July 2010: The end is nigh... To antenatal we say goodbye!

[stac14]

We're all nearly at the end so here is our last antenatal thread

kk we have had the same with rileigh but at the moment we are only giving her half a sachet of gaviscon per bottle. I dont think it totally cures it, i'm just trying to persevere and if its not helping by mid week i'll get back onto the hv. I thought you were out last night, have a good night tonight

mlic hows williams cold? Hope you get a better night x

QUICK QUESTION: Im sterilizing 3 dummies, they're in the microwave now, it says in the booklet if I dont open the sterilizer they will stay sterile for 24 hours, obv I need to open it to use 1 dummy tonight.
Where can I put the other 2 dummies to stay sterile?
Leave them in there or take them out and put their caps on?
If I take them out where can I put them so that they stay clean?

dont know if its right or wrong dh but i just put the caps on them straight away and leave them in there. really hope the dummie gives you some peace x
gracie that sounds awful. hopr they get to the root of the problem quickly and its not too serious.the poor little mite.
just about to get my clothes on now for out. god there's so much to get organised before you go out when you have a baby! no such thing as a last minute decision to go out! but everything done now and she's in her jammies and mum is going to keep her in with her tonight so its all systems go!

gracie sorry your having problems with feeding, must be so frustrating hope the mw can help with elles feeding, thinking of you hun.
dh when i bought my dummies it said put them in cup of hot water for 5 mins to sterelise them rather than actually putting them in steriliser, would this be easier for you as you arent using bottles? cant remember who gave me advice on starting with the dummy but they said sort of hold the dummy in their mouth and softly rub side of his head to sooth him so he will get used to keeping it in, this tip was really helpful to me, good luck with tonight
Lyndon has just drank 8oz!! i gave him 5 and he was crying for more!! hope this isnt the norm as hes only been taking 4, seems like a big jump in a day!!!?

Thanks for the advice kk, memphis and mlic.
I really hope they settle him, he was really tired a couple of hours ago and wouldnt settle unless sucking on boob so he's definitely a suck-to-sleep baby.
Wish me luck!

dh good luck with the dummy, i gave one to riliegh the day after she was born. Hope it works

mlic its horrible when thier ill, hope the being sick has broke up the mucus

kk have a ball and tell all 2m lol

memphis thats an amazing jump, maybe its his growth spurt. Bet he has a good sleep after that x

DH I wouldn't worry too much about the sterilising. A cup of boiled water sounds fine for a breast fed baby.

My doula and GP told me not to bother sterilising for DS1 because he was fully breast fed. Haven't asked about Elisha, but I'm assuming the rules haven't changed. I only used a dummy for one night whilst we were in hospital (felt guilty about her crying waking up the other 4 women on the ward), but none of the MWs mentioned anything about sterilising to me.

Hi everyone
So sorry I haven't been on in a while. I got an infection in my c-ection wound so have been pretty wiped out for the last two weeks. I was on 12 antibiotics a day and I'm feeling a lot better now. Although the antibiotics were having an effect on my milk so Iris was very fussy all of last week. Poor wee soul - she's much more settled this week

It's been interesting reading all of your feeding routines. For the first four weeks we were a bit erratic. I was breastfeeding on demand like the midwives told me to, but last week I decided to impose a routine for night feeds as DH went back to work and I knew I needed energy for during the day. So, we have found a routine that works!! I let Iris feed whenever she wants during the day, never letting her go for longer than two hours at a time. Then from 6pm onwards she feeds every 60-90 mins. At 10pm I take her to the nursery for her dream feed - I wake her up if she's sleeping...although she rarely sleeps in the evenings! The 10pm feed lasts for about 45 mins then we put her straight into her bath, then get her dressed and swaddled for bed. DH gets her down for about 11.30pm. She sleeps until 3.30am then feeds for about 30 mins, then gets her nappy changed and back to bed for 4.30am. She then wakes again between 7-7.30am for breakfast. Goes down for a nap at 8.30am then wakes about 10ish and stays awake pretty much the rest of the day! She seems to be thriving though - she's over 9lbs now - yay! The dummy has been a lifesaver as it has meant my nipples are getting a chance to recover during feeds .

Oh, quick question...does anyone else have a grunting baby? Iris grunts like a little piglet during the night. Sometimes she sounds a bit like Marge Simpson....

I'll post a new picture of Iris to my profile!

Hope you're all well - I've missed all of your chat! x

Hello ladies,
DH I really feel for u, its such a shame things are a struggle. Its not altogether straight forward here ether. I have now introduced a bottle and whilst i am broken hearted about doing it its a relief that its not all on me any more. My nipples are not really healing so when i do BF i use the shields but this morning i have a really tender boob, very tender to the touch but feels like its right inside, very painfull. Im really fed up of boob problems, just want to feel back to normal.
We are giving a bottle in the evening after he has drained both boobs, he doesnt usually have it all so we take it up to bed with us and when he wakes for his midnightish feed DH gives him the rest of the bottle and he seems to settle for the next 2-3hrs. It says to disgard unfinished milk, does anyone have an opinion about that?
DH Isnt it stupid that once opened its not sterile, i have a microwave bottle one and its the same, i get one bottle out then put it back in the mic again, only using a few bottles a day its no biggie. If i filled some bottles up with boiled water, but didnt make the formula how long would that last??
Its such a mind field isnt it. Im sure we are thinking too much about it all and should just use our common sense.
gracie How horrible for u,really hope they get it sorted quick. Must be very hard to deal with, thinking of u.

I haven't got to the cinema yet, MyLifeIsChaotic. I'd arranged to go tomorrow with a friend, but they're showing Karate Kid instead of Toy Story 3. I'm not really interested in seeing Karate Kid, so I'll wait and see if they're showing anything better next week.

I feel happy today, I managed to exclusively BF yesterday. I was inspired by the stories some of you are posting up to give another try to keeping up with Mindy's evening cluster feed. It meant I was feeding continuously between about 3pm and 10pm (I got through several films...), but then she fell asleep without any formula top up! Yay!

Slight negative is that she then proceeded to wake up every two hours overnight for more food instead of giving me three to four hour gaps as normal. But she settled down straight away after each feed, so it wasn't so bad. I have no plans today and she seems to not be feeding quite so manically as the past few days, so I should be able to doze a bit and catch up on rest.

So yes, thanks to everyone posting their BF stories! They've been very inspiring.

I'm glad to report that I seem to have escaped relatively unscathed from the epic feeding session yesterday, no apparent cracks or bleeding this morning. Phewf!

As a side query for those with older children... Did anyone attend any of the Baby Signing classes? They run some Sing and Sign classes in my area and I was considering signing up (no pun intended...) to attend a 10 week course in January when Mindy is 6 months old. Is it worth it?

I've also found a local Mum and Tots group to attend from September. Things to get me and Mindy out of the house and meeting other parents and children nearby! None of my local friends have kids at present and my family all live at least 100 miles away, so I'm quite isolated. Poor Mindy is the first child born in mine and DHs family for a generation, so she has no cousins or similar aged relatives.

Hello again, I've posted a new photo of Iris at 5 weeks here. She's getting so big!

vik I have no idea when it comes to sterilizers, I BF too so have literally only used it for the dummies.
Ill use it when I express and then have the same problems all over again!

violet Iris is adorable, she really has got big hasnt she?!
Also Dylan grunts all night long its pretty ridiculous I cant sleep through it at all!

Last night, we didnt even use the dummy in the end, we put him on top of the duvet and he fell asleep so we left him there and he slept for an hour or so, woke up for a feed. I then laid him next to me in the bed so I could put my arm round him and SSHHH in his ear whilst dozing of myself and he falls asleep.
I really didnt want to co-sleep, Im still really scared Ill squash him but at least I got a bit more sleep (I think!)

violet she looks so sweet!
DH I wouldnt be worried about co sleeping, i had Devon in bed for a few hours last night, its taken me a while to find a comfy position but now i love having him by me, its such a special time and all he wants is comfort.
I do have a boob problem, gona lookn up mastitis, does anyone have any experience with this. Its slightly red and very tender to the touch with shooting pains. TUT!! whats with my boobs!!!

spirael I totally recommend baby signing - it's awesome if your LO takes to it. I took DD to a few sing & sign classes but ended up teaching her myself cos I didn't gel with the group. At 7 mths she could ask for milk and then she didn't do anything til 13mths which was frustrating but then she suddenly took off with everything we could teach her. At 20 mths she can 'tell' us so much stuff and ask for specific things rather than just wail. When I was in hospital she came to visit the first day and mum wasn't going to bring her the next day but she went into the garden and did the car sign then the mummy sign so my mum thought she probably better take her to visit! It's great seeing her able to tell me she saw a helicopter or she got scared by a bee or she hurt her knee etc...sorry for the mammoth thing, I just love that she's been able to tell us stuff from so young!

dh you could try cold water sterilising with milton. You just fill the box up and leave it on the side, change the water every day but everything sits in there til you need it.

viks if your nipple is bright pink and a bit shiny you could have thrush. You get shooting pains through your boob and it's very, very painful. If you've got a red patch/area and it's painful then it could be mastitis. Worth getting something quick if it's either, I had both with DD and it was horrendous. Got thrush at the mo with Sam and it's horrible, can't shift it either!

MW just came to weigh Elisha - good news is she hasn't lost any weight, bad news is she hasn't gained any and is still well below birth weight

she is going to come back and weigh her again on Wednesday and if she hasn't gained by then refer us back to a paediatrician.

Feel sorry for those of you with the cluster feeding to deal with. We haven't had to deal with that this time around so far, but I do remember it being incredibly painful with DS.

Could you try expressing milk in the morning when you have plenty? The get DP to give it to him/her after you bf in the evening and express some more?

The breast pump doesn't make you bleed like a hungry baby does!!

vik 24 hours the water stays sterile in the bottle.
violet iris is a little beauty!and getting so big! its amazing how quick they grow!love your sofa too! and yes to the gruting baby.mum babysitted for us last night and she kept her with her for the night and she could barely sleep with the noises she makes! i think people think im exagerating when i say what a noisy sleeper she is!
tsc cant say i've had the night sweats but i find i just stink in general since having ellie! even when i just come out of the shower i can smell sweat. everybody else says they cant smell it but i can and its rotten!
dh glad you got a better sleep. i dont think you could squash him cos you subconsiously know he's there so dont think you have any worries there! anything for an easy life hey!
spireal never heard of baby signing but sounds interesting from what chulita says!
gracie i've everything crossed for you that she'l be up her weight on wednesday!
well had a great night last night! rolled in the door at 5 o clock this morn ! wasn't happy until we got a lock in in a pub! suprisingly not sick today just a bit tired! was so nice to get the break!and ellie was very good for her granny-she didnt wake until 6 o clock after her 11 o clock feed! and then 10 this morn and she's been awake pretty much since

Think I've worked out how to upload pictures.

Can you see www.mumsnet.com/member/MemberPage?call=com.mumsnet.member.PublicImageGallery&nick=Gracie123

whoops! I meant can you see these?

dh if you think co sleeping will help but your nervous about dylan being in bed with you you could buy a baby nest, they are used widely in the US theyare like little bumpers that the baby sleeps within to stop rolling under you. my friend swears by it for 1st few months.
gracie so glad that elisha hasnt lost anymore weight, lets hope she puts on a little by wednesday
kk wow 5 in the morning! dont know how you managed that after so long off the booze, i would be done after an hour!!
went shopping with my mum today and we went to our local ELC it says its closing down so the few things i planned on getting for Lyndon i got on offer... so thats xmas shopping started!!! im determined to be organised this year!!!