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 :)

Must have been a beneficial force last night - we also slept great and have had a gorgeous cuddle, giggles filled morning. Aaah my heart swells.

Cali I'm following your ups and downs and really can't add anything given my amateur status - but I am thinking of you. What I would say, which I hope doesn't sound flippant or superficial, if Abi's weight is fine, and she is widdling fine is it a case of focusing on your own coping strategies? I remember so vividly how my mum would be close to depression with my sisters crying.

Hi fellow nov 11 mummies my ds is now 7 weeks old and is ff, managed 6w of bf but wasn't producing enough milk so have moved to formula could cope with the express and tip up after every feed advice and the guilt!

He's happy and I'm happy.

He now has a final bottle at 11pm and sleeps til 5:30ish then another bottle and sleeps til 8-9.

During the day it's 4oz every 2hours!
He's 8lbs 9oz now. He's still in newborn clothes, a few babygros are a bit tight though.

I've started going to some baby groups which is nice to meet other mummies, I'll go back to work 3 days a week from end feb, my other job has just made me redundant but I had extended my mat leave til end July, so least I'll get smp til then.

Z is smiling and looks like he's giggling but without the noise!

Ive braved the scales 3 stone heavier! I'd lost 4s over the last few years so not quite back to that weight!! least I made a gorgeous baby! Tried my pre-preg clothes on this morning, can't get my jeans up my legs!! We want another baby you can bet it'll take me a year to loose it and then I'll be trying for number two!

Sorry that was a really long introduction!!

Emma

Hi ladies

First weigh in this morning and I'd lost 7lbs on Slimming World eating loads so was delighted - has definitely given me the motivation to carry on with it.

We also had a good night last night, 5 hours sleep in a block is great for me, then a quick feed and back to sleep. Mind you he wouldn't settle after the next wake up at 5am so had to bring him into bed with me but we both then dozed off so might just have been a bit cold on his own.

How are the other slimming ladies getting on? I'm sure that bf will help with the weight loss.

Busy I had a relapse y'day - I have a rubbish cold, DD's temp was 39.9 so I ate half a choc orange - whoops - not weighing til Mon morning but hoping for 3-4 lbs ...

Ali - if there was any chocolate left in the house I would be eating it now!!

Good luck with the weigh in, it's not easy this time of year.

My dh is being v supportive and is making one of the recipes in the SW books for our tea every night which is very helpful as I am glued to the sofa with a baby attached most evenings!

busyboys - that is fantastic! You must be chuffed.
Well, I am bf but the slimming isn't really happening yet. I have made some changes - muesli for breakfast (although are Dorset cereals healthy really?) and ryebread for lunch everyday, no snacks and healthy dinners for the most part. But the evenings and weekends go a bit pear... For example, I am sipping on a glass of very chilled white wine while waiting for my pizza to be done - a Dr Oetker pizza but tarted up with goat cheese, bacon, thinly sliced potato and truffle oil. How many calories must that be? Horrible. And then my DH cracked open his giant Hotel Chocolate slab so I obviously have to help him with that.

But will make some playlists and start working out next week so hopefully I can make the gym a regular event.

I have no idea how much DD2 weighs, but generally she sleeps from 7 until 11.30, then from 12.30 until 3.30, then until 5 and then until 9. Which is crap really! She is 10 weeks on monday.

I had a couple of hours on my own today, and mosed around town and the sales while hungover DH looked after both girls at home. It was very nice actually but while I was waiting in the queue of a sandwich shop, I was looking at a woman with a 7 week old baby and felt myself lactating just thinking about DD2.

Sorry Busy should have said a huge well done - tremendous willpower! My DH is dieting too (a work competition) which is what inspired me to have a go - I had said no dieting until I was getting near enough a full night's sleep but with his support maybe I can get into some normal clothes & feel a bit more normal.

Just want to say SW diet rocks. I too lost 7 lbs in the first week. Been rubbish this week so no expecting much off!! Only 14lbs to go .

DS so big we have to sell our original pram and the double we bought to get a larger one!! DD very taken with buggy board.

Anyone else's baby teething? We can see 2 little blighters under his gums!! Explains all the sudden poos having been once every 2 days before.

Waving sleeping dust towards everyones little ones. We all need a 10 hrs sleep now.

Wowee well done dieters! Great start to the year. I have (only) a stone to lose but no time/money/inclination to do it in a strategic way yet, hoping bf and walks and running out of Christmas goodies will assist. Although I have started doing a yoga tree pose whilst drying my hair to start working my core muscles.. pathetic!

Should be in bed but nerves fried, DS just had a massive massive shouting fit for some reason. Now passed out looking sad and making me feel like a shit mummy. Going to go hover silently round the active threads while I calm down.

Quick best wishes to Cali on your hunt for answers. I wish we could all come down and stake out the hospital and force some answers out of these people. Can't believe there is such a thing as an infant feeding clinic yet it took you so long to get a referral! Even if they were useless

The feeding clinic was useful as she supported us in the "something is wrong"-position.

Quick update: Abi is building up her feeds - we're doing it all on-demand, which means lots of snacky meals. It still takes up to 2 hours to feed her 4 ounces, but we're getting there.
We've discussed it, and think it started with her jabs - so now we've got on top of feeding her, she gets a new set on Tues! I hope it's not a repeat performance.
DP phoned the consultant's secretary to have a chat, but no call back - feel a bit snubbed and abandoned... But not much to do, apart from coping, as you say PamSco. The heartbreaking bit is that I can hear she is in pain, every time I feed her, but we're taking it slow and taking the bottle away as soon as she starts fussing, so she doesn't get scared of it.

She's also outgrowing her cot top!!! A bit nervous about putting her in the pramseat top, I can't believe she's ready for it! My big girl!

Also, well done on the dieting! I'm not even attempting it until this lady is weaned, which will be very soon.

Hi everyone

This is my first Mumsnet post. I just thought I'd say hi to all the other November mums and babies. My first baby, a DD, is 7wo and ebf. She's precious :) We're doing ok feeding on demand but any kind of routine whatsoever seems to be escaping us still! I'm just sort of hoping that eventually a pattern will emerge as to when she sleeps and feeds and we'll have the beginnings of a routine. Nothing so far though! I think it's because she's so nosy. She'll fight sleep like you wouldn't believe, especially if we're out and about or have visitors.

Anyway, she's finally fallen asleep now so I'm going to turn in for the 3-4 hours I'll get tonight before she's awake to feed again!

Welcome somersaults it sounds like we have the same baby! E is 7 wo also fights sleep all the time during the day. She goes every 2-3 hours at night till usually 7.30 am.but this morning was an early one. Ho hum

cali echoed by everyone else, I hope you eventually get the support Abi obviously needs. You and oh are amazing.

I still have 2 stone to go not dieting yet. May do ww.

Went to the hospital yesterday to take the midwives a huge cake and thank you card. I even managed to thank them without welling up to much. Although when the brilliant mw gave me a kiss and hug I nearly caved

Welcome somersaults and Glitter

Well done busyboys and to others who are dieting.

treacle Not patronising at all. Your enthusiasm made me smile. Love it when someone really enjoys something and likes to share. The last person I met like this was my mw who loved doin stitches. So enthusiastic as she was stitching me up

Katie yes, we have a teething baby. V red cheeks this morning. He was bad a couple of weeks ago (when he was pooing once in night and got nappy rash. Poop was v runny and stringy). Can see two bottom teeth in gums but not through yet.

Hard to explain but feel like I am coming out of newborn fog. As ds is defo last child, I am trying to make an effort with appearance ie exercising and updating my wardrobe. Most of my clothes are for comfort rather than stylish. I'm not fitting into pre-pregnancy so have bought a few things in sales like jeggings from oasis. Only ordered them yesterday so hopefully ok. My tummy is the problem area so hopefully they won't dig in. Fingers crossed.

Very quickly, ds is in a vague routine. He feeds every 3-4 hours but I am now always feeding him at 8.30pm. He wakes at 2am (with wind we think), quick cuddle then put him back down in cot (in own room), wakes again between 5.30-6am.

Welcome newbies! DS slept in his own room for the first time last night which was a little bit sad, sort of accepting that he won't be classed as a newborn for much longer. He was feeding at every 4 hours and then going 6 hours at night but because he fell asleep on the bottle last night at 10.30pm he then woke at 2am for a feed... not done that for about 2 weeks (been going til about 4.30am-5) and it totally threw me off!

I have been making an effort to go to more baby groups and have really enjoyed it, I think DS has as well!

Also, lost 9lbs last week with slimming world :)

Wow MooseyMoo and PerishStorm sounds like you're doing pretty good with night times. C was up every 2.5 hours last night! DH has kindly let me lie in this morning though.

I haven't braved the scales yet. Had my six week check at the docs last week and got the ok to start exercising again. I'm (or was!) a competitive trampolinist and really want to get back to it but I've got an awful lot of getting back in shape to do first! There's no way I'd be caught dead in a leotard at the moment! I think I need to put in some serious gym time and do some serious pelvic floor work before I'll be anywhere near competition shape! National Championships aren't until July though and the last qualifier is June so fingers crossed! All I need to figure out now is where on earth I'm going to find gym/training time!!!

How do things like Slimming World do with ebf? Is it something I could look at or should I be avoiding diets? I know SW is eating healthily in certain combinations but is the calorie content enough to sustain feeding on demand?

Somersaults both SW & WW give an allowance for BF to ensure you get enough calories - I'm doing WW & I think it might be as much as a third extra. Also WW (& so prob SW also) have a mixed feeding option. WW has got me eating a lot more in quantity just healthier - I find it too easy to reach for junk when flagging

Perish 9lbs is amazing - make the 4lbs I'm hoping for seem a bit poor / but then I will have eaten a whole choc orange over the course of the week

Hi all!
dieting Well I'm not up for the dieting malarky, however can i recommend going dairy free for those that are. Trust me all the nice foods have dairy in them, and I'm losing weight here without wanting too. On the plus side I'm back in prepregnancy jeans (but then I haven't been pregnant for five months now :( ) on the downside my belly needs some serious toning work.
Cali You musn't know if you're coming or going with all these 'experts' each having their own, and vastly varying opinions on what's going on. I have that with Willow sometimes and frankly you end up not knowing what to do for the best. FWIW I think what you told us about your sister and how she suffered as a baby is very telling. Could it be something like that? Oh and the jags totally messed up Willow's reflux this week. She has been ridiculously pukey and unsettled. However as she has hers based on her actual birth age, rather than adjusted one, we're all done with them (thank f*ck) until her 13 month ones.
Sleep I'm feeling so much less sleep deprived this time round, I think last time it might have been the haemmorrhage and the volume of milk I had to produce for a huge son making things worse. Willow is pretty good - she can go for 4 or even 5 hour stretches at night - sometimes - but her night feeds tend to be long affairs. They take about an hour or so, plus 30 mins holding her upright. Thank god for some good novels. Am loving CJ Sansom right now. She also seems to spend from 6ish to 8ish working on really energetic poos, so between the grunting there's not much sleep to be had there either. She'll fall asleep in her sling, buggy and carseat on her own but not in her moses basket. TBH I've never tried, I only know BFing is done once she's lost consciousness so she never goes into it awake!
hungry baby milk I was talking to my HV about it, and she said there are no additional calories in it whatsoever, it just has a different mix of casein and whey so it is harder to break down and sits in the tummy for longer giving the feeling of fullness. I don't know if this is a good thing or not? I suppose it prevents overfeeding.... but then its the opposite of BM which is very easily digested. M'eh I don't know.
Baby weigh in Well Willow has stop press just started to fit newborn clothes! And at 8 weeks adjusted, or 20 weeks actual, she now weighs 8lb 3 oz!! I met another mum at the pool yesterday and we worked out her DS was five weeks older than Willow, but 20 lbs heavier. Utterly bizarre.
Hair So my hair is falling out in handfuls - something I'd forgotten about - but which tends to happen 4 months or so after pregnancy. And Willow's beautiful mop of dark hair has gone too, she now has just a much lighter peach fuzz on her head. Maybe she'll be a blondie like her brother. His never fell out though!

Somersaults - SW is great for bf as you can eat loads - I have a huge appetite at the moment,n you can eat unlimited pasta, rice, potatoes, lean meat, fruit and veg so it's a really healthy diet actually. I have eaten masses all week and lost 7lbs and have honestly never felt hungry - would totally recommend the diet. Have a look on their website as there is a 7 day example of meals etc.

We had a bad night again last night - Luke is starting to refuse his bedtime bottle, just wants me, but my milk is lower at night and the bottle used to get a good 5 hours sleep out of him. He only went 10-12.30 on my milk, then woke 2 hourly thereafter so I am tired today.

However, the sun is shining and he is asleep now, also slept through a big all you can eat breakfast that we go to at our local premier inn, all of which I can have on SW. I had 2 massive bowls of fruit and low fat yogurt followed by grilled bacon, mushrooms, tomato, beans and omlette - that set me up for the day!

Hello Glitter and Somersaults.

The weight loss seems to be going fantastically for loads of you. I'm grateful that I don't need to diet as such, but what I really do need is to get fit again and get my muscles toned again. And also I need to be sure to stop the weight creeping on in the long term - when I'm the size I am happy with, I tend to get a bit complacent and start thinking 'oh, I can have that bar of chocolate, because my clothes aren't even tight on me....' and its the start of a downward slope.

Somersaults have you been trampolining since you were a child? It looks like such a fun way to exercise, I've always fancied trying it, but I feel that in my mid 30s I might just have missed the boat on that one!

TreacleSoda I didn't start trampolining until I was 18. It looked like a fun club at uni so I went along and started out there. I trained there for a year and learnt basic front and back somersaults and then found a local club where I've been training ever since. I love it and I've missed it so much. It's been almost a year since I trained and I can't wait to get back into it.

If you're interested there are adult recreation classes around and about, it's just a case of finding one locally. Adult rec are usually a great laugh so I'd suggest you look for one and give it a go. I'd make sure you've done your pelvic floor exercises for a while first though! Or maybe Tena Ladies...

Just went to my first mum and baby fitness class - I've said it before - Danish women are just in phenomenal shape, even the ones with teeny tiny babies! It was a hardcore step and weights class but so weird with all these gurgling babies and mums going in and out to breastfeed, change diapers etc. I had to change and feed DD2 halfway through so wasn't the best workout, but the important thing is that I started and the inertia is broken (at least for today;)

Well done Tjuice, I'm not quite ready for exercise classes yet - hoping the school run will do for exercise for the time being - all the steps are certainly making my butt ache!

So week 1 of diet I lost 5lb which I 'm pleased with - hoping for steady 2lb a week from now on....

Hello all - emerging from new born fog here. DS is 6 weeks tomorrow and a little star and just like his sister.
It's taken him longer to get there (DD slept 11-7 from 5 days old) as he is a hungry boy but for the past 2 weeks, with the odd exception, he has slept 10.30/11 ish till 6.30/7. He does it by tanking up during the day and feeding approx every 2 hrs (as did DD, but on a smaller scale) and he was weighed a week ago and was 10lbs 3.5oz!
On Saturday we had a crap night as he went down at 11, DD wet the bed at 1am, DS woke at 4am and then DD was up around 6.30am bouncing (why on weekends - weekdays she sleeps till7!). But we realised on Saturday we'd been out and about and he'd slept lots and not fed as much, hence the 4am wake up.

I'm starting to get stuff done in the house again and we start baby sensory classes on Wed. Did them with DD and they are fab. Can't wait to see the old teacher again. They are 5mins from Chester zoo, so we'll pop there for lunch and a walk beforehand as we're members.

The one thing we won't be doing is going to organised swim classes for babies, I'll just take him myself. DD hated them and screamed the place down. DS might be different but they won't let you have a taster session. DD loved swimming but hated the underwater bits. Now at 3.4 she is a water baby, so I'm not worrying and will just take him myself.

He's a very stong boy, which DD wasn't - yesterday he rolled over on the bed (!) nd he holds his head so well.
I'm still recovering from the section - just realising how massive it was. the external scar has healed but the internal one is high and lumpy and still very tender.

PMA note - my brand new car arrived today with 9 miles on the clock. Even though I'm on maternity leave, work still replace my car when it's due! yay!

Waves to all and have a good week. Any suggestions for Trafford Centre meet? I can do Mondays, Tues and Thurs. Tuesdays they hold the parent and baby cinema at 11.30 I think. I'd be up for that too.

And diet shmiet. :)