'December 2011' - 3 left! <dejected pompommery>

[LittleMissFlustered]

I have a machine to play with now aethel I got another five ml out with it while playing. I'll hopefully get a couple of good bits out to take up to scbu for him:)

I'm going to get a proper thermometer. Just to help put my mind at rest. Ali's unsettled again tonight. Constant feeding or whinging. :(

Thanks all for the sling advice, an olive Moby is winging its way to me on priority delivery! Oh to have the use of my arms back...
Didn't get out for the saline drops as had Dad, step Mum and brother and sister over today- all totally taken with him, the kids almost too much, as bro is only eight and kept over-enthusiastically leaping onto the sofa next to him, which had to be kept in check.

Poor little mite is NOT liking the anti-bs, is unsettled, feeding loads and having screaming sessions where you can tell he's in pain, whereas he's only ever squawked for food before. Oi, if you coped with colic you have my never-ending respect.

And I can't have a glass/pint and it's a derby game tomorrow!

mopsy that sounds like heaven, both the happy families and the clothes . With the bf, I think with that frame of mind will avoid haddocking, either by self or others! You- and AWCH, and Benny- have it right, as the babies need food and love, and that needs to be separated from what we as mothers want to do for them and any associated guilt. FAAAAAAR easier said/typed than done though.

I've had that exact 'chat' too aethel- whereas I can nap and DP does late nights but gets 6-8 hours per night, he has no right to 'poor me-ing'. Will also work on Moses/cot issues, but can't wait for the sling!
And I agree totally on the book stuff, anyone who promotes that tripe about immunisation is putting children's lives at risk.

Hawthers and mmm, here's hoping things continue to improve, and for you lmf.

I'm the same Bee, I specifically haven't been near a single book, prefering instinct, reading every thread on MN, and a first-aid course! Actually, the best one I found and saved was this- www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/1321544-What-ONE-thing-do-you-wish-you-had-known-when-you-had-your-first-baby
I find it helpful and comforting and would recommend it to all.

I am so sorry to hear that HLC, it's so tough when it's your partner's family, AND at such a intense time for you.

That was one bastard long post to do one-handed!

aethelfleda - Hope has the RSV virus and was in hostpital on Tauesday and Wednesday, so i think its just that which is making her have a high temp. It has gone down to 35.5 now as she is only in her nappy and has been at 36.0 for the last three hours so im hoping the fever has broken and she is getting better. She is still crying for feeding and having wet and poo nappys. She still have the viral rash on her face and chest. Her breathing is slow/normal but she is still coughing. She is feeding for 20-40 mins at each feed and sleeping for 2/3 hours. The mottoling on her arms and legs have gone and her feet and hands are not cold anymore. So i hope she is getting better - fingers crossed.

Is anyone's baby smileying yet?

hi ladies, hope all of you with sick babas that things are going ok. Must be so stressful.

I would like some formula advice. The latest advice is to make up each feed as you need it, and the water has to be over 70 degrees so it says to boil kettle, wait half an hour for it to cool, then make up feed. Now who is going to get up in middle of night and wait half an hour? Also, how would you even gauge when to do that? Newborns don't exactly feed to a schedule.

So far, I have been putting the boiling water in a thermos and using that to make up the feeds, but it is a pain in the tits in the middle of the night, having to cool it down for ages under the tap. So tonight I took 3 sterile bottles, made up the feed with the hot water, stuck them in a sink of cold water to cool and stuck them in the fridge. Is this okay to you think? If the bottle is sterile, the feed is made with water over 70 degrees and then goes in a fridge, how could bacteria grow? And isn't that exactly what everyone did until last year when they changed the 'rules' advice?

Evening,

all of those with sick babies hope they get better real soon.

Quick question - how many ml/oz of breast milk should Sky be drinking now she's 16days old? The reason I ask is I think she's slightly under the weather and doesn't seem to of drunk alot and woken for her feeds as normal - she's gone longer between each one do slightly worried she's not getting enough, as don't want her sugars to go back down. every time Sky fed today and yesterday evening she always brought milk back up .

sorry for the me post

Air, if you're happy and her temp has settled then great, I just wanted you to be aware that repeated fevers do need to be checked. My sleep addled brain had forgotten she's already been seen with the RSV. If you do get problems then ring back the OOH docs or the paediatric ward if they gave you the number: but as you say she seems better now so hope you're out of the woods: you deserve a break!!

mopsy, what you said re bottles is exactly what I did with the Dds: apparently this stuff about making the feeds up really hot is cos the formula powder can be contaminated with bugs sometimes.

My friend who was a bit OCD (it was her first baby!) used this trick to get a quickly available bottle of the right temperature. It does take an extra bottle To do but she felt was worth it for peace of mind:

Lets say you want a 7 oz (200ml ) bottle; prepare a sterile bottle in advance with 4 oz of boiled water in it that you put in the fridge to cool (closed system so won't grow anything). Pre-measure out the right amount of formula (in one of those avent tupe dispenser thingies. Have a second sterile bottle that's empty. When you want the bottle made, take 3 oz of just-boiled water (ie its about 90 degrees, either frlm lettle or a thermos). Put the formula into the 3 oz of hot water (which will sterilise the powder) and then add the remainjng 4 oz of chilled water from the bottle from the fridge. This should rapidly cool the bottle, and now you have a "correctly made" bottle that's not stupidly hot. It's worth experimenting with how much of the water needs to be hot and how much cold to achieve a bottle that's exactly the roght temp when it's all mixed together.

Personally I don't know if I will be doing this (!) but if you really buy the "formula powder must be sterilised too" argument then I guess this would reduce the time delay to make up a bottle. why does this Stuff have to be made so complicated???

What I don't get is, if i make up the formula above 70, it's sterile. So why then can't I cool it and stick in fridge? How wd it then become not safe? It's so complicated now!

I can't offer advice on formula I'm afraid Mopsy, I never really played with it and tended toward cartons when needed, and when I did use powder I used bottles of cooled water and added the formula. Bad mum! >_<

Darcies I have no idea how much she needs, but there is a calculation you can do involving weight, age and the colour of their comfiest babygro that will tell you. They worked out octopus-boy needs 30ml every three hours, so if you google the idea you might find the algebra?:)

I just got another 20ml:) I like the wee green machine.

Nap time!

Adding milk powder to the water makes a food envirnonment. It bats the sterility out of the field. Warm milk is pretty much heaven for bacteria beasties:)

I don't really get it either mopsy, either it's a closed sterile system (so no contamination will occur) or it's an open sustem (in which case you don't want made-up milk sitting about for ages). The thing they seem to want you to avoid is making up the formula with cold or room temp water. I just think they male the advice overcomplicated and then lots of people are more likely to say stuff it and just approximate.

Reminds me of the thing they did when DD2 was little, where people fixated on holding off solids until six months, and so forgot to tell parents who did wean earlier to avoid wheat and dairy til baby was six months old: so a change in policy led to less info for parents.

Well until a year or so ago, that was the advice LMF!! it just got all ridiculously complicated and inconvenient last yr.

mopsy I was going to ask exactly the same thing! I have the big containers of powder in but have been sticking to the pre-made cartons so far as my brain can't cope with tackling the mine-field of how and when the heck to make up the powder! You're right the latest guidance just doesn't make sense with a newborn who doesn't feed to schedule! And even if they did, the prep with the feeding then winding would take bloody forever!

Please tell me someone has the answer....

Hi all, babybel is much better and we're home. She still has a horrible cough that makes her sick sometimes, and has a sore throat so when she makes noise its all faint and croaky, poor thing. air the drs told me she could have the cough for a couple of weeks.

aethel that's how I made up beakers of follow-on milk when DS was 1 and didn't want breastmilk any more. Did half of it with boiling water then topped up with cold so was the right temperature. Don't think it technically needs to be sterile for 12 months plus but I felt better that way.

honey so sorry about your MIL

Really sorry to hear about your MIL honey. how sad. And such a difficult time when you and your husband are already dealing with a massive change/loads of emotions. It's such a hard time.

Minimopsy is like a mini vulture this evening. No sooner has she had a big feed than she's grizzling again. She's finishing her 4 th feed now at the time she'd usually only be starting her 3rd. She's 3 wks on
Monday-growth spurt maybe?

Yawn...
honey sorry to hear about your MIL. How awful. (hugs)

And I thought bf-ing was hard! Sorry for those in the formula minefield.
Back later, someone still needs more feed... Been here for over an hour now.

Passing through. Managed about two and a half/three hours sleep, but very fractured. Not liking not being near the octopus boy. Wondering if they'd shoot me if u wandered up to scbu to hold his hand for a minute:(

Mopsy I'm still in cartons of ready made he's going through 3 a day now at a cost of £2 a day but I can't face the powder yet, stupidly I feel like buying the big tin will be admitting defeat on the old BF and not doing that yet. They do make it easier with BFing and expressing.

Just realised kri5ty hasn't posted for a while hope she is ok, not sure if anyone else has dropped off since baby arrival?!?

He wanted 10mins more, then fell asleep. Please let him sleep now!
I achieved nothing today. I had great plans of sorting the house and spending time with DH. Instead LO grizzled and we spent the whole day wrapped up on the couch feeding and sleeping whilst DH sorted.
air Ali has been smiling since day 1.everyone tells me they aren't real smiles, but the MW said "why not? - they may be real". Today he giggled in his sleep - a big smile and chuckles for a few seconds. I have therefore decided that his smiles are real. If he can cry, why can't he smile?
I'm keeping them.

I'm with you there Oi, we've also had smiles from v early on that are so different from windy faces lol! And getting many more now the little mite isn't constantly hungry!

Ah Danny just finished his feed then promptly threw half of it up over me, the chair, the floor and himself. I stop regularly to wind him but sometimes he just won't do it managed to get a big belch out of him there but then projectile vomit followed it . Had to change him and now got him settled again albeit on my shoulder nervous about putting him down now in case happens again.

lmf you should be able to visit your ds 24/7 in scbu so definitely op up and see him if it makes you feel better. Hope he is doing ok.

Been trying to burp this little one for ages now but no burp forthcoming! Very annoying cos I know as soon as I lay her down she'll either sick up or grizzle because the wind is making her uncomfy. If only there was a foolproof way to burp a baba!

LMF hope you got to go see your baba.

Morning

With you on the drawn-put night feeds oi, I've just been feeding again, A seems to alternate quick feeds with grizzle/relucant burping , brief settle then repeat process, and just when I'm completely knackered he'll settle for 2 hours or so and give me a bit of a recharge. Have decided my plan of attack vis a vis moses basket is to put him down in it several times in the earlier part of night to get him used to it, then cave sometime during the night and cosleep til morning. I deny that this is in any way inconsistent cos I don't care if it gets me more sleep in the short term!!

lmf hope you got to scbu alright to see little octopus and that his BMs are sorted soon. Where are your other DCs at the moment, was it Granny Havong them? with a possible bacon sandwich from the League of Friends cafe, assuming you are still eating them....

Talking of bacon, has anyone had reverse cravings where you totally go off one of the pregnancy craving foods? I haven't been able to face coffee since I had A, and yoghurt lassi holds no appeal!

Missing posters: I've noticed lost the absence of kri5ty and tyelperion, bit am concious there are lots of other mums not on here any more, mostly the ones with earlier due dates who are presumably not as web obsessed as me just getting on with it rather than nattering. Me, I like a good natter. It may also be that some of us have more amtenatal friends in real life? Personally with being on beeb number 3, i've not done antenatal classes or got to know any local mums yet with beebs the same age, so you guys are my main contacts with newborns. Some mums may be just too knackered to post I suppose or havent signed in?

Maybe when we're all delivered (say in a week as missree should be done by then) we should chat about movkng to the postnatal threads and title the new thread December/early Jan Mums reunion, and leave a reminder thread link on here pointing people over?

Right, feed done, beeb zonked. CBA with that basket, cuddle time!