Baby clothing brand and sizing

This blog is strictly my opinion and how it fits on Vincent.

Monkey Bars: This is a clothing line from Giant Tiger. Up to now this is my favourite brand for Vincent.  The clothes is pretty good quality for the price.  Vincent is really good at puking, therefore, needs to get his clothes washed a lot.  The clothes also stays in good condition. The sizing is pretty accurate.  Vincent does have small feet therefore the outfits that come with shoes don’t really work.  They do have cute outfits that comes with hats that work nicely.

George: PJ’s of this brand tend to be on the big and long side. I really enjoy it since Vincent is tall.  All PJ’s are the first that he outgrows them.  The one piece PJ’s are always longer than the other brands.  The quality does vary.  Sometimes the quality isn’t as good, but since babies’ grow out of it so quick that it doesn’t have time to fall apart.

Nursery Rhymes: Vincent has only had two or three pieces of this brand.  The clothing is pretty nice to the touch.  It’s very soft.  The sizing is also pretty accurate.  He was able to fit in all the pants, shirts and sweatshirts at the same time.  This is great because some brands don’t do this.  For example, Vincent will only fit in the shirt and not the pants.

Pekkle: The clothes from this name is made small.  Pretty small actually.   When Vincent was wearing clothes 0-3 months the pekkle clothes that was the same as this size was six months.  Pekkle clothing is very cute but the sizing is horrible.  I avoid buying this brand since you never know the real size of it.   Also the feet on the PJ’s are tiny.  Vincent has tiny feet and his feet look huge in these PJ’s.

Joe Fresh: I love Joe Fresh baby clothes.  They are very affordable.  Also, they have cute onesies with neat sayings. Also, the clothes goes on clearance quite often.  The clothes is also very nicely sized.  Something I also noticed is the clothes is very good at getting stains removed.  Vincent does many messes and I often forget to use stain removers.  Every time the clothes is out of the laundry it still looks brand new.

Gerber:  The only Gerber clothes Vincent got were given down from his cousins.  The quality is pretty good considering it went through two kids before him.  The sizing matches almost all the other clothing that has the accurate sizing.

Children’s Place:  Most of the clothes that come from here are onesies and PJ’s.  The onesies are a great price (online with free shipping).  The sizing is also good. When it comes to the PJ’s, they are great quality because they were bought at a consignment store.

Carters: This brand of clothing is bought at multiple places. The sizing's pretty good. The quality does change according to which store you buy from. The clothes from Walmart is pretty good quality. The pricing is good. Costco Carter PJ's $7. The quality isn't the greatest, but they are worth the money. They are made slim and long, which is good for Vincent. The ones you buy at the Carters store is the best quality, but the price is also twice more expensive than the other stores. All the sizing is the same. The Carters store does have nice onesies, but the pricing makes me shop at other stores.

CHEO NICU and Montfort Nursery

CHEO

When Vincent was at CHEO the week after he was born he was in the blue pod NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). Here is the layout of the NICU.

  Since Vincent was in intensive care, he had a private nurse.  The nurses at CHEO were great and cared for not only the babies but also the parents.  When I was released from Montfort, I went straight to CHEO to see Vincent.  The nurse was very good.  She described to me what every machine Vincent was on was doing. She also gave us all the results from the tests they did.  We also got to see the resident on duty.  For the whole week he was at CHEO he got snuggles from the nurses (once he was off CPAP). On New Years Eve, his nurse sang to him all night.  CHEO is really good when it comes to caring for babies.  They made sure he was bathed every second night.  They also changed his bed multiple times a day as soon as it got dirty.  As soon as Pat and I would arrive they would come in and talk to us how his night went.  They would help us take him out of his bed so we could carry him.  We needed help as he had tons of wires. CHEO also did rounds with over seven team members.  Whenever they changed the game plan on what to do, it was a group effort.

Montfort

Montfort is very different compared to CHEO, as he was no longer in intensive care.  He went from having a semi private nurse to a nurse for six babies at times. They didn’t have time to snuggle him.  Vincent had a very hard time adjusting therefore Pat and I went a lot to snuggle him.  We also had to get comfortable with all the beeping as the alarms weren’t as high tech as CHEO and would go off every time Vincent moved.  Pat and I also had to get used to him with wires as we didn’t get any help when taking him out of the bed. Montfort was great because they found out that Vincent has an allergy with milk, then we could finally find the perfect formula for him. There is a big chance his allergy will be gone before he is one. Until he starts food, Vincent is drinking puramino.  Thank god that OHIP + covers the formula.  Unlike CHEO, Montfort only bathed him every three days.  They would also do it during the night therefore we couldn’t help.  Montfort also did rounds.  There wasn’t a big team. It was only two or three members,  but when it comes to changing the game plan it was the doctor’s decision.  They didn’t talk it out.  Therefore, a few times the game plan would switch daily as it was different doctors.

Vincent did get good help at both places, but when it comes to admissions, CHEO is much better when it comes to comfort.  His pediatrician is at Montfort, but they do all his testing at CHEO.

Month 3

Vincent had a hectic month 3.   He had his first Easter, met some family members, went on a roadtrip with maman and grand-maman, and a hospital admission. Vincent. His first Easter was magical as it was the first real family supper with both the Saumure’s and Soucy’s.  On Good Friday, Vincent spent time with his cousins Jeremy and Rose Anne.  He also got to do a very cute Easter photoshoot with grand-papa Saumure.  On the Soucy’s side, Vincent got to meet his aunt Tanya and Roxanne and all the boys and Alycia.  As for the Saumures side of the family, we got to have dinner and then play family games. Vincent loved the snuggles of all the family members.

The weekend after Easter, grand-maman Saumure and maman went to Sudbury to visit maman’s side of the family.  Ilaria and Zeah were really happy to see Vincent, but sad that Pat wasn’t with us. We got to see many family members and relax. Here are some pictures.

Sadly a few days after coming back from Sudbury Vincent was admitted to CHEO with an UTI.  See previous blogs about his admission.

Urology Appointment

On April 30^th, Vincent had an urology appointment.  We waited two hours in the waiting room as his doctor was running late.  The doctor was very good and showed me pictures of what his kidneys looks like and how she came upon a diagnosis of VUR (Vesicoureteral Reflux).  VUR is when the ureter opening does not close properly and lets urine flow back up (reflux).  There are five different severity’s of it. Vincent is in between grade two and three.

The main condition that children with VUR have is UTIs.  Due to the recurring chance of UTIs, Vincent has been put on antibiotics until at least his first birthday. They will regularly change his dose as he gains weight.  He will get another ultrasound in six months’ time.  If by two years old it doesn’t fix itself then there is a small procedure they can do to fix it.  Right now there is a 63% chance of it fixing itself.  The procedure is them inserting a needle with gel to prevent urine to flow back to the kidney.

CHEO is a great hospital with all the specialists in one spot.  All the specialist up to now know Vincent’s pediatrician as she worked at CHEO.