December 2010 - Merry Christmas new babies!

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Hi, I couldn't see a post-natal thread but as we grow in numbers we'll need a place to chat!

All good here... Jude is now 5 days old and such a wonderful good baby. Mind you he must think he's been born in the Arctic as it was -16 outside this morning in Edinburgh. Brrrrrrr - Its not always this cold Jude .

How's everyone else getting on?

DD1 (3.2) has finally started potty training. We've tried it a few times but she wasn't ready. Then last week after her bath she said she needed the toilet and has been out of nappies in the day since. She's doing really well and only had the odd accident. I'm so glad I waited till she was ready instead of trying to force it. One down two more to go then I'm free of nappy changing.

I'm trying to get Kira into some sort of a routine in the afternoons. She's great in the morning and is awake/napping/feeding in the same order and about the same time but it goes to pot in the afternoon and wants picking up and attention around 4/5pm when I'm trying to get older DC's fed.

I can sympathise with DH's and xbox playing. DH isn't too bad in that he usually plays once DC's are in bed or are playing in their rooms but sometimes (usually when I'm tired and stressed) decides to play when it's time to put the older ones in bed and it drives me nuts and I feel like I'm nagging when I ask him to pause it for a bit and help me. Still it's better than when he worked away during the week.

Bea has been a handful today, crying pretty much all day, which is unusual for her, nothing particularly wrong though. Didn't want to play, feed, sleep. Tried all the usual distractions and nothing. MiL came around after work and cuddled/bounced her for 2 hours, while I did some housework and had a bite to eat. She's finally gone to sleep on DH waking with an occasional scream or two. Felt pretty useless as nothing calmed her down and a few tears on my behalf too. We were going to pop along to Jolly Babies to see what it's all about, but with her mood I didn't want to waste the session really, as it was our free taster. Luckily she's happy for us to come along next week if she's happy.

DH isn't into computer games, it's almost worse as he spends almost every available hour out in the garage, working on his restoration projects. But at the moment he's been bringing home tons of paperwork to catch up on, which means that even though he's home he doesn't want to be disturbed, so I don't get a chance to have some chill out time, until the weekend. Hopefully things will get easier in time for him, so won't be bringing as much home everynight of the week.

kellestar I hope Bea was just having an off days yesterday and is happier today. It's really hard when your baby cries and nothing helps and you don't know whats wrong.

DD1 and DS have been driving me nuts today with running round and screaming every time Kira goes to sleep so she wakes up crying, shaking and scared. Not helpful when I've had a migraine since 6am. Thankfully my mum has been able to have them for a couple of hours and I've just about got shut of the migraine and Kira's got some sleep. Mum's are the best.

Now I just need DH to get home from work so I can have a nice relaxing bath and (hopefully) make this migraine go completely

Hello all, hope you are all enjoying the sunshine.

We are doing okay here, dd isn't that well which means she's not sleeping well. Night wakings from her are much harder work than those from Malcolm, plus it leaves her in a grotty mood the next day.

Malcolm continues to be lovely but still wants a feed every 2 hours (I get 2 slightly longer stretches at night, he usually feeds around 8, 12, 3, 5, 6.30, 8 and so on. I am just that bit too tired to cope well with a stroppy 3 yo as a result. He is getting more mobile, commando crawls into my bed from his cot to demand a feed now and rolled over for the first time today.

I wanted to ask what people do with their babies when they are playing with them, I'm afraid I've forgotten and M needs a bit more than just being carted around while I do stuff or watching dd. Any suggestions?

Sympathies to all with dh issues, my biggest complaint is that dh doesn't take responsibility - it's not that he doesn't do things but I have to ask him to. If I haven't given him a specific task he'll do his own thing rather than trying to think what might need to be done.

Cloth nappies here too as disposables are much too risky with poo explosions (M disgraced himself by leaking poo on gran while in disposables at centre parcs this weekend!). Try thenappylady.co.uk , I found my adviser very knowledgable about fit and capacity etc.

Wonder how Miffster is getting on in the carribean?

welcome hummi

DF great news about your SIL, how exciting! Hope Bob's thumb is all better - I'd defintiely go with biting his nails rather than cutting them while they're so small.

kellestar hope Bea has cheered up. Could it be her teeth? Matty suddenly strated screaming blue murder last night and in the end I worked out it was his teeth (after he almost bit through my finger!) A bit of calpol and he fell asleep in 3 minutes - literally. He had another bout at 5am this morning (which was nice!) but has been his normal happy self since.

93pjb as far as playing goes, I tend to do a lot of peek-a-bo using a muslin, we do 'heads shoulder knees and toes' - Matty likes that one a lot - 'the okey cokey' is another favourite. Other than that, I read with him, get him to stroke/touch his toys, that kind of thing.

Matty can almost roll over - it's so tempting to just give his leg a little shove to help him

welcome Hummi

Hi to everyone else, hope you've all been enjoying the sunshine?

Bob is very grizzly lately. Huge smiles one minute then yelling the next. He isn't much of a crier but boy can he moan - maybe teething?

I do heads and shoulders too but he's not really into peek-a-boo yet. I bought a big book of rhymes but don't really know any of the tunes although I have learned all the words to 'hush little baby' as it's the tune on his mobile. I can now get him to sleep really quickly by rocking him and humming - he presses his head right up to my chest and loves the vibrations I think.

Other play is mostly just shaking things, showing him stuff and reading to him. He likes it when I lie next to him on the foor and hold a book above us so he can see the pictures. Oh and he loves it when I brush my hair all over his face

can I have a dh moan? does anyone else get this... if I have handed DS over to dh and I take myself off to do something, dh seems to always follow me! So if I am in the bath, out putting washing out, chilling on the laptop etc... next thing I know there's dh with ds in his arms hovering about! I feel like standing behind him when he's on his PC and singing 'hush little baby' over and over. I love him very much of course but I would love to be left alone for just a while.

We haven't seen the new baby yet but I know bil and sil want time alone at first. We were surprised to hear that DH's other brother and dad had been to see them but I bet it was more a case of them calling and saying 'we're on our way over' rather than 'can we come over' because FIL has done that to us before. DH doesn't really understand wy SIL wants time alone but I do, specially given that it wasn't what I was expecting to get when ds was born.

MIL flies over at the end of the month, still unclear about her plans or where she's staying. House is a tip naturally and I fear it will stay that way, I have only vacuumed twice since Bob was born.

frankenonsense hope you're ok and have managed to speak to DH.

oh, and I forgot to say Bob keeps grabbing his ears, another teething sign?

I was a bit worried about it last Thursday so thought I would pop into the surgery to see the health visitor. I checked their web-page to male sure I had he right day but when I got there was told they'd changed the day to Monday ages ago (so update your website then!) but they might be able to slot me in. I ended up wating ages and feeling like a twat because I hadn't really been that worried but the longer I waited the more grizzly Bob became. In the end they gave me an appointment with the doctor who checked Bob's ears and told me it was nothing. He was pleasant enough but I left feeling like I'd completely over-reacted. Ho hum.

DF - prob teeth. DD been drooling and hand chewing BIG time for a couple of weeks now. She also gets bright red cheeks. Last time I saw the HV she commented and suggested that DD might be an 'early teether'!!! They can start coming through from 4 months, although they can have teething symptoms for some months before the dreaded things appear. She also rubs her ear or grabs it sometimes. The only problem for me is that DD also rubs an ear when sucking her thumb as a sign of tiredness....

everything here good. Kellestar, can sympathise with you and your DH issues. Mine is drowning in paperwork at the mo and also got various projects on the go in the garage. After a few 'words' he's got the hint and cut down on garage time and is doing his best to give me some free time on the weekends. He's also involved in CCF stuff at work so every couple of weekends he's been down on dartmoor. I tend to go off and see the parents for a bit of R&R. Mums really are the best!!!

help!!!!!!!!!!!
DD is 13 weeks today - hurray!
i am in such a pickle. we have never followed a routine as such (took her to nz when she was 5 weeks old for goodness sake!).
but she had been getting into quite a good rhythm - settling in the evening, then bottle feed at 10.30 ish. then she has had a stink of a cold which is still bothering her. the last few nights she has fallen to sleep on the boob, but last night this didnt work adn cried and cried and cried. wouldnt take her bottle at 10 as she was too buggered from all the crying.

i would love her to be happier in the evenings i.e. settle after the 6/7pm feed. i have now had my head stuck in gina ford and baby whisperer and got myself so confused. am a) doing everything wrong and b)so confused as to what to do next. i do try and read her signals but often seem to get them wrong and feel that i have no instincts to trust!!

any tips?

cheers

could it be a growth spurt. I've just got back from my breatfeeding group with Bob (14 weeks) and was told he is probably going through one. he took ages to settle last night and we thought it may be teeth but it's just to early. He's been refusing the boob too.

kiwi i got myself in a similar flap after reading books like that - i've now tried to forget about it. I was fixating on being able to get DD to sleep for 7pm but I think that comes later on (if you haven't instilled a gina type routine early on) lots of people that I speak to say their babies go to bed around 9 or 10pm there are ones that do go earlier but seems a pretty even mix from 7pm through to 10/11pm and all have a fussy period at some point - I said to my HV 'I want to ask you about sleep but I'm not sure what the question is!' I said DD was fussy around 7pm but wouldn't sleep till about 9pm and then she said look at the other mums and lots of them were nodding and agreeing so she was basically saying its very normal

hopefully the mega crying session was a blip and she'll get back into her own routine soon - my DD is 14 weeks and is feeding loads at night again (after starting to go for longer stints) and i'm just trying to ride it out. If only someone could give us each a personalised timeline as to what our babies will do I'm sure we'd be much happier.

df i'm sure our DHs are related! yes mine does the following me with baby, I turn around and there they both are right behind me - drives me mad, i have made my feelings very clear

Hey all, Bea's been much better, not sure what it was all about.

Playing - I sing alor, lots of action rhymes. We have a play arch which I vary the hanging toys, also tickling and wiggling is good. She likes to get her hands on things, so textures are really popular. However she's often more happy when we go for a walk and she can see what's going on around her.

Kiwi - wow! Impressed with your recent NZ trip. I sometimes miss signals that she's tired, I have got better. I follow EASY, eat, activity, sleep, you. She takes about an hour and a half of activity after a feed, so I knowto expect her to be sleepy around then. DH can never tell if she's tired.

Try not to get hung up on books, every baby is so different and responds differently. My routine is relaxed reallt, means we have time for spontaneous activities. Do you go to a Postnatal group as sometimes it's helpful to hear what other mums do.

How is everyone doing? My hair has been falling out left, right and centre. It scared me when I woke up to a mass of hairs on my pillow. No baldness, just much thinner.

Really starting to struggle with balancing Bea time and housework/laundry/cooking. I just dob't know how you mum's withmore than one cope.

Isanyone thinking of starting weaning at 4 months? Bea is fascinated by food and us eating and not sure if we should give it a go or wait, she tries to grab what we eat. We sit to the table and she was on our lap for a while but now she's snatching, she now sits in her high chair without the top and watches us, every mouthful of everything. Just wanted to know your opinions.

Hi all,

If it helps, Matty was having a grwoth spurt last week - guzzling loads of milk and sleeping a lot.

Teething - can be any time - there's no such thing as too early (my cousin was born with all his first teeth through )

Sleeping - most babies take a long time to get round to an early bedtime - at this age, they're more likely to be going down for the night sometime after 9pm.

Hair - I (finally) started my post-pregnancy moult about 2 weeks ago. I thought I might have escaped it this time round as it happened much earlier after I had DD than it did this time.

Weaning - personally, I won't be weaning any earlier than 6 months. I didn't with DD and she's a brilliant eater so I'll be sticking with that and hoping Matty's the same. I do remember her being very interested in food before I started giving her any though. Always feels a bit mean tucking into a meal when they're clearly so fascinated!

kiwi5 babies don't come with a manual becasue they're all so different! Just remember, you're her mum and despite what you may think, you know her better than anyone else. Parenthood isn't about being right all the time, it's just about learning who your children are and doing your best for them. Matty's really easy to read but I remember it being far more tricky to work out DD when she was a baby. Maybe it's just that I had DD to practice on You'll also discover that babies (and then toddlers) will randomly decide any routine that's been working fine is no longer meeting their needs so you have to have a rethink and work out what to do next anyway.

Matty had a massive strop this evening because he'd woken himself up too early doing a poo - there's was nothing DH or I could do to console him, so we rode it out until he changed from tired crying to hungry crying. He's tucked up in bed fast asleep now! Going to get him weighed tomorrow - he's sooooo heavy I'm almost scared to find out his weigth in case I get a telling off from the HV!

I'm planning on doing baby led weaning at 6 months though Bob is very interested in watching me eat, he always sits facing me propped up on my thighs while I eat my breakfast in bed. He finds it very funny.

no hair loss yet for me yet but I do need a good haircut.

Hi Everyone,

Been ages since I last posted, we have been having issues with internet. Its great to hear everyone is doing well. Isnt it lovely now they are babbling and reaching and grabbing so much more interactive. In terms of playing we do reading everyday with Isadora on her tummy and spend lots of time both under her play gym introducing the different toys although her fav thing is currently a muslin!
Isadora has her first tooth through we had a miserable through days and I was really worried something was seriously wrong with her and then on Sunday noticed a tooth its come through now and shes much happy not really crying just grumbling looks like another one is on the way through too so went off to the shops to stock up on teething products - the sachets of teething granules seem to work really well.
In terms of routine we are no better off we have a bath at 6 but then bedtime is rarely before 11:30 she does sleep beforehand but its more like napping and even at 11:30 she does wake and needs to be fed back to sleep, she is sleeping longer periods for 5 hours now although I am jinxing that by saying it out loud!
No hairloss to mention yet but dreading it as i already have thin hair having said that lucky if it gets a wash every two days so prob havent noticed!

Hello ladies, hope everyone's well and not down with colds.
DD is 15 weeks and a little smiling sweetie.

frenchfries Hurrah for Isadora's first tooth! A great toothy photo opportunity :) Lots of hand sucking here - still waiting for the teeth.

kellestar Did I read somewhere that our hair gets thicker whilst pregnant, so maybe you're just shedding that extra hair?

I've had so much mixed advice re: weaning... my mum says from three months, sister says four months and HV advice is six months. DD was 14lbs at last weigh in, so she seems to be doing well on breastmilk...dreading starting weaning really but DD is interested in us when we're eating.

DuelingFanjo I've got a "Following" DP too . It can be quite annoying especially if I've just had a shower and trying to put make-up on. He hovers on the landing, talking out loud about him needing a shower...argghhhhh...

maxpower Has Matty rolled over yet? No rolling here...think DD is too fat

93pjb We like singing made up songs, playmat with toy arch, sitting in bouncer watching me cook/clean. DD is soooo nosey now. She loves trips out in the buggy and sitting on my knee looking at everyone when we're on the train or in cafes.

Hello Hummi How are you are your DD getting on with EASY?

kiwi5 I'm a fan of EASY but don't follow it to the letter. Maybe observe and write down what your DD does all day and you may find you're already in a routine of sorts. Don't be too hard on yourself. Every baby is different. Are you BFing? How long are the daytime naps? Does your DD feed to sleep?
What I got from EASY was that DD needs to feed every three hours from when she wakes up. We usually do 0720, 1020, 1320, 1620 then cluster feed at 1800 and 1900. Then she needs a nap in between these times (usually about 1.5 hours after she wakes up). She usually sleeps for about 50 minutes or 1.5 hours if we're out in buggy. Then it's activity/chores inbetween those times. I feed her at 1800 while bath is running. We have quite a long bath, often with me in there too. Then massage with baby lotion, dressed and into a Grobag so she knows it's bedtime. From then on, I whisper, give her the final feed at around 1900 and she's asleep by 1920. I used to do a dream feed at 2200. Actually I'm going to do that again as DD has been waking at 0530 since the clocks went forward or maybe it's a growth spurt??!!

Do any of you plan to go back to work? I was freelance before DD but am running out of money FAST and state maternity allowance runs out in July. I'd like to go back to work one day a week for a break and to earn money. I've put DD's name down at two local nurseries for when she's much older but I've got DP and family who have offered to look after her while she's young.
If I get my act together, we're going to Sing & Rhyme class tomorrow. I'm always getting the times/dates wrong or busy (painted downstairs loo last week) but I feel DD needs to meet other babies as I don't know any. Wish me luck as I'm nervous...

Aaaagh, am losing my hair too!! I was liking the extra strands !! But when I've washed my hair and brush it afterwards, i can't believe there is actually any left on my head!

Stenogirl - your routine is roughly the same as mine and its working well. DS3 is settling nicely now at about 7.30 - 8pm so I've had some evenings recently. In fact am only just back from my second zumba class - it was fab! Its great getting exercise and I've found it more fun than the usual exercise classes. Must keep it up! I think its time to get a handle on my weight gain. I've ideally got a stone to lose and I'm hoping to have lost half of that before the end of April - unrealistic??

Wow, a tooth!! Jude is dribbling tons and knawing at things but I think we are some way off teeth. I can't believe we're already talking about weaning - doesn't it seem like only last week that we had that awful snow and we were slowly popping one by one.

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions for play. I'm used to entertaining a 3yo which is much more obvious and he enjoys watching that too but have been making more effort with DS and he is definitely responding. Tried him in a friend's exersaucer today which he really liked and luckily they want to get rid of it now their youngest is on her feet.

I'm planning on waiting til around 6 months then baby led weaning, it's what we did with dd and she eats anything, including oysters, curry. Really hoping that she'll be a good example, food is a big deal in our family, we'd struggle with a fussy eater. BLW isn't guaranteed to avoid fussy eaters though, my sister's two boys had a very similar approach but one will only eat fish fingers and the other plain pasta!

DS has had cradle cap which suddenly got very itchy and was waking him up at night. Poor wee man's gums are also sore so he was desperately trying to coordinate himself enough to chew one hand and scrape his scalp with the other. We got some steroid/antibiotic/anti fungal cream from GP yesterday which has worked already and he is a happy wee thing again today.

Cream was for his head not his gums!

throw the baby books away! I wasted cash on Gina and the baby whisperer....honestly, talk about getting myself in a pickle! promptly went the way of the recycling bin :) (although I was given a copy of The Baby Book by Rachel Waddilove...some good stuff in there, no preachy and no-nonsense, practical approach)

My mum suggested getting DD into some sort of routine from approx 3-4wks old. She was on 4hr feeds (give or take!!) and napping for up to 2hrs at a time during the day. As she's got older the nap times have reduced to about 1hr a time and she tends not to sleep much after her late afternoon feed. Since she started sleeping through I've had to revert to 3hr feeds in order to get 5 feeds in every 24hrs...bit of a hassle but we get a full night's sleep so really can't complain.

Evenings - DD cried every time we popped her to bed. She used to go quite late, like 9pm ish, after spending the evening with us in the lounge. This started to improve slowly by going through a strict bath, feed, wind-down and bed routine...and leaving her to cry for gradually increasing periods of time. She went to bed at 7.30pm this evening and, for the first time, didn't cry. However she got herself in a proper tizz last night so there you go.

weaning. hmmm. really in two minds about this. followed the stuff about Bfeeding etc in the news earlier this year and read some very interesting stuff. basically there is no sound scientific evidence for waiting until 6months to wean. they have begun a study with babies split into two groups, one weaning 'early' and the other waiting until 6 months. obviously it will be some time until the findings of their research is published. The 6 month thing comes from the WHO - the advice was aimed primarilly at developing countries where poor water quality etc means that longer BFeeding ensures babies in these countries are less likely to exposed to microbes etc when too young. I suppose what I'm trying to say is there's nowt wrong with either approach, 4 months or 6 months! DD has started to grab anything she can get her hands on and shove it in her mouth.....!!!

Bob had his second vaccinations today and was OK, he still cried but calmed down a lot quicker. He's had a rough day though as I dropped a board book on his head while reading to him. :( DH just ot him to sleep. I have no routine at all so sometimes he is down by 9pm and sometimes not until well after 11. Last night he wouldn't go to sleep until gone midnight and then was restless all night, Have no idea how I managed to get us both out of the house and to the surgery by half 9!

Bob is fascinated with his hands and more so with his feet. he keeps holding up his fists and studying them in wonder. I think he'll be grabbing stuff in a couple of weeks.

93pjb Bob had cradle cap too but we're managing to keep it at bay with lots of olive oil and gentle head rubbing.

stenogirl I am going back to work in September but some days I do feel like going back now! Other days i seriously consider asking for my days to be cut. Ideally it would be nice for me to go back just 4 days a week but I really don't think that it will be possible. I never thought I would feel like this. My maternity package is quite good so I have been on full pay until now - next month I go down to statutory and so we're taking a mortgage break and then I will go back when statutory stops.

I still plan to wean at 6 months and I want to do BLW. My latest problem is that I really want to go to Glastonbury festival but DH has gone from saying he will go if we camp off-site to saying he won't go at all. I thought I might be able to do it with the help of my sister but am not sure she would be keen to be around to hold the baby every time I need to use a portaloo. :( I feel very 'hrummph' at Dh deciding not to go because I feel like I am being forced into not going too. Anyway, if I do go I will have to delay BLW until after the festival.

DF about Glasto they have seperate camping and facilities for families, we don't camp as we can walk from my parents. But a friend camped last year with her nearly 6 month old andhad fun fun fun. Plenty of places to rest in the shade, i seem to remember the camping is a bit further away so it's a little quieter. You could camp off site and walk in, Shepton Mallet is a shortish walk along the lane. Campsite at Cannards Grave is a shortish walk too. We are possibly going on Sunday only.

Second tooth on the way out and Isadora is like a different baby no more screaming the house down but chattering away or moaning which is much better than the screaming!
I am going to start weaning at 4 months as I want to do it slowly and was told that at 6 months you have to be quite fast with it going from one meal a day to a full three in three weeks which seems a bit stressful. I am hoping that a spoonful of baby rice at tea time will help a longer sleep, planning on getting some annabel books for ideas.
Can I ask what nappies everyone uses and how happy you are with them - I like to buy the big boxes but have bought two types that were not so good. Started off with Huggies newborn nature ones but going up a size means changing to natural fit which arent as good and seem very skinny. Tried pampers active fit which I like for day time but are not good at night time.
stenogirl how was the singing class? We have a trial one on Monday but I am rubbish at the rhymes always make my own words up!

Thanks for the info kellestar, can I stay with your parents

Today I am thinking I will go as my sister says she will help but could change my mind again. I found last year very hard and didn't find much shade to be honest but I am guessing there won't be another hot year so soon after the last not if previous experience means anything.

I've been wonderimg how Whatwillsantabring is getting on? She's not posted in a while and was waiting for a referal for her DD.

Frenchfries I prefer huggies to Pampers, pampers seem to have something in them which smells horrible. Not sure which huggies - we have loads of different ones - but will check and get back to you. I am still hoping to move on to re-usables but DH bulk bought a load of disposables.

Hello ladies
Really nice to read the thread and catch up with where everyone is. We have m the UK were beyond awful with packing, freighting, drains problems, workmen drilling holes in kitchen floor, death of beloved cat and Tom's reflux shrieking and refusal to sleep but we did it and now we are here and it's pretty good, roastingly hot and humid though so I am under house arrest during the hours of 10-4 and DH starts work on Monday so I won't have him around anymore to work his magic on Tom.

But Tom ( touch wood) is a much more settled baby now and has started going down at 6-7pm and sleeping til 11 or 12pm then feeding and going down again til about 3-4am. Sometimes he ends up in bed with us for his 4am feed and stays there. Sometimes he sleeps til 5am and then gets into bed with us because it is less hassle than rocking/bouncing him back every half hour in his hammock.

He naps for about 45 mins between 8am and 9am and then has a sleep of between an hour and 3 hours at lunchtime. It's all a bit vague but so much better than the UK, when he was all over the shop. I think the heat is knocking him out. He loves watching the ceiling fan go round. Oh, and his number one toy is his helium balloon, tied to his foot, so he can wave his leg and make it move, then grab the string, pull it down to his mouth and wrestle it.

Much hand-sucking going on, drooling and still a bit of sicking but no more reflux, hooray, at 15 weeks.

As for me, I have no friends here at all yet, been here 10 days. It's hard to meet new people when I can't go to the pool or the beach as T is so young and can't do the strong sun. We are still apartment hunting, once we move in somewhere I should be able to find some other women with babes to have coffee with in the area.

Nobody walks anywhere here, they all drive SUVs with aircon. Tom hates being in the car so that's another bit of a problem, it's too hot to walk in the day and the mossies are out dawn and dusk.

Despite the niggles, it's nice here and I am sure I will find it easier once he stops being so small and I can get out more. DH looked after him loads this morning so I had a long swim in the pool at the complex where we are temp residents. It was pretty damn good compared to Hackney baths