January 2011

[MacMomo]

Thought we should have a post-natal thread so we can stay together from our ante-natal one. Technically, DD was a December baby after coming early on new years eve; hope you don't mind if I stay with the January group after all this time. How is everyone doing?

beijing congratulations on the sleeping - can't decide whether to disintegrate into a heap of jealousy hearing about all these good naps or live in hope that in another couple of weeks we'll get there.

mamasunshine good luck getting on later.

walk more at the good sleeping, shame for your DH missing out on smiles though. I love this stage when they've just started doing lots of proper smiles

sarrita my sister is almost 4 years older than me and we did play together a fair bit. It all evens out eventually, if you have less playing together you'll probably get less fighting as well. I'm nervous about how much fighting there will be with a shorter age gap as I think we did enough!

We always used the tommy tippee bottles for DS1, not sure if they really resemble a breast or not but they seemed to work. I hope there'll be an opportunity to try them for DS2 soon.

DS2 very unsettled tonight, DP has taken him for a man to man chat upstairs and things had gone quiet for a while but there's still the odd squawk so I think they'll be back fairly soon...

So much good news, well done babies!!

Quick question - at what age/stage do you think a baby should start a proper 'bedtime'??
Dd (age 3) still requires a lot of input at bedtime. Would prob be easier to put them to bed at same time. BUT then I would be missing valuable sleep opportunity (he does one bigger stretch of between 3 and 5.5 hours - know this is far shorter than a lot of you!) then wakes fairly frequently for remainder of night (this is much better than it was as settles himself back to sleep after being fed - have not yet tried not feeding him on waking, now I'm typing it seems obvious that is first step to try!) So if he went to bed at half 7 or 8 I might miss my one chance at a sleep stretch. Plus we would miss him - is our focussed time with just him. However, DH works shifts and I need to do bedtime alone and at mo is difficult.

I think it still is a proper bedtime even at 10pm. It just means that their morning doesn't start until 10am. If you are doing day and night with light and dark it also means you need to keep his bedroom dark until 10am too.

I think you just need to do what works best for you. We also get one long stretch with DD then short ones. ATM that's her first stretch but I'm going to try to encourage her to wake at 10 so her long stretch is after that. Will this work? Maybe. I suspect I'll get a week of shit sleep and then shell click.

I really think you need to do what works for you. Right now, for us, dds bedtime routine starts at 5 and shes in bed for 6 to give me as long as poss to settle her before I want to have dinner. If I leave it an hour later then I sometimes don't eat until 9. Well see how it goes.

deedee do it whatever time suits you. We are trying to get into routine of the same type of wind down pre bed so she gets used to these things means night time sleep. Then hopefully bring what time she actually goes to bed forward as it suits her sleeping pattern. As yet we have no set times as it tends to depend on when she has a late afternoon/ early evening snooze, but we do bath/change into sleepsuit/quiet time. We are also bit wary of putting her upstairs by herself - in the evening we have to keep a close eye that she doesn't turn a slight cry into a very difficult to calm rage, so we all head to proper bed at the same time.

Oh and todays am nap - 20mins, dog barked at postie, woke her up, and my trying to settle her back to sleep, while on here, has failed. Baby bright eyes is fully awake and helping me finish typing

I'm back ! Just got boys to nursery and Arabella asleep in car seat still, so quick typing! We have all been ill AGAIN! Haven't been anywhere since last Tuesday tonsilitis and colds etc, but all starting to recover now. That was combined with the horrid 6 wk growth spurt (which I always forget about!), Arabella wouldn't let me put her down day/night and fed pretty constantly for 5 days..phew thank goodness it's over. Last night she slept 4 hrs then 2.5 hrs which feels like huge amounts to me So onwards and upwards..it only gets easier now! HV coming around later to weigh and measure her, she looks and feels pretty huge to me!

No expressing here, I did with ds1, always got LOADS of milk off if I did it 1st thing in am, or whilst ds was feeding. But didn't bother with ds2 and won't this time, as I just don't have time. I keep looking at the threads in the 'weightloss' section, but none seem relevant to me. 6weeks post baby fri, so ging to start being good then and start adding a bit of exercise. Need to lose 2 stone as my 1st target (then another 7-14lbs...but will think about that once he 1st lots off!)

We've had a few green poos, not really sure why, but had them a lot with ds2 and was never anything to worry about. Apparently new research suggests that you don't get a foremilk and hindmilk?! Even though everything still states that.

Congrats on wedding walkthedog how exciting!! I loved my wedding, and it was a very simple affair, but perfect for me Glad your nephew was well, very scary this childbirth malarky for some.

readyornot Date night! Wow, I am impressed, how nice for your dh too I don't think will manage one for atleast another 9/10 months !!

msscarlett glad the colic meds is helping and hope the tongue tie procedure went as well as it could for you. And WOW on getting your place at med school so soon post baby
blanch love your motto "if in doubt, get 'em out"!! I do exactly that Also having huge lack of patience with toddlers, can't wait for sleep to get better so I relax a bit more with them.
sarrita Very impressive managing to give lectures well done!

Kiwi - how lovely having your mum visit My mum is a no-show this time due to them being so busy with their business. We have seen them a couple of times for a few hrs each time when they've flown back briefly...but I do miss having her closer.
hannah hope you're doing well? Do you have any groups you can try out in your area?
*deedee - i think once have bf an older baby you pick up 'bad habbits'! I'm still lazy with latch most of the time which causes soreness...bf dc3!

Well have prob missed loads sorry!

Going away Fri for the weekend, ds1's 3rd birthday on Monday ...can't believ I've been a mum for 3 years! So we're tking them to the sea-sied! Have spent 30pounds on 12 cupcakes for his birthday cake! They're gluten and dairy free though and look amazing! Can't wait I'm so excited to see his reaction to it all!

Wow that was HUGE

Also meant to add. I don't think the actual times for bed etc are important yet. I think teaching them the difference between day and night, and having a bedtime routine as in bath, milk, story, cuddle, bed etc. is good to start now, it won't make any difference whether that happens at 7 one night and 10 the next if baby is still awake. I found that once baby is 7/8 months old and having 3 meals a day, then a routine with say a 7pm bedtime comes into play.

I've always been very relaxed on routines though i.e. I've gone totally by baby, and both boys slept 12 hours every night (unless ill) from 9/10months old.

Good to catch up on everyone.

Like Mama, all good here, just emerging (I hope) from the 6 week growth spurt where Abby wouldn't let me put her down and fed pretty much constantly day and night for 4 days. So tiring and big sister not impressed with it all. Really enjoying having 2 but I am still amazed how different number 2 is from number 1. Just when you think you've got it worked out, this one behaves completely differently! She will not be fed to sleep and that was a sure fire certainty with DD1. LOL.

My friend gave me some spare breastpads she had the other day and looks like I was allergic to the glue in them as I had all over body hives yesterday! Was agony and so itchy. Of course, can't really take anything so was smearing myself in calamine and trying to have a soak in an oatmeal bath. Combining this with 6 week growth spurt and a heavy cold means Monday was pretty much the lowest point so far. Onwards and upwards I say!

Better go. Got to cut DD2's nails and she keeps scratching her face and howling!

Oh Blanch it'll get easier. I promise.

DD is snoozing in her bouncy chair. She slept from 9 till 5.30 am. I slept from 10. All good. She was as you are describing but is settling. Less spewing and easier to burp. She's 9 weeks now.

She had her first immunisations yesterday - a jab in each leg. oh how she howled. i'm too scared to take the plasters off! But nurse said i was the most chilled mum.

mama i'm sure growth spurt and running after your family will take off the pounds. i've been a mum for 4 yrs and only have 2!

Glad u and ur sister played sniffle. there's hope :)

bed times i agree with mama - we just always did bath massage bed - once ds had settled down a bit - post newborn stage. When we went to India for 2 months just before he turned 2 - everything went out the window but we always had a wash and song at bedtime. He came home and went straight back to normal bedtimes.

hope the hives have settled blanche and you braves the plaster removal sarrita

mama good you got over your bugs ready for your wknd away. HV with us tomorrow, OH and I having bets how what her weight will be this time. We were 6oz too little last time.

Good news, nephew home tonight, cup feeding as won't latch, but SIL's milk coming in, so fingers crossed.

In bed with laptop, just turned off water sounds - helps DD settle if she is struggling to settle herself.

Anyone else been living a life of trauma since the 8 week vaccine? Louie's really not been right since, absolutely screeching in a heartrending manner :(

Hives now gone, thanks for asking Walkthedog.

7 weeks old today and Abigail is beginning to need some encouragement to nap during the day. She is donig great at night, Going down about 8.30 with a waking at 1, 4 and then up around 6. However, naps are another matter and it doesn't help when her 2 year old sister is charging about the place being so noisy.

I can deal with the sleep deprivation but I cannot deal with a newborn cry. I know that is what they are designed to do, but I always pick her up straight away. I am trying to get her to have a nap in moses basket rather than sling but I think I will just go with the flow and pop her back in the Kari Me!

All good fun!

I am exactly the same Blanche. glad to hear things are picking up. I am 'wearing' Louie constantly at the moment. Whatever works!!

wild weather today. DD got a little snow on her face and she was not happy.

naps an issue here too - can be long or very short or almost not at all. Somtimes I need to keep going back to her, even for another feed, other times she settles herself very quickly. We resort to letting her sleep on us or on a cushion on us, if we know she needs a sleep but won't go down in pram.

I go to her ASAP if sshe starts crying, at this age surely they are crying because something is up -hungry, wet, hot/cold, bored, tired etc OH finds the cry a bit much if she is having one of her bad spells and he needs to leave the room for a few mins, it just washes over me now and I can just keep trying to settle her.

1st jabs in 2 weeks

DS2 only has decent naps in the kari-me and I can't cope with hearing him cry either so he's spending quite a bit of time in there. He's quite happy in the moses basket by night, although he feeds to sleep downstairs before going up - still no proper bedtime routine.
Trying not to get stressed about sleep this time round but finding it hard when he's obviously tired and won't just drop off!

Suddenly DS2 is being very sick after every feed, I'm not sure if it's because he's a bit phlegmy after yet another cold or if it's reflux (can that start at 8 weeks?) he seems quite happy in himself, it's only been a couple of days and he's not likely to waste away anytime soon but it's another thing to worry about .

Sniffle, Abigail has had every cold going courtesy of DD1 and it causes her to be sick quite a bit as she gets very mucousy. I end up lying her propped up in her moses basket with the Next Directory under the feet or on a bath towel when we co-sleep to try and help it drain away. However, when they spend so much time on their backs it is pretty certain it is going to bung them up a bit. It's the extra washing I don't need.....

Well we managed a 7 hour sleep session on Saturday night, I felt like a new woman Sunday! She didn't repeat it last night (up 3 times) but it was great, apart from the boobs like basketballs. Reminds me that the multiple night wakings aren't forever and the 6 week growth spurt was maybe worth it!

I am still taking DD1 to her swimming lesson on a Monday but I don't know how long we can carry on. Abigail sits at the side in her car seat (which she hates) and as her naps and feeds are all over the place we have had to abort after 10 minutes or so a few times when she has been screaming the place down. DD1 doesn't understand why we are getting out and it is, tbh, a huge faff all round taking two of them, getting undressed, showered and dressed for a 30 minute lesson.

DH has got food poisoning so is in spare bed looking miserable. Like having 3 kids to look after !

Have been loyally lurking but not posting for a bit.

blanche you sound run off your feet, don't think I could deal with more than one!

dd has been managing 7-8 hr sleeps each night for about 2 weeks now (since 8 weeks old). the time she goes down does vary a bit because we don't have a timed routine. we are following the principle that she needs to sleep as soon as she shows signs of being tired and is never awake for longer than 2 hrs. So when she does her first yawn between 6-7, she has a bath, feed, swaddle and then to sleep in her nest in my bed. She usually sleeps solidly, sometimes we have to go up and reassure her a couple of times. then she wakes for the night feed between 2-4 am. Then she's up at 7-8. It seems to work really well. We have our evenings back!

Last week, however, she stopped sleeping during the day which was a nightmare. I don't know how she did it and she cried a lot. Then after our second osteopath appointment, she pooed 4 times the next day and went back to having her 3 naps a day (although she does now need swaddling in order to nap which she didn't when she was first born). Or she sleeps in the sling! I have one like a Kari-Me and now a Connecta (which I love as it is so easy).

Just about going to 100% cloth nappies, too, but need some proper night nappies to deal with the long sleep time. Not sure if DH really approves but he's keeping quiet about it so far.

We haven't had the 8 week jabs yet (they lost the paperwork and didn't register us) - does it really upset the babies?

Have started to put weight back on ; am blaming my mum but need to make more of an effort to get exercise.

Hope everyone is enjoying the cute smiles and the new things they do every day - as this is my first it's all really exciting, I'm really loving it.

oh and I'm another mum who runs every time the baby cries!

Oh Blanche, very impressed you are still managing the swimming with dd1 when it's all that effort, what a lovely mummy. I am finding myself in crazy situations too - staggering to the loo at 100 miles an hour with ds attached to me feeding to help dd with her newly-acquired toilet skills. I was a bit slow the other day and she came dancing though with her leggings pulled up. When I asked her if she'd wiped her bottom she proudly said she had, with the towel! But couldn't remember which one!!
Loving the new baby skills too :) :). Louie cooing and beaming, am transfixed! Tired but happy days.

deedee lol about the towel - so glad I have a 4yr old - been potty trained since 2 and a bit.

Well done MacMomo on the sleeps. We are kind of there too now. She does a big sleep in the evening. So I am staying awake so that I can wake her and feed her - see if that will give me a bit more sleep. Well done on the real nappies. I'm wimping out due to lack of space. Will start when weather improves.

Also gaining weight all the chocolate bars etc :(

Blanch wow on the swimming lessons.

Yup - loving gorgeous baby. Last baby for me I think :'( So making it extra special.

Have stayed up till 01.20 to see if I can give DD a knockout feed and sleep longer than 2 hrs. Wish me luck.

morning all, rocking pram trying to encourage DD to go to sleep, she is tired but fighting sleep.

hee hee re towel tale deedee

look forward to long night sleeps macmomo. hope not long til you have another long sleep sarrita DD usually only wakes once, but last night she woke twice, 2nd time to do a loud explosive sounding poo - when changed it was a tiny amount . DD only seems to be able to poo or fart if awake, maybe that is same for all babies, so often will wake up to do so.

not gained weight yet, but over course of 3 days I ate a whole pkt of choc carmel bicuits, OH last night said, "thought I bought some biccies", should have let him thinking he was going crazy. seem to be so hungry at times and get major sweetness need.

blanche very impressed you are even trying the swimming. hope DD1 gets peace to get some swimming done. hoping to get DD in pool soon, we have a warm pool nearby but it is closed while centre gets refurbished.

using real nappies most of the time. OH will occ put one on but prefers disposable, more of a mind set than it is any more effort, he just seems to think it is. got fast drying nappies so they are almost dry when come out of machine. helps with the drying space, fir someone so little DD creates a lot of washing!

adoring our smiles and constantly developing girl .

macmomoI read that most babies will be a bit fussy for a few days after jabs. DD gets hers next week. Hope not too bad as we head to see my parents and bro/SIL/new nephew the next day.

DD had her jabs yesterday, screamed a bit when they went in, more just objecting than anything else. Slept all afternoon then woke very unhappy in the evening but she was ok and slept fine overnight. Resisted the calpol as Doc said it would lessen the effects but had it on hand. (I would have given her it tbh but DH said to wait and she got better). She's fine today.

Just dyed my hair bright red (anyone who's seen Glee will know the colour; Live colour XXL) disaster, all patchy, looks like a cheap witch wig. Already made an appointment with hairdresser tomorrow.

readyornotGlad DD got over injections quickly. Hope trip to hairdressers works well. Maybe problems with dye are related to post pg hair. Have yet to notice the falling out in clumps you are supposed to get, but mine feels quite dry. So does some areas of my skin. My knees now have very dry patches.

DD must be going through a growth spurt, she was constantly hungry yesterday. Typical, I wanted to express yesterday so I could leave her with grannie today, couple of things I need to do, and minus baby easier. Only managed 1 1/2 oz (which OH ended up having to give her when I had taken dog for a walk yesterday evening). Shopping now postponed to tomorrow. Odd thing was she only wanted fed once through the night.

Confessions time - OH bought small box of chocs at wknd, I know they are bday pressie for me, I secretly opened the bottom and took out a couple and then resealed box. We did pay for them as part of our weekly shop so I feel justified.

Hello

blanche [shoock] at the hives, poor you really not what you needed! My 2 boys are the complete opposite in every way, mad really how different they can be I know! Very impressed that you've managed to do swimming lessons!
sarrita WOW at the sleep at night time! We haven't managed more than 4 hours in one stretch yet, and the boys didn't sleep for longer than 6 hours until they got to about 6/9months!
walkthedog at box of choc raid...something I would do!! How's your SIL and nephew getting on now?

Very envious of the lengths of sleep some of the babies are doing now! Hopefully we'll start getting there over the next couple of weeks. Arabella has ANOTHER cold and now an ear infection (due to the constant colds), so think that's why sleep isn't getting any better yet. She can do up to 3/4hours in one stint, then 2 hours in between. But she's so gorgeous and is smiling lots so that's keeping be going!

We had a great weekend in Wales, stayed in a holiday home on the coast and we were practically on the beach! Fabulous views and the boys just loved building sandcastles all weekend. Then had Ds1's 3rd birthady party on Monday - talk about chaos! Just kept it simple at home with family, a few friends and a chicken curry, but the house was still trashed afterwards (really need to sort it out now as it's Weds!)

I also hate to hear a baby cry, but somehow I have to try and block it out if baby's crying and one of the boys need seeing too - it's very hard Thankfully it hasn't happened often.

Think I've come to the decision to not go back to work Supposed to start back in 4 weeks (arabella would be 10wo), but just don't have it in me anymore. I just want to stay at home for a while I think and enjoy the next year before ds1 starts school. Will prob offer to do some casual work for them as and when for some extra spending money. Thinking of re-training as a secondary school teacher as I think that would work well with the dc's as they get older. And I think I would really love it. So looking at the Open University science degrees and will prob do that whilst I'm not working.

Off to sort out this house >