March 2011 - we made it!

[Muser]

The waiting is over, the babies are arriving. March 2011 mums, come on in your time is up.

Morning to all! So great seeing you and your sweeties on FB!!!

For the first time Franz slept a 6-hour stretch, I'm so thrilled and shocked at the same time! Now I'm trying to get him to eat but he's in such a good mood he just wants to play! :)

Sittinghippo, I'm impressed that you finally got the sleeping feeding pose, I'm still trying to figure that out before my supply diminishes...

Lozario, your spag bol has made me hungry! Hope you enjoyed!

Last night DH came home w/ the bouncy chair that I've dreamt of () for months, and Franz had a blast! Hopefully this means I'll be able to shower on time today to get to GP appt for shots and first real check up, then to my BP follow up (dare I schedule TWO appts in ONE day?!)

Morning all,

Lovely night here. E slept from about 8pm. Moved him to his cot at 10.30 then he woke up at 3.30am. makes me wish I went to bed at 8pm and got a good solid sleep. But still grateful. Not counting my chickens though.

Lovely to see everyone on FB. You have prob noticed that everyone is an admin so can let people in and amend things. Will switch to a secret group later today as the majority are there now. Anyone that isnt can post here and we can swap back to closed whilst they find us.

I made a chilli yesterday and a spag bol for next Thursday (swimming day) and meatballs because DH is a fussy eater and doesnt like my chilli - far too accommodating I am.

Mini rant. DH is going shoppign today for yet more stuff for the BIL wedding and then said he was going to his mums for lunch. We have a bake sale at school today and he knows I am part of the PTA and therefore have been badgering people to make cakes and now he says I shouldnt go to the supermarket and buy ingredients and a cake tin to make a cake because we are short on money! He is insisting on hiring a car on sunday for part of this wedding and possibly next week despite my mum offerin her car FREE. Then he says why am I making so much effort with baking a cake for DS1's class when I dont bake at home. Honestly right royally p'eed off.

Rant over.

Am also loving the FB group - lovely to see photos of everyone's DC's.

Not a happy morning here. For the last 2 days DD has been screaming all the time - often waking from a nap like that or going from a smile to a scream in a split second.

I check nappy, cuddle her, the offer the boob if she doesn't stop crying. Usually she will frantically suck and then scream again after 5 minutes, pulling off with my milk going everywhere. I then have to spend ages trying to winding her, carrying her upright. She either burps or stops crying because is upright but then a few minutes later cries to be put down. She then is calm again.

When she is calm I notice her sucking her hands so offer the boob and again 5 minutes into a feed she screams. This process goes on until she falls asleep. She is fine overnight when I feed lying down so I assumed it was an overactive letdown making her unhappy. I keep changing feeding position but it doesn't seem to help. I have tried to express a little first, to trigger letdown & then put her on but it doesn't seem to help either. Poor baby- she isn't happy.

Currently she is in the moby, sleeping off the stress of the morning although is starting to wriggle wanting out.

Maybe I will try infacol to make sure she can get all the wind out? Otherwise I'll speak to the bf experts next week.

i've asked to join too, excited to see all your LO's!!!
awful night here, third in a row so a bit zombified today, lulled into false sense of security with couple nights of 4 hourly feeds....
Need to have a big old rant about OH too but no time now!!!

Mine's a bit like that at the moment, flo. In our case we think it is reflux, so you could well be right about the wind.

Izzy can be like that too, especially in the evening. I wonder if its my milk supply and she is just hungry.

mixedmama - Dh is in trouble here. Moaning about being tired with his 8hours sleep....!
Diet started yesterday. Oh joy!

haloflo Lara does that sometimes - usually when she's exhausted and wants to suck but not feed. (so when I try to feed her then it just chokes and stresses her out) Last night she calmed down when I put her down on my bed and let her suck my little finger for a while. She'd probably take a dummy but I'm a bit weary of relying on one!

I am loving the Fb page, many thanks to mixed for setting it up. What a bunch of beautiful babies we all have

I tried expressing a bit more before her last feed but accidently got 1oz out. It worked though and she didn't choke or cry during the feed and wasn't windy afterwards either. Just need to be careful I guess or I will increase my ample supply. Am wary of introducing a bottle in case she prefers the constant flow.

Sorry to hear there are more grumpy babies. Medee - I don't know anything about reflux but I hope there is something you can do.

cheese&biscuits My diet starts after my 6 week check...maybe. Am just so hungry at the moment though. The cheek of your DH - mine is the same though!

Haloflo, you could try the medela calma bottles if you're worried about flow. They are meant to mimic a boob, if the baby doesn't suck they don't get milk. No constant flow.

Ok it took so long to settle Lara last night that I'm now thinking of using a dummy!! She's fine once she's asleep but getting her to sleep is a challenge -I'm not ready to let her cry it out yet. Thoughts/experiences on dummies?

Mine is not interested in dummies. She spits them out. People I know who've had success have mostly used the Mam dummies.

I just go for feeding to sleep to settle. She cluster feeds at night anyway, but will then sleep for over 6 hours so I figure it's a price worth paying.

We've recently introduced one to help with EA's reflux (the sucking is meant to relieve the acid reflux). We set some ground rules - only in the evening, only once all other possible issues have been ruled out, and not replaced when spat out when asleep. It does seem to help settle her, but she goes to sleep after her night feeds without it. It's really just late afternoon/ early evening she seems to need the extra comfort. I do let her comfort feed too, but it doesn't always settle her enough.

I've got a dummy. Never ever thought I'd use one but Elijah is one sucky boy and if I don't give him a dummy he sucks madly on his sleeve/hands/ anything and gets upset. Short of having him hang off my boob all day it's the only thing I can do! He barely needs it at night and I know when he needs it in the day- when he's sleepy he just needs it to calm down. I have plenty of time with him without it in for him to speak and look about calmly. He's only 5 weeks so am hoping that when there are other things to distract him or he learns to suck his thumb/fingers I'll stop the dummy.

He doesn't really need it at night strangely. I wonder if it's partly boredom?

Found you guys on facebook- really cool to put a face to names and see your little ones!

We seem to have a sort of pattern of feeding at 7pm, 10pm, 2am then 5/6am (but not happily settling to sleep again at 5/6am- this seems to be morning!) and sleeping in the cradle. Quite happy with this at 5 weeks. Hope it stays for a while!

Thank you muser they look really good. Have you used them? No problems I take it?

Lozario I've not used a dummy so can't help put Hannah doesn't really seem to comfort suck. I tried putting my little finger in her mouth when I thought she was overtired as you said it soothes Lara . She sucked briefly then gave me such a look of disgust!

Kpidgeon The only pattern i've noticed is that Hannah also wakes between 5 and 6 too.

She is asleep now, looking like a angel who hasn't screamed the place down since the start of Dr Who. I'm going to enjoy a becks blue in front of the tv and then get early night I think.

Can someone pm me details of the fb group please? Thanks in advance

Also not so good today - got a blocked duct.' am currently in bath and massaging it.'there is a White spot on my nipple which I suspect I'd where the mischief is. Grrr and I was doing so well. It is so annoying since the advice is to rest and as a result i feel like a bit of a lemon.Hopemit doesn't become mastitis.

Geeklove I have messaged you. I hope the blocked duct clears & doesn't turn into mastitis. I had one which went after a couple of days. I took paracetamols for the pain, took 2 hot baths a day and fed to clear it. Fingers crossed for you.

Ooh Geek it's nasty, I had one the week before last. In the end Lara shifted it for me whilst I lifted boob slightly - think it unblocked something by moving boob as she fed.

Hope you get that duct cleared soon Geek.

haloflo they are what we used when I could be bothered to express milk. I kind of lost enthusiasm for the whole process and fully expect her to refuse a bottle next time I try. We had problems when we kept them tipped up the way I was always taught you were meant to with a bottle - to avoid too much air getting in. You don't need to do that and if you do when they suck the milk comes quickly and freaks them out. If you keep them horizontal the flow is a lot more manageable when they do suck. And they make an amusing whooshy noise.

Morning ladies,

took me a while to catch up - its been a busy few days on here :)

Anya is 6 and a half weeks old now and the 7 hours wasn't a one off! I hope it continues when I get back home. At the moment we go to bed at midnight and get up between 6am and 8am. I wonder if my very packed scedule is wearing her out in the day. Visited a friend yesterday who had a baby 9 months ago and was horrified when she told me how she was treated in hospital. A MW told her that since she only intended to BF for 6 weeks (she was getting married and going away without LO) she might as well not bother . I assume this isn't common?

Anya got a new dummy last night which she took for a while as she disliked the shape of her other one - I was still reluctant to give it but my mum insisted it was best to calm her. It was driving me crazy because I knew a cuddle would make her stop but my mum insists I'm giving her bad habbits since she'll only sleep on me.

Didn't have the most plesent trip through London - who knew the tube wasn't buggy acessiable from Waterloo and Euston. Makes no sence, I had to rely on the kindness of strangers to help get the pram up and down the steps.

Joined the FB group. Look forward to catching up when I get home.

Tried Athur with a dummy but he refused, which is a blessing and a curse as he will suck on my finger all day given the chance.

We have solved Arthurs boredom crying by giving him some complex visual stimulation (aka black and white patterns!) which he will stare at for a good 10-15 mins but now we have to figure out how to send him to sleep. The boob doesn't seem to do it anymore and rocking only works until we stop. Anyone got any magic solutions?

Oh petty that sounds exactly like whats going on here!
Beth will not accept a dummy, so am going to buy a Mam one and see if that makes a difference. (nor will she accept a bottle of expressed milk - so no going out without her just yet).
She gets bored and wants to sit up in the pram (already??!!) when we are out and about - she is not quite 8 weeks.
She has recently started sucking on the boob to drift off to sleep - this is quite recent, she didnt comfort suck for the first 6 weeks.
She only naps in the pram if it is moving - arrgh! Wakes up within seconds if it stops...

So magic solutions would be very welcome... ...anyone?

Night times are easier though, she goes off to sleep quite quickly in her Moses basket- around 8pm, wakes at 2am for a feed, goes straight back to sleep. Then wakes again at 4.30 and 6.30. So the first 6 hours is great, but then its only 2-3 hours after that.

1Catherine1 poor you coping on the tube - not fun, I absolutely refused to go to London without another adult with me while DD1 was still in pushchair. And now it's even worse with a preschooler and a baby -not even going to attempt it!

The dummy issue is a tricky one, current guidelines recommend one, but it is so nice if you dont come to rely on them.
At risk of offending anyone on here, I really dislike seeing awake babies with a dummy in the mouth.
If I can get Beth to take a dummy it will be for nap times and bed times only. Did this successfully with DD1, only problems came as she got older and dummy fell out during night she would wake crying, so I had to get up and put it back in for her , almost a step backwards! Oh, and then of course there is the visit from the 'Dummy Fairy' when it is time to let go of the dummy habit!

Oh I almost forgot; halo and petty I had a go at the saddle hold - felt really strange!!
DD's head kept lolling over to one side, so I felt like I had to support her body even more than normal.
Might have another go at this when she is stronger in the back and neck!

Morning all!

catherine - poor you, that sound slike jolly hard work. We haven't ventured on the tube yet - the bus is hard enough. Well done you! I wouldn't worry about the bad habits, Anya is still very little. My mum said something similar to me. I ignored it and Isobel now sleeps quite happily in her moses basket. It just happened on its own accord.

sittinghippo - No magic suggestions. We had a terrible day with Isobel yesterday (72hrs post vaccines). She screamed from 2pm till 8pm ish. and was awake from 11am-11pm! I have no idea what was up, we tried everything! Even calpol! Shes currently asleep but I am going to wake her up in a bit and try to get her back into our usual daily routine. I normally taking Izzy out in her carrycot but I might try her in the pram bit of it and see if she prefers that now!

Izzy wont take a dummy but happily sucks at fingers. Wish she could work out how to put her fingers in her mouth.

Geek - I hope the boob is better, poor you. My deepest sympathies havign had something similar.