March 2011 Windy bums and a good nights sleep - Will these wonders ever cease?

[GeekLove]

welcome to the new thread fellow March Mums!

Now they are all rolling suckin and gearing up for weaning!

highland cutting out dairy from my diet has worked for Arthur. I don't know if it as because he was only a few weeks old when I did it, but I noticed a difference within just 3 days. I am reintroducing dairy now (to my diet) to see if its still a problem (I think it is) and to then get a referral too. I have just started a thread on weaning for meal plans for dairy/cmp intolerances - I'm not confident on how to give him a balanced diet without dairy? Let us know how you get on dairy free and once you get referred - I dont know if I can be bothered to go through the process when I'm pretty sure they will just tell me to keep him dairy free until 1-ish and then slowly introduce it.

Hello everyone, I've been reading but not managing to post. Glad to hear that cheese is on the mend, Bethan is doing so well and v jealous of the NY move ckny!

Sorry to hear things are so tough highland, I hope you start getting some help now. If it's any consolation we're still not sleeping through here. Still on 2 wakings a night.

Trying to think what my news is. Weaning is still going well. I'm still being a bit rubbish about managing to give her meat, just disorganised. I did make a fish pie the other week and spent the next day regretting it as every nappy stank of fish.

Crawling is driving me slightly crazy. She is still commando crawling and boy can she move fast! Last week she discovered the cat food bowls and the water bowl. Tipped them over herself. Lovely. We have been at the in-laws and today she revealed there that she can now open drawers. Nothing is safe!

I'm hoping we might be able to move soon. Trying to sell our flat and buy somewhere bigger. Think it's going to take a while though.

Just a quick post on IPhone as usual!
My period returned today :-( I had s feeling it was on it's way as past 2 weeks have been feeling crampy. Any other bfer's periods returned or am I the first?

highland Ethan is also suffering with constipations and has been since we stArted weaning, he went a while week without a pop he normally goes everyday GP prescribed movical she said the guidelines have changed and lactulose is no longer recommended (not sure why)
Ethan cries out in pain and when e does finally go it is like hard pellets.

Sleep is still a nightmare waking 2-3 times and up chatting away at 5am, also E will not nap properly I used to be able to feed him to sleep when I saw he was tired but now he fights it. I am so tired.

Anyway sorry for my absence I just don't get the time to post as often as I would like, I do check in when I can.

Hello long time no see...
1catherine1
I see it's not just me that at time feels a bit like they have been chewed up and spat out. I think it is a six month thing.'would be daft tonassume that it's JUST the baby. I'm back at work but now I really need my bed, feel tired and a bit gloomy and find that my gorgeous placid baby is now this irritably moody thing. On the plus side have lost 1kg this week impressive considering I end up doing less exercise since it's harder to fit it in. Add to that when I'm back to 4 days a week I am paying £900 a month in Childcare until January.
On the plus side DS1'is mastering the potty. Monday will see him in trousers (no nappy) to see if he can remove them in time. I give him a sticker per poo and wee sonhe has a very bounty potty!
With Michael I am mostly trying soup and BLW. Bread with Stuff works well. I am finding that baking sheets are useful -'bigger and harder to flip than plates.
So are people preparing for the heatwave?

For all those with constipated babies, have you tried cutting out the baby rice? I did so this week for my little one and now we have big full nappies again with none of the tears and straining.

Sorry i was on the ante natal thread and just lurked on here...barely find time to post after reading usual but I am having a quiet moment.

Glad to read all the little ones are growing so well and healthily!

me i had my first period a couple of weeks ago but it was hardly worth it!!!
hope everyone well and babies behaving!!
My DC full of cold and snotty so have been up loads last night and very tired! Hoping for a quieter night but i think i will be awake a lot as my baby sensor monitor has decided to break and i have no monitor! Cue lots of running up and down the stairs to check she hasn't woken! Could really do without it tonight but there we go!!
well off to bed now nite nite!!

Do you have an iPhone sam? You can download a babymonitor app that calls a phone of your choice if there is noise in the room. I used it as a monitor at the in-laws before we bought a proper one (when she still slept in our room at home so we didn't need one).

Welcome back Coraltoes, don't worry, we haven't forgotten you

Sam - I hope Cassie feels better soon. Anyone else not have a baby monitor? I never bothered to buy one as we lived in a 1 bed flat when she was born. Now we live in a 2 bed house I can hear her if she wants me to. She has her own way of shouting "mummy I want you to come and get me" and it sounds something like "uuuhhh, uuuuhhhhh, UHHHH". Still, it is only a 2 bed house so at night with both our doors open I can hear her as well as I could when we were in the same room.

Weaning has got slightly more adventurous this last week since she hit the 6 month mark. She eats everything - and was quite impressed by the piece of solider toast I gave her.

On a positive note, my useless OH has become less useless. I think I mentioned that he looks after her during the day as he works evenings. At first he wasn't coping well but now they are really bonding and (even though he won't admit it) he loves it. He is even getting her dressed before he takes her out rather than leaving her in her sleepsuit. I mean, the dress she was in tonight was on backwards but hey... baby steps

Anyway... I haven't finished my planning for tomorrow so I really must get on.

Long time no see everyone sorry I do try and keep up with news but don't get around to posting! I did put some pics on the fb page the other day though .

Dd2 started officially weaning today. Most of her baby porridge ended up on her bib but hey it was a start. Dd1 was a slow weaner too.

No period yet but as I have introduced bottle number 2 per day now, I fear it won't be long.

Welcome back Kagey too.... all emerging from the woodwork now

RE Periods - mine probably won't return. Before we were ttc I had the implant and hadn't had a period in over 2 years. I had one period then conceived. Got my implant put back in when Anya was 13 weeks old so hopefully no periods until next time we ttc and then I'm hoping it is just the one as I'm quite impatient.

Well I didnt get any more work done. Just browsed MN - bad bad bad, off to bed now. NN alll...

Hi there coral and Kagey good to hear from you again!

Catherine Glad OH has pulled his socks up! In fact if he's putting her in actual clothes for the day rather than a sleepsuit then he's one step further than I am! My LO loves toast too. Doing much more BLW now and as she turns 6 months this weekend I'm just starting to give her bits of whatever DS has. She even had some tuna pasta yesterday! Love the pic of Anya and your cat by the way!

monitors - During the day I don't bother - she's SO loud when she wants to be it's completely pointless, you can hear her from the garden! But for the evening I usually put it on as we have the TV on then and I might not hear her.

periods Nothing yet but I think after DS I got one around 6 or 7 months after weaning and was BF less. We'll see. Am a bit crampy.

Geek Sounds like the 6 month exhaustion is getting us all! Lara is suddenly much more difficult to settle which is hard work with a toddler running around downstairs too as you know. We've done pretty well on the potty training here too for DS but he can't pull his clothes up and down himself yet.

me I hope the sleep gets better. It's so tiring. Is he taking full feeds when he wakes? I"m starting to be a bit tougher with Lara now, leaving her a couple of mins to see if she settles, shushing and patting her if I know she's not hungry. Trying to train myself not to pick her up straight away every time - it just worked for her morning nap but I left it a bit late putting her down so she was overtired. Her "window" for settling happily is literally about 60 seconds?!

sam hope the kids get better soon an that you don't catch it!

Petty HOW cute is that pic of A asleep in his cot!!

I'm so over disrupted nights now and REALLY want our bedroom back. Lara usually only wakes once for a feed around 4 or 5ish and then goes back until 7. Recently she hasn't even eaten that much when I've fed her, but I'm not confident that she's on enough food in the day yet to try and settle her another way. (Not to mention too tired!) Don't want to wish her baby days away because she is so scrummy and I love having a (still totally immobile) little doll, but I can't wait until she's sleeping through and in with DS. I've given myself a deadline of the end of the year - if after Christmas she's still waking and not feeding much then I'm going to be tougher and then put her in with DS. She's been doing that 4am wake-up for about 4 months now - I really thought she'd be sleeping through by now as she was so good early on!

OK DS destroying sofa now so better go. Have good days all! xxx

going to he docs again today as ranitidine is not working....I'll find out why we were given lactulose instead of movi-whatever as well, hmmm....think I'll try and insist we get referred but don't fancy our chances.

Petty how long did it take of you cutting out dairy before you noticed a difference in Arthur? We're on day 5 now and still no change...

Constipation seems to be improving now, we were never on the baby rice in the first place so can't have been that, fresh pineapple and diluted prune juice, dried apricots have made a bit of difference.

periods not looking forward to the return here, just had the coil fitted a couple of weeks ago so know they wil be heavier too.....will just keep on bf and hope for the best!!!!!

heatwave.....erm what heatwave?? Has been raining solidly for 3 weeks and even had -1 one night last week!!

weaning on someone's advice (can't remember who sorry!!) got some nut butter from the healthfood shop for Angus, he loves it and another good one to try is fruit spread (made with fruit juice no sugar) on toast he thought that was just great :)

Anyway off to docs now, fingers crossed

highland I have checked the guidelines today. Lactulose or MOvicol is recommended for under 1s. Lactulose tends to be tried first as it is a softner so will make the poo easier for them to push out therefore preventing straining etc. Movicol tends to be used if lactulose doesnt work. Referral for constipation is recommnded after use of laxatives regularly for 4 weeks without a good effect. Hope that helps. Babies with reflux not settling with ranitidine and gaviscon also could do with a referral. So I would push for one to sort both issues out!

catherine, we never used a monitor since we're in a 2 bed flat and I can hear him even when he's not crying in the middle of the night. It was when we were staying with family and he was sleeping upstairs that I couldn't hear him soon enough and he then went directly into shouting to get attention! :(

Just gave him a Petit Filous for the first time and he went mad happy, probably from all the sugar! :) I'm exhausted from trying to make new foods for him, then cleaning up 3 x a day, PLUS have 10million agents come by to view the flat...though thrilled that he LOVES EATING (the apple doesn't fall far...)!!!

Formula feeding question: has anyone used Aptamil follow on milk? Is it necessary? We are down to 4 bottles a day, and had a few 3am feeds this week. Don't know if it really will supplement him nutritionally.

All the FB pics make my day, every day!!!

Sorry Petty Ijust read back on the thread and realised that you'd said 3 days is what it took to see a difference in Arthur.....

Thanks Cheese for the info, the doctor agreed this morning that we'd exhausted all avenues she could try so has referred us to the paediatrician and said we should get seen within 2 weeks, so we'll stick it out till then. Not sure whether to continue with ranitidine till then, we're def going to stick to the no dairy for now to see if that makes any difference.
Hope you're feeling better by the way, not much fun looking after a wee one when you're not well yourself.

me someone suggested I tried papaya (maybe on here?!) and have been constantly offering him diluted apple juice from his cup (doc said that was better than prune juice) I think maybe he was dhydrated also, I assumed he would get enough to drink from bfing and hadn't been offering him water often enough I think. I also have been massaging his belly lots in clockwise direction and 'bicycling' his legs so I think those things would be worth trying, its horrible to see them straining and crying though isn't it?

ckny - I read somewhere that follow on milk isn't really necessary if your child is getting a balanced diet anyway. On a MN thread I read that it was only introduced as advertising 1 and 2 milk is forbidden by law. My mum also confirms that when we were little they never had number 3 milk...

thanks, catherine. I also read a few threads here saying that it's not necessary and just a way of getting around the law (which I don't completely understand anyway).

Sorry, but thought to share that we've just had an unprecedented 3 poos in 1 day here! It used to be one poo every 3 days ( highland, our first 6 months I spent doing the baby massage, bicycling, and water, but fortunately food has changed this). I don't need a monitor for the poo, either, as one can smell it miles away!

Highland keep going with the dairy free, I think we only got a quick result because Arthur was so young. Push for a referral.

No periods here yet - had a bit of spotting a couple of weeks ago and got freaked out it was implantation bleeding but fingers crossed it wasn't eh?! We are down to 5 bf's per day so im sure it wont be long.

Ha ha petty imagine being preggo now - I'd cry!!! Especially after the day I've had with Lara crying at me every time I've offered her food that isn't boob. Oh god, I'm going to be one of those weirdos who breastfeeds their ten year old.

LOL Lozario that made me laugh out loud!! DH asked what i was laughing at so i told him....he's just had to leave the room!!!!!

Although i have to say i keep saying i should move her onto bottles now so DH can help out more but i am too scared as i will miss it!! What a turnaround from the first 6 weeks of BF though hey!! Anyone else think they wouldn't managed it this far? I also do envy those who FF as i bet their nipples aren't stretched 4 inches out now and face south!!!!

Re: monitors, i have always used a sensor monitor with Cassie and found i went back to sleep far more quickly with her than i did with DS who i didn't use one with. I didn't sleep that well last night as i was waiting to hear her rather than turn over and watch the green light flash! I heard her when she woke though!!!

We have been dream feeding Cassie about 10-11pm every night but she still wakes at about 3-4am, shouldn't she be going longer than 5 hrs between feeds now?? She's on 3 good size meals, 4 BF between 7-7pm and 1 BF during night. Not sure whether to just drop the dream feed and see if she goes til 3-4 am naturally (like she did when she was younger Grr!!) or keep the dream feed and just ride it out and not feed her til 6ish in the morning, thing is though she would wake at 6am and feed then go back to sleep...or do i treat it kike a morning feed and open curtains etc etc?? She is one of if not the eldest she's nearly 33 weeks or 7 calandar months.

On a funnier note, I took DS to school today and as i was taking Cassie in the pram, he couldn't ride his scooter as i can't carry it home (school bit rough and wouldn't want it "misplaced") he promptly burst into tears and said
"but i wont see it for 12 hours"
WTF?? Its a scooter!!! God love him, i tried to control my laughter and tell him that it was only 8hrs and he could play on it before tea!!!
Wasn't happy but he let it go!!!
Well, thats quite a long post best let someone else get a word in!!!
Nite all x

Survived our first holiday with DD and the in-laws. Had a lovely time, but the in-laws (who are lovely, don't get me wrong) tire me out more than the baby does. Now trying to get caught up on things at home (HUGE pile of laundry just won't shrink).

I feel so swamped these days, there's no way I can even pretend I'll ever catch up on this thread.

Sleep has gotten a bit rocky again. S is now waking up several times during the night. Last night was the worst in a long time. I felt like I was up every hour or two from 11:30pm onwards and she was ready to go for the day today at 6. I had a very grumpy morning. Every daytime nap is a huge battle now. She won't go on the boob, so I give a bottle, then transfer to the boob once she's drifting off. It can take an hour to get her to go down and then she wakes up after 40 mins max (which I spend trying to get stuff done). Or I have to put her in the buggy and go for a walk. She'll eventually fall asleep but, again, not for long. Some days she'll sleep for about an hour to an hour and half during the day, but usually less. So I pretty much feel like I'm running all day from 6am until 7pm.

I know I'm not the only one, and some of you are dealing with worse, but today I'm just a bit tired of it. For a few beautiful weeks she was on a very reliable schedule and though I try, she just won't get back on it.

She's crying in her cot right now. It's been about 10 mins and I feel terrible ignoring her, but I feel like I've tried everything else. :( Where's the magic sleep remedy that turns babies back into peaceful little things?

Welcome home, edeluna. Hope that S gets back into her sleep groove soon so that you can feel caught up with things. After both our short holiday and long family trips Franz' sleep was completely off. As a matter of fact, having our SIL stay with us last weekend (she stayed in his room and dared to pick him UP out of his cot when he cried for his dummy which scared the bejeesus out of him!) messed it up again! It's a bugger getting them back into shape with all else going on in their lives.

Franz managed to drag himself from his bedroom to the hallway today, mostly because he saw my flip flops out there (he's obsessed with them...so many similarities with a puppy)! I'm quite exhausted, but grateful and having fun now that he's not crying/whining as much these days now that he's mobile.

ckny wow you have a little mover there, e is still learning how to sit but doing longer each day and is now rolling back and forth all over the place.

we are off on our first holiday on Monday booked a last minute deal at centrparcs.

We have lots of babbling at the mo lots of mama's and mum! Don't think he actually knows he is saying it though.

Ethan did his first soft poo in 6 weeks today I have never been so glad to see runny poo.

The last few nights have been terrible sleep wise multiple waking then wide awake at 3:30 seriously can't get him back to sleep for an hour or two.

ckny they do seem much happier once they can move, don't they? My girl is much cheerier these days. Although it is such hard work keeping up with her. This evening I fed the cats and before I knew it she had crawled up, pushed one of them out the way and had a hand in a food bowl!

Quiet weekend on here - guess everyone has been enjoying the sunshine!! I've used the excuse to put Lara in some lovely summer dresses - she hadn't even worn some of the 3-6 month ones we had. I can't believe she's now half a year old. Where has the time gone!!!

Having said that she's still immobile, she has rolled precisely twice and one of those was an accident! She still hates being on her tummy; however she can travel surprisingly far on her back - she does the leg bit of "the crab" yoga position!

Wasn't talking to her this morning though- she woke at 4am and I fed her but she wouldn't go back off until I brought her into bed with me at 5.30 and she put her thumb in and went to sleep in about 3 seconds. Naughty girl. She has slept through twice in the last week again so I'm wondering if I should resettle her without offering a feed now but I know there's a 6 month growth spurt?

edeluna Hope you're a bit more rested now. I know what you mean - with the potty training of DS1 (which has gone amazingly now!) and weaning I've been so strung out, even though Lara's sleep hasn't been too bad I've been exhausted. The week we started potty training I lost 4 pounds!! How is S's sleep now? I've heard about these "wonder weeks" that babies go through when they are developing at a fast rate and it disrupts them; I think 6 months might be one of them.

muser Funny image of your girl with her hand in the cats food!! Bet they weren't impressed! Have you done any fish BLW? Seems hard for them to hold?

me crikey that's hard going with the sleep. They are just so (too) alert now aren't they. Hope it improves.

sam I've been thinking about how long to BF too - I expect up to a year. I was thinking that I'll soon change the afternoon feed to a formula one to get her used to a different kind of milk; (from a tommee tippee - given up on the bottle!!) maybe from 7 months. In my head I've decided that after Christmas Lara is getting no more nightfeeds - I'm going to be strict from 9 months plus as she'll be on tons of food by then! Will keep the going to bed feed going for a while though because I love that.

Hope everyone else is well, better go now as my mum is here. She's just bought a house about 10 mins away from me - can't wait! Hoping she'll be in by Christmas - at the moment she's 5 hours away by car!

xxx