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

She did feed at seven. I will ring them tomorrow if it carries on biscuits, thanks for reminding me about nct - I'd kinda forgotten about them this time round!

Looking forward to seeing you here with your little one cakes!

pomme f does thus occasionally and today. Not sure why but could be wind, cold, hot, tired, in a mood... Chances are she'll be fine tomorrow. F usuallt is after a day of grumps. There us also la leche league.

jaggy DS1 is 2.8 and is a poo denier. He'll sit on a potty if I bribe him but ge never done anything. Dreading it too. DH suggested forcing him to sit in the poo. So clearly he has no idea...

i had to rugby ball DS2 today while my friends were round, apparently the boob i offered wasn't good enough but ok upside down. fickle babies.

we had a minor poo recognition today. i spotted a wee red face and squirming while he was eating his tea so i asked him if he had anything to tell me. he did actually reply as we've tried to train him instead of "no!" ("I've got a poo poo" - classy!)

DH has a lot of ideas like not using a potty just the toilet and stuff like that but no real plans. DS does love his toilet seat though!

Wishing all you potty trainers good luck - I was dreading it (and am not exactly looking to it this time to be fair). But once it's done the memories do fade (much like childbirth )

I can't exactly say I've got the answers, but I've got much moral support to offer when the time comes

Seriously boys, I've been trying to get you to sleep for nearly 6 hours now so i can gety exhausted body in bed... How about it? Here in the Real World we sleep at night. In our cot/ travel cot not on daddy's pillow in our parents bed, even if daddy has made the boxroom his new bedroom. Then we stay like that. For a few hours at least. Or our mummy will actually and literally Lose The Plot :(

Brookers, This can't continue....I can't do this forever and it feels like.that...

On the plus side, no where near potty training yet, though more stand up poo nappies...

Did we decide if you can actually die from lack of sleep??

So I decided to let them.chunter a bit. Now DT1 has done a proper projectile vomit. After grabbing him and some hunting around for where the sick went I've found it. All over his brother. Who's asleep. And i think I'm going to leave him literally soaked in vomit til he wakes up, because he's asleep. DT1 is on me.

Oh, dilemma over. DT2 has been sick too. Did I mention DD has a cough and has been awake nearly two hours, sometimes crying and shouting but I've not even managed to go and see her?!

^^said in manic crazy-lady fashion.

Dream you poor thing. You're right that 'this too shall pass' but I so wish there was something I could do to help right now.

Hope your dd gets better soon too

I think I'm going to phone the doctors today to see if I'm allowed anything for my hay fever while bf.

Recomend the app lact med to check what drugs you can and can't take while bf.

Just popping in as I realised I hadn't congratulated jaggy, scream and scarlet my congratulations on their gorgeous snuggly new babies

And I'll also offer some as I'm sure one of you is awake trying to feed/get a baby to sleep (probably dream whom I think is absolutely amazing)

A fed fine during the night - and did it quite a bit to be sure!

dream - hope you got some rest. Hmm so your dh didn't see to your dd whilst you had the sick soaked twins to deal with? Words needed! If you managed to save up expressed milk could he not have one twin at least for a whole night next weekend? Or do they need each other to sleep?

I posted on an ff thread about how to make up feeds and someone else has posted that their ff 9 week old rarely has an overnight feed anymore.

Do these babies seriously exist or is it a giant wind up?? Dd1 when ff had an overnight feed until about 14 weeks iirc (yy to dream on dh's remembering nothing about first time round).

Morning everyone!

Am going to do a series of short posts (if I don't get interrupted) so I don't forget what I want to say:

Biscuits you had an episiotomy and a third degree tear?! Ow ow ow. Hope your second birth was much easier! I am fortunately recovered from DS's birth, I think. The emergency ambulance to hospital was probably quite dramatic as it was 3pm on a sunny Saturday afternoon and most of our neighbours' kids were playing in the street, watched over by quite a few of the parents (it's a dead end so a quiet street). Mind you, I didn't notice - was clutching the gas and air like it was a life ring for a drowning woman! When we came home the next evening some of the kids were around as we unloaded newborn DS from the car so I took him to show them (and to prove we were ok!). The only comment about the ambulance was from next door's 10yo daughter who said (in a sweetly mature way) "so, the home birth didn't go too well, then?" Bless.

And DS was absolutely fine - Apgar score of 9 - and in a much better state than me when we were discharged!

Anyway, Scream and Jaggy I'm loving your routines! Seriously, at what point do people start with bedtime bath, feed etc routine? And attempting a set bedtime? And at what age is a baby likely to be able to settle themselves rather than being cuddled / fed to sleep? Thank you, experienced mums, for your words of wisdom!

And Biscuits at the infacol auto-correct!

Dream :( projectile vomiting. Though kind of impressive distances too. One day you will look back and laugh (maybe).

Pomme I know what you mean about irritating / unsupportive DH. Mine was lovely at the weekend but sometimes I look forward to him being at work so I can relax with DS without anyone judging or complaining! Glad your day got better though.

DS slept for over 4 hours in his pram last night. I dreamed that I was visiting friends before DS was born, had slept beautifully and was jumping up and down in their street, full of energy, on a bright sunny morning. My brain must have realised it was enjoying its best sleep for 6 weeks!

But I tried to put DS down after the 2 subsequent night feeds and got 30mins max before he was crying. And then dreamed I'd picked him up and he spoke to me. Was unnerving. He is only just starting to make cute little cooing noises.

Anyway, Dream I discovered late on Saturday morning that I can sleep safely with DS in the middle of the memory foam mattress and feed DS while lying down, but alas we have no other bed for me to chuck DH into. So I'm sure your boys are fine with you on yours. I wish I hadn't bothered trying to put DS down twice last night - could have done chest frog cuddles and got another few hours of snoozing. So again, when desperate for sleep, cuddling your boys definitely makes sense!

Biscuits my mum said my little sister was late smiling, and she was complaining about this to a friend when they pointed out that she was smiling right then. So maybe E is smiling behind your back ?!

Ok, I think I've finished...

Just lurking and saw about Biscuits and hayfever. Doctors, myself included, don't often know much about drugs and breastfeeding, but there is a wealth of information at the Breastfeeding Network. This might help you:

www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/pdfs/Antihistamines_and_Breastfeeding_March_2009.pdf

The rest of the factsheets are here and there is a pharmacist you can ring for free if the drug isn't mentioned. I've dealt with her before and she is very helpful.

I managed to doze with one on my chest for an hour last night. :(

I have started the bath at a set time pet, I did it about now with DD. She was a hopeless sleeper, and ebf and i was so, so tired. Then at 9 weeks her colic seemed to stop and she twigged to go down, then made enormous leaps and slept 7-7 at 10 weeks 5 days. I've got it written in her red book . She didn't sleep through every night of course, but it got more regular. The turning point was putting her in her own room for us. Thinking of trying it with the boys, there's not much else I can think of.... Worried about how often I'll be back and forth though, and their vomiting and stud wall to DD, bet they'd wake her up more. They woke her last night as it is...

Forgotten rest...

I don't know how you do it Dream. I almost fell asleep standing up jiggling DS2 last night

Maybe that's it Pet he's smiling away, just not when we're looking! Ok, in that case, dammit, I want a smile directed at me

Aaaaand...she lost it. Sorry Brookers, no full night's sleep here last night. We had 10-1.20am, then 2.20-6.20am, will that do you? So as far as I can see, the secret is to completely over-stimulate the baby during the day with a parade of endless visitors and small children fighting over whose turn it is to hold the baby next. Possibly with a long drawn-out car journey as well, although as she slept in the car I'm not sure this is necessary. This is, however, quite hard to replicate in one's home on a daily basis.

Today has been HORRIBLE. Poor little M. We started off at the Sick Kids' Hospital having another kidney ultrasound and the DMSA scan. She was angelic during the ultrasound - just sucked my finger and lay pretty still while the doc did his stuff. But then two incompetent nurses tried to get a needle into a vein to give her the radioactive marker thingy and couldn't. They stabbed and stabbed her little hand and she howled and howled, so they moved onto a foot. That didn't work either, so the doc had to come and do it in her other hand. She was scarlet with tears running down her little cheeks and struggling as hard as she could. Why can't the doc do it in the first place? Grr. We had to wait for 1.5 hrs for the marker to make its way through her system, and it took me all that time to calm down. Luckily she stayed asleep while being photographed with the gamma ray camera so that didn't take long.

Then we pootle off to Mothercare in search of a nursing bra or two and various odds and ends. Why oh why does Mothercare stock 9000000000 bras in sizes A-D and exactly 2 in 34F or G? I was rummaging through the bras for ages, then tried some on and no one came near me to help, so I came out v cross having guessed at the size. Then we go over to the till and this is when the assistant chooses to ask me if I need any help with the fitting . Too late! I say not now, and she asks when I'm due! DH holds up the car seat and she starts asking us all about 'him'. We're pointedly saying 'SHE' when answering but it didn't sink in until she had to scan some girl clothes. M was wearing all white - that doesn't scream boy to me.

Then I go into New Look to try to find a light summer jacket and come out jacket-less feeling like a big fat pie. Try H&M and feel even worse. All the S/S pastel blazers look ridiculous on me - buttons straining over my enormo-boobs. Even in size 16 . I used to be a 12 and I felt fat then (I'm only 5'2" and my twin's a size 8). I finally find a jacket I like, but they only had it in a 10, so DH cheers me up by saying we can order it online. Come home, go online and...it's completely sold out.

M fed and fed when we got in and then vommed pretty much all of it back up. [frustrated emoticon} She did vom on DH in an attempt to cheer me up, though.

Oh, Too what a rubbish day! Poor little M with the needles :( Though do you think it upset you for longer than her?

Also boo to useless Mothercare. And to clothes which aren't cut for breastfeeding-sized boobs. It's not fat, it's baby milk!

Ohhhhh, M keeps being sick. What if it's the radioactivity? Oooh, radioactive nappy alert! DH is holding her - that means it's his problem.

Pet and Dream, have also taken to snoozing with M on the memory foam mattress. Why did I not do this weeks ago? I put her down in the pram during the night so I can sleep properly but keep her in the bed once it's officially morning (ie, from about 6ish - she usually wakes up for a feed between 5 and 6 and it's v hard to get her to go back to sleep in the pram after that).

at E smiling behind Biscuits' back. Hope you get somewhere with the hay fever medicine too.

Hi Bartlet, lovely to see you! Hope you're doing well.

Yay for A feeding properly again, Pomme, but boo to her doing it frequently in the night!

Oh Dream, what awful yet amusing sickiness! And poor DD . That is the point at which I would be marching into DH's room and dumping soaked babies on him to be changed while I cuddled DD.

Jaggy - "I've got a poo poo!" Classic.

Grr, DH has dumped me with M and the radioactive nappy and buggered off to garden. M is snoozing odiferously. is that the correct usage of 'odiferous'? Baby brain

Oh Too

I was really hoping you had the nights nailed. But still, only getting up once is pretty fab

The hospital visit sounds awful you poor things . Why couldn't the doctor just do it in the first place . At least it's done I guess. Did you get the results today or do you have to have another appt?

And poo for rubbish shopping. As the proud owner of enormo-boobs all the time I know how frustrating it is to try and buy jackets etc. I can never get coats unless I buy a size 18 at least. And the rest of me is not an 18. And that's when not bf - I dread to think what I'd need now . But remember the boobs are not permanent so you're not really that size - just a bit more boob-tastic at the moment

I haven't even dared to go shopping - it would be awful I know it. I still look pg but can't seem to stop shovelling in sugar and crap food .

And pah! to Mothercare. That is why they are in so much trouble. I can never find any assistants in ours and then when you do they're bloody useless. I did an online order to collect from the store and they couldn't find the box - which was ENORMOUS . They must have been looking with their eyes shut. Hopeless. At least they don't stock bras in my size so I'm never forced to take that particular challenge on! .

Hope you can have a nice restful evening and M remembers her special sleep tricks :-) When does she have to have her first jabs? E's are tomorrow

It's not fat, it's baby milk! Thanks, Pet! the tummy and thighs are also baby milk