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!

Just realised that I was typing the last post whilst eating my way through a whole block of Brie. Oops.

Offices urging?! Damn auto-correct! I mean I've done nothing about it yet.

at all u ladies with big boobs! Even engorged I was just 34c and I dread to think how flat I will be when I finish bf!!!
I have an Elle McPherson bf bra and it is great. Actually got two the same as liked it so much! Was so fed up of my old bf bras from ds1 and ds2 that decided to splash out this time!!

Congratulations hippo! Your plan sounds lovely - the whole family celebrating together.

I would love to get married but we too are looking to move from a flat to a house and need all our money for that.

Jupiter I am a 38E & would like your bra if thats ok? I feel cheeky and DP might wonder why I'm getting bras in the post but most of my nursing bras have seen better days. PM me if it is. Thank you.

I think Hannah might have a snotty nose and/or sore gums today. She has been very grumpy. She is currently napping. Probably too late for a decent bedtime but oh well, some days the "routine" just isn't going to happen.

Hi all,
1st day back at work completed and it was dead easy due to teacher training day and the afternoon was used for reflection... which meant time in classrooms, organising or in my case chatting and catching up with people

Fab news is that my mum and sister managed to feed Bethan without too much stress from the breastflow bottle.... yay!!!
One more day to do then its the summer break!!!!!!!! x

Morning all,

Nightmare here, had a burst water pipe under our floorboards at 11pm Sunday eve and still exhausted now in the aftermath... Looks like the cause might be subsidence too which will be a disaster! :( have a surveyor coming at some point to have a look. We have no floor in the hall and the whole house smells of damp earth. Yesterday was awful, the kids couldn't nap with all the repair work going on.

Enough of my worries. purple glad the return to work was ok and bottle was a success!

Hope everyone else is ok and your houses are all in one piece... :(

Oh Lozario how awful for you! I hope and pray for you that its not subsidence
Really hope it can all be fixed and sorted quickly, what a worry.

Where is everyone today?!

Lozario thats awful news, hope you manage to get it sorted asap! Could you go and stay with relatives whilst it gets fixed?

Hippo Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Recently got engaged too, can't be bothered with the bridezilla faff of organising it though, we're just going for an evening buffet and a party too, but not till next June....have a hard time getting the dishes washed these days can't be doing with much else on my plate!

Not checked in here for ages, loads to catch up on, I am also in the boob shrinkage club....dread what they'll look like by the time Angus is done with them!! So frustrating having to buy new bras, not exactly cheap are they?!....or attractive for that matter!!

Second tooth through here, and a very grumpy baby with it. He is also the only baby I know that HATES the bumbo with a passion, which made it a very expensive mistaken buy but hey ho, baby no.2 might like it!!! He also doesn't like his play gym any more....or his bouncy chair,
Angus now in his own room, thought I'd sleep better but unfortunatley not, I think he probably is though once he's finished his evening tantrums and generally wakes a couple times in the night for a feed.

Exciting news about those weaning onto solids!!! I think hv's have to stick to guidelines no matter what but you know your own baby best, not quite ready here but he does watch every time I eat now so prob won't be long!

Right and early night for me, swimming in the morning!

Morning all. Hope it is sunny wherever you are. It is here so have hung the wshing out already ? feeling a little bit domestic.

Lozario what a nightmare. I really hope more under control now and that it is not subsidence. We will all keep our fingers crossed. Why do these things always happen at night??????????

Medee how annoying to have had to throw away the EBM ? v frustrating.

Petty ? E has also decided that decent naps will only be taken in her cot in complete quiet. If we are out she is to bloody curious and worried she will miss something so has 5 mins and then is awake again thus leaving her grumpy as the day goes on? Hope Arthur?s chatting hasn?t been all night again.

Halo of course it is ok about the bra. Have PM?d you (though took me ages to work out how to

Purple glad work was ok

Highland wow two teeth ? no sign of any here apart from litres and litres (how it seems) of dribble.

E has learnt to roll over and can occasionally roll back although also gets stuck and then frustrated. Hopefully she will settle for just rolling and not crawling at 6 months like DS. On the one hand it is lovely, but on the other a nightmare to baby proof for such a little person.

Right E is not settling for her nap so must go and attend and then hopefully jump in the shower.

x

purple that must have been such a relief. Hope your 2nd day was ok & you are now enjoying your holidays!

lozario what a nightmare! I hope it's not subsidence & is fixed & cleaned quickly.

Things are going ok hear, I had a bit of rough few days over the weekend but a day in the sun has made me a bit more positive. Going to chat to my HV tomorrow but I just wanted to say I love mn for making me realise my baby is normal and it's nothing I did wrong and feeling like I do is normal too. It's hard this mum business, no one could have ever explained how hard it could be to me I don't think. And I certainly couldn't have understood how much I was going to love my DD. Anyway emotional bit over,off to put some washing on.

Halo I hope you are ok. ((hugs))
I agree there is nothing more reassuring than other mothers. I wish I had discovered MN when i was a first time mum!
Something I used to say to my single friends, when trying to explain motherhood, was that it was so much easier than I thought it would be, but at the same time it is so much harder than I thought it would be! There is nothing 'difficult' about changing nappies and feeding babies, you dont need a degree... but nothing can prepare you for the emotional bashing you receive and how totally life-changing having this little person is.

We all understand exactly how you feel, lets hope the sun stays for the weekend hey?

hugs from here too halo, MN has been a godsend for me, feels like theres always someone to reassure me and never feels silly asking for advice, its tough when you have a rough few days isnt it?
I'm putting off seeing the doctor as she wants to discuss my coming off my ad's...........dreading it.
Sunshine is good, and fine to feel emotional sometimes, feel free to offload on us thats what we're here for! :)
xx

Thank you Its the lack of sleep that is getting to me and the thought that when I go to bed (shortly) I'll be awake countless times. Sleeping through sometimes seems like its a badge of good parenting which I don't have and I don't think i'm getting anytime soon.

My exhaustion is impacting on my happiness at times, my relationship with my DP and my old friendships. I didn't even want to speak to my sister yesterday (we are very close)

Today was a better day though. I definatly hope the sunshine stays.

hippo I know what you mean about it being easy... so easy that some days are very boring if thats the right word.

highland Do you feel stronger now? Could you try a lower dose first?

Another cheer for MN and all the great support everyone here offers. I'm not around much these days, but it helps to know you're all here ready to step up with words of wisdom and encouragement when needed.

There's been no improvement on the sleep front, unfortunately. Sabine has been waking every two hours for the past several nights. Or maybe it's been weeks. TBH, I've really lost track. It's frustrating and exhausting but I'm hoping it's just a phase and she'll soon settle back down to the lovely routine she used to follow.

Several people have suggested giving her a bottle of formula in the evening, but I really want to keep her EBF until six months if I can (or until we introduce solids, which might happen a little before six months). Has anyone who's EBF found a good trick to help your LO sleep through the night yet? (Don't laugh! I can dream, can't I?)

We have our third round of jabs tomorrow. Already dreading the triple hit and the tears. Poor little thing. Really hoping it won't unsettle her that much. The first round was horrible she was unhappy for days but the second one was much better. Just a little discomfort and crying when it happened and then she was fine.

Looks like a busy birthday time. Many happy returns to everyone who's just had or is about to have one. Mine is next week. Might go away for a night to Brighton, if DH and I can find the energy to research baby-friendly places to stay.

Forgot to say congrats to Hippo the other day... so...Congratulations

Halo I hope you are feeling better and that your chat with the HV helped somewhat.

Edeluna Bethan had her third set of jabs today and the poor little mite was so brave, but she has had a temperature this afternoon and has been really unsettled . She has had calpol and lots of cuddles. I would suggest you give Sabine a dose of calpol before she has the jabs to take the edge off!!

I think the bottle of formula to help fill them up/sleep through is a myth to be honest and good on you for wanting to EBF.

My 2 days at work were a breeze and although we had to look at some heavy going data and discuss ways to improve results etc... it was just an opportunity to catch up with colleagues and the gossip!!! Anyway both my girls were fab for their Auntie!! I now need to continue with the bottle of EBM at least once a day so that this problem doesn't repeat in September!! Having said that... she didn't take to the bottle today for DH , but think that was because she needed the comfort of the breast cos of her injections!!

A great start to the summer hols is that I am now having car trouble... my brakes keep sticking!!!!! so DH is on the case trying to get this sorted for me... he does lots of work on the car himself. Unfortunately I think this means I will not be able to make the Bristol 2nd meet up on Friday... sorry Petty and Sam will put a note on the FB page in case you don't see this!! x

Edeluna - the sleep deprivation sounds terrible - you must be exhausted. Hopefully the sleep regression will let up soon and you can get back to your regular sleep. Anya is still EBF and sleeps 10:30 till 5am every night and I guess it is because she is on my boob so much in the evening. She lies next to me on the sofa and falls asleep sucking my right boob and I leave sucking until I'm 100% sure she's well and truly asleep. Strangely though she never falls completely asleep on my left boob. Strange that she has a favourite. Although I don't think we have hit the sleep regression yet so I may be speaking too soon. Worth knowing though - Sabine might refuse formula anyway. My mum tried to give Anya 1 formula feed as I was out and she was hungry but she screamed the house down as if my mum had hurt her. With EBM she just plays with it, doesn't drink it, but doesn't scream at it either.

Hippo - So nice you are just going for it. OH and I keep talking about it but there is always something else more important that needs paying for. We're moving too in September to a 2 bed house (from a 1 bed flat). Still renting but atm we need money for a deposit.

Me - I hope you're ok. You really shouldn't worry too much if you are happy and E is happy. Anya and I are very much like you describe and she seems to bring her bedtime forward in her own time. I'm sure Ethan will do the same. All babies are different and ours just love us so much that they want to be with us :) Untill about 14 weeks I couldn't put Anya in her cot before midnight or she'd wake and then magically overnight it seemed to change and I could put her to bed at 10:30pm. She is 18 weeks today and for the last 2 days has gone to sleep at 7pm but only hit her deep sleep at about 8:30pm. Tonight I put her in bed at 9pm. I'm not sure if this will last though. My mum tells me that the 7pm bedtime doesn't happen for all children - she said none of us (I'm 1 of 4) would go down properly until 9pm EVER so I shouldn't hold out hope for a 7pm bedtime. We don't have much of a bedtime routine as Anya hates bathtime. Routine is: out of day clothes, into sleepsuit and then booby time till she falls asleep. She lies with me for an hour then I put her to bed. If she wakes up when I put her down I sing to her quietly until she either relaxes and goes to sleep or if she gets more worked up I pick her up and rock her and sing to her and then put her back down while singing. Thing is though, sometimes it works (Then I feel like Wondermum ) and sometimes it doesn't and we both go back to the living room for more booby time and TV. I'm probably too soft but she's my world so for now I'm happy to do whatever makes her happy.

Purplefan - I'm glad your 2 days back at work went well and Bethan took the bottle. I'll be ordering some too now as Anya didn't take the bottle and my poor OH had to drive to work with her for feeds. So he dropped me off in the morning (quick feed before going in), came back at break time for another feed, another at lunch and then another at the end of school. He's completely exhausted because of it. So now I have 5 weeks to train her to take the bottle and I have thrown away over 10fl oz of ebm that has now gone bad as it has been out of the freezer too long to use. Fussy baby!!

Halo - You don't sound happy. You really sound like you need a break before you go mad! How are the mum and baby groups going? Some weeks they were the only thing keeping me sane. You any good at daytime napping? Might be worth sending your DP or a relative out with Hannah for a nice long walk so you can have a sleep. If you are still ebf then she can always have a feed and then someone take her out - you should get 3 hours sleep and it could do wonders for your state of mind.

oh dear... I've written an essay again... I hope you are all well and your LOs. Anya and I are doing well. I decided that my big decision that Anya was ready for solids was misled . She wants to eat and can work a weaning spoon, well she can put it in her mouth and take it out again. But I don't think her digestive system is ready though. After I fed her solids last she woke up about an hour and half later screaming and I couldn't work out why (might have been teething but I don't think so). I did some reading and got concerned that I might be causing potential digestive problems and given my family history of digestive problems I don't think I should risk it. Will do as I'm told from the HV. Anyway... if Anya stops taking booby I will have to watch my weight - I like being in the "healthy" BMI bracket.

RE Jabs and Calpol - the nurse told me to avoid giving Anya calpol after the jabs if possible as (and I quote) "now they're saying calpol makes the jabs less effective". The Nurse didn't seem overly convinced that it was true but I thought it might be worth mentioning just in case. She then said to me "if she needs calpol though, what can you do, just give it to her". So I wouldn't worry about it if you do give it to your LO.

Morning!?! As I'm on the MN app it's difficult to write personals but as people are talking about sleep (or lack of it) I thought I'd join in with how it is here.

Alex has slept through 4 times now, 3 times in a row last week and then once the night before last. It is far more usual for him to wake up at least once in the night though.

I can't see a pattern to when he sleeps through but did notice that each time he sleeps through it is when he is in the same room as us as we've been away on holiday. Funnily enough I only moved him out of our room 2 weeks ago as was copying a friend who's baby is same age and sleeps through each night. Thought if it works for her it might for me but seems the opposite may be true!

As for bedtime I stuck to what the ruddy books said since really early on I didn't feed / rock him to sleep and introduced a routine of 5 mins naked time (while running the bath), bath, music on whilst put in PJ's then one last feed before bed. Took weeks for it to work and for him to sleep before 9pm but seemed to pay off. Until about 2 weeks ago that is. Now it is a battle to get him to sleep again and he rarely sleeps before 9pm. All the old soothing techniques of shooshing and helping him soothe himself don't seem to work so I'm having to try anything. Seems like the original hard work was a waste of time and I don't think I'd bother doing it with a second baby!

halo I hope the trip to the HV helped and that you can get a decent stretch of sleep soon.

Sleep - Arthur has brought his own bedtime forward from 11pm-ish to 7pm-ish. The only routine we have is fresh vest, pjs, nappy and last feed in dark bedroom. Although the little blighter won't take a last feed, so if he fed at 5.30pm he will want to sleep at 7pm but will refuse to feed - he just will not feed less than 2 hourly which is nothing really to complain about but in my mind if I can tank him up before bed he will sleep longer. I have no evidence for this though!

He's somehow managed to turn himself into a Gina Ford baby without me ever reading the book or wanting him to. On the one hand its great that he is currently napping well in his cot, room darkened and going to bed at 7pm but on the other hand it means that he has become quite inflexible!

My friend has just taken over a restaurant back home and I would really like to go one evening but I can't see Arthur permitting it! As the whole family would go, there would be no-one to look after him at home.

Purple and Sam - shall we reschedule the meet up? Its my little brothers 21st Birthday and I'm having pangs of guilt that I'm not going to be there so thinking of chucking everything/Arthur in the car tomorrow afternoon and zooming home for a quick weekend.

Good idea to reschedule the meet up Petty... enjoy your brother's 21st!

Catherine Poor you and OH for the feeding situation on your return to work. I hope that Anya takes to the bottle soon. My mum had to hold Beth quite firmly and really impress the bottle upon her!!! My mum used to be a childminder so loads of experience!! I think that is why she wouldn't take for my DH to be honest he was probably a tad to soft on her!!! I def do recommend those breastflow bottles though she seems to be taking them fairly well now (fingers crossed this will continue)

Hope jabs went ok today Edeluna, Beth has still got high temp from jabs and is a bit more clingy than normal, hopefully this will pass soon enough!!

hi all just got in from hols! Fabulous time, Cassie was so good i nearly forgot she was there a couple of times!! she even slept for 2-3 hours of an afternoon , very quickly to petty and purple before i fall asleerp on computer! thats should be fine for AUG 19TH will double check when i wake up tomorrow!!! enjpy yiour w/e petty and hope your car ok purple, check in tomorrow!!!

Welcome back Sam. Hope you had a lovely time in Spain - you sound like you did.

Unfortunately I fell asleep this evening at 5pm in the bed with Anya. I woke up at 8 but she didn't so I left her sleeping. She woke up an hour ago and is wide awake. 7 hours is her usual long stretch of a night time so now I'm worried she's had it already so won't go back to sleep tonight, well for more than an hour at a time. :( Maybe I should have woke her earlier. She's currently giggling away at her mobile in her cot.

I've ordered some breastflow bottles from the website. I assume you're using the faster flow teat Purple? Hoping they'll be here by Monday and I'll start training her with them. Still waiting on my replacement part from Tommee Tippee for my electric breast pump though as I'm not getting on very well with the manual one - I can hand express quicker although I find it rather uncomfortable.

purple did the breastflow bottles work straight away? Have tried with ollie 4 or 5 times and he giggles and plays with them and chews on the teat but doesn't suck!!! Need him to think about taking a bottle as am back to work in a couple of months!

Welcome home Sam hope you had a great holiday and glad you saw the messages about not meeting today!!

Catherine We are using the stage 1 teat at the moment, but I am going to get the stage 2 teats because I think they will be better for her and she won't need to work so hard!!

Cherub no the breastflow bottles didn't work straight away, Beth played with the teat initially and I think she managed a tiny amount of milk, but wasn't overally interested... then she refused to even entertain the idea of taking from the bottle from my sister when I was there. The only way that it worked was me being away from her (at work) and my mum being firm, after that she seemed happy to take her feed from them. I haven't had any success giving her the bottle though, it needs to be someone else, I think that will come when she is totally practised ! I don't think the 3rd lot of jabs at the same time as bottle training has helped as she has been out of sorts and in need of comfort!!

Thanks purple will persevere then! At least he let's this one in his mouth!!!