

Hi,
I have a really nice paed at vincent pallotti (CT) called Dr Carl Wicht. Im very happy with him and he's only R450 a visit, so there are probably others out there too that dont charge the earth.
About the poo-ing thing, my three month old only poos every 7-9 days and has done this from when he was only a few weeks old. I was told its nothing to worry about (as long as he's being exclusively breast fed)... Also as long as he is feeding properly, gaining weight as he should, and isnt in too much discomfort. If your brother is worried, he could try half a glycerine suppository... Usually does the trick.

I used NAN with Elam right from birth. I was lucky cos she switched between breastmilk and formula without a problem. Some babies don't alternate that easily between breast and bottle. But I liked NAN. Especially if the baby doesn't have any allergies and is not lactose intolerant. I never had issues with E so I know nothing about the special formula's.

Paed's are very expensive and generally range between R500 -R700 per consultation. Actually, if u find one still charging less than R700, you are very lucky.

Not sure who can/cannot use Stork's nest...actually I need to check up on that since I am giving birth at Genesis...

Hi JB & EM

Thanks for your replies. Yes, I still check in on Moomie regularly, just don't comment as often.

I advised them that I will get them some expert advice from Moomie and revert back to them.

With regards to the Paed; what does a consultation cost? An estimate as I use MA for Joshua. I also only took Joshua for the most important ones and we're still in tip top shape

They had anothe rquestion as to which formula they can use to top up her feeds? She's breastfeeding exclusively but since she now has to get back to class, she worried that the expressed milk won't be enough? I have no clue and told them that they need to check with a baby clinic.

On the Storksnest; can anyone go there? Or should you have birthed at a Netcare hospital? As they are following the Gov Schedule, do they need to reserve stock everywhere?

Thank you for your input

Hey Spirited Mama: can I be honest with you? I have no idea what the answers to your questions are. Not sure if its porridge brain or whether I just really don't remember.

I agree with JB on the paed visits though. i know the 6 week one is quite important. Other than that, I really only took Elam when i needed to. The clinics always checked her development ito height& weight at her vaccinations.

When I took E to Dischem, I must say that our vaccinations were only slightly cheaper than the private hospital clinics eg. Stork's Nest. Maybe it was that particular vaccination, i don't know.

Crap, I better kick my butt into gear & remember all this stuff asap! I dont have the excuse of being a 1st time mom anymore.

Hi Spirited Mama! Nice to see ur still around


1) Breastfed babies have 8 poos in 1 day or 1 poo in 8 days, its different with everyone. I was unlucky with the 8 poos a day thing!

3) Generally go for the 6 week, 6 month and 1 year check up and rather find a private clinic for vaccinations who can also check height and weight and try and answer some questions. Storks Nest which should be at Netcare Blaauwberg is very popular.
I generally take Kaylee to a trusted GP (Intercare Table View will have a few doctors and some will likely specialise with kids and whats nice with intercare is that you can get a same day appointment whereas a paed you may wait a week.

4) Dischem's baby clinic is very well known and I plan on taking Kaylee here next time. This is definitely an option. She can try ask them to reserve any government stock for the next vaccinations required, at each appointment reschedule for the next one and ask them to reserve stock. This way at least some of the time you dont pay full private stock and save some money and they will be very helpful with answering your questions. As far as I know they charge a R50 injection fee which is far cheaper than the private clinics.