Feeding time at the zoo?

As I might have mentioned, Jack has been a bit of nuisance in the feeding department - he's not too bothered about feeding from the breast, so they're saying that he's simply been a bit 'lazy'. But today, Sue (another brilliant midwife who has spent lots of time with Claire over the last couple of days in helping her to try having Jack laying on her in different positions to try and help him feed better), was asking questions about the epidural that Claire had, as well as any other forms of pain relief, as there is a good chance that he could have been still be up on something that Claire's had. Either way, he has needed a bit of a formula milk as an essential 'top-up' in order to get him going, so that he's strong and awake enough to try to feed properly himself.

The midwives have said that they'd want to see Jack feeding properly (breast or formula) but regularly too, before they are allowed to return home, which I am pleased about really, as:

1. It shows that they are interested and concerned enough for his health
2. It gives Claire more time to heal properly after the caesarean
3. I get our bed all to myself again for another night

All valid concerns, but today he has done much better than before, and he's learning that he's got to 'work' for his food, as there ain't no such thing as a free lunch in this world. It was really great to watch and see him already trying to re-use a skill he's just picked up a moment or two ago, regardless of how small but important the skill might be, but then seeing him get confused later on and try to suck on my arm when I was holding him was quite funny, but he was actually 'searching' for a boob. [insert your own joke here].

So, what I mean about all of this is that at two days old, it shows that a tiny, vulnerable baby is already alert enough to learn, as I think it's easy to assume that babies are just poo-cry-poo all the time and don't learn anything.

Slight tangent off here, but Claire has a book called The Social Baby, which is the only one that I've read more than a few page of (and that's because there's lots of photos on each page!), and in there are photos of a dad holding his newborn baby; whilst holding the baby, he sticks his tongue out at the baby, holds it there, and pulls it back in again, and does this a few times. During the time that his is tongue hanging out, the baby looks at him, looks at the tongue and then looks away as though he's thinking about it, and then tries to imitate his dad, and he does do it after just a few goes! Either that or they have missed out a few more pictures from the process, but when I first read it I thought that it doesn't seem very likely or believable, but when you look at each photo, for which there are lots on the pages, it becomes more and more plausible. So, I've been trying it with a two-day old Jack, and he's already trying to stick his tongue out, which is absolutely fascinating! I also overheard one of the other mums telling one of her older children to stick their tongue out at their new baby brother to see if he'd copy. But we had been trying it first, so there!