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 💖

@Daffodil21 glad it went well! it feels sooo good to be able to do anything again for the first time, there’s such a novelty to it 😂 Even going a walk round my usual loop at a brisk pace with the pram that I wasn’t doing near the end.

I used to go horse riding at weekends and shared a horse for a while. I had agreed to go to the stables this weekend for a short walk on the horse I used to ride (very slow and safe). I’m slightly worrying that I should maybe be waiting longer than 6 weeks though now I’m seeing stories of other people not being fully healed at this point 😕 not sure what to do! I’m holding off on the running until 12 weeks exactly then will probably have to do walk/jog after a year off it 😂 At least I will hopefully have lost the last stone by then

@PurplePansy05 the nurse told me to give calpol within 1 hour of the vaccine and then two more doses 4-6 hours apart. The meningitis vaccine is the one that can cause fever. He hasn’t had a high temp yet so fingers crossed he’s ok. He’s Slept all day though and been quite grizzly too but otherwise not too bad.

We haven’t had a weight loss but just he’s dropped a curve and a bit on the chart. He was born at 8lb14 and he’s now 11lb7ish. She didn’t mention weight loss but I think he’s just found his curve now and that’s where he will stay. Dd is the same percentile so I think that’s just his body type as his head is on the same percentile as weight if that makes sense?!

@Daffodil21 dd can go 36 hours without a dirty nappy now. Hv said it's fine as long as it's soft when she does go. Hers are usually pretty orange and watery.
@PurplePansy05 for the first set it includes men b vaccine so they tell you to give 2.5ml straight after then again 4-6 hours later and then 4-6 hours after that to try and prevent a fever as it's common after the vaccine otherwise.
Getting dd to take it is beyond a nightmare. Halfway through the syringe last night she brought it and her last feed all up after gagging on the calpol!

To whoever first mentioned hey bear on here a huge thank you! I've just managed to eat dinner (well toast) and a full cup of tea while dd has sat in his bouncer watching the stars and moon one! She burst into tears when cocomelon came on after 🙈
Dh is in the garage playing his computer because he is still dying and too unwell to look after baby but he can stay up for hours playing computer and he came home from work and took a nap first 🤬
Meanwhile I've had the toddler and baby all day, done the shopping and put ds to bed after getting dd to nap in the pram. The dishwasher still needs emptied and bed sheets still need to go on our bed. I'm not very happy with dh. And he'll likely come to bed and say "what's wrong!"

After weeks of wrestling a very wriggly DD into Velcro swaddles (which really helped her sleep but she HATED being put into and would often wake right up in the process and/or immediately wriggle her arms out) I've bitten the bullet and splashed out on some arms up love to dream swaddles.
She bloody loves them!

Anyone with wriggly sleepers I highly recommend. They're sooo easy and she's been so peaceful and calm when wearing them

@dirtyfries I've been considering swaddling but dd hasn't been swaddled since the hospital so I wasn't sure if it was cruel of me to go back to it after 7 weeks!

Our DS goes between 1 and 2 days between poos and they vary from double to single cream in consistency I guess. The week he’s started getting more cramping pain for farting and in the build up to a poo which the last time went on for about 18hours and was so horrible. He’s on the cow and gate powdered formula but in the end we gave him the pre mixed bottles for a few feeds before he managed to do his poo. No idea if it helped or not but we were getting desperate! I did start to wonder if we needed to change the type of formula we give him, it’s just so hard to know what’s right.
Midwives and HV have previously not been concerned about the gap between poos so long as the colour was ok and that they weren’t hard. I will ring the HV if the log painful build up to a poo continues though, it was so horrible to watch DS in such pain.

@Millymay13 it's interesting you say this about the formula, that's exactly what I was wondering. Did you see a change when you went back to the pre mixed? We're using cow and gate too. Frequency has increased but consistency is still on the watery side.

DH and I had sex for the first time since CS last night - it was totally fine which I wasn't expecting. In terms of post CS I mean 😂 It was so nice to just have sex for the sake of it and not for a baby. First time in a few years! I just about remembered what to do, even though I've neglected DH during the whole pregnancy because I was too paranoid 🙈😳

Hahaha I didn't realise Hey Bear would be such a hit with your DCs too, glad to hear this My son still loves these videos! We've moved on from the black & white classical music one (I swear if I saw mama duck one more time...!), now we bounce together to the one with rainbow colours 😁🙄

Thanks for the Calpol recommendations, I will buy it and discuss with the nurse. I've not thought of getting it in advance at all xx

@Daffodil21 🥳 Wooo! So true about having sex and NOT ttc! Too right! I may have sung Akon I Just Had Sex to DS the next day as I had it stuck in my head 😁 #sexeducation xx

@Daffodil21 to be honest I can’t really tell the difference in DS with either pre mixed or powered, although the elusive poo only arrived after we made the swap. The poo was more liquid than previous ones, but I didn’t look too hard because the nappy was full and I needed to get it away from his wiggling legs!
I do think the pre mixed is a slightly thicker and smoother consistency so wondered if that made a difference to his digestion, plus there’s no bubbles from mixing it. I’m trying to spend extra time mixing the powered one whilst not shaking it now, but that’s not making a difference to the overall thickness or consistency of the milk.
I hadn’t given much thought to the amount I’d be micro-analysing every item from every day once I was a parent! Maybe that is a sign of a first time parent though 😆

@dirtyfries this is the one thing I wish I’d known when I was pregnant. He’s really no bother to get to sleep or to stay asleep at night yet the swaddle caused us endless problems. He’d have his hand out it more times than it stayed in and he’d make so much noise just constantly trying to get out. The love to dream swaddles are a lifesaver 😍

Oh gosh no I am so paranoid about sex now that we are using contraception again condoms don't exactly add to passion do they? Although I do prefer less clean up afterwards. Contraception isn't even free here so I have to decide what I want to do. I can barely remember to take vitamins so I'm not sure about the pill, which is the cheap option.

@Millymay13 it's funny how the timing is the same for both of us after made the switch. Maybe that's just normal. Will see how he goes today!

@PurplePansy05 I'm going to have that song in my head all day now 😂

@BertieBotts we changed the bed sheets last night and when it was clear were going to have sex I couldn't help thinking that I wish we held off changing the sheets 😂 then I remembered we were using condoms! We used the free ones that come in the baby box we get here. My husband said 'if these fail we'll sue the Scottish government' 😂 I refuse to take the pill so we're just going to rely on condoms which I know aren't 100% effective but we're not too bothered if they fail, except timing after CS of course. Given that it's taken this long to actually get a baby I'm not going to worry too much about a contraception fail..!

I can't believe you have to pay for contraception. Is it expensive?

@dirtyfries we love the love to dream swaddles too. I need to buy another actually as he was sick on his the other day and I panicked that it wouldn’t be clean and dry in time for bed 😂 we have the bamboo one as it’s the only one I could get and it’s so soft

@Daffodil21 In most EU countries you pay for prescribed meds incl contraceptives, but the usual standard of care and speed of receiving it is higher (and the appointments are free as well). Personally, I'd take that any day over primary care in this country having experienced both.

You've made me laugh with those sheets! I've never given it a second thought, even when TTC! I used to lift my bum up to avoid any precious spillage and increase our chances then lol 🤣 Condoms now here too. I don't find the idea of a coil appealing at all. Pill is no good for me or anything hormonal, implant etc. I'd be unwell MH-wise. So actually there's nothing else left! I may consider the non-hormonal coil at some point but I'm not sure if we're going to have enough sex with a young baby at home to justify it... anyway, the Boots super slim ones are pretty good once you finish having fun courtesy of the Scottish Government 😁 xx

Take that back, DH has just corrected me, they are Durex Thin Feel ones that he bought from Boots 😁 Good choice! xx

Sorry about so many posts, but I forgot to ask - do I need a different size bottle teats for a 2 month old? We use MAM bottles for BM/formula top ups, I bought them because it said from newborn, don't know the teat size. They're only small 160ml max bottles, I assume it's teat size 1?

Do I need size 2 teats for 2 months +? I can't work that out between MAM website and Amazon, each says something different. MAM website says size 2 for 2 months+ and size 3 for 4 months+, Amazon says in MAM listings that size 2 is for 4 months+.

Do I also need bigger size bottles to go with these larger teats to fit?

Sorry, you can tell I have no experience with bottles! xx

@PurplePansy05 you're breastfeeding aren't you?? If so I would stick with size 0 teats otherwise the flow is too fast from the bottles for breastfed babies and sometimes this is why they get a bottle preference I believe as they get used to the milk coming so easy. I always stuck with size 0 teats on DS bottle even when he was 1 as he was breastfed. Xx

Yes if breastfeeding stick with the slowest flow tears unless they start to collapse while feeding

Interesting as I thought Germany was an outlier with no contraception covered. I've heard you can hop over the French border and get it free there. I think it's about €6 per month for the pill, €20 per month for options like nuvaring or injection and €180 for mirena. Vasectomy is €3-500! We are considering that too but I think DH is not keen to completely close up shop yet just in case we change our minds.

And the teat size is just the hole size, the bit that fits into the bottle lolid is the same.

Yes, bf. Oops I just looked and the teats we have are size 1 anyway! I didn't click they come in size 0 🙈 Shall I buy some in size 0 instead, would this help his reflux maybe??

Going forward I will still use bottles for top ups and would like to be able to have a big enough bottle suitable for a full feed in case I'm out and haven't expressed & DH needs to feed him. It says on the formula packaging that he'll need 180ml from 8 weeks, so the bottles I have would be too small for emergencies.

Shall I buy the 260ml ones and size 0 teats then? xx

If you are feeding expressed milk, then apparently the amount shouldn't increase from 4 weeks onwards. This is new info I've come across this time so no idea if it works.

I would probably just stick with size 1 :) You could try size 0 but I don't know that it matters too much. Size 0 is just like "extra slow".

@PurplePansy05 I found that with the mam bottles they say from newborn but include the size 1 teats which is annoying as the mam bottles we have were given to me by w friend so I bought size 0 teats off Amazon to go with them as she kept the teats and then I bought some new bottles the other day and they came with size 1 so I had to buy more 0 to go with those 🥴 I've never actually looked how much DD should be having at the packaging but I've never given more than 4oz at a time 🙈x

@PurplePansy05 we were using mam size 0 but have gone up to 1s in the last week or so. He wasn’t taking much at the dream feed as he was so sleepy so kind of just gave up on feeding. Plus the gaviscon makes the milk thicker. He seems ok on the 1s now even on non gaviscon milk so will stick with those now I think. If he’s not getting frustrated or struggling to control the flow of milk I’d stick with the 1s now.

Spoke to the doctor yesterday about contraception as well. I’d consider the coil, I’d rather have the copper one as it’s hormone free but the possibility of heavier periods puts me off a bit. There’s also a waiting list in my area! dh would consider a vasectomy too - he says he should take responsibility too which is nice to hear. When it comes down to it though whether he actually would or not I don’t know 😂

Thanks girls, much appreciated!

Yes, it's rather confusing @lucyrp! But happy to stick to MAM, I think most of us on here are using them too? I'm doing just that as we speak, trying to put together what he'll need going forward in my Amazon basket whilst bf and pretending to drink a cold coffee Multitasking skills have improved sooo much here!

@wimbler That's good to hear, I'll go with 260ml bottles and size 1 teats then. We use baby Gaviscon with formula too, as prescribed by our GP. It helps him. Tried Infacol before too and it didn't do anything for him. Do you find if he brings any milk up it smells a bit funny? I think it must be Gaviscon or perhaps mix of that and C&G, this never happens after breast milk.

DS currently napping at boobie after a morning of sensory activities and tummy time, courtesy of his mum 😊 he was a happy little boy this morning and I just went for it and we both enjoyed 😊 He's so cute now I could eat him! xx