November 2010: Welcome to life on the other side

[bunnygirl80]

Pull up a chair and help yourself to a LARGE glass of wine

Welcome to the dark side the wonderful world of motherhood

Just thought no one might remember me, in which case apologies for over-excitedness.

As you were.

Course we remember you Pidge! Ds3 isn't the best sleeper either but I don't really care (most of the time anyway!)...it won't last forever :)

Hello Pidgin, welcome back! Lottie doesn't sleep either, unlike Wallace I do care a little bit, I could carry the kitchen sink around in the bags under my eyes (that's a slightly manic sleep deprived grin)!

Thanks for tips on dry skin, Dh came back from the shops with an assortment of oilatum type creams today, so we'll see how they go and if nothing improves then I guess it's a trip to the gp.

Welcome back pidgin Will was a great sleeper until 3weeks ago, now he wakes every 2-3hours at night. Am seriously hoping he'll grow out of it soon.......

Took Will to the beach today and dipped his little toes in the ocean. Don't think he was too impressed - his face went a bit then he lifted his little legs up as high as he could to get them out of the water Think it might have been a bit cold for him!!

Hello! It's nice seeing a few of you on FB and putting names to faces etc. There are some very cute babies!

Abbie is 17wks todays and such a smiley, happy girl - well apart from when anyone else picks her up and then she screams like she is being slowly murdered! Up until 2wks ago she was fine and happy to go to anyone but now when MIL and my DM picks her up she goes hysterical which, of course, is putting noses out of joint. DS was like that with my DM as a baby so she is doubly offended! It also means I don't ever get a break as I can't hand her to anyone apart from DP. Hopefully she'll grow out of this stage soon!

Nights are hit and miss. She is going down well at 7pm and I top her up when I go to bed then it varies when she wakes - anytime from 4am to 6.30am. She always goes back to sleep after a quick feed and generally starts the day at 8am. She never wants feeding the minute she wakes up which is nice as I can get showered and have a cup of coffee to wake up!

She's getting very active now and wiggles round in a big circle on her activity mat. She 'chats' away very loudly and is particularly vocal with DP and tells him in great length about her day when he gets in.

Smokey hope DB is doing ok. BIL had his first lot of chemo last week - 11hrs!

Hmm I've been recommended organic olive oil for babies skin and no soap etc. Abbie gets dry cheeks and a bit of cradle cap and I keep meaning to put some olive oil on but she is very grouchy after her bath and just wants boob and bed so I don't do it as often as I should!

And I've just seen the 2011 November bus in the Pregnancy section! Doesn't seem that long that it was us starting our journey into motherhood!

ebb Im getting that with Annabel too, she wants me and not really anyone else, both GP's are a bit miffed about it!
I left her with DH yesterday to get my hair cut and she screamed for about 1/2 hour. Mind you shes a bit off colour today too so it might be a bug rather than not liking her Dad :)

Im supposed to be going out tomorrow night but can't decide what to do. If she's basically ok then she should be alright to stay home with DH (and several bottles of expressed milk) but if she does have a bug then I feel rotten leaving her. Just to complicate matters DH's car is sick so if I go he'll be home with DD and no transport (I know that's kind of melodramatic but its bothering me) and the gig I'm going to is about an hours drive away so I cant just come straight back if there is a problem :( Any ideas?

Hi Pidgin nice to hear from you. Glad everything (apart from the sleeping) is going well. Norry has had a few bad weeks with the sleep but he's gone back to one waking between about 9 pm ish and 7 am ish, which is OK.

The big problem of the day is that he refused the bottle again at the CM. It's pretty annoying as up to now he's not had any problems at all, no matter who's ben feeding him. Going to try giving him bottles this weekend to try to get him back in the swing of it. Apart from that he seems to really enjoy himself there.

As Ebb says, it's lovely seeing all the photos on fb but I'm also still a bit confused as to who's who Also reminds me that I should take a few more photos :)

hi all well oliver is 16 weeks 2 days old and now eats half a jar of baby food a day which he loves :)

waiting to be flamed .

Hey everyone. Agree that its lovely to see babies/general pics on FB :)

Very odd as also noticed a few red marks on Evies cheeks & neck. Put the neck one down to dribble etc that rubs in her creases (nice!) but the ones on her cheek just look like dry skin. Have put some 'magic' cream (sample sachet thing from a bounty pack) which does seem to have cleared it up a little. Will try other bits suggested tho if if gets any worse.

I've gone over to bottle feeding now :( feel a bit sad about it, but really don't feel like she was getting enough! At one point she fed for 50mins on one side and still didn't seem satisfied. Felt like I was forever topping her up with a few ounces after so just thought it would better to go over to the bottle. Was stil BF feeding when/if she woke in the night, but the past week or so she's gone right through. Sorry to everyone with babies not sleeping....but she went down at 9.15 until 8.30 last night so definitely think she's getting enough now :) also think i stopped producing as much as I had given her expressed bottles when we were out, which seems to have been happening more & more (with her as well of course lol) but at places like a christening etc where it didn't really feel appropriate to BF so wonder if that didn't help milk production etc.
Anyway she still seems a really happy smiley baby and as long as she's happy, so am I :)

Glad Norry is ok at the child minder fen & hope your cats behave better next time :)

Seem strange seeing pics of Will in shorts etc bunny and very envious of the trip to the beach! It's such an expedition with coats/snowsuits/rain covers that I can't wait for summer! Saying that, will prob still need the rain cover just as much then!

Right, better go an entertain DD, StepD and niece I suppose!

Mibby I'm sure Annabel will be fine with her Daddy. I'm very envious of you going to a gig. Unfortunately Abbie won't take a bottle, although to be fair, I haven't tried that hard, so I'm still fairly tied to her.

Mumcha You feed your baby jars! You don't spend hours over a hot stove lovingly making organic puree? You bad mother you! When I first started in childcare, it was standard to wean at 4mths. Some babies were weaned at 3mths! As far as I know they're all healthy and none of them has allergies or eczema. As a childcare proffessional ( which goes out the window as a Mother, Lol! ) I always recommend doing what you feel is best for your child following current guidelines.

babybean Don't feel sad about switching to formula. You've given Evie a great start and she's sleeping through the night. The most important thing is that she is happy. I wish Abbie would take a bottle. I struggle to express and find it a bit of a faff tbh.

Bunny am very at the beach. Where did you go? I can visualise myself there when I'm feeding at some ungodly hour!

Thanx ebb for your comment make me feel so much better ,and mums do know best :o

hello ladies :) has been so lovely seeing pics of some of the babies on fb and i am lucky that rinny is in norwich aslo and we have met up a few times now, her ds is the SMILIEST baby i know

i gave her my dd to hold today whilst i was getting some food and she did a huge poo, unfortunately rinny didnt change it for me tho

those of you with bottle fed babies can i ask if they fuss when taking the bottle, merryn will happily for at LEAST four hours without a feed during the day and six hours at night, she is having 5 feeds a day, i put 5oz in the bottle but she doesnt always take it all, sometimes as little as 3oz and has been fussy/crying the past few days with her feeds, i have found that she takes the first 2oz then starts to fuss i burp her etc but then i tend to have to get her to suck on her dummy and then quickly take that out and pop the bottle in and seh will then take another couple of ounces but its hit and miss and requires a few goes at swapping dummy for bottle i took her to the drs today just to check that there is no underlying problem, of course she was miss smiley when there so looked a right paranoid mothers the dr did weigh her tho and her weight gain has slowed, she was 13lb 4oz at 8wks and now at almost 12wks she weights just 14lb so that is a gain of 10lb in four weeks? she has gone down a percentile in weight but up one in lenght, she is VERY long, the dr comented on that, and seemed happy enough but said to get her weighed more regularly and see how she goes.

it was an odd appointment actually as as well as looking at dd, he noticed that ds4, who was sat in pushchair was sucking his thumb, and TOLD HIM OFF!! for doing so, said he was a big boy and shouldnt be sucking his thumb or having a comfort blanket at his age!! i did point out that he is ONLY TWO YEARS OLD!! but also for some reason bfeeding came up and ds2 (who is 8) said i bfed till i was nearly four years old, (he can remember feeding, lol) and the dr then went on to say that there was NO point in bfeeding past 6-12mths as there is no benefit from it i am bottle feeding merryn now so its not relevant anyway but i DID tell him that actually he was wrong and whilst formula is fine and i am happy to formula feed there ARE benefits from bfeeding and that the WHO recomends two years of bfeeding. he blatantly thought i was mad

i am off to google these tummy time things that you are all so keen on!! am sure dp will love me spending MORE money, i am terrible for buying merryn clothes as rinny will tell you and we just had to buy a new car!

4mad i keep being outbid on the lamaze spin and explore tummy time things. So tried to get one from amazon but won't deliver to my address for some reason . I really want one but am too tight to pay full price as have biught sooo much for Finn over the last 2 weeks.

His bumbo chair arrived today and he loved it ..... For a grand total of 5 mimutes. Each time i put him in it he smiles and seems happy then starts wriggling and getting angry so i take him out. Prob feels a bit weird for him.

mumcha no flaming from me, you are mum and mum knows best. Bit [ shock] that we are heading towards weaning though, surely we only gave birth last week?

pidgin hello again, good to hear from you.

mibby i'm also going out tomorrow night for first time. In fact am also off to hairdressers in the day too. Bit annoyed as wanted my roots doing but will have to cope with just a trim. Wish my hair would stop falling out, i could make a wig from it all lol

Hope we're not all bidding against each other for these tummy spinner things

If you're looking for a new Lamaze tummy time spinner, I saw one in Sainsburys yesterday for about £25 I think, in the newer 'under the sea' style (not that the babies will appreciate the pattern at this age!). Probably far pricier than any you'll get on eBay but at least you don't have to worry about being outbid or lack of delivery!

Amazon has the spin & expore garden gym for £17.20 with free UK delivery now. HTH!

Or maybe could try a local toy library first, that way if they don't like it you won't waste any money!

babybean I love seeing everyones' pics of their babies in snowsuits etc. They look soooo cute all bundled up - am definitely having a winter baby next time. Going out is still a faff - it's just sunscreen, hat, uv cover, air con on in car at least 10 mins before we get in, rather than coats and raincovers

ebb we went to Palm Beach as MIL is obsessed with Home and Away, so Will's first sea adventure had to be at Summer Bay

mumcha no flaming from me. I think I'll be cracking open the baby rice sooner rather than later as Will is showing all the signs of readiness for solids so it seems stupid to make him wait another 2 months. I think that just as our babies will all smile, roll, crawl etc at different ages, they'll be ready for solids at different ages too

4mad that rinny didn't change merryn's pooey nappy

Your GP sounds particularly strange My BIL's 32 and he still carried a scrap of his comfort blanket in his pocket until he lost it on the tube last year so your DS isn't exactly breaking any world records for prolonged comforter use

pay Will has a love hate relationship with his bumbo - sometimes he'll sit in it for half an hour and watch me do stuff around the house, others he's trying to climb out of it after 30secs. If he's got a full tummy he doesn't seem to like it - he's usually sick so I wonder if being bent in the middle presses on his stomach and makes him uncomfortable

Ebb, my girl won't take a bottle too so i'm tied to her. tried 3 sizes of the Avent teat with no luck. just got a Nuk latex teat so gonna try that next.

mumcha, i'm gagging to let her try some baby food. but im still not so brave as to give it to her yet.

hi pidge! LTNS!

anyone else having hair loss? both on the baby and themselves? washed my hair yesterday and was aghast at the amount of hair coming off in my hand! am convinced am going to have bald patches soon.

Missed your post mumcha as started writing mine about an hour before I actually posted it....but definitely agree that mums know best. Evie is really interested in food and will sit in her bumbo with us at the table watching intently! DH gave her q tomato the other day which she sucked away like mad on and seemed to really enjoy! I also gave her a quarter of a rusk on Wednesday to munch on and she loved it! Got into a right mess but enjoyed it all the same! Think her gums are causing a bit of pain so the chomping seemed to help a bit :)

4mad Evie will generally turn in towards me the first few times I put her bottle in (think that's also what makes me feel bit guilty about
switching but then takes it fine. I do find sometimes after about 3-4 of a 6 ounce bottle she becomes fussy,but appears it's because she is quite a particular madam when it comes to the temperature & it's usually because it's too cold!! Does Merryn have hers warm?

Thanks for reassurance on FF Ebb makes me feel better :) hopefully having seen Evie too, you know shes a happy bunny and im not an evil mummy really

Good point bunny,'bet the sun cream etc is probably more of a pain than the coats etc come to think of it :)

Vix also another one losing hair! Only generally in the shower, when I brush it....or when Evie grabs a handful! But still seems to be a lot. Also most disappointed that she has started to get a little bold patch on the back of her head and found some hair on her sheet the other day really thought we'd by passed that stage! Darn!

Hey my son gives me more than my far share of poo filled nappies.
I felt most loved yesterday, first 4mad DD poos while sitting on me and that evening my own DS did the same, oh lordy

I cant remember who posted that their baby is on baby food now, oh no the shame LOL but I gave Isaac his first try on baby rice today even tho hes only 16 weeks on Tuesday, both DP and I have thought for awhile he has been ready (sod this wait til 6 months rule) it was 4 months when I had DD 8 years ago, they need to make up their minds
Anywho he seemed to go ok so lets see what tomorrow brings maybe his waking in the middle of the night again will stop if he has more food in him tummy as he was going from about 12am till about 8am tho the past week it has been waking about 3 or 4 am.

Right I in much need for a tea

Ha, Rinny, Norry had his first poo-splosion while sitting on my lap this morning - poo everywhere, might as will have not bothered putting his nappy on. At least I can console myself knowing he was just trying to say, "I love you!"

4mad your GP sounds odd. for you. Mine's lovely, even tried to get me to donate bm to the donor bank (can't in France though because of mad cow disease). He did tell me I was making a rod for my own back 1hen I picked up a 6wo screaming DS once though

Crikey, our babies are growing up! Not started solids here yet but I bought a sippy cup today to see if that works better than a bottle. Might have to think about weaning if the bottle stike at th CM continues. Also going to try heating my bm - what's the best way to do it?

I used to heat BM up in a jug of boiling water fen. Seemed to do the trick :)