December 2010 - Merry Christmas new babies!

[Chooster]

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?

omg kellestar that's awful. (it doesn't change by the way - some little shit tyke pulled DD's hair in the park the other day - the instinct to kill him was immediate he was just lucky I was too far away and feeding Matty at the time!)

Saw SIL today - she's looking huge already and baby isn't due until Nov!

FIL had heart bypass surgery yesterday so DH, SIL & MIL have gone to visit him.

Jojomamanbebe have a discount code for 20% off if anyone is interested SPA24. I'm off to Italy for 3 weeks in July, can't wait, not sure how much of a holiday it will be but nice to have a change of scenery

strix believe it or not July 4th is our anniversary... it's the second year so we are still celebrating... Now I wonder how could we celebrate best with little peanut as I don't look forward to leaving her for a sec. I even miss her now when she sleeps.. Kellestar pooooooorrr Bea!!!!!!! OMG..... I just can't imagine people being so rude but to be honest I was warned that 1-2 year old kids are not so great around babies. Similar experiences with toddlers have happened to my friends' babies. Better find other babies under one year old for her to play with. Lavita, are you going to visit DH's family? I am dying to see your girls.... are they really identical? Do they interact with each other? Do they wake each other up in the night?
button I am back to work but only part time and working from home so I can't answer your questions. I have to sort out a nursery for DD as she doesn't let me concentrate but work hasn't peaked up yet and so far could manage both.. Okay need to go and pump. Hate pumping. It is the only thing I don't like about Bfing. Otherwise, I love Bfing DD. It's my favourite time with her... if I don't pump, i burst in the morning and wake up at 4 AM from pain!!! i tried for 5-7 days to not pump and let the milk go down but it didn't go down..... Any tips?

Beauseyouareintheworld, I have been putting off pumping for weeks. I really must start though as I need to get Bob onto a bottle or cup before he goes into the nursery at the end of September.

I popped into work yesterday and am now even more aware that I have so little time left at home :( My workmates are all off on different training days next month yet no one has asked me to come in and do them, so I wonder how different things might be once I am back. I am going back full time but my job is super easy and chilled so I don't have any worries about not being able to cope. I do wish I could drop a day though. DH is looking for new work and so if he increases his salary I might be able to drop one in the future. I am incredibly lucky to have the Creche right on the doorstep at work though. Maybe I could do shorter days... just to get some extra time with Bob...

between starting this post and now I have expressed a small amount of milk which Bob then poured all overhimself!

ok, Lavita and Because, can you private message me with all the available Saturdays in the next two months. I'm sure there is at lease one that is not someone's anniversary.

And you are soooooo not allowed to go meet the twins without me. (stomp stomp)

I am such a lurker, really would like to post more, but by the time i have caught up with everything and think of something to write my gorgeous girl is wanting to play/poo/laugh/cry etc so never get round to writing!!

things with us are pretty good. Evelyn is almost 6 months, has two little stumpy bottom teeth, eating a range of mush, pushing her bum up in the air and managing to do little press ups and generally being gorgeous. still not great at sleepin at night, often ends up in with us and 1-2 BFs a night and recently waking at 5am - grr. but i figure it wont last for ever (will it????)

so who is going to glastonbury this year. we arent going to camp as we dont live too far away, so will come in and out. looking forward to spending time in the kids field!!

I am :)
We ARE camping but I am assuming we won't get into cockmills.

Hello everyone

I keep meaning to post but by the time I have read everyone's news, T is awake and requires feeding/entertaining so have not posted for ages.

Can't believe our babas are coming up for/have passed their half-birthdays! I must say 6mo is much better value than newborn stage. T is a very jolly little person and now he has had hios tonge tie snipped, can feed much better. I am annoyed it took me to discover it and only at 6 months. It explains the awful reflux and endless feeding and bad sleeping - but no health professional ever looked in his mouth properly.

Am an expat now. It is lonely and hard work. Am very homesick. Life would be SO much easier for me and T if we were still in London. We could go for walks, visit parks and museums, see friends, look round shops, feed ducks...there are no partks and no pavements here and it is horribly humid and the sun is very strong. So basically, we are stuck in the condo all day every day, with a quick 20 minute swim once the pool is in shade.

It will be a nice place to live for him once he is an active toddler and can enjoy the outdoor life but for me as a - literally - SAHM - it bloody well sucks.
Boo.

lavita on the holiday

miffster good to hear from you, but sorry you're feeling homesick. Not sure what to suggest really - are you in an English speaking community or is there a language barrier to deal with as well? Glad Tom's feeding better, I'm sure the improved sleep will help you all.

button I found it quite easy to adjust to being a working mum after DD was born. She went to nursery 3 days a week and my M&D had her 1 day a week. I dropped a day at work so I had her the rest of the time. I think it was helped by having a very supportive and understanding boss & team. I'm anticipating it'll be a bit tougher this time simply because DD is now at school and Matty will be at nursery - not in the same place - plus I have to commute by train so I have to get to and from stations at certain times......aarrgh, I need a sit down just thinking about it!

Started weaning Matty this week but he isn't actually swallowing any food. He leaves it in his mouth and shouts at us until he's managed to dribble it all out. Not really sure what it's all about - I'll carry on for now and hope he starts swallowing it soon, otherwise I'll have to speak to someone about it.

aaarrrggghhh had to take Matty to the emergency dept on Saturday night - he had dislocated his elbow!!! we've absolutely no idea how it happened as he was just sitting in his bouncy chair when he suddenly cried out. the dr managed to replace it during her examination but he still had to have an x-ray. at least it was easily fixed and he's fine now.

Max How is Matty now? I've heard it's really common to dislocate babies arms. My two are teething and were inconsolable for the last couple of days. I started to panic imagining it was something else, and googling too much , How is your FIL doing after his heart op?

They seem better today, V has 2 teeth through, F just 1, although up at 5.30am again, any tips for early wakers anyone? I've tried everything, but they were both wide awake and had done huge poo's, so once cleaned up were more awake than ever!
Tip for anyone else with teething babies, I bought the little Tommee Tippee gum shield soothers, you can put the teething gel straight onto the gum shield bit, they seemed to really help. We've never used dummies but these were great.

Strix I think I'm going to struggle before August , I have my sister here this week, my dad the next, then we are off to Italy for 3 weeks, then it's DP's birthday, I'll double check and PM you.

Because The girls are identical, we can tell the difference just over a 1lb difference in size and they make different little noises, V likes to say ba, ba,ba all the time and F likes to do a back throat style gurgle. When I hear crying on the monitor I usually know who it is. They don't wake each other up, but still wake a few times in the night and they love each other, hold hands, laugh at each other, it's so cute

Miffster Have you made any friends? are there many expats with children?
I am a bit worried about our holiday in Italy and the heat, i've bought hats and factor 50. I need to try and get them to drink more water too

Matty's fine thanks lavita we've just got to be careful with his arm for a few days. I know it's a common injury but we've really no clue how he did it - he was just sitting in his bouncy chair and suddenly cried out He was crying off and on all day and we assumed it was trapped wind or something. I felt a bit bad when I only noticed in the evening he wasn't moving his arm, but both DH and I hadn't noticed any problem with his arm earlier on in the day.

FIL is home and recovering although we did have to explain to SIL that it wasn't a good idea for her, her DH and almost 2yo twin boys and a puppy to go and visit him yesterday, when he only got home from hospital on Friday night! I swear, she lives on another planet that girl....

Matty's really mastering food now, rather than shouting 'til it dribble sout his mouth he's eating it nicely. He also had his first night in his own bedroom last night. I was a bit sad that he wasn't in with us anymore. He slept fine though .

Hello everyone!
It's so hard keeping up with the thread AND posting.
I'm very about those of you who have sleepers! Lo still wakes up once or twice every night.

Miffster surely you have the best excuse to buy box-sets of everything and enjoy some quality tv time .

Lavita I love reading about the twins. Are you going to dress them identically? I always thought I'd never do anything like that but my 3yr old DD always wants to wear the same as my lo and it does look cute!

I've started weaning now which seems to be causing some really painful constipation . Luckily she will take orange juice diluted in water which seems to help. At the moment I'm just introducing different tastes rather than trying to fill her up but hopefully it will help with the sleeping too.

Kiwi and DF I'm soo jealous of you going to Glastonbury - I last went in about 1990 when they still had a travellers field. I think the Happy Mondays were headlining .

Maxpower I have a cousin who can dislocate his shoulder at the drop of a hat. Maybe this will be Matty's party trick! I hope he's not in any discomfort with it.

Esian, Bob wakes at night still.

Actually I wanted to ask a sleep related question. What mkind of naps do your babies have? Bob has 2-3 naps in the day, the first is usually 2 hours after he first wakes up and can be for about 40 minutes. The second is usually longer and recently has been as long as two hours! He then has a nap some time in the afternoon but I am finding it really difficult to set a regular bed-time as if his afternoon nap is too early he is often knackered by half five and asleep by six! I really want to change it so his night-time sleep starts later (about 7 or 7.30) but that probably means forcing him to stay awake for longer at some point in the day. Is this what I should be doing?

I've started giving porrige, but he will only have a couple of spoonfulls and after Glastonbury I am going to start the BLW properly. I hope that this will help with his sleeping too. At the moment he sleeps from 6ish, dream feeds at 11 and then wakes me every hour from about 2am! it's killing me!

Hi everyone! I've been lurking too - just not enough hours in the day! It's great to read everyone's news. Can't believe 6 months have gone, I can remember taking Isabel to a baby group when she was 6 weeks old and thinking the 6 month old babies were so big and more like children than babies but now Isabel is that age she is still my tiny baby :)
We've started weaning too, it has been a bit of an anti climax after months of people ( well just my mum) saying I was starving her etc. Etc. she doesn't seem that taken with eating and the first few nights she was really unsettled. esian I think you're right, it's really important to get water down them at the same time - I just assumed the milk would dilute the food but I guess not as she was waking up and shuffling around and farting and arching her back!
The sleep situation still isn't brilliant, we're still co-sleeping. I think once she has started eating better I may try to get her into her cot and then maybe into her own room, it seems like a distant dream at the moment!
Still no teeth here which is fine as we're still BF. Also, have started thinking about child care and work :( I'll be going back 3 days a week in November so I've just started looking round nurseries and calling child minders, I'm sure I'll be ok when I go back but the thought of it fills me with dread at the moment. Christ knows how they'll get her to sleep or take a bottle or cup!
DF if Isabel naps later than 5pm I have a real fight getting her to bed at 7.30/8pm so even if she falls asleep at 4.30 I have started waking her and keeping her awake till bed time, it does seem to be working but does feel mean!
max god you must have been frantic! Glad matty is ok now :) and good to hear the food situation may improve, Isabel also does the letting food fall out of her mouth thing!
Big wave to everyone else, very of the London meet up!

Morning all

Well definitely sleep deprived here now and starting to suffer with it Hugh is currently gurgling away in his baby bouncer walker thing playing at opening the curtains in the lounge - he's wide awake and it's half past bloody 4
DH sleeps like a brick
We are obviously several weeks on with weaning and please don't assume it makes sleep any easier - sorry!!
Hugh has porridge for breakfast, main meal of mashed meal at lunch followed by fruit and or a yoghurt and then tusks for dinner. He's still on a good 20+ oz of milk as well .
We got his first pair of "real" shoes this week, had him measured then popped to the clarks outlet shop and got a pair for £4 he's standing in his walker and trying to do so when held as well, the shoes are more to protect his toes from friction blisters where he whizzes round in a circle in his walker

Currently have baby tv on to distract him - tire him out for another 10 mins then try sleep again - wouldn't mind but he's calling for dadadada and bloody dadadada is asleep at least say mamamama

Rusks not tusks obviously

In the backgarden with Bea, a dozen glowsticks and Coldplay. Haven't heard much so far this weekend, weather has meant it's not travelling over the hills so well.

Our local council has had 2 weeks of activities to "celebrate here" culminated in fireworks at beach tonight with a concert
Concert went on till half 11 ish no problems there as wasn't loud at house but what idiot wasted our tax money on fireworks at half nine when it was still broad daylight leave them until dark!!!
As you can tell another sleepless might here

Another lurker here- if when she was tiny and feeds took ages I had plenty of time to post while she was feeding. Now they are so quick and usually need two hands to keep her from throwing herself on the floor, I'm lucky if I can check in at all!

Cant believe DD is six months- I was exactly the same at six weeks, seeing the six month old babies and thinking they were giants! DD has finally starting sitting this weekend, but is definitely wanting to crawl, so enjoying the las few weeks of peace while she doesn't move much!

I started her on solids at four months and it's gone down a charm, with an immediate improvement in her milk feeding and her nights. Mind you, after starting a routine at six weeks (own room, cot and sleeping bag) nights have been ok. [don't shoot me- I know I'm lucky! But the last night she was in our room in a Moses basket with a blanket she woke every hour or so, and the next night she woke twice!]

I've now stopped breastfeeding too, apart from the first feed of the day, and I find it so much more relaxed- I thing she does too, as she can drink from a bottle and look at the world- quite hard to do when you've got a giant 36GG boob in front of your face. Wondering now what size they'll go back to when I finally drop the last feed- somehow can't imagine they'll recover their 32D-ness :)
Generally enjoying being a mum - and the love affair with DD that I wasn't expecting. I do find the domestic drudgery and chores a bit wearing, and wish DH would do more, but it's hard to argue that he needs to do more when I've been at swimming classes with DD and he's been getting it in the neck at work. Radio 4 helps a lot though!!

Right, DH has opened a bottle of vintage Bolly, so better go and enjoy it with him!! :)

Hugs to your babies, x

WhatWillSantaBring Jealous of the Bolly

DF naps, my girls are the same as Bob, 2-3 naps a day, I try not to let them nap after 4.30pm if I want them to go to sleep at 7pm. What I'll often do is go out for a walk at 3.30pm for an hour as they'll have a nap in the pram then. I also often have to wake one baby to try and keep them to the same schedule, it would be a nightmare if I didn't.

I'm still having 2-3 wake ups a night, still BF and I think it became the easy option to get them back to sleep. I'm trying now not to feed every time, but am wondering whether to go cold turkey and only offer water, although they are not brilliant with the bottle, seem to think it's a toy. Any advice?

Hi all, I've been lurking a bit but no time to post! Life is just pretty busy and I guess it will only get more so when the summer school holidays are here (next week for us here in scotland). But its been great to see the news from everyone now our babies are getting bigger! I'm going to try and stay in touch a little bit more.

Life is pretty good and Jude is doing well, just coming up to 7 months. He's far livelier than his big brothers which has surprised me and is just starting to crawl which is earlier than the others. He's also my first blondie!!! very very fair, and of course unbelievably cute .

Sleep - ah..... not so great here. At the beginning he was really good for a newborn and woke once a night for a feed but the last few weeks its all gone down hill! He wakes almost every hour from about 2am ish and only the boob will do... he screams now when I try to give him his dummy and a cudde is not enough. Not quite sure what to do. Being tough about it sounds good until it gets to 2am and I'm knackered and I know I've got a full day ahead with Jude and the older boys. He's also so so loud that I know he will wake the other 2. Am hoping its a blip and it will get better... ???? In terms of naps, Jude has 2 or 3 naps depending on how much we are out and about. Feeding is good though!!!

Right, am going to head to bed... Thinking there will be another dodgy night ahead! x

I keep thinking mine should be in her own room by now but it seems pointless when I'm still getting up to feed her. I have a rule- any feeds before 5am I sit up for and then put her back in her cot, and then after 5am I just bring her into my bed and then collapse back to sleep dreamfeed.

Hearing so much about BLW I gave Lo a strawberry today which she promptly gagged on . I'm not really sure of the benefits of BLW over normal puree and building up, and I don't think my nerves could take any more gagging!

MrsSnaplegs loving the fact you're feeding Hugh tusks for dinner. That's hardcore weaning that is

Hi everyone, it's ages since I've posted, but just caught up a little bit with the last page. Like everyone else we've been crazy busy.

I've agreed part time hours with work which I am really, really pleased about, but it means we're going to be fairly broke for the next year. I've just become an NYR Organic consultant for some extra money. I've also been busy setting up a new website to try and help other new parents to get more support after the birth of their babies. Not sure I'm allowed to put the link up here, but if you want to visit and let me know what you think, please PM me!

William's sleep is finally starting to improve after having a big blip and going back to every couple of hours overnight. He still feeds once or twice, but he's starting to settle himself to sleep some evenings without the boob and sleep on his own occasionally for several hours. He's still on our bed, bolstered by pillows, but he's suddenly rolling properly and has been doing laps of the room, so we have to find the side to his cot now. For all those whose babies aren't sleeping, hang in there! From talking to friends, it often seems to improve 6-7 months as they are moving and eating more.

The main issue we have is until recently he's been screaming in the evenings if I try and leave him with his Daddy, but I managed to get out last night and he stayed asleep so hoping we've turned a corner.

We've started BLW and he's loving his solids which is just as well as he has two very sharp teeth and as his tongue tie is still not perfect can sometimes 'gum' me when feeding - bearable with gums, not great with teeth!

We have a house of chickenpox both dd and Hugh have it