January 2014 (thread 8) Half way there just about! Finding out pink or blue

[BuntCadger]

New thread for us, can't believe another one filled! Half way there girls :) on the homeward stretch :) xx

Thinking of you and your family Sarah, I hope you're all coping as well as possible, keeping my fx for you all, especially your niece.

Glad you're feeling a little better today Toby

What do you all think of swaddling? I've been reading lots of different things!

MrsG we found DS loved being swaddled - he was really calm and slept beautifully.

Works because it simulates the tight (ish) fit in the womb and also helps minimise babies disturbing themselves with their startle reflex (have you seen it by the way?! Cutest thing you've ever seen!)

Seems to be a misconception that it's cruel, because in any other context, tying arms down probably would be. But up to 3 months or so it's been done for centuries!

Sorry to hear your news Sarah hoping everything turns out ok.

Hope you are feeling better toby.

I've had a mammoth day. Had to travel from the south west up to Scotland via cars, aeroplanes, trains, and bus! Absolutely shattered now! Sitting in a restaurant by myself for dinner then think it will be an early night for me.

Is swaddling ok? I haven't looked into it much but had read somewhere it could be a SIDS risk.

I swaddled both my boys and they were so much calmer for it. Obviously do it properly and don't cut off circulation or make it so tight they can't breathe. The midwives were experts at teaching me but the best swaddle I found is called the 'miracle grow' or 'miracle swaddle' or similar and it has pocket for feet, wraps for the arms etc so it's like wrapping up a little parcel and you can't go wrong. The startle reflex wakes them up easily otherwise. Cot death is terrifying but if you don't smoke and don't sleep with the baby and don't fall asleep with baby on the sofa, I think you cut much of the risk and beyond that there's not much anyone can do to predict or prevent it.

Ps hi sultana !! I have missed you guys

nature that was one of the things I read, that it increases risk of sids. But I've also found articles saying that the study that found an increased risk did not separate statistics for safe/unsafe swaddling so isn't valid.

So far on all the scans baby has been very curled up, so I think she'd be comforted by swaddling. I've got 4 months to research!

Ooh if you get the swaddlers with velcro so they don't come undone, the risk of unravelling and tangling/suffocating is even lower - see Summer Infant SwaddleMe! They have them online at Kiddicare, Mothercare, Boots etc...

Very interesting reading all your swaddling comments. How hard is it being a parent? Just constant worry of doing something wrong with serious consequences!

When I spoke to one of the midwives I saw at a check up about sleeping positions for me and she basically said it really doesnt matter which position you sleep in - makes no difference. BUT there is soooo much info on the net about left hand side sleeping being preferable etc, I really wanted to believe her, but I cant forget what I have read and I battle every night not to sleep on my back....

Am really hoping the NCT classes in a few weeks time will give some up to date info on all these queries.....

God i havent even thought of swaddling.... I was going to look at a baby sleeping bag at some point (not sure how old they have to be but my sis said it was excellent as my nephew used to kick his sheets off and wake up and so it solved that and he slept much better)

Today i have stayed in with pooch as she cant go out much yet. She is slowly trying to jump places now tho so had to buy another baby gate to block the stairs!! I have been productive with my laziness though. Have spent the day researching my maternity rights and leave etc as tomorrow i am giving my 'i am with child and intend to go on maternity leave' letter to my boss. We will prob then arrange a meeting at some point to go through everything and i want to be prepared. Have been reading up and making notes and looking through my staff handbook.
Only thing that confuses me is accruing holiday...am i right that say i took a full 52 weeks mat leave i can then add the holiday i would have got onto the end and that this holiday would be at full pay (so essentially if i just got statuatory hol of 28 weeks annual leave and my mat leave started jan 1st, the mat leave would end dec 31st and i could take till 10th feb off as holiday as 28 working days later) Anyone more clued up than me.....

Sultana There is so much to worry about! I keep thinking 'after the 12 week scan/20 weeks/24 weeks/ 32 weeks I'll stop worrying' but there is always something else to think about! I'm now looking at the monitors with a sensor mat and panicking about what products I'll be able to use if Baby has super sentive skin...

I'll have a look at the ones with velcro extra. I've also seen some on the grobag website which look pretty good. Don't want to spend too much in case Baby hates being swaddled and I end up never using them. I read about using muslins to swaddle so might try that at first as there thin and I've already bought some! You can get grobags for 0-6 months Frizz, I might buy some of those too!

frizz thats what I understand it to be and its what I am aiming to do, so hopefully I have it right.....ekkk, good luck with handing over the letter.

What a challenge with your little pooch starting to get his bounce back....bless him!

Tell me about it mrsg! I was determined to get a monitor with a sensor mat, until I spoke to my mate who tried one for a week with her newborn and found it went off a couple of times, despite there being nothing wrong and found she was constantly on edge waiting for it to go off. She got rid of it and was instantly more chilled out. I know thats exactly how I would be, so have gone for one without. I got a BT pacifier one, where you can control the lights and sounds remotely and it comes with a built in torch so u can check on bubs without turning on the light. My mate has one and when I saw it in action I knew it was the one for me.

Today we took the plunge and bought crib, cotbed, monitor, car seat and muslins from kiddicare with 15% discount. Thanks mrsv (I think it was u who gave us the heads up). Most of it arrives tomorrow! Woop woop!,

frizz there are a couple of options on holiday depending on your specific maternity policy.

You accrue all of your holiday and bank holidays throughout your maternity and can take it:

1. As holiday at the end of your maternity leave - you don't have to take the full 52 weeks to then add it on
2. Be paid it at the end / beginning of your leave dependent on policy
3. Depending on how your holiday is calculated - when the year starts etc, you may have to take any holiday at he beginning of mat leave from ne year and at the end from the other

I'm looking at taking from the 2nd jan as mat leave, stopping that in Nov and then taking my hol and bank hols until the end of 2014, returning to work in jan 2015. Just working through financials etc!

I swaddled both mine in the first few weeks although dd2 hated having her arms in past the first few days. I have grow bags too, but found them much too big at first for them, by three weeks old they were fine. Mostly I have done feet to foot (of cot) and sheet plus blankets as once mine could roll over they hated grow bags. You can get padded sleepsuits with legs from JoJo Maman Bebe for 6 months plus.

I have an Angelcare monitor with sensor pad that I have used for dd1 and 2, it is still working well. It has a sensitivity setting for the pad on the back of the nursery unit, I found when my babies were small I had to turn up the sensitivity. We bought my SIL the same one that she used for my niece who was born premature at 30 weeks so was only about 2 lbs when she came home, they didn't have any problems with it going off randomly.

We're looking at the Angelcare range, do you have the video one another?

No just the regular sensor pad one, I don't think they did the video one when we got ours. Not sure I would get the video one if I had a choice now, too distracting, when I had dd1 I spent a lot of time just looking at her, pfb. I kept my babies in the room with me wherever I was during the day and at night in our bedroom, so for us it was really for peace of mind when we were sleeping and not checking them as often.

I think I'll just buy the first one to go on offer. That's my plan for prams too!

We had a monitor with a sensor pad when DS was born. It was fine until he managed to move far enough away from the sensor so that it couldn't pick him up any longer and the alarm went off. It was terrifying. We will not be buying one this time around. It's not necessary IMO, because the baby will be in our room for the foreseeable future (we don't have another room to put it in!)

DH is in charge of the monitor, anyway. He's asking fellow geeks what to buy

sarahl, just seen a quick item on BBC Breakfast re a 16mo falling from a 5th floor window in Plymouth. I'm guessing it's too much of a coincidence for this not to be your poor niece. How is she? They said 'stable'.

3rd post in a row. I'll shut up now :o

Morning ladies!

Sarah really hope you guys are OK and your little niece is stable.

Toby how are you doing this morning? Have the contractions started to ease at all?

OMG how itchy are my nipples! (Well boobs, stomach and hand palms also, but my nipples are annoying me the most!!!) Frickin bra really not helping, but I need to stay dressed until the nursery furniture has arrived and THEN I can take the frickin bra off! Hurray!

Oh dear ladies...
toby how are you doing today? And is your foot better too?
sarah lots of love and prayers for you and your family.
X

The contractions seem to be less frequent now, and definitely not in any sort of pattern any more, so the resting is obviously helping. My back is really sore, but to be fair in the last 7 days I've been limping/on crutches, in hospital and spending far more time sitting/lying around than usual, so my back is probably just readjusting.

I feel about 100. I should be blooming and full of energy at this point! Sadly I'm just wallowing on the sofa, in constant pain, bored out of my mind, unable to do anything :( WOE IS ME!

Toby you have really been in the wars! If you didn't have a few aches and pains in your back by now it would be a miracle! That's great your contractions are easing and no longer in a pattern! Now BUGGER OFF completely!

I feel for ya having to rest up and being bored! Day time TV apart from anything else is just atrocious! Perhaps you could start a baby stuff reviews blog - no holds barred? The reality according to the Tobester?