May Babies

[GeorginaA]

Have we got enough that I can officially open this thread yet?

How are your little ones doing prufrock, twiglett, snowbird?

I think mine is going down with jaundice. Dh isn't convinced, but it's either that or he's got a lovely tan sigh. I remember all the stress associated with that last time with ds1... hoping ds2 doesn't get it as badly.

He's still being a very sicky baby, about a couple of teaspoons a few hours after each feed (which is odd - I'd have thought if it was a reflux type thing it would happen immediately after the feed?) Midwife seems to think it'll settle after the milk comes in but if not then we'll look at some sort of baby gaviscon. Poor little mite, can't be comfortable for him... and we're sure getting through a lot of laundry!

Feel so bloody knackered at the moment, fed up of bits leaking and being sore, and it's only day 2! How long is it before you start feeling human again? Please tell me that it's sooner than the 2 week paternity leave dh gets!!

Don't know Egypt...but have been glad of the few occasions when we've had a 4 hour daytime sleep...

Cat82, we have used cloth since birth. I would say it's not so messy before weaning if the baby is breastfed because their poos don't really seem 'dirty'. You have to get familiar with the system you use so that liquid of whatever sort doesn't leak out the legs and I suppose in theory when they're weaned and poos are more solid you only have see-through leaks... also it's easier to fit the nappies when their thighs are bigger... but I wouldn't say it was intrinsically messier to use cloth now...

I am miserable today with a dose of Mastitis. Got my eyes fixed on some day in the future when the whole feeding thing comes good for us... I did think I'd have it by now.

Egypt - I declare myself as somebody who wakes sleeping babies! DS (7 wks) has 45 mins at 9am, 2.5 hours at 12.00 and 30 mins around 4.15pm. Bed is at 7pm.
I know everybody has their own ideas about this, but this is what works for me and, so far, for him as well.
(Hoping other GF users will back me up on this so that I don't look like heartless, baby-prodding, monster mother !!)

Oh yes, not meant to sound anal about the timing of sleep! It is a lot more flexible, I promise !!

As someone whose baby slept from 11pm to 5am last night (and soooo hoping it wasn't a fluke!) I'm currently thinking that GF is a goddess, so I'll back you up, Judd

I may be a heartless monster, but I'm a happy heartless monster with a happy monsterlet.

Now if I can just swap my 3 year old for one that doesn't whine constantly, I'll be laughing...

Spots I let dd2 lie commando for a while on her mat during the day. Usually when we're changing her nappy if she seems quite happy lying on her mat we just leave her without a nappy for a little while to kick her legs. When she starts getting grizzly the new nappy goes on and we do something else with her. We do this once or twice a day and she seems to really like just lying there kicking her legs. We put a towel under her though just incase of accidents.

My dd2 usually sleeps during the day on the way to school in the morning, so 8.45am-9.15/30am once we get home at around 9.15/30am she wakes up and has a feed around about 10am.

She tends to sometimes doze on and off until we leave at 2.45pm to go get dd1 from school and then depending on what we are doing after school can depend on how long she sleeps. If we go into town after school she sometimes sleeps until we get home again around 4.30/5pm. If we come straight home she will still sometimes sleep until the same time. Or sometimes she'll wake up when we get home from school at 3.30pm.

Thing is dd1 finished school for the summer holidays on Wednesday so this routine has now changed. But generally she will have a longish sleep of about 3 and a half-4 hours during the afternoon.

We don't have a set bedtime yet, I'm certainly not organised enough to have her ready for bed at 7pm but the last few nights she has gone down between 9pm-10pm getting up once in the night around 2/3am and then generally waking around about 5/6am. She seems to be finding her own little routine and I'm just going with it but I'm keeping a note of her feeds and naps and there does seem to be some sort of routine appearing. Hoping to have it perfected within a few weeks. But we'll see what happens.

Evening,

Spots, you mentioned the commando thing - we've only risked it a couple of times and have made sure towels were in place! although today he was nasty and pooped with such passion that it came above his nappy line and we both had to change! absolutely charming. Still hope to do it more often providing the weather improves (the commando thing that is, not the over-zealous pooping!)

We don't follow a routine but for the last week he has had a bath at 6-7 ish, snacked on and off for a couple of hours and then finally crashed at approx. 8-10 until 2-4, then fed and napped on and off until 7ish, had a feed and then napped again until 8-9ish. A routine does seem to forming but I am dreading how we can turn it round so it suits us all for returning to work, guess I'll worry about it as time goes on!

He barely sleeps during the day, two/three 45min-1 hour breaks at the moment unless his night was particularly restless then he is out like a light for a good part of the morning. Then he is a git for most the evening, luckily he doesn't mind lying on his changing mat or basket for short periods so most non baby stuff gets dealt with in bite size chunks during the day! if we're both lucky to be sailing with the wind at the same time!

Cat82, will text you as I hope to come into Cambridge next week. Hope you are all well and taking care, dare I admit that it could be getting easier afterall? please don't make me suffer for that one!

Love to you all xxxxxxxx

linnet and libb, our routine sounds alot like yours. she sleeps mid morning for half hour to hour. midday until 3 or 4 if i am lucky, then is awake and a nightmare until 10 or 11. we try to get her down about 9/10 latest but usually have an hour of crying whenever she goes to bed. then up for a feed every 2-3 ours until 6am when its awake again until mid morning. am knackered!

went out with girls from work last night for a meal, which was, may i say, disgusting! despite being booked for 2 weeks (about 15 of us) and meals ordered since then, they took 1 1/2 hours to serve us our starters! then i person's simple omelette and chips didnt arrive until we had all finished our main meal.....which was soggy and cold, steak over cooked, etc. complained big style and the manager brought us 2 bottles of wine on the house. to which we said, 'we're all driving!' v amusing by this point. so we got desserts, coffee and starters free. coffee came BEFORE the main meal was cleared away, so we started to pile our plates up ourselves and then dessert came after coffee!!! hilarious! my first night out and that's what i got! we had to laugh. anyway, sorry, just thought i'd share that with you as is the most interesting thing that has happened in 5 weeks!

Egypt I find i get more ebm in the morning, In the night I only ever manage 1 oz.
Blinking heck libb, I cant believe you feed from 7.30 - 9pm!! DD's been quite good in the evenings. Im sure this is because shes so knackered by then. The past few nights ive fed her at 7.30-8ish and shes slept until 2 which is a good 5 hour stretch, then again at 5 and 8am. I think im going to start waking her at 10-11 to feed again so hopefully shell sleep until 4ish, I was panicking thinking that going 5 hours was too long but since seeing thateveryone elses is doing the same I feel a bit better now.
Weve had a bit of nappy rash and so each evening we have nappy off time(darent do it in the day with dds temprement) shes managed to pee and poo all over the towel. Tonight she also managed to pee on the carpet about 5 inches from where she was lying. It didnt go on the changing mat or on her vest. Cant quite work out how it managed to shoot out so far!!! TBH i probably dont change her nappy enough. I do it about 7am and then maybe around 11ish and again in the afternoon or if I know shes pooed Ill do it then. I do it before she goes to bed and then wont do it overnight encase it wakes her too much.

Libb I'm sure by the time you return to work your ds will have his routine all worked out. Surely it's a good while yet until you go back to work?

I've had a bit of a crappy day, relaxing now with a glass of wine. dd2 as I said seems to have fallen into a sort of routine. She had a feed last night at 3am then woke again at 7.30am so I thought right I'll try to follow a gina ford routine, loosely of course just to see. anyway she went back down for a nap, got up had another feed and seemed to be on track for napping right through until 2pm. Then dh suggested that instead of us all staying in the house again and getting cabin fever that we should go out to the museum. I agreed thinking that we'd just lift dd2 into her pram and when she woke at 2pm I could feed her then. She'd been asleep since 11.45am so we're getting ready and she started to cry this was 12.45pm dh got her up decided that she needed fed, which she didn't as I told him but he tried her anyway and she took 2oz then went back to sleep. So we all went out but I wasn't happy as it meant that she then slept right through until we got home at 3.30pm and it was going to muck up this little routine she seemed to have found. Of course then Dh swans off to work leaving me and the dd's home alone.

AS it happened dd2 took her bottle at 4.30pm then took another at 8pm and went to bed at around 9pm and is still sleeping, but I'm really mad at dh. I just wanted 1 day where I could call the shots and see if it fitted in with dd2. I'd like to try and get her into a good routine so that on the odd occasion when dh and I would like to go out I can say to his mum, who will be doing the babysitting, this is her routine etc or else I can have her in bed by the time we go out so all mil has to do is feed her later when she needs it.

I'm not sure how I'm going to cope with the next 6 weeks of having dd1 home from school all day plus dh during the day as he usually works nights. They are both getting on my nerves already. I sometimes think I can't cope with 2 kids all day let alone a dh thrown in as well. Found myself secretly wondering if I could go back to work now rather than waiting until December.

Now I know this was just a blip and tomorrow will be better. Dh was right we did need to get out of the house otherwise we'd all have been climbing the walls, but as it happened even though we went out we were all really ratty with each other anyway so it didn't really make any difference that way. And I could have said to him that he take dd1 and I stay home but once dh had got dd2 up, I'm sure she would have fallen asleep again given 5 minutes, there didn't seem to be any point in not going out.

And dd1 has been good as gold since she finished school, helping me loads with dd2 offering to fetch things that I need without even being asked and tidying her toys away again without being asked. Beginning to think I brought the wrong child home from school on Wednesday, lol

Sorry just felt the need to rant about dh. It's easy for him to be here all day as he gets to go to work at night, and ok he has to work hard doesn't get to sit down all night has to run around after people but even so I'm the one that's stuck here. I think I'm feeling a little bit blue about that the fact that on a Saturday night dd1 stays with my granny overnight and I used to get to go out and meet dh from work, obviously I can't do that now as I have to stay home with dd2. My granny is to old to look after both of them, at least until dd2 is a lot older and sleeping through the night etc, so I guess I'm feeling a bit selfish and deprived of my Saturday night out.

I'm going to go now and finish my glass of wine dd2 should probably stir soon for the top up bottle of milk that she has around about now so I'd better go get ready.

Hope you're all doing well

love
Linnet
x

Linnet, I am thinking too far ahead I know! but my sister mentioned the other day that we should think about what the ideal routine would be for all of us when I've returned to work and then to coax him towards it as time goes by. Hence the same bath time each night, which seems to work really well at the moment.

Kbaby, I don't feed him for that whole time! he usually has his larger (tanking up) feed after his bath and between that time then usually goes off about 9-10. Last night he went off about 10.30 and slept through until 4am, he then had the most stealth like nappy change ever and a sleepy feed - then feel asleep again until 7.30ish. Woke up to find himself in daddy's armpit which is enough to make anyone cry! (kidding, he smells rather good actually)

Sods law though that he has been sleeping for most of this morning so I don't expect a hearty sleep tonight - why won't he nap during the week when I need time to phone potential childminders etc?! I will blame DP. For no reason other than that he is here. (Linnet, rant about hubby all you like - they are great and can be useful but try your patience far more than any baby!)

Twiglett hope your DS hasn't had any more nightmares. Cat82, I will be coming into Cambridge this week for sure so will text you when I do (don't worry, I will give you plenty of notice! the visit to the bank manager was very handy ).

Hope you are all well!

Hello all

Georgina and Spots- I too am a GF follower. I was beggining to have my doubts, as dd refused to stay awake during the day, and howling the place down if we did only give her 90mls at 5.00pm (this is still kind of still happening, how are other people dealing with it?) instead of her full 120mls. However it does seem to have come good. DD is much more awake in the day now, (a bit too much actualy, now she refuses to nap unless SHE wants too )and sleeping well from 7.00pm through to about 5.00-6.00am. Usualy she doesn't wake up at 11.00 and has a dream feed.
Also, exciting news, she definatly smiled yesterday for the first time and is making some very cute gurgily noises as well
Spots- thanks for the nappy info. We bought a trial pack of Bambino Mio nappys before she was born to try, but she was only 6lbs 10.5oz so they were way to big at the time. Unfortunatly BF didn't work for me so poos are definatly messy, I thought they got firmer with formula but they still seem quite runny (though we've been assured by hv that they're normal). I do think we'll have a go with them. Which brand do you use Spots? also do you use a laundry service or wash them yourself and how is it working out? Hope your mastitis is getting better, I also suffered the horrors of that when i was BF shudder.
Libb- long time no hear! Yep, please text or call and let me know a good time and place to meet. Did you get my texts? Hope you're okay honey.

Cat
xxx

oh blimey, how come all your babies are sleeping for 5 hour stretches?????????? how do you do it? ok, so my dd has slept for 3 4 hour stretches today!!!!! boy are we going to suffer tonight. we went to wales to see dh's grandad and the car just sends her to sleep. she slept all the way there, all afternoon at the house and all the way back. meant she fed every 4 hours too, on the hour, but god, i'm nervous about tonight!

someone tell me gina ford's routine for a 5 weeks old please.....what am i SUPPOSED to be doing?

Egypt: if it's any consolation we had a really shit night last night (wouldn't resettle after feeds) and haven't had a 11pm-5am stint again... knew I'd jinx it . If you like I can email you a copy of my (very garish) spreadsheet that goes up to 8 weeks currently. I think I have modified it to suit us though rather than exactly what's in the book.

cat82: we have two points in the day which are a bit tricky - the 10.30/10.45am feed (we find it hard to stretch ds2 beyond 10am - which is sometimes an issue with the later nap & feeds, and sometimes not - it's gradually getting easier) and that 5pm/6pm time.

Over the last few days (he's almost 8 weeks) the latter has got easier in that he still moans after the "snack" feed at 5pm but then calms down as long as there's attention, but if I do give him a full feed then he's not really hungry.

I suspect he's picking up on the general household stress around then - we're all tired, ds1 is whiny at that time, I'm trying to make dinner, etc... so I'm not sure it's necessarily down to him wanting more food, just more comfort.

would be great georgina if you could email me a copy of your spreadsheet. although, am bf ding so how would i know how much dd has taken? she HAS actually gone to bed and although is awake and gurgling to herself, is not, for ONCE crying. this is a first at bedtime since she was about 2 weeks old. not holding my breath though, those gurgles are developing into some whines as i type....here we go again!

Our dd is always very difficult in the evenings and I am only reassured by the idea that lots of babies are, as I can't fathom the reasons for it otherwise. Feeding is still a big focal point for worries, esp. because of the mastitis - seems to have concentrated all my niggles into an actual concrete problem, so that I have used 3 different bf counsellors in as many days! I was speaking to the health visitor about it, and the said about the unputdownable-ness, and then about the snack feeding/ short sleeps at night. She looked at my dd and said "well you're not such an easy baby are you then?" I was sort of taken aback as I do think of her as a great baby despite all these things. But realise that maybe there's a difference between being easy and being great! She (wisely) continues to charm us with grins and adventurous hands and eyes. Last night when I got up with her to feed at 3am she did a trumpetting fart and poo that made me turn to her and say 'Laurie!' - impressed and shocked - and she cracked a huge grin, so proud of herself.

Hard to imagine this now as she is furious on my lap.

Cat82 we use Bumbles inside a Motherease wrap and are washing them ourselves. //this is fine tho' it means the washing machine is going pretty much all the time. I actually just really like them as much as anything else, they're well cute!

I will start the whole bedtime thing in earnest when Big Brother ends. At the moment I'm too in thrall to it to give up the evening armchair/baby cuddle combo. And I'm not ashamed either.

Had a better day today sorry about my rant last night but sometimes you just have to let off steam.

DD2 slept again most of the afternoon as she was out in the pram but did feed just before 4pm which was 4 hours since the last feed. Then had another feed at 7pm ish. She's now gone to bed at 9pm, I think I could maybe have put her down at 8.30pm but I didn't think she could possibly be tired after sleeping most of the afternoon, but she fell asleep on her mat so I moved her to bed and we'll wait and see what happens.

Last night she slept right through from 9.30pm to 4.30am. I just can't believe that she still sleeps most of the afternoon though even though she sleeps at night, she must take after me and like her sleep, probably won't last though.

Spots sorry to hear that you've got mastitis. Hoping that you'll feel better soon. I've had huge grins from dd2 when she does a nice big poo as well, it's so cute and she really does look impressed with herself, lol

ooh other good things that have happened this weekend are that I won £10 on the lottery last night and a friend of mine gave me her computer chair as she doesn't have room for it at her new place. It's like a mastermind chair and I'm well impressed seeing as our old computer chair broke ages ago and we've been using an old kitchen/dining chair ever since. dd1 thinks this new chair is great likes to spin round on it, well I suppose it will keep her occupied on rainy days during the holidays, lol

Well I jinxed it...
Last night I woke dd to do a 10.30 feed. I changed her happy and fed her which she slept all the way through for. She then slept until 2.30 and then woke evey 2 hours for a feed until 8.30. She seems to wake at 5 every morning straining and groaning with wind. Tonight shes been fed at 7.30 and then wouldnt go down so i have now fed her again at 9.30 and shes still wide awake. I think im in for a bad night.
How long is anyones baby awake for during the day. Weve tried following gina f but we cant make the awake times last that long and also some of the feeds we end up having to do earlier than she recommends. I dont know if because shes on my lap all day shes more sleepier than normal as shes not really getting a deep enough sleep due to the wind/colic.

You really do all write far too much.

Holiday was lovely - no sunburn, routine gone to pot. dd was up till 11.30 last night tripping out on chocolate ice-cream, ds has doen exactly what he wanted when he wanted (but wierdly similar to our normal GF routine but with more daytime sleep and a few snacky feeds - which I presume were due to the heat) DD wouldn't kick her legs and try to swim, preferring to be carried round the pool by yours truly, but denied being a lazy lump ("Not lazy lump mummy, ds lazy lump" - she has a point)
My darling son has forgotten how to cry. Seriously - for the whole week not a holler has passed his lips. But I am getting lots of "gaahhs", "uuhhhs" and "ooooohhhss". And so so many smiles. And he no longer fits into any of his 0-3 month clothes, and we are in size 3 pampers. I haven't weighed him since 2 weeks, but don't really need to - he is HUGE. He's been managing 6 hour stretches in the night, so hopefully now we are back and onto a routine again I should be able to get away with just one night waking.

Egypt - bf and GF do go together - you don't need to know how much. Georgina's spreadsheet will be more detailed, but at 5 weeks a GF baby should be sleeping at 9 for 1 hour, 12 for 2 1/2 hours and 4.15 for 3/4 hour. Then bed at 7pm - 7am. Feeding should be at 7am, 10.30am, 2.30pm, 5pm, 6.15pm and 10.30pm. All those are full feeds except 5pm which is just a snack to get through to after the bath. I do that by letting the feed finish the first time he pulls off - wheras normally I would jiggle a bit and then try him again.
I am very sorry for all of you who

Kbaby I'm not entirely sure how long my dd2 stays awake, I'll time her tomorrow to see just out of interest, but she definitely sleeps more than she is awake.
Sometimes she has a feed and goes straight to sleep other times she stays awake for up to an hour and a half before falling asleep. Often she'll lie on her mat and doze on and off. Today when we were out with her in the pram she dozed on and off but again was asleep more than she was awake when we were out iykwim.

One thing that does happen is that if she's grizzly and dh picks her up she falls asleep, mind you she doesn't even have to be grizzly he can just be holding her and she falls asleep. He's a very hot person, (great in winter like having a hot water bottle in bed with you, lol) so I think when he picks her up she just zonks because of that. Therefore if I want her to stay awake he's not allowed to hold her, lol

If your dd has been awake for most of the evening she may sleep better tonight. When I was breastfeeding dd2 would spend most of the evening awake and sleep quite well through the night.

Prufrock, Sounds like you had a great holiday. Doesn't your HV come to your house every week to weigh your ds and check how things are going for you all?

Ours comes to us until dd2 is 8 weeks old, maybe they don't do this in all areas though, they certainly didn't do it when dd1 was a baby.

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No twiglett, it means that between 10.30pm and 7am it's a free-for all, i.e. demand fed between those times.

Although she does suggest that once a baby has not needed to be fed before a certain time for more than 3 nights in a row, that if they wake up earlier again to try and settle without feeding (but obviously feed if they need it).

Also, she suggests trying to give a smaller feed (one breast only) if they feed at 5/6am so they don't lose their appetite for the 7am feed (otherwise it tends to get a little off track). Again though, if baby says otherwise, you do what baby wants

Egypt: I've tried to contact you via contact another talker but apparently you've selected not to be contacted by other mumsnetters?

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dagnammit is a new word for me, I like it.

lol twig - she's normal, you're doing great! I'm very envious as I've had too babies now that have needed routine and struggled to get them to sleep. I'm in awe of any mother/baby combo that just settles into it all so naturally!