Due April 2009 - Chapter 32: Shake your pom poms, Shake your pom poms, Shake your pom poms!!!

[BabyBolat]

Hope no one minds I gave Nutty the vote after her epic birth!

The idea of just having a whole day of not having to feed him seems so good right now. So good. In a lot of ways I love BFing. When I watched DH give him a bottle of EBM I actually found it really upsetting & wanted to cuddle him & feed him myself. But I'm near the end of my tether right now. I'm hoping to come back from the edge & get it sorted.

All of my favourite things are dairy Milk, chocolate, cheese...

Only milk chocolate is dairy surely?

What causes the dairy intolerance in BF babies? If it is Lactose then sainsbury's do lactose free milk (for adults with dairy intolerance). It doesn't taste any different to normal milk I don't think.

I'm not sure. From what I've read it may be a protein in the milk, not the lactose as such. Stupid baby, with his not being able to just be quiet or feed normally.

I adore him, I really do - & even when it's really bad I'm remarkably patient with him which has surprised me (if DH was half as irritating I'd skin him alive ), but he's so very clingy & I'm a bit fed up of him crying & being sick on me, & watching hours of work disappear in a matter of seconds as he just brings up my lovely, lovely milk

Brettgirl - you are not invited for smears before 25 but you can request them and I would push for one!

Springy I got to keep the toy too - (I asked him where it was after I opened it like the ring wasn't enough!!)

Juw the routine is completely self imposed and nothing to do with me and while in the day time it's a bit more sporadic (especially when we have visitors) at night time he ahs a feed between 10-11.30, again 12.30-1.30am which is when we go up to bed, another feed at 4 and then wakes up between 6-7 - in his perfect day (when we don't have visitors etc) he would sleep for a couple of hours in the morning, early afternoon and evening

BB, DH is satisfied with the whole situation now he knows that the toy didn't go to waste I love that you asked where it was - poor bloke must've had a flash of panic at what he'd just signed himself up for

I know I said yes and then without blinking asked where the toy was! It was one of those rubbish cartoon statues too - no making up to do at all!

Gosh, you'd have thought that he'd have picked a better egg

Actually, if it took 2 tries, where was the other toy? Hmm?

Hello all

love your stories of how you met your partners! Also good points about holding baby / letting them sleep on you - makes me feel better about doing it myself Having said that Hazel is pretty happy in her cot most of the time, at the moment anyway, I am sure things will change and get more difficult and I'll end up carrying her around in the sling a lot.

TBH I can't wait to give up bfing although it's probably months away still but it does make me so sleepy and I would LOVE to have a bottle of wine with my dinner! But then I also can't wait for Hazel to be a big chunky baby rather than a fragile newborn... have been a bit anxious about something happening to her, I know it's silly but may be a bit of baby blues?

Springy sorry don't have any advice re. George's reflux, DD1 had very bad reflux i.e. projectile vomited ALL the time, but luckily wasn't bothered by it, but no MW, HV or GP ever had a solution for it other than 'she'll grow out of it', which she did at 9 months old. It's very hard work but don't think changing to FF would make a difference.

DH is lighting the barbecue... Hazel's been asleep all afternoon... wondering if I'm in for a bad night!

9 months? 9?!

I don't see Kara as fragile but I am not a fragile/delicate person in anything I do - I chuck him about all over the place and he is getting so big now, moving out of clothes filling his moses basket and pram rather than looking like a little lost boy in them!

Schultes, possibly, however I think it may stem from being a difficult / unplanned birth / CS and that really upset you that threw you a bit!

Springy - good point - may just have to ask him that... I feel cheated out of a toy!

Has anyone seen this breastfeeding info thing? Foxytocin linked to it on another thread - it is much more informative than the standard NHS leaflets.

Springy - just read your post on how you're not getting any sleep... I can really really identify with that... I'm definitely getting less than 6 hours in 24 at the moment, more like 3, and even when DH is watching Oscar and I go in the other room to sleep I can't seem to switch off and drop off - its very very frustrating. So our sleep deprivation is for different reasons but its scaring me that I won't be able to cope with it if it turns out to be an ongoing thing...

With regards putting Oscar down in moses basket - he will go down sometimes during the day, but at night he's been sleeping next to me as he just won't settle... hence no sleep for mummy! The MW suggested a hot water bottle in the moses basket before trying to settle him so will try that tonight...

... we also bought dummy this morning, haven't tried it yet tho...

Springy, just to say that I do think chocolate has an adverse effect on some babies; the nightmare day I spent was after I'd had a huge chocolate binge, and I think it was partly to blame.

I've cut my dairy intake, had no milk/butter at breakfast, ate a weird soya pudding thing a friend brought round at lunchtime instead of yoghurt, and will re-introduce things slowly to try and gauge effect.

Alex LOVES his dummy, it has allowed us to have a quiet evening, with me reading DS1 a story, and no walking round and round jiggling a screaming one.
I feel oddly guilty, though, as it looks as if we've stopped his mouth with some kind of gag,

Juwesm - glad you liked the Ayrton Senna remake... it was quite spectacular!

err..have ellie attached to boob and glass of wine half drunk - is this not ok?

will come back later was just doing a quick catch up.

Catching up but ...

Springy, the teen pg thing is really for pg schoolgirls, not married adults. She is talking out her bottom. But we have established this.

Soon2be, I use a Baby Bjorn sling and like it. I have bf in it by sort of wriggling him down and having my boob a bit higher than normal, but it seems to work.

Trista, I still have SPD but it's a bit better. I have been told to do a bit of walking one day, and then rest up the next, They reckon I will be a fair bit better by September. But I was also disappointed it didn't go straight away. It's a bummer you have to cope with all this on top of the DP situation.

Bleu, that looks infected to me. I really think this is going to be a latching problem of some kind, and my guess (and I am not a bf counsellor of course) is that it might be because Meg is sucking with the nipple mainly on the hard palate rather than far enough back with the nipple on the soft palate. There's a knack to shifting this, which you would need to be shown, but it would involve getting her to lift her chin up a lot and making sure her mouth was really wide, also aiming the nipple towards her nose upon entry.

I bet on the other thread someone will have suggested the NCT helpline or similar. However I know you have had a lot of advice already, and that some of this might be conflicting, so more of the same might just do your head in.

If I had this problem, I would rest the nipple completely as an interim measure, and pump on that side for 2-3 days using the best pump I could lay my hands on, helped by someone with an interest in bf and who knew about pumps. I would also see the GP (preferably a female one who had bf herself) and maybe get some antibiotics if warranted.

If things were still a mess after a week and trying to relearn latching positions, I would be really tempted to go with the formula. It's not worth being miserable IMO.

Hi ya, I have read through everything but can never remember what I wanted to say to each person by the time I come to post! So sorry if I come accross to be ME posting all the time, I just have an awful memory! .

Had a bad day today, took the DC to a friends house and DD1 had a bad fall on their hard flooring and has lost half of her front tooth, in a diagonal line so it looks awful! She absolutly screamed the place down and we had to leave in the end. No blood, but we were worried she had chipped enough to expose the nerve, but I don't think she has. Annoying it is the bank holiday weekend so we cant even phone the dentist till tuesday. I feel so sorry for her, not so much for the pain she had today as that will soon pass but more for the fact that she is now going to have to have that tooth till her adult tooth comes through - so what the next 6 years?! . I am hoping the dentist will be able to build it up or something but as she is so young (16 months) and because it is a milk tooth I am guessing he won't? I know it sounds really vain and nasty but I can't stop thinking about how it looks. She had such lovely teeth before, everybody would comment on it where ever we went. I had awful teeth as a child and really hated it, I was teased at primary school for it and would have done anything to change them so I guess it is a senstive issue for me which is why I am upset about it. Mine was also from having an accident when I was younger - although mine was worse. Just feel really gutted about it all. I know I sound stupid.

With the close carrier, I got it out today and watched a clip from youtube about using it (can't get DVD to work on my laptop and DH using TV). I have got it on at the moment in the upright position (with a doll in to try it out - DD2 asleep!!). It is very comfy and secure although when I sat down, the doll (which is about the same size as DD2) sort of comes up because her legs are then touching my legs? Is this meant to happen? Obvioulsy the doll is different to having a real baby in it but didn't want to wake DD2 up.

The other thing I was going to ask about the close baby carrier - the woman who demonstrated the BF position seemed to thing you BF from your shoulder! lol. It looked quite tricky TBH and she had the baby in a more upright but sort of sloped back position, but its head was defo closer to her shoulder than to her boob and didn't explain how you would adjust it. Saying that, I haven't tried it at all yet, feeling a bit overwelmed by it, considering how simple they make it look on the box (makes out you just take sling out of box, shove over your head, stick baby in and your off! Although I know it gets more like this when you get familiar with it). It says about changing sides - do you have to comepletlly take the wrap out of the rings? I want to be able to BF in it from my right side as I can't really BF in my left and it is really painful in general but it is currently set up the other way?

Soon2be - don't feel bad - I am the same about teeth - think puzzle is too! I had a milk tooth built up when I was younger but not sure if they still do it - you can but ask but bless her little cottons

Re close carrier - No they don't fall out when you sit down, don't worry - also you tend to have them a tiny bit higher than with the doll. As for bfing you have it over one shoulder - ignore the demonstration thing on you tube, you can have them up high but they will also slide down for bfing also - and you don't have to re-do the rings just put the other side on first iykwim

My advice, put it on and plonk her in - you'll work out what is comfy for you both.

SO sorry for the me post but had a pretty rubbish bank holiday weekend so far - yesterday was ceiling-doing-up - it looks OK but not great - still needs a lot of work - and my table got scratched in the process and the house trashed - the table is insured so can get it polished up but am just very very bored of DIY and things not being right - I also broke a massive photoframe that DH made for our wedding photos [andgry] ! I know none of that is really important but so frustrating and now not only do I feel like I live in baby groundhog day but now a diy and cleaning one too! We are just so far away from being finished - am starting to wish I went via insurance and just got it done even if it did take 6-8 weeks!

On the up side, we took my family out to dinner last night to say thanks for all the work to our favourite restaurant and Kara was a dream - were out from 8-11pm and he was such a good boy - slept a lot but when he woke up was just so good and all seven of us had a lovely meal and for a little while I felt 'normal' again but am very tired today, have to go and buy paint and clean the house - oh the joy!