Due April 2008 - the one where Mollyfloss does not have a rat!!

[ToastAddict]

Hope this works - and someone finds it

Molly, I sent you a message through Mumsnet, as I wasn't sure whether I should post her email address here. Let me know if you don't receive it!

Sagitta, you're a fellow contractor, as I recall! If I were permanent, I would finish sooner/call in sick when I felt wrecked.

Not too long now Ellie.
That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

Something else I just read on anotehr thread is that FSID (foundation for study of infant deaths) are recommending dummies to help prevent SIDs (Sudden infant death syndrome) so if any of you are paranoid about the issue it might be something worth looking into.

not long ellie.

VS, what about breastfeeding and dummies?

(not that I am thinking about it)

Is it saying dummies are good then? Hmm. Must look up and add to paranoid-first-time Mum knowledge.

dummies are the best

Mollyfloss - impressed with your healthy diet!!! Think I might try swopping to flax seed oil capsules, the fishy aftertaste from the pregnancare ones make me feel, uhm, not good... But with the remaining ones I'll try switching to evenings as suggested, maybe that'll help.

I would have been due on 13th, so have agreed to work until 31st March. Now with the earlier cs date (3rd) it means I'll only be home for 2 days before I have a baby. Strange, but then, I've been needy lately and might have just nagged DH to come home earlier every day, so maybe good for the marriage!

My husband's cousin whom we haven't seen for ages have said they've got tons of great condition baby things and baby boy's clothes that they won't use again which we can have. How lovely. So we're now visiting next weekend and I'm waiting with buying anything else until I know what we need after that. Apparently moses basket and baby bath etc too (also offered a cot, but we've got that already).

Saw the midwife today, all is well. This time in 6 weeks I've got a baby (if not earlier)

This is what the ABM says about dummies, breastfeeding and SIDS (basic summary: introduce dummy after 5 weeks (which is also what FSID say) and at sleep times only).

Thanks SuzeM. where exactly would I find that, somewhere on 'My Mumsnet' I presume?

I used dummies with DS and he was breastfed, after I could finally put him down (probably was about 5 weeks!) he would have one at nap times.
Both my two were never really hot on them when awake anyway so I didn't have any problems there.

I think they forward it on to the email address you registered with?

Oh yes and I have allowed that in my e-mail options so hopefully it should come through soon...

PAl thanks for that link. Very useful.

Thanks again mollyfloss for the reminder!

Re: dummies and SIDS, I need to find the clinical trials before my DH will believe it!! Just had a very quick look, and UNICEF say that the findings should be taken with caution. It seems that what they found was that actually there wasn't a huge difference between babies who had dummies and those who didn't, but where there was a difference was in the babies who used a dummy in their last sleep and those who didn't So what it could mean is that if you start using a dummy for their sleeps, you have to keep doing it, and the baby may actually be at more risk if you forget

Think I'll do a bit more digging over the next couple of weeks....

Only three weeks to go at work and I cannot wait! Just spoken to a midwife as feeling so crap, she said she didn't think my low BP was making me feel exhausted, that I would probably be feeling lots better if I wasn't at work! Have reduced my hours a bit, to make my days shorter, hope that works Sagitta, where do you find the energy to keep going til past your due date??

Yes, I'd heard that as well.

Looking at the papers linked to by FSID, the NZ/UK/Netherlands paper (Mitchell EA, Blair PS, L?Hoir MP. Should pacifiers be recommended to prevent sudden infant death syndrome? Pediatrics 2006 May;117(5) :1755-1758.) states that there "have been 7 case-control studies (refs 2?5, 8, and 9 and B. Alm, written correspondence, 2002) and 1 prospective study (E.A.M., unpublished data) that examined routine pacifier use and SIDS, all but one of which (ref 8) observed an increased prevalence of use among the control subjects compared with case subjects. The reduced risk of SIDS with routine pacifier use is significant when pooling the results. Eight case-control studies (refs 2?4 and 6?10) have also examined pacifier use for the last sleep, and all of them showed a reduced risk of SIDS, the significance of which actually increased in all but 1 study when adjustment was made for potential confounders."

Those references to case studies on routine (as opposed to last sleep) pacifier use are

Mitchell EA, Taylor BJ, Ford RP, et al. Dummies and the sudden infant death syndrome. Arch Dis Child. 1993;68 :501?504Abstract] -- does seem to have shown a relationship between routine dummy use and lower SIDS rates, but from the abstract it's not clear whether that was statistically significant, whereas the last sleep figures were.

Fleming PJ, Blair PS, Pollard K, et al. Pacifier use and sudden infant death syndrome: results from the CESDI/SUDI case control study. CESDI SUDI Research Team. Arch Dis Child. 1999;81 :112 ?116Full Text] -- contrary to what the article citing it says, it looks to me as though this one actually concludes that there is no difference between victims of SIDS and control infants in routine use of a dummy for sleeps.

L?Hoir MP, Engelberts AC, van Well GT, et al. Dummy use, thumb sucking, mouth breathing and cot death. Eur J Pediatr. 1999;158 :896 ?901[www.springerlink.com/content/pm1trlht1cunq3f2/CrossRef]ISI]PubMed] -- not clear from the abstract what the figures on routine use, as opposed to last sleep use, were.

Arnestad M, Andersen M, Rognum TO. Is the use of dummy or carry-cot of importance for sudden infant death? Eur J Pediatr. 1997;156 :968 ?970CrossRef]ISI]PubMed] -- According to the abstract, this study does show a strong relationship between routine dummy use amd lower rates of SIDS.

McGarvey C, McDonnell M, Chong A, O?Regan M, Matthews T. Factors relating to the infant?s last sleep environment in sudden infant death syndrome in the Republic of Ireland. Arch Dis Child. 2003;88 :1058 ?1064Abstract/Free Full Text] -- This one is the one the citing article said didn't find a link. It's not clear from the abstract what their figures were.

None of which leaves me knowing a great deal more, at the moment.

Evening all, on the SID topic did anyone watch Emmerdale tonight, couldnt watch myself, hormones far to rampant to sit through it without bawling.

Picallili - my Mw appointments are spaced like yours, last at 28 weeks, next not till 34. Think they decided as having a section this time dont need to check whether this one the right way up or growing at the rate of knots. In fact I think my appointment next week might be the last as section booked in for 39/40.

Brought my 5 metres of material yesterday to do own sling, as she was measuring it thought there was going to be far too much, but its amazing how quickly it wraps round! Tried DS in it and it seems to work really well hopefully will with Lo aswell, thanks to whoever on here gave us the link b4.

i did and cried; its awful. i ordered some leaflets from FSIDs to just make sure i get it right this time round.

Youve done it right twice B4 so sure youll be good, but any advice cant hurt cant it

oops thats meant to be 'can it' not cant it

I know, but this time its on my mind alot more for some reason. i thought more info couldn't hurt too

I thought about it lots b4 I had dd and ds (as am with this one) but kind of put to the back of my mind once they had arrived, I think so busy and exhausted and so many other things to think of, Im hoping not to worry too much when this one arrives, just to do all the recommended things for sleep/bed time.

I think I'll just see how I go. Am wary of getting too obsessive about any one way as have a tendency to then beat myself up when doesn't go like that. I am already completely confused by all the different parenting advice, don't want to add too much more to the mix. I just does what MN ladies tell me to!

It's so scary, I'm reading about it now and making my hubby do the test on the FSID's website. I'm glad I didn't see Emmerdale.

So I'm thinking about what to read to learn more about looking after a baby for the first year. I'm thinking for a good mix I'll read: 'what to expect the first year' as a kind of factual encyclopedic reference book and then for two completely different books I thought I'd read, 'Secrets of the baby whisperer' & Gina Ford's Contented little baby book which is probably a bit extreme but maybe still worth reading for some tips. This should give me a good mix of the different styles, shouldn't it?

I have that what to expect book - is good.
I also have Gina Ford's and it has depressed me and made me feel like I will Never Be Good Enough. My friend swears by the baby whisperer but is completely different to Gina I think so might just confuse.....
I dunno. I'm going to clean one end, feed the other and hope for some sleep in between. Will read up loads if have probs.