Emily Allium... The Great Thinker.  I love this pose, she's considering something deep I suspect, like when her next feeding will be... or how she can get her diaper changed quickly, or what it`s like to be an astronaut??

So, we've been dealing with gas issues and it's kinda hard for me to bear witness to.  Sometimes she passing wind like the best of 'em, but other times there is such struggle and agony on her beautiful little face that I'm brought to tears with a desire to make it stop.  Thankfully she doesn't cry like I've read about for "colicky" babies, but she's definitely not enjoying herself when she has an ``episode``.  I bought a bottle of organic gripe water the other day and feel somewhat comforted to have it in the house, but haven't been able to bring myself to give it to her yet.  I'm hesitant to put anything other than breast-milk in her... she's only 4 weeks old!  And although it`s all natural, it does contain a bit of baking soda which will affect her pH balance somewhat (more alkaline).  I don`t want to mess with that, although a bit of gripe water now and then will not likely make much of a difference.

My husband and I put a call out to our midwives to get their opinion on giving her a teeny-bit of yoghurt, or perhaps a few drops of whey, to see if that introduces the good intestinal flora she needs to assist with the digestion process.  Will post when we get a response on that.  I know we don't introduce foods until 6 months, but I suspect a few little drops of yoghurt/whey might not hurt and may even help.  I know, I know... this is a process that babies go through as they develop their digestive system, but it's so hard to watch her struggle.  At least the episodes are not long and drawn out, and she does eventually get out a whole lot of gas (how can one tiny belly contain that many farts!).

Apart from that, she's incredibly super.  Not too fussy, and even enjoys a little alert time on her own.  The past few nights have been good as well, with pretty quick feeds and back to sleep for two hours.  She still falls deep asleep when we go for our afternoon walks (in the awesome vancouver early-spring sunshine... I've been in t-shirts and sandals all week!).  I suspect the stimulus of the outside world is still just too much for her to handle, so she sleeps through it all and processes it when we get back.

Babies:  no manual, but a lot of intuition and instinct required.