The brookers post graduate thread

[hawthers]

We've got so good at brooking no argument for no pregnancy complications and sneeze births, we're going for our Phds in big fat babies

It would be fair to say DH is a boob man

If I wasn't so fat they wouldn't be so big, but even hen I slimmed right down to a small size 10 they were still an E cup

I was 32E and perky pre dd1 biscuits. I hated it. DH is not a boob man so it's a funny one how we ended up together!

I had a work colleague who would never believe that I hadn't had an enlargement. I think to this day she thinks I was lying. I did wear wonder bras to be fair :)

Back to baby stuff... A is asleep upstairs in her cot... I put her in there to get dd1 in pjs and she fell asleep! Am leaving her there and seeing what happens. DH very smug so far.

DS1 is asleep after his busy day and no napping for Granny and Grandad. we've had a tantrum every nap and bedtime since the weekend. tears and 'i don't want to go to bed' was starting to wonder if my hatching hormones were affecting him somehow. he's away eventually.

DS2 snuggled on my knee. he's been wanting to feed quite a lot so far, seems a bit confused by the right one though, have only managed one decent feed on that side. maybe not comfy after forceps.

Wow Biscuits, I am impressed by the boobs! I'm in 34FF bras at the moment but they feel a little small. DH is definitely a boob man, and v disappointed that he has to be pretty hands off or they start leaking.

Are you home now, Jaggy? Hope the bf goes brilliantly for you.

M is a grizzly tired baby this evening. She is sleeping in her pram because she keeps waking up again and we've been jiggling her to sleep. She's been sleeping in short snatches almost all day and I want her to sleep for a good couple of hours so she feeds properly and doesn't just snack and then grizzle.

The Lansinoh discussion was on the other thread, wasn't it? I put mine on the radiator because it had gone rock-solid and now it is runny . I hope I've not wrecked it.

Are you lifting your boob to E's mouth, Biscuits? I can't quite picture it.

Pomme, I think when M comes off the boob, goes red in the face and screams that she's windy. The only thing that soothes her is being held upright and jiggled. It's less frustrating to do that than to keep trying to stick her on the boob as she wails and flails - and less embarrassing in public.

Never, a gain is a gain is a gain. You are doing brilliantly! Hang in there and don't panic.

I have booked my first baby class! Baby massage on Monday. Oo-er!

Pomme super super bargain pushchair! matching footmuff 9.99!

And car seat adaptors! 3.99!

my first proper night shift! been up lots as wee DS2 just wants lots of snuggles. well he's not even 24h old yet.

purple he had quite a few good feeds yesterday and has been pooping away fine. he's not been bothered at night and just wants to stay close. should i flap about waking him more, or just see how he gets on. i think the hospital MW was a bit that he was feeding every time she was in, but i figured just go for it if he's keen! cheers

My little twin will go 5 hours without feeding, he did yesterday, and nearly again today- 2 weeks old today! His brother would never contemplate that, and likes to feed at least every 2, with the odd 3 hour stretch thrown in so long as its not at night, for both . The little one who feeds less is gaining weight way, way faster than his brother. Who rudely pukes more of my milk back up at me. These babies... So having two to compare, both fed on demand, sometimes woken to feed (t2), same milk, same everything but doing very different things I'd say with confidence there is no hard and fast rule :-) .

too, mine both do.that, hate it, I find it upsetting when they get distressed with wind pain and i.can't get it up. Plus I get vomited on then- had to change everything including knickers this evening after particularly impressive projectile vomiting by Seb.

biscuits, you are queen of the norkage indeed. I can guess what you're doing, you'll have toned arms at least.

Hi pomme, don't feel bad about Abbie's feeding, she sounds like she's growing beautifully overall, you'll prove dm and MIL wrong about bf, no problem :)

Enjoy the snuggling jaggy, so lovely he's here.

Right, need to move one of my chest-snugglers...

aw 2 chest snugglers! sounds cute but hard to balance.

he's just woken up, done a tiny puke on me then had a wee look at me before going back to sleep. i was all confident yesterday but it seems a while since his before bed feed.

it's funny seeing the wee eyes peeping up. he looks so like baby DS1 did.

despite my achy stitchy bits, it's nice to be in a state to be doing some more of the gazing this time. zzz

Awww Jaggy - it all just sounds adorable

Dream - you're doing amazingly still! Hopefully those boys will start to find their way to getting nice and settled. It is awful isn't it when they're windy and all red in the face and you just can't fix it . But remember, it's another phase. This too shall pass.

Too, it's not so much that I'm lifting the boob to his mouth more supporting it or else everything is too much of a moveable feast (literally!). But it's hard to hold him where it naturally is without either leaning forward so he can lie on my legs (= bad back) or holding him lower down than is comfortable iyswim. My boobs are big but my arms aren't any longer!

Won't be toned arms though Dream - I reckon I do at least 95% of the feeds at home so he's just on a cushion and I can have at least one free hand, if not two.

Anyway, I'm not meaning to grumble about my boobage / feeding position. It's really no biggie. Perfectly comfy at home, ok ish if I'm out and can get a sofa or a comfy chair with arms to feed in, a bit of a nightmare in a hospital waiting room on those awful seats (like today).

I'm sure as ds1 got bigger I did away with the cushion at home. I mean it can't do any harm can it using a cushion as long as we're both comfy? He gets his best (least leaky) latch at home?

M has just slept for 6.5 hours. Six and a half hours! And I slept for 5 of them! Personal best.

too

OMG!!

Oh, and

What is your secret? Spill the beans

Hope you enjoyed your sleep. It must have felt amazing!

Yeah too what did you do?

Think we're in growth spurt, supply boost, sleep regression hell. At least I think we are. Apologies if I've already said that - too tired!

Never is F about 4 mths now? I think there is a 4 mth growth spurt often? And I've read on here about '4 mth sleep regression'.

I wondered when I read it whether the sleep regression went with the growth spurt. I mean E sleeps a lot worse when we're having a growth but there are frequent growth spurts at 1/2 mths. By the time you get to 4 mths there's a chance that you've been getting some decent sleep in so maybe the growth spurt and sleep thing seems more pronounced (hence people calling it a regression)?

Whatever it is, I hope it settles down soon!

My poor boobs are struggling to figure out DS at the moment. He'll do a 4 hour gap, then loads of 2 hour gaps, some of which are huge feeds, some of which are short. My boobs don't know what's coming next

And I meant to say earlier when purple and pomme were talking about antibodies etc, how amazing is that if your body can tell what antibodies / nutrition your baby needs and tailor the milk accordingly! That is a-ma-zing! I can see how the supply and demand thing works but how on earth can I tell if he's poorly? (Well obviously I can see if he's poorly, but how does my milk supply know?)

at too!!

no complaints now, the wee man has fed happily loads for the last few hours. He will still latch on straightway on the left and squeak angrily at the right one though. have had some success with rugby ball hold to convince him.

will maybe be easier to try during the day.

not enjoying afterpains, how long are they likely to last again?

Jaggy - think my after pains lasted for about a week? But they were getting better as the week went on iyswim? So at the end of the week they were nowhere near as bad as at days 1/2.

Glad the feeding is going ok (on one side at least). As you say though he might be sore on one side for the forceps or something, so rugby balling for the right side is like him latching on to the left side isn't it. Hopefully as he gets a bit bigger he'll be able to do either side easily

will think happy thoughts about afterpains then!

managed to get him to feed ok on right there after letting him go on the right first to calm down after a nappy change. he is pooing for Scotland and keeping DH busy.

need to get cream on nips, think I've neglected them a bit already!

got DS2 to go in his crib for a bit there after mega feed. DS1 looked really happy to see him when he came through there. he was kind of chewing his hand but apparently this was him 'talking'!

Oh how sweet of your ds1 jaggy

My boys both have gp today. One refluxy puker I can manage at night but two... Dreading dh being back at work next week so going begging for gaviscon. Not that I want to medicalise them, but just having it in the cupboard would reassure me for horrendous nights!

Dream - is your DH better now? I do hope he didn't have to take the time he was ill as his paternity leave?

He's very achey today but getting better. He will take one week as sick leave. He's a real stickler for work (guess as he sees so many work-shy sicknote hunters) and keeps saying 'there was only one week I was physically incapable of working' . Driving me potty as he really could do with some more rest etc to help him get back to full strength but no...

Oh I know what you mean Dream about these men that are sticklers for work. My DH is just the same and hardly ever takes time off sick - evening heMs at home poorly he'll work from home when really a rest would make him get better quicker.

Not quite the same as he wasn't sick but he was supposed to be having his annual leave last week and went in to work instead. When he'd finished the oh so pressing piece of work (after working all day on Sunday) he said to me 'oh I'm very pleased that I managed to do it primarily in work hours'

Errrr, actually you did it instead of your annual leave which you now won't get to take because it's the end of your holiday year

When does your help lady start? Will your parents be helping out at all once DH goes back?

Sadly the key to getting Maia to sleep for so long was to have an exhausted grizzly or howling baby who had only slept in snatches from 5.30 in the morning. No, I tell a lie - she had one longer sleep for about 2 hours in the afternoon, but that was really it. By 8.30pm she was so tired she didn't know what to do with herself, so DH put her in the pram and rocked it around the living room and she gradually calmed down and fell asleep at about 9. I watched The Apprentice and had a bath and went to bed at 10.30, and Bean woke up at 3.30. I was totally disorientated and had to count the hours on my fingers to be sure I'd got it right!

Glad DH is getting better, Dream. Poor little refluxy sicky babies! M woke up at 6.15 really screaming because she had been sick all down one arm and it was cold and wet. Two babies would break me very quickly! It's not about medicating them, it is about their comfort. If they have nasty acidy reflux then they need Gaviscon, just as we all did a month or so ago.

Jaggy, yay for excellent feeding start! I'm sure DS2 will take to the right boob after a while - maybe he does just have a sore bit from the forceps and doesn't like lying that way atm.

I had horrendous tummy ache on Day 2 but it turned out to be trapped wind , so I'm not sure re afterpains. Mind you, I was on paracetamol and dicloflec for the CS so maybe they were controlling my afterpains as well. Are you taking anything for your sore stitches, Jaggy?

Never, poor you! Hope F gets himself back to normal soon.

Biscuits, yy to confused boobs! Rolled over in bed last night and felt like was sleeping on rocks. Oh well, better too much than too little.

At what age do babies start mimicking you? I have been diligently sticking my tongue out at M for the last week and she hasn't done it back yet. tiger mothering Too-stylee

Too not sure re the mimicking. DH has done the tongue poking out with E and reckons he did it back but he hasn't done it for me when I've tried it. Have you had any smiles yet? We've not yet. But I think DS was 8 weeks or even just after before he graced me with a smile