September 2010 - we've met our little ones now!

[comixminx]

Or most of them at least - there are some late September ones still to come!

Congrats MudandRoses our little men share a birthday.... and came out the same way too!
Jack is also rocking the clown hair do. He has mops of lovely dark hair at the back and lower sides but looks like a baldy from the front.
I just knew Oliver would reach the top spot on the name lists! I don't care about popularity tho which must be obvious as I have Jack and Oliver was our 2nd choice! Great names reach the top!

I'm also vaccinating, I had measles as a child and it left me with Otosclerosis a disease of the ears which gradually destroys your hearing in adulthood unless you have an operation (which doesn't always work, though fortunately has for me) so I couldn't risk the same thing happening to mine as it's been a horrible experience to go through.

I too am interested in your reasons patito I have quite a few friends who have also decided not to vaccinate and the area I live in has quite a large population who are anti-vaccinations but for me personally I couldn't not do it.

Flynn is growing so fast he's 13lbs now!! I feel like I only had a new born for the first few days ever since then he's seemed huge, he's started smiling which is lovely and his big sis is so wonderful with him it makes me so proud. I'm worried though as I haven't felt that rush of love yet and wonder when I will. I guess it will probably just sneak up on me when I'm least expecting it!

5wks+1

Oh its been ages since i was last on. Lots been happening with everyone! Jessica had the dimple at the base of her spine too, so we had to have an ultrasound on Monday and thank god all was fine. Decided that since i already have had one very sick child, surely we wouldn't have another one....but i was still very worried. Jess also has shocking milk/hormone spots that the health visitor seems to think will disappear soon which i hope is right!
Re the vaccination patito - it is a personal choice but i have had both of my 2 boys vaccinated, and will do so with Jess. In fact DS2 has had to have his MMR about 3 times and his childhood immunisations twice - when he had cancer the first time he had already had the MMR but then had to have it again as the chemo had wiped out the effect of it. Then when he relapsed the chemo and the transplant wiped out everything so he had to have his immunisations and the MMR again.
We are all well. Jess is fantastic, waking once at night and settling well. Today was a bad day, but I think that is because i had to wake her up from her morning sleep as the health visitor was here and it had a knock on effect for the rest of the day. Plus DS2 was up from 1am to 5am vomiting which i am of course hoping and praying won't now go around the family (especially to little Jess!).
Have rambled for too long again! Byee xxxx

oops, forgot Jess is 4 weeks (tomorrow, Friday!)

Aphra has just had her first jabs today, poor lamb. I never considered not getting her immunised, not sure you wouldn't want to do this. It's all very well relying on herd immunity to ensure her not getting any of the relevant diseases, but if enough people skips the jabs then this herd immunity will disappear. I did feel for her as she howled though!

Mine have had their first vaccinations and will have all the others, but i will be getting the single MMR jabs. I did it for DD. At the time it was the height of all the 'does it cause Autism/Crohns diease' etc and i didn't want to risk it. Now i just think it's worth paying the money so there is complete peace of mind.

cinnamongrey, I only worry about my milk supply due to the length Harlyn sometimes sleeps as it is so inconsistent. Sometimes he sleeps for 7 hours, 3 hours, 6 hours, 20 minute cat naps etc which makes his feeding really inconsistent. And sometimes, when he is having a long sleep, my breasts go really hard and start leaking and it can be really uncomfortable. I therefore express to relieve the pain and discomfort and to ensure my body assumes it needs the milk (this maybe the wrong thing to do?????). I usually only pump an ounce or two (max) and save it for part of his feed when he wakes. I suppose I also fear that if I didn't pump it off when my boobs go hard and Harlyn is still showing no signs of waking that my body will start to produce less assuming it doesn't need it (maybe it doesn't???). This is probably totally wrong as I'm a novice and new to bf but my paranoia takes over as I'm always worried that I'm either not producing enough or that my milk will dry up which is stupid really when he is putting on weight. Oh dear, its all a learning curve I suppose .

Thanks for the advice on the reflux too ladies. Think I'll just see how he goes. It may just be a phase while his little digestive system develops. He doesn't seem to be in any distress after being sick so that's a bonus.

3 weeks + 6

Jodey, I was advised to express when DD was less than the 3 weeks that Harlyn is, so that I could give my milk as too-ups, and I'm still doing it. I don't see what the problem would be with it?

8 weeks + 1

Top-ups, sorry.

JodeyLea breast feeding is supply and demand of your baby so if he's not demanding then you don't need the supply. If he's asleep for a long time and your breast get very full and you empty them you are encouraging them to make more and they are more likely to get full and uncomfortable again so yes if you don't pump it will mean that your body with produce less at that time. If he then starts to have a feed at that time instead of sleeping your body will quickly catch up. For me personally I hated expressing and only did it because I had to go back to work when ds1 was 6 months old and I didn't want him to have formula. The mechanisms of breastfeeding are amazing to allow your body to only make what your baby needs and when you are already tired from having a small baby expressing milk that you don't need to, which is making your nipples sore seems to me to be a waste of your precious time, that's the only reason I commented.

DS1 had both breasts at every feed and was very quickly feeding regularly every 3 hours and went from 8pm until 1-4am and then until 6-7am. He never cluster fed and was never permenantly attached to the breast. I'm not saying this is wrong but a lot of the time you hear from breastfeeding mothers that there babies are constantly feeding and if yours isn't it makes you feel that you are somehow depriving them or you milk will not be stimulated. Luke also feeds every 3 hours most of the day but cluster feeds in the evenings every 45min-1hr for the last 2-3hr of the evening and I always feel that my breasts are empty as he's feeding so often but I can hear him swallowing so I know he's getting something. In the morning after he's slept from 9pm until 4am my breasts are very full in the morning but although he hasn't emptied them until 9ish the nights he's woken at 1am and 4am (most of them at the moment :() there is still plenty of milk. Every baby and mum is different and you should do what you feel happy with but I have to say I'm very happy this time that I feel no pressure to have to express although I probably will at some point just in case.

comixminx there isn't a problem if you are happy to express but my point is that unless there are signs your baby is not getting enough milk it isn't necessary. I don't understand the idea of top ups at all, if your baby gets more hungry it feeds more often and your milk supply increases. If you top up from any source you are not using milk when your baby needs it and you are therefore changing your milk supply. If it works for you then fine, I had masses of milk with ds1 and didn't want to stimulate anymore!

Wow that ended being long, sorry! I don't get to talk about breastfeeding very much as no-one I know in rl breastfeeds and I really think it's something that is very poorly managed by health care professionals and the wrong emphasis is put on it most of the time.

Lucy has had her first jabs but we are holding off on the MMR. DS has autism so we are being more careful with the 2 little ones. If i can find somewhere which does the single jabs we will arrange for that.

Lucy is still asleep as we had a late night. dc3 refused to sleep until midnight and i fell asleep with her so Lucy ended up with dp on the settee. went mad when he told me but she is fine so i will just have to make sure i stay awake next time until she is back in her carrycot. he brought her up at 5.30am she had a little feed then went back to sleep and they are both still snoring in bed.
jodeylea i have noticed since she has started missing the mid-night feed that my breasts are really full and hard in the morning. i also leak loads during the first feed. Once i get used to her sleeping through they will settle down it just takes time. on the other hand tho if she suddenly wanted to have the mid-night feed back i would quickly start producing enough milk for her

debs75 This website has the best (in my opinion) info with regards to single vaccinations and was about 10 years ago as well.

Jabs

Debs & Cinnamon your comments totally make sense. I suppose I under estimate the wonders of the human body. My MW advised me to use formula to top up which i did in the first week but then when I started to produce more milk i started replacing that for breast so he is exclusively breast fed now.

Expressing is very handy for relieving the let down when my breasts are really full but I have never enptied the breast through pumping, just relieved them for a short time whilst waking for my little monkey to wake up.

Also, I've got s couple of gig coming up so i know I will have to express feeds for them as its not appropriate to take him with me. Dreading leaving him

4 weeks (where does the time go)???

I keep reading about all your times for feeding, but i don't really take notice of mine, so i decided to make a note of it last night.
10pm (J) 10.20PM (I) 12AM (J) 1.50AM (I)
5AM (I) 5.15AM (J) 7.50 (J) 8.05AM

11 Weeks

I FOUND YOU!!!!
ive been looking for this thread for ages!

its skyeplusbump (fairly obviously!)

soo glad to hear everyones doing well!
arlo is great!really happy baby!and HUGE! he's in 3-6 months already!hes only 8 weeks!!!

my 2 yr olds gone totally nuts though...she was doing soo well,then last week she threw a plastic lion at a little boys face and split his lip,
since then its been pinching,hitting,and back chat,i feel like im losing control!
anyone else having this? or do i need supernanny?!

I was thinking of you last night syke Not in a stalker way though! ha. Also skatergrrl Was thinking we haven't heard from you both for ages. Glad you found us, but not so good about your DD. Can't give advice as such though cos mine is 10 and is very much past the pinching, hitting stage.....although the back chat is very much at the fore front of our relationship. [hgrin] Someone with younger children will be able to help you. But as she has hurt the baby, i would think something needs to be put in practice asap. Have you tried the supernanny 2 minute naughty step? Never did it myself, so don't know if it works or not.
Sorry not much help.

oh and congrats dixiebell hello little Arlo!

Sorry, just re-read and seen she has done it to a little boy and not Arlo. Happy for Arlo but not for little boy! It must be confusing and upsetting for her to not get all the attention anymore though. My 10 year old wrote me a note a few weeks ago about how she misses her old mum, the one who gave her more attention.....oops. We had a big talk and i said i would try more but it is fact that there is only so many hours a day and they now have to be stretched between 3 children, so she has to accept that. Bless um.

oh no! sassy shes never hurt Arlo! she loves him! she's taking out her frustration on other peples kids!
i do the naughty step,she always stays for her alotted time,says sorry to the other child and has a privilege of some kind taken away...dp thinks im too strict in fact,he is an utter pushover on the other hand so perhaps shes getting mixed signals!

my mil thinks dd is a genius and so is understimulated and acting out...

x-post sorry

oh that is so sweet and sad! i expect that is how skye feels,but she cant write a note,so she acts out instead

sassy - i was meaning to ask you about how you BF - I wondered if you were feeding them both together? I've been trying to BF both Charlotte and Lucy at the same time but am finding it really hard, I need at least one more pair of hands to get them in position! But when I do manage it, it saves loads of time and saves having to listen to one crying if both hungry at same time.

his week, the girls have mainly slept through after their dream feed at 11pm ish until my DH wakes them up at 6.30am-ish for their morning feed. Feel much better or having fewer broken nights but I worry it's affecting my supply of milk. It was useful and interesting to read yor comments about supply and demand, Cinnamon - v helpful! I am not anti-formula at all - we are mixed feeding at the mo - but I want to keep mainly using breastmilk. They re having a growth spurt and it's really hard to keep up!

Beadit thankyou.

sassy how are the 26 weeks twins on your twin thread doing?

Well, My bad week peaked last night. The laptop has had a virus for ages & I was just in such a foul mood, when it wouldn't work, I did what every sleep deprived new mum would do & hurled it at the floor with great force. I'm not posting on my new notebook! Its fab. It actually works & doesn't keep bring up random websites!

On the subjetc of hair, I wish I was clever enough to upload a piccie of Olly. He was born with so much hair, he's a bit like a monkey & as he sleeps on his tummy it pushes up into a Jedward flick! It even meets his eyebrow! I'm really hoping he looses that bit!

Patito are you not vaccinating? Why not? I don't mean that to sound confrontational, just interested!

Olly 8wks 3days

Sounds like a busy night sassy34264!

Glad you found us SkyeplusArlo. The only thing I can say about your dd is to be persistant and it will pass. This happens every few months with ds1 and then he settles back to his lovely self, without a baby arriving! He's been relatively unaffected by Luke's arrival so far. The only thing I would say is don't forget the positives too, praising positive behaviour can work wonders especially when a lot of behaviour is bad.

Happy I could help bellabelly

Poor you bananastew :( glad you have a new notebook though.

sorry to hear youre having a bad week bannana! nice to have a new laptop though!

Thankyou cinnamon, I really do forget how lovely she can be,must focus more on positives!

Arlo has tonnes of hair too! Its so cute! But I do feel like I should brush it more often! [Blush]