April 2011; springtime arrivals - blackbird, song thrush, mistle thrush, nipple thrush, nappy thrush...

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Here we are, our new thread and this time we all have our babies !

I thought we were getting thrush again, but then realised I had let ds's latch get sloppy. He was constantly clicking and tutting at the breast but I was too distracted to notice.

Ds and I made butterfly cakes together this morning, ds got to choose the colour of the buttercream icing ..... It is a very lurid shade of pink and they are covered in sugar strands. You can never have enough sugar!

Hurray for your DH Petal! It's a shame you had to cut it short but sounds like it was the best thing to do. You did well to stick it out as long as you did xx

H went from 10.30-4.30 then 5.30-8, would have been ok if the cats, DP and a delivery man hadn't woken me in succession!

Sorry you had to cut short your camping trip, petal. M's sick is often chunky and yellowy if that helps?

Enjoy the wedding, cycle. Did you get an agreement on bringing H?

No hair-loss here but I never got luxuriant growth and shed hugely all throughout so I guess I wouldn't notice!

Quick poll:
Sort the sleep routine using whatever means necessary and the associations will follow
OR
Sort the sleep associations (putting down awake etc) and routine will follow

Frak I vote for the first option, it's what I've done anyway and TBH R seems to have picked it up quite well, she knows when bedtime is and doesn't need to be rocked or shushed to sleep now, only took about 2 weeks to get to this stage.
Usual day goes like this (starting at night) - bath at 9.30, last feed between 10 and 10.30 and bed as soon as that's done (no later than 11) she sleeps til about 6 or 7 has another feed and goes back down again usually til about 9, then gets up, feeds again, nappy changed and dressed, nap again around 10.30/11 for an hour, lunch at 12.30 and then nap again about 1.30 (this varies in time, sometimes an hour sometimes longer. Then she's pretty wakeful for the rest of the afternoon, feeds again at 4.30, then again at 7.30, sometimes has a little power nap between then and bath time and then it starts all over again.

This week I have started trying to pre-empt the 2 main day time naps and have been putting her down in her big cot in her own room, to get her used to it for when she goes in on her own, not a day I'm looking forward to it has to be said! DP wants her in now but I'm not keen until she's sleeping a good 10-12 hours solid as it will only disturb DSS when he is staying if she wakes up early or during the night.

Is it unusual for babies to start teething as early as 3 months? R drools like there's no tomorrow and constantly has a fist jammed in her mouth. Today she even took to sucking my thumb cus her own obviously wasn't quite hitting the spot!!

Weather is doing my head in here just now, think we've had one and a half days of sun in the last month. I wouldn't mind if it even just stayed dry but it rains constantly :(

Haven't started losing my hair yet, but I am waiting for it. Mine is usually very thin but is still super thick, so guessing it's not started to go yet.

Oh oh nap time sounds like it's over...........

Nope just the dummy falling out!!

Frak I would sort the routine and then deal with the associations. I am a huge believer in doing whatever is necessary for peace and harmony. Sling, feeding to sleep, whatever it takes.
I'm definitely agonising about it all a lot less this time around - DS2 basically has to fit in with whatever is going on with DS1, and I will use any and all methods to achieve a smooth result!!

MrsW - DS1 had cut two teeth by the time he was 14 weeks old!

yay, we're home! Me & F have just had a brilliant hours nap.on the sofa (only way I can get him to sleep more than 30 mins).

I do love camping, and it was a shame to bail, but I couldn't handle not being able to control F's environment. We'll try again when he's more robust.

Ha! This is huge pfb-ness isn't it!

Thanks for the sick comprarisons, he's fine, of course.

frak we've gone for routine (night times only now, daytime went out the window with that suspected growth spurt), and must work on associations. We feed/cuddle to sleep at the mo. (well, I do, he won't settle for DH. Must work on that).

Any suggestions of how teach him to self-settle would be be appreciated. If he wakes on transfer its a full-on scream-fest.

Oh, I'm such a homie, we were ohnly away a couple of days but I'm so happy to be home. I might give the house a little hug later (when DH isn't looking, he'll have me committed!)

It's not PFBness Petal, I know people on their second and third SC who have cut holidays short because it wasn't working! Glad you're home and happy.

H is also teething I reckon, drooling, red cheeks, very hard gums and fist in mouth all the time.

Petal You go hug your house! I always go around mine saying hello to things when I've been away, "hello my sofa", "hello all my books", "hello my lovely, big bed"! >Beetle is a weirdo emoticon<

S is teething too, has been for two or three weeks and we had to resort to Calpol last week (at least I've now mastered getting it into him instead of all over me!). He's actually managed to make his fist sore from rubbing it against his gums.

We had 12wk jabs yesterday so yesterday afternoon and today haven't been much fun, thankfully I was prepared after last time so it wasn't quite so traumatising.

Have any of the other BF'ers found that with feeding more during the hot weather they're now perma-leaking milk? Or is it just me? I had to get changed twice during the night and have leaked through and over everything today, even ended up expressing because I was still uncomfortable after feeding this afternoon, and I was so enjoying not having boobs!

I've been perma-leaking for the last week or so Beetle but hadn't connected it to the hot weather. Have been wondering why it's suddenly started happening though, particularly as I thought supply was meant to settle down a bit now I'm around the eight week mark. I've been going through breast pads at a ridiculous rate - they're costing me a bleeding fortune!

Frak - I too would go for routine before sleep associations. However I think we're still about a million miles away from either at the moment!

Beetle - yes, today has been better but yesterday morning I woke up in a lake!

Petal - it isn't PFB-ness, it's just a shift in priorities. We cut a weekend away short when DS1 was about 5 months old because he just wasn't happy at all and decided to have a growth spurt.

T won't stop yelling this evening, no idea what is the matter. :(

Frak - sleep by whatever means possible, then work out the other stuff later.

I went out to orchestra, slightly freaking Dh out as it was his first time i/c 3 DC & as i've done it loads by now. And the DD cried for 45mins on and off, oops.

I always leak loads so haven't noticed an increase, me & breastpads are best friends :)

After a fab 10hr stretch 2 nights ago, DD was up twice in the night last night & then up early too, no chance of expressing a load off today.

Petal - realising you need to change plan is very useful as a parent :) We camped with DS1 when he was toddling (he escaped out of the tent once!) and that was a challenge enough, haven't tried it again since!

Arrrgh...I feel rubbish.

P went down t 8 - 10.45, waking for a quick feed (we usually dream feed round this time anyway), back to sleep at 11.15pm and then woke again at 1.50am. That's the earliest she's ever woken in the morning. I feel so frustrated.

She used to reliably go to 4am but it's been getting earlier and earlier recently. I feel like I'm going mad. I've just tried to feed but she doesn't seem to be taking much, just sucking and fussing. She doesn't want to go back to sleep now either. I know that once she does got back down, she doesn't usually stay down for long after this feed. I'm not prepared to start by day in the godforsaken early hours of the morning. I feel SO tired...

What's going wrong????

Star Totally feeling you, DI has always slept well till about 7.30ish but past week or so she has odd days of waking at 5 or 6am. Today is a 5am, I thought they are meant to get better at sleeping and start sleeping more, not less !! I tried some rocking to try and sooth her without a feed to no avail, so she is at least deflating my Iron Maidens !

Lucky I have my IPhone for company whilst DP gets to sleep, who actually had the nerve to sigh in annoyance when she started whimpering !! Hello you were asleep again in 2 minutes !! Right peed me off !!

I want to join some kind of baby/mummy class as don't really know any other mummies. What's everyone recommend ??? was thinking of a pram workout or maybe a music,swimming, massage class ?? Anyone with some experience in any, got any advise/suggestions ??

Ok, till my little one finishes feeding im off to read my book from my IPhone kindle app, books are so cheap on a kindle, 99p for my book and app was free !!

Well, DH managed to get her to sleep again but she's just woken herself up doing the most explosive poo! I'm hoping that after a quick change and feed I might be able to encourage her to come back to bed for an hour or so...

Aussie - I've been thinking about starting a class too, more for my benefit (to meet other mums) than P's at the moment. A friend has recommended baby massage at our local sure start centre and baby sensory sessions, which are run privately. She said her daughter liked baby sensory from a young age and that it's a sociable group. If you google 'baby sensory', you can find your nearest class.

T is awake earlier than usual today too. The most likely explanation is thirst because it is warmer atm.

Aussie- massage class is lovely, and swimming. I did both with ds1 and we loved them!

Petal can't help with self settling tips, we just started using R's dummy instead or rocking her and she loves it, actually maybe that's not self-settling if she's using a prop, so to speak! Ah well who cares she goes to sleep and that's the main thing!!

Last night she fell asleep at 10.30 during her feed and had only had 2 ozs - fully expected to be woken up at 3am or some other ridiculously early time but she slept right through til 7am - how does that work? I can give her 6 ozs before bed and she'd still wake at 5 some mornings!! Bizarre. Anyway now she isn't playing ball because she wants to stay up!! Which is a perfectly reasonable time to be getting up but today I need to get myself organised as I have a pedicure appt at 9.30 and was relying on her to go back to sleep like she usually does - guess I can't have it all!
Maybe I should be in the shower instead of on mn!!

Aussie My DP grumbles all the time if he gets woken at night! What annoys me more than that is that at the weekend when it's hi turn to do the feeds, he insists on waking up the whole house doing it - lamp on, chatting to R etc etc!! Just do it bloody quietly in the dark like I do so I can stay asleep grrrrr!!

Oh also on the subject of classes, I went to mothers & toddlers for the first time yesterday. Not sure how it will pan out as I'm useless at meeting and chatting to new people! There are only 2 ladies with new babies, one of whom I already know (and am not all that keen on) and the other who's baby was prem, he is the same age as Robyn but a lot smaller. Tried to make polite conversation with her but she didn't seem very interested. She also has anolder child there so she has been going a while and seems to already have a group IYSWIM. Ho hum, will go again and hopefully after a few weeks I'll be less anxious about it!

Also waiting on my HV to start baby massage class and will go to that. Going to look into baby swimming too as R loves the bath.

Hi ladies. Advice pls. Mil gave s a bottle yest. My choice in prep for 15th when they babysit. He didn't take as much as he would for me but he was happy. His choice to stop. He did burp but when I fed him later he bought LOADS back and did a massive poo which leaked. He then became unsettled 2 hours later so I tried to feed him but he only took 5 mins and kept crying. I was at a mates and s fell asleep in the car. Then went off to bed easily when we got home. Because if sickness etc I want sure how long he'd go. Its been 7 hours between feeds last two nights. He woke me at half 2 but he was only farting. He usually does this about 630am. We went back to sleep and he woke up an hour later for a feed and bought that back up. Went to sleep again. Woke me at 5.30 farting again then back to sleep til 730. Fed. Bought it back up again. Is now asleep in his swing. I wondered if mils feed has anything to do with it? I know they take in more air on the bottle and s generally doesn't wind well hence the farting. It was only his 3rd go on a bottle. Should I try infacol which makes him sick also? Should I be worried? He seemed happy enough most of the time. I don't think mil tipped the bottle enough. I did try to tell her by saying he gets a faster flow from me so needs more flow from the bottle. Ge had been out of sorts from fri and wed was his first normal day so could also be linked? I also have an upset tum but had beef roll for lunch and lasagne for dinner and I'm even more intolerant of red meat since s.

J and I do Water Babies swim classes, which have been fun. The other mums are nice, although we haven't really done any socialising out of class. But once you join a class the idea is you follow it through with the same group for a whole year (although you can stop if you want). I have other friends who have done water babies who say it has given their kids massive confidence in the water. I think more than other swim classes it's very focused on water safety and confidence, so they do underwater swims from birth, exercises teaching them to hold on to the side etc.

Aussie I loved doing mother & baby yoga with DS and it was great for meeting others. Swimming tends to be more rushed in and out of changing rooms and the pool so I never got to know the other women really. Lovely thing to do though regardless.

Awful night here last night too. S had her jabs yesterday so I'm praying it was that and that tonight is better. I resorted to calpol and the dummy. A few weeks ago I tried a dummy but she kept spitting it out but yesterday evening she was in such a state and she gladly took it. She rejected the boob though all night in favour of the dummy so kept waking up and was really unsettled. I feel like I don't know what I'm doing as DS was totally different in terms of nights and settling to sleep. He was a total boobymuncher who'd always take the boob and always fell asleep on the boob. Feeling a bit wobbly today which I'm sure is down to the lack of sleep and it having been a long week. Already looking forward to

kitty how's S doing now? I think if he seems happy in himmself and is not dehydrated, so feeding and weeing normally now, then I wouldn't be too worried. Hope he's had another feed by now and that it has stayed down.

Also, ladies, Jo finally got an appointment with the TT clinic for last Weds and it turned out she did have a posterior TT which they snipped. However, the doctor warned me that it wouldn't be a panacea especially at the relatively advanced age of 9 weeks with 5 weeks of predominantly bottle feeding under her belt. And she doesn't seem to be latching any better yet.

I've started a thread here on the feeding boards canvassing opinion on how to get her back onto breast; any advice from April ladies would be welcomed. Lis, I know you've struggled 'post-snip'.

TBH I'm wondering whether it's even worth bothering now and feel weary at the thought of yet more ... well, effort, frankly. I've spent so much of the last 9 weeks obsessing over BF and the various permutations of what could be wrong and how to fix it, I'm starting to feel quite sick of thinking about it. She's happy and thriving on a diet of mostly formula, maybe I should just make my peace with it. On the other hand, they have just done this thing which could potentially help massively so I feel like I should give it 'one last shot'. I do love it when it goes well, it's just such a small proportion of the time, and the rest of the time it seems to be painful, frustrating or both.

Hugs caramel and ecuse

caramel he is still weeing ok, and did another poo earlier too. He only had a little feed last time but kept it down and is taking this one better too. Hurrah.

ecuse I would say do what works without stressing you both out. You have done your absolute best. What about expressing so its ur milk? Sorry if you have already said about that.

A VERY runny nappy and a bit of sick but he's happy.

Ecuse Agree it's entirely up to you and what works for both of you but I know personally I gave myself a really hard time for not "trying" harder with BF and I didn't have a TT to contend with and I bailed on it a lot earlier than you! So if you think you've really done all that you can then so be it but if there's a little bit of you that wants to give it one last go then I say go for it, I wish now that I had tried a bit harder to persevere with it. Once your milk's gone it's one. Sorry if that sounds a bit brutal, it's not intended to.
And re: expressing, if you're wearied at the thought of BFing, you will most definitely tire of expressing very quickly!! I struggled a lot with it. Although I know for others it has been really successful (ie Lis) but again just do what you need to do. I think I only carried on with expressing til 6 weeks to appease my own guilt over not BF.

Currently M is bucking the trend of you all with sleeping. We've had 2 really good nights of about 8 hours waking up around 7am :) I can't believe it. Of course I've probaby jinxed it now.

We've just finished a 5 week baby massage course at the local Childrens centre, it wasn't very well attended but 3 of us did all the sessions. We've also kept up the massage at least once a day. M loves it (unless she's too tired) and especially from DH it seems. Maybe it's helped with her sleep?

I'm now thinking of investigating baby yoga, swimming would be good too.

On a less good note I seem to have a sore bit on my c-section scar again! Just a tiny bit of blood; don't know if hair growing through had irritated it or maybe knicker elastic. I wish it would heal properly :(