Sept 08- The threenagers have arrived - Advanced negotiating and crowd control skills required

[DebiTheScot]

Sorry Meglet if you wanted to start the thread with your title but I thought I'd best do it while there was still one space to post the link to this one on the last one.

I used shields with Toby for a while and it did help and didnt seem to harm my supply, in fact the reverse!!!!

Great he is feeding with them well done x

I used shields with dd2 and it completely saved bfing for me. I couldn't get her back off of them once I wasn't sore and bleeding but I ended up bfing for 7 months using them . Dd2 had a few sneaky formulas which I didn't want to do but didn't stop her from feeding!

Good luck with it all - there's lots of dab support here and from LL. In fact bfing counsellors in hospital were brilliant too.

Thanks and so tell me firstly how you get anything done/leave the house/give time to DD if DS wanted to feed or be held all the time and how do you feeed out of the house with nipple shields? Superglue?

Any practical tips? I have posted in bf but some of the conversations are plain scary (eg I fed every 90mins for 30mins until DC was 15 weeks etc etc). How does carrie do it?!!!

Cbeebies was used a lot (Erin is addicted to mr tumble) and reading books/chatting. As Elise got older, feeds were more efficient time-wise.

I used to take sterilised shields out in a sterilised Tupperware pot. Also tommee tippee dummy wipes (not sure of actual name but they are green and sold in boots) I found handy if out and about and shields needed sterile wipe.

Yesterday I meant fab not dab! Autocorrect is very naughty!

Hi MRSA Glad you are coming home. If the nipple shields are working then use them but try and limit them so he gets used to the feel of your breasts. In the first couple of weeks you will just feed and feed and feed but you need to get your milk supply up and for it to maintain a good supply you need to feed from one side until drained before going on the other side. Don't faff with 5 mins on one side and 5 mins on the other you will just confuse him and your breasts.
It is hard with 2,3,4 LO's but a bit of TV time won't hurt C whilst you feed. Always give C lots of time after you have fed and managed to put DS down for a nap so she won't feel left out. IS DP or GP's around to spend time with her then swap when DS is asleep?
You can read books with C whilst you feed and TBH it doesn't hurt them to realise there is somone else who needs mummy's time.
I hope bfing gets easier and you can carry on. The constant feeding at first does get easier and it is well worth it.

mrsA TBH I didn't really feed out of the house when I was using nipple sheilds with DS, it was way too faffy. I always had to prop myself up in a certain way and never had my hands free as he had to be held just so in order to stay latched on, hence me getting sick to death of bf pretty fast!

DS watched cbeebies all day when DD was little, and he ate a lot of rice cakes. I never managed to incorporate bf into daily life very well so let things go to pot in the early days. But again, latching was the fiddly part so I didn't dare move an inch when dd was feeding. And yes, I hated it! Drove me up the bloody wall sitting down all the time! I just sucked it up for as long as I could bare it.

DD's potty training is coming along, she's still in pull-ups but dry in the day and has been dry the last 3 nights. She's going into pants over Xmas, father christmas is bringing Hello Kitty pants.

Looking back I'm not sure how I bf baby I, but I did and M never kicked off about it. Like others said books and tv were by distractions of choice. I also can't recommend enough a stretchy wrap sling, it was my saviour. I would put I in it and he would drop off immediately and for as long as I kept him in it. I could then do 'stuff' with M and cook, clean and do the pre school run with both hands free and an asleep and settled baby.

I wanted to be held all of the time and if given the choice would stay perma attached to my nipple, but the sling would fulfil his need for being on me, and as he always slept in it it gave my nipples a break, plus he would have a bigger and longer feed when I took him out because he hadn't fed for a couple of hours. Having the baby perma attached at the start is great for your supply, but within a few weeks when life gets back to 'normal' it can be frustrating, so for me the sling was great.

Have I sold the sling yet? and when I say sling I don't mean one of those baby Bjorn carriers because they are the devil (for the baby and the person wearing it)

Sling? Yet again iltmimi have the same idea!!!

Congrats on coming home x

Slings yes they are a lifesaver. MRSA I have a stretchy sleep wrap which I haven't used for a while but it's great for newborns. If you fancy borrowing it PM me and I will send it over.

Took Robyn to see Snow White panto on ice. It was brilliant and she loved it. Took Lucy as well and she was really well behaved and clapped and waved at everybody.

Hope the feeding is getting easier MrsA and you can relax and enjoy it.
I remember reading lots to ds1 when ds2 was feeding and he probably watched more tv but I can't really remember. I had the huge advantage tho that ds2 was a fast feeder and was always done in about 10 m

(whoops) mins, unlike ds1 who took hours. Don't know what happened tho, he's a slow eater now!

Just took ds1 to dentist and feel like a terrible parent now. He needs 3 fillings and is being referred to a special children's dentist to have them done. I feel so guilty even tho he brushes twice a day & doesn't eat many sweet things

debi Does he drink a lot of ruit juice? (orange, apple etc) My dentist says its one of the worst things for kids teeth - oh dear, toby loves apple juice

debi My friend said her DD had to have fillings even though she was pretty good with sweet food and teeth-brushing. According to her dentist, grapes were the problem. I had to take anti-biotics when I was pg with DS and there's still the possibility they will have caused problems with his teeth.

I despair over what to feed kids these days. Too much fruit and their teeth rot, too many carbs and fats and they'll get overweight. Finding the balance is a nightmare.

AIBU to clear out every single bloody toy except the Lego and toy animals? I have had it with the kids chucking toys around and not playing with 90% of what they own .

I suppose if I did car boot most of it I would make some cash, have a tidier house and they might just bugger off to play in the garden more often.

Could you really do that Meg?? I'd love to but I'm just rubbish at throwing their toys out

Debi I confess that DD1 has had a couple of holes. Our dentist doesn't believe in giving kids fillings and so they've now come out and replaced by adult teeth.

Apparantly fruit between meals (except oranges) is OK but once you do anything to the fruit (juice/smoothy/mash/... it) it brings out the sugars. Dried fruit also terrible (raisins anyone??)

MrsA slings great - except after a few weeks M didn't like them.! I also agree that once you've got the hang of it feeding time can be cuddle and watch TV/read... time a time for you to be in one place with Charlotte.

He doesn't drink fruit juice, he only eats fresh fruit and doesn't often have raisins. I think there's 2 things that have contributed: 1- my teeth are bad and prone to holes and 2- until earlier this year we weren't religiously making him brush his teeth after breakfast and cereal has a lot of sugar in it. Oh and he used to always eat grapes after breakfast. So that bit's my fault.
But no point in beating myself up about it. We've had a chat about making sure he brushes really well and checking more thoroughly, brushing after sweets or if it's sore etc. Also my sil is a dental hygenist and she's suggested disclosing tablets and said to change to big teeth or adult toothpaste as kids toothpaste doesn't have enough fluoride in it and in Scotland it's been banned! Also suggested rubbing toothpaste on his teeth at bedtime.

meglet my two would happy play with cars and playmobil all day every day, I regularly suggest getting rid of everything else!

Sorry very me, me, me

ninja I think I could. They were playing with blankets this evening, toys all ignored. I'm going to gradually whittle things down and get mum to store them, might do a nice car boot sale in the Spring.

debi I never knew that about kids toothpaste. Kids toothpaste is also bloody expensive for a tiny tube.

DS has a playmobil police station in storage at mums which I think I will bring into circulation, it was removed when I realised how small the pieces were as DD was still at the eating toys stage.

I spoke to my world-traveller sister earlier, she's in Melbourne and off to the Neighbours set this week .

Debi it's not just sweet thing swhich are bad for your teeth. Pottoes are really bad, they stick to your teeth and all the starch eats your enamel. It doesn't matter if it is crisps, mash or chips they are all as bad.

So 14 months after having Robyn I got my period back, had a couple of nasty ones and got pregnant with Lucy.
14 months after having Lucy I get my period back, 5 times in 8 weeks I am getting period pain almost all the time and have been 'lightly bleeding' now for almost 3 weeks. I have the Implanon on so I'm not worried about getting pregnant but I didn't have hardly any bleeding with the last one.
Do you think I should see the dr and see if there is something wrong?

debs yes, you should see the doctor . It's probably ok but IMO it's not a good idea to ignore internal problems. Why, I'm practically a pro with all my gynea and bottom problems .

Anyone else got the storms blowing through this evening? Everything is rattling down here. I'm going to take the easy route and do the school run in the car tomorrow, unless it blows away overnight.

Yes debs You could be anaemic - I was after both my pg.

Go on, off you go!

Ok I will make an appointment and try and get in inbetween study, christmas shopping and my birthday. Failing that I will go in the new year

Hi all, sorry for being AWOL a bit recently.

10 days ago DS1 suddenly decided to wear pants and will not go back to nappies. Today for the first time he took himself to the potty. It has been a long, long 10 days. I hate potty training, I don't understand why my kids lack the gene that connects your bladder to your brain. And where DD will just do a bit in her pants, DS will do massive puddles, so we can't go anywhere or do anything!

MrsA I second a lot of the advice here - definitely getting your DS to sleep and go a few hours between feeds means that when he feeds your breast is 'full' so he'll have a full and satisfying feed and be able more settled and able to go longer til the next feed, which means you can do stuff with C. It is supply and demand, so if you feed little and often you will only have milk little and often. So a full 20-25mins on one side if he'll feed that long, burp and change, then offer the other side. I used to let mine fall asleep in buggy/car seat/bouncy chair just to make them have a long nap and train their bodies to sleep at that time of day, then worked on getting them to nap in bed. I didn't want them to need to be on/near me so I didn't go down the sling route, but I can see why that works. Yes, tv will be watched, but don't worry! As for getting out, I aim to do very very very little, therefore what I do is generally a success and I feel good iyswim!! So a trip to the park while DS2 has a long nap in pram will be our sole activity for the day. Big day trips or mooches round the shops are just not an option right now unless I have backup which I do at the moment as my parents are visiting. We went to town yesterday and I had my first haircut in 6months, and we went to a coffee shop, but we had a 3:2 adult to child ratio! I would not attempt that alone.
HTH. Also, don't attempt to do anything for the first six weeks, be realistic with yourself!
Parents are letting me go out and do some christmas shopping this afternoon, can't wait!

I'm here but nothing to say, just didn't want you to feel lonely!

Am a bit down and jealous of those who can bf. DS will simply not bf. I've had a lactation consultant to the house and even she said there was nothing wrong in what I was doing - DS latches on but will not suck and no one can work out why. He will occasionally suck but they are now threatening to hospitalise him due to weiggt loss so he is not getting anywhere near enough. Reluctantly we are feedsing him expressed milk (not a lot as I'm crap at at) and formula top up. Am very sad about it but not even bf experts can give me anymore help other than he may 'get it' once he's bigger and stonger. Have to admit he looks weak and has very few wet/dirty nappies so formula will remedy that. Goimng to try to write birth story soon.