It was hot here the last few days. Two days ago, when Alex woke up I noticed red areas with raised bumps on his inner thighs, right outside his diaper. I worried about it a bit, but didn't do more than put some of his diaper ointment on it. That day we ran a few errands--the pharmacy and the library--and he did great! I'm trying to do something outside most days just to make sure that he continues being OK with his car seat and stroller.
Then we also walked to the grocery store. I knew it was hot, but it seemed fine to me. Perhaps it is just that after living in the heat of Greece with no air conditioning, but as long as I have air conditioning to come back to, it doesn't seem that hot to me. It was perhaps 100, give or take a degree or two. As we were walking to the store, a man puttering around in his garage looked at us and said, "You're a better person than I am!" Anyway, we made it to and from the store without incident. Alex did great in his stroller, and seemed content.
That night we took of his clothes for bath time, and he had red splotches all over his chest and tummy. I freaked out a little, but Navid thought it was either due to his onesie being too tight, or to the heat. Alex splashed and enjoyed his bath as usual, so didn't seem to be in much pain. I called the advice nurse at Kaiser, and from my description she also seemed to think it was heat rash. So she advised us to keep him cool, and not to swaddle him to sleep when it is so hot.
So that night Alex slept naked in the living room in his hammock, with the air conditioner going all night. And he slept very well. I, on the other hand, did not. I started out sleeping on the couch in the living room, but went back to the rather warm bedroom at about 3. Navid brought Alex in to eat an hour or so later, and he stayed in bed with me. Without being swaddled, he moves around constantly. It is like sleeping with a windmill. Alex also decided to wake up when Daddy did (about an hour and a half before we usually get up), and wouldn't go back to sleep. So, I was exhausted the next day.
Yesterday the red spots were very nearly gone, so it seems it was a reaction to the heat. Even though it was a little cooler outside yesterday, I stayed home with Alex all day to keep him air conditioned. I also am moving him up to the next size of onesies.
I was so tired that I decided to take a nap during one of his naps. In fact, I think I actually fell asleep before he did. And was awoken by him crying. Still extremely groggy, I took him over to the couch with me, and after feeding him I tried valiantly to get him to fall asleep again and sleep with me. No deal. I begged him to sleep so that I could sleep some more. He wiggled around and cried. So we went down to the floor to play with his toys. And he was so fussy there too. I was so tired that I just started to cry. He looked at me quietly then, perhaps trying to figure out what was going on. After shouting and fussing for about half an hour, he decided that perhaps he was tired after all. So I put him back in the hammock and rocked him to sleep again. After that I was too keyed up to sleep, but did rest a bit on the couch.
Thankfully, my husband made dinner last night, and tried to get me to go to sleep early. I tried, but Alex stayed up past his usual bed time, then decided that he had too much energy to sleep. He finally went to sleep at about 10:30. I slept better last night, and Navid took Alex in the morning when he woke up at 8 so that I could keep sleeping. I couldn't sleep again, but I stayed in bed for a while resting. It was nice!
The pictures are from this morning, when Alex was practicing sitting up. I like to have him practice in bed, so that he has a nice soft landing when he falls. As you can see, he really enjoys the practice!
No comments:
Post a Comment