April 2011 - cake-offing, gin-guzzling, wine-sipping, dreams of sleeping

[fraktious]

Thread 3!!!

I had beans in toast followed by dairy milk, Lis!

We're back in 3am club. F woke up all snuffly, and I've got a sore throat. So looks like we're in cold/snot club too!

Saline nasal spray is amazing, but I've got the snot sucker on standby.

And having much fun with the digital ear thermometer!

Oooh, Dairy Milk. We are on a post-partum healthy eating kick here which involves not restoring the "emergency chocolate drawer" but keeping yoghurts and cereal bars in instead. Which everyone knows are rubbish snacks and not in The least appealing when what you want is a nice bar of chocolate.

Although I did finish off a stray tub of Haagen Dazs earlier in the name of making space in the freezer for all the healthy meals I'm going to cook ready for those no-time-to-cook-let's-get-takeaway days.

A pouch JKS?

Summertime I'd look at either a CalinBleu Gauze or Ellaroo - but that will probably only take you through this summer as they're very thin - or if you want to keep carrying and invest try to hunt down one of the Didy linen blend wraps or waves, I'm hankering after a 100% linen oscha, the Ellevil Zaras are supposed to be quite thin and Vatanis very airy. They are all woven so need adjusting with the baby in but that's easy enough once you get the hang of it.

petal do you have any influence over your timetabling so you can create an expressing slot? Do you have a double electric pump? Can you ask to be taken off break duties so you can express then or do it only if you have PPA tine directly before or after?

First feed of the day, T asleep since 10.45pm so pretty good. Also got DS1 in here though so not a brilliant night's sleep for me!

It is DS1's birthday today, he is 3. We got him an easel. We opened the box at half ten last night and only then realised that it had about 100 screws! DH was up until LATE putting it together

Ooh that is good, Ali! and happy birthday to your DS1!

Frak: I've got a single electric pump and I'm off break duty. And I've asked about the others, and they've said no. Break is 20 mins, not long enough to tidy & prep my lab, and do detentions as it is!

oop, F's up

Buck how many weeks will F be when you go back? DS1 dropped bfs very quickly once we started him on solids, he was down to first thing, one am, one post-lunch and then 5.30ish and then evening and bedtime feeds by the time he was 7 months, and by 8 months he had dropped the post-lunch one too.
With you being able to pick up at 5, you could feed him morning, after pick up, before bed and then one night feed, so you would only need EBM for one bottle during the day and he would have water with his meals. It is how you get to that point. Are you building a freezer stash?

Frak I think I need to fly over and see you for a sling masterclass! I'll try wedging S's head when I bend forward and see how that helps with the Kari Me, thanks. I think as her head control gets better it won't be as much of a problem either. Also I'm ashamed to say I had been wrestling S into the Calin Bleu without adjusting it. No wonder it seemed tight and hard to get her in. Will now try adjusting after I put her in .

Happy Birthday to your little boy Ali, hope there's plenty of cake for you to scoff!

ecuse Ben & Jerrys was on half price offer in Sainsburys when I was in there yesterday and I resisted. I wanted to stop everyone passig and say 'I'm not getting any' I was so proud. I'm not on a strict points diet or anything just a general 'no crap' diet. My god it is hard and I haven't managed to stick to it every day. Some days are just too hard!

Happy Birthday to DS1 Ali, oh to the joys of late night toy assembly. I remember doing the Smart-Trike on Christmas Eve.

My parents and brother bought DS a fold-down indoor trampoline for his 3rd birthday at my request. Unfortunately they wrapped it up in the box without assembling it . Needless to say, he wasn't particularly impressed when he opened the box on his birthday and couldn't jump on it. Have to confess I got a bit of a strop on, DD was only 12 days old at the time and I had asked them beforehand to assemble it as we didn't really have the time or space to get it ready beforehand. They got my not very subtle hint and took it home to assemble and bought it round a couple of days later.

You'll probably be able to find a sling meet nearer you! Although anyone who wants to come visit is totally welcome to when I'm not on phone I'll find a couple of links for meetups in the UK.

The calin bleu has an instruction book doesn't it?I recall it being fairly good although I've lost mine between moves.

Happy birthday DS1 Ali hope you all have a lovely, lovely day.

Happy birthday to your ds Ali. last year we bought ds a ride on tractor and I warned dh that the reviews all said it takes hours to assemble and put the stickers on. Did he listen to me? Pah. He was up to 2am doing it. Will he ever learn that I am always right?

I just took the boys to a car boot sale while dh works on the house. Ds got a camera which has a picture slide show in. It was 50p and he is thrilled with it. I also got a lovely set of threading beads made by Pin Toy, it's immaculate and was only£2. for those of you who don't know, pin toy make divine wooden toys.

Thanks Frak it was a pouch!

am now off to google all the others you've mentioned...

Googling is risky. They're very pretty! I accidentally bought a size 4 and a size 2 the other day....

Car boot sale sounds like fun ILTMI

We went to see the paed earlier - 15lb 1oz. We don't like her very much because she says things like 'let's see whether mummy's milk is still enough for a growing boy', meanwhile DH and I exchange smug looks as she marks him on the 97th percentile. Also had his 2nd shot of the 5in1. That's 1 good thing about moving - we'll be in a bigger town and I've got a recommendation for a nice paed there who won't make snide comments about BF :) The bad thing is that the lovely toy shop which sells wooden toys won't be right opposite any more. I've developed a bad habit of popping in after our appointments and getting a little something. I might have to make special trips after we move.

13weeks

Well had a really crap day yesterday, went to Paed about DI's weight which resulted in spending 5.5hours spent at hospital with them doing tests on her, they had to take blood which was horrible and she has a huge bruise on her hand today, we spent 2 hours catching a urine and separate poop sample in a tiny cup, a near on impossible task to do without getting peed and pooped on.

After waiting for results they only showed a small infection which Dr said is probably from the Diarrhoea she's got and that it's nothing to be concerned with & should go once diarrhoea stops.

Cause at 8lb 1oz at 13weeks she is quite a bit below the .4th percentile which is the smallest she could be, they have said we need to top up after every BF with expressed where possible but otherwise use formula and give her as much as she will take.

So I'm in intense express mode, with expressing every 2hours including thru the night to try and up supply as this morning she took 6oz after BF this morning and could probably taken more but thought it would be to much and 2oz after lunch BF already. Any tips for expressing to increase supply ?

We have to go back Wed & if she hasn't gained any weight, she has to stay at the hospital for more tests !! I'm so stressed with worry and feel so guilty for not feeding my daughter properly, I don't want DI to have to go to hospital and be prodded and poked, will I get to stay with her ? Just feel like a really shit mummy !

Aussie goodness how stressful. I know how the seemingly endless tests feel like, they're awful. On the subject of you thinking you're a rubbish mummy and the feeding issue. You are not rubbish. A rubbish mummy wouldn't bother taking her or be so concerned. You do your best on the expressing, try feeding every hour and hang in there. I know it's hard. Follow your instinct and absolutely insist on staying with her. If you aren't entirely sure of the advice you are given in terms of tests or treatment insist on a second opinion. If you need your hand holding we're here.

Aussie you are not a shit mummyfor the reasons Arch says. Offer of hand holding here too.

Expressing tips, youa re already doing my top 2, through the night and every 2 hours. Mimic cluster feeding, pump for 10 mins, stop eat lunch or something, pump again for 10, repeat ad nauseum. When youare pumping do you do compressions? I have lnks somewhere on how to if you need them. Keep the pump going for a few minutes after the milk stops, I think this creates more the next day, not sure 100%.

What kind of pump are you using? Are you double pumping? Consider hiring a hospital grade one. I have details of where to get one if you want. Cut nipple holes in an old bra to pump hands free, makes it less of a chore if you can read or MN while pumping, and sometimes you get so engrossed in something you don't realise your bottles about to overflow. Erm I thnk thats it.

Also, I might be teaching my granny to suck eggs here, but have they checked DI for a tongue tie? They can cause inadequate feeding without the shredded nipples I got from B. Anyway, I thought it was worth mentioning.

And also, remember there is absolutely nothing wrong with using formula top ups if you need to. See all BM as a positive rather than any F as a negative.

Aussie There's nothing I can add to the great expressing advice already above but just wanted to send you a really big, un-MNetty hug! (Though if you do need to use F top-up maybe keep back a bit of expressed BM to mix with it. Just a drop of BM can help LO to digest the F easier as her tummy might not be as used to it but the BM will make it more familiar to her gut. Easier digestion will hopefully help her to get more calories and help her gain weight).

Try fennel and fenugreek supplements to boost supply. There's also a drug used to combat reflux (domperidone?) that can boost milk supply as a side effect.

Keep letting DI nurse and even if the breast is empty leave her there. The saliva she produces sends messages to your body about the supply and composition of your milk.

You're doing absolutely the right thing by going for the tests, as tough as they seem right now.

Thanks ladies, it's nice to have a place to release, DI has been such a happy thing the past couple of days when not being poked and is just oblivious to her parents worry.

Thanks for all the expressing advise, been at it all day, just back from a short break to meet DP from work and went shops and pushed all bad thoughts aside and bought a tin of formula, I actually felt better then I thought buying it knowing it will help my girl if I need it.

Lis I'm using a Medela Swing but yes was thinking of hiring a hospital grade pump, any suggestions for where to hire from most welcome.

I will mention the TT on Wed, didn't even think of that and they didn't look at her mouth actually.

Will also try the cluster pump, I usually just leave it on for 20 mins, I kind of rub my boob down, is that what a compression is ?

Dairy Thanks for tip on mixing BM with formula, I like the sound of that

I'm taking the Fenugreek, will get some Fennel.

Thanks again all for your kind words, I know I'm being silly but can't help the guilt. I will feel much better Wed if she puts on weight, fingers crossed.

On a happy note my baby Jublo Looping sunglasses arrived and they are the most adorable item, can't wait to take DI out on a sunny day do she can wear them and be the coolest baby in town !!

I've hired my pump direct from Medela (I have the Symphony, which is the big version of the Swing). COntact number is 0870 950 5994. They got a pump out to me the next day by courier. It's £40 for the initial delivery and 14 days hire, then £45/month for the ongoing hire. You do go into a kind of credit agreement thingy with them and they run a credit check, but I think thats just incase you do a runner wiht £1200 worth of pump!!

Link for breast compressions www.lowmilksupply.org/compression.shtml. I know it says low milk supply, I don;t think you have that, but the info is useful. I kind of just add some pressure and support to my saggy boobs when pumping.

Any questions just ask! I feel like I'm an exprssing expert, I'm not! Can only advise based on my experieinces!

www.lowmilksupply.org/compression.shtml sorry forgot to tick the box! and apologies for the smelling, pumping at keyboard! :o

SPELLING Gah

No time to namecheck everyone but hang in there Aussie, can't imagine how stressful that must be for you but don't get too down.

I combination fed for two weeks while pumping madly when H was first born to get more milk in and it felt like he'll but it paid off. I also learned that it's easy to be rational when it's someone else and not to beat myself up about it all. You are so not a rubbish mummy, you must love DI loads to be so worried and upset. Xx

Take care ladies, H fussing again...

9pm-5am but now he won't go back to sleep despite poonami and 2 huge feeds. DH has taken him out for a walk.

Aussie - I've nothing to add to the expressing advice, just wanted to send some hugs

Aussie big hugs. Echo everyone here. You are a great mummy.

Ali hope your ds had a fab birthday.

Eugh 9.30-12 12.30-3 4-6.30. And again, H starts the night in his cit then will only sleep face down after the first waking. DP is too scared for me to put him in the cot that way so I've had him on me all night.

Add the fact that DP went to a BBQ for a 'couple of hours' yesterday at 4pm and came in at 10.45pm means I am a very grimy mummy.