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?

hi all, especially Chonky and Happymummy, welcome to mumsnet.

I'm back from a great relaxing few days in a Slovenian Alpine village. what does it say about my home life if a trip with 20 work colleagues, one manic boss and 8 week old dd seems like a rest cure? ;o

DP looked after dd3 and they both stayed in the hotel room and slept for most of 3 days and nights. now he thinks, like HMC's husband, that I have it easy at home all day! (actually I do have it easy mostly with dd3 but there's the other two to make up for it)

I want to lose 1 stone by autumn and another sometime after that. but have decided to leave it a few weeks on the dieting front and just exercise a fair bit for now as it's too tiring bf and worrying about food intake.

Gosh, two stone? I wish.... I am willing got try though. What are your tactics dot? I am a big boob woman too!
I am staying with my parents at the moment and enjoying sharing dd. I might go out to the cinema tonight!!
Your trip sounds like fun Fennel!
Hello Chonky and happymummy. Haven't we spoken before Chonky? I think you had started another thread somewhere.

Hi all,feeling tired today,had a bad night with ds again last night!Just would,nt settle and to top it off had a row with my dh at lunch time so feeling a bit down.

Sorry to hear that happy(sad?)mummy1 - hope you sort it out with dh and get a better night's sleep tonight. Hello chonky - is it common for babies' sight not to work at first? Is it just that your dd's eyes have to 'catch up'? I hope you see some signs soon - it'll be lovely when she smiles at you (assuming she isn't yet).
I had a rough day on Friday as I was feeling poorly, like I was coming down with a cold - but still had to take ds to and from school, and dd to and from her injections. Felt better over the weekend though - and no cold, so don't know what that was.
Fennel - glad you enjoyed your trip! How is the dd that had the kidney infection?

Dot - if you can afford the osteopathy, I'd say go for it. I've taken dd (primarily for the breastfeeding problems I was having) and although I don't know that it helped, it certainly hasn't harmed her. Some people really see a difference.

Still not sure about cranial osteopathy - I think we'll wait another couple of weeks - and if he's still a nightmare at 12 weeks we might give it a try!!

I've lost 3lbs so far - just cutting out all chocolate, sweets and rubbish, and having slightly smaller portions and no coffee ('cos of all the sugar I have in it!). Not saying it's easy, but I see it as a necessary evil if I'm going to shift this weight...

Anyway, it's time for the England game - hope everyone's got their babies in bed in time...!!

Just taking a quick break from the England game .
DD has what's called delayed visual maturation which means that her sight has yet to switch on. Yep - Mrs D, I did start a thread in desperation a couple of weeks back as I was wondering why she had absolutely no sense of night and day. Now I know why, poor chick! DH and I are just having to play a waiting game now for her to hopefully tune in and catch up. Meanwhile trying to shift the weight, all the other new mums I know seem to be back to their slim selves, whilst I have 2 stone to go and am looking what polite people would call 'big-boned'.
I took dd to the osteopaths too - did her no harm, I think she really liked it. Obviously couldn't fix the root cause of her probs, but she enjoyed the head massage and was very chilled afterwards.

Chonky - I hope your dd finds her sight soon - was she premature? is it a rare condition?

HD - thanks for asking, dd1 is better now after taking antibiotics but we are worrying that she should go for invasive diagnostic tests to check it's not serious as she's got a history of urine infections. I'm tempted to leave this as we are busy and tired already but scared of stories of dialysis machines if we ignore it and it's serioius.

I'm panicking today, there seems so much to worry about and so little time to get things done. dd3 is windy and needy today so I can't put her down much. Are the other unputdownable babies still clinging? dd3 isn't too bad lately except for the last 2 days when she's been very needy.

I spotted Lesley76 posting on another thread about bf - Lesley are you lurking out there? how are you and ds doing?

Thanks Fennel. She wasn't a preemie - apparently this happens ion full-term babes sometimes, but is pretty rare. I think it is almost as though she wasn't 'fully-cooked' despite arriving on her EDD. I have to take her to the hozzy in Brum today for some more tests, fortunately they're non-invasive ones, she just has to have electrodes stuck to her head.
She's an unputdownable baby too - she slept with me last night and poor DH moved to floor. Have no idea how we're going to ever get her to sleep on her own, she seems to be able to detect her cot mattress at a hundred paces.

Chonky - I guess if she can't see you she needs more physical contact than average (and average babies like a lot). They really do get less clingy as they get a bit older. Does she like music, would that settle her? People on other threads seem to rave about swaddling, I haven't tried it but it might be cosy for her. None of mine settled well lying flat at this age but preferred sleeping in the car seat and then we moved them to flat cot later in the evening.

I had a terrible evening yesterday, dd3 screaming whenever put down (she's not usually that bad), DP out all evening, dd1 and dd2 fighting nonstop. all 4 of us screaming and crying when Tesco direct shop arrived. Am telling myself that plenty of children grow up in 3 child families without becoming delinquents but my children are currently rather grim.

HMC how is your dd doing?

Chonky - sorry for your poor little baby. I sincerely hope that everything is all right and that's it's good news from the hospital.
I'm just back from my parents place where myself and dd have been fussed over. It's nice going out and having someone else to watch and worry about the pram with me. Not so nice coming back to my poor dh.
I don't know why but the poor fellow has been lonely all weekend and looking forward to me coming back but when I couldn't help but feel disappointed. I don't know why . It's nothing he has done. Maybe I had just got very tired before going away and now I am feeling depressed about coming back to it. Dd is being an absolute star at the moment, so it' nothing she is doing but dh juts seems to drive me nuts without actually doing anything!
Hi Fennel - have you recovered form your wee trip?

I'm illiterate today!!

Can I join you guys even though dd an end of March babe. The March thread is a bit lonely and I feel a bond seeing as how we all went through the preggy thing together.
DD is doing well - growing length wise unbelievably - is 61.5cm at 12wks and at 11+3 was 11.46lb.
She is a pretty happy babe although was windy for a while so I sympathise dot. I found cutting out foods like baked beans helped loads.
Trying to exercise lots as I need to lose that extra layer on my tum...
Sounds like you are all doing well

hi Mrs D. the trip was great but the backlash from the dds we left behind for 5 days has been grim - they are insecure and needy.

Chuffed - nice to hear from you again.

have worked out that dd3's recent windiness was due to curry - I'd hoped she was more used to it now! back to boring bland food for a while....

am glued to mumsnet today as dd3 is feeding endlessly so I can't go and do anything else.

Hi all - Chuffed too! Re unputdownable babies - dd is still like this although she will sometimes sleep in the pram after going out on the school run. She'll also sleep in the carrycot by our bed if I feed her into submission at night... We haven't managed to get her to go to bed before we do though. Took us a while to get our evenings back with ds and I suspect it will be like this with dd too.
Sorry you are having a tough time with the older dds Fennel. DD has been crying a lot this last week - not sure if it's wind or a reaction to the injections she had on Friday.

Dot - I meant to reply before about how much sleep - dd sleeps 6 or 7 hours at night before waking up for a feed.

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ds slept from 7pm - 5am last night - SO WHY DOESN'T HE DO THIS EVERY NIGHT?!!! Bless him - I'm in such a better mood today - just need 7 hours sleep, that's all...!

Currently having 'discussions' with dp about his daytime naps - he'll fall asleep on my knee, and sleep on me for ages, but just won't be put down during the day on his own. So I'm happy when I can to have him on me, but of course dp is worried about when she's on her own with him and ds1 from September, so she thinks we should always put him down. I know she's right, but sometimes as well as enjoying the peace and quiet, it's just lovely to have him cuddled up sleeping on me...

So today I put him down and he screamed for about an hour, then finally went to sleep - his poor eyes are all red and puffy now... .

So tricky to know what to do. ds1 always had lovely long day time naps - we were spoilt...

Fennel - I hope your older two are settling down a bit - I can't imagine having to look after 3 on my own - you have my respect!

Hope you're feeling a bit better Mrs D - I'm still finding I lose my rag with my dp much more than I used to - they're the closest person to us, so they're bound to get most of our irritation! I'm assuming more sleep in the weeks and months to come will fix most things (I hope..!).

PS - bit of advice please! ds is now going for 4 - 5 hours between feeds during the day, which I think is helping his colic/wind - it's slightly easier getting him to latch on if there's been a longer break between feeds, and if I try to feed him after 3 hours he immediately starts crying - like he's not ready for a feed. Is anyone else's baby going this long during the day between feeds? It means he's often only having 4 feeds a day, which worries me, but doesn't seem to affect his nighttime sleep - yesterday he only had 4 feeds, but still slept for 10 hours...

Hi all feeling much more of a happy mummy today.
Ds been a liitle better at night but keeps sleeping for really long periods in the day,only been awake today relly for about 2andhalf hours so i think i'm in for a rough night tonight!
Any advice for keeping him awake more in the day?
Me and dh had lovely night out together last night on our own,great to spend time just the two of us,however missed ds like mad.

dot 4 hours between feeds - you are lucky. dd is lucky to last 3 hours between feeds in the day, her current routine is start feed for sleep at 7pm, probably get to sleep between 7.30-8pm. Sleeps till 4 then after a 5min feed sleeps till 7. Then it is about 2 and sometimes 3 hourly feeds till 7. Hopefully she'll go for longer as she puts more weight on.
She is content sitting in her tigger bouncy chair at the mo. She hasn't really got the hang of it but I think she enjoys not lying down for a while.

Hey dot - Dd has recently discovered her thumb and the effect has been amazing. Suddenly she has cut down the feeding to 4 hourly! However I have also discovered that one breast fills up more than the other because if she cries within that 4 hours I can tell which breast I fed her off. I am thinking that I might start expressing of the right breast (which produces less) to bring it up to speed with the other one as I am afraid of being lop-sided!!
How is anyone else doing? How about your dd Fennel, she was suckling alot wasn't she?

Dot - how did ds sleep last night?

mrs d - I get more milk in my left breast too, cos I tend to feed first on that breast. I have to remember to start with different breast each time to get an equal fill.

dd3 is very variable on her day feeding, some days (today so far) she's up to four hourly during the day, some days more like 2 hourly or more (when ill, windy or hot). but she's very regularly good at night whatever her daytime behaviour.

I have lost 1lb! it may not sound much but I have never managed to lose even that much while bf before so I count it a big success - due to my apple strudel cheesecake diet, no doubt

Apple strudel cheesecake?? Gosh don't tell me where you get that, it could be very dangerous for me.
When I went back to my parents they told me that I had apparently lost weight - that or strategic dressing! But then I had ballooned. Still considering slimming world.
My poor dd has got terrible dry, red skin around all over her body and more pronounced around the creases - ankles, crook of her arms, neck and she has tiny blisters on her bottom. I couldn't think what it what until it occurred to me that dm had dome a wash for us before we came home. Persil Colour biological washing powder I guess Poor thing. Looks a bit like the Singing Detective. What a mistake, it never occured to me to check. Anyway, she had an almond oil bath last night and this morning. I hope it helps.

Fennel - If I feed off the left breast I don't need to feed on the right. I do if I feed her off the right, so I have started expressing today while she is asleep to see if I can even them up. Then I will feed her off the right breast plus what I have expressed off that side when she has been asleep, so leaving the left side altogther until next time. What do you think to this strategy?