March 2016 Babies!! Thread #7 The one where we all say.... "Stay put Flump!!"

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Stay where you are Flump!!!

Thanks for the info about introducing a bottle - it hadn't crossed my mind but it makes perfect sense! Plus it would be lovely for DH to be able to feed the baby as well. I am a bit worried that he'll feel like a bit of a spare part initially, but there is loads he can do with the baby.

Hope everyone is okay in spite of the trips, chicken pox, colds and food worries

missi hope all is well with you and Zach

I have to say all three of mine refused bottles (of expressed milk) and it was very hard having to do everything for them! Hopefully DH will do a lot more this time - he's very excited for baby!

TriJo I'm sure you will be fine - but the kind of thing I'd have freaked out about with my first baby! This is my fourth and all three of my DC have just recovered from chickenpox - one of them having it really badly. I couldn't exactly throw them out

Placentas are quite gross; I remember having to study them on my Midwifery placements. I will never forget the smell!!

Another tip I had was to not try giving them the first few bottles yourself. Babies are clever little things and know you have the boobs, so if you try to give them a bottle they will be offended and reach for the boob instead. I had much more luck with DH giving DS his first few bottles (of expressed milk) at about 2 weeks. The longer you leave them the harder they will find it to adapt to a bottle - but you have to wait until they have the hang of bfing first. It's a tricky balance!

Thanks everyone for the food input! Enjoyed my first 'proper' tea last night and another this morning! So excited to be able to have mayo and runny eggs too! Not really a cheese fan so the only thing I'll be missing out on now is pate on Christmas day.

My placenta came out in 8 pieces!! Not to add to the horror or anything lol

8 pieces of placenta, hayley!

I remember my placenta being amazing. It was huge. I was so impressed with it.

Will remember these bottle tips. It took us ages to get DS to accept one (the childminder won eventually).

Morning all, useful bottle tips for me to remember! I'm keen to introduce a bottle fairly early on so I can express and dh can do the odd feed.

Our pram is being delivered today which I'm excited about. The only big thing we have left to get now is the Moses basket. Lots more smaller things on the list though still, like bedding, clothing, nappies and supplies, bathing stuff etc. Never Ending!

Hey everyone, just catching up after a busy few days and haven't been able to check messages! Was in Colchester for a conference yesterday and took me 2 and 1/2 hours to get back so bloody knackeres today! Just went to pregnancy yoga and feel loads better for stretching lots after a lot of sitting down yesterday.

I've been quite strict this pregnancy again with cheeses, but I have been eating runny eggs as in the UK there is zero risk of salmonella . also on about two cups of caff tea a day, sometimes three . And then topping up with decaff - the best I've found are waitrose own brand but I don't shop I'm waitrose so usually get twinings everyday as that's a close second.

I didn't introduce a bottle to DD till she was about 8 weeks and she was a bottle refuser! However I do think that it's best to go by when bf is comfortable rather than am arbitrary 2 week or 6 week deadline. I also think tbh there is little value in DHs doing a bottle as you don't get a break anyway as you'll need to pump. And all that 'it helps them bond with baby' is crap in my opinion. DP never fed DD but bonded with her over cuddles, sleeping, baby wearing etc. Basically I think of boob as much more convenient than pumping + dh taking over one feed! But good to get babies used to bottle if you are going back to work. A friend of mine introduced bottle early, her DS took to it fine but randomly at 2 months decided to become a bottle refused! So it all depends on the baby...

Actually I do agree with that marmite - I doubt I'll be expressing much milk as I'll have enough to do with four children!! All our babies hated DH until they weaned and then they really bonded. Although they did like sleeping on his chest!

hayley I read that babies can smell their mums from 20 feet away! So yeah the mums should not be the first people to offer babies a bottle, as they will just wonder why they are not getting the boob!

Thanks for all the advice - I know it's not necessarily going to go to plan but the thing is this baby HAS to take the bottle so I'm just going to have to try everything! I'm worried hearing about bottle refusers, but over here it's normal for mums to go back to work at 6-8 weeks and they all seem to manage, so I'm just hoping dogged perseverance will work ......yikes a bit scary!

I've saved some good informative articles on bottle feeding - if anyone is interested I'll post the links

I do have to say in 10 + years working around under 3s ffaux I've only come acrosss one child who was truely a bottle refuser. But after a few setteling in sessions he accepted an open cup feed from nursery staff as a 16 week starter. It takes time and will feel stressful for all involved but when a bf mother has to go back to work baby has to eat one way or another and once they've accepted bottle/beaker/cup/whatever they do get used to different people feeding them different ways. In the small sample I've experienced, mum's have given up bf or moved on to formular by choice rather than nessesity.

With dd we had no real reason to force the bottle issue so didn't. But if she'd needed to be left with dh, grandparents or childcare for any reason I have no doubt she'd have taken expressed milk, formular or water when there was no opption of bf. If you don't have to it's not worth the stress for the odd bottle here and there when milk direct from source is readily avaliable. And I was far too lazzy to muck around with pumps and sterilizing more than I had too.

The only warning I'd give with regards to child care is to ensure they aren't wasting too much of your pumped supply. But hopefully care in the US will be more awear of this than uk, I know my friend who trained over there had much more training given than learning on the job in the uk, other than been told how to make up formular safely. It's very tempting for people not experienced with expressed milk to fill up the bottle to much, so what could be a day's supply might end up in one feed for a tiny! We used to advice new mums who bf starting with us to freze milk in 2-3 oz rather than full bags of 8-12 oz.

dobby thanks SO much for that info - that's really reassured me.

Interesting point about childcare too, have added it to my notes - wow this baby thing is a really learning curve :)

My city mini jogger arrived today and love it - makes it all feel a bit real now!

ffaux my pram got delivered today too! We've gone for the iCandy Peach 3 and I'm very pleased with it. I'm a bit of an idiot when it comes to assembling things and taking them apart normally but we've had a good play with it and it's really straightforward to collapse. My car boot is absolutely teeny and we did think that we were going to have to take the back wheels off every time to get it in but thankfully it fits without having to do that which is a big relief.

It's all starting to feel very real - baby's room is filling up with all his things!

Aaargh! I am so clumsy and so angry about it! Spilled milk, then spilled water everywhere trying to clean up the milk. Then pulled the curtain rail (tension rail) down when I went to put my wet socks in the laundry basket - all inside about 3 minutes.

DH provided tea (decaf) & cake to save himself the day.

Ahh indomitable, from one clumsy mama to another, I say give up and have a sit down! I'm still in pain from falling over yesterday. I'm normally quite clumsy but nothing like this!

Ah no indom, is that baby brain kicking in do you think? I've been doing all sorts of daft things recently - didn't put the brake on the buggy properly today and it rolled halfway down the street with all my shopping in before I realised . Luckily ds wasn't in it at the time though he did find it very funny watching me chase it down the road screaming 'craaaaaaap!!!'.

I just wanted to say re the bottle feeding - I completely agree that dads don't need to feed baby to bond. You'd think it would be because newborns feed so often and don't do that much else, but imo in the early days its all the cuddles and when they fall asleep on your chest with their cute snuffly breathing that you really fall in love with them . I did find it very helpful having dh give one expressed feed a day - he did the 3am one so I got a decent chunk of sleep every night. However I had a nightmare newborn with reflux so I really needed the rest! Expressing took 10 mins so no hassle really but I wouldn't have chosen to do it if I hadn't had too.

Oh god trinpy, I had a refluxy one too - really hoping this one won't be! But I completely agree, ds spent lots of time snuggled up on dh's chest like a wee monkey, that's the loveliest time

I'm clumsy at the best of times but that's bad even for me!

DS had reflux, only diagnosed at 4 months (was fobbed off by GP). We need to get bottles sorted as I'll be back to work by July.

I have ideas of DH wearing this one in a sling skin-to-skin early on. And then as often as possible after that.

V clumsy here too! It's frustrating isn't it?!

My itchy feet are getting worse and now hands too. I'm going to have to get the midwife to check my bloods again at the 28 week appointment a week tomorrow... it's like torture!

Huge sympathy for you Beaut. Do ice packs help take the edge off?

Yeah I got fobbed off by the gp too indom, she was actually really awful to me and I wish I'd complained now. I have a lot of respect for you making it all the way to 4 months without treatment!

Suz at least if this baby is refluxy you'll know what to do this time. My fear is colic - no idea what to do with a colicky baby .

Omg Trinpy I thought reflux and colic were the same thing?! I hope my luck doesn't run out this time and give me a baby with either of those!

Indom I haven't tried that - what, just like hold it on when my feet are at their worst?? I'm willing to try anything!

It was a real shame, actually Trinpy. DS was such an unhappy and angry baby. When we finally got the gaviscon it changed him so much. But, he continued to be angry and screamy. I wonder now how much of his personality he developed as a result of being in pain for 4 months. And how much our relationship, and my feelings about motherhood and leave were shaped by it.

I still have boxes of infant gaviscon in the cupboard - though I think they've only just gone out of date! Just in case.

Safe to say I'll be straight down to the GP with my stubborn boots on if we find ourselves in the same situation this time.

The GP (with hindsight) basically patronised me with the 'babies are a bit sicky' and he wasn't losing weight (because I was feeding almost constantly, though he dropped from 75th to 25th centile eventually, and has stayed there) despite vomming at least half of every feed ('it just looks like a lot' no, it is a lot). Sad times.

I'm so glad I now know, though. I'm determined to get this one right!

I read a lot about colic at the time too. It seemed that "colic" was a diagnosis for unexplained evening crying (I say "was", this was 5 years ago, it might have changed). I see lots of posters here asserting that their babies have terrible abdominal pain, but I could never work out what DSs issue was. (Reflux, with hindsight!) My sister went down the cranial osteopathy route, liberating herself of £100+ and was convinced it helped. I read a new scientist article that suggested it could be baby migraines.

Either way, it seems it gets bad, you try a bunch of stuff, and just as you fork out for something expensive/try something radical, it passes, and you attribute the miracle cure to whatever coincided with the improvement.

Though it'll be difficult to remember this at the time, especially remembering the misdiagnosis of reflux.

Oh no, I'd forgotten the horrors of newborns...

Yes, Beaut, I had terrible eczema as a kid, and when nothing else worked a cold wet flannel was bliss. For a minute or two!

Just want to start by saying thank you to everyone on this thread for all your support and help with everything. It's been so valuable to me.
I sympathise with anyone suffering with anxiety as it's truly awful. I know I have to be pro active in sorting it out though. I will find a way and I will get their.
Beautiful- itchy feet etc sounds horrible does it keep you up at night?

Struggling to sleep here as well.
My sleep diary is Thursday night- 5 hours interrupted sleep. Up every hour for the toilet. Awake between 10:30-1:30 then up for work at 6:30.
Friday afternoon I managed an hour and half nap then Friday night I was up between 1:30-4:30 crying in frustration as I could not sleep.
Last night I was up between 2-3:30 luckily I managed to sleep until 10 after that as no work at weekends.

I'm suffering with restless legs. It's an itch type of feeling that just has to be satisfied by moving them. It's in my Lower legs. It doesn't help that once I'm asleep I wake every hour for the toilet and it starts all over again.
I've tried bananas, bath before bed, hot water bottle,milk, raising my legs.
Last night I got so angry I woke in tears rolling about all over the place.
Any advice? I'm very anxious about sleeping tonight and can't see how I can work a day where I leave at 7am and get home at 5:45pm on four little one hour naps.

ginger how active are you? I've heard that mild cases of restless legs can be helped with brisk walking 30-60 minutes daily. I know you're really tired already, but maybe you could find time for a walk each day this week and see if that helps? It will certainly help you to go to sleep initially if you have tired muscles as well as a tired brain. It might also help your pelvic floor and indirectly make it easier to go longer between wees. I saw on your other thread that you normally get up a couple of times a night to urinate, and I wonder if you're just unlucky in having a small and possibly weak bladder that's being made a lot worse by pregnancy? Most of us are probably going at least once or twice more than usual by now anyway.

Fairly active at work. I stand for two/three hour periods at a time moving about. Going try a walk later this afternoon to the shops. I'm sure the anxiety about thinking "ok I've got eight hours to sleep, now seven" and as so on doesn't help.
I think I do have small bladder made worse by pregnancy. If the sleep issue gets too much though I will be forced to seek my gps help. It's so strange normally I hit the pillow and I'm out for hours on end and could still manage day naps at weekends!
It'd making my nausea a lot worse as well and I just feel like vomiting all the time