September 2010 - meet-ups, pram addicts and the cutest babies in the world!

[Chelle1986]

Am taking the innitiative and doing the new thread! Bombs away...!

saoirse, we have that Arlo toy. Came across it in M&P before he was born and had to have it!

clumsy, Arlo gets Arlington from us for some reason. Or Darlo!

After my earlier boasting that we never have probs putting him down at night, he woke up inconsolable about 40 mins after going down tonight. No idea why, except maybe he was overtired having not napped much today. Was a bit if a shock, I was just settling down to eat dinner w DH! Managed to get him back down eventually after another feed. Fingers crossed it lasts!

Arlo 14 + 2

Lansinoh, that's a new one on me! How do you use that?! Mary has a fair bit of cradle cap too, but like banana said, it's hidden under this mohican Mary has! lol :o

Mary's discovered how to scratch her head now, and I'm worried she'll graze herself seriously as she's always scratching at the same bit, although there's no CC there

Forgot again!

Mary 15+1

banana, Harlyn had bad cradle cap when he was younger all over his forehead and I treated it with Olive Oil. It then got better on his face but started to move up into is hair line then crown. I recently purchased some shampoo which has been excellent. It does make it vanish rather quickly but you have to use it every time you wash their hair to stop it coming back. It does eventually go by itself though I've been told.

I started Harlyn's bedtime routine a little earlier tonight and got him asleep by 9:30. Earliest yet!!! Though, he'll probably wake up at 5am now!!!

mammyG defo going to wait till he's around 20 weeks before I try anything again. He's getting much stronger now and has really started to push up on his hands to look around during tummy time which he wasn't doing a couple of weeks ago. I just love seeing how quickly they develop new skills. This is such a lovely time and wish I could freeze it for a while longer. He's getting too big too soon.

thanks saorise im hoping the logic is that its them thats the loser as they watch hollyoaks and thought i may have,and i dont,and didnt

ive got the arlo toy too on dixie's recommendation...it's sooooo cute!

i love the name,but some people do look at me a bit funny or say "oh,thats unusual ,where did you find that?" i do live in the backend of nowhere though...

jessemy

thats not too far from me...i mean,i was considering courses farther away than that...

LETS BECOME DOULAS TOGETHER!!

although i might get too exited...all the other doulas would think i was mental,and maybe i wouldnt concentrate

was it saorise who asked?
i decided to become a doula,because...i didnt have any knowledge of birth with DD (i was to scared to look into it as everyone just said it would be horrific and it was best not to read ) and the labour was v v scary,fueled by fear and adrenaline,i was in labour for 12 hours and got to hospital with 30mins before i gave birth.
with arlo,a dear friend gave me a book by ina mays she is an american midwife,and teaches in the most amazing way,how to deal with the pain and encorage contractions,open cervix etc.my labour with arlo lasted about an hour really,pushed for a few mins and he flew out so fast the mw didnt catch him!

i would love to learn more about birth,as i only know about mine(obv)and i really think (hope) there are a few simple things that can make labour go so much smoother,and i would love to pass this on to anyone that wants to hear it!!

wow mammoth post...i'll go now

arlo 19 weeks?(i think)

I agree the dentinox shampoo is great! Ds1 got it at 18months until recently. You don't need to do anything but it can be itchy so it depends if it bothers them!

Luke has his last jab tomorrow and we got an Audiology appointment for ds1 next Friday so fingers crossed we get some answers about his speech there.

I am putting on weight really fast :(! I lost weight in both my pregnancies because I was sick for first part then lost appitite in the rest! I have a very strong need to eat something sweet which totally went with pregnancy too. With ds1 I could eat what I wanted while bfing and only went back to prepregnancy weight when he finally stopped. This time I have already gained 4 kg and I was feeling quite down about it tonight. Dh says he likes me fluffy but that's really not helpful! I eat healthily and not too much but I binge on chocolate/cake/biscuits in the evening and have to learn not to. My plan is not to buy any, fingers crossed!!

I. Am. Shattered.

Mary had an appalling night last night. She woke at 11.45, so I fed her and she was back down by 12 or so. Then woke again at 2.30, and even after taking a full feed, she just wouldn't settle back down again. After a bum change, calpol and dentinox for teething, I ended up crashing on the sofa with her permanently latched on, and I think we both fell asleep but I know I had to wake up several times to re-shuffle us about.

That's the worst night I've ever had with her since she started sleeping through from about 7 weeks. I have no idea what the problem was! But I'm slightly panicky about today, as I feel so drained, mentally, physically and milk-flowly too! :o Oh well, see what she's like today. If it continues another night, I may contemplate taking her to drs.

cinnamon I'm finding exactly the same thing - I couldn't stand sweet stuff during my pg, mainly due to sensitive teeth. Actually, scratch the sweet, I could hardly eat a thing. They were so painful... it now turns out I had 2 cavities which my dentist missed. Now they're fixed, and OMG, bring out the choccy! I'm making up for lost time. I actually lost weight during my pg, so by the time Mary was (ready to be) born I was only just my prepregnancy weight. Add bfing to the mix, and the weight is still falling off! S'great!

clumsy Wow! So where are you then? (You're skye so Hampshire way?) Are you on FB? Would be great to go together! My doula practically worships Ina May Gaskin. I had a terrible first birth and I was so insistant on having a doula this time - once DH saw how much I was scared by the prospect of Mary's birth, he agreed. But my second was a dream in comparison.

Warning this may be a long post and i apologise cause i haven't read what everyone else has put so im sorry if im ignoring anything important, i'll catch up later. Just want to write this before Grace wakes up.

How much daytime sleep does everyone's babies have and how many naps is it split over? I honestly cannot cope with going to bed at midnight anymore and i'm just wondering if Grace is having too much daytime sleep.

She usually has 3 naps a day lasting between 1 and 2 hours each and the last nap can run quite late into the evening (maybe 6PM ish) If it does run that late we try to put her to bed at 9-9.30 but she WILL NOT SLEEP!! I'm going to try and cut out the evening nap all together today and see what happens. It got to 10.30 last night and after 2 failed attempts to put her down i ended up in tears as i was exhausted and really frustrated.

I honestly thought she needed all those sleeps in the day as she gets quite grissley after about 2 hours awake time but i think she might be frustrated that she can't do much yet and i'm mistaking frustration for tiredness.

Also another issue is that i can't leave the room for 2 seconds without her crying or shouting etc so i've really got to attempt to change this somehow as it's driving me insane, i can not get anything done! So i'm just going to start with simple things like going to the kitchen and making a brew or nipping upstairs for a couple of minutes. This will obviously mean leaving her to whinge/shout for a couple of minutes but i really really need to break the habit of running to her when she's kicking off. I think i might be in for a shit couple of days, thank god it's nearly weekend.

Does anyone have any tips on any of the above???

On the bright side i took her to the doctors yesterday and she is fine, got a cold and a cough but nothing more serious. Also the Doctor was raving on about how advanced she seems for her age so i must be doing something right

newmum, not sure this will help you at all, but it doesn't sound like too much daytime napping to me. Arlo can't stay awake for more than a couple of hours in the daytime, I think that's normal. And supposedly it helps them to settle at night if they've napped well in the day. But I guess you can only experiment. As for leaving grace to cry a bit, i'd definitely make sure you are getting to make a cup or whatever. I find that Arlo sometimes manages to go from grizzling to finding something to amuse himself, or falling asleep in the time it takes me to make a cuppa, just when I thought I was going to have to feed him or something. So yes, you should def do that, for your own sanity, but you may find that grace surprises you with her reaction! Good luck.

cinnamon I'm just like you. my current average days food is grapefruit for breakfast, ham & salad wrap for lunch, meat & veg type meal for tea. chocolate, apple pie & crisps for supper! I need to stop too!!!!!

Newmum sorry you're having such a hard time. Don't think I can help much, Olly has two 1 1/2-2 hour naps at 9am and 1pm and 30-45 mins at 4.30pm. Like you say, could you try to change that last nap somehow? As for her crying when you leave the room, you've answered your own question there! just do it! I never left ds1 to cry but Ollys left all the time. Just because I have ds1 to look after too. I don't leave him for hours & if he really works himself up i go to him because that means there's something wrong. Although on the upside, if i'm cooking tea or something, I can send ds1 to play with him!

Thanks for the cradle cap suggestions. I'm not going to use olive oil cos his hairs too long. I'd forgotten about the dentinox. I used that with ds1. I'll get some!

He's also got nasty eczema but I've got it under control straight away using a cream called aveeno. ds1 was prescribed it & ita absolutely fantastic. cleared his skin in 2 days. Isn't greasy & is made from oatmeal. Seriously, If any of your los have eczema get that!!!

Thanks banana. I think that's just what I needed to hear . I've called my hv, but she's not in until Monday, so I'll speak to her then.

newmum you have my sympathy. Everything else is so much harder when you're exhausted. I'm afraid I can't offer much advice (you may have noticed that we haven't exactly cracked sleep at the moment), except just give the no last map thing a try. Louis always gets tired and grizzly before bed and we tend to out him in the sling fro an hour before bathtime. Good luck.

I have got a sling but i appear to have bought the most complicated contraption known to man, and i don't know how to use it. I did put the instructions somewhere but i can't find them! Will get it out tonight and give it another go. Hopefully she'll tollerate it for a few mins while i hoover etc. I'm not exactly house proud but i actually like cleaning (sad i know) and would prefer to get bits done each day so i can relax at weekend but as i said Grace will not allow me to do anything when she's awake and i don't want to get the hoover out while she's asleep. Also daytime sleep is done downstairs so it's difficult to get anything done while she's asleep as well.

Ah well, it's all trial and error i guess, we'll see what happens!! Thanks for all the advice i really appreciate it!! I know every baby is different but it helps to know what other peoples "routines" are!! I've come to really hate that word

Dixie if i went to make a cuppa and came back to find Grace sleeping i would most deffinately have a heart attack!! She has self settled once in her whole 4 months of life and i was so shocked i nearly fell over running to check she was still breathing

newmum you might be surprised - the hoover may help her settle a bit. I use the tumble dryer for Mary!

banana, Aphra's had some eczema too - we got some cream from the drs as it was bad enough for that, but now that its cleared up we'll be back on just the oilatum I expect. Haven't tried Aveeno but will bear it in mind for another time. Do you have a feel for whether anything might have triggered it? My gp & hv just say it could be the winter weather, which I know it might be, but various eczema websites suggest it could be triggered by anything from what I eat (am bf'ing) onwards. She did get some new woollen tights that were first put on her shortly before she got it quite noticeably on the backs of her knees.

Went to see The King's Speech yesterday at the Big Scream, with NCT mates! Very good it was too, though I did miss some bits of course when the babies were going full throttle. And Aphra did a big noisy poo too of course! Afterwards we popped in to the drop in clinic at the gps - A got weighed and is just over five kilos. I'm very pleased as she is tracking the percentile pretty exactly, but my other NCT friend also got her baby weighed at the same and he was just over eight kilos! What a difference... I am noticing she's harder on my knees nowadays as I walk around in the sling.

Aphra 19 weeks today

Finally, my pram is getting fixed! It's only taken a month and two chases(!)

It gets picked up for repair/refurb tomorrow. Yay!

newmum haha! It's funny how different babies are isn't it? Arlo only self settles himself to sleep like that if he's in his bouncy chair with vibrate turned on. In fact I was just about to feed him and then go out, but got myself ready, came back into the room and he's just fallen asleep in it. Reluctant to wake him, so perhaps will go out later instead. Now, shall I do the washing or watch tv...? :o

Hi all, lots to catch up on - you chatterboxes!

newmum - Oliver is the same sometimes with the crying as soon as I step over the threshold in to another room! I just leave him for the most part and as dixie says he will settle himself a little. We're having more trouble with him at the minute just crying for no reason - literally. I think its just temper to be honest.

Had to take Olly to the doctors yesterday. He's just really not been himself, not sleeping, snotty, bad cough, being sick etc. Doc said he has a virus on his chest as he's a bit wheezy so he has to have an inhaler before bed, poor bugger - its got a little face mask on it and everything....

I however am exhausted as he's just not sleeping properly. We've moved him in to his crib now so he has more room, but its not helping as yet.

DP is off tomorrow and we are going swimming in the morning (dreading it! well the swimsuit anyway....) and then we've decided to try him on some baby rice tomorrow afternoon and see how he likes it. The doctor thought it was a good idea yesterday after we'd discussed his guzzling feeding habits.

newmum - also Olly has about 3 naps a day - they can range between 20 minutes and 2 hours depending on his mood!

Olly - 15+4

newmum - sorry forgot to say that Olly goes to bed between 7 and 8pm every night and I try not to let him sleep more than 20 mins between his 4pm and 7:30pm bottle (the closer to 4pm this nap is the better!). To be honest its better if he doesn't sleep at all between these two final bottles. He can be hard work to keep entertained - but is generally worth it as he goes down better.

Perhaps Graces last nap is too close to when you want her to be going to bed - if I had a nap just before I was supposed to go to bed for the night I dont think I would want to go to sleep either! (Although that is very much in the past! Now I would LOVE to do that!!! Am feckin exhausted!)

today,arlo is refusing to sleep,he woke up at 5am with his sister and has'nt napped yet

DD got into the nursery,its so lovely,and so close she starts next week!

jessemy im in andover,hampshire

oh and yes i am on fb...im in our group...have you joined yet? i'll try to find you...

ive added you...

god i love those dots...

From what I've read I'm going to contradict everyone newmum001! Luke likes to have a long sleep in the morning 10ish for 2-3hrs he is another one who is rarely awake for more than 2hours without being tired. At least 2 days a week we go to toddler groups and then he will only have a 30min nap in the morning and have his long sleep when we get back. From then on he's very varied if he had an early long nap he will sleep on the way to school and depending on the noise levels occasionally I can put him into bed. He then has another nap around 5 where he has a feed and sleeps on me! If he's had a late daytime nap he will often have a feed at 6-6.30 and go to bed then. Last night he had his evening nap 5.15-5.45 and still went to bed at 7.30 no probs. Ds1 got into a routine very quickly he had 45 mins at 10-10.30, 2hrs at 1 and then another 45mins at 4.30-5. He dropped the last one at 9 months and the morning one at just over a year. Was still having the long one until just before Christmas and he will be 4 in April. BUT it took a lot of effort to get him to sleep for those naps. I did do controlled crying for daytime naps with him but it only took me at total of 5 days before he stopped crying at all and he was 6 months old then. He was going to a childminder and I knew he couldn't sleep on her and didn't want him to cry there more than he had to so I did the crying bit myself. Both of them have been very good at settling at bedtime.

Agree with leaving her to cry for a bit, ds1 was like that and it's exhausting. He had a bouncy chair so I used to carry him from room to room with me if I was going to be more than a couple of mins. He stopped at about 8 months which was great as he didn't move at all until the week before his birthday so would have been a nightmare.

I had a huge flipout today and I feel so guilty :( :( :(
Ds1 didn't want to go to school (only started Tuesday) as the little boy I mind Thurs and Fri was here and he didn't want to leave him. He ate his lunch fine but then he wouldn't get undressed or dressed into his school clothes. I ended up dressing him and told him if he didn't get his shoes on he wouldn't get any sweets after school. By this point Luke had started crying which always raises my stress levels. By the time I had put my sling on and the other 2 childrens coat and shoes he still hadn't put his shoes on so I did those too. Gave him his coat and looked right into my eyes and put it on as slowly as he could so I smacked him :(. I never have before and I don't agree with it at all but I totally lost my temper with him and feel sooooo guilty. I talked to him on the way about why mummy was so cross with him and told him I was sorry for smacking him (not sure whether that was the right thing or not). Sitting here now feeling terrible and hoping he's ok at school, was fine when I left him. I got my first period today and I do become horrible at that time but it's no excuse at all, I would not be happy if dh had done it.