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 :)

Morning all,
I have another baby who loves chatting to his play gym (yellow bear here). I actually wonder how long it is reasonable to leave him there for!

We did baby yoga yesterday, which he loved, and I've also been to a post-natal pilates class which doesn't involve the babies but they lie on a mat next to you. He loved that too and lay happily for the 45 minute session so I think he is also very sociable.

He's sleeping well at the moment but I heed Poppet's words and just enjoy it while it lasts as I know it will change again - probably tonight as we have the 8 week jabs today, I am dreading it.

Well after 3 nights of 4am waking last night E woke at 2am but settled again without feed and just dummy and slept til 8...result! Just back from my fitness4mum class... What I thought was going to be a leisurely walk round the park turned out to be like boot camp with a pram!!! Glad I've done it though although I possibly won't be able to walk tomorrow! Lunch now!

Hadak That's a very low dose - Abi is on 1.2ml x 3 daily. It does take up to 2 weeks to work though - I didn't see an improvement with Abi until 13-14 days.

Well, after marginal improvement, the jabs yesterday reset Abi's feeding strike completely. So we're back to screaming at the bottle and taking 1-2oz every 4 hours. Great - just in time for my mother to arrive, too.

Fitness4mum sounds ace!

Miserable day here as DH away, DS was sick all last night and has temperature today - no baby massage for DS, prob just as well post vaccines. No ill effects from them yet except for some well times extra sleep.. Have been inside washing vomit-covered towels and worrying all day instead. How do people cope with 3????

3 is hard - but easier when 2 of them are at school. The hardest thing is combining the sitting downness of breastfeeding with the needs of 2 boys when they come home from school starving and you need to get tea ready, oversee homework etc

We had no ill reaction to the jabs yesterday thank goodness and he is still smiling at me so obviously doesn't hold a grudge, bless him.

Any further thoughts on the TC meet? Shall we pick a date and time?

Well I have finally jumped on the scales to see the damage! It looks like I have gained a stone but as was a bit under weight to start with would like to lose half a stone. Physio went reasonably well apart from having to do a feed and a change so I have the green light to do low impact exercise. My arms are getting toned with all the baby lifting but it ismy tummy that needs the work.
As for sleep we are trying to get little man down at seven with feed around 9 to 10. He is waking up around 4 and then again at 7.

We've got jabs tomorrow and I'm wondering if I should be dreading it more than I am. Any top tips?

Hi somersaults - if bf then pop him on for a feed whilst they do the injections. From chatting to friends all babies react differently with some sleeping afterwards, some crying later and other neither up nor down. Fingers crossed it goes well for you.

somersaults I think it really depends on baby. X just took them with hardly a peep and has stopped crying by the time he has his legs back in his sleep suits. Not too bothered, he slept a bit more after the first ones, but had a completely normal day after his second. No reaction at all, so don't worry unduly. Just see how it goes.

Weight loss here was great without me doing anything!! Before Christmas I was a stone and 3lb lighter than I was before I got pregnant!! :D Put a few lb back on over christmas though. I think ideally I'd like to lose about half a stone from here, but I'm not really that bothered right now.

Starting baby swim lessons on Monday with X, so excited!

Well, let me give you the opposite story to X so you'll be prepared ;)
Abi screamed a little bit, but she's so used to needles by now - bottle/feed in hand she settled easily after both.

38.4 degrees fever for the next day. Irritable for about 48 hours. Food refusal for 4 weeks.

Yeah, it's very, very depending on the baby.

DS was ok with the actual injections - cried a bit but calmed down fairly quickly.

He was a bit off colour about a week to ten days later, upset tummy and clingy, I spent about three days just sitting on the sofa cuddling him all day (which was surprisingly enjoyable actually!). But no major dramas really.

Slightly off topic, but DH and I have been making it our mission, whilst we have small children, to explore the UK for our holidays. We are not the sun sea and sand types anyway, and the thought of flying with small children is just too much hassle, so it suits us well. Anyway, we had done a couple of holidays in Yorkshire and had loved it, and this year we thought we'd try the Lake District, as it looks so beautiful. Found a lovely apartment to rent, in fact we are spoilt for choice, because our school term ends here on 29th June, so we have got a couple of weeks to play with before we get into English peak season. Anyway last night I sat down to look at booking the ferry. Bloody £350. For a two hour ferry journey. I nearly cried. It was only £250 last year (hollow laugh, because we thought that was extortionate). I don't get why the Irish Sea is such an expensive journey to make, whether by boat or by plane. Northern Ireland is so small that there is nowhere here that we can't drive to in a an hour and a half, so we wouldn't want to holiday here. And once we cross the border, we are into the ? and the prices are unbelievable. I hate living here, its so isolating

Morning all!

Tilly has the little red cow on her play gym too! And justing to like looking at the mirror! Cali I too feel awful about putting her in front of the tv for long periods, but she does love it! I do just try and have some time a day with the tv off - ill often put my now that's what I call disney cd on and we have a little sing and dance!!

Can I ask - I know some have mentioned babies going in their own rooms - at what age do you all think its OK? I know the official advice is 6months - but don't fancy having her in our room for that long - appreciate your thoughts!!

Morning all!

Tilly has the little red cow on her play gym too! And justing to like looking at the mirror! Cali I too feel awful about putting her in front of the tv for long periods, but she does love it! I do just try and have some time a day with the tv off - ill often put my now that's what I call disney cd on and we have a little sing and dance!!

Can I ask - I know some have mentioned babies going in their own rooms - at what age do you all think its OK? I know the official advice is 6months - but don't fancy having her in our room for that long - appreciate your thoughts!!

DD was fine with jabs if I recall, so hoping for the same with DS (7 Feb). Tbh, DD's 3yr jabs are also due and I am dreading it. As a baby, I can cuddle and hope it's over with quickjly, however I will have to tell DD in advance what is going to happen and that, yes, it will hurt but not for long and she can have lots of cuddles and a treat afterwards. It's far worse for me (IMO) to have a 3yr old sobbing 'it hurts mummy' rather than a baby who cries - perhaps I'm so used to DS crying though (or I'm just a hard hearted person!??)

DS is a crier. Just like DD was. If he isn't asleep or feeding, he cries

And I have a confession to make.....I love love love DS but i don't like newborns very much
I'll be very happy once we're weaning and he's sitting up and at 3 DD is a delight, despite the naughty behaviour and constant questions.

DP set off for newcastle at 7am and is back tomorrow night, so we had our first morning without help and DD has to go off to nursery. Well, we were all ready to go by 8.10am!!!
I was up at 5am cos DD wet the bed, then DS woke at 6am but he had slept from 10pm till 6, so I am chuffed. So muchy easier once you have sleep.
DS is now asleep, the tea is cooked and ready to reheat, table is set and nappies in the wash. Am gobsmacked I could be so organised.

Thinking we'll go to the zoo for lunch and a wander before we pick up DD from nursery at 4.30. She's sleeping in our bed tonight as a treat :)

We also did baby sensory yesterday - just as i remembered it and highly recommended. DS did have a meltdown as he needed a feed towards the end (just reminds me that DD was just not a hungry baby) - he is still feeding every 2 hrs in the day and I reckon has 8 or 9 bottles a day of ebm and aptimil combo (more formula than ebm tbh).
Mind you, whilst weaning is best at 24 weeks or later, I remember my sister saying her son was having full bottles of hungry baby milk at 19 weeks and could physically have no more in his stomach, yet was still hungry and the hv said - he's ready to wean!

Question - those using washable nappies, what do you take out and about? I find i have a large bag with a mat, 3 or 4 washables, wipes and a bag for the dirty nappies. It's so large it's a separate bag altogether. Any tips.

Off to wake DS up for a feed - that's a new one!!

Treacle so sorry - we're looking at UK hols too this year as no money but we do live on the mainland.

staceroo DD was in our room until she was 7m, as she was a great sleeper and my pfb. DS will be in his a whole lot sooner! He is a very noisy sleeper and whilst I won't put him in his room the minute he grows out of his basket (we have a £25 ikea wooden cot that is small and fits by our bed), he will probably go in his room once he is sleeping 7-7.

Ooh - DP and I dtd 2 nights ago. 6 weeks post section, yay! Oh I missed it.

God sorry for the mammoth posts - this mnorning I have opened a junior isa for DS (Childrens Mutual - DD's ctf there too and they have been very good).
Once back in work, I will also start a pension for him. It's such a useful thinkg to do - I put £20 a month for DD into a virgin children's pension as she'll probably have to work till 110!

Talking about holidays we're very very lucky. My mum and sister live in Australia along with cousins and other relatives. Mum's here at the moment and gas been since Caitlin was born but she flies back in a week or so. She's offered to pay to fly the three of us out there before Easter to see the Aussie family so we booked flights yesterday and we're off to Aus in March. DH has to come back earlier than me for work so I'll be flying solo with a 20wo for a 24hour journey home! That'll be fun! I'm just about to phone the airline and reserve bassinet seats.

Jabs I'm now confused. I was pretty sure when they rang and booked this appointment for the 8 week check that they asked if I was happy for her to have her jabs at the appt and I said yes. But this morning I've had a little yellow slip in the post saying an appt has been made for immunisations between two dates at the end of Jan and that I need to call the surgery. So I don't know now if they're today or not! Guess I'll find out later! Would people recommend giving calpol before we go this afternoon?

Well somersaults in my experience a baby is the perfect accessory for a long plane journey! You can faff around with nappies milk changing clothes etc and before you know it you're there! We're doing UK too this year. We went abroad a LOT with DD before she was 2 I'm glad we did but now we've got 2 and she's a fare payer we might stay local for a bit.
Sorry to hear you're trapped treacle! That sucks. There was once a plan to dig a tunnel from Anglesey to Belfast, a Swedish company was going to fund it in a similar model to the M6 toll, but the govt vetoed it! Damn London centric politicians etc etc.

Totally with you on the newborns thing MrsA :( I love him but roll on 6 months, or even 3 months!

Oh and personally I'd save the calpol til you really need it

Afternoon Ladies.
Re Jabs- DS was ok yesterday during jabs stopped crying as soon as done and went to sleep however he was unsettled (more than usual) by the evening. He did cry more and also has a runny tummy but don't know if this is jabs or food. Apart from that he seems fine.
I see I have a very deprived child as he doesn't have a red cow on his play gym-Poor boy but he is still in love with the curtains both bedroom and living room ones so I think he'll manage without a red cow.
Holidays ooh for a trip like your planning Somersaults it sounds fab. I have never flew with a young baby bbut I did take 18m neice and 4yr old nephew to Disneyland Paris on a coach and Ferry once- Bloody nightmare but nice to see Mickey. I don't think we will get a proper holiday this year but we are lucky that we have a small touring caravan that we leave sited on a lovely site that we visit weekends over the summer months.
MrsA You are very organised sorting out a pension for your DD I wish I would have done something similar for DS1.
Cali thanks for info re doses of ranitidine.
Hope you all have a lovely day.

Afternoon all,

J had his first set of jabs this week and apart from crying when they were actually given, he has been as good as gold - tbh i was looking forward to him sleeping a bit more so I could have gotten on with things but he was just the same as usual, no temperature, sleepiness or extra grumpy or anything. My HV told me that its better not to give calpol beforehand as it can mask any adverse reaction that the LO might have.

Treacle, sorry to hear that the ferry costs so much, I find that sometimes it's cheaper to have a week in Spain than to try to find something in the UK. Have my heart set on getting a second hand caravan so that we can have some weekends and weeks away in the next couple of years, but that's still an expensive option and our dogs dont sleep well in a tent, so might well be having holidays at home this year....

Cali J LOVES the tv, he is mesmerised by it, but i don't put on the children's channels, he is having to put up with what I want to watch, which is good for his education i like to think....

MrsA, I bet most of us are looking forward to our LO's being a little bigger and able to take care of themselves a little more, I am just looking forward to J being able to crawl and play with his toys and generally entertain himself a bit, although no doubt he will drive me demented at that stage and I'll be pining for the time when I could put him in one place and know that he was going to stay where I put him

Staceroo J went into his own cot last week, he had just about outgrown his moses basket, to the extent that he would hit his arms off the sides and disturb himself enough to start waking up. Now we all sleep a lot better, his cot has a proper comfy mattress and although he is still not sleeping through, I think he does have a better quality of sleep whilst he is sleeping.

As far as early weaning, J is such a hungry boy I did try him with Aptamil Hungry Milk (you can get 200 ml cartons) on two occasions, once overnight and it made sod all difference, he still woke up three hours after his last feed, so not convinced that it would make a difference for him. Am looking forward to weaning him, mainly cos I love cooking and am looking forward to him discovering new tastes and textures, his dad and I love our food a little too much and am sure he'll be the same

Am feeling a bit sorry for myself, during my third trimester I had a load of neck and shoulder pain, which I was really really pleased about going when I had J, this week it's come back, not as bad mind, but still bloody sore! Going to settle down and have a quiet afternoon and wait for the painkillers to kick in, hopefully things will settle down again shortly...

Oh twojacks I hear you re tv programmes. Enjoy it as in about a year or so he'll be demanding his own tv programmes. I really miss watching the news after work and oinstead have to have bloody fireman sam and peppa pig on. Don't feel too bad though as DD is at nursery all day so probably deserves a bit of telly time.

Should I be worried - DS is beating up his lion as much as chatting to him!

Well for some crazy reason now that DS is sleeping better (normally til around 5) I am not. I just cannot get back to sleep after that feed & it's driving me nuts. DS goes straight back down & I'm wide awake so I am shattered when I should be feeling loads better typical.

MrsA I was told a few years ago that if a parent saved £3k per year from 0-18 in a pension for their child then the child's retirement would be entirely paid for! So any contribution has an enormous effect. That said we haven't opened pensions as we don't have spare cash - they each have a simple regular saver account but that's it.

We have a caravan as well, ours is a tourer and we go away loads as soon as Spring arrives - most weekends if we can. We prefer to have lots of little mini breaks then this year we have booked 11 days in Portugal which we are all looking forward to as last year we didn't go abroad as I don't like flying when pregnant. My parents had a villa there for 20 years and sold it last year so we are selfcatering but doing to the same place - we just love it!

My boys all have a savings account with around 2k in but we haven't added for years - since I got made redundant about 3 years ago.

Luke is in his own room and in his cot and seems perfectly happy there. I put him there as ds2 slept through from 6 weeks (bf) once we put him in his own room and I was hoping Luke might do the same but not so far sadly!

However he does seem a lot more settled now at 8 weeks and seems to be fitting in just fine.

So we went to the docs and because she's two days short of 8 weeks we had the physical examination today but have to go back next week for the jabs!