Four month baby update

Little Chippy is officially four months old! I can't believe it - where has the time gone?! She is getting more and more adorable by the day - it seems like every morning when she wakes up at the moment she has learnt a new skill. It's amazing - people should definitely talk more about how watching your baby change day by day can blow your mind. I keep remembering that I must film her more too, instead of taking endless pictures, because even when I look back at the short clips from when we first took her home, it's incredible how much she's developed!

Anyway, it's a good job she's so bloody adorable because we are currently in the middle of sleep deprivation hell. It all started just after she'd had her 16 week jabs last week. From about 14 weeks, her colic FINALLY stopped and - praise be - we'd actually started to get her into quite a good routine, which included four naps a day and a sensible bedtime, meaning we had our evenings back. I was starting to feel all smug and relieved that we'd come through the worst of it all and that now we were going to have a smiley happy baby that slept well and gave us little bother. HAHAHAHA.

There's a thing they don't tell you about when you're pregnant - and it's a good job they don't, or you'd never have a baby. It's called the 'four month sleep regression' and is all to do with babies' sleep patterns changing to become more like adults'. Which means they no longer fall straight into a deep sleep, but instead have to go through a lighter phase before falling into a deep sleep. And this lighter phase is super easy for them to wake up from. Also, because of this, it's harder for them to 'link' sleep cycles together and so instead they wake up after each sleep cycle is complete.

Daph's sleep cycles last 40 minutes - you could set your watch by her. And for the last week, pretty much every 40 minutes after she's fallen asleep, she's woken up. Even at 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the morning. IT IS TORTURE.

The only thing that we've found to help us through this phase is having her in the bed with me again. Which is kind of lovely and cuddly and cute but does mean I get terrible backache as I have to kind of cradle her all night, and try not to squash her.

Thankfully (touch wood), she's still managing a long sleep between 9pm - midnight ish, but of course it's difficult for me to force myself to go to bed at 9pm because I'm just longing for some grown-up time where I can watch TV or just waste time on the internet looking at expensive dresses that would no longer suit me...

Anyway. I'm hoping and praying this is just a phase and that she'll grow out of it soon - the alternative doesn't really bear thinking about at the moment!

Other than this, we've noticed that, as she's so much more alert now, she's started to become really fussy when eating - she constantly pulls away from the bottle or pushes it off with her fists, then screams to have it back. All the while her little head is swivelling round trying to take in EVERYTHING that's going on -  it's so cute but frustrating too!

She's really really sweet now though and smiles at me every morning when she first wakes up, and has started laughing a lot more - mostly in the evenings when she seems to be in a better mood. Her laugh sounds a bit weird, like an old codger on 40 a day, but it's the most amazing thing ever and keeps making me cry (I'm blaming the lack of sleep for my sappiness levels). She also recognises people now - especially my Mum and sister, and beams at them too. Bless.

She can hold things really well, and will happily bash at everything on her annoying play mat - finally she's actually interested in toys. She can also sit up pretty much unaided. She just can't get herself into that position yet but I don't think it will be too long. She's not great at rolling from front to back yet but she does try - although lately when we do tummy time she seems to be trying to crawl and sort of slides her hands and legs back and forward and gets very very frustrated with herself!

Her newest favourite thing is blowing raspberries - she can do it for hours, and ends up with drool all over her chin. She also still LOVES music, and I sing to her every day, and she's starting to recognise songs she's heard before. Her current favourite track is Feed the Birds from Mary Poppins. 'Eeeaaaarlyyyy each day, to the steps of St Paul's' goes round and round my tired brain. To mix it up a bit this week I've been trying to get her into Christmas tunes and she's rather partial to Wham's Last Christmas now too.

Her eye colour is settling down - and *I think* her eyes are blue! A kind of dark grey-blue, similar to mine, but blue nonetheless. As for her hair, it's still a bit of a mystery - it's almost black at the back but the front is kind of sandy/gingery so who knows what colour it will end up. She had quite a lot of hair at the back of her head when she was born but bits of it have kind of worn off (I think from where she lies in the cot) and so now she has a kind of funny bald ring around the back of her head. She's also got quite yucky cradle cap, but we're leaving it as I don't think that it bothers her.

Finally, I feel I should point out JUST HOW FAT she has got. Look at those thighs!! She's a proper little chubba. Slightly alarming but my mum assures me once she starts crawling she'll slim down a bit!

As for me, I feel pretty much back to normal now. The diet has gone out of the window thanks to Christmas food and shenanigans and will be renewed again in the new year - but I did manage to lose eight pounds which I was quite chuffed with! I still have another 11 to go :/ but I don't think I look too dissimilar to how I used to now. At least, not with clothes on. My stomach has shrunk back quite nicely and really looks the same as before. But all those maternal fat stores ended up on my inner thighs as they are certainly... hefty. A bit like Chip's in fact. Now the challenge is not to PUT ON any weight at Christmas! We shall see...

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Midweek Musings: Instagram, Anaemia and Stylish Storage

I'm writing this during one of those sacred forty minutes that happen (if we're lucky) four times a day. Naptimes. Except that for some inexplicable reason my neighbour seems to be drilling in their garden (IN DECEMBER?!) so I'm not sure how long I've got before Daph decides she's had enough of the racket. Fingers crossed.

This has been a funny old week. First off, I noticed about three weeks ago that the corners of my lips were cracked. Not chapped, but actually cracked. It was starting to get really painful, and every time I ate or spoke (let's face it, these are things that happen a lot) it hurt. It got worse and worse, until I started to resemble The Joker. I consulted Doctor Google, as ever, and was informed of a condition called angular cheilitis. Which can either be caused by thrush (!), a bacterial infection, or an iron/vitamin B deficiency.

Anyway, I continued slathering on Vaseline and Eight Hour Cream in the hope that it would go away, but to no avail. Hence me rocking up at the doctor's in desperation, only to be told that anaemia is really common after you've had a baby, as the baby nicks all your iron stores (little sods). And that an iron deficiency was most likely to be the cause, especially as my periods have restarted and I've had three heavy f*ckers since having Daph.

The whole situation has been compounded by the fact that I decided to give up red meat for a month when Daph was about 10 weeks old, because of some Horizon programme or something I'd vaguely watched while half asleep one evening, that said red meat gave you bowel cancer. So just when I needed to eat more red meat, I'd cut it out completely. Massive Homer-Simpson-style DOH.

I'm rambling, but my point really is: women who have just had babies! Do not give up red meat! Eat more steaks. Drink more blood. You need the iron. Here endeth the lesson.

Luckily my lips are getting better with the aid of some athlete's foot cream (Nice! it specifically says DO NOT USE ON THE FACE on the packet, but I'm hoping my doctor knew what she was doing when she prescribed it...) and lots and lots of burgers. And steaks. And spaghetti bologneses. Cutting out food groups is a mug's game.

Onto more salubrious topics! I've been searching for a few weeks now for some attractive storage for Daph's ever-expanding toy collection. But everything I found was really dull, or super twee. Until I turned to my trusty friends at Nordic House, and fell in love with this amazing set of three felt woven baskets - I love everything about them! Nordic House have got some really great storage pieces on offer - and their beautiful white-painted furniture range is also extremely covet-worthy. Have a look!

Finally, like most bloggers, I use Instagram (hey! you can follow me here!). However, unlike most bloggers, my Instagram feed is not a thing of beauty. Most of my friends who blog have Instagram feeds that could basically be printed out as they are and set into a collage and framed in a tasteful white-painted frame and sold for £75, whereas my feed is just the most random mish-mash of stuff I've seen/done, and that - here's the kicker - I've REMEMBERED to Instagram. I always forget about Instagram, hence it's a bit of a mess.

But this video has made me feel ever-so-slightly better about it... worth a watch, apologies if you've already seen it, enjoy if you haven't. It really made me laugh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFzKi-o4rHw

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Getting into the Christmas spirit with Houzz

Last week, the lovely folk at Houzz invited me and some other bloggers along to a Christmas crafting morning at Heal's new Westbourne Grove store. It was the first 'work' event I've been to since having Daphne and it was lovely (if a little strange - my small-talk skills certainly need brushing up again!) stepping back into my old shoes for a morning.

First up, we got to do some Christmas crafting. HA. I cannot craft. I don't have an artistic bone in my body - I still remember my Art teacher writing 'Charlotte needs to think beyond the glue and scissors stage' on my school report. I was about 15... (not really). I don't exactly know what she meant, but I guess I was more of a fan of the actual cutting things out and sticking them to other things bit without worrying what the finished product looked like. But you know, life's about the journey not the destination right? I'm sure Paulo Coelho said something like that anyway.

I digress. This time I was more confident as leading the crafting element of the morning was my good friend and all-round interiors expert Vicky Harrison, who also just so happens to be the editor of Houzz UK. She told us we were going to make honeycomb paper ball decorations and had a lot of faith in me.

Well, let's just say that I lived up to my Art teacher's critique. My ball was shamefully the only one there that was so wonky that it looked completely drunk. If honeycomb Christmas balls could get drunk. But it was still incredibly therapeutic sticking and cutting again after all these years. If you'd like to have a go at making them yourself, there's a nifty step-by-step on Vicky's blog.

Next up, we were challenged to style up some Christmas place settings - one super luxe and formal, the other more relaxed and rustic. Sadly, as I live in a tiny flat and never eat at the kitchen table (it's the size of a postage stamp), Christmas place settings aren't something I've given much thought to. But inspired by my fellow bloggers - who were all incredibly creative - I decided to watch what they were doing and, er, sort of copy them.

I'm no stylist but I REALLY enjoyed this bit - here are my two settings:

Not too shabby huh?! If you feel so inclined, you can even vote for mine here.

Finally, all the bloggers sat down and had a chat through some design dilemmas with the stylists from Heal's. It was a really lovely morning, with plenty of mince pies on offer, and I left feeling thoroughly Christmassy. And wishing I had a proper kitchen table - but fingers crossed for 2016 on that front!

NB: Heal's Westbourne Grove, in the iconic Queen's building, is fab but only sells lighting and a few accessories, so don't rock up expecting to be able to do your Christmas shopping there too like I did.

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The Colic Diaries: Cranial Osteopathy

As anyone who's experienced colic will testify, it drives you to previously unthought-of measures. And in my case, when I started reading forums (I know, tsk) full of mums swearing by something called cranial osteopathy, I decided it was worth a try. Despite my huge scepticism of alternative therapy.

I wish I could explain cranial osteopathy to you, but I still don't fully understand it. It's basically something to do with the way the membranes in your head are aligned (I think! please correct me if I'm wrong!). Apparently when you are born, these get all squashed up and out of place depending on how the labour went, and so lots of babies have issues with their digestion thanks to the membranes compressing the vagus nerve, which has something to do with your stomach. Apologies if this makes no sense at all, but I didn't even do GCSE Biology so I really am out of my comfort zone here. Anyway. Cranial osteopaths work by manipulating a baby's head in order to release these membranes and correct some of the alignment that is out of place thanks to the often-traumatic way a baby is born.

I had a super long labour, as anyone who's had the time and patience to read Daphne's birth story will know. I was actively pushing for nearly three hours, which is definitely over the recommended limit, and I was about ten minutes away from having to have ventouse used on me. So Daphne was certainly stuck in one position for a long time and therefore came out a bit squashed and wonky - something the osteopaths say they can fix.

Anyway, like a proper journalist I did my research, and eventually booked an appointment with an osteopath who works really near me, but also volunteers at The Osteopathic Centre for Children. I wanted someone who specialised in babies, and I found some good reviews for him online. If you want his name, just drop me an email and I'll give it to you - I don't really want to name him on here as I'm not really confident I know enough to 'review' him.

The first appointment was an hour, and the first twenty minutes were spent with me just telling him all about my pregnancy and labour, as well as Daphne's symptoms. The most interesting thing was that when we lay Daphne on the treatment bed, she did her usual jerky twitchy thing, and he asked me if she was always like that when she was lying down. And basically she is - unless she's asleep. I thought all babies jerked their arms and legs back and forth while they were prostrate, but apparently not. He asked me if I'd been stressed during my pregnancy, and I nearly fell off my chair. Suffice to say the latter stages of my pregnancy were some of the most stressful months of my life. He told me that my high cortisol levels during the third trimester had likely made Daphne a very 'wired' baby, whose autonomic response was set to 'Fight', making her ultra-sensitive to stimulation and stress. This was really upsetting, but also very interesting and did ring true.

He also asked if she tended to lean her head in one direction a lot, which she did, and he confirmed the direction without me telling him. He said he could see a few issues with her alignment - mostly that she tended to look to the left, and also that her head was compressed into her shoulders a bit - all related to the way she was born. He said that this is what he could fix with his treatment.

Interestingly, he told me he could NOT fix her colic. He said osteopathy does not treat colic and that it is simply something she would grow out of at around three months, as her brain matures. He asked about her poos, and I said there were often white seedy bits in them, which he said were undigested milk and could indicate a lactose intolerance, which certainly wouldn't help her colic symptoms. All this was very interesting as this has massively improved since we put her on Comfort milk, as I said in my previous post.

He said that the jerky twitchy thing would go away as she got older and realised how much she was loved by us, leading her to feel safer in the world, which made me have a bit of a weep!

As for the alignment issues, he did his treatment (which is the weirdest thing as it looked like he wasn't doing anything - he just sort of placed his fingers gently on various points of her head, neck and stomach) and said she'd probably need two more sessions. Then he sent us on our merry way. I felt a bit ripped off as we'd spent most of the appointment just talking, but we booked in for the following week anyway. Then we took her home. And she was like a new baby!

She slept all day and all evening, and didn't have any colicky symptoms at all that night. She was calm and seemed really... happy. And the next day, I could have sworn that her neck looked a bit longer - I battle daily with trying to remove neck cheese from her neck folds, and it was suddenly much easier to do as she had 'more' neck. I couldn't explain it, but she was definitely different somehow.

However, a few days later, her colic was back with a vengeance. We took her for her second treatment the next week and the same thing happened again - she was a joy after the treatment, then the effects wore off a bit after a day or two. But interestingly, at the second appointment, the osteopath said he didn't need to see her again (despite saying she'd need three sessions in total at the first session), making me less suspicious it was all quackery.

So, my verdict? It is definitely worth looking into cranial osteopathy in general for your baby, but not specifically as a cure for colic. I have a friend who's a paediatric nurse and she's just had a baby too (hello Alice!) and she took her little one to see an cranio specialist even though he wasn't having any specific issues. She's a diehard advocate of it AND a medical professional, so I really do trust her.

I do think there's something in it - and it makes sense that when babies come out of the womb they are all squished up and awkward, which must cause all kinds of little niggles and aches that we aren't privy too. In that instance, it makes sense then that as we grow, we 'grow into' our bodies and stretch out and these aches and pains gradually fade away. So I definitely recommend it if you're a fan of alternative therapy - one thing is for sure, it won't do any harm. And more than anything else, it's just lovely to talk to an expert about your baby for an hour or so! The osteopath was far more knowledgeable than any health visitor we've seen, that's for sure.

Read Part One of The Colic Diaries >

Read Part Two of The Colic Diaries >

THE RIVAL, my novel about career and motherhood, is on sale now. You can find out more about THE RIVAL here, and order here if you want to make my day. UNFOLLOW ME will be published in June.

Midweek Musings: Snoring and Sweater* dresses

*Yes OK, that should be 'jumper' dresses, but I liked the alliteration. I thought I'd start sharing some mini weekly updates of stuff that's been going on with me because there's all kinds of random things that happen during the week that don't quite deserve a blog post of their own, but nonetheless I feel the need to share/rant about. (I know I should call this my 'Gratitude List' or something but that would mean I wouldn't be able to moan ever. And I do like a good moan. So 'Midweek Musings' it is).

First up, this week we have a new neighbour in the flat downstairs. We are both very upset about this as we loved our old neighbours - they were a Bulgarian couple and the man was ridiculously good looking. I mean, RIDICULOUSLY -  he looked like a model. I think even Oli fancied him. They had two kids under three and were very friendly and nice and neighbourly and took in parcels for us and stuff like that. But (perhaps understandably) when their second baby was born they needed to move to a bigger place, so they left at the end of November.

I have yet to actually MEET our new neighbour, who moved in last weekend, but he has certainly made his presence known. He snores SO loudly that I can hear it through the floor - even with my new carpet. When the baby wakes at 3 for a feed, I now find it impossible to go back to sleep thanks to the low-level vibrationathon going on below me. It has to be the world's most irritating noise - mostly because it's not constant but just repetitive and too low to be drowned out even by my white noise app. This morning at 5am I was tempted to write him a note saying he snores so loudly he's stopping us sleeping and would he mind killing himself or moving out, but resisted. And yes I am aware we have an oft-screaming baby and thus are massive hypocrites, but long-term sleep deprivation tends to bring out the psychopath in you.

Anyone got any hints for drowning him out? I'm trying ear plugs tonight - hate the things as they usually fall out but am getting desperate!

In other news, we are both totally addicted to this new iPad game - Wordbrain. It's kind of like a load of crosswords but without clues. Hard to explain but worth a look if you're at all a fan of word puzzles. It's SO addictive! Even though I'm rubbish at it. And Oli is brilliant. Which is slightly annoying.

And finally, I've completely fallen in love with Hush clothes. They seem perfect for new mothers who don't just want to slob about in trackie bottoms all day. I want the whole damn AW15 collection, but I have just treated myself to this amazing jumper dress. It's literally like a great big sweatshirt made into a dress. Pared with my maternity leggings (which I am steadfastly refusing to give up until Chip is at least 21) it makes the perfect not-too-scruffy-but-still-super-comfortable outfit. I'm in love. I also want this fab silk shirt, but will have to wait for the sale for that one...

Sourcebook: My Bedroom

Oh isn't it lovely when you think of an idea for a SERIES for your blog? No effort involved, no racking of brains trying to find something of interest to share with the world. All the hard work is done already.

So here we go, without further delay and following on from my previous post all about my living room, it's time for the lowdown on all the bits and bobs in my teeny tiny bedroom. Yes, I do manage to fit ALL MY CLOTHES into that one built-in wardrobe and chest of drawers. Ha ha ha, only joking.

Enjoy. As ever, please leave me a comment if I've missed anything off or you have any queries! I do love talking interiors.

Wall colour (pink), Calamine, Farrow & Ball Wall colour (white), Brilliant White, Dulux Bed, Loaf Bedside tables, Ikea Bedside lamps, Original BTC Screenprint, by Clare Cutts from Baxters Gallery Framed postcards, frames from Habitat, postcards inherited Tissue box, The White Company Bedlinen, Laura Ashley Cushions, H&M Curtains, Dunelm Mill Storage baskets on top of wardrobe (just seen in first pic), Ikea

Chest of drawers, Ikea Clock, Heal's Mirror, Ikea Pigeon light, Thorsten van Elten Wicker washing basket, Debenhams Vase, inherited Glass storage jars, The White Company

Carpet, Wool Cord in Moon, Alternative Flooring Ottoman, Loaf Mirror, taken from an old wardrobe door, painted in Ammonite, Farrow & Ball

All photos copyright Houzz UK and taken by the supremely talented Chris Snook. 

The Colic Diaries: Colief and Comfort milk

In my last post about colic, I talked about how we found using Infacol and Gripe Water. Once we realised these weren't really touching the sides, we moved onto the big guns. First up, Colief.

Colief is a lactase enzyme that you put into baby's milk (it works with breast milk and formula) to reduce the level of lactose in the milk. It works on the belief that colic is caused by a baby's inability to digest lactose when they are tiny - until they are about three months old and their gut 'matures'. (Nice). Up until then, they get bloating and IBS like symptoms thanks to not being able to digest lactose, and it's this pain that makes them cry. Now, I don't quite now how Colief works for breastfeeding mums, but for us, we simply warmed Daphne's milk and put in four drops of this stuff half an hour before she needed to be fed. The warmth and the half an hour are required in order for the enzyme to do its job. Suffice to say, it was a bit of a faff.

We started using Colief when she was about six weeks old, I think. And we did see a big improvement in her wind - she definitely farted less and was much less 'burpy' after we started using it. We were quite pleased - it seemed to be helping and although she was still crying a lot at night, it was clear she was in much less pain than before.

However, Colief has one big downside - it costs a bloody fortune. It's about £12 for a tiny bottle that lasted just over a week. We asked the GP if she would prescribe it for Daphne, but she refused. I think you can get it on prescription but it depends where you live whether your Primary Care Trust reckons it's a medicine or not.

The other problem with Colief is sometimes we didn't have half an hour's warning before Daph wanted to be fed - and so it was all a bit hit and miss with whether the enzyme actually had time to work. After the occasional bottle left her crying and windy like before, we decided it would be easier and more consistent to move onto Comfort milk.

Comfort milk ostensibly does the same as Colief - it's already had much of the lactose removed, and it's also slightly thicker so it makes it harder for babies to gulp it, which means less wind. It says on the packet that it should only be used under medical advice, but I'm not sure anyone takes much notice of that.

I'd been putting off using Comfort milk, as I said before, because it only comes as a powder, not in ready-made bottles. So we had to start the whole palaver of sterilising the bottles and the powder and making it up with boiling water and leaving it to cool. Hence the acquisition of the wondrous Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep machine - which has done away with all this aggro and made it super easy to use.

The first time we gave Daphne Comfort milk, it was like some kind of magic drug - she fell asleep while drinking it, completely content and with no farting or burping or wriggling about. Sadly, this magic effect wore off after a couple of days, as she got used to the milk, but there's been a 100% improvement in her digestion since we put her on it. In that sense, it's been a bit of a miracle cure for us.

There are some downsides however. It makes Daphne's poo avocado green, which is somewhat alarming, but more upsettingly, her poos now absolutely STINK. To the point that when we change a nappy, we pretty much have to fumigate the room afterwards. But it's a small price to pay for a happier baby.

They say that when a baby reaches 3-4 months, their guts should have matured enough to be able to process lactose more easily, but I'm reluctant to change Daphne's milk again, so we're keeping her on the Comfort milk at least until she's weaned.

Next week, in my final thrilling post about colic, I'll talk about our experience with cranial osteopathy! Something to look forward to folks. The excitement! ;)

Read Part One of The Colic Diaries >

Read Part Three of The Colic Dairies >

THE RIVAL, my novel about career and motherhood, is on sale now. You can find out more about THE RIVAL here, and order here if you want to make my day. UNFOLLOW ME will be published in June.

Daphne's Christmas tree

Like most people, I bloody love Christmas. Despite living in a compact flat, every year I've insisted that O and I get a massive tree and go to town decorating it. It has to be real, of course (THE SMELL!). And every year if I'm honest it's kind of a bit of a pain in the arse getting it back from the garden centre, up the stairs, and into position without it being wonky or either of us wanting to yell at the other. I seem to remember last year being a particularly stressful affair - as I recall the net machine in Homebase was broken, it was pouring with rain and when we got home we realised a huge chunk of the tree trunk had to be sawn off because it was too wide for the stand (which took hours and nearly ruined my carpet), .

However, I usually have selective amnesia about how stressful getting a tree can be, and within five minutes of it being up and decked and covered in twinkly lights, I'm all oohs and aahs and wasn't that worth it.

But this year we have a baby. And having a baby seems to have made our flat even smaller than ever. Mostly because of the proliferation of baby gubbins that has taken over the living room. Also, Oli starts rehearsing a new show this week and then will be away for most of December, and I'm off to hunker down at my parents' house in the Surrey wilderness while he's gone.

So this year, we decided to go small. Get a tiny tree. In a pot this time, so that we can keep it alive and bring it out every year. We thought we'd make it Daphne's tree, so that every year she can have it in her bedroom, and decorate it how she likes. Apart from this year, of course, when she's too small so Mummy gets total control.

Mummy decided that, to go with the tiny tree, we needed a whole new batch of decorations, and we went with a woodland theme... little birds, hedgehogs and bunnies, and plenty of berries. All from our local garden centre, at the National Trust Morden Hall Park (sidenote: well worth a visit if you live in SW London!)

I love it. It's titchy but so cute and still brings lots of festive cheer to the living room, sitting quite happily alongside all the brightly coloured plastic that keeps Daph entertained while I'm writing these groundbreaking posts. Part of me wonders why I didn't go down the tiny tree route before - it's so much easier and cheaper and really does look adorable.

I also scattered a few tiny little touches around the room which are slightly more 'grown up'.

All I need now is the ubiquitous White Company Winter candle, and my Christmas decor is complete...

Sourcebook: My Living Room

OK, so apologies, I agree, 'Sourcebook' is supremely wanky. Who do I think I am? An interior designer? Fear not, no, I know my place - I just couldn't think of anything else to call this post.

Since my flat was featured on the very lovely Houzz UK a few months ago, and since I will very soon (hopefully) be moving out of it (if we can ever find anywhere to live), I thought I'd put some details down on the blog of where everything in each room is from. Lots of people keep getting in touch and asking me for details about things, and it's really LOVELY because it means I must have SOME taste (despite someone on Houzz commenting that my flat was 'a hybrid of girlie, retro, seaside, student, office, modern, with a twist of chic that I'm finding difficult to love' - I mean personally, I think that sounds kind of awesome, but hey, I guess I would).

First up, because it's the one with the most stuff in it: my living room. So here's a grand old list of where everything is from, in case you're interested. And, yes, I know, this blog post requires no creativity on my part. Ha.

Some things may no longer be available as they've been accumulated over several years - if so drop me a line and I'll try to find an alternative for you.

Hopefully I haven't missed anything - feel free to leave a comment if so and I shall get back to you forthwith!

Wall colour, Ammonite, Farrow & Ball Chimneybreast colour, White - not sure, probably Dulux Brilliant White Floor paint, Downpipe, Farrow & Ball Rug, bespoke from Alternative Flooring Sofa, Fancy Nancy, Sofa Workshop Coffee table, Ercol (from eBay) Armchair, Ercol (inherited) TV stand, Heal's vintage Grey chest, Garrat Storage Chest, Laura Ashley, painted in Plummett (I think! can't remember), Farrow & Ball Mirror above fireplace, 60s dressing table mirror from a junk shop White leather pouf, Heal's Large lantern, Nordic House Small lanterns, Debenhams Ceiling light, Habitat Blinds, Ikea Cushion on sofa, Sparrow & Co Throw on sofa, Melin Tregwynt Cushions on armchair, MissPrint (yellow) and Mini Moderns (grey) Chest of drawers in corner, antique, inherited (I would paint them but the top has a lovely patina so can't bring myself to) Art above sofa (not seen here but on first pic), framed pages from an old Vogue calendar

Bureau, inherited from my grandparents, 1950s Desk, The Pier - remember them!? I hate my desk and I actually have this amazing Sebastian Cox for Heal's one waiting for me in storage at the moment... if we can ever find that aforementioned new house Desk chair, Eames DSW Colour Sphere wall print, A Rum Fellow Bookcase, Ikea (where else!) Bunny lamp, The Little Baby Company Desk lamp, Homebase Bin, Ikea

Lamp and shade, Habitat Typewriter, eBay Chest of drawers, as before Lithograph by Alan Stones, from Baxters Gallery, Dartmouth

All photos copyright Houzz UK and taken by the supremely talented Chris Snook. 

The Colic Diaries: Infacol and Gripe Water

Hello there! I'm afraid this post will probably only be interesting to you if you have a baby with colic, or if you are about to have a baby and are concerned he/she may get colic. If not, you're probably better off skipping it as it'll be a bit of a snorefest. You have been warned!

However, if your baby has colic, then please let me send you a massive great big bear hug across the internet, and tell you that it's going to be OK. It really is. I promise. And don't worry if you sometimes feel like you want to throw your baby out of a window. Or get in the car and drive a very very long way away from the NEVER ENDING NOISE. It's normal. And you won't (throw the baby out the window, or run away).

I had no idea what colic was until about three days after Daph was born, when I finally had time to rummage through the Bounty pack they give you when you leave hospital. In it was a leaflet all about Infacol, explaining what colic was. I remember reading it and thinking it didn't sound too bad, and that it was good to know there was a 'medicine' that could take care of it. Ha!

Anyway for the first three weeks of her life Daph was pretty much a dream baby - she slept easily and often and although her waking times were unpredictable, she definitely slept well in the evenings, and we actually watched a bit of TV. Then at around three weeks, she started to get grumpy in the evenings. We noticed she was farting a lot, and always had a really tight tummy, but winding her was hard because she was so tiny. After a few days, the grumpiness turned into full-on crying sessions, with the typical arched back and legs they warn you about. It was then that I realised we were one of those 'lucky' one in five parents who have babies with colic.

No one seems to know exactly what colic is, or what causes it. Which seems ridiculous when you think they've been sending men into space since the 1960s. But anyway. Some people think it's related to digestive issues, whereas others say it's more about the baby's brain development - there's even a newish thing called 'the period of purple crying' which is now being touted about to reassure parents (and to stop them throwing their babies out of windows). I have my own theories - but for us, Daph's colic was definitely related to her digestion.

Colic is hideous. Forget waterboarding, stick a prisoner in a room with the soundtrack of a colicky baby's cry and they'd give up their secrets in seconds. Daphne would cry and cry for around three hours every night, every day, starting at about 8pm, without fail. She would cry as though she was in pain, but would have momentary pauses where she'd suddenly be all happy again, before the crying restarted. Nothing we did could stop her crying. Feeding her, bathing her, massaging her, singing to her, bouncing her, rocking her, cuddling her. None of it made any difference. When she was crying she would also fart a lot - as though the farting hurt her. It was pretty horrific - probably the hardest thing I've ever had to cope with.

Anyway, we tried so many things to help her, so I thought I'd do a series of posts about what we tried and what worked. First up: Infacol. This orange-flavoured syrupy substance apparently helps babies bring up wind by binding together all the trapped bubbles of air in their stomachs and making them easier to burp up in one go. It was the first thing we tried, and we used it religiously before every feed for two months. Did it help? I don't know. We spoke to our GP about it and she said that its real value is in calming the parents down as they believe they are doing something to help. She seemed very dismissive of it. We stopped using it after about eight weeks and I can't say that it made any difference when we gave it up. But by then, she was bigger and found burping easier. Daphne definitely liked it/the taste - and it always helped calm her down when we pipetted it into her mouth. So in that sense, I guess it had a soothing effect and was of some benefit.

As for Gripe Water - people have sworn by this for years. We only tried it a few times, mostly after she'd eaten and was screaming with wind, and again, it had the magical effect of distracting her for a few minutes. But otherwise, I think it did less than Infacol. It's also a pain in the arse to administer as it doesn't come with any kind of dropper device so you have to try to give it to the baby on a spoon, but it's ridiculously sticky and goes everywhere. In the good old days when we were kids it had alcohol in it, and so it basically got your baby so drunk she feel asleep. Not sure why they had to take the alcohol out but probably something to do with the WHO or the EU spoiling everyone's fun. Only kidding. Anyway I actually have half a bottle of it left so that shows you how little use it was for us.

If you have a baby with colic, I think both Gripe Water and Infacol are worth a try, but I do think what's more important is trying to work out why your baby is crying. If it's this 'period of purple crying' thing, then these are unlikely to have any effect, and really, you just have to ride it out (although I will say that not enough is said about overstimulating babies - why don't they warn you that tiny babies' brains can hardly cope with anything?!). However if it's a more obvious digestion issue, then they may help. But what helped us more with that was Colief, of which I'll write more in the next post...

Read Part Two of The Colic Diaries >

Read Part Three of The Colic Dairies >

THE RIVAL, my novel about career and motherhood, is on sale now. You can find out more about THE RIVAL here, and order here if you want to make my day. UNFOLLOW ME will be published in June.