November 2011 - early birds, just in time and late to the party, all welcome!!

[TwoJackRussellsandapumpkin]

Hi all,

just starting up a post natal thread for all the due in November peeps on the antenatal forum and anyone else who would like to join in too, hoping to see my arrival by the end of the week, so officially an early bird I hope :)

Thoughts going out to you and Abi, cali. I am in awe of your strength and I hope that the tests and investigations get organised quickly and that you finally can come up with a solution to make Abi feel better.

We have had a very grumpy DS for the last 2 days. Lots of tears and he seems to be in a lot of discomfort...think he needs a poo, so trying everything in my power to make him go.
Can't moan too much though especially in comparison to what others are going through, just a little frustrated.

Oh Cali I really thought you'd had a breakthrough. I really hope appointments come through quickly for you

cali i wish i could help but have no experience of this. just know we are all thinking of you and hoping for a swift resolution to your poor baby girl's problems.

typing one-handed so can't look who asked but anyone with an unsettled/colicky baby, i so recommend baby wearing with a stretchy wrap. i have 2 - the moby and the close and they are great. i 'wore' ds to the panto on nye (dd loved it but we'd not really thought about the noise so poor ds had a muslin over his ears!) and he basically slept throughout it. i am able to do stuff with dd, hold her hand, eat my tea - all whilst wearing him and he is unsettled in the evenings.

So, whilst we are not bf anymore (sad but not a surprise - 3 lots of feeding was not sustainable with a 3 yr old to look after) we are still mixed feeding from a bottle and i'm expressing - ds totally not interested in my boob. Bizarrely he is feeding on demand like a bf baby. From about 8am he feeds every hr and a half or so (hard work as dd has to be in nursery by 9 and he takes 20mins to feed, plus starts chuntering for milk after about 1 hr 15!) then feeds once after middayish. then cluster feeds again from 7ish to 9ishpm and has one feed around 2am and today woke again about 5.30am with a snotty nose. Was a bit gutted as dp back to work today and dd up at 6.30 for nursery. hey ho.

i'm glad dd back to nursery - she was a nightmare over xmas and i turned into shouty mum :(
in the past 4 weeks (ds 4 weeks today) she's had to deal with mummy being in hospital for 5 days, a long trip to children's ward, numerous midwives to the house and a new screaming little person. poor little love.

mrsA I 2nd the sling advice. I weat W and he sleeps great and I get things done. Ive had to order a lighter one as the fleece one I have is too warm in the house. I've got Calin Bleu wraps - same as moby but cheaper - quality is excellent though.

We still don't sleep here. W has outgrown his moses basket (7 weeks) and he maybe sleot 20 hours max in it. We now have a mothercare wooden gliding crib for him not to go in - luckily it is a handmeover from my sis. I could spend a fortune on things not to sleep in.

He is being a darling most of the time, smiles and giggles - just awake and feeding.

Still no appt for the 6 week check and still worried about oily green poo. Nothing on the scale of you Cali - have any consultants tried to feed Abi themselves to see what happens?

Pamsco Snap on "the spending a fortune on things not to sleep in " We have given up and he just comes to bed with us. I have also nicknamed him Goldilocks as he has 3 bouncer type chairs and a swing and I don't think any of them meet his expectations either. Only arms will do!!
Although I have to say we probably had the best night ever with him last night after a very unsettled day he Went to bed with his dad about 9;30pm and slept, yes really slept until about 1am when he fed, had meds,, was alittle unsettled with (I think wind) then had a chat to his beloved curtains and a chat with the bedroom wall which he is also very fond of. Did a big poo and went back to sleep about 2;30 ish. Woke briefly about 3 then back to sleep until 5;30 when we fed and got up.I am so pleased. We were supposed to go to BF clinic today re the green poo and just to check on his very noisy feeding but the weather is so bad we gave it a miss but we are at hospital tomorrow anyway.
Thanks for the advice re the wraps/slings. I think I will perservere with the moby.
Cali I am sorry to hear the new bottles didn't work and hope you get appointment for Abi soon.
Mrs A good to hear from you sounds like things are going well with baby.
Have a great day everybody.

Hadak & Pam I'm like that with clothes. She wears sleepsuits most days. I have no clue how you get a 1 month old to wear socks! Abi is 2.5 months now, and only just has got the hang of wearing dungarees...

We got the consultants appointment moved forwards to Friday, surprisingly quick, actually.
Abi has a nasty cold now, too, and is drinking even less, and has had less an less wet nappies - we're giving it another 8 hours and then we're going to hospital.

We only do sleepsuits & dungarees with feet

I'm with you all on the sleepsuits front - someone bought me some jeans as a pressie - took them back and got 3-6 months instead. Mine have always lived in sleepsuits as tiny babies.

For dungarees you can get little trousers with feet in that they can wear underneath which solves the problem of socks falling off. Asda do a 2 pack for £5, just bought some today, nice and snug for the winter.

Luke is a milk monster - 11lb 11oz at his 6 week checkup!

Loving the idea of the little trousers with feet to go under dungarees... So going to get some!! X had so many clothes bought for him by me and other people that I've dressed him from day 1 if were going out and about. I'm kinda glad its always been part of our routine because now I'm starting bedtime routine with him I think marking the difference between day and night clothes will be helpful.

Night 1 (yesterday) of introducing routine was a bit of a mare, until he finally went to sleep properly! taken up and changed at 6.45, then fed. finished feeding at 7.30 and put in moses, didn't settle until 8.50, then woke up again and 9.10 and fusses again for over an hour then finally crashed out at 10.20 just when his next feed was due. We let him sleep on and dream fed at midnight and then he slept until 6.50 this morning!

Tonight upstairs at 7.00, fed 7.15 to 8, into moses and settled at 8.30 and been asleep since. Going to do a dream feed very soon and hope for another good nights sleep.

Until now he's been used to being downstairs until 10/11 so hoping tonight isn't a fluke and he's willing to accept/get used to quickly an earlier bedtime!!

Just got to be consistent I guess! See how night 3 and the next week goes before I declare it a success!!

cali I hope the Drs are helpful. It all sounds so distressing, your poor girl and poor you. Wish I could do something more helpful than offer sympathy.

I'm so sorry to hear about all the poorly little ones. Sending them and their parents a virtual hug. you are all doing si well.

Re: socks,.I bought 'sock ons' From mothercare they are great and do keep socks on. I have mostly kept E in sleepsuits but do change it on the morning and if we have visitors or going out I make sure she wears proper clothes. My brother is already being a fab uncle, he keeps buying lovely stuff. She now owns a Ralph Laurence snowsuit and some benetton threads. Very smart but the snowsuit will be going back as too big. Have found a lovely coat for next winter to exchange though :) don't get me wrong I wouldn't buy it, next and debenhams is my limit. A girl can have the odd designer item though eh?

caz fingers crossed with the routine! It will be so lovely if he does get used to it. Still a bit hit and miss with my DS at the moment.

cali you may have already tried this but I found when DS had a cold that saline nasal spray really helped with the congestion, it loosens the mucus and I found that it also made him sneeze a lot of it out. Might help Abi if it is affecting her already difficult feeds. Hope she feels better soon! How are you feeling with your DVT?

DS lives in his sleepsuits, feels so lovely to cuddle him when he is in them, he feels like a little sausage haha! I also think he is more comfortable as a lot of his little tops and stuff bunch up.

8 week injections today... eeeek.

Perish Yeah, tried it, she's not bunged up though, just a chesty cough.

We went to A&E last night as she'd not eaten more than 10oz in total, and had 2 semi-wet nappies (tiny splotch of dark wee in each).
Got sent home with "there's nothing wrong with her", told to persevere and feed her every 1 1/2 hour.
When I said we've "persevered" for 7 weeks now, we got po-po'ed and told to get a consultant through our GP. When I told them this had already happened, and she was now on the highest doses of EVERYTHING short of Omeprazole (and the Ranitidine is doing it's job, to be honest), that we're already feeding her every 2 hours and she's screaming at the bottle before it's even reached her mouth, they just shrugged and booked us in for an outpatient appointment on Friday.
I could murder them, really.
The nurse who observed me feed didn't even take notes and said "well, short of admitting her and observing her feeds there's little we can do, really". Bloody admit her then! But no, not until she's lost weight - she's not put any on and has now slipped another centile. That's 3 in total.

When we got home I was changing her into a sleepsuit and broke down crying - I just want her to fill them out and have rolls of fat like all other babies.

Well... she then had 100ml, slept from 2-8, woke up and drained a bottle, slept until 12, took 120ml over an hour of sleeping/feeding, spent some time under the play gym, and is now trying to eat my arm... Fickle child. At this point I'll take anything, so today is a good day.

Aww Cali sorry you needed to go to Aand E with Abi. Good news that she has fed better today though.
Perish don;t envy you taking your LO for jabs, hope it goes ok.
We have been to our hospital appointment this am. Docs not too concerned as he is putting on weight, he has been pescribed nutrigem as I was panicing a bit about being able to express and store enough for him if I needed to go out anywhere. So thats a relief. Docs don't think staying off gluten will help although I am unsure so will try and continue for the next three weeks, that will have given me a month off so any difference should show. Had a reasonable night again last night and had a very settles sleepy day today so who knows whether it's meds, dairy, gluten or just colic and he's feeling better now we will have to see.
Hope everybody has had a good day

Perish Oh, and jabs - good luck! Abi was a bit clingy but otherwise fine after them...

Hadak Nutramigen is good, we had such improvement with it, but keep an eye on it - Abi's gut learnt to recognise the milk protein and we had to go on Neocate.

About Colic - I have a hard time accepting this as a valid medical term, to be honest. The more I got told to just accept Abi's screaming in pain as part of her "just having colic" the more I despaired. I'm prone to think that most cases of "colic" has real, underlying causes.
Take my baby sister - she had "colic" and my mum, 24 years ago, was told to just deal with it. So she spent the days shoving my sister's pram over the doorstep, my sister on her tummy, until she screamed herself to sleep. My sister over-ate so much my mum had to give up bf simply because she couldn't keep up, and woke up for a night time bottle until she was 2. As a toddler she would break into the fridge and drink the cream and eat the butter. She had rash all over her body from 1 year onwards, and as soon as she could talk and voice it, complained about stomach pains.
At 7 she was diagnosed with milk allergy.
At 13 she was given Omeprazole for her acid problem.
At 16/17 she was diagnosed with a chronically inflamed oesophagus and duodenum.
At 22 they finally did a gastroscopy and found severe scarring on her gullet and oesophagus, as well as a hiatus hernia which had probably caused the acid problems in the first place. She also had a bleeding ulcer on her duodenum.

So, what was "colic" was in fact a surgical problem, that although not operated on in infants, could have been diagnosed and managed, possibly avoiding the scarring, bleeding ulcers and chronic inflammation my sister now has to deal with.

Sorry about the rant - I'm on the warpath today...

I just had to post - I know I've been spamming but:

Abi has had more formula today than she's had over the past two days put together. She's had three poos since this morning - that's two more than she'd have in 24 hours.
She is, right now, cuddled up under her sheep skin in her pram, sleeping.
I'm sat eating a clementine in the sofa.
The house is quiet, bar the washing machine.

Yes, the feeds were in bits over an hour or so.
Yes, she's cried a few times.
And tomorrow she will probably be as bad as she's ever been.

But, for now, I am the happiest mummy in the world.

cali with you 100% re colic. It's clearly a term invented for the medical profession which means absolutely nothing but enables them to send upset babies and fraught parents home without having to bother taking the time to try to get to the actual root of the problem!

Cross posted cali glad you're having a little respite...fingers crossed it continues.

Glad Abi has had a better day

Cali thanks for the info re nutrigem I am hoping I won't be using it often but I suppose I will have to make sure that he will take it before I leave him without any of my milk as back up.
I am really pleased to hear that Abi has had a great day -she (and you) have had a really difficult time. I do hope things get better.

Cali agree with you re colic.

hadak and cali well...jabs. Omg can my Ds scream! He has been a bit clingy and whingy and sleepy, but not too bad. I felt terrible he had such a look of shock before the pain registered :-( but it's for the best - don't want him getting any of those nasties.

This may be a bit personal but when did you guys get your first post natal period? I've not had mine yet. Was expressing (combined feeding)which i believe can delay it but DS has been exclusively FF for 4 weeks now.

Aargh Blake has just cried non stop for 2 hours. My nerves are shot. He's now asleep in the middle of the floor and I daren't move him! Might just sleep here...

I think it was about 2 months after I stopped BFing that I had my first period after DD. (so about 9 months after birth)

Totally agree with you all re 'colic'. There MUST be something behind all this and I wish there was more educated advice available. I have a friend who studied paediatrics for a while and his experiences give me no faith whatsoever that we will get taken seriously

Hi perish, got mine 5 weeks after her birth. 2 weeks after stopping bleeding from birth. Lucky me.....not. I am ebf. My body must want me to have another baby! [Grin]

Sasunde - I hope Blake has stayed asleep or calmed.

Morning all,

have to go to hospital this morning for a follow up glucose test after having gestational diabetes, have also been booked in for another appointment on Tuesday, when I figure I will be patronised once more by the dietician, oh joy! Just hoping that J will behave himself, if he decides to cry or fuss not sure what I will be able to do as the clinic wants as little movement as possible to accurately reflect how I process sugars, moving around burns it off quicker than if I sit still for two hours. Anyway, just a wee moan from me, fingers crossed he'll have another sleepy day like yesterday.

I got my period a couple of weeks after my postpartum bleeding, but it was very light and didnt last more than a couple of days. Have sorted out my contraception now so hoping that I wont have anymore bleeding for the next three years - get in there!!!

Hoping the babies are feeling better today, J was 10 weeks yesterday and is really coming along, he is engaging with his mobile's (one in the cot and on the play gym) and is smiling at me when I come into view, so gorgeous when his whole face crinkles up. Mind, he also can be a moany little bugger and is so so hungry, am going to talk to the health visitor about whether he needs to go onto hungry milk to help satisfy him.

Has anyone had issues with getting an appointment for jabs etc? I phoned up after xmas to book his first set of inoculations and couldn't get an appointment until he is 12 weeks, bit useless I thought, so going to moan onto the HV when she next has a drop in clinic, which I need to go to anyway.

Off to dress his lordship and head off, am soo hungry, am going to stuff myself at lunchtime when this is over :O

Morning ladies. Hope you all had restful nights.
Sas hope Baby stayed sleeping for you.
Two Jacks Hope hospital tests go ok. I remember my gdd when pregnant I was starving before - enjoy your late breakfast.
Perish Sorry can't remeber about my periods firsrt time round still BF here so nothing as yet but given my advanced years Iwonder if theyy will come back at all!!
Glad to hear little one diodn't suffer too badly from jabs.
Have a good day everybody.

Hope everyone had a good night!

Good luck today twojacks

Abi is sat in her bouncer having projectile vomited her feed because she coughed so hard :(
Re-fed and she had just enough for me to not panic about it.

Here's to another good day, for all of us!