April Babies

[MrsDoolittle]

Well there had to be one...
Thought I might as well start it at Fennels suggestion.
You have all read enough from me how about you?

HMC - - my 10 week ds is on formula and doesn't manage to go 4 hours in the day! Sometimes it's only 2 hours! At night he's still waking once or twice, last night was 2.30am and 5am, he takes 5 fl oz at each feed. Thought I'd let all you b/feeders know that formula isn't a magic wand and well done for keeping going!! He's 11lb 10oznow. How much do all yours weigh?

Dd had her immunisations yesterday she cried at the time but I think having been to baby massage before she calmed down again quickly. So that when my brother came to visit she was all smiles She weighed 9lb 14oz on the hv scales, the GP said she is quite petite.
Anyway, I found that I am feeding her more and she is crying less or maybe that's just my imagination. I have stopped worrying about putting her down and trying to fix some sort of routine. A very reassuring couple of hours spent with HD the other day and constant reassurance from my fellow April threaders makes me believe that it will happen. She seems happier but then, I 've said that before.
Dolbear- you sound like I felt last week. Only thing is I didn't have a problem at night. There is definatley a point where you feel like you have had enough and you have to walk away for both of your sakes. Dh came home last week a couple of times and was surprised to hear her crying and find me sitting outside moodily sipping a coffee!!

I really like breast feeding. Does that make me sad?

No it doesn't make you sad! I really liked it too but couldn't go on for health reasons but even now I occasionally wistfully think back about it (of course in my dreamy haze I forget the pain!)

thanks fennel. I will try them out as ds only takes a couple or so ounces from the avent ones. Out of interest how many ounces do you express a day, and how long does it take you? When I express I do 3 ounces in 20mins using an electric pump. Seems ages for so little, don't know if that is normal, or if it means I have a poor supply???

Lucy Jones not sure how much my ds weighs at the mo as I haven't taken him to be weighed since he was 2wks and then he weighed 9lbs - he is now 7wks

Sorry to hear about your ds dolbear. Does he suffer from wind?? When my ds has a bad case of it he yells for ages until he gets all of it up. Its really distressing to hear and I get quite stressd and tired hearing it too

Had to take ds to the drs today about his face as it looks awful now. Apparently it has got all infected and he has to take antibiotics . I feel so sorry for him

Nce to hear from you again HMC - was wondering where you had gone

thankyou for all your support , usualy by tyhe time have read and sorted ds out cannot remember who typed what will try to do better in the future !
Fennel,ds just keeps going if left crying with energy if not grisling IUKWIM but he does not cry hardly at all if out and about thank goodness !

Lucy ds was 13lb @6wks ,now 7 so who knows! , was in 2% curve thingy !! taking 3-4 fl every 2-3 hrs during the day ,

turns out that crying marathon was poo related , changed from sma gold to white , big mistake
also miss bf as enjoyed it as well so must b sad also , was realy lucky as ds was like baby bird mouth wide open !!! if a bit scarey !!!

On the subject of whether formula fed babies really go longer between feeds, dd3 (7 weeks old) sleeps about 9 hours without waking or feeding every night now, ie about 9pm - 6.15am last night. She's totally breastfed on demand, often cuddled on demand too. I know this is very good and I'm lucky but it does show that bf and demand-led babies can sleep well. My dd1 was even better, she did 10 uninterrupted hours every night from a month old, again totally demand breastfed.

Metrobaby, it takes me 5-10 mins to express about 4-5 oz but only if I'm already full, say at breakfast time as dd doesn't feed at night so I'm bursting by then. if she's fed recently it takes ages to get very little. That's with an avent hand pump.

Hello April mums... I'm visiting in search of the lovely MrsDoolittle because I believe you have an unputdownable baby. I have one too. Today I find myself starting to speak meanly to her because I can't do all the things I need to do while she's on my front (generally in baby bjorn but she favours the high maintenance bouncy arms hold when possible). I have popped in on your thread before and agree that babies do want to be held because they're designed that way, but honestly I am going quite mad trying to keep home life going. I am in search of some means of coming to terms with this and wondered if things are getting any better as baby Doolittle gets older? (DD currently 4 weeks old). Today we are both meeting at the breast in tears as I try and demonstrate nice places for her to just sit and look around/sleep, and she yells them off the list.

Sorry to put you on the spot. I was just relieved to find someone else with similarly minded baby. Prob. should have started other thread, looking at the length of this...

Spots - if I may jump in before MrsD - my dd (now 7 weeks) has been very clingy. We decided to go with it, to the extent that we co-slept with her until very recently (we didn't plan this, but found that her favourite sleeping position was on her side, with her head buried in my chest!). She is now spending most of the night in the carrycot and also seems more tolerant of being put down in the day - at least for a while. If you can bear the constant carrying - and I do understand your frustration with it - things will get better. My rationalisation of it is that by responding to dd's cries and need to be held, I am ultimately making her more secure in herself. That's the conclusion I've come to, anyway! HTH.

Fennel - re the breastfeeding - it's going ok for me now. I haven't really managed to get dd to open her mouth wide, but I am not really getting sore now (only if she's on for ages, like your dd).
Waking up once or twice in the night to feed.

Dolbear - how are your nan and your mum and dad?

Metrobaby - sorry to hear about poor little ds and his infected face....now he's on the antiobiotics it should clear up soon.

Fennel - I am totally green with envy over your dd's sleeping habits! Your lucky thing

Hewlettsdaughter - I think maybe your theory is right. My Hv told me that research shows that babies who are left too long and too often to cry get separation anxiety (because they learn that mum doesn't always respond when they need them)so turn out to be more clingy...

A question - which you may have already discussed...when does your baby tend to settle down for the night? Mine is only read to zzzzz between 21.00 and 22.00 - which is a bit of a bummer really. Hope it passes soon! Sitting down to dinner at 21.45 is a frequent occurence.

Had to face facts today that I am officially a sack of potatoes. Needed some clothes for our holiday in 10 days time and ended up buying size 18's (am normally size 12). Off to research whether it is possible to diet without affecting milk supply!

thanks hewlettsdaughter, i do totally agree actually which is why I find it so galling when my own frustration gets the better of me. I will be interested to know how you and your April babies get on in your wiser older weeks! but glad you are seeing signs of mprovement already.

Hi Spots - didn't post yesterday as we were having an unputtdownable day!!
I do know what you are are talking about. HD and I were having this discussion only the other day (we live within a couple of miles of each other, which we discovered on Mumsnet).
To be honest there were times where I had to leave her even though I didn't want to. When I would put her down on the baby gym or in her bouncer her mouth would open wide and hey presto!! The fact is I found it very difficult doing anything listening to her and I found myself picking her up while looking around and thinking of all the jobs that I needed to be doing in dismay. In the end I gave in to her because I couldn't listen to her and I believe Fennel is right. I always got the impression her care was very much baby led.
To be honest Spots, I imagine that you too are thinking of other things you should be doing but now I wonder if baby is crying because she really does need you and all the reassurance. Dd still cries alot somedays and is very demanding but she is MUCH better and that has really only happened in the last WEEK. I realise I have been very lucky when I see other babies at baby clinic that are really colicky and I mean REALLY colicky. We never had that, sometimes she would cry and writhe for half and hour or so but that would be it (seemed longer at night time), and I can always settle her by picking her up. I can remember really struggling at 4 weeks and even subsequent weeks.
Fennel seems to really have it sorted!!!

Metrobaby - how is your ds doing now he's on antibiotics, is it clearing up?

Mrs D - if I knew what it was that made my babies sleep well I would market it - the next (or anti-) Gina Ford! But my friend is also on her third baby, born the same week as dd3, she feeds on demand, is laid back and has abundant milk supply and her ds3 is up about 5 times a night. some nights every hour. I suspect it's just luck rather than anything I did right. I didn't want to make anyone jealous, just thought it would be a shame if people think moving on to formula necessarily makes them sleep or settle better, it might but it might make it worse.

HMC - dd3 settles sometime between 8 and 10 usually. either on the breast or rocking in her sling, rarely in bed. sometimes she settles later if windy. evenings are her needy time.

swing, not sling!

Thanks Fennel and HD for asking about ds. HIs face is getting much better now thanks He still looks a bit of a sight poor love (won't be winning any baby competitions just yet though )

Fennel you must have really easy babies. It's interesting too to hear about your friend too.

ds can go to bed at any time, and it really depends on what he has been doing during the day in terms of feeding and napping. On a good night he might go down at 7pm, and on a bad night he goes to sleep at 10/11 ish. He then wakes up once in the night but I have a sneaky suspicion that this is only because he gets so exhausted from being so windy.

I am also really reluctant to let him cry as once he has been adequetly fed and winded he is so happy, and really isn't that fussy. He also loves to be cuddled to sleep too. I know it seems like a pain when you have to carry them all time , but it doesn't last. My dd loved to be held all the time too, but when she started to crawl at 6 months, she hated being cuddled at all and then I used to miss carrying her ! MrsD - your're right about looking around in dismay at all the things that need doing and not being able to do any of it.

Fennel - Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not jealous but reassured!!
Dd is not really a problem at night anyway. I don't put her down awake though, I usually feed her to sleep or she falls asleep in my arms in front of the tv. Of course, not having any other children I can sit infront of the tv all evening and feed on demand. But I shan't worry about subsequent sproglets yet . I haven't successfully got her to settle before 10.30pm, but she does let me sleep until 4.30 - 5ish.

I got cross with dh this morning. We all slept in - I brought dd into bed with us. Dd fell asleep again after being fed. Then dh gets up listens to the rugby loudly, splashes in the shower, thumps his way around the bedroom, stomps downstairs and bangs around the kitchen then... he turns the hi-fi on..Ahhhhhhhh. Well, now we all know HE's not being inconvenienced!!! I know that it probably wouldn't wake her up BUT I was looking forward to getting up slowly, having a soak in the bath and maybe taking my time getting dressed and so I would rather not risk it. I love her to bits but he doesn't realise that dd is hard work when she is wake. Moan, moan, moan.... Okay I shall shut up now..rant over.

thanks MrsD - absolutely yes. I do find it quite sobering to realise how much dd needs my physical presence for so much more than just feeds. She gets v. upset in car seat (unusually!?) and yesterday after longish journey was really yelling. As soon as I picked her up she cuddled right into me and crying subsided to a leftover whimper. I felt such a heel for resenting her neediness... she seemed so little and unknowing! I suppose this is a new mum thing. reality not matching upto imaginings etc... Thought I would be able to get on with normal life a bit while baby asleep shock horror actually not. Shall kiss goodbye to 'normal life' once and for all and get on with the new one...she is after all fantastically cuddly and sociable

Thank you so much for responding though. Your dd does sound like she has v. sim lifestyle to mine!

Spots - normal life WILL come back - well, a more normal life than you're experiencing at the moment anyway... All our babies are only a few weeks old after all.
Re resenting her neediness - when I was having problems breastfeeding I really resented the whole feeding process, and my dd for being hungry even! You're not alone!

Spots, your baby sounds very normal. Dd3 (7 weeks) doesn't like car journeys much or sitting in her car seat, she also doesn't like the buggy much. she does like being carried, cuddled, going in the sling or swinging.

we went camping again this weekend, dd3 loves camping it seems, though she didn't like the windy sandy beach at all.

have discovered half the april babies thread people on the bf and dieting thread! I'm giving up, having eaten sensibly for several weeks and exercised a fair bit I am putting on weight. might as well eat chocolate and accept the inevitable...

Hi Fennel, I noticed your post on the bf and dieting thread. You seem to experience the same thing as me - dd suckling and suckling some evenings. I don't mind but I do get sore too. I have also been getting steaming headaches in this weather so decided I might be dehydrating and not producing enough milk.
I gave in yesterday, as I was quite prepared to believe baby didn't need anymore than I could give her, and gave her 80mls of water. That was at around 10pm. Well she fell asleep! She had cried before evey time I took her off me. She stayed asleep and didn't wake up until 4.30pm.
I can only assume she was dehydrating too? Although, I am sure current teaching would argue with that!

Hi all - Mrs D I love breastfeeding too! Just think it's brilliant and would probably for loads longer than I can - I start back at work in September...

The only thing is, ds is still very windy and I've noticed has much worse feeds - problems sucking and staying on - at his afternoon and evening feeds. This has got worse over the past couple of weeks - it's really distressing for him and me and I'm wondering if I'm producing enough milk?? When I'm really full - like for his night feed and in the morning he rarely has a problem.

I've heard that we produce enough milk for our babies, but I'm just not sure. He's putting on a good 9 - 10oz a week - is nearly 13lbs now - but struggling with his feeds in the afternoon and evenings -and I really don't want to give up breastfeeding him - any advice anyone?? I'm rubbish at expressing - barely get 2oz out a day (I'm trying to express every day so we've got milk to mix in with baby rice in a couple of months time!).

Other than that, he's wonderful - so smiley and vocal - life's great and I really DON'T want to go back to work...!

dot1, I'm no expert, but maybe the afternoon and evening feeds are just worse because he feels windy and therefore less settled? When you go back to work, don't forget that even if you don't get on with expressing you can always try mixed feeding (ie breastfeeding in the morning and at night, formula when you're not there). I managed this for 3 months with ds.

dot1 - I read somewhere that colicky babies suffer worse in the evenings ....I'm sure you are producing enough milk - there is no way your ds would be gaining 10oz a week otherwise.

Lots of babies clusterfeed in the evening - my ds does but its because he is tired and using me as a dummy / for comfort, rather than stuggling to get enough milk. Might well be the same for your ds.

Mears said to me a few weeks ago - have confidence that you are producing enough milk. And I do now. I used to think if ds cried he was hungry but now I don't automatically offer the breast if he fed less than one hour previously (that's my rule) - I rock him or cuddle him instead, and he invariably drifts off to sleep in this situation. Previously I would have assumed that I had given him an inadequate breast feed, and feeling a failure would have offered him a feed again (which he would accept since he wanted the 'comfort' rather than the milk)even if it was only half an hour after his last feed..

Meant to say - hope everyone else is feeling philosophical about there waistlines today! - and thanks for contributing to diet and breastfeeding thread.

Logistically I am finding it difficult to eat properly - with 2 under 2, evenings are really pressurised for me (dh usually not around)and at 21.00 yesterday I still hadn't had my dinner, and so asked dh to pick up a Macdonalds for me on his way home (he works late) . DD had only just gone to bed (was heavily resisting bed last night) and ds was in his needy phase, so it was either that or starve! I actually quite like healthy food but finding the time to prepare it is a challenge!