August 2021 Babies - Final evictions and the fourth trimester

[BertieBotts]

Time for a new thread! :)

29 gorgeous new babies have joined us already, welcome to the world 💖💙🥳

@Smurf123 - Welcome to the world, baby Sophia 💖
@wimbler - Welcome to the world, baby boy 💙
@Jessicapebbles - Welcome to the world, baby Ebony💖
@Inmypjsagain - Welcome to the world, baby boy💙
@PurplePansy05 - Welcome to the world, baby Leo Alexander 💙
@WinterBabyof89 - Welcome to the world, baby Rosie 💖
@Winecoffeeteamum - Welcome to the world, baby Emily 💖
@Ready2020 - Welcome to the world, baby Rowan 💖
@Magik01 - Welcome to the world, baby Isaac 💙
@Hoares3 - Welcome to the world, baby Ellis 💙
@Daffodil21 - Welcome to the world, baby Elliot James 💙
@sarah13xx - Welcome to the world, baby Freddie 💙
@MrsB2019x - Welcome to the world, baby Ella💖
@Biscuitcat - Welcome to the world, baby Rowan 💙
@Whatshouldbemyusername - Welcome to the world, baby Arya-Nyah 💖
@notinthestarsigns - Welcome to the world, baby Erin 💖
@Aaaaa1519 - Welcome to the world, baby Anum 💖
@Angelesque - Welcome to the world, baby Isaac 💙
@Millymay13 - Welcome to the world, baby Ethan Benjamin 💙
@WolfMother326 - Welcome to the world, baby Alasdair William 💙
@BertieBotts - Welcome to the world, baby Alexander 💙
@RandomCatGenerator - Welcome to the world, baby Solomon 💙
@lucyrp - Welcome to the world, baby Evelyn Rose 💖
@HopefulB - Welcome to the world, baby Chloé 💖
@Mmr224 - Welcome to the world, baby Alasdair 💙
@Smallbean27 - Welcome to the world, baby boy 💙
@Fran919 - Welcome to the world, baby girl 💖
@Caz1226 - Welcome to the world, baby Dougie 💙
@Ava50x - Welcome to the world, baby boy 💙
@dirtyfries - Welcome to the world, baby Frankie! 💖

Counting down until till they welcome their munchkins:

@Dia12 - EDD 8 August, Girl 💖
@livingwithbees - EDD 16 August, surprise 💛
@Sheisfee - EDD 19 August, Girl 💖
@Alittlexmasmagic - EDD 22 August, surprise 💛
@LottSE20 - EDD 22 August, surprise 💛
@ame88 - EDD 28 August, Girl 💖

@PurplePansy05 I think it’s massage and some yoga type techniques for adults too. That’s good you can see a difference! I think sometimes just sitting in the house can get repetitive and you run out of things to do with them or even things to talk about. I even find that I’m so busy (like today) with putting on washings and doing all the stuff that needs done that I don’t just sit and focus on him for a set amount of time without any distractions so I’m looking forward to someone telling me what to do with him for an hour instead of me having to think what will I do next? 🙈

That’s a shame most of them are already in twos. I think that’s the issue with the classes. I wouldn’t mind going myself and chatting to people if everyone was going themselves but a lot of people will meet up with a friend to go so they really aren’t there to make friends or talk to people. It makes it near enough impossible to make small talk with people who are already with their friend and some of these classes have a set bit of ‘social time’ as if you HAVE to talk to people and I just have visions of me sitting surrounded by all these people who have come with their friends 😂

I get that thing of not being gooey. Singing etc doesn’t really come natural to me, surprising since I’m a teacher but babies are a different breed entirely 🙈

@sarah13xx I don't sing nursery rhymes to mine yet. I just stick music channels on and sing the songs I like to him 😂 I figure there's plenty of time for nursery rhymes later when he understands more! We had quite the party with DH this evening - Elliot loved it even though we sounded terrible! Getting lots of definite smiles over the last couple of days which is lovely 🥰 even when we 'sing' to him!

I say this as I can hear him crying with DH downstairs, so it's not all just smiles here 😂

@PurplePansy05 I totally get what you mean, I tried a few classes with my first and tbh even though he enjoyed then, I found them a little awkward? Everyone already had their mum friends and sat together so it was just me and DS. Maybe I’m just a bit awkward in them situations? Lol.

@Ready2020 I’m the same with BFing, my clothes/bra get soaked. Not to mention DS hair most of the time. I think it is because of an over supply, not sure there’s anything that can be done. I usually just tuck a muslin in my bra before I feel, kind of like you would with a napkin before you eat in your top 😂

@Daffodil21 yeah I’ve thought that a few times. How’s he going to know what’s a nursery rhyme and what’s not? 😂 that’s nice he’s smiling! It feels like they’re a proper wee person that just comes to life when they smile 😊

@Magik01 That's why I stick Haakaa on the other breast! I hate that feeling of constantly getting soaked otherwise, and DS looks like he'd just wet himself if I don't do it.

And in response to the classes to you and @sarah13xx, I'm glad you both said that. I think most mums probably feel a bit insecure and vulnerable going in there alone so of course they find someone to go with them or another newbie mum in the class and then they stick together. Which of course alienates others going forward, but I get why this happens. Ultimately, that's absolutely right - it's good to leave the house. It's good to have to be somewhere on time that isn't a medical appointment for once! I'm learning to plan ahead with DS, feed, pack up the car etc. Its stressful, but will be worth it, by the time he goes to nursery, we'll hopefully be quite good at it! Otherwise everyone has been pretty forgiving of us being late. Once we were 40 mins late (!) to a restaurant for lunch. I called before to apologise (hate being late, but he was sick all over us before I left the house and then got stuck in traffic), and they were great. Same obviously with friends/family, and in any event most come to visit us. It's all quite relaxed, and I personally think it's good for us to learn to have to be somewhere at a fixed time.

I tell myself that my goal is to learn something that will help him and make life more fun for him and the classes tick these boxes. If I make mum friends then I guess it's a bonus. xx

Oh and we sing any sort of nonsense to him with made up words, advert tunes, our fav songs, lullabies. Current favourites are ABBA Greatest Hits and Bring Me Sunshine. I much prefer that than baby songs xx

DS gets sung whatever is on Radio 2 here, so gets a fairly eclectic mix! He was jigging along to drum and bass the other day 😂 the only nursery rhyme I've sung him is Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree as I love it - he'll be bored witless of that before long!

@Ready2020 I also solve it by sticking a muslin in before feeding to catch any drips! If it is oversupply I believe block feeding, where you only feed from one side for a set period of several hours before swapping, can help, could be worth googling?

Morning all!

Popping in briefly to empathise with sleeping/feeding/crying woes. We’re at 4 weeks today. It’s been a whirlwind month, I have never achieved/slept so little, or felt so Ill (MAU advised me to call an ambulance last week due to raging temp, and racing pulse getting worse after 24hours antibiotics. Somehow though the little one (and a lot of haribo) is keeping me going.

We’ve ended up hiring a hospital grade pump - which I’m using 8x/day, once in the night to try and get my supply back after the mastitis infection. Not sure it’s worth it as we still haven’t cracked Gape/Latch, so all feeds are from bottle (which she doesn’t latch properly too either). Still awaiting feeding team review (service overwhelmed), and have booked a cranial osteopathy appointment as a last resort!

Safe to say I have very little time after feeding, pumping & skin to skin/Latch practice, and pretty much alternate day appointments (3hr round trip) until this week. I literally have a shower and eat/drink what OH gives me, so apologies for not interacting with the thread so much.

Hugs, patience and strength to you all xx

Thank you all for your advice, my right nipple has fully recovered and I can now bf again

@HopefulB Good to hear from you! Gosh, it sounds like you're having a rough ride. I hope things become less relentless for you soon. Do what you feel is right, you're clearly trying so, so hard, but don't forget about yourself in all this and about how sustainable things are. You can't possibly keep going at this pace forever when you're still recovering xx

Has anyone had first baby vaccines yet? Or those with older babies is it normal for them to sleep a lot after? Dd had them this morning. She's slept most of the day and cried out a few times in her sleep or woken briefly crying out. She's fed ok but last feed there fed fine before vomiting what seems like a whole feed back up again about 20 mins later.
She's due calpol again soon but she hates it too and gagged a lot with the last dose 😩
I can't really remember how ds reacted when he had his first ones.

@Smurf123 mine hasn't had his yet and no
other children but today the HV said they can sleep lots after the vaccines and if it's been longer than usual for feeds then to wake them. She did say a lot of other other shite today which actually contradicted the NHS website, but I'm fairly certain this is correct at least!!

Ooh I've got them booked for 5 October. Not looking forward to them!

My milk production has been all over the place today. I feel that I should really pay more attention to how often I feed her but I take for granted that I've just got milk there for her to have. I think she had to work extra hard this evening for the milk to come out and it's frustrated her. Plus for some reason she's started to really smack her lips when feeding, like she isn't fully on the boob. It's been the last few days I've noticed that and wonder if I've gotten a bit lazy with her latch.

Bake off is on and I need to miss it for my snooze before night shift. I kinda miss my evenings. Dinner, TV and a bath. Now it's dinner between taking turns to walk DD, tip toeing about the lounge and early to bed. No time for a bath unless I miss my nap but I find it really helps. If I slept better at night I could go to bed a bit later.

Sorry, a bit rambling tonight! Just have this feeling of ground hog day, despite doing different things each day. The days are going by fast but I still feel so unsure about what I'm doing. DD is a lot more awake and aware during the days and I've no idea what to do with her. I feel like I spend my days just trying to get her to go to sleep to attempting to interact with her. My arm aches from holding her. OH has a slight go at my for being self conscious about singing to her or baby talking. But I just can't find it in me to be like that. I'll speak to her though and do get smiles. I'm just not as goofy as OH.

Thanks @Daffodil21
I'm knackered with an incredibly sore head and I think because she so rarely actually sick with a feed that worries me. Plus she's just started having lots of awake time and then today is just the opposite. Plus she normally cluster feeds all evening.

@Ready2020 I know what you mean about self consciousness. You don’t need to baby talk to engage with her. I just chatter away to DS in my normal voice, but maybe I’m more used to that from years of having cats and dogs who I chatter away to (). And as others have said, singing doesn’t have to be nursery rhymes - we’re working our work through Billy Joel’s greatest hits which I’m greatly enjoying revisiting.

I do feel engagement at rhis stage is really difficult: there’s no positive feedback (smiles, laughter, focused eye contact for long) so it’s hard to know if you’re doing it right, I think…

Yes to sleepy after vaccinations or sometimes unsettled and cranky. Poor babies. Sometimes they don't seem to mind at all though!

@Daffodil21 I really like my health visitor but it does seem that every time she tells me something, if I look it up after on the nhs website it says the complete opposite 🙈 she’s said not to bother worrying about how long you can have a bottle out the fridge for, told me to use olive oil on his cradle cap when nhs website says not to use it etc

@sarah13xx similar here - she told me as long as the water has been boiled it doesn't matter what temperature the water is when you mix it with the powder, and for overnight feeds I can just leave it out next to the bed until we need it, even if it's longer than 2 hours. I was explaining what we had been doing to double check it was right, and said we make sure the water is hotter than 70 deg to kill the bacteria in the formula, then cool rapidly under the tap and store a couple in the fridge at a time so they're ready when we need them. She said water being above 70 deg won't kill the bacteria in the formula, but in the NHS website it says it does!

@Ready2020 you sound like you’re having a tough time. Tomorrow is another day! I definitely felt like it was Groundhog Day when he was about 2/3 weeks old and I just constantly changed nappies, fed him, tried to get him to sleep on a loop. I do feel like now it’s less like that and I’m doing a bit more stuff in a day, especially since being able to drive again. I still do feel a bit limited though when I think of somewhere to go or something to do then remember I have a baby and I can’t 😂 getting a sleep at night for me seems to make a massive difference though. I only got a few hours on Sunday night and typically yesterday he was up early when we’d usually have a long lie or go back to bed after he’d been fed. I was like a half shut knife all day yesterday and was getting so easily annoyed at everything 🤦🏼‍♀️ I feel much better today after a decent sleep and a long walk this morning. I think it’s just about taking it in small chunks and having small things to look forward to to stop you getting overwhelmed by it all.

Totally get the self conscious thing. I’m fine when I’m on my own, or even if DH is there but if visitors are in I’m really not someone who does all of that. I’ve never been one for speaking to other people’s kids like that either though 🙈

@Smurf123 dd was super sleepy for a day or 2 after hers. Also monster poos! We have ds’ on Thursday. Actually need to get some calpol in preparation!

@Daffodil21 yeah that doesn’t sound right! I think mine tries to be quite casual as if I’ve not to worry but id just rather know I was doing it right 🙈 she also told me for his bedtime routine I should be bathing him at 11pm!!! Who’s having a bath at 11pm?! I now just kid on we’re following this advice every time she asks and he gets his bath at half 7 😂

@sarah13xx 11pm?!! Wtf!

@sarah13xx 11pm? Is she mad! Yes!
Dd is luckily if she gets a bath every other day and half the time it's in the morning but night.
@BertieBotts and @wimbler thanks that's reassuring to hear!
Ds had preschool boosters a few weeks ago - M&S so a 4 pack of paw patrol chocolate lollies they were a fantastic distraction. He was too busy choosing which character lolly he was going to have for the first injection and while he went to shout when she did the second it was already finished and the chocolate lolly was ready to be eaten. He's a big octonauts fan atm so he said "she spiked me like a pufferfish!"
@Ready2020 it's hard to choose sometimes. I was so excited for bake off tonight, 15 mins in my PlayStation turned off and I was too tired to moved to get the control to turn it back on.. dd and I have come to bed instead, will hopefully get watching rest of bake off tomorrow

@Daffodil21 @Smurf123
yip! I now have to kid on I’m bathing my child at 11pm every night 🙈 When he gets older and goes to sleep in his own room I’m not bathing him at 11pm so I thought why on earth would I be doing that as a bedtime routine? 😂 if he falls asleep before his bath at 7.30 we don’t bother and just put him to bed

Are people planning to massage their c-section scar with oil or anything? Just came across an article about the benefits of it and I’m now thinking I should be 🤔

I'm definitely not doing this considering how easily they can get infected @sarah13xx. Pretty sure I read not to do this in the first 6 months post CS and then Bio Oil should be ok xx