December 2011 - This too shall pass (with the help of imaginary woolly mammoths)

[Mmmmcheese]

Have gone with LMFs title suggestion :)

I use an iPhone too, and what I particularly love about it, is the way you can type a long post one-handed, press Send, and then it gets lost in the ether.

Tjis is all good ammo against DH, ewho wants me to get an iphone (and pay for it, no doubt) so he can play with ot and decide whether he wants one and then pinch mine

Can't you turn off predictivetext?

'Course, my q1handed typing's not so hot, either!

You can turn off predictive text on the iphone (it's under settings/keyboard I think). Not that it really helps cos then you are left with the random typos from having a small tippy tappy keyboard thingy.

In other news, I'd like to start an extreme babying award: like extreme ironing, but with baby related activities in unusual places. My Contribution today was Bfing in the (rather exposed) bowling alley... The DDs insisted we buy a lane for DS so he was "included".

Fucking gp was a twat.

She weighed f again, wanted me to go back in a couple if days to weigh hom again and bssically said that I had to top up with formula ad he was clearly hungry. Livid and distraught. Post more later

for hawthers

Must dash - screaming from the moses basket....

A haddock for your GP, hathers.

You'll all like this: We received our reusable nappies this afternoon and so put one on BabyYBR at her next change. Within minutes she'd filled it with a massive Poosplosion! At which point I realized I hadn't got the nappy bucket system sorted yet...

In other news so far this week:
Sign our new wills today done
Get the car sorted in hand
Do more baby massage
Chase up the referral for BabyYBR's hernia

hawthers massive haddock for the GP. Presumably that means he's constantly crying with hunger while you starve him?!

kate they sound as lovely as my brothers DC's. Such a shame as their 3yo DS is getting more like his 8yo sister every time I see him :(

Who else was it that said they'd ordered a joy n joe wrap from eBay, and what did you think of it? I'm sending mine back for a refund, the quality is shocking, reckon I could have done a better job making it myself! I guess now I know why moby/sleepy wraps are so expensive!

Massive haddock for GP hathers.

Plan for this week;
Get out with DS in the sling at least once.
Have fantastic hot sex with DH, instead of our current wham bam 'don't wake the baby' thank you mam
Get IL's to take DS newborn/too small clothes to store in their attic

Has anyones DC grown out of 0-3 clothes yet?

YBR: you need to prewash cloth nappies 3 times before you use them or they won't absorb the wee properly! Wash them at 40 degrees with a tablespoon of washing powder (and a tablespoon of Napisan when they have actually been used). 60 degrees once a fortnight to really deep clean them, never hotter or you'll melt the waterproofing on the wrap part (called PUL). NEVER use fabric conditioner with nappies as it makes the moisture slide off them (a bit like a towel that's been fabric conditoned doesnt absorb as much water after your bath).

Hawthers, that's shocking. Plan: 1) ring GP 8.30am and rebook tomorrow WITH A DIFFERENT GP. Make your first line "I've come for a second opinion as my little one is happy but I was told to use topups yesterday and I'm not convinced he/she really listened to me, I think formula topups will decrease my breastmilk supply."
If you are not utterly convinced by tomorrow's GP utter the magic words "I'm still concerned- please can I have a Paediatric review?"

AWCH, I am in awe of your plan. Seriously, wow.

aethel I have a question for you - is it possible that DD's general sleepiness was caused by continuing low grade jaundice? She had jaundice at birth that carried on for 3 weeks but the paed/GP/HV weren't concerned as it wasn't too bad. Since then she's always had an "olive" complexion which is odd as DH and I are both fair but then again she has darkish hair too

Anyway, for the last few days we've noticed that the olive complexion has gone and she is now as pale as us and DS! She's also been much more awake and energetic, kicking about loads on her mat. I was wondering if she was still processing a litte bit of jaundice which has now gone - is that possible?

DD and I snoozed on the sofa (safely) this afternon for 3 hrs. Feel so much better for it.

I have a blackberry and really like it, can type pretty fast if I have 2 hands, takes a bit longer with 1!

lucky I have a joy and Joe sling and have been very impressed with it! Sorry yours isn't up to standard

athel I don't use washing powder - is liquid or soapnuts OK? If a hot wash is out, can I tumble try the outers?
Adds to this week's list: wash nappies lots.

Mmmm Jaundice does make babies more sleepy, BabyYBR's jaundice got worse because she was too sleepy to feed properly which meant the jandice didn't improve so she was sleepy ... OTOH as they get older they get more awake and alert anyway.

hello there... (sheepishly peeks in)
Can i join in on this thread..
I have 2 DS. One is 4 yrs old and the latest addition is DS2 born 1st Dec by c-section weighting 7.7lbs. He a completely different baby to my first, whcih is still hard to get used to as i'm still comparing the two and expecting him to do the same things at the same times as DS1 did IYKWIM.....
I'm 36 and live in Enfield, london, currently on mat leave.

I pop in to read every so often but never really got the chance to post
DS is still a bit colicy.... it drives me insane but im hoping that it will soon pass and i'll get a lovely smiley baby back!!

Gp's advice was directly contradicting all other stuff I've been told by other gp at same practice, bf adv, you lot and everything I've read.

Am not seeing her again. We have a referral to a consultant in place already for follow up of viral meningitis next week anyway.

Gp said she wanted to weigh him later in the week to make sure he didn't lose weight (which he has never done just not put that much on). She said I should top up with formula, I said I didn't think we'd got tobthat yet as we hadn't had enough time to see if the domperidone would work and she said he is clearly hungry so you need to top up now; reason he was si hungry wad that we'd been hauled up there andvi had to interrupt a feed to get there on time.

I quoted who stuff at her plus advice from another Dr at the same practice but basically I left there feeing even mire stressed and demoralised.

Boob lady coming on Wed then consultant on Mon so the fun continues.

YBR: liquid is fine, just use a teaspoon of it (ie less than a quarter of usual amount). Soapnuts i think are OK but only use one instead of the usual 2-3 (I don't use them but an online person I read about did)

mmm,it's hard to know as usually bilirubin levels have to be pretty high to dope babies up beyond the first week. However, if jaundice lasts longer than 14 days baby needs a routine checkover in Outpatients (where they do a set of screening blood tests to check baby's liver, thyroid and a few vanishingly rare conditions). Usually everything is normal and it's put down to "breastfeeding jaundice". Each hospital usually has a "baby jaundice clinic" that your GP can refer to: just tell the GP how old baby was when you noticed it resolve and they can refer baby for you. It's good that things have resolved as it makes significant issues less likely but I'd still ask for baby to be seen once just to get that normal set of blood results. Hope that helps.

hawthers, you're doing fine. Baby is well, baby is gaining, you have appropriate followup and support (paed review: make sure you bring up weight then). Ignore out of place advice, just keep soldiering on, and good luck with boob lady (BF consultant?).

Hi OVHM.

missree have you tried any other wraps? I wondered if it might be because I already have a sleepy wrap so I notice the difference.

Eva has been an absolute angel today, I even managed to put her down while she was awake and she fell asleep by herself. I don't think I've had a day this easy since she was a newborn. I hope it's the start of a new phase not just a one off!

Nope, haven't tried any others so that might be why

Ahh, mmm, just seen that your LO has already seen the paediatric drs: if they knew she had jaundice for >3 weeks they may have already have done the jaundice screening tests. If you're not sure ask the GP to check with the paeds team who can check in your hospital notes.

Arg, usual clingy beeb, want to tidy up lots of filing letters (sad, huh!) but DS is nailed to the perch...

Thanks aethel, that was never mentioned to me. HV or MW, can't remember which, said that as long as not getting worse it was ok. Worried now! Have a paed appt on Weds anyway so will bring it up then.

And no they didn't do any blood tests. While at the hosp and she was 1 day old they did a jaundice check using a flashing light on her skin.

bollokoh, dear, think laptop is dying. It keeps crashing, so posting fM rotblet, whicgh is VERY SLOW and all over the place. \sorry. will try dh's laptop tomrrow

I think I'm getting a headache.