to try or not to try on the wagon that is the question

[tinkstoddleriswalking]

hi ladies here is our new thread

Just a quick running post to wish everyone happy easter, loving the sounds of all your celebrations

Gruff - sounds really positive on the pg front (well not the feeling rough bit). Hang in there till Weds if I were you before you test. Much better than all that "is that a line worry" you get when testing too early.

Friday night in with the girls was lovely and since then just having some nice family time.

Right gotta go, things to cook.

Happy Easter Ladies.

Quick post before I make tea for the SG.

Gruff- all so exciting, but for your sake I hope the sickness improves ! I will also be making sure i log on on Wed . LOL about your DH not buying tests before then. V sensible.

Star- your w/e sounds good. Hope your DS is ok today. GLad you are reducing the feeds and increasing the wine at the same time

We are now down to one BF a day- in the evening. Since SG is going through a really clinging phase I am goign to carry on a bit longer- unless anyone has any advice that it might be better to cut it all out in one go?

Had a busy few days here and today had my mum for Easter Sunday lunch which was really nice. DD even sat on her knee without crying

Im now considering the best approach to dealing with my Easter gifts

Better go, DD is peckish!

Hi everyone,

its all over. had really bad pains in the night and started bleeding this morning

was still feeling sick but it is fading now.

obviously was not meant to be

Oh Gruff I'm so sorry

oh no gruff!!! for you
but you never know u could still be

today dh has gone to wickes doing the bathroom getting cabinet ( ripped out old one which was @ the end of the bath getting one to go above the sink,getting toilet roll holder,towel rails hand and big towels and a glass shelf

Oh no GRUFF I'm really sorry . You must be gutted - give yourself time to get over the disappointment, I'm sure it's quite a shock.
A slower start here today - dds still in PJs (apart from dd3 who had an early bath after being specacularly sick in the night - the room smelt of chocolate when I opened the door - thank god not a bug!. Hope everyone is OK - hi TINKS, MOOSY.

Yeah I have been sad, obviously but just trying to make the best of it. At least it was earlier and not later that it happened. I am going to get some tests and do one later just to check.

Im just enjoying GC now and hoping that next month brings better news.

ooh and I am suddenly really hungry!

Hi

Gruff- sorry to hear that- for you. I hope you arent having too many pains and are now catching up with meals you've missed over the past couple of days.

Hi Tink, Moosy, Diege. LOL but not about the chocolate smelling sick

Hi everyone else. We are having a lazy day, well I am with the SG. DH is doing DIY although I am thinking of doing my exercise Wii thing before having one of the chocolate Easter cakes my mum made us

Back laters- SG has just gone for a nap so I am free of a very clinging small person for an hour.

Hi again. I think getting a test just to check would be good GRUFF. I had a similar thing a few years ago when ttc dd3, implantation bleed and everything, but never got even a glimmer of a line. When af did come (10 days late) v.v.heavy, and I'm never sure if it was an early conception or not.
GIRAFFE, hope you enjoyed your hour! I am also contemplating trying to redress the chocolate debt with some exercise, but not succeeding. I am a tru chocoholic, always have been, and have now realised that while it's in the house resistance is futile..
Right, am on tea duty for SIL etc, so better get that kettle boiled!

agree with diege would test
hope all having a nice day

hi diege - oh no @ sick it is horrid when they are sick in bed

hi giraffe - h doing diy here too in bathroom have fitted - new towel rails,cabinet above sink, glass shlef and loo roll holder

enjoy the rest of your days ladies

having roast beef here for tea with potatoes and yorkshires

evening all
been manic at work today. 9-4.3 without a break yet again. :@ gets me mad. sure its slave work this.
going to relax with M and watch the soaps and eat some chocolate yum yum
hope everybody is well.
GRUFF sorry to hear that hope your well..

Hi MMM, good to hear from you. I thought you were legally entitled to 15 mins break after 4 hrs work?? Is there anyone there that you can check this with? Of all the types of work, cleaning is something you def need a break with. A well-deserved piece of choc for you!
TINKS, bathroom sounds great - are you pleased with it?
Shattered here - always glad when the 'holiday' period comes to an end Older dds still off, so watching Nanny Mcphee tomorrow, while 'working from home' More 'blending' tee hee

Hi all,

Gruff - I'm so sorry . Look after yourself and I hope the pains go soon.

Diege - no wonder you are knackered, 7 LOs !

MMM - that sucks , you must be entitled to a break. Cleaning is so tiring.

Giraffe - I stopped doing my wii fit thing when I had my wisdom teeth out. I'm going to start that and the healthy eating again tomorrow so I'm using that as an excuse to eat all the choc in the house today .

Well we had a fairly stressful weekend. We have been trying to get DD to take a bottle with very little success. I was hoping to cut back to feeding her just morning and evening over the next month or two. I have stuck a post about it in feeding so I won't go into all the details here but cutting out 1 feed at a time hadn't worked - she was happy to miss a feed and wait - so we tried leaving her with DP all day (with the condition I would come back and feed her if she got distressed). The stubborn little girl refused the bottle all day but didn't cry or get upset, just took lots of water, solids and porridge made with formula. She took a full bottle at bedtime so she can if she wants and we tried again the next day but she just took an oz now and then - enough to keep her going but not sufficient really. She had a couple of dry nappies and I was worried about her fluids so I am back to feeding her. I was quite upset (DD was totally unphased but I was a mess ) but after talking to DP I realised I was feeling pressured by him (and my family) to stop feeding and also worried about how I will manage going back to work. Plus we have a wedding reception to go to and I didn't want to take DD in the evening, oh yeah and I'd just like to have a few hours to myself at some point. I know I'm over-reacting but I just can't get my head around how this is all going to work out. Can those of you who were still feeding when you went back to work please tell me how it worked for you and when your LO started to drop feeds. Thanks!

Hi RUGBY! Phew, that does sound a stressful situation re: feeding . I'm not much help as when I went back to work after having dd (dd1) that really signalled the death knell for bfing anyway, although I kept the evening feed going for quite a while. My problem stemmed from me not giving dd1 a bottle until I decided to go back to work (albeit expressed milk) as she just wouldn't take it. In the end the only way was to spoon feed her from a cup. So as regards advice, I suppose you would either have to be firm and keep on with the bottles (knowing that she has 'form' and will take to it eventually) or give in and continue feeding. Not clear from your post if this is really what you want, or a result of family pressure? Or maybe you want the flexibility of bottle feeding, but also want to keep bf?? Arghh...I'm sure you'll get more sense from other thread!
Right, second corrie on (I have no life)!

Evening

MMM- sorry that sounds pants- you definately need a break.

Hi Rubgy - sorry you've had a stressful day.
How long til you go back to work?

When DD first went to nursery 1 day a week at 7mnths, she was on BFs at 7am, 10am, 12pm, 2.30pm and bedtime. I was panicked about it thinking she'd never drop the feeds by the time she was full time- but it did work out, I found huge changes in milk intake from 6 to 8months, then again 9months.

I had swapped the 2.30pm feed to formula early on and I was lucky that she didnt turn it down, but we had previously had bottle battles. We then droppped 12pm, then the 10am so by the time she was 9mths she only needed the 2.30pm bottle. Maybe i was lucky as she ate loads so quickly didnt need to have some many breastfeeds. I just offered lots of water in the mean time.

If it was me, I'd be tempted let her feed as much as wants for now, then wait another month- a lot might have changed for her then and the whole thing mightnt be so stressful. THink when DD was the same age as yours I was still feeding her 7,10,12,2,4,6,10,3am- so it changed quickly.

I continued to breastfeed the AM and bedtime feed when back at work and I've just dropped the AM one with no issue (though not looking forward to getting rid of the final one!)

Not sure I could have expressed whilst working as my job is too demanding but i guess it depends on your work- but its definately doable.

Sorry for essay- hope that helps...

PS that pressure thing about going back to work and breastfeeding is awful. I really made going back to work feel worse for me as I had an idea that I had to give up breastfeeding totally before going back.

Our lovely Star made a great suggestion to me to try continueing with the morning/night feeds and see how it goes then decide if i needed to give up. That was the best bit of advice- I tried it and it worked.

Im sure it will work out in the end.

Cheers Diege, enjoy corrie!

The situation isn't really stressful, I've just become a bit of a worrier since DD arrived . My post probably isn't clear because I am still . I don't have a strong feeling either way with breastfeeding although I would ideally like more flexibility. I don't feel very emotional about feeding DD at this stage so if she was content to take bottles I'd happily switch but I am also fine with continuing to feed if I can just get my head around how it will work. It seems she will go all day without a feed so starting nursery in a couple of months will prob be fine but is that healthy? How long will she continue to need 4/5 feeds a day? How can I encourage her to try a bottle/cup?

The pressure to stop now def came from family/DP but can ignore family and after speaking to DP today I realised he isn't against me continuing he just wanted her to take a bottle so he could give me a break - I've been shattered recently.

Thanks giraffe! I have ages really - another 10 weeks or so - so pressure was more from people than the work situation. DD only feeds 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm and 2am although she sometimes misses the 2am feed now. How did you know when to drop feeds? DD will take a feed anytime it's offered. She expects to feed when she wakes up in the morning, after naps and before bed as a habit but if I don't feed her and we start playing she doesn't fuss so it's hard to know when she really needs a feed.

Knowing when to drop the feeds is a weird thing- not sure you do know really. I think- and its hard to remember that I just guaged how much she was taking. So when we dropped the 10am feed I just did lunch earlier and let her lead - she just didnt seem bothered. Never rooted (spelling) for any feeds after I droppped them.

In fact, now I recall, i firstly swapped the 12pm for fomula did that for a while straight after her lunch, then dropped that feed quickly as she was eating lunch so well- so I moved the formula to the 2.30 feed then dropped another breast feed. THink I did it in an order to help prevent engorgement as much anything.

GIven your schedule I'd try dropping out the 11am one first. She may not need that if she is eating well now. Maybe give water and and a small snack instead.

Morning- quick hi before I hit my inbox

Hope everyone had a great w/e.

Will be lurking on and off today I think.

Bye for now

Morning! Just have the older dds off today; feels like an empty house
Re: dropping feeds, the Book told me when to . Obviously when they were showing signs etc of not needing it, but still, I did very much like having it in writing that It Was OK . RUGBY, I think I would def be dropping the 2am feed if dd wasn't that bothered - that may help with the tiredness too.
Watching the new Nanny Mcphee film today, while checking work e-mnails etc before and after. Hope everyone is finding the shift back to ordinary time ok!

Morning All,

Sorry to hear your news Gruff. I would also agree with doing a test just to check.

Can't really offer any BF advice sadly, think its quite different to dropping bottle feeds which seemed to happen very naturally.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. Deige yours sounds a bit mad

Had my friend round who is 12wks pg and due 10 days before my EDD for dinner last night. Went really well, wasn't hard at all like I thought it would be, genuinely had a good night and didn't really feel too jealous. Even when she put her foot in it and asked "so when are you going to have another one", I simply told her the truth. She didn't expect that! Actually it was probably a good thing, got it all out in the open and had a nice discussion about it and moved on.

Morning all, thanks again for all the advice. I'm feeling much happier this morning now the pressure is off to suddenly stop the feeds - not sure how DP and I got our wires crossed but maybe we need to make more time to talk . I can take all the "so will you be popping into school to feed her" comments from everyone else as long as DP is on board. She is only 6 months. I'm sure we will manage somehow when she starts nursery but I'm just going to relax until then .

We've just called to put an offer in on the house we like so please keep your fingers crossed for us .

Diege - enjoy your 'empty' house. Let me know how Nanny McPhee is - it's on at the baby cinema tomorrow and I might take DD just for a change of scenery (and so we can join some of the girls for lunch) tomorrow if it's bearable.

Playing - I'm glad dinner went well and it's good you were able to talk to her. Hopefully you won't feel when she starts showing etc but this way she'll understand if you do. I'm sure you will be sharing some good news of your own before too long.

Morning all (just about). Just lurking while at work - more of that blending thing, but not sure it's really blending when I'm on here because work is boring

Rugby - think GYo and Diege have given you some good advice. I really don't get why other people feel they have to stick their oar in as to when mums stop bfing... Anyway, am guessing DD will be about 8 months when you go back to work? I've done pretty much same as GYo - carried on evening and morning (and during night ) feeds since going back to work. DD was still having occasional day time bfs when I went back to work - she was nearly 10 months and she would't take a bottle, so she just didn't have milk while at nursery. We have waged the bottle war again when she got nearer 1 as I wanted to give up bfing and she is coming round to the idea now. Could you offer her formula in a cup instead? That way she might get some milk. With introducing bottles, DD has always steadfastly refused them - when she was nearly 9 months old, I went on a 2 day course (including going out for dinner with my BF on the first night and left DH and my Mum armed with bottles of expressed milk - she took hardly any and just stuck with her solids and water and coped. If you are worried about dairy intake, you could just make sure she is getting plenty in her solids. As GYo said, there is a big difference betwee 6 and 8 months.

Only other thing I would offer, is that we were using tommee tippee bottles 'cos we had those with DS. Tried Mam bottles after someone on MN suggested them and she has took to that much better - took 2ozs on first time of trying and now regularly takes a feed from them. I know it's a pain buying different bottles, but it paid off for us.

Sometimes I think it depends what else is going on at the same time - if they are going through a developmental change, they will fight a bottle more. Also, with DD, she took a bottle from me before she would take it from DH - doesn't help with the whole freedom thing, but does help to feel like you're moving in the right direction.

Sorry - a lot of waffle...

Gruff - also meant to add, sorry that thing have not turned out. Hope the nausea has passed and hope that DH is still off work and able to look after you and GC.