*~*~* August 2010 *~*~* where does the time go?

[CherryPie3]

Only 5 spaces left on the old thread - wonder how long it'll take us to fill ths one up?

Happy chatting :)

Congratulations GYA on the scan, keep us updated, very excited for you.

Oh Nat poor you, I can't even begin to comprehend how tired you must be feeling, my heart goes out to you. Most certainly, do NOT feel bad about the BF routine, you know your LO better than anyone else, and just because other NCT mums and MIL (with impaired memory no doubt) don't/didn't need to feed as often doesn't mean you don't have to. Do whatever is right for you and Eli. You will always have our support from this thread so you are not alone.

Hope you feel better soon and feel free to rant as much and as often as you like. Sending you lots of hugs x

Thanks for the kind words lovelies. Feeling a lot better the last couple of days. DH and I have been taking it in shifts to deal with E's wakings so we're actually getting proper chunks of sleep and the world feels a lot more sane! We had previously refused to do that because sleep in separate beds seemed like the last straw, but it has actually been worth it. And E is definitely responding to CC, thank goodness, and beginning to resettle himself at night.

Marzi that makes me feel so much better!

Enjoy the sunshine! Xx

Ha! Hellooooo? Only mad people chat to themselves on the interweb, right?!

Question for you ladies unrelated to sleep. How the HELL do you feed a baby who now hates spoons entirely, but also just mauls all finger foods to oblivion?

OR, to rephrase, what are you feeding your babies that's nutritious but kind of indestructible? I await your sage advice.

nat I'm here, just had a friend and her toddler girl over for a few days so I didn't get time to post. Have you tried pasta with various sauces/cheese/pesto? or cheese twists? or risotto mushed into fingers? shepherd's pie? vegetable stew?
posting this, I'll be back in a tick

nat just completely ignore anyone who tells you you're feeding your LO too much or too little, it's utter, utter rot. S feeds 1-2 overnight, 8.30am 12.00 6.00pm so that's 4 or 5 in 24 hours depending on how often he wakes up at night. I feed to sleep every time despite talking about cc-ing I just haven't got around to it yet.
S eats the stuff I mentioned above, the veg stew I make quite thick and let him get his hands in.
I hope things get better for you soon!

gya glad the scan went well :)

Hey everyone! Bow is a little baby boy! Anabelle's little brother is going to be called Alexander Jon (Xander for short) :) Having a very happy day!

Brilliant news! So glad he flashed you so you could give him his proper name. Have a hot chocolate or something to celebrate :)

Updated my blog with some pics from today! cazandbelle.blogspot.com/2011/06/alexander-jon.html

Whoop whoop! Amazing Caz. congratulations! Lovely name too.

And thanks Chulita! I feel much better about how much (or not!) I'm still breastfeeding. It's so easy to feel like you're doing something weird/wrong.

Report in from this week - massive leak in E's room due to rains on Sunday night. Had to bring him into our room and he's now sleeping horribly again. Argh! His room is pretty trashed though, so God knows when he'll be back in there. And he's got SO clingy this week too. Where's my happy California baby got to?!

Anyhoo, hope you're all well. Trying to keep this thread going a bit, but seems like it's on its last legs. :(

I know what you mean nat, I think everyone's just getting on with rl, how very dare they!?
Is he teething? They do get a 9 month-ish growth spurt, maybe it's that. Rubbish about his room, hope you can get it fixed soon, I only had S in our room for 2 nights recently and I was sooooo happy to get his room back!

i'm still here! Currently pumping in the first aid room at work. I find it a real shock to the system when I have to share a room with E. We lowered the cot yesterday as she managed to pull herself up to standing, not good! E fell off my bed this morning, not hurt but not happy. I put her there while I was finding cycling shorts and looked away for a second and she crawled off. Felt pretty crappy.
Work's going ok, my dh absolutely loved his first full monday with her and she was in a brilliant mood when I came home. Only downside at the moment is persistent early wakings, sometimes before 6. I can sometimes feed her and put her down but it tends to mess up her naps. I don't think its the light because a couple of months ago when it was really bright we didnt have this problem. Any tips?

Nope! We were doing better with E waking up properly at 6.30 (after being wakeful from about 4.30 onwards). But now he's waking up and refusing to go down again at about 5am. Brutal! It means he's knackered by 7.30 and the whole day just sort of gets off kilter from there... I don't think it's the light either, or the bed time. Any one else got any suggestions?

How are you finding expressing at work, Belly? how often do you do it? I don't particularly want to start E on formula when I go back to work but (and I know this sounds stupid) I don't really want to have to bung my milk in the fridge with everyone's yoghurts and sandwiches and stuff. Some of the guys at my work are pretty blokey and I think it will make them and therefore me uncomfortable. Or is that not an issue for you? Also our facilities (the manky loos) are pretty grim. We'll see. Anyway, it's lovely that your DH has a day at home!

No tips either for the early waking I'm afraid - I just try not to let him have his morning nap too early in case that reinforces it.
Great news caz :) very exciting. I love the name too.
J has been poorly this week - woke up monday night with a very high temp and was sick :( Think he's better now but has been a bit grumpy and miserable.
Glad things have been going well belly, are you enjoying your work?

Nat don't they have to provide you with a separate fridge? Or could you take a coolbag with ice packs? Breastmilk is very resilient and lasts ages. They DEFINITELY have to provide you with somewhere to pump that's not a loo. Anyone who pumps has my utmost respect! I probably would just go to morn and eve, your boobs will cope with different supply (I can go all day and not feed daniel and not feel too full eg when I went to the FA Cup final and was out all day.)

Daniel's waking at 6.30 but twins are up at 6 so it's no bother. At least he is sleeping through from 7pm so that's a big improvement. We put some extra blackout material over the window and he started sleeping later.

Trying to get my doula business up and running - please like my page at www.facebook.com/formbydoula

neez consider yourself liked! It's so ace that you're going to be a doula. They probably do have to provide me with a separate fridge. I'd probably have to make such a big song and dance about it though that I'll probably go the cool bag route. That said, dropping down to mornings and evenings sounds like the best plan. It's sort of where I thought we'd be at by 12 months anyway. I'm waiting for E to be less interested in the midmorning/midafternoon feeds... Guess I'll see where we are in about four - six weeks and decide whether I need to pump or not.

marzi sorry to hear J has been sick and glad to hear he's on the mend. I've got a screamy baby here - screamy as in basically having tantrums when he is put down/ignored for five mins/bored of what is happening. I thought this started at age 2!! I think it's tiredness, to be honest, because he's gone back to having two little cat naps (30 mins apiece) a day. Not sleeping in the sling, pram or cot really. I can't be bothered to get all worked up about it though because there's nothing much I can do except keep him on routine and give him the opportunity to nap at the right times!

Hi all, re expressing I just do once a day. I dont have a fridge to use but as I express at about 2 and home at 6ish it works ok, I just keep it in an insulated bottle bag. It has been a great source of amusement to my colleagues, some of whom are quite fascinated.

Work's going well so far - it was difficult the first couple of days working from home with my mum looking after e because she cried a lot, but now they seem to have great fun together. She seems to like her day at nursery but only sleeps 40 mins compared to a total of 3 hours... Hopefully that will increase as she gets used to it. And for the most part I'm enjoying work. Certainly not sitting there moping because I'm far too busy!

Hi all
I have the same Nat, my T was sleeping 8pm til 8am since he was 2 months and now all of a sudden I am lucky if he can make to 5 am. 5 past 5 this morning, don't know where my good little sleeper has gone to. Think it may be that his curtains are lighter here than the last house and so his room is brighter much earlier. Might get some black out blinds.

Neenz good doula page, wish you well and fingers crossed for your first client.

CazandBelle So so happy for you and what a wonderful name. Hope you enjoy every minute, you and DH deserve so much happiness.

Nothing much to report about really. T still isn't crawling, but he stands on his own, he prefers standing than sitting now, novelty I think. He has 4 bottom teeth which he is using to great effect for everything he eats and boy can he eat. Think someone mentioned a 9 month growth spurt earlier in this thread, I can believe that as T eats everything he sees. Thankfully he is not being fussy at all, he is enjoying tasting all that's put in front of him.

Hope everyone is well, take care, ta ta for now xx

That's good belly. I suppose there's so much going on at nursery that she doesn't want to sleep but as you say, she'll get used to it. Lol at your colleagues :) I suppose it must seem very bizarre to people who don't have any experience of bfing!

nat I sympathise! J had a tantrum when I stopped him putting his hands in the bin He actually threw himself down on the floor and cried!

I have liked you neenz. Funny, I picture you with brown hair - strange you make vague mental pictures of people you've never met (or is it just me?)

dogwalker how are you and T? Have you found an au pair yet?

x-posts dogwalker. Hope you crack the early mornings - seems to be a common theme on here!

S is still up at the crack of dawn. I'm going to get wider blackout linings for the curtains but other than that I can't block out much more light. I've stopped feeding him between 10ish and 5.30ish and tonight I'm going to drop the dreamfeed. It's our anniversary next week and my parents are going to watch them on Monday so we can stay at a hotel but obviously I need S not to be feeding!
Aaaaand AF came today of all the genius timings, first night away in 2 years and we ain't gonna be gettin' up to nufink.

Anyone up for a mini-survey?

Number of teeth?

Crawling/cruising/walking?

Number of feeds/bfs?

Naps?

Sleeping?

Clapping/singing/talking?

Anything else you fancy sharing?

S has 4 teeth

Cruising and took his first step yesterday but nothing since

5 bfs a day, 5.30, 8, 12, 6pm, 10pm

Naps at 8 for an hour ish and 12 for 2 hours ish

Bedtime around 6pm, wakes around 5am

Just learnt to clap on Wednesday and won't stop. Dances to music, says mama dada and baba to the right people

Loves drawing!

wow chulita, S is doing loads!

J has 3 teeth

He's crawling and cruising

Usually has 3 feeds per day and one in the night

Usually has 2 naps, sometimes 1, in total about 1.5-2.5 hours

Bedtime about 7.15, wakes usually 6.30ish but since being ill this week has slept in later (hurrah!)

Makes lots of noise but no words

No clapping or waving but lots of smiling and laughing. He crawls away and giggles if you chase him

Love a survey!

E has two teeth

He's crawling, not yet cruising

He has 4 feeds a day and one in the night

He is a TERRIBLE napper. Best day? 2.5 hours over 2 naps. Worst day? 20 mins.

I'd rather not talk about nights!

Bedtime about 6.30, usually wakes between 5-6am and I've been cheating by taking him into our bed and shoving a boob in his mouth to try and get a few more mins sleep!

Lots of different noises - says mama and dada, but not really in context.

Claps but doesn't wave.

Is a total rockstar. Heh.

Ooh, surveys are fun.

Still just one tooth

Crawling and occasionally something approaching cruising until she gets distracted.

Three feeds a day, unless there's a very early waking then another one gets snuck in in the hope of extra sleep.

Naps at 9am for 2ish hours, then afternoon nap is a moveable feast which can be an hour or can not happen at all

Bedtime at 7pm and wakes anywhere between 5.30am and 7am but like nat I apply vigorous boob and try and resist actually getting up until 7am.

Has been clapping since about 6ish months and waving for a few weeks.

Says mama quite a lot, sometimes in the right context, and said dadda to DH for the first time on Monday. We reckon she's 'said' 'oh yeah', 'hiya' 'bummer' 'Abba' 'Hamas' 'Rabbi' 'Imam' and 'Ararat' - draw your own conclusions about our active imaginations/interpretations...

Thinks being upside down is the funniest thing ever and makes a beeline for the catfood as soon as you put her on the floor. She hasn't managed to half-inch any yet, but she did eat a handful of grass last week

Oh, and if you point a camera at her, she stops, smiles and poses for the camera.

marzipan I am truly jealous of your mornings!

nat I'd love it if I could boob S in bed to get another 30 mins! Hopefully they'll all start sleeping a bit longer soon...

belly did you drop it to 3 feeds or did she do that herself? Clapping since 6 months eh? I think it's so cute!

S is awake odd for this time of night, off to boob and then call it a night I think!

oooh well S is 9.5 months now and not quite crawling but very very close and can manage to cover a bit of ground bum shuffling.

2 bottom teeth and I noticed today that the top 2 are starting to finally cut through after a very snotty 2 weeks.

She's been waving for a few months now but only started clapping on Wed and hasn't stopped since. Rocks out to loud music and loves to feed me with mucky yogurt covered hands, mmmmmm mmmmm.

2-3 breastfeeds a day, sometimes one during the night sometimes not.

Naps variable. Can sleep 45 mins - 2 hours in the morning, 30 mins - 1 hour in the arvo. Bed generally 7.30 - 7ish and is sleeping through more and more often.

Lots of sounds including lion roars!!

Neenz I've got some books I can send you for your doula library - The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, The Official Lamaze Guide: Giving Birth With Confidence and Childbirth Doesn't Have to Hurt. Other books that I loved so much that I can't part with but highly recommend are Ina May Gaskins Guide to Childbirth which inspired me massively and Kate Evans Food of Love amaaaaazing.

We are off to a field wedding in Dorset this weekend - S's first camping trip!