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 :)

I wouldn't stress too much about %iles esp going up them - DD was born on 9th - climbed fairly quickly to 75th and is still tracking 75th for weight and height 3 years on - think they just need to find where they are supposed to be.

Hi lovely mums!
First up, colic survivors i've definitely heard the caffeine theory and would buy it, but the best 'fix' we found was homeopathic colic granules. They sell them in Boots at the pharmacy. Otherwise try to remember the mummy mantra, this too shall pass... it took three weeks for DS and it was so so hard, hugs and a handhold for you all.
reflux well Willow is now pretty much upright all day now either on my shoulder or in her sling and we're on gaviscon, ranitadine and double the domperidone and today has been just a little calmer. Mainly less choking fits which is what I was hated the most. i hope we can try for better nights soon too. the hv told me to let her sleep on her tum and we got 4 hours, we could have got more but I was told to wake her to feed her - but i hate it because of the higher sids risks premmies and refluxers have anyway, and her paediatrician has now said no tummy sleeping but to let her sleep on me, so i've been propped sitting up in bed. Willow then treats me as a 24/7 milk bar. argh.
premmie vs term centiles Willows in the same position somewhere between the second and ninth centile on both charts - her premmie one just starts at 32 weeks not 40.
baths Willow is not a fan if the room isn't warm enough, and she doesn't really like the prone position she has to be in in a baby bath - so we tried a bucket - and she loves it!!! Tricky to hold her but so cute to see her peeping out taking it all in with a bemused expression.
Twojacks I can't believe you're still managing to express and care for a newborn. Mucho mucho respect lady - I found it hard enough when Willow was being cared for by the NICU nurses and I only had jacob to look after. Have you heard of something called a breastshell btw? I came across them in a book yesterday - they gently reshape flat nipples into something more latchable apparently? Might be worth a go, anything to ditch the expressing. I know it's so so hard - I hated the pumps myself and ended up hand expressing.

Hey Katie good to know you are experiencing the same thing. Def less wind and ds seems a lot more settled today. Fingers crossed. So happy to hear you had a better night.

Cep when I expressed for DD, I found if I stressed over not getting enough i got even less out. I found looking at my DD or a photo of her helped the milk let down feeling. Whenever I was staring at her and felt overwhelming love for her I produced more milk. And major congratulations for ds feeding off your boob

lizzie I'm bottle feeding too and can't believe how much milk ds is taking. He is taking 4ozs every 3 hours in the day and 4 at night ish. His appetite is bugger than his tummy at the moment. I don't make him finish every bottle, I check if he is slowing sucking, then wind and if he is sleepy then I know he's had enough. When bf I was told they have had their fill when they come off the boob and look like a drunken sailor.

I am keeping a log of feeding times but its more so I can work out when the next feed will be and what I can manage in-between.

cookie it's good that baby hasn't lost any weight. Hope you have a better night. Do you have any support so you can have a nap in the day to catch up on sleep?

Er, that should be bigger not bugger . Blimmin iPad

Definitely agree how much worse things seem when yr not getting enough sleep. Hope we have some end to the reflux colic and bad sleeps soon for peeps.
Managed to get Sophie registered. Very happy! Done too much though. Been out 3 days running even though it's not been far.
Seem to be better on the stitches front and the other erm functions related to down there thankfully. Can report my pelvic floor exercises have paid off, I'm getting a very definite cough and cold and they have been called into play quite a few times unexpectedly!
Hope everyone has restful nights.

Lizzy and Moosey , I am another who is bottle feeding and also worried that he is taking too much. He is taking about 150ml every 3 hours, and sometimes its only 2 1/2 hours between feeds. He hasn't been weighed for a couple of weeks, so I have no idea what weight he is. But he doesn't look chubby to me - a big baby, certainly, but he doesn't have rolls of fat or anything. But at the same time, in the back of my mind I'm thinking 'hmm, is it possible to be a comfort eater at 4 weeks old?'. Spoke to health visitor though, and she said it was probably just a growth spurt and to work with him, that she didn't think it was anything to worry about. But hey, as I've said a hundred times on here, I'm a worrier .

tjuice makes me feel a lot better to know yours got better.

Sounds like I'm in the same place as all of you. Sore boobs (getting stretch marks now!! ) but Emme is sleeping well some nights (some 4 hours between feedings) and we are introducing a bottle in a week so really looking forward to that! Am amazed at how little sleep I can function on -- and 'poor' DH complaining of being tired after 6-8 hours of sleep (I assume rage is normal at this stage for annoying remarks!)

She went through a fussy time (trapped gas and pooping every hour=ish) but has been good for the past two days so fingers crossed it lasts!

FX that everyone gets a good night sleep and that babies feel better!

Just a quick message of thanks for all the support - Abi is doing fine, a bit of pain and some grizzly days, but her stomach and reflux is soooo much better.
We're still working on routines as hospitalisation for so many days messed everything up.

1 month old, though, and completely out of newborn sized clothes! Eep!

Thanks Poppet, I'm only managing to express first thing in the morning and last at night, mostly he's on formula cos I would be on the blasted pump all day otherwise and I find my supply is slowly dwindling, so it's more of an extra than anything else. J has a receding chin so he has never latched on I try every so often and he just looks at me like "What do you expect me to do with this?!?) so bottles for us and I'm quite happy that that is working well for us.

Glad things are looking up for you Cali :)

Hope everyone else has a good day, when the rain stops am going to devise a cunning plan to entertain J and I :)

Cali great to hear you're home & getting back on track

Much better night last night - fed 3 times just didn't settle after last feed but huge improvement & approaching 5 hours sleep for me

Isn't it funny how much we are all appreciating sleep now, two months ago I took my eight hours kip for granted :o

Two months ago I was sleeping 18 hours/day...

Ah I miss a good lie in!!! snoozle sounds like we're doing similar quantities of milk, was on 120ml but upped to 150ml last couple of days as was still obviously hungry at end of bottle. Doesn't always finish it tho. Cali good to hear abi is on the mend. We've outgrown newborn clothes here too...Ella is quite long apparently!
Have Drs app at 6pm so can hopefully be signed off to drive which will be fab as 4 weeks on Monday and def feel up to getting behind the wheel again. Had a girl from our local children's centre pop over this morning to go through baby massage specific for colic.
Skipped a feed in middle of last night, sleeping right through from 11:30-05:15!!! Bit weird but doesn't seem to have had any knock on effect as back to regular 3 hour feeds this morn....anyone else had this happen? Should probably be grateful but being first time mum I'm still worrying about anything out of the ordinary!!!

Kate I'm a firm believer if baby wants food s/he will wake up for it (not Inc newborns who are mucousy in first few days).

Well, I've been signed off by mw. Bit disturbed when checking my stitches when she prodded me and said 'does this hurt'. Luckily it didn't but you kind of brace yourself for imminent pain!

Ds is more settled, less wind and serious Poonamis a go go. Currently sleeping up to 4 hours between feeds. He outgrew newborn size baby grows at 1 day old . Long baby, how did he fit in me?

DD has a cold so is a snot ball at mo and seriously unhappy. Sigh. One baby sorted, next one unsettled and miserable. Wonder if they will ever coincide with one another?

Here's to happy healthy babies, mummies, daddies, elder brothers and sisters over the weekend.

Xander is 6 weeks old today and we've just had our first proper smiles! Completely made my day and so beautiful!

Still bf and going 4 hours between feeds on average. Having 150mls ebm at around 11pm with Daddy most nights which usually sees us through until about 5am, so not doing too badly at all on the sleep front. Well apart from him being a bit of a pest to settle, he seems to think 11pm is wake up time and it can take us an hour or so to get him back down again! With perseverance he will go off in his moses now, but is still co-sleeping for the later part of the night most nights.

He grew out of newborn clothes about 10 days ago but lots of his 0-3 stuff is massive on him! Last weigh in was last week, 10lb 6. So steady weight gain.

He likes to be close a lot, a very cuddly baby (and I like him close too!) so invested in a sling. Arrived yesterday and is fab, X loved it too and went straight off to sleep. So I can recommend a mai tei if anyone is thinking of getting one!

DH and I both have colds so dreading X getting one too. Hope somehow he misses it.

So thats our update, just enjoying everything about him really!

oh and gold rage at DH v normal!!

kate I started driving again after 4 weeks too, take it slow though, I still find driving longer distances and carrying the carseat can leave my scar feeling quite tender still.

Grrrr! Flaming patronising dr wouldn't sign me off to drive until 6 weeks.....really annoyed....they could have just told me that on phone!!!

Just found this

babystrology.com/baby-learning/infant-visual-stimulation/infant_visual_stimulation.pdf

William loves it

sorry

babystrology.com/baby-learning/infant-visual-stimulation/infant_visual_stimulation.pdf

Hey all, just got a question which am sure someone will know more about than I do.
OH and I are wondering about mix feeding. I still want to bf but need to start introducing a bottle sometimes. I don't mind bf at all but it's really more so i can still do stuff with the other dc's (like a date with the cullens and dd1!).
So have people managed to do this? If so when from? General advice needed ladies thanks!
How's everyone?

cheeky bookmark!! xx

Afternoon all :)

Voodoo, I think the advice is to wait till the baby is a month so that breastfeeding is well established and that you should use a slow flow teat as drinking from the bottle is generally less work than breastfeeding so you don't want her to start preferring the bottle too much IFYSWIM? I am only going off what I was taught at my antenatal classes though rather than experience.

Good to hear how well X is getting on Caz, slings are great, have a moby at the moment, have taken J out in it a few times, he just loves to be so snuggled up, Kate, boo to the miserable doctor, hope you don't have too much longer to wait till you get behind the wheel. Pam, thanks for that link :)

Hope everyone has a good day today :)

Wow - I feel rested after DP took all the night feeds...

Worry: Abi slept for 5 hours straight - not normal at all for her - and her head was cold as ice when I woke up. I tried covering the top of the cot with a blanket and rolled up a quilt in a sausage shape and used it as a cot bumper at the top, too, if a draft was cooling down the head board - but it seems to not have made a difference... Anyone else experience this?

William's noggin gets chilly at night but his chest is toasty warm. I'd go by chest temperature as it shows core temp is ok or not.

If you think there is a draft can you move the crib?

Cali I'd second Pam, I think if she is warm enough from the chest down that you probably don't need to worry. DD's hands and arms were always like ice when she was little - having read all the leaflets they send you home from hospital with about SIDS, and being a nervous new mum, I was terrified of overheating her, and with hindsight the wee mite was probably frozen. But I worked on the logic that if she was cold and uncomfortable, she would wake up and complain, whereas if she was dangerously overheated....well, lets not go there. I am more relaxed with DS, but still would err on the side of caution, and would rather he was too cold than too warm (although obviously would prefer he was neither!). On the plus side, DD is 5 now and hates to be too warm, so at least she is not running round all day begging me to put the heat on, for which I am very grateful as the 500 litres we had to buy last week set us back £320 and there is no gas supply where we live, so we have no choice but to pay it. Grr...

500 litres of heating oil, that should read, not just 500 litres of some random liquid