December 2011 - Worp speed 5 to sleeping and smiling

[BeeMyBaby]

FairyBayleaf DC1 EDD 6th Dec BORN 29th Sept Albert Elwyn 2lb 14oz
Tjuice DC2 EDD 21st November BORN 7th Nov Amaya Rose 3kg
Sevensevenseven DC2 EDD 20th Dec 25yo Southwold BORN 21st Nov Eva Rose 5lb 4oz
Girlwiththemouseyhair DC2 EDD 24th Nov Maggie Juliet BORN 25th Nov 8lb 9oz
YBR DC1 EDD 22nd Dec BORN 25th Nov (girl) 6lb 3.5oz
LittleBlueBoat(Cheeptrick) DC2 EDD 5th Dec 29yo S.Yorkshire BORN 26th Nov Hope Brynn Frances 8lb 9oz
Kri5ty DC1 EDD 13th Dec 26yo Manchester Boy BORN 29th Nov Saul Harrison 6lb 13oz
LauraSmurf DC1 EDD 3rd December Girl BORN 30th Nov
BeeMyBaby DC2 EDD 29th November 25yo Scotland BORN 1st Dec Safia Hawwa 7lb6oz
SoTiredOfTheWheelsOnTheBus DC2 EDD 7th December BORN 1st December Boy 8lbs5oz
Iggly DC2 EDD 2nd December South London BORN 2nd Dec (Girl) 8lb 1oz
Girlsyearapart DC4 EDD 6th December BORN 3rd Dec (Boy) 7lb 7oz
HoneyLovesCake DC1 EDD 2nd December Cornwall BORN 6th Dec Rocco Kaleb 8lb 14oz
Mmmmcheese DC2 EDD 25th December 32yo BORN 7th Dec (Girl) 7lb8oz
Itsybitsy08 DC2 EDD 6th December Boy BORN 9th Dec Kieran 8lb4oz
Msbuggywinkle DC3 EDD 13th December 27yo BORN 10th Dec Miranda 8lb6oz
OiMissus DC1 2 December, 39yo, Horwich, Bolton BORN 10th Dec (Boy) Alistair Jude 9lbs
jigglebum BORN 11 Dec Freya 7lbs
Pludophtherednosedreindeer (plupervert): DC2 EDD Dec 10 (Kent) BORN 12 Dec Helena 8lb 6oz (3.8kg)
NorthernChinchilla- EDD 19th December, BORN 12th Dec, Boy, 7lb 7oz
Jomouse DC1 EDD 2nd December 35yo London BORN 14 Dec (Girl) 5lb 8oz
Tyelperion DC1 EDD 3rd December 27yo Windsor BORN 14 Dec (boy) 9lb 8oz
KateM77: DC2 EDD Dec 10 34yo BORN 16 Dec Daniel James 8lb 6oz
BennyBenBear DC1 EDD 5th December Manchester/Bolton BORN 18 Dec Oliver Stephen Bolton 8lb 9oz
Kiteflying DC2 EDD 7 December 44yo Australia BORN 18 December (Girl) Lulu 8lb 14 oz
mopsytop DC1 EDD 25th December BORN 19 Dec 6lbs 11oz
AWomanCalledHorse DC1 EDD 22nd December BORN 21st December 7lbs 6oz (Boy)
Figgygal DC1 EDD 12 December 30yo Bath BORN 22 Dec Daniel James McMillan 9lb 4oz
Kitty5824 DC1 EDD 21st December 33 yo Manchester - Don't know BORN 23rd Dec, Boy, 7lb 14oz, Sebastian John
Aethelfleda DC3 EDD 27th December London BORN 3rd January, Albert Thomas William 8lb 10 oz
hawthers DC2 EDD 22nd December London 33yo BORN 28 December 7lb 4oz (boy)
LittleMissFlustered DC3 31st December BORN 6 Jan (boy)
hopeful1 BORN 6 Jan Noa Francie Kate 10lb 3oz
MissRee BORN 12 Jan 12 Freya Violet 7lb 7oz

Bee yes, slow let down is one problem as is minimopsy having a tiny mouth and potential partial Tongue tie (but I am not sure she really does have a Tongue tie). But she is a v slow feeder on bottle as well so topping up takes ages too. E.g. She had 30 minutes on breast at 5:30 but then took until 7:00 on the bottle so it was then 7:30 by the time I had expressed.

No idea how to get her to feed faster!

mopsy the BFing councillor was able to rule out tongue tie so hopefully they would be able to do the same for you (or properly doagnose it). Does minimopsy just have a very slow suck or is it the winding? I saw the councillor even helping another couple showing them how to bottle feed the baby so it was less windy whist giving BFing advice. I really think if its taking two hours to feed her you should speak to someone professional (I keep saying this) because your current regime must only leave you an hour to sleep at a time, let alone letting you get out and about at all! And I really have no idea how you are able to type and are not a complete gibbering wreck by this time. (I think if it were me I would have a broken soaked keyboard from the amount of crying) - I understand how hard what you are doing is and you really are doing something amazingly - I'm not just saying that.

Thanks Bee. I asked because Lulu is having wind problems and I seem to have a fast let down. I have been scrolling kellymom etc for ideas. She is only four weeks old. I really want her to have an easier time of it than this - choking on first let down, pulling off over and over when it gets too fast, and spitting up if I am silly enough to lay her down too soon after a feed. Colicky nearly every evening for the past four nights. Poor little mite.

MW suggested expressing for a couple of minutes after let down but this seems to me to be keeping milk supply at the same level even though at least Lulu will be less windy.
Hope you are all having a good day.

Kite as I said before, I was advised to completely avoid the cradle hold and to use the laid back feeding position as baby is more likely to be able to burp whilst feeding as its upright rather than building it all up till the end. I was also advised to express for a couple of minutes before each feed which I did for a while.

Sorry to those having problems, bad night here. Eva had a feed at 3 but wouldn't settle after so I've been up since then. Thankfully DH is doing tonight's shift so I can get some sleep.

Im waiting in for an iPad to arrive today, the apple store do credit from £12.50 a month. Half of DH's colleagues are now considering getting them as well.

I'm definitely not pregnant, but after me and DH admitting we were a little disappointed we've decided to have one more, though we'll wait 2-3 months before trying.

Hurrah seven! What a result!
Although not hurrah of course for your lack of sleep!
My DH is darn sarf and away from home tonight, so I may well go crazy, being alone with Big Al until Wednesday night... Normally it's great when DH gets home from work and I can pass Ali over and get a break... Bee is it you who's been alone with the LO for a couple of weeks whilst your OH is in Algeria? Well done.
My conference call went OK, I had to break once when Ali really kicked off - but I just swapped breast. :) BFing is the only silent way to placate a LO. Although the odd slurpy sound doesn't help!
He's just gone to sleep, I'd better get some lunch.

Afternoon Ladies,

Had a read thru the thread and hope everyone is doing better.
re night feeds, Sky wakes between 1&2am then back to sleep until between 5&6am by 6am we're up as DP goes to work then.

We've had a busy week. Sky has been poorly and now got a cold. Wasn't sure if she was getting enough milk from the boob, so now formula feeding along with a bottle of expressed milk. Shes now on 5oz of milk a time. She also seems to be teething - think its the rest of that tooth trying to get thru.

We've also done alot of wedding prep. Suits all sorted now, menu tasting booked, bridesmaid dresses will be brought on 24th Jan, going for my first dress fitting then too. Invites almost made - Just flowers, presents & sweets to go :)
Also booked our honeymoon - 11 days childfree in St Lucia

We also want another one - will wait till we are on honeymoon to start trying for No3!

Oi I'm not completely alone as I live with my parents so although they won't help with feeding/changing etc (neither does DH really, I'm very lucky she's much easier than DD1 was), but my mother likes to hold DD2 for a while in the evenings as I don't like putting her in her bouncy chair due to our four dogs. I wouldn't say I need help at all with her, but I do need socialisation and would not cope at all if I had no one to talk to.
I take it you weren't video conferencing then?

Yum darcies, enjoy the wedding menu tasting: one of the best bits of wedding planning! Honeymoon sounds lush too.

We've spent the entire morning feeding. Need to get some todying done as DS has finally conked and I have a mountain of washing that won't put itself away and sure as hell no-one else will do it! Also have a slight deadline as the HV is doing a home visit on Thursday and I can't help but feel judged if they come in and see it's a pit (never mind that most of it is children's toys and books!)

Bee I will ask hv for advice on possible referral to midwife bf specialist tomorrow. My mum said one of my sisters was a really slow feeder like that so I amn't too worried but it'd be nice if there was sth I could do to speed her up!

Congrats to Oi on the weight gain. I know what you mean about night feeds - I didn't get longer than a 2 hour stretch of sleep last night. We nowhere near a routine yet, it's very variable every night and day. He's having a sleepy day today which no doubt means a long and busy night tonight!

I have been mostly skimming the thread but don't recall seeing any epic posts and so think we haven't heard from Plu for a while. Hope all is OK.

aethel glad I'm not the only one who has a frantic tidy before the HV comes!

darcies your honeymoon sounds amazing, when is the wedding? Sorry you've probably already said 10 times!

I know we're meant to feed on demand but does anyone have a time limit that they allow between daytime feeds. Eva has just gone 5.5 hours, I hope it doesn't mean she'll want feeding more during the night. It also puts her bedtime routine out of sync, I like to feed her around 6.30 but if she next goes her usual 4 hours she's due a feed at 5. I'll swear if she ends up cutting out a daytime feed before her night one.

I'm really bad at noticing the time of feeds and how long they last for, I just put him on when he gives me hungry signals or whinges then tries to headbonk and eat my arm or T-shirt when I pick him up! Then he stays on til he spits out the nipple or fusses cos he needs a wind. Some time passes between the first and the second- I had to guess when the midwife asked me so I said 10-45 mins: trouble is, how can you time a feed when some cluster feeds are 10 mins apart and then he'll go 3 hours? I think DS's record is 3.5 hours (last night-woo!) but I hate to wake a sleeping baby. I prob would change his bum if he did more than 4 hours in day, but I'm trying to tank him up at the mo and he's only 2 weeks so smaller than your LO, seven...

Seven Getting married August 18th but not going on honeymoon until 7th Sept. The hotel we are staying at is Smugglers Cove Spa hotel

I'm not allowed to let Sky go more than 4hrs due to sugar levels.

No bee not video conferencing! I expected the request though. (we use microsoft communicator for internal conf calls and video conferencing, its brill and it can be done from home. free.)
My LO doesn't like his bouncer yet, nor his play gym/floor mat thing. Tis very upsetting as - not only would they give me a breathing space to have him out of my arms for just a minute! - but we were silly and bought very fancy schmancy expensive ones - Magic from M&P - over £200 for the 2 - they saw us coming!
That's it. all future xmases and birthdays he's getting cardboard boxes, sticks and string!

This post is being brought to you by the wonder of baby vallium, otherwise known as the moby wrap... So sorry you couldn't get on with yours figgy; DS was being a right mard-arse this morning and he just drops off nicely as we go out to get the paper and stays out.

I'm the same kate, even if OH is a SAHD, LO will go to nursery for at least one day to socialise and get exposure to germs! We've got no friends/family local, so I think it will do him good.

mopsy, mine has never stopped with the constant feeding. He's 5wks 1 day, and every evening just insists on feeding non-stop. It's rather draining-both literally and metaphorically- but then he at least goes for 3-4 hours between night feeds. I really, really hope he settles down into some sort of routine, as because he won't be put down for any more than 20 mins, and constantly feeds, I get sod-all time to do anything.
But- I think that's the definition of parenting, and everything I've read on MN seems to say that this level of demand from LOs re bf is totally normal, so I'm just going with the flow.

I can't wait to get with the benign neglect msb, my sort of parenting entirely!! As we had a slightly late night- DS did one of his getting hysterical/hyperventilating things on the boob last night and took about an hour to settle- we're having a 'relaxed' day as well.

Glad Al is podging nicely Oi; it's scary the first time OHs go away, but I'm sure you'll cope fine.

Lunchtime for the pair of us now...

Been to BF group and had a session with the BF counsellor, latch is fine (on the left he has seemingly decided to give up on the right now) and he's not tongue tied in the end he started crying so much he was disturbing the others in the group so I took him home for a bottle, I did have 1 with me but felt almost disrespectful ffing a baby at a bf group (maybe its just me being paranoid about it). I can't see me feeding constantly to up supply absolute gold stars to you ladies who have the discipline to do that. Looks like combi feeding is to stay until I decide to withhold breast from him, which seems a tougher decision than if I had decided to not bf in the first place. Giving it to the end of the month and then will see.

Met a childminder today to discuss LO starting with her in may, he's still only 3 wks old but she has a space for him then and is 6 minute walk away so feel need to get in there early.

Seven I got an iPad couple of weeks ago BEST money ever spent!!! Am typing on it now. I sit in bed in morning with him and watch I player on it since had banned tv from our room when we last moved house. Wish id had it charged last night when LO woke at 2 and was still up at 5 after lots of breast, cuddles and then practically 2 bottles as he was still hungry it would have come in handy.

Afternoon all.

Went to the Health Centre this morning to weigh Rocco & I suppose it's good news; he is 11lb 14oz at exactly 6 weeks old, up from 8lb 14oz at birth but his weight was coasting just below the 91st percentile line at the last 3 weigh-ins & is now just above the 75th percentile line. The notes in my red book say not to worry as long as they stay within one centile space but I can't help feeling like I could've fed him more :( I know, I know...I'm bonkers!

Everyone who sees him says he's big but I've been telling DP for the past week that I wanted to get him weighed as he's been looking slimmer to me & I thought his weight gain had slowed. I was really hoping to be proven wrong today but I suppose I spend so much time with him I'm bound to notice the tiny differences other people miss.

Think I'm going to pay more attention to the time between feeds especially when he's in the moby wrap which make him sleep the whole time he's in it...it's a godsend but I'm worried now it's making him eat less frequently. Anyone else had this problem?

Our LO is only just starting to take to his rocker Oi. We'll need to get some more stuff for him to play with, like a mat or a bouncer, or something. I won't let my OH do it though- he will always choose the most expensive thing going, which from experience babies/children never go for!

The two things he's chosen are the monitor and the Baby Bjorn, which LO has rejected in favour of the moby and co-sleeping

Cardboard boxes are definitely the way forward....

So with sprog attached to me I'm off to try and sort out my clothes, packing away maternity and getting out other clothes that can be worn with bf'ing (and aren't work things- gosh this maternity leave is exciting!)

X-post HLCC

Round here our health visitors seem to be less 'involved'? I had one visit pre-natally, and one post natally, and that's been it. I've been told to take LO to be weighed 'some time after Xmas' which I'm doing tomorrow, but that's it.

TBH HLCC I just see the moby as a godsend. It sounds like Rocco is doing fine, and babies won't put on weight in perfect alignment with the charts. I think as long as he's gaining, and you don't get him dropping weight or slipping down the centiles you're fine (ie. there's a noticeable trend). So no need to worry!

figgy (and also msb as I know you've got one) anything you recommend having on there for when Eva needs a 5am cuddle then falls asleep on me? I normally just watch the news as there's nothing on worth watching but it's a struggle staying awake.

honey Eva will also go hours in the wrap, she's just as bad when we're holding her for a cuddle. DH had to stay up with her one night last week, he said while she was sleeping on him he could hear her belly rumbling.

You're right, I'm bonkers & need to get a grip Honestly, I don't know what's come over me...I'm usually quite sensible but something about this gorgeous little creature leaves me feeling utterly useless at times...you hold their life in your hands & it's just such an awesome responsibility. I know I'm bound to make mistakes but I don't want them to be major!

Northern I've had the same number of HV visits, at my first post-natal visit the HV said she was happy to discharge me from home visits if I felt ok & I could pop into the centre to weigh Rocco myself Mon-Fri. I said that was fine as I don't really want someone in the house seeing what a mess it is but as a first time mum I did think it seemed a bit rubbish that no one would be keeping an eye on his weight gain but me.

Oi don't worry about Alistair not liking his bouncer/playmat yet, he'll think its absolutely amazing (and won't get out of it) as soon as you have DC2...