November 2017 #5. You wait ages for a baby, then 3 come along at once. Ante/post-natal chat ...

[Zampa]

No specific post-natal category so I've added it to the normal ante-natal category ...

Went to our first baby activity today - a Rhythm Time taster session. Think DD2 was a bit over-stimulated by the end and with one activity to go, she had a cry then a feed at the back. I enjoyed it though! Everyone was really friendly so will be back

Trying to get her name down with local preps. The 2022 intake is already full at one so on a waiting list. It seems mad when she'll only start school in 5 years time.

Wow that's organised @Zampa ! I've barely got my head round having to choose a primary school for DS in September never mind Iris in 2022!

We had a lovely veggie patch & greenhouse before we had DS. We just haven't had the time to tend it properly so the greenhouse went & the veggie patched halved for decking & then last year it went completely. I really miss being able to go & pick veg from the garden. We still have our strawberry plants.

Iris seems to be starting to realise she needs to sleep in the day finally! She fell asleep by herself in her bouncer this afternoon. It was only for 25 minutes mind but it's a start!

She still hates the playmat though. She can be really happy & smiling on the changing table or on our bed & within 5 minutes of moving her to either of the playmats or baby gym she's crying & really upset. Any ideas on why & how I can get her to like it? She's getting a bit big for her pillow thing now & it would really help if she'd lie on the playmat.

Wow @buttery that sounds amazing! Fingers crossed Freddie gets the memo haha. It’ll benefit him when he starts weaning too having all this organic fruit and veg! My father in law is an amazing gardener it is him that starts most things off for us or gives us all the equipment and things to grow veggies in the garden, without him we definitely would not grow a thing successfully. I love it too @Topsy, just popping outside to get some tomatoes and lettuce for a salad! I feel very Felicity Kendall 😂 My DH has recently started saying he wants to keep laying hens because we never have enough eggs! God help me. We had ducks and chickens growing up and I will never forget the misery of grudgingly mucking out all that sloppy poop on a rainy Sunday. I know I sound like my mother right now but it would be left to me to clean up after them lol.

Glad you enjoyed the group @zampa. Matilda loves our Music Bugs instructor, she spends the whole time transfixed, gazing up at her.
That is very organised of you. A friend of mine had booked her son’s nursery place when she was still pregnant. I’ve just tried to avoid thinking about it...which is healthy

@Topsy Matilda went off her playmat. I have no idea why, she has started to like it a bit more now. I laid out a blanket on the sitting room floor instead and put her toys around her and she still enjoys doing that and sometimes falls asleep on it too. No idea why that is preferable to a play mat because they are pretty much the same thing, but may be worth you giving a go with Iris? X

@Topsyloulou it has taken a very long time for Bea to start liking her playmat and even now she only tolerates it for around 10 minutes. The other day she surprised me by falling asleep in it, I just covered her with a blanket and left her there.

All the reading I have done suggests that babies should nap for a couple of hours at a time. Bea however has not done this reading and only naps for 30-40 mins at a time during the day, which makes it difficult for me to achieve anything. Anyone got any tips?

Well done to all your green fingered ladies. I kill all plants so DH has banned me from having any.

Good morning all. @topsyloulou I had the same with Ellis and his activity set but the other day I quickly put him down on it as I had to get something and I had laid him on a pillow so his head was more comfortable. It also meant he could see the room as well as the activity things above him. He loved it for about half an hour! We went to baby massage the other day.... e hated being in his back but after a feed and a change and a reassuring cuddle he loved being on his front and engaged with the massage and sensory lights. We've been to see the craniosteopath to help him as well which we hope will real his tummy and head. Hope you are all well. Lots of love x

Has anyone successfully dreamfed? Can I check is this when you feed a baby without waking them?
@motherhippy I had no idea baby massage would have all that as well. We are trying baby spin tomorrow, I have no idea what to expect! How old is E now? It’s good he enjoys being on his front, I’m rubbish doing tummy time with Tildy x

I think you sort of half wake them haz, usually about 10.30pm ish. Quiet feed, then pop back in bed.

Sock I think the short naps are an age thing - 4 months ish is when they struggle to link sleep cycles. F is normally a super napper but has been waking after one sleep cycle for the past few days, I'm just trying to keep him in bed (he naps in his pram) unless he's properly crying and he does settle again eventually. I did read that it can take around 20 mins to get back to sleep so it does require the luxury of time and I can't do it when we have to get out of the house.

We have freddie's vaccinations this afternoon. Typically he seems to have settled for a proper nap now and I'm going to have to wake him!

Thanks @buttery. I think we have been successfully dreamfeeding the last 2 nights in that case! She slept last night from 9ish and usually DH gives her a bottle at half 10-11, but she didn’t wake up for it, so I just put her on my boob when we went to bed and she was still asleep but as a reflex started to suckle and had a whole feed, put her down at around midnight and she slept until 6 this morning! May try it again tonight so we can gradually bring her bedtime forward. Good luck for the jabs today! Wow, so he is 4 months already! Time is just flying isn’t it x

@Hazandduck wow, that's amazing that she dream fed - we're not there with Freddie he always opens his eyes a bit to start with and then closes them during the night feed so drifts off pretty quick after he's finished feeding.

On the feeding topic, we've increased the amount of time we let Freddie go before he feeds in the night to 5.5hrs. Think he'd be happy to go longer even though I know DH wouldn't be happy to try and see what happens. He's now 11 weeks and is growing well. Do you think it's ok to let your baby sleep longer than 6 hrs if they want to at night at this age, how long did your little ones sleep for at this age?

@hazandduck he's nearly 3 months now. I'm dreading the 4 month sleep regression. DD's lasted until she was 8 months old!

@izzibee29 our Freddie has been doing 8-10 hours overnight from 11 weeks ish. I wouldn't wake him unless there's any concerns about weight/development?

I can't believe that J is 3 months today... where has the time gone! He has his second injections yesterday and had no issues at all, but it's horrible when he cries like that.

It's been our day together today and because I've not been feeling so well we had a morning snuggling on the sofa that was just lovely. Those times are so precious to me.

He is sleeping 9-10 hours at night so we are really pleased as he seems pretty consistent.

Iris had her second lot of jabs today & has been absolutely fine. She was so poorly after the first lot I was dreading these but no issues. Next lot might be bad again as it's the same jabs as the first time.

She's been sleeping 8pm ish - 7am ish since the beginning of January, she's 12 weeks now. If DS has no issues putting weight on @izzibee29 I'd leave him to wake when he's ready. He'll probably feed more often during the day to start with.

Iris did 15 minutes on a blanket on the floor yesterday so we might be making progress! Thanks for the suggestions.

Hi ladies not been on for a while because having horrendous time with reflux. Baby gaviscon helps but still have horrendous meltdowns where nothing not even boob or dummy will calm her down whilst she is screaming in pain. Reading how much your babes are sleeping makes me want to cry, we are getting about 4 hrs a night. Going to go back to doctors tomorrow as not happy ;-/

@lydiangel83 You're not only in the poor sleeping. DD2 will typically do a maximum stretch of 4 hours. I'll then be up with her for around 2 hours before I get her down for another couple of hours. Sometimes, we will be up every hour or so, which is a killer. Hope it gets better for you.

Supposed to say "you're not the only one"!

@lydiangel83 you have my sympathy, Bea has reflux too. Gaviscon worked initially but then stopped, we now give her omeprazole. Which, touch wood is working. Good luck at the doctors.

THanks @theotherendofthesockportal going to go back to doctors to say I want something more than gaviscon, fed up of being told to give it time, two weeks of screaming pain and no sleep is long enough!!

Thanks @Zampa and I feel your pain although four hours followed by another block of sleep would be considered good for us these days :-/ xx

@lydiangel83 be tough with the GP and don't let them fob you off. I told them that the reflux was affecting my mental health as well as causing baby clear pain.

Oh @lydia I’m so sorry that sounds really tough. Are you still exclusively breastfeeding? If you are do you think maybe it could be something in your diet making her colic worse? I haven't managed to work out what it is but some days Matilda pretty much sicks back up half a feed after every feed and I think it must be I’ve eaten something that she can’t tolerate. They say dairy can be a bad one.
Has anyone else’s little one started teething?? I have an absolute dribble monster who puts everything in her mouth! She has now started kind of grabbing at things but she can’t quite work out how to grip. The other day I folded her fingers over one of her toys so she could hold it but she then couldn’t work out how to let go of it and started crying with this toy flailing around because she couldn’t get it off 🙈, is it bad that I laughed!
@sock what you said about Bea sleeping for 40 mins, that’s a normal sleep cycle so it makes sense she wakes up then. I think most babies do that and just need to learn not to properly wake when the sleep cycle ends.

@Hazandduck I also own an incredibly dribbley baby. I think teeth may be on the way, she spends a lot of time sucking her hand. I've tried to introduce teething toys but at the moment I just get the "what are you doing to me look."

I've started to realise that it is quite common for babies to do a 40min nap cycle at this age. I went for a coffee with two other mums after playgroup and all three babies woke up 35-40 mins after the class. Us mums tending to our babies and watched our coffees go cold.

I thought Bea was broken after reading that babies are supposed to nap for several hours at a time throughout the day. I now know that babies have not read these books and will sleep however and whenever they want!

Oh @lydiangel83 you must take her back. I think two weeks is more than enough time to realise things are not working!

I also have a very dribbly baby at the moment, but I also have one who doesn't stop smiling. Everyone who meets him comments on how much he smiles, and they just melt my heart.

I've been a bit teary this weekend. I started crying when I dropped J off at nursery on Friday (usually I am fine) and then tonight when I came in from work my husband gave me and J a few hours on the sofa and we had a huge snuggle and a little snooze together. I woke up just wanting to hold him closer and felt very teary again.

Then my husband got some old Photos of my daughter out (they look identical) and I got all teary again because the videos and photos were from when she was 14 months and I feel I have blinked and missed it all!

Thanks all we got ranitidine on Friday - doctor gave it straight away so wish we had gone earlier as gaviscon wasn't working. It's so sad to see her in pain. She feeds ok from me at night but last few days has screamed in pain whilst feeding and it breaks my heart :( I could try cutting out dairy @Hazandduck but am reluctant as I am already vegetarian. I have exclusively breastfed but can see that journey coming to an end soon :-/

How is she doing now @lydiangel83? Have you seen the unmumsy mum latest blog? She's recently had a baby with reflux etc.

Hope you're OK @durezidal? I think we must still be hormonal at this point? F had a screaming fit in sainos at the weekend so I took him up to the cafe to feed him - I was trying to juggle a crying baby and open the milk carton (WHY do they make them so that you need scissors to open them?!). A lovely lady came over and opened the milk, poured it and put the lid on the bottle. I had to try very hard not to cry at how lovely and kind she was. I've promised myself that I'll pay it forward.

Lots of dribbling and hand sucking going on here. Freddie has also learnt how to roll over from his tummy so he can get himself out of tummy time.

Bea has a cold, she has been unsettled all night, poor thing. She is behaving like a younger baby and wanting more cuddles, although she is very snotty.

I now have a new pet hate; people who take their poorly children to baby groups. I'm certain we got this cold from a couple of clearly poorly babies at a group last week, the poor things had green snot dripping out their noses. I'm planning a few days at home until Bea is better.

@butterybollocks I am still feeling hormonal too, I don't think being back on the pill is helping either. It's the most effective contraception ever as I don't want DH anywhere near me, ever again.

Bless the helpful lady! I've found strangers can be helpful, I've had doors opened for me and one man at the bus stop moved away from the bus stop to smoke as he didn't want his cigarette fumes to go over the baby.