(In the mornings, my son, Michael, makes me tea while I nurse our little one beside the stove. What a sweetie!! Edited to add: the funny little face in the background was made after our little girl dunked a biscuit in my tea, forgot as she was mid-dunk, and just as the photo was taken the biscuit melted into the tea… after all my warnings to her!!!!!)
A few days before our Little Man was born I ended up in hospital with a rotten infection- I spent the days in isolation (with my own TV!! We don’t have a television at home, but the novelty wore off after about ten minutes when I realised there was nothing on any of the nine channels; didn’t stop our children’s channel-surfing every time they came in though) After four days of IV antibiotics fluids and stuff to take down my temperature (they weren’t sure what was wrong with me and my temperature went completely mad for three days before it came down to normal) I ended up having a C-section…
Thanks to all that, my insides were in flitters and both Baby and I ended up with candida 🙁 …
(and I with several other mad, crazy things)
I’ve been using homeopathy with great success, and have been using cloth nappies (diapers) to help clear the nappy/diaper rash (coconut oil on his skin also- anti bacterial and anti-viral; gosh how I love that oil!!)
I had hoped to use cloth from day one, but what with having the C-section that was put on hold until I could organise myself properly. When Baby developed the diaper rash, I promptly began using cloth, but came up with a problem: I had no wraps small enough for him. Hence, Necessity being the Mother of Invention.
My good friend, Bernadette, mentioned making wool wraps, (also anti-bacterial and super-breathable) and so today I went looking for my stash of felted jumpers. I found two arms of a jumper (thanks Terri, that jumper has had many lives since!!) and whilst changing our little sweetpea I cut out and fit this wool wrap. It was very easy, and once I had it cut out only took a couple of minutes to sew up on the machine.
A quick tutorial!
My plan was to make a pair of wool “shorts” (I know as my beloved mother reads this she is having palpitations at the thought of wool next to her skin… but truly, it is soft and completely non-itchy!) so I cut the arms to approximately 10 inches long
(Measure? What? Me?!)
There was a bit of a seam which I cut out and made a slit to the top of the cuff.
I turned one leg right-side out and lined up the other leg inside it.
With the machine I sewed from where the waistband would be, to the other side.
As the body looked a bit wide, I re-sewed a centimetre or two in to make a snugger fit.
Thankfully I still had the neck band of the jumper, and so measured how wide the waistband needed to be, and sewed it on, stretching the ribbed neckband as I sewed
I think the wool shorts look hilarious, but most importantly they do the job perfectly.
(look at those skinny little legs!!!)
Tomorrow I am going to make another wrap based on a triangle of wool fabric (Even easier than this one, typically I only found the pattern online after I made this one)
Oh, who can resist a fluffy cloth bottom?!
Oh, that is sweet! And baby is sweet too! <3
I’m so sorry to hear about your unexpected complications – and grateful that you both are feeling much better. How sweet that your son brings you tea! And I may be asking about those homeopathics as my pregnant daughter may have yeast…
those wool shorts are so adorable emily! i’m so sorry you were so sick! that’s kind of scary. i’m glad you are back and better. take care of yourself and don’t forget to rest. big hug em!
He’s a real little wesht of Ireland child now, in his grey woollen shorts.
Oh my goodness, Emily, I’m so sorry that you were so sick you ended up in hospital. That is awful & scary! I so thankful that you & baby came out of healthy, minus the candida & other stuff you suffered from. Love the wool diaper you made him. I’ve heard really good things about wool diapers & want to use them for 2 of my children for night time. But I need to see if my Mom would sew, following your tutorial, some for me. I love how simple you made it. They are way too expensive to buy so once we get out our winter clothes, I’ll see if there are some wool sweaters that need to be retired.
ohmigosh! he is absolutely beautyful. peach fuzz head. I bet he smells like a glorious newborn! I want one now… :0) nice wool shorties! i never did try them although always meant to.