babies and bumps mixed thread -May babies are coming!

[cantbelieveImquittingcoffee]

Here's the new thread, for bumps and babies before we all graduate together!

frozen I was terrified too! It's OK though. I've been using the pram - the tfl website has a map showing which stations have lifts and escalators. Allow extra time in case you have to wait for the lift/a less busy train, and try and travel in the middle of the day if you can. Avoid rush hour - I made the mistake of travelling in evening rush hour on the central line yesterday which I think is best avoided even without a baby in tow!

I felt really proud the first time, and it had a magic effect on my DD and sent her straight to sleep. Sadly that now seems to have worn off, and possibly it won't work on your DD either if she no longer drops off straight away in the pram (but you never know!)

Frozen we have taken several tube trips so far, a few with the pram (which is like a tractor!!) and a few with the sling (I went to Oxford Circus one day!!). The sling is by far the better option but does then involve carrying hanging bag etc so is hard on our back/shoulders and depends on your little one being happy in it (mine sleeps from the moment she goes in it until I lift her out usually), plus depending on where you are going means you can't put them down at all of course!
When I took the tube I have no option of step-free access where I live or where I was going, so I relied on people to help me on stairs - and I haven't yet waited for a kind helper to offer! I think in general people are really kind and helpful when you have a tiny baby, plus everyone wants to talk to you and coo over the baby (or just smile as they walk past) if they see you with a teeny baby in a sling or a pram so it's quite fun!

I too would recommend a sling if using the tube. Don't take a changing bag, use a rucksack to save the faff of carrying a big heavy bag. Plus if you want/need to put baby down and travel changing mat, covered with a muslin/blanket on a table if fine at this age as they can't roll (supervised of course!).

Talking of slings...
Having bought a cheapo stretchy one (£5 on Amazon) and been given a baby bjorn, I already bought a close caboo and now am totally lusting over an ergobaby - I remember hearing other people talk like this when I was pregnant and I thought it was nuts, and now look at me! And then when I was on the bus home from an epically long day out and DD refused to settle in the pram so was in the sling I was looking up ergobaby on my phone when a woman starting chatting to me and telling me I should get one (she didn't know I was looking it up!!) and that she still uses it to carry her son sometimes and he is FIVE!! So now I'm sure it would actually be an amazing investment as well as being so pretty...but not sure if DP will agree with me!!

I would recommend a connecta as a follow on from the caboo rather than a BB. Never used an ergo but I have heard they are good too. I just loved my connecta. I have a manduca now as I can carry DD or DS in it whereas a baby connecta would be too small for DS.

I love my Manduca. It's so comfortable. Have you used the newborn insert, ODog?

Hello lovelies... always lurking but unwble to write with my old old old phone.
Ww didn't work for us as J. Is always consistently behind but others loved here....

Oh crap.
It turns out that if you go out for 7 whole hours of bus journey, cranio treatment (on the baby, not me!), coffee and cake and shopping, then another bus journey and longish walk home - yep, you have a chronically overstimulated baby who won't stop yelling.
Either that or it's just the 5 week think I read about in WW...

cant I feel your pain. Overstimulation has been the theme of our week!

Please report back on whether the cranio worked, I keep reading about it everywhere!

I haven't used it for DD yet grouchy. I am still reaching for the RS or stretchy but I'm thinking it won't be long before I will be using a buckle for her as she is already pushing off my chest in the stretchy and making the fabric all saggy. RS is better if she is awake but I don't like them for out and about.

Thanks for the tube tips everyone I hope I'm brave enough to do it soon. I need to invest in a sling. Now trying to decide between a close caboo, ergo, connecta or manduca! It will be an expensive mistake if I choose the wrong one!

I feel your pain cant DD was chronically over stimulated the other night when we had screaming for 4 hours until 2 am as she'd had no sleep. She's yawning lots but refusing to sleep again so may be in for a long night.

I'd also be interested if the cranio worked cant as I keep hearing about it everywhere too. I think you also had a ventouse delivery like me. I hear it's meant to be good for babies who've had assisted deliveries.

Oh FFS. Was so convinced that we're going to have another bad night I moved DD's sleepyhead to the other bedroom and told DP she and I would sleep there - I suppose he was being sweet in saying he didn't want to sleep on his own and subsequently crashing out on the spare bed, Leaving me the narrow space between him and her sleepyhead, but now he's asleep (as is she!) and I can't sleep because I'm too squished AND I'm pissed off with him for being bloody ridiculous and now I can't watch Netflix on my laptop during the night if I'm awake for hours on end which was my original plan...and he's bound to be disturbed when she wakes up and then I'm stressed about her waking him up when he's got an early start and a long day tomorrow.
If he refused to sleep apart then we should all be sleeping in our room with LO in her cot, the only bloody point of having her taking up space on top of the spare bed was because I was sleeping here alone!! Wish me luck getting some sleep...so pissed off!!

Wake him up, kick him out! Say you're squashed! My poor DH used to always end up being ousted from our king size bed when our toddler went from cot with bars to bed with none! As for worrying about him being tired - so will you be, you will be spending tomorrow growing a human being, is he doing something as important??

Good sling chat, we use a boba newborn. Excellent but babies are getting bigger now!

    Oh toddler just yelled out mum....

That's not long between feeds

At least toddler managed to settle in his own bed after a cuddle.

My friends absolutely swear by cranio. Made huge differences to babies. One went from struggling to feed to BF champ after cranio sorted wee girl's slightly misaligned jaw. The other toot went from crying all hours to sleeping peacefully all night. I was very jealous!

That sounds intriguing ice - were you also tempted to try cranio after that?

We actually live right next door to a practitioner who I've seen recommended on other MN threads, so I have been wondering if I should try it. I don't think I'm a typical candidate though as DD wasn't a CS or instrumental birth, so maybe it wouldn't make a difference.

cant agree with ice, kick him out!

I haven't but would like to, just finding time to organise it! I think all babies benefit from a general "mot",after all, what birth isn't traumatic!! Anyway, what's the worst that can happen? You're charged £40 and told that everything is fine. At least it's peace of mind.

What a long night. I'm really tired (and DH took baby downstairs from 4.30-6am so I could turn off) Toddler is stirring...

Update: I didn't kick him out. We all actually slept rather well in the end (I put a wink at first but that somehow suggests that something other than sleep happened!!)
With the cranio I'll admit that it was probably an indulgence on my part (thank you, health insurance cash plan!) as DD doesn't particularly have sleep/feeding issues (until this week, haha!) but as she was ventouse I wanted to do it for her benefit even if I couldn't see any difference (call me a nut-job if you like)...I'm just a bit jealous as I bloody LOVE craniosacral therapy (and am half convinced it helped implantation when we were TTC as I had a session the same weekend DD sparked into existence - and it is ridiculously relaxing!!).
Frozen given the issues you've been having I'd definitely be tempted to try (especially after what Ice says!) and 29 if you have a MN endorsed therapist on your doorstep then why not!
Weirdly DD was all over the place after the treatment though, she barely slept all the time we were out yesterday and was non-stop hungry, and though I "diagnosed" over- stimulation I think it was somehow connected to the treatment! She was unsettled all evening and feeding was the only thing that stopped her crying - but then instead of me giving her a last feed when we went to bed she fell fast asleep 45mins before we went upstairs at 11, and stayed crashed out until almost 3am!

Cross-post ice - £40?? If only!!! I thought this person was offering a discount but it turned out she wasn't - like I said it's covered by my insurance, but that maxes out my policy for now so no osteopath treatment for me! (First world problems, I know...!)
OK DP's gone out early so I'm back in bed with series 2 of Casual on Amazon prime, toast & juice, a potentially sleepy baby and no plans for the rest of the day, hurrah!!

Jealous of your day cant - toddler group this morning, lunch, take toddler to hairdresser and bribe him to sit still so he looks less "hedgey".

Yes I wondered if £40 comment would spark outrage. Perks of living in rural Scotland

I am worried about PND, but hoping it's just because I am so incredibly tired. DH's parents are coming to stay the night before having a holiday here in Scotland. I don't want them to come because they're hard work, even though they're lovely in other ways. (And I don't understand why they aren't staying with SIL & her DH, who haven't just had a baby.)

So I'm trying to get the house tidy and sorted and the children are being the very opposite of helpful, refusing to tidy their toys and being defiant and I have lost it. I can't stop crying and shouting.

And I don't want DH to mention it to his parents and ask them to stay elsewhere because then MIL will offer to come stay to help out and I don't want that. She doesn't actually help and just makes me feel more stressed.

It has been 2 1/2 awful days since DH went back to work. The baby is no trouble, I can deal with her easily. It's the rest, the older girls, the cleaning, the cooking.

Fuck I hate feeling like a failure.

Grouchy - will reply properly later - you are not alone in feeling as you do

Sending hugs grouchy - I honestly don't know how people do this with more than one!! I suppose you know best what the inlaws might expect but my suggestion would be say fuck it to the tidying up/preparation for their arrival, they can take you as they find you - you have a 3 week old baby!! No doubt they want to stay with you to see their newest grandchild but still, I'm sure if they are nice people they won't expect a show-house. Tiredness makes everything worse, I spent the day sobbing on Monday and wondering if I am living with the wrong man after a terrible night and unsettled day but today things look brighter (but as I say, I realise it is a million times easier with just the baby and the boring domestic shit to worry about and not other children to entertain too!). Can you reach out to anyone from your church or community to help support you a bit? I remember you mentioning during pregnancy that you didn't like to ask but I think you said you were glad when you did - is that an option now too?

Grouchy the biggest hug ever. I think it was around the 3 week mark I rang my mum in the middle of the day howling as I had no idea how to discipline the toddler.

You are doing an amazing job... Get a post it note... Write that on it and stick it somewhere where you will see it lots. It is bloody hard with more than one (one is hard enough). Give yourself a break. They will take you as they find you and it's DH job to deal with them. Massive hug X

Thank you, everyone. Had a calmer afternoon, though I still feel weepy. House is clean and tidy - well, the downstairs is clean, as are the bathrooms. Didn't bother vacuuming upstairs.

DH came home a bit early to sort the children's dinner and I've come upstairs for alone time for the whole evening. He'll cook for him & his parents and bring me what I want/need.

Thinking about it, I think it's mostly the children's behaviour that I can't cope with. I've got a few parenting books to read so hopefully will find ways to fix it there. 1-2-3 Magic is looking good so far.

I don't think I have PND; I think it's mostly tiredness and feeling overwhelmed. If I write out a daily plan then that will help. Will obviously keep an eye on things and talk to HV/GP if I need to. I've had PND before so should recognise the signs.

Really hope everyone else is doing well.

So sorry you are feeling like this grouchy and glad your DH is looking after you.

My mum said to me that 0-1 kids was hard, 1-2 was easy and 2-3 was near impossible but she managed and we are all semi normal human beings that contribute to society. She has mentioned that she went through a really low time after having th third baby but she came out the other side.