Hello Feb 04 mums?

[cuppy]

Hi

I'm new to this, having just had 1st dd 8 wks ago (Valentines Day).

Would be great to get to share stuff with other new mums. Couldnt see a thread out there for this already.

So hows it going? What you expected? Feeling like a zombie most of the time? I still cant believe I've even had a child - am i normal?

[Ghosty]

Hi cuppy ...
I started writing and then DS came along and clicked the mouse so I don't know where my message went!

My DD was born on the 3rd Feb (10 weeks ago) ... I am posting on the January thread but will join you here too ... any excuse to talk about my princess!

I know what you mean about not believing that you are a mum ... it took me months to get my head around having a baby when I had DS 4 years ago ... you will get used to it, I promise!

You will also get used to the tiredness. It never goes away really but you just get used to it!

How is your DD ... feeding well? How about sleep? Tell all ...

[cuppy]

Hi ghosty...

My dd is absoloutely adorable! I love her so much and just want to spend all my time with her. She had her first set of jabs yesterday!

She isn't the contented lttle baby I had hoped though. I did b/f exclusively till 6 wks and shes been on formula for the past couple of weekks but the longest she ll go between feeds is 3hrs. I am struggling not to give her a dummy as I'm sure she just wants to suck.

However she does have a block sleep of 8 hrs at night and am very gtrateful for that,

Shes just chilling in her bouncy chair at the moment looking at her c.d's on the fridge, listening to a bit of wil young.

Is it easier 2nd time round then?

[fernyburn]

Hi,
This is my first time posting, I had a dd on feb 17th, and i am totally besotted with her.

My name is ronnie and im 33. I live in poole, dorset and this is my 1st child, I suddenly realised that I was maternal, after vowing to everyone that Id never have children !!!!.

I cant beleive how much joy she has already brought to me and dh, Im still not over the emotional bit yet.... doubt I ever will be

I also cant get over how much Ive learnt. never even changed a nappy before I had her, no experience of children at all, and now im planning number 2 ...........

[californiagirl]

I was supposed to be a Feb mum -- ended up March. But I just wanted to say to cuppy that Valentine's Day is a great birthday, that's when I was born.
(And I guess if ghosty can post on January's thread, I can post on this one, my DD was March 4 and is just 6 weeks today.)

DD sleeps well, but had mastitis at 8 days, and now has what I think is late-arriving newborn acne. It doesn't seem to bother her any, but my goodness does it look horrible. I am still nervous and often tearful, and am sulky that my 6-week checkup this morning made me bleed some, that never happened before (it also hurt like the dickens).

My maternal surprise was bursting into tears and saying I didn't want to give my baby to strangers and go work in some stupid office. I will probably change my mind at some point (it would be nice as I normally earn 2x what DH does) but now we are planning for me to do only a little consulting until she's 6 months. The whole childcare issue still panics me, I've only left the house twice without her (to go shopping for her both times, how pathetic is that?) We are leaving her with her grandfather for the first time tonight.

[cuppy]

Well theres not many of us out here is there? Fernyburn - I know exactly how u feel. For two days after the birth I was in shock - couldnt believe so much pain was possible - and swore never again. By the third day I was declaring I was born to be a mother and wanted loads more (children that is , not pain).
DD is now 9 weeks old and I am now bottle feeding her after 6 wks of b/f. She is taking 4/5 oz per feeed but is feeding every 2/3 hours. (less if dh home) does this sound normal?

[fernyburn]

hi cuppy

yes thats sounds normal to me....

I have been really worried about my dd, with the amount she eats. In fact I was told to stop feading on demand and feed every 3 hours.

I only bf for 2 days, as it was total agony,
DD was born at 8lb 2oz, it took her 2 weeks to get back to her birth weight, by 3 weeks she was feeding 13 times day/night approx 35 ozs aday. She is now nearly 9 weeks (17/02/04) and takes 5 - 6 oz 7 times a day .....

she is a big girl, on the 91st centile, for weight, head, and length, her 0 - 3 months babygrows, are looking tight already.

when you compare her with other babies of her age... she is huge ....
but beautiful.


I was really lucky, i managed to get through the delivery without any pain releif, in fact the stitches afterwards were agony..

Yes im already planning number 2, my husband is a lot older than me, so we hope to start trying again in aug / sept so that there will be a 16 month age gap.

[cuppy]

Snap! My dd is also on 91st centile - she was 7lb 15oz but never actually lost any weight - by 6 wks she was 11lb 15oz. She seems absoloutely huge compared to when we first brought her home.

This demand feeding is ok when your b/f but now we're on bottles I just expected dd to go a bit longer than 2/3 hrs. Problem is when dh is home - if she cries he insists we should feed her so Im not getting a chance to see if shell go a bit longer between feeds.

My labour wasnt as I'd hoped - 27hrs in total. I just wasnt dilating so after 20 hrs had an epidural, which I was quite gutted about. Still, I had a normal delivery with no stitches , and the most beautiful baby so I'm happy. When she was born I just remember looking down thinking " oh my god theres a child between my legs!"

Hows your baby doing at night time? My dd has a good sleep from about 7 then will wake anywhere between 12 and 2am and then possibly again a bit later too! Im very tired.

We are taking her on her first holiday to the seaside for 5 days today - I must remember to pack her bucket and spade!

[fernyburn]

lol... cant see your baby doing much digging !!!

I live in Poole Dorset, so we get to go to the beach alot as we are surrounded by water.

DD just about goes 3 hours during the day, night times are a bit erratic.

she usually gets her bottle between 8 - 9pm, and generally awakes at 1.30 am for a 6oz feed, the she goes straight off to sleep, and awakes at about 5am, when dh gives her a cuddle in bed for an hour or so, then feeds her about 6ish.

Last night though she slept through until 4am, until I woke her, cos I thought she was stirring, got up and made her bottle, (still sooo cold at nights) got back and she was asleep again, waited 45 mins, then lifted her out and changed her. she went back to sleep, and reawoke at 7.30 after dh had left for work... so he never even had a cuddle (

well id better go, got baby sick all down me again !!!!!

[tabitha]

Hello,

my dd was born on 5th Feb. She's my 4th (I already have 2 other dds and 1 ds). She weighed 8lbs 10 1/2oz at birth. Don't know what she weighs now - haven't had her weighed for 3 weeks as the older ones have been on school hols and I've been too busy refereeing fights and keeping them entertained.
She had been sleeping well at night, waking once between 11pm & 7am but for the last few days she's been on antibiotics, which has given her a bit of an upset tummy so she's been waking more often.
Enjoy your holiday cuppy - I thnk the weathers meant to improve by Friday so you might get some sun.

[Hayls]

Hello
My dd was born on the 29th Jan so almosta February baby! SHe was 7lb2oz at birth and was 14lbs 4 this morning- she likes her food! THere is a January 2003 thread but it's quiet and a lot of us on there actually gave birth in February so we might be better on the same thread- what do you think?

[cuppy]

Sounds good Hayls!
Well as you can see I'm obviously not on holiday anymore. We left at 3pm Mon and came home at 3pm Tues! What a disaster! The place was a s*hole, to put it politely.
Our "appartment" had a rotten door, a bath that was older than me, and bunkbeds for dh and I. This did not bode well with him so they moved us to a "better" one - apparently.
It was slightly better. Until...
For your electric you had to buy cards to go in a meter. When I woke in the morning the card had ran out but the extra two I had didnt work. How nice, when you have a 9 week old child ready for her bottle!
It got progressively worse but I will not bore you. So we packed up , took a visit to the beach to take a pic of dd so she can see her first ever holiday,and left.
I realise that a year ago the accomodation wouldnt have really mattered, as dh and I would have been out night and day and only using it to sleep off the alcohol. But now i have a child its all VERY different! I hope i'm not going to be an overprotective mum.
Changing the subject totally - Is anyone following the contented little baby book? Im reading it now and am wondering wether to give it a bash.

[fernyburn]

I think thats an excellent idea

[Hayls]

Cuppy, I bought the book and TBH I couldn't stop laughing. It just didn't fit in with us so I gave it away to someone. I have heard that some people swear by it so it could be worth giving it a go. Sorry your holiday was such a disaster, like you say our standards change after having babies!

My dd is still feeding every 2 hours (breast fed), although she can go through the night with 1 or 2 feeds during 12 hours- does this seem a bit much? I don't mind really (love snuggling up with her) and she is definitely hungry whenever I feed her but a lot of other babies seem to go a lot longer!

[cuppy]

I only b/f for 6 week s Hayls so I dont know much , but my dd was waking twice in night for feeds when I was feeding her.
Last night she went through from 7pm till 6am - typical when it was dh night on patrol! My turn tonight - I'm sure she'll wake.

[chatee]

hi.
my ds is 8 weeks and i still can't believe how lucky i am.dd is 3.5 and absolutely smothers him with love
still managing to bf which i am enjoying but wish dh could occasionally help out as ds can be a nightmare some nights but most nights seems to be bed at 8.30pm(after a mega bf session that lasts an hour) wakes around 2.30-3.30am and then again at 6-6.30am, only problem is he is so windy and that can take a good 45 mins to help him settle.
went to my first baby massage class yesterday and it was sooo nice
anyway got to dash ....chat later xxxx

[morocco]

thought I might sneak on here even though ds2 was born 4th march (so snap - californiagirl - in fact I remember reading you were going in for your induction as I was having contractions with my little one who arrived a few hours later)

finally ds is showing signs of going more than 3 hours between feeds - including all night feeds, in fact often more than that at night. he managed 6 hours last night and the night before, well actually from 7pm to around 1am so not that fantastic for me but there you go!

I've already got one ds who's just coming up to 19 months - it's really hard work and I spent the first few weeks in I guess a kind of hormonal 'oh my god I've just ruined his life' black cloud but now feel loads better and enjoy watching ds1 stroking his brother's hair and playing with his fingers - strictly supervised play only though as he's also quite likely to try and stand on his head to see what happens
ds2 needs constant stimulation when awake or he screams- are yours like that too?

[cuppy]

Hi Morocco...
My dd is quite content as long as she has something to look at-anything will do. Sometimes shes happy just to lay on her changing mat and look up at the sky!

She has been doing the 'banana' alot at the moment - when on her back lifting her head and legs at same time. In fact she does it all the time - she wont lie in bed anymore for an early morning cuddle. She'll have a six pack if she carries on and shes only 10 wks! Cant help worrying about her hurting herself though.

[Sha1]

hello there I'm new to this as you can see.

Ds was born feb 9th. What a shock to the system I had big plans to carry on working from home until m/L was over in Aug. Not a chance ds is such a handful what did I do with all that time before.
At about 5 weeks i got the Gina ford book it was my life saver. the first day he went into it I couldn't believe I had 2 1/2 hrs at noon and dinner with dh too. It has taken a lot of effort to make keep it up but its easier now.
only last week I moved ds onto to a bottle of the last feed and 5 nights in a row he has slept through to 7am.

[busybee123]

Hi. My ds2 was born on 11th February. I had a home birth and it was great (well as far as giving birth goes!!) I knew what to expect with having 2 other children before, but the tirednedd still gets you. He is a very colicky baby. I stopped b/f at 3 weeks as he was feeding for hours at a time, then still wanting more the next hour. Completely impractical with 2 toddlers as well, so for my sanity I put him on formula, and more settled for it. He has between 8 and 10 5-6oz feeds a day at the moment. I don't really have any friends so would love to chat with anyone!!!

[Sha1]

Hello BB it can get very lonely during the day with only babies to talk to.

How have the toddlers taken to ds2? this is my first baby but my friend is having awful trouble with her 2.5 ds she plays up every time she goes to feed ds2 and wont use the potty will go anywhere but in it for attention.

[californiagirl]

DH started work yesterday. It's a great job for him, with a well-known company which he can ride his bike to, and we need both the money and the health insurance, and I'm sooo miserable! On his first day he lost track of time and didn't get home until nearly 7:30 and then I wept for a solid hour. He's getting pressure to go on a team-building exercise, white-water rafting, in 2 weeks, and he's never tried white-water rafting, which is the kind of thing he loves, but he's not going to go because of us, and I'm both relieved and terribly guilty. He spent a day in the air-conditioning being told how valuable he was while I sat around in the heat dealing with a poopy baby, but I feel so bad that I'm not happy for him, too.

[californiagirl]

Mostly DD is pretty good at amusing herself; I thought she'd given it up this morning, but then realized that I was so muddled I'd gotten my times wrong and the poor mite was hungry. I wish she'd learn to give hunger cues. Instead, she sticks her tongue out and sticks her hands in her mouth after she's been fed, so everybody is forever telling me she's hungry when she's not. When she is hungry she just generally fusses, the same way she fusses when she's tired or bored. And does anybody else's baby have an obsession with high-pitched noises, particularly squeakers?

[cuppy]

Californiagirl...
How did you get on leaving your dd with grandad?

I left dd with my sister on Sat night and I was actually ok. Only because I trust my sis totally.

Its my birthday tomorrow and Id love to go out to celebrate but all the people I'd trust with dd I'd want with me.

Am looking forward to receiving my first ever mummy card.

[californiagirl]

Baby and grandfather both very happy; he put on violin music so she'd have something squeaky to listen to, and the only thing that flummoxed him temporarily was the snaps on her sleeper (DH once swore to me that it wasn't his fault, there was a missing snap, on the same sleeper). I was perfectly calm. Of course, I wouldn't go more than 15 minutes drive away, we were only gone 2 hours, and I checked to make sure my cellphone was working every 5 minutes. But aside from that, completely casual. Oh, except for the 45 minutes of stalling before we left her. My father wants to do it again...

[cuppy]

Well we're all very quiet aren't we? Hope everyones doing well. Am after a bit of advice actually.

Dd is now 12 weeks and dh and I are still clashing over her feeding. She roughly has about 30oz of formula a day , which is about right for her weight. The thing is shes having this in about 7- bottles. I make her 6oz feeds but she only finishes 50% of them.

The situation is this - as soon as dd gets fractious dh feeds her and its usually only about 2 hrs after her last feed ( 3 hrs MAX). She then only has maybe 3oz of her 6oz bottle. I think this is due to her being fed not too long ago - whats happening is she is snacking every two hrs instead of waiting longer and having a proper meal.

When when we first put her on bottles at 6 wks we demand fed her the same as her breastfeeding but now that she is 3 months Im thinking she should go longer between feeds.

Ive tried explaining to him that we need to try and make her last longer between feeds but he says she shouldnt have to cry for a feed and that I shouldnt force her into a routine.

Is that what im doing and I just cant see it? I just want her to have all her milk and go longer between feeds thats all. Am I wrong - is she too young. Any opinions gratefully received.