IS THERE A SEPT 2005 CLUB YET?

[pooka]

Hi all fellow September mums. If I'm duplicating another thread please tell me. If not, would love to hear how everyone is getting on.
Tom is a week old today. All well - though has a slightly infected cord stump so am going to GP today.
I'm still madly hormonal, could burst into tears whenever I think about the impact all this has on my lovely dd (2y2m).

Sorry for the gate crash ladies, something I used for DS when he has a cold is this little gadget it helped to clear or at least unblock his nose enough to feed without having to stop every 3 sucks and breathe. nasal decongester

Sorry for the gate crash again and take care

H x

Hi all,
Sorry not posted for a while, have had a nightmare week. DD1 has had some nasty viral blister all over the body thing. She now has ulcers on her tongue and has not eaten / drunk for days. Was at the out of hours doctors surgery over the weekend - why do these things always happen over weekends or on Friday night???
Am soooo exhausted, I just thank god that Jasper is a good baby and feeding like a little piggy. Boys eat tons...
First time mum, I am a battersea nappy valley mum and live just off the Northcote Road - I guess you must know it?? Will chat more on mn and perhaps we can meet up. It can get really lonely as a First timer. I did not really hit it off with my NCT girls the first time but thankfully after a few baby groups and music groups with other mums at 3 mths I got a really good network of girly mates.
Lady L - no you are not the only one married to a caveman, my DH uses the same lines as yours too . What is wrong with them?? Sympathise with you totally!!!
Better go DD1 wants cuddles and Jasper now screaming for milk - aggghhhhhhhhhhhh.
Congrats to all that have popped since last posted x

Just catching up ...

ZZ - sorry to hear about your DD1, sounds awful

Mummyhill and others with sleep troubles: have you tried swaddling? Finally got the hang of this after weeks/months of sleep trauma with DD1 and found it a bit of a miracle cure; have swaddled DD2 from the start and she's a champion sleeper so far - just one or two feeds in the night and otherwise very content. Worth a try - but you have to do it REALLY TIGHT, which takes a bit of getting used to!

LadyL - definitely get an electric breastpump, it makes a world of difference. I hired one from the hosp last time but ended up using it for a lot longer than expected and spent a fortune - this time I've bought a second-hand Ameda Lactaline and it's just as good. MotherInferior wrote a great article testing all the available breastpumps - think I've got a copy somewhere if you want me to email it to you.

Firsttimemum - go ahead, break all those Ford/Hogg rules I tried to follow them last time and ended up a bundle of stress. I now realise that a lot of what they do is apply long-term solutions to short-term problems - in other words, 9 out of 10 baby problems are PHASES and pass naturally in their own time. While you're waiting for them to pass, mostly the best way to deal with them is whatever is EASIEST and comes most naturally to you. This time I'm leaving all the rules behind and am 100% happier (and have a very contented little baby so far - altho like you Piccadilly Circus, I'm terrified of jinxing things by even saying that!)

PS Another vote here for nasal aspirators for babies' colds: we use this one

PC - glad to hear that I'm not the only one addicted to chocolate! And I've never been a chocolate person before. Have decided to ban chocolate from the house to create a "no fail environment". After my first baby I ballooned up to the biggest I'd ever been. This pregnancy saw me so ill that I lost a lot of weight, and I'm determined not to put it all on again (even if chocolate is CALLING)

Franch my first child loved swaddling. However, Grace hates it! Definately worth a try, though.

MIL rang up recently to ask me if it was convenient to come and visit. She let it slip that DH had put the hard word on her and told her not to visit too often while Grace is little, and if she is coming, then to bring a meal (Gold medal for DH esp as I don't really get on with MIL and she was a real bother after my first baby was born - visiting all the time and not being considerate when we were exhausted).

Morning Mummies and Babies

Have gone down with cold But feeling better than I did this time yesterday

PC - you're not alone with the 'mmm... sex would be quite nice' feeling... think my body's having a bit of a laugh though as I'm sure it'd hurt

Conrad enjoys being swaddled too Franch - he'll quite happily settle in his cot awake if he's snuggled in the muslin wrap and the cot's pre-warmed with a hot water bottle...

Oooh RZ mentioned bacon sandwiches on the other thread - now I can't stop thinking about how yummy one would be!!!

I'm so HUNGRY

DP's over later so I'll be able to get him to do the cooking

hi all
can anyone give me any tips the best way to break babies wind?

Hi everyone

I've had a sore throat the past few days... nothing major but it feels like my immune system is leaving me open... I must start to eat more fruit and veg again. I was so good just a few weeks ago.

I had a hectic day yesterday with the 2 girls at home all day. It doesn't matter what time I do lunch, Alice always disrupts it. I didn't get to eat until 2:15. I was starving... and then because I had what I deemed a hectic day, I started to comfort eat. Luckily there's nothing too crappy in the house so I grazed on nuts, malt loaf and healthy cereal bars.

When I had dd1 the weight fell off as soon as I'd delivered her but because I was breastfeeding, I felt like I could eat whatever I liked and ended up putting on more weight later on. I'm determined not to do that this time.

I can't wait to go shopping for some new clothes. It suddenly got so chilly and I need a new coat plus some jumpers and other tops just for the sake of it. No point buying too many trousers or skirts with my jelly belly.

Hope everyone is doing ok.

Diane - is this burpy wind or colicy wind?

a friend of mine used to lie baby across her knees and gently bend and flex baby's legs - up to tummy and back down again to help with build up of 'bottom' wind... Very windy baby!!! but it worked and made him much happier

Other than the usual 'over the shoulder stroking the back with circular motion' or sitting baby up and leaning him/her slightly forwards whilst doing the strokey thing too... I don't know any other way to burp a baby, I use a combination of these two methods with Conrad and he usually burps somewhere mid-way between the two! Perhaps it's all in the shifting positions

ooh breast pump has just arrived! will report back once I've had a play with it (moo!). After all my complaining about DH, he is being more helpful now, is staying up later (til about 1 or 2) so I can get some sleep in and be ready for the later feeds. Perhaps he does listen after all .

Have been out for the first time alone with Elise - went to a postnatal exercise class ran by physios at the hospital. It was quite good, although felt a bit inferior when all the other mummys whipped out their boobs and I had to fiddle with cartons + bottles Will definitely go next week, as it will hopefully help shift my jelly belly!

I am finding it a bit of a problem taking feeds out for Elise if we go out for any length of time. I have a little bag thing that keeps milk warm / cool, but often there is a lack of places to provide boiling water to heat the milk, and if it's warm then I think you can only have it open 1hr before you bin it. What do other people do? Hopefully if I have luck with the breast pump I will be able to take more expressed milk out + about, as that seems to have a longer 'shelf-life' out of the house...

Re: wind. My mother has always said that winding babies is a dark art. Like plastering.
My great aunt was a midwife and health visitor many moons ago and she said you have to imagine that the baby is a hot water bottle with large air bubble. Lie baby on back on your knees until it starts to complain. Then very slowly raise the baby up to vertical, trying to keep it's back as straight as possible. That might do the trick for wind swallowed during a feed. For wind discomfort, once it's in the intestine, the tiger in the trees position, with baby draped over your arm with tummy on your forearm seems to help - nice warm pressure on achey tummy and your other arm is free for patting or stroking the baby's back.
I find that if Tom needs to fart /poo but is uncomfortable, raising my legs and using my thigs as a reclining armchair and letting him push on my hands with his feet helps. Or patting him bottom gently - gives him something to aim at!

LL - sorry for the gate crash, just a suggestion. You can get a gadget for storing formula powder and then just fill the bottle with warm/hot water and ask for cold to cool it down. Other wise, Asda do a little metal thermos flask for about 5 quid which you could use to take hot water in to heat up formula. Also recently saw fisher price do a gadget that you can use to hold hot water and put bottle in too, to heat up the bottle - I'll find a link hold on...

insulated bottle warming flask

sorry for crash get a bit carried away sometimes, hope this helps

H x

I have two children asleep at the same time. Although not sure that DS being asleep now is a good idea...

He has fallen asleep on the sofa (didn't have a nap today). DD (still feels odd typing that, I may have to keep just calling her Alice), has been demonstrating her love of the Moses Basket (had a 2.5 hour nap in it earlier on and is asleep in it again).

beatie I thought it was you who had a DD with the same birthday as my DS (although a year older of course). Was she due in December as well (DS was due December 3rd)

YES! dd1 was due December 2nd.

Franch, pardon my ignorance, but how does the aspirator work? Does it suck the snot out? My baby has one nostril full of goo and I am wondering whether this would be a good way of getting it out. His nostrils are so small that I wouldnt be able to get my finger or much else up there ...

Hello

Franch, thanks for your advice about ditching the GF/TH routines - I think that is sound advice, at least at this early stage when everything is in a kind of chaos and changes day by day. I think the one and Harrizeb mentioned must work in the same way

Zoezebra, I'm nearish to Northcote Road too (I live just off Abbeville Road on Clapham Common Southside) and would love to catch up for a tea/coffee at some stage for a chat. When did you have your baby?

ych, I've also got a bit of piles and it makes going for a walk really unpleasant, as it feels like something is going to fall out. My MW recommended Anusol as being good.

Is anyone else having problems with babies not feeding long enough? My db just fed for a little over 10 minutes and has been asleep for 3 hours now, but I'm worried that he didnt get to the hind milk, which I understand comes in at about 18 minutes. But there was no way he was going to feed longer than the 12 minutes as I tried everything to get him to continue. Should I have expressed the rest to give him later on??

I'm very impressed with those of us who are already getting the births registered so soon after the birth. I'm nowhere near as organised as that yet. It still takes an age to get my act together to get out to the local shops to buy a newspaper!

Am sitting here writing this with savoy cabbage leaves in my bra!! Crazy, but it actually seems to be helping ease the pain.

1sttimemum: yes you just press the bulb, insert and let go - out comes the gunk. Works wonders. The oldfashioned way is to suck it out yourself of course - DH gave that a go the other day - you should've seen his face

Franch, do you mean what I think you mean about doing it the old fashioned way?? I suggested it to DH but he recoiled in horror .

Evening all...

i graduated to post natal thread on Sunday morning at 9:58. Noah Caleb is a healthy 8lb 3oz.

he gave me a horrible time after he was born...was in SCBU for 2 and half hours as swallowed lots on meconium and had cord round neck twice.

All's well now, came home yesterday...my milks on its way in and my stitches hurt but enjoying being a mummy. will catch up on more later.

love to all

x x

Congratulations STM
Was wondering how things had gone. Glad all well now with Noah. Another boy to even things up a bit.
Take lots and lots of arnica if poss for the stitches and stock up on savoy cabbage for engorgement.
Look forward to hearing more.

Health visitor came today to test Tom's hearing and do dd's 2.5 yr check (though she's 2 and 2 months). all well. tom now 10 pounds 1 oz -has put on 2 pounds 3 oz in 3 and a half weeks! Little guzzler that he is
Honeymoon period with dd seems to be ending - has been really tetchy with me (only me - noone else) in the last couple of days. Really feel for her as don't give her as much attention as before. Can't - so busy. Have made decision to leave computer alone during the day and to try and make the most of Tom's down time to give her my full attention. Feeling rather low about it - love her so much but feel inadequate at the moment.

hi all, pooka, my dd broke my heart yesterday, i said to her that Mia was a little attention seeker as she was whingeing for nothing and dd1 said to me that Mia gets all the attention and she gets none. Thought i was doing well keeping her involved but i guess not.
Firsttimemum, i agree with franch about the whole routine, you don't have to do everything by the book, all babies are different, do whats best for your family and you. it will get easier as the weeks go by.
Zoezebra, sorry about your dd, it's nice to have you back here again.
Stm, congratulations on graduating, made up you're both ok. Mia was born with her cord round her neck, VERY scary.
My very good friend had her baby yesterday, she had a girl and has called her Libbi, she is so beautiful. Mia looks like a monster next to her LOL, she only weighed 6lb10, and Mia is now 9lb2.
On the losing baby weight issue, i put 2 stone on in this pregnancy, and am still carrying 11 and half pounds of it, i joined slimming world (AGAIN), last week and lost 1 and half lb this week, am totally determined to lose it this time as with dd1 it took me 2 years. Not experiencing the chocolate cravings that you're all talking about, i seem to be craving apples.
Ladyl, did you get any presents from work? I remember us talking about this in the last thread. My colleagues bought Mia some lovely gifts.

hi girls!! we made it!! hows everone getting on without sleep? how get i get myself some? jess sleeps all day n stays up at night if she does fall asleep she crys as soon as u put her down in her moses basket, yet she sleeps fine in it during the day.........feel i should be coping better as this is my 2nd time but im lost as to how i can swap her sleeping pattern, maybe im expecting too much for her 6th night........thank god for you girls keeping me sane

how u all doing?

oh yeah bubbles my dd is playing that card too, i pandered to her for the 1st day n now i just tell her we love her very very much and we're getting less of those comments also tryin to give her as much attention as poss - hard wen ur sleep deprived though

Hi kelli, thought i was the only one awake. LOL, the joys of motherhood. haven't got any advice on the sleeping, Mia is sleeping quite well, but dd1 NEVER slept. i am doing exactly the same things so can only say again that all babies are different.
BEATIE, i am so jealous of you. I have just read your birth experience. Let me explain, it sounds terrible and i totally understand how you're feeling, but every time i start to talk about Mia's birth, i fill up and start blubbering. I'm still so mentally scarred. I always said i would love 3 children, pref girls LOL but now i will never do it again. No way, never! Never said this after dd1, when i look at them both, they were worth it but even dp agrees with me. With dd1 the rush of love was instant but this time there was so much going on, i didn't get the rush. Maybe one day i will be able to talk about it like you have. sooner rather than later hopefully.