Calling all Nov/Dec 2003 babies (well, their mums really).......

[StripyMouse]

Just wondering how we are all getting on now that the first three months are over/nearly over? Any surprises out there? Easier/harder than expected? Just being nosy I guess but always nice to hear how others in a similar boat are doing
My little one is much much easier than her big sister was and is now 16 weeks. As a bigger baby she seemed more content, happier feeding and takes more food so sleeps longer. Can?t say it is a total picnic, and am no supermum, but I am enjoying this baby much more than my first as I am not jumping everytime there is something slightly amiss. Just started weaning her and enjoying seeing her get so excited over a bit of mashed carrot - just magic.

Hi stripymouse. Dd is 14 weeks (I think!) now and very gorgeous. I agree, it's soooo much easier this time around. She's sleeping from 10pm - 6 or 7am a lot of the time but has had a terrible cough the last week or so which has been waking her up. Actually, yes, there was one horrible surprise - she choked last week and it was absolutely terrifying - I was shaking from head to toe. Ds didn't ever choke and I didn't have a clue what to do. I think it was phlegm (sorry, not a nice image there!) and she didn't know what to do with it so she let it stay stuck in her throat, went bright red and completely rigid - she wasn't taking any breaths although she was still breathing iyswim. I whacked her on the back and ran outside (don't know why, was headless chicken) and she suddenly decided to swallow it. Phew. I really hope it doesn't happen again. I'm enjoying her, very much although I have my days when it feels like everyone's screaming (well, all of us except dp who is Mr Calm in our house) and I think 'what have we done?' but 96% of the time I think wow, this is lovely, my family is complete and I'm blissfully happy. I'd love to know how everyone else is getting on too. Monkey and chanel were on no 3 of course!

aaargh still no sleep.. was lulled into a false sense of security when ds (15 weeks?!) started sleeping 8-9 hours at night but he's now back to sleeping 2 hours, feeding for one hour... I'm so tired.
He's still got this sodding reflux and we spend our days covered in sick! Tried infant gaviscon but it didn't help at all - he just merrily threw it up. Dh thinks we just start him on solids but I can't imagine that helping.
He's a lovely boy though, really cute and bonny. And generally pretty happy and content, but does like to be fed very frequently (apparently soothes the oesaphagus) and I don't seem to get anything done (other than one-handed typing on mumsnet ). His big sisters love him to bits.

Hey there, first post since dd's birth, never got round to it Labour was pretty terrible but thats another story!
she's now 4 months old, and great, yes and my first one
The first 6 weeks was quite scary but ok, she's been sleeping really well since 10 weeks,now sleeps from 7 pm - 6 ish but still wakes once for a feed, which I don't mind, I guess, I could get her out of the habit but she really just feeds and goes straight back to sleep so I figured I'd leave the status quo until I start her on solids(hopefully not until she is 6 months due to me having excema, am hoping breastmilk will give her some immunity).
She's such a contented baby, is now giggling, smiling heaps and constantly chatting (of sorts) but generally a pleasure to be around.
So all in all am loving it

Glad everyone is doing OK!

DD is just over 4 months now, and very happy to be getting some solids now. She's generally a very happy baby, so long as she's with me! She gets very clingy in the evenings and won't even go to DH, which is a bit of a problem as I go back to work (evenings) in just over a week. DH is going to have lots of fun........!

DS's think she's lovely, and its wonderful to see her having fits of laughter watching her brothers messing around.

She's managed to roll over onto her tummy, and I'm now paranoid she going to be crawling when we go to Cyprus for a family wedding at the end of May. I have visions of her going up and down the plane whilst I'm trying to catch her!

hi there, good to hear from everyone! ds2 is 14 weeks (already? how can that be!) and a really lovely baby. Could have written stripymouse's post myself! He is a great sleeper by my standards, can't believe I can just put him in his cot for daytime naps and he will fall asleep after a few minutes grisling - had major traumas with ds1 over this! Night times are ok - down at 7, I wake him for a feed at 11 and then he will go until somewhere between 4 and 6, or sometimes 7, before another brief feed. Would be nice to get rid of that feed and I think it won't be long.
Ds1 has settled down a lot since the first weeks - I still find days with both of them a little stressful but I am getting better at juggling the logistics of it all!

oh, meant to add that I don't feel anywhere near ready for weaning - can't believe he's not far off the age I started ds1 on solids - hoping to go to about 5 months or so.
What about work - I guess it must be loomign for lots of us?

Hello everyone! Ds is now 15 weeks and has been a very good baby - has been a bit gripey this week but he has teeth coming through. He sleeps well but is not a great feeder - only takes 5-6 ozs per feed and is nowhere near taking solids. Dd (4)loves him and he adores her - so sweet together. Going back to work early May and must admit I am looking forward to it as I am very bored at home!

Great to hear that so many of us are generally happy with our little ones? progress and they are doing well. Hope a few more of us will notice this thread and keep in touch.
2under2 - sounds like you are having a sleepless time of it - can remember how awful that can be as was in a similar boat with DD1 needing constant top up feeds. Hope it sorts itself out really really soon and you get some sleep.

My little one is 4.5 months and she's wonderful. I too am finding it so much easier this time ... MIL tells me it is because I am so much calmer etc. I can't believe that I can leave her under the baby gym or in her chair and she will play quite happily whilst I get on with things (very unlike her big brother).

She isn't a great feeder, taking only around 5oz a go and in the last fortnight only put on a few ounces. She also has had a really bad phlemy (yuk) sounding chest - doctor assures me that there is no infection but it's pretty worrying all the same. It's making her cough and bring up feeds. I am taking her to a homeopath to try that out.

However she is not bothered by any of this and is generally a little joy!

Hi my dd is 12weeks old and is a gem. She sleeps from 7pm to 6am at moment which i cannot believe - maybe it is something to do with mumsnet as the only time I get to go on line is when I give her her last bottle at 7pm and she falls asleep as I feed her with one hand and type with the other - multi skilled eh! Well must go she is over to sleep now and as it is Sat night a bottle of red is crying out to be opened downstairs

Hi everyone, my ds2 is about sixteen weeks (I think). Not a good time to be typing this because he's giving me a bit of a hard time about going to sleep so I'm just ignoring him and letting him cry. Dh has gone to him so I can relax for now.

Apart from his breathing problems which have given me some cause for concern and his recent stay in hospital with a suspect rash thought to be septecemia but since determined it isn't. Everything is great. Enjoying much more than ds1 and finding it a lot easier. Ds2 'normally' goes to sleep no problem between 7.30pm and 8pm and doesn't wake at all in the night until between 6am and 7am the following day. He feeds well but isn't ready for solids yet. He's very happy and smiling all the time. Will gurgle for anyone. This was a reasuring sign when he was ill in hospital. Hopefully not going back to work until November so can really enjoy motherhood this time around.

Hi there you three - are you old mumsnetters with new names (can't keep up with all the name changes round here) or new arrivals? Nice to hear about your little ones!

Hi ds is 17 weeks and the smilest boy ever. He's got the best giggle Echo sar7 everything's a lot calmer this time round. Must be a November? December thing the not great feeders, ds can only manage 5-6oz but i've started weaning him and he thinks baby rice is fab! Am back at work as I write tending to the poorly people as dd calls them. Feeling pretty tired but more like me now back at work. Can't believe where the time has gone

oh my goodness - read my whinge below on sleeping - lo and behold last night ds slept from 8pm till 6:30am !!! Get out the champagne!!!! I did feed him at 3am because my boob was about to pop, but he didn't wake up whilst eating. Of course I laid there waiting for him to wake up almost all night. LOL Long may it last please...
I think it's down to us doing pick up/put down at bed time (took 20 minutes) and his new aquarium music & sounds thingy keeping him reasonably happy whilst he fell asleep. Got to go and take an ad out in the paper now.

Hi Elliott
I am a new arrival to Mumsnet recommended to me by Grommit - now I am addicted!

Hi Rjmble!!!!!!

Morning Grommit
Finally plucked up the courage! Did you have a peaceful night?

ds slept well but dd got me up twice!!! should be the other way around - you?

brilliant news 2under2. Once a baby gets the hang of sleep-feeding it makes life a lot easier.

Just one question to all those fellow 2nd time mums out there concerning their relationship with their first child. Like many, I was worried about how I would feel about no2 as I could not imagine loving anyone as much as I love no1. Sure enough, it just happened and, if anything, I found I fell in love with no2 even faster than I did with no1.It is also accurrate to say that I love them equally. However, I have been surprised to find that it has made me feel differently towards my firstborn. Not in the volume and strength of love I have for her, more to do with the way I view her as a person - more of an independant person rather than like another limb of my body which is how I saw her before. Obviously she seems older and more capable when there is a baby around to compare, but it is something more subtle and difficult to describe - but definitely there. I don?t feel I have lost anything, just that there has been a silent but very real shift in the kind of relationship we have. Does this make any sense, am I the only one here or has anyone else felt the same? Do you think it is a permanent feeling or just post pregnancy fammily adapting kind of emotion? I am not explaining myself very well and hope that you can make sense of my muddled brain.

dd3 slept like a log from 7ish to 6.45am cannot believe it - donot know what I have done different this time, maybe it is something to do with DD3 being a bigger baby. DD1 and DD2 did not sleep through until five months and still having problems with dd2 now 2 1/2. Anyhow long may it continued. Must go sounds like ww3 breaking out downstairs between dd1 and dd2 only came up to make the beds!!!

I know what you mean stripymouse. I fell in love with ds2 much quicker than ds1 and I now look at ds1 totally different. Having him cuddle on my knee now seems like a lead weight has been dropped there and his head just seems so huge. I love them both equally but feel guilty for the number of times in a day when I say, no you'll have to wait a minute to ds1.

After gloating about how well ds2 sleeps I had a bad night. Remind me to keep quiet in future. Didn't settle for ages and then he was up at five for a feed but then slept until nine. But at two I was up with ds1 who'd been sick all over his bed and had to do a complete change which really woke me up.

Elliot - I am an avid Mumsnet reader but don't usually post messages, however I have now found my voice. So HELLO to everyone!

I feel I could have written your post stripey mouse. I had pnd after my first and was anxious about having my second - how could I possibly love another child as much as my first. With my first I really struggled to bond with him, really it wasn't until he was around 1 that I felt what I 'should' be feeling. But with no2 I felt a massive surge of love the minute she was born, it has been sooo different. My first is great and has reacted really positively to it all (so far!). I definitely view him as a little person now, rather than just an extension of myself. The only downside I feel about it all is that I feel I never have enough time to play properly with ds1, something always crops up just as I'm about to settle down to an exciting game of trains or something!

hmmm, I suppose I feel slightly dissatisfied with my relationships with both ds's at the moment. Ds2 hardly gets any attention, so I don't feel I really know him that well and I feel guilty that he's just left in a corner to do his own thing...ds1 on the other hand is having a real 'daddy' phase - and I mean a real one - will run straight past me to dh for comfort, keeps telling me to go away etc etc. Its not so bad when I'm the only one around, he'll be quite cuddly then, but when we're all together there's no competition. I'm trying to tell myself that he's just cross with me about ds2, and I guess it is a good thing that he has such a strong relationship with his dad, but sometimes I feel I'm just the one who organises everything and never has time just to sit and relate to my children!

Hello everyone--it's nice to hear how everyone is getting on. DD2 is now 13 weeks and a gorgeous bonny girl, generally pretty content and easy-going. Mostly I really enjoy hanging out with her, though I do get a bit bored on days when I don't see anyone else. DD1 slept through the night around this age so I am waiting hopefully for that, but I am hoping dd2 has finally dropped the 2am and 5am wakings which she did intermittently from birth until last week. I can cope with one waking per night for a bit longer!

On relationships with the older childthis is a bit different for me than for most of you since I am not the birth mother of dd1. Her birth mother is my dp. The 'falling in love' experience I've had with dd2 is not something I really experienced with dd1 at all. I don't mean that I don't love dd1, I definitely and deeply do, but when she was a baby I didn't feel the same way about her as I do now about dd2. It's partly about the amount of time I spend with dd2 compared with how much time I spent with dd1 at this age, and partly about the physical closeness of breastfeeding, I think. Not to mention memories of labour. I'm very glad that we did it this way aroundI'm so happy to be able to fall in love with dd2 with a strong sense of my already established relationship with dd1. If it was the other way round I think it would be harder.

Elliott, I can really relate to what you say about your ds1, though I imagine it's even harder to take when it's from your birth-child. DD1 was like this with me in the later stages of my pregnancy in particular. She would refuse to let me put her to bed, and push me away at other times as well. I found it quite upsetting, even though all through it she was lovely when I was on my own with her. Cross-fingers, she seems to have come out of that now, although she will always have the closest relationship with dp, I think. I wonder if it is age-related as well as sibling related? I think she was a month or so older than your ds1 is now when it started.

btw I used to be Ruth21.