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!!

Ds2 hasn't had a bath yet

Dh gives him a bit of a wash round with cotton wool + water every morning but not sure that it's a full "proper" top and tail every day. Still smells gorgeously baby though, so it can't be that bad for him!

I remember with ds1 we bathed him the day after we got back from hospital!!

Every single day so far, and then massaged with wheatgerm oil with the tiniest bit of lavender oil. But then he does cover himself in vomit at least twice a day.
(DH picked him up just after a massage and said "Oh he smells so lovely and new babyish" - didn't like to tell him itwasn't new baby but lavender )

Hi all, oh this feels good, can hear dd squeaking but it's marvellous to be in company here. Georgina I am sharing a lot of your sleeping woes. Last night was our first night home and I only slept a tiny tiny bit for trying to position her well, she hates being put down on her back. And she feeds like a lunatic; midwives all saying how great her latch is but I hate her goddam' latch, my nipples look like the two halves of a pulled Xmas cracker. DH being absolutely wonderful, I am quite in awe of his fathering skills but wish he had tits to match. I just feel very, very daunted about all that's ahead of us...

I thought I had better join in too - feeling very bewildered by what I am meant to be doing to be honest.

I am having problems getting DS to latch on straight away even though he is hungry - when he does latch on he stays for approx. 5 mins (drinking for that time) and then falls asleep. I am worried he isn't getting enough, my nipples seem to be fine although he doesn't seem to like the right breast - midwife says I must try and feed him from it. Why isn't he latching if he's hungry? He gets really worked up and then he has to be passed to DP for calming down.

Also, how many hours during the day should a newborn sleep? He slept from 4 until 9 this morning, and then I had to wake him for a feed. He has sessions like this at least twice a day.

I don't think I am going to be very good at this . . . am already dreading DP going back to work - he still has one and a half weeks to go! Trying hard not to get teary about it all too.

We had a fairly good night last night (thank god) - managed to settle himself (yes, I know! miracles never cease... have to confess that it was 10 mins crying down that achieved it in the end) just before 2am and then only woke twice more (4am and 5am), going back to sleep straight away each time.

I think our bodies are in shock from the extra sleep...

Our first day of a GF routine today - surprisingly it squeezed in more feeds than we'd previously managed in a day and ds seemed quite amenable to all the timings - never got hungry waiting for a feed. Of course, the proof will be how well he sleeps tonight as a result. Hopefully as he got more daytime awakeness, he'll be able to get back to sleep easier tonight - don't mind frequent wakings as long as he'll resettle.

He's no longer a dirty tike - we gave him the first bath this evening, and ds1 "helped" (read, get in the way and splashed a lot) - all very cute, even if ds2 wasn't totally thrilled with his first ablutions. Think we'll only do 1 or 2 a week tbh - just find it too time consuming with a toddler about as well.

Other than that it's been a fairly mixed day - you may have seen my weight gain thread. I seem to be very teary at the moment - assuming a small attack of baby blues isn't helping. Otherwise, seen a few more people to introduce the baby to - always nice to have people cooing over the new arrival and congratulating you as if you had anything to do with how perfect the little mite is

Aw libb, poor you Sounds like you just have a very sleepy feeder - ds1 was like this. Try not to let them go longer than 3 hours during the day and 4 hours at night time. I remember having to spend ages each feed with ds1 stripping him down to his nappy, blowing air on his face, tickling his feet, cold wet flannel on his face... was really tedious. He did wake up by about the 3rd or 4th week though (and that's when I started missing the sleepy version )

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Aw twiglett It's horrible, isn't it? I was chucking dh regularly downstairs with babe for an hour or two just to get some rest. Men should have boobs too, I reckon. If just so they can get a true understanding of what sore means!!

I had my first good night, though, last night! GF did the trick I think by packing in so many feeds and awake time in the day, ds2 only woke 3 times in the night and settled right back to sleep again afterwards. One waking was only 15 mins long. I feel so much more human and able to cope today - I'm sure ds1 is feeling happier with more alert & friendly mummy too.

Oh libb you poor thing. I remember the bewildered feeling so well from the first time around. It's sort of "ok, so you're here, now what the f* do I do with you". If you like routine, I really would suggest reading Gina Fords Contented little baby book. It gives you exact instructions on what to do throughout the day. But don't worry if your ds doesn't so what she says. TBH at the moment I would just try to feed him every 3 hours at least, and don't worry if he only feeds for a bit - I don't think dd ever took a bf taht was more than 10 minutes long, a combination of my super spurting boobs and her efficient sucking. But if you think he is hungry, try holding your breast either side of the nipple (sort of squashing it), and shoving teh nipple into ds's mouth whilst it's open. Hold it in there (try to avoid suffocating him by covering his nose) and he should eventually start to suck.

And don't worry about feeling teary - it's not you it's your hormones. and it should pass in a few days.

feels like madness tho, combination of hormones and sleeplessness. Fearsome. Glad am not sixteen or/and single parent.

Hello, nice to catch up on what's going on! Has everybody else still got their scabby belly button thing intact? DS's fell off after his bath this evening and there was a little bit of blood, but it seems to be OK now...
I went to the pre school open evening last night - DD starts in September - and I had my first embarrassing conversation with a dozy friend who barged straight up and said "So when are you going to have this baby then?" I felt awful because I had to point out that I had had it a week ago and she then had to hastily back pedal and say that she assumed I hadn't had it because I was glowing and out and about of an evening (a whole hour of freedom!) and not because I still look like a beefy beast!!
Nice to see that some other people are having a look at GF, really appreciated her help with DD. In fact, DH is just reading it now and whingeing about the crap editing....
Emotionally I am swinging between feeling like Supermum (which is when I think back to when DD was born and I used to spend her 2 hour lunchtime nap crying in the downstairs toilet and see how different I feel this time round) and Rubbish mum (which is when DD is glued to teletubbies or I realise that I haven't done a jigsaw with her or 101 other stimulating activities...)
Uh oh, crying baby. Must go and investigate....

Incidentally, those doing GF - how do you stop it spiralling out of control if they don't settle well at one nap? Do you just say sod it and write off the day or is there a way to get back on track?

Georgina,
I tend to persevere with settling until he has had a nap because I'm usually sure he needs one and I've not put him down soon enough so he's overtired. The routine for 1wk seems fairly loose anyway and I have just been mixing and matching until we end up at 6.30pm -7pm with a sleeping baby! Hasn't done him any harm so far and until he's more awake and alert, I don't think I can do any more.
Our breakthrough with settling(which we also found with DD) was The Swaddle. Love it to bits and wrap him tightly every naptime. Helps him settle to sleep because he's not doing a Mexican Wave every five minutes and waking himself up!

So if it takes, say, an hour to get them to settle and they only get a half hour sleep you'd still wake them at next feed time?

I ended up doing loads of top up feeds today which messed up everything because he was too sleepy/not hungry enough for the next feed... ended up just doing a simple wake every 3 hours thing (from start of previous feed) and having a nap in my arms. Ds2 tends to fall asleep straight after a feed and any attempt to rouse him for even a few minutes seems to result in an overtired baby. Worked wonderfully the first day though!

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Oh brilliant about your DD being awake for 2 hours, Twiglett! I can't wait to get DS awake for that length of time, 1.5 hours is the longest we have managed to have him awake and even that was with him catching sneaky bits of shut eye when we weren't looking.....!!
Georgina, no I wouldn't wake him after half an hour just to be in time for a feed. I think I'd probably let him have a good hour(or longer if lunchtime), feed him and then just see what happens.
Can't wait to stop looking pregnant, am sick of wearing the same clothes over and over again. However the midwife said it could take six weeks for my stomach to go down, which seems like absolutely ages away. What if it's really hot, and all that I can fit into are my maternity jeans? BOO.

Ooh you're going to hate me Judd, but I'm back in all my normal clothes already - and 5lbs lighter than when I got pregnant. I knew there were some benefits to throwing up constantly for the first 20 weeks!

Georgina - today I gave up. DH weas working from home and thought he'd do me a favour by not waking me until 9am (ds had fed at 6.30 for 10 minutes) so the day was screwed. I am concentrating on the feeding bits to start off with, so not leaving ds to settle himself at morning and afternoon nap, but using sling to ensure he does sleep rather than demand a feed.

Prufrock - that's really good news though! I think your DS is a couple of weeks older than mine (born 11/5) and so perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel for me! I also have the pressure of living in a small village where there seems to be only one pair of maternity shorts which are passed round from friend to friend as necessary! (I am proud owner at the moment and know 3 others who have worn them previously!)I would feel awful denying some poor sweltering pregnant woman from our local toddler group just because my abdomen is refusing to wind its neck in! (um...can you see that biology is not my strong point?)
Completely agree that sleeping and feeding are all the little 'uns need to do at the moment, by the way.

Evening, seems strange for us all to be discussing the actual ins and outs of babies now! I am sensing some disgruntled expectant mums on the old thread . . . .

GeorginaA and Prufrock, thank you for all your kind words and reassurance - it is daunting and I find it hard to believe people when they say the time will fly! GeorginaA, what you said about sleepy feeding made a lot of sense and it was a lot easier once I realised (instead of me assuming he would wake automatically and panicking when he didn't).

DS isn't too bad so far(she said frantically touching wood!). He was weighed yesterday and had lost 3oz of his birthweight. Today he had some good feeds and had the devil's share of both breasts so that can't be bad either . . . we haven't resorted to expressing yet although it will be nice when DP can feed him.

It is really lovely to be wearing normal clothes too - I cannot believe that this time last week I was poking out front! Now I'm just flopping around a little . . . .

Phew, I can ramble for England and this is becoming an essay! Take care everyone, hope you are all well xxxx

prufrock, that's a good idea re: the sling. Can I ask what type of sling you have? For ds1 I had the baby bjorn but really didn't get on with it (and didn't feel that he looked that secure either).

Feel more relaxed today - going to just concentrate on feed times and expressing times like you say (after all, that's what I'd be doing even if not on GF anyway).

Am really proud of myself - managed to express a whole 3oz this morning - I never managed to express much with ds1!

Yesterday was a bit shite though, I spent most of the afternoon being really weepy and thinking everything was the end of the world. Have painful constipation (I know, too much information) which probably didn't help my mood much. Got dh really worried and he's trying to shuffle work around so he works from home next week - I just don't think I can cope with the two of them on my own yet - I have moments where I'm finding it really overwhelming and feel like I'm just doing everything wrong. Went to bed at 8pm and just cuddled & fed ds2 while watching TV for a few hours which helped. He is so utterly beautiful - really deserves a better Mummy though.

Midwife is due around today to weigh him again. I am irrationally terrified.

I'm using the baby bjorn - just make sure you make it as small as possible (and don't bend down)
If we are sharing grusome details my piles are bleeding - does that make you feel better?
I am finding ds so easy (and yes Judd I am further along - he was born on 27/4) I just can't cope with dd (I fel a moaning thread coming on about her)

hello you mums! it still seems like we're never going to be in your position. i can't imagine ever having a baby!
pleeease dont forget about us - i think i may be the last - the others have had shows (cats, chicago, mamma mia etc ) sorry...my friend finds it amusing.
had a sweep yesterday but cervix was only open a finger tip - so didnt do any good at all. oh well. only 4 days overdue. am booked for an induction on 29th, but we'll just have to see about that.
any advice?? like if you could go back a week b4 baby what would you make sure you did? sleep all day??
lots of love xxxxx you are all doing so great. and WHO is 5lb lighter than when they got pregnant?? prufrock?

Hello everyone.

My due date today but baby doesnt look like it wants to come out.
I know this is a silly question so I apologise in advance.
In GF it says that the baby is to be put down for its naps in a quiet room. I'd rather that the baby had its naps in the moses basket in the living room as otherwise id be traipsing up the stairs to check every 5 mins. Do you think that would be ok? or is a quiet room better?
Also all those who have now lost their pregnancy weight, how much did you gain? Ive gained 2 stone and hoping that i lose it all as I dont have any bigger summer clothes to wear and cant bear the thought of still wearing my maternity clothes.

It's really not silly kbaby.
GF does say naps in a quiet, dark room - it does help the baby to get used to being by itself and settling itself, and it will learn to associate it's cot with sleep. But just cos Gina says doesn't mean you have to follow! However there really is no need to check every 5 minutes (although I did first time around) it is better to leave the baby in peace - for you and them.
Do you have a monitor? they do pick up every noise so you can leave that with the baby in it's room and still know that it's Ok.

Regarding the weight - I think I'm the only one who's lost it all already. I lost 1 stone in the first 5 months of my pregnancy as I had very bad sickness. I then put on just under 2 stones in the last 3 months, and lost a stone and a half in the two weeks post birth. But really - don't expect to do that - you only get that lucky as a reward for coping with 10 vomits a day in early pregnancy.
YOu will probably find that your baggier summer clothes will fit quite soon - but any fitted stuff - particularly around your waist will be too tight. This is completely normal - I coped first time around by just getting a few pairs of elasticated waist casual trousers. And if you are breastfeeding be prepared for none of your fitted shirts to do up - I used to wear T-sirts and then shirts undone over the top.

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