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 I was told at least 12-18 months between the CSs. What were you told? I can't imagine even getting pg within a year, not to mention another CS 🙈

Re formula it happened in my area in March 2020 as a result of panic buying. Madness. xx

I was told 12-18 months before trying again. But I've read so many different things. I should have said read not told in my last post.

I wonder what people did when the formula ran out?!!!!

Again, no one mentioned anything to me about how long to wait (shock) 😂 but I think I’ll be waiting 2 years anyway. Not that you can pick the month you’re successful conceiving but I love that he has a summer birthday so ideally would like my next baby to have a summer birthday too so maybe if he/she was born just before he turned 3 that would be lovely 😊 might change my mind on that when he’s a wild toddler though 🤔

It was mainly aptamil that seemed to have ran out for a while here. For that reason I chose hipp organic instead since I thought it would be impossible to get aptamil. It seems aptamil is now always fully stocked and it’s hipp that’s sold out more often 🙄

Well people here considered this an emergency and drove further away so they could buy it. I think it remained available online, but it was nigh impossible to get a slot I remember. It was fine after several weeks, but what stress!

Agreed re summer birthday. I also think doing what we're doing now would be so much harder in deep, dark winter when it's difficult to even go out for a walk. I would rather go through third trimester struggles when it's hot again instead. xx

The petrol is crazy isn't it! We had to fill up yesterday and we're queueing for a good 15 mins (admittedly Friday just before rush hour, but still!). I mostly shop online and we've been quite lucky so far in getting most of what we order with only the odd substitution, so I'm keeping fingers crossed it stays that way

@Ready2020 we're another one with a dog who likes to exercise his lungs here so I hope that can't hurt baby's hearing!!

I did read something about being careful with white noise and using the lowest volume you can get away with but can't remember where now so it might have been rubbish.

We always switched ready made formula brands with DS2 because German supermarkets have such limited stock of everything compared to UK, it was always fine.

3 years is a nice gap here (so far!)

60% off sale at Next online, girls! Lots of baby clothes! xx

Just got ID'd in Asda for buying a bottle of cider. Felt pretty good about myself until she said about me being pregnant 😂

Boob feeders - we're still trying to work out some sort of better system with DD. Who co sleeps? What time do you go to bed if you co sleep? Do you ever have your partner do any nights so you can get a longer sleep?

At weekends my OH does nights so I can get a longer sleep of 6 hours. But I find I'm more tired when this happens. Plus I don't sleep all of it as my boobs get too full and I wake up.

I'm thinking that the best options for a help from OH is to take her for longer in the morning so I can get a longer nap but that only works if we've no plans plus can't work at week days. Plus OH doesn't think it's fair that I need to give up my evenings and have broken sleep but I think I'm kind of used to it. It's just how it goes if you breast feed.

Co-sleeper here. Tend to go to bed around 10/10.30ish. Partner doesn't do any nights no. I don't think I would find that helpful personally. I'm tired by 10 so I want to go to bed. Once he gets a bit more settled in the evening, I'll start putting him down and leaving him there, but right now he doesn't stay asleep without me, so I just keep him with me. I kept DS1 with us in the evenings until he was about 9 months and crawling! DS2 was 3 months, but it used to take ages to get him down and he'd wake at least twice during the evening, so arguably no more relaxing.

The last few nights I noticed that he seemed distressed if we tried to move him around too much after 9pm so started trying to take him to bed at 9, then reading on my kindle in bed which is also fine. At this stage I'm just tired so don't mind not having an evening.

If I go to bed at 9/10 and he's unsettled then I get DH to take him until he goes to bed or until he's crying for milk again.

On weekdays I sleep in until whenever he lets me (generally 9ish, maybe 10) and at weekends I get up with the little kids as that's kind of our arrangement. I go for random naps with the baby whenever I feel like it. That can be a couple of hours if I time it right.

If you don't want to do bottles then there's not much scope for partner taking baby for long stretches of time at this age, but it does get easier as they get older. I find the sleeping in fits and spurts works fine for me but does mean I can't stay awake for long stretches either. Coffee is my friend!

Can you sleep and feed at the same time? That makes the difference for me. My sleep is still broken but nowhere near as much and I don't have the nightmare of trying umpteen times to put the baby down only for them to wake up 5 minutes later.

No co-sleeping here, I'd be too paranoid to have DS in bed.

I personally don't think a system whereby I'd get a 6 hr sleep with no breaks would ever work with bf. Exactly as you say, breasts get full, uncomfortable and leak. I got into a routine of splitting my 6/7 hr sleep into two parts, DS naturally wakes up once at night and so do I. I feed him and we go back to sleep. I'm far more comfortable then, my breasts are emptied, everyone's happy. I feed him less in the eve before bed and this is when he gete his formula top ups from DH so I get more time to myself. DH also spends time with DS early in the mornings so I can shower/prep myself for the day/do some washing/quick tidy up. It's amazing what I can achieve in 30 mins now xx

Oh someone said about sucking blisters on baby's lips earlier - this is v common and you can just leave it as they will go away on their own :)

@Ready2020 DD normally goes to sleep around 8ish at night at which time she goes down in her crib and I go to bed, then she wakes 3-4 hours later around 12 ish and I find that feed okay then she wakes around 3ish when OH sometimes gives her a bottle of formula and then she wakes at 6/7 which is what time we have to leave the house every day anyway so that's fine x sometimes we co sleep from the last feed at 3am until the morning.

We do bottle when necessary so I'm OK using them with either formula or expressed milk for OH to do morning or evening feeds.

Yeah I think I feel more comfortable doing the nights. It'll get easier to get more sleep as she sleeps better at night. She tends to wake more from 4 or 5 am just now so it's less likely I'll sleep from then. But I find the nights peaceful as she doesn't cry much, only for a feed (probably jinxed it now!).

I think I'll head to bed after Strictly and if DD is restless I'll take her and feed on demand in bed. I think I need to be more relaxed with taking her to bed with me earlier. I don't co sleep but the snuz pod is works well for us, mostly. I sometimes have her on me during the night if she's unsettled but don't sleep.

Has anyone experienced the sad crying suddenly from being asleep?

Good tip on Next sale, @PurplePansy05, thanks!

@Daffodil21 a colleague I hadn’t seen for a while asked the other day when the baby was due they were so mortified when I said “…five weeks ago…”

On contraception - post pregnancy I don’t fancy hormonal options or the coil, not so soon at least. We’ll stick with condoms. For those who dislike them, I really recommend Skyns - they are really thin feel, almost like going bareback.

@RandomCatGenerator oh dear, I bet they were mortified 😂 sorry it happened to you too! I do still look pregnant tbf so it's an easy missed to make! I bought myself some clothes today in a size I never thought I'd have to buy!

Left DS with DH most of the day - I think he struggled a bit. He sent me a voice message if his crying - I have him all week, I know what he sounds like 😂

@Ready2020 Another cosleeper here, I tried using the cosleeper bassinet a few times but I was getting less sleep because he'd wake a few minutes after putting him down. I'm all about path of least resistance. He is very unsettled until about 9pm, so I usually go to bed a bit before that so that we're in situ when he finally falls asleep. He then usually does a 5-6 hour stretch and when he wakes I get DH to change his nappy. Another feed 2-3 hours later, ditto. I don't mind doing the night feeds, it's just the getting up and changing him that I rather avoid as it wakes me up a lot and it takes longer to get back to sleep. I do remember finding it hard with DS1 when he hit 4 months and started waking every 45 minutes for a while. 😱 There are definitely difficult phases but on the whole this has worked out well for us. I got my evenings back eventually. And then I went and had another baby! 🙈

@Smurf123 Hope your DH is stepping up, you must be so frustrated. Looking after two is hard work on your own!! And if he's well enough to go to work then he's definitely well enough to read two bedtime stories.

@Ready2020 we don't cosleep - I tried for a couple of nights but just really don't like it as I prefer having my own space in bed! We tend to go to bed together at 10/10:30-ish and do the last feed in bed. He wakes up at 2-ish and 5-ish, I usually do the first feed and DH gives him a bottle of formula for the second (I was pumping for that initially but hated it so decided that formula was better for us). If he sleeps a bit longer he doesn't have the bottle and I just do all of them. As and when he drops a night feed I'll probably do all of them, but we'll start doing one bottle in the day instead as I really don't want him to bottle refuse!

Thanks for the replies folks. @biscuitcat yeah DD seems to have dropped a feed in the late evening that OH did with the bottle so now we don't bottle feed as much and I worry she'll forget what it's like to have them.

I'm away for my nap before night shift and OH has DD downstairs (I can hear her crying a bit ) She's being quite fussy tonight and not going down which isn't usual though she had good sleep during the day. I feel like her sleep pattern is all over the place just now. Plus she's started to really suck her hands. Not for food though. Maybe a comfort thing.

Baby massage tomorrow

Hope everyone is well.

I’m getting very intense pain in my abdomen - around level with the bottom of my ribs, below my boobs. It absolutely wrecks - this has happened for an hour or more for a few nights recently.

Any ideas? I thought maybe ribs rearranging themselves? Honestly it’s incredibly painful - I feel nauseous it’s so bad.

Maybe a bit less painful when sitting than lying?

Sorry to complain. Just wondering if anyone knows what it might be or has had similar.