March 2012 - Brewed to Perfection!

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Hello all, come and add your babies to the list and let's see what adventures they bring!

Another congrats for the poo, punk!!

We are going to get weighed again tomorrow too. I'm loathed to go tbh as I do think it puts undue pressure on me - if she's not put on the prescribed weight (between 3.5 and 7oz a week) since our last visit, I know I'll be distraught and racked with guilt.

However, I got a good, sensible perspective from a neutral today... I saw my NCT tutor and the lady who shadowed her, a trainee if you like, at our official reunion (funny though as many of us have met at least once a week for the last seven!!) The trainee has five kids and is a breastfeeding counsellor - she said by all means go to get weighed but try to remember that a line on a graph is all very well but there is nothing like mummy intuition; if she is feeding well, likes playing, seems happy, what does that line matter?

She also, interestingly, told us that one of her children really struggled to get the hang of BFing. It was only because of her strong beliefs and obviously job as BFing counsellor, she didn't give up. It took a very long - and I'm sure quite stressful - four weeks but eventually baby got the hang of latching on. Just shows that even the pros struggle eh?! Hope for everyone else

Thanks broody have a much happier baby! I really wouldn't worry about the weight. I hadn't weighed Orla for a month but was going by my gut that she seems happy and is not skinny so must be ok. The advice from your friend is right don't be feeling guilt or worry about that silly line as long as she is thriving and happy you're doing a great job x x baby sensory tom will let you know how it goes x
trouble where are you and mister Fyfe?!

That sounds like fab advice, Broody. There's a drop in weighing every week at the centre we go to but I resisted the urge to weigh her between appointments because I know I'm the worrying type and would obsess over it if she came in low.

The appointment today was good - she's 12lb 5oz now, so still tracking along the 25th centile.

Second Punk's question, where are you Trouble?

I looked up baby sensory classes here and the only place that does them is in Wellington, which is a plane ride away, sadly! They look awesome too- v jealous!

sorry! I have been reading all your posts but not much to say for once! Fyfe is still fabulous of course! He's doing so well on his bedtimes and sleeping still. He's getting stronger every day and is fairly close to sitting up I think. The biggest change I think is that I can now cheer him up by talking to him and smiling even if he's crying or grotting! I can leave him with his Dad for much longer to get on with things too. He's such a happy boy!
He's really discovering his hands and arms too, he can just about hold things and is touching and feeling everything around him and slapping himself and me in the face quite frequently in his excitement! his swimming lessons start on Thursday so I'm looking forward to that!

Just a quickie from me today - poppy has put on 11oz over the last two weeks HV says great gain and I should be pleased phew! She remains on the 25th centile so good for their graphs. I'm not going for at least four weeks now.

trouble let us know how you get on with swimming - we have a trial next Sunday. I'm excited but so nervous!! Xx

Hooray broody! Well done!
I've taken him swimming twice before, it was great but we only stayed in 10 then 15 mins, Thursday is 30 mins!

Yeah, good to hear that, broody! Tessa also got weighed today, and has climbed from 25th to 50th centile (she was born somewhere just above 75), so the tongue-tie snip looks to be working well. She's still a terribly fussy eater - I suspect my dreams of discretely feeding during a seminar in a few months time are not to be - but at least now she's eating.

Tessa has also mastered rolling over - front to back, only. She did it a little while ago, but then it was mostly luck. Now our last 5 tummy-times have lasted less than a minute before she rolls over. I don't know if this means I need fear early crawling, or not - as she barely spends time on her tummy!

Great weights everyone, we have hungry babies!
Currently waiting for news as one of my good friends went in to be induced on Wednesday and still no news??! She was having contractions yesterday morning but heard nothing since. Hope she's ok.
We have second lot of jabs this pm, am dreading that scream going to hopefully go out walking with a friend this morning if the rain stays off. Bad thing is walk still involves piece of cake at the end

Good luck with the injections Punk! Callum has his last night... his reaction, so far, has been much better than with the first round. For a baby who rarely cries for longer than 30 seconds, he was very irritable last night but slept well, no fever (touch wood!) and is feeding normally.

By the way broody had baby sensory taster. It was great, Orla loved it and all the other babies to stare at! Started baby massage yesterday which was also really good

Big adventure! In an attempt to give DH more time for his studies, we took the bus to breastfeeding group. Tessa was great, sleeping in the sling the whole way -- including change of bus. I had to phone for a ride home, though, as I didn't hear the alarm telling to me to catch the bus and didn't want to wait for the next one an hour later. Maybe next week we can go and return on our own.

I think Tessa has gas, or something -- she's started screaming in the middle of feeds; it started in the night feeds, and she's doing it some day feeds as well. I'm trying to wind her, but she just screams and screams, and if I try to feed her screams around the boob :( The breastfeeding group leader suggested either get a better nighttime routine (not sure how that's going to help the middle of the night feeds, but I'll give it a try), or that it was a phase she'll grow out of. Anyone else have such a thing?

I hope your friend & baby are okay, punk!

Sounds like wind/gas arden, have you tried gripe water or infacol before feeds?

Arden would try infacol before a feed - Elena does this from time to time & the infacol just manages to disperse the wind/gripes as if by magic.

Hello all!! Sorry I've been a bit AWOL of late - busy busy busy!

I've not long finished a baby massage course - Elena loved it and it's now part of our bedtime routine
Unfortunately, there's not a baby sensory around here for miles would love to go mind.

Hope all the babies are doing well! Xx

Fab punk, so glad you enjoyed sensory! I'm actually investigating the possibility of running my own franchise as I love it and see how much the babies get out of it. I just can't see myself going back to work full time and running a sensory group means I can choose my hours so plenty of Poppy time

Arden - echo the gas/trapped wind prognosis. We use dentinox for DD but she has to feed first before we can give it, whereas infacol can be given before the feed. Both have worked for us but we personally prefer dentinox. Hang in there!

broody sounds like you'd be great at that!

Fyfe has his first cold!

Oh, no trouble :( What are his symptoms? How did you figure it out? I wondered if Tessa's problem was a cold, as she was sneezing/coughing a bit, but her temperature was fine.

And thanks, all, the Infacol has helped a lot! I'm surprised that the woman at the breastfeeding group didn't suggest it, as she was some kind of nurse, I think. The suggestion of a "better" bedtime routine was a complete disaster by the fourth day Tessa screamed through the whole thing. It wasn't like it was long maybe 5 minutes of a nappy change and putting on her nightgown in a specific room, followed by a final feed in the bedroom, but for a baby with a 15-second fuse, I think she figured out that once we went into that room I wouldn't feed her until I'd finished in there, and she was unhappy about it. So last night I went back to our old way -- sometime after 9pm, put on the nightgown whenever she seems happy for it, carry her upstairs when she seems tired, and give her another feed if she seems hungry when we get there, otherwise put her in her crib. She screamed a bit when I put on the nightgown, but was otherwise fine.

What are other people's nighttime routines like? I feel like we're really casual about it, but it seems to work for Tessa. She has recently started cluster feeding at night again, and trying to insert (apparently) even a five-minute routine into that is hard. I'm not sure how you're supposed to reconcile feeding on demand and nighttime routines...

And kiki, I've been wondering - how is Ivy's hip doing?

He has a stuffy, runny, nose, a cough and sneezes, he has also vomited twice, once today and once yesterday. He has been awake for about 3/4 hours of the last 28 hours - just awake for changes and feeds really. poor boy. Think he's on the mend though!
As for his bedtime routine, his dad takes him upstairs at 8 and gets his night nappy and pyjamas on (he was bathing him too until Fyfe decided that water is the work of the devil about 2 weeks ago ) then I go up, feed him until he falls asleep and pop him into his cot for 8.30. He then wakes for a feed around 3 and 6 and we get up around 9.

Hello all. Been offline a lot recently, just checking in..

Sorry to hear about Fyfe's col, trouble. Hope he feels better soon.

Thanks for asking, Arden- we had another scan and appointment last week & Ivy's hip is finally in position. Such as relief as it was looking like she'd have to go into plaster. So she has a new brace that she'll have to wear for about another 11 weeks, but it's much less restrictive, and for the first time since she was 8 days old she's been able to wear things with legs! So we've had a lot of fun dressing her in babygros, tights & soft trousers.

I took her to a wedding on my own on Saturday, in London about 2 hours journey each way by train... was a bit apprehensive (I sewed zips in the side seams so I could bf!), but took her in the sling & she was great- despite being wide awake the only noise she made at the ceremony was a sneeze. Stayed 'til the speeches finished and finally staggered back home just after midnight... We both slept most of yesterday- apart from when she discovered how to do big long laughs for the very first time & we lay in bed chuckling & giggling for ages!

Our bedtime routine is a bit haphazard, but generally I take her upstairs at about 6pm, change & wash her (she still can't have a proper bath) and give her a big bottle feed. Then shortly before 7pm I bf her & she usually falls asleep after a couple of minutes. She sleeps through until 4 or 5am, then another feed or two before we get up at about 9am.

I was going to ask you all a poo question! She usually has a dirty nappy every two or sometimes three days.. more recently it became daily, and the last few days she's had about 4 dirty nappies. They're a bit watery, but not offensively smelly or anything, and she's feeding fine & seems perfectly happy & well. Has anyone else had anything like this? I don't know if she's picked something up, or is just going through a phase, or her habits are changing... She has her second injections on Friday, so I'll check with the nurse if it's still happening.

Anyway, I'll stop- this has got very long & she's fallen asleep bf-ing...

Hooray kiki! That's brilliant news!

Hello all my friend had a little girl Sunday evening! She was induced Wednesday so a long old labour!
arden we also have the wind issue. Glad infacol works for you it made Orla bring back all her milk. Its tough isn't it with the screaming after feeding. We use gripe water and warm baths and tummy exercises seem to help a bit. In terms of bed time routine we take her up about 6 she has a bath and then I bf her to sleep and put her in cot I feed her at 11 and the last two weeks she has slept through till 6.30/7am which has been great. Today she woke at 5.30 think it might be growth spurt time as she fed for well over an hour at 11pm when she normally only does 20 mins!
broody go for it with baby sensory what a great idea. Is the franchise available in your area?
trouble hope little Fyfe is feeling better that must be horrible for both of you
Kiki great news about ivy get out those baby gros! X

How was Orla with her jabs, Punk? Lovely news about your pal's baby too

That's ace news about Ivy's hip, Kiki, and so nice she can wear leggy things. So will she braceless when she's done 11 or so weeks in this one? Sounds like Ivy did so well on the wedding day too- what a massive day out for her- such a good baby to manage all that time out.

And how is Fyfe doing, Trouble? It must be so miserable seeing your little one poorly. Hope he's well on the mend. Is Fyfe taking umbridge at water in general, so when you go swimming and that, or just the bath?

I wanted to ask you all what you're using in the way of bath products? I've used nothing on Erin's skin apart from warm water, olive oil and sweet almond oil since she was born. I'm keen to avoid man made chemicals but was thinking I'd be nice to use some sort of washing product in her bath. Do I need to? What is everyone else doing?

Trouble - poppy had a cold a few weeks back, it's horrid isn't it? We used the calpol saline spray to unblock her little nose, seemed to work quite well. Although DH's sis in law said it did nothing for her dd so guess its hit and miss! Hope he's feeling better soon.
Bee - we use no products on Poppy's skin. We only use pampers sensitive wipes on her bottom when we are out, otherwise it's cotton wool and water all the way. Even in the bath, just plain water. We may introduce some products for the bath now she's 12 weeks but yes, defo not johnsons stuff as I've read and heard how many harsh chemicals are in them. My friend who is v allergic/sensitive likes an organic range from boots - little something? - so we may try something from there. I've always been a skincare addict so poppy won't get anything on her that I'm not happy with

Hey all Another little breakthrough last night - we transferred DD into a new crib as she was getting a little too long for her basket. It took four attempts but she eventually went down at 11pm......and didn't wake til 6!!!!! That amount of sleep is just unheard of where she is concerned, so I feel very pleased and proud She's still in with us and this crib is only a temp measure til she moves into her cotbed in her own room - we just didn't want the hassle of taking down her cotbed, putting it back up in our room, taking it down again and then up again when she moves in a few months (it was £££££ so if we damaged it, we wouldn't be best pleased!!!)

Good to hear about Ivy, kiki! :o That's great.

Oh dear, I didn't know about Johnson's chemicals I had used it as it was the stuff they used in the hospital. I just looked it up, and the "top-to-toe baby wash" doesn't have the two chemicals in question, which is what they used at the hospital, but plain old "baby wash" has one of them. Tricky. I'll ditch my baby wash and look for something else not sure if I'll go for top-to-toe or look at another brand. What are other people using? I haven't been using it long, but started last week as Tessa was getting cradle cap, and they suggest a preventative measure is to use a shampoo ~3 times/week, so that is what I was doing. (And it worked -- cradle cap went away). Hopefully 5 washes or so won't have given much lasting harm? :(

Congrats to your friend, punk! :)

Wow on the sleep, broody. Tessa's max has been 6.5 hours, but that was just once. Last night she did 5.5, and she seems to normally do something around 6 for the last week or so. I'm hoping for another hour added on, as then it would actually be close to a real sleep for me, and I could wake after her feeding and maybe do something in the AM as she sleeps. As it, I'm up for an hour or so feeding her, but then go back to sleep, and don't get up for the day until 9am or later!