Due April 2009: Episode 9 - April Mums with Guns: Rise of the Fanjo Warriors?

[BabyBolat]

Here we go again....

Ha ha ha - Schulte your DH is in for a shock. I keep on reminding my DH about all those newborn things. He keeps, rather cruelly, reminding me that he works away from home most of the week anyway so round the clock poo and possets won't affect him. Nasty man.

Afternoon everyone - well I am trying to be really good and get lots done at work today so that tomorrow I can have a relatively chilled day at home just checking emails where necessary!

Had Risk assessment - kind of a waste of time but at least I have formally put down any issues!

LuLu forgot what nappies you said you recommended again - have been looking at Mother-Ease and Little Lamb (also I don't comment on other threads as you lot are safe and the attacks you get outside our little hub are not something I want to subject myself too!!)

BOFF LOL - you do make me laugh - can just imagine you there with three LO's all strategically placed in a kind of, don't mess with me FEED way!

Although I think you are right, I am going to be as gung ho about it as I can because i guess the more worried you are the more nervous the baby is!

Barbarella really I am kind of amazed they are that big considering that one baby is about 4.5lbs now so they are doing so well!!

Bleu, where did you download that form thing from?

Schulte - today has been poor on the thread front - we need to average 330 a day and we have done about 60!! Nutty will not be impressed!!!

schulte - i forgot to ask about them at my mw appointment on tuesday - and also forgot to ask about MatB1 but she certainly didnt mention them. lol at your husband's shock.

lulu - sounds great that you can chat away to dd in Spanish as well. I am taking ds to a little French playgroup - which I actually heard about on mn - and its partly for me to learn a little French but I thought it would be good for him to hear other languages from an early age. I did Spanish at Higher, then first year at Uni, and would like to not lose everyhting I learned, so will try and bring some in with ds at some point too. he is just such a sponge just now, that I cant see why not to really.

barbarella - the u shaped pillows are great - i didnt actually use one for bf cause i wanted to not rely on it too much for when i was out and about - but i suspect with three you will need something to support them or you will be able to go into the Olympics as a weightlifter by the end of feeding them all. Was saying to dh last night how exciting it is that the first babies from our thread will be here in just over a month (assuming nobody goes earlier).

I have sent off my form for Health in Pg grant but the mw said she was one of the first to ring the helpline to get the blank forms.

Don't remind me about how messy little babies are. I almost can't be bothered to go through all that again. Maybe DH will do it all for us, out of guilt. But then again, he is only having 3 weeks off.

I am happy to have retreated back to this nice friendly thread, as someone on the nasty other thread said I was up myself. (ouch!)

Frankly I would probably hire help and bottle feed triplets out of sheer desparation, but I admire people who are devoted enough parents to give bf multiples a go ... all the people I know who bf twins actually were pretty successful, it has to be said.

BabyB I used Modern Baby. You'd be amazed how attached to them I am. Think Motherease are supposed to be excellent too.

I found the whole thing pretty easy from the start to be honest. Just chuck them in a bucket with some tea tree oil and then wash. When she moved onto solids I started adding some Napisan or similar into the washing machine to ensure they are clean. Occasionally have in some biodegradable disposables for long journeys / holidays etc so that you aren't carrying around too many dirties. But on a day to day basis washables are brilliant.

Best of all you can wash them every day / every other day. Most places only have rubbish collected once a week or even a fortnight so you have smelly nappies piling up.

One thing though - it does also help if you have somewhere outside to hang them on the line. For the 1st 4 months of DD's life we were in a flat and then when we moved to somewhere with a little garden I discovered that even the teensiest bit of feeble winter sunshine makes the nappies extra lovely.

Also I don't know if anyone else has found this, but all my babies fed completely differently. First one latched on reasonably, fed quite well, but never quite filled her belly to my satisfaction. Second messed about something rotten and displayed ADD symptoms even then, looking back. He was on the boob the whole time but very inefficient. Third just latched on nicely with a big wide mouth and sucked away until his belly was nice and full, and then slept very well and contentedly. They are all a bit like that now so it seems personality plays a part?

Sorry I did promise not to wax lyrical about nappies on this thread.

Not using them right now as my mother's washing machine is about 20 years old and I'm not sure it can take the hard wear. But can you tell I miss them?

Suffice it to say I have bought in disposables and just can't face another wet eczema battle with yet another baby.

Conker - I do also spend a small fortune on children's books in Spanish. Simple ones like the 'That's not my' series ('Este no es mi...' etc) are great for helping little ones pick up extra vocab. My DH is learing lots of Spanish too as DD insists that he reads books like 'Oso Pardo, Oso Pardo que ves ahi?' to her all the time ('Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see?'). So he knows all the colours, animals, textures plus he's had to learn her favourite foods and vital ones like 'caca' -poo.

Have a browse on Amazon and see what you can find in French to help him with his French playgroup.

We've got Muzzy in German and that's been good. It's cheap on Ebay in VHS format. You can get it in French and Spanish and so on.

Ah Boffin was going to ask you about that - DD was a good feeder but I did get very sore nipples for the first few weeks so was wondering whether to expect the same again? Any ideas? It's more about the baby than the mum is it? Or do you think because I've learned the positioning last time I'll be fine?

Also I keep thinking why on earth did I change DD's nappies during the night... this time I won't bother... that's wrong too isn't it? Remind me again, do they poo after every feed?

I think the wider the baby opens his or her mouth, the easier latching on is. One of my mws said it's a bit like a couple learning to dance, they have to engage in a bit of give and take for it to work properly.

I seem to recall getting slightly sore nipples at the beginning each time, because of the suction, but I got a lot more knowledgeable about general milk flow and nipple and breast care as time went on, which meant I avoided mastitis and other nasties that I had experienced the first time around. I keep a pump to hand and if one side gets sore I just express until it's better.

It's a humble, messy business though, bf, so at the end of the day you just have to live from day to day IMO, and see how it goes.

Also I recall changing nappies after every feed and sometimes even in the middle if there was a mega poo explosion that leaked everywhere.

Bleu, I think the theory is that the little kids shouldn't write English down because it would interfere with their learning of French spelling. Not sure how valid that is, really. When they move to collège, they suddenly shift from an oral-based English teaching to almost solely written stuff, which throws them completely.

Schulte, I look forward to your first post-natal updates about the nocturnal policy of not nappy changing

Was idly admiring the Amby beds again today at lunchtime. Must decide...

Thanks for the bf advice everyone - I will definitely get one of those pillows. I don't know if I'm biting off more than I can chew with trying to bf triplets but I really want to try. I will no doubt be posting like crazy for advice from you all when I start and expect to be hooked up to an electric breast pump like a dairy cow in between to get milk for the third baby!! Yikes...

BoffinMum might send one baby to you in Cambridge via FedEx every now and again - is that OK?

AuldAlliance what is an Amby bed?

Hi everyone, hope you've all had a good to fair dayand all ailments haven't been too troublesome.

Equally p*ssed off about the whole copyright/book publishing thing - Can understand that this is an open forum that anyone can access and therefore isn't exactly confidential but I was under the impression, as most of you seem to be, that it was about mums helping/sharing with other mums, not using our post for profit or worse, vicarious titilation.

Thing that narks me most is that they should feel morally obliged to make the situation much clearer when you first sign up rather than, in effect, hiding the copyright thing.

Nark over

Barbarella - can recall getting a leaflet in think in my bounty pack with no1 so 3+ yrs ago advertising a hilarious looking breastpump-come-halterneck-top. It had a pump on each side and appeared to feed through to an electronic pump/collection tank(!) which you carried on your back (I think).

Dp and I wet ourselves over it at the time as it really did resemble some sort of commercial milking parlour machinery but under your circumstances I can see where it could be useful sa the photos showed a happy smiling (and beautifully dressed/made-up) lady pumping from both side hands free.

Don't know if you might find it googling hands free breast pumping maybe..........really wish I could remember the make for you.

LuLuB/BabyB - I've used Mother-ease twice before although gave up on nightimes as both mine seemed to be keen on winning Olympic gold for night-wetting. ANd good old fashioned terry squares.

Motherease were great and I found them fab for keeping breastfed poo contained - especially as the outer wrap quite often acted as a second defensive barrier when the nappy did leak.

Terry squares are great if you take a bit of time to find a fold that you like/can do quickly with some practice. Different folds contain poo better/worse than others and different folds seem to work better/worse for different babies so it does take a bit of trial and error. Depends on how dedicated to the cause you want to be.

Also, after first couple of months I started to dry pail ie, exactly as it sounds you don't fill your bucket with water but just sling the nappies in as they are. I found they cleaned up just as well and it was a much less vile task to empty the contents into the machine than having to slop soaked nappies about - sorry to anyone having their tea right now !!

Also a damp cloth at the top with some lavender oil is a good idea as well. Especially in the summer.

errm, am I the only one here at the mo ???

My last 3 posts have all shown up together and I normally can't keep pace at all !

Barbarella this is an Amby bed. More a hammock, really.

Have been toying with the idea as they get rave reviews on MN and they seem to help reflux babies. I have horrendous memories of our first six months with DS, when he just screamed and screamed. We literally only have photos of him sleeping (or occasionally BFing) for about the first 4 months, as the rest of the time he was crying.

There's no saying this baby will have reflux, but I am frankly prepared to shell out 100 extra euros for an Amby if it means we get some sleep.

Breastfeeding - I've had horribly sore/bleeding nipples for the first couple of weeks both times but has seemed to settle down after that appart from odd bouts here and there.

I was in a breastfeeding support group both times although there is no longer one in my immediate area for this time round. Found that really helped a bit like this thread does - having others going through same as you and able to get friendly non-medicalprofessional advice.

My issues in first few days/weeks seemed/felt like the Boff said, super strong and almost constant suction, ad once you get used to that it's much much easier. A real case of "tough titties"

Breastfeeding - I've had horribly sore/bleeding nipples for the first couple of weeks both times but has seemed to settle down after that appart from odd bouts here and there.

I was in a breastfeeding support group both times although there is no longer one in my immediate area for this time round. Found that really helped a bit like this thread does - having others going through same as you and able to get friendly non-medicalprofessional advice.

My issues in first few days/weeks seemed/felt like the Boff said, super strong and almost constant suction, ad once you get used to that it's much much easier. A real case of "tough titties"

I felt like that this morning, mumblemum; it has been uncharacteristically quiet today.

Off to wash the dishes now. Life is so exciting chez Auld.