The Final Fruition of the Frolicking Forays for the First Time Frolickers

[Spirael]

We came, we saw, we frolicked.

Now our PFB has arrived and we can begin the stressful befuddled guiltridden exhausting wonderful journey of parenthood!

(Or at the very least we can stop bothering the antenatal bunch until they join us!)

Yep, I think I need to resign myself to the catnaps. He seems happy with 1.5-2 hours in total a day (shame!). Great news re Will's sleep.

Much excitement here as we have another tooth! He's having a tough time with it though, poor bunny. Hopefully now it's through it will start feeling better.
Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Bunny We had that as well, I'm glad they're getting better now though.

Worrisome Oooo another tooth!!! We still haven't had any sign of them yet.

DS has had a bad week, we've been at the the Docs twice this week with him. He's got that slapped cheek virus bless his little cotton socks. I had a right panic though this morning, he woke up this morning with a high temperature and a rash all over him. You know what it's like, you just think the worst don't you. Fortunately it was just a viral rash. Phew!!

Apart from that DS is fine, I go to meet my childminder next week. I'm looking forward to it actually, I just hope DS takes to her. He's quite chilled so hopefully it won't be a problem.

Hello all,

Well, DS is asleep in his pram and having reached the 4 week mark, I feel like he's been around forever. We've hit 5lb 12oz which is a whole pound heavier than his birthweight, so I'm really pleased with that. He's a gorgeous little chap and doesn't cry very often, but he makes an awful lot of other noises and seems to really struggle with something as he goes all red (which of course he never did in hospital where there was advice on hand 24 hours a day). I'm assuming that it's wind - the health visitor didn't seem very concerned, which annoyed me a little bit as he really does sound like it hurts him, despite the lack of crying. Is this what Kai does, Aly?

They always say that prem babies make a lot more noise and are likely to suffer from wind, but they're not very good at telling you how to help them! The latest advice is to wind him LESS after he feeds, so we're trying that (having already played the Infacol game and found it ineffective)... The worst thing about it is that, if he gets to sleep, it wakes him up after 45 minutes and he rarely gets back to sleep on his own after that. And it's much worse at night - he can sleep for a good 2 hours per stint during the day, which I don't understand. But I just keep telling myself that he still shouldn't be out, so am trying not to worry about sleep habits or any of that! Whether he has some problem with his crib or not I haven't worked out - we've tried lots of different solutions but nothing has worked 100% effectively yet...

Breastfeeding is going ok - he had a 25 minute feed this morning which is his longest single stint yet. I've tried lots of ways to persuade him to feed for longer but he's still tiny so I guess his tummy is quite small. And with the wind issues maybe he feels fuller earlier. I'm struggling with an inverted nipple which is very sore when he latches on but gradually improves through the feed. Anyone else had this?

Sorry for being very questioning but it feels like this is the place to at least air a few issues, and see whether anyone else has experience. Will try to keep up with everyone from now and respond to your posts!

worrisome he should be much better now they've broken the gum. The first 2 teeth are the ones they struggle with the most, until the molars start coming through....but you don't need to worry about those until he's 1

kurly I have very flat nipples and once my milk came in and I was engorged poor William couldn't latch on at all. The situation was't helped by my milkducts being quite far back too, so he just didn't have a big enough mouth to be able latch and get the milk flowing.

I ended up using nipple shields - the medela ones are the best as they are very thin and there's a notch cut out so baby's nose still touches your skin. The first few times I fed with them I hand expressed a few drops of milk into the shield and over the outside of it to encourage him to latch onto it, but he soon got the idea. As he got bigger he was able to open wide enough to latch correctly and we got rid of the shields. As your DS seems to be managing to feed ok once he's got going you can try drawing the nipple out before he latches to reduce that initial discomfort. Expressing a bit with a breast pump just before a feed will work but does add an extra level of hassle to the whole process, or try rubbing an ice cube over your nipple. I've also seen this recommended alot on here. As he gets bigger it will get better, so the best thing to do is just keep persevering

I think giving birth must have done something to my pain threshold - played netball yesterday and jarred my finger about 10 mins into the game. Thought it felt a bit sore, but played the entire 50 mins till the end. Got up this morning and it was really swollen and an interesting shade of purple - turns out it's actually broken It's all splinted up now and I have to see the hand surgeon on Tuesday. Just typical that DH is in Las Vegas for a week so am on my own with Will - hopefully I'll manage to look after him onehanded

Bunny thanks for the reassurance, I hate seeing him in so much pain. He's such a happy little guy normally. He seems to be better today so hopefully the worst is over (for now!). As our resident dental guru, can you tell me what we should be doing re brushing? I've got a MAM baby toothbrush thingy but TBH the bristles seem quite hard for a brand new tooth. A couple of the books I've read have said that just wiping the tooth is sufficient, is that ok?

Kurly well done you for getting to 4 weeks! I know what you mean about DS being there forever, I can barely remember a time when Lochie wasn't around.

Lochie made HEAPS of noise as well - especially while sleeping, which meant we moved him into his own room at 5 weeks (mainly because I suffered from PND-associated insomnia and we decided that the minimal SIDS risk was less than the risk of having a completely collapsing mum). TBH we still have the monitor so high that we can hear every little snuffle, but as he's got older he's gotten quieter as he sleeps. I guess it's even more pronounced with a prem baby! WRT the wind - this could be down to just being so new. We had terrible trouble with Lochie at the start but as his digestive system has matured it's calmed right down. Have you tried putting his crib on an angle? We also found Infacol a waste of time - if anything it made it worse, as Lochie was unable to cope with the one giant burp that it produced!

Honestly, don't worry about sleeping etc yet (although easier said than done I know!). He's still sooooo tiny, and not even aware that he's apart from you yet. I don't know if you've heard the 4th trimester theory, but it's basically that human babies are born too early and the first three months of life outside the womb should be counted as part of the pregnancy. Have a look at this link.

tribble so sorry to hear about your DS - how is he feeling now?

bunny Yuck re your finger! Hope the one-handed week goes ok!

Kurly, congrats again on your lovely growing baby boy!! Isn't it wonderful? and exhausting!! It sounds like you have the same gas problems we have/had. I'm happy to report that it is getting better. We still have the problems, but not to the extent we had them a few weeks ago. Everyone told me he would outgrow it and it seems he is. One thing that was really helping us (and still is) is the bicycling the legs trick. Initially I tried it and found it useless, but it turns out that I wasn't doing it long enough. I have to do it for about 15 minutes, but it is worth it in the end- you would be amazed by the sounds my son's bottom can make! We also have more problems at night than during the day, but it gets better almost every night. I have no advice regarding the breastfeeding, but it really sounds as if you have it pretty much figured out.

Sorry about your finger Bunny. One-handed baby managing doesn't sound like fun at all.

Tribble, I hope your little guy is feeling better. Poor baby (and mom). I'm reading the first time Kai gets sick. I'm also dreading teething. I'm hoping against hope that we have one who does it fast an painlessly, but I doubt we could be that lucky. Kai's already slobbering a lot, but I think that's just because he likes the way it feels. He loves spitting things out of his mouth. We're going to have loads of fun when he starts eating solids.

Ok, gotta run- cranky boy just woke up and needs some attention asap. Hello to everyone I didn't mention and waves to all!

worrisome the official line on toothbrushing is that you should start as soon as the teeth are through, however, that's easy for someone writing a guideline to say and not so easy to do.

I think the best thing to do is to start getting him used to the concept and sensation of teeth getting cleaned but not ever allowing it to become a battle. At this age it's not a disaster if his teeth don't get thoroughly scrubbed twice a day - think of it as a similar concept to introducing solids.....it's all about learning new things etc. but not so important that you need to force the issue if he's not interested on any given day. If there's no fluoride in the water where you live, then you might want to use a teeny teeny teeny amount of baby toothpaste on your finger and just wipe it onto the teeth rather than trying to navigate your way around with the toothbrush. If you have fluoridated water then skip the toothpaste as he'll be getting enough in his formula (assuming you use tap water to make it up!)You could give him the toothbrush to hold and suck on so he gets used to it going into his mouth and let him see you/DH brushing your teeth.

kurly William's wind was always worse at night - he'd start grunting and tossing and turning at about 3am and keep it up until he woke for the day. I think our HV mentioned that it's worse around the 4-8 week mark as that's when they start to become aware of the sensations in their little digestive systems, but it gets better by about 10-12 weeks (am really hoping you don't have to correct for age if they're prem on this one!). Someone suggested to me that I should drink a cup of peppermint tea about 45mins before the evening feed - I never really tested the theory as I can't stand the stuff, but it might be worth a go.

My finger's not too bad so far, although Will likes to grab the shiny splint which is pretty painful! Better go as he's just woken up and sounds like he's particularly cranky this afternoon

sorry to read and run but kurly in my experience it is best to avoid the peppermint tea as it can affect your supply. When beth was bad with wind I drank some fennel tea which was rank but i was at my wits end. Colief is good too although it should be at £11 for a teeny bottle!

Bunny brilliant, thanks for the advice! I've got another toothbrush (this time a soft bristled one) which he seems to like better. Not sure about the flouride issue, will check that out.

aly Here's hoping teething will be good for you! TBH it's not been as bad as I expected.. but there are still the molars to come! And it's been bad enough, if you know what I mean!

Well, more fun with food here - today we tried a pre-loaded spoon for the first time which was hilarious (and incredibly messy!) Am loving this stage, it's so much fun!

Hope everyone elses weeks are going well!

Hello all, I am finally here. Hannah arrived 9 days late on 29 March. I can't believe she is now 15 days old now. I posted my birth story on the AN thread and also that she nearly regained her birth weight at 15 days. Thank you bunny for the reassurance after my worried post about early feeding when I got home from hospital.

Feeding so far is going well I feel - it still hurts sometimes but my nipples are holding up. I think I know how to latch her on but sometimes I get it wrong in the split second you have to get them on.

She is sleeping well so far (but I daren't jinx it) I'm feeding lying down and have found she wakes for 2 night feeds and then wakes about 7/8 for the day! She is currently napping but i've probably unwisely used this time to go on MN and internet shop rather than sleeping. Sometimes I've found you need time to yourself as well as baby time and sleep time though. Hopefully i'm not alone.

I wanted to quickly ask about carriers/slings. Any recommendations for newborns? I have a moby but have only managed to get it on once without either making it too tight or loose. Any slings I can get on quickly? She loves being next to her mummy but sometimes I want to do more than sit on the sofa & cuddle.

Also she hates her pram at the moment - I was nearly crying in town today as I couldn't bear her crys. Is this normal?

Gtg - waking baby! Sorry for lack of personals and questions. Waves to all.

halo I read your birth story on the other thread. I think it's pretty normal to still feel overwhelmed by it all when it all happened less than 3 weeks ago. Well done on getting Hannah back to her birthweight

We had similar problems with our sling, in fact I only reallly started using it once Will was big enough to go in it facing out. He loved going in our Ergobaby carrier though - you need an insert to go in it when they're newborn until they have head control and weigh over 15lbs. Will lived in it for the first 6-8weeks of his life

Will was about 6 weeks before he would settle in his pram - he was fine if he was put into it already asleep, but not so good if he woke up/was awake when he went in. On one memorable occasion he started screaming and it took me about 10 mins to get home, by which point I was crying too and some random stranger in the street took pity on me and walked me home because I was so distraught It's not that long since she was still inside you, so she needs time to get used to all the new places you put her

I took Will on his first plane trip yesterday - he was very well behaved, although he didn't buy into the idea of BFing for take off and landing and he decided to have a good look around instead leaving my boobon display for all to see

halo just re-read your birth story. The way you describe feeling immediately after sounds similar to me, and it's actually brought back a whole load of emotion I feel about the process. I was shaking so much that I couldn't even hold William - I managed a 30second cuddle before I passed him to DH. Then I didn't stop bleeding for a long time, and the pain of the mw pushing on my stomach with all her body weight to try and get my uterus to contract was way worse than the birth itself.

By the time I was stitched up and no longer pouring blood onto the floor I was so tired I didn't have the energy to hold William. They tried to latch him on to feed but he couldn't so I dozed while a mw hand expressed colostrum from me and fed him with a syringe.

Although I had a really easy labour and delivery I never managed the skin to skin and breastfeeding after, it was over 24hours before he fed from me. I didn't feel a great rush of love for him until he was about 3 days old, and I still feel disappointed even 5 months down the line that I didn't react the way I thought I would when I first held him. Somtimes I think I'm a total freak that I cry at every birth on one born every minute, but didn't muster any emotion other than total shock at the birth of my own baby.

Sorry that's a me me me post but just wanted to get it off my chest - I've told noone in real life how I feel about it all, not even DH, and it always comes back to me when I read other's birth stories.

That doesn't sound too unusual to me, bunnygirl (and presumably halo, though I haven't hunted out your birth story yet!). I was lucky enough to have a ridiculously easy birth, and I didn't feel the overwhelming rush of love immediately.

In fact, if she hadn't still been attached by the placenta, I'd have quite happily passed Mindy over to someone else and gone to have my shower an hour sooner than I was permitted. The midwives had to keep telling me to sit still in the water and repeatedly pushed Mindy close to me for skin-to-skin time.

As it was, as soon as the placenta was dealt with and the midwives had pinned me down to do an initial check of the damage down below, I passed Mindy to DH and ran upstairs to shower while they waited for the senior midwife to arrive to stitch me up.

I felt responsible for the tiny human straight away, but I'd say the love I feel for Mindy has grown slowly and steadily over time, rather than arriving as a sudden rush. At first, and for quite some time, she kinda just felt like a demanding pet, to be honest. Now, of course, I adore her unconditionally.

Regarding early feeding... Mindy did latch soon after birth for a few minutes, then really wasn't interested for about 24 hours after that, though I offered the breast repeatedly. I think that's probably fairly normal. She also took about 10 days to recover her birth weight, as my milk was horrendously slow to come in. (Suspectedly because of the early/fast birth.)

Anyway, nothing particularly new to report here. I'm back at work now (boo!) and Mindy's been steadily working her way through every bug on offer at nursery. This weeks delight is a cold, which is easier to deal with than the vomiting bug last week, to be honest! By the end of it all, hopefully she'll have the constitution of an ox.

Slowpoke Mindy, now 9.5 months, still hasn't figured out crawling/bottom shuffling/pulling to sitting/standing, preferring instead to just roll around. No words yet either, or clapping, or waving.

Oh well, I'm sure she'll figure it out eventually!! :) I should probably enjoy the fact she (mostly) stays where I put her while I still can!

spirael I'm sure you're right and it's normal not to be overwhelmed with love immediately, I think I just thought I'd react differently to how I did. His arrival came as something of a shock as I was sooooo convinced I'd be in labour for days I really wasn't prepared to be 3 hours from first "painful" contraction (and only 30mins from thinking some pain relief might be useful) to actually holding him.

I'm sure Mindy's just working on her plans for world domination rather than crawling around. I once looked at one of those "how was your genius child different from the average child" threads, and most people agreed that the genius babies were later reaching their physical milestones

Will's currently trying to crawl, so I doubt there's any chance of him being genius material

Well, Mindy does have a very disturbing way of watching everything with a very good poker face expression. I suspect she might be trying to telepathically control me and DH...

Spireal lol at the thought of Mindy being your tiny puppet master! I wonder if she's given you a trigger word a la The Manchurian Candidate too? Maybe it's 'nappy'!!

Halo I agree with the others re the delayed 'rush of love'. I had a tough time and had PND which may explain a lot, but it took me a while to have that feeling for Lochie. Spireal's 'like a demanding pet' is exactly what it was like. And I'm ashamed to admit this, but in the dead of night, in the worst times that we had, I kept thinking to myself that Lochie, my tiny newborn baby, had the cold, dead eyes of a shark. God, even writing that I feel awful! I think it was the way their eyes are soooo dark at first, and there's very little given back. Now he's a wiggly, giggly, bundle of gorgeousness and I couldn't do without him. But it really wasn't until I started feeling more like myself, and he started getting a bit of personality that I felt that way. I think the thng we all forget (or don't initially realise) is that the shock to us is immense, not just in a physical way. You really need time to recuperate yourself, but obviously all is focused on the baby.

BTW, well done on coping with birth, it sounds like you had a tough old time!

Kurly Well done you!! (also I don't think I said congratulations on the birth). Regarding the sleeping, they say a lot of babies tend to get their days and nights mixed up. What we did was have a definate cut off time where everything went dark and quiet and we didn't speak to DS or in any way shape or form be entertaining. Could it be this?

Bunny You hard nut you!

Aly We've reached the end of it after some antibiotics, I think the worst bit of it has been his interupted sleep the poor thing. With regards to teething, my friends had some good luck with an amber teething necklace and I seriously swear by teething granuals.

Worrisome Gosh, we're having fun as well. I gave DS some apple and pear mush on a spoon today he looked at me as if to say 'where have you been hiding THIS then?' he then stuck the spoon in his eye. It's so funny, my floor is a tip though.

Halo Things are so new and I think we forget that it's all new to the babies as well. I don't know about the pram, but have you tried swaddling at all?

Bunny Halo Please don't feel bad, I think we put so much pressure on ourselves. I think after birth especially when you've had a bit of a time of it, you're just so gald it's over that you don't really register that you've had a baby. I don't remember feeling a rush of love for DS, if anything I felt so guilty that I was crap at giving birth. Once I'd gotten over the shock of it all, it registered that DS was mine and that he was actually quite something, and not just a lump that cried at me.

Spirael Does she get a lot of biscuits? If so you may be right.

We've started giving DS solids at tea time, really it involves DS playing with the stuff, him putting it on the floor and me putting it in the bin. Great stuff!!

DS seems to be getting over his cold (thank goodness) and is getting perkier. I think I'll be back at the Docs next week as my ear infection doens't seem to be shifting.

I also met my childminder today, I love her!!! As soon as we were in the house she had DS off me and was down on the floor playing with him. Her family was there as well and they all took to DS playing with him and just generally including him. It was lovely, she answered all my questions and was so friendly. She also runs a toddler group as well and does allsorts with the children she looks after. I was so nervous beforehand, but now I feel so much better. I feel like I've stumbled on a gold mind.

Also learnt today that my friend whose daughter is about six weeks older than DS is expecting her second. Good for her, but I couldn't even contemplate pregnancy yet. I'm still waiting for my birth debrief with the midwife.

Yeah, I'm going to sit down and talk through my birth. I feel like I want a bit of closure on the issue so I can be in a better head space before I let my hormones take over.

Anyway, hope you're well.

bunny Thanks for your tips re brushing but I think the sorbitol in the toothpaste is causing him bowel issues - he pooed every half an hour for 4 hours this morning (and not diarrhea, just small amounts with the most enormous farts!) Are we ok to spit the paste until he's old enough to spit properly? I've only been using a teeny amount and giving him sips of water afterwards but I think it's just too much for him. Or is there an alternative to sorbitol in the paste?

Whew, what a day - I am sooooo sick of seeing dirty nappies and poor Lochie has rash from the constant irritation. However, he's still (mostly) a sunny bunny.

Hope everyone else is ok!

Doh, obviously that should be 'SKIP' the paste!

worrisome poor Lochie. If you think it's the paste that's causing his problems then it's fine to skip it. TBH if you're the kind of person that cares enough about his teeth to be attempting to brush them at all at this age then his risk of getting decay in them is really really low.

tribble at your friend expecting again.....although I was slightly tempted to try for another myself the other day when I saw that the clearblue digital pregancy test has finally been released in Oz. Then I came to my senses

It's great that your CM is so lovely. I'm still in touch with my old CM as she became on of my mum's best friends - I make her feel old though as I'm the first of her mindees to produce a child of their own

spirael love the idea of Mindy trying to perfect the art of mind control

I've started applying for jobs - it only seems like 5mins since Will arrived and now I'm arranging my return to work I'm only going to work 2days a week though, so I think he'll benefit from seeing other babies at daycare and I'll benefit from the adult conversation so hopefully it'll be ok

PS I've put some up to date pics of WIll on my profile!

Bunny I guess I was ttc too long. I read your last post and was very confused and amused about your mom being friends with your cervical mucus . Took me a minute!

LoL aly that's hilarious!

bunny thanks, nice to have the reassurance!!! Good luck with the job hunt - horrible thought huh? I had a meeting with my manager last week to talk about my return. Fortunately, she has a 2 year old and only works 3 days a week so she's very accomodating to new mums and hopefully I should be able to get the flexible working I want.

Wow, 25 degrees in London today apparently, hope everyone else enjoys the sunshine!

worrisome it was 25 degrees here yesterday - my mother's group met in the park and we all had the babies wrapped up in jumpers to protect them from the cold I think I've officially acclimatised!

aly lol at cervical mucus vs childminder confusion

I think I have got one very very lazy baby on my hands. Will has been able to roll front to back since he was 7wks and back to front since about 13wks but he hasn't done either for ages. So for the past few days I've been encouraging him to try it as I'm sick of having to roll him over. I put him on his playmat with all of his toys just out of reach - he stuck out his left arm and couldn't reach the toy, stuck out his right arm and couldn't reach the toy, so now he's just lying on his back staring at the ceiling rather than bothering to try and get them

LOL bunnygirl! It was 20 degrees here last weekend in 'sunny Yorkshire' and I had Mindy in a little sun dress/hat, covered in sunblock, and played out in the garden with her where I then got sun burnt.

Will isn't the only one, Mindy is pretty lazy too. I'm sure she could bottom shuffle/crawl/stand if she wanted to... But it's so much easier for her to just reach up to be held and get me to carry her around!

I'm fairly sure she's perfected mind control on adults now... She managed to get third place in the Easter Bonnet parade at nursery yesterday, for which the prize was... A chocolate rabbit.

Though she was most disgruntled that Daddy's offered to eat it with her over the weekend.