May Baby Mayhem!

[Bodeccia]

Hello fellow May mums. Let's follow on from our lovely ante-natal threads, here's the first of the post-natal ones. Join us as we work out how to handle nappies, feeding, colic, crying and all things newborn, or just to celebrate the joys of a new baby!

She finally arrived at 8am, with no pain relief (I dislike that midwife more and more!), not even gas and air, not by my choice! I think it's probably my loneliness making things worse, I don't feel very confident by myself with her. Probably because of some idiotic comments on the bus (about reporting me to social services as she was crying) and loud tutting if she whimpers, it's put me off going on the bus!

Newtothis congrats on such an easy baby.Sounds like your older DD is a bit jealous of her sister and attention she's getting.

Cupcake no chance of getting 2 yo here,thanks for suggestion,found it not very helpful.Got DS one book,have a couple more bookmarked on Amazon.DH bought him cute little zebra toy,poor zebra is getting chewed on and all sorts.

Hi dinosaur lucky you with bf and looong nights.We're fine for night but wish had better milk supply.Sod the inlaws.Get yourself out please, it takes a while to get there but at least you'll get some adult conversations.

I'll try to write here more but it's very difficult sometimes-can read while bf DS laying down but can't write then.

HV comes next week,will see whether DS has put any weight on and if so how much.Were laughing with DH that DS was chicken weight when he was born,now he's the size of capon and should be medium size turkey for Christmas.MIL was horrified.

Went to mother and baby meeting,there was a baby massage afterwards-was hoping that this would entertain DS-no chance,he didn't enjoy it and expressed it with loud waaaaaaaah.Another waaaaaaaah was caused by butterflies on playmat.I was hoping to get him that but he just freaked out.

Take care girls :)

Hi everyone, anyone else been kept busy with grizzly babies recently? DS seems to be on one long growth spurt, I thought once we reached the 'magic' 12 weeks there would be an improvement but he's got worse! Feeding every 1-2 hrs during the day, crying a lot, hard to get to nap during the day then waking every 2 hrs in the night!! I'm told this is normal growth spurt/development behaviour....

On a positive note he has become a lot more smiley and 'chatty' when he is in a good mood and has started going down to sleep a bit easier of a night. I agree it's hard to know how to keep them amused, DS is very active and seems to get bored, but is still a bit young to be interested in toys. He does love his baby gym and bashing at the toys in his bouncy chair. I've also made my own black and white pictures for him ( recommended on another thread ) which he seems interested in. And for some reason he likes my appalling singing! :)

Dinosaur I would ignore the rude people on the bus, you can't help your baby crying and have just as much right to be there as they do! You will definitely feel better for getting out and about even if it is a bit of a task! I've been going to a few baby groups and find DS behaves much better if we get out compared to if we've stayed in all day. Do you have any friends or relatives close by who could come and pick you up? I'm on my own a lot as DP works long night shifts and it can get you down. I am very jealous of your sleep though :)

Hello Ladies, long time no see...how is everyone?
Sophia is doing wonderfully, she is still on oxygen but otherwise is a beautiful smiley bundle of gorgeous.
I have put a couple of more recent pics on my profile. She was 11lb 9oz at last weigh in so has put nearly 10lb on since birth!! Woooo.....
Time really has flown, we are dealing with teething and weaning now

Hi ladies.. gotmylamb that is fab news about Sophia's weight, she must be a tiny wee thing compared to my massive monster of a baby

cydonia we have the exact same thing of a lot more night wakings, ds is 14 weeks. He was just waking once a night but now it's more like 5 times & also feeding 2 hourly in the day :( really hoping it'll pass soon!

Hi cupcake she seems massive to me!! But she is probably a lot smaller. Im not liking reading about this sleep regression...Sophia sleeps from about 9.30pm - 7.30am, i'm used to it now, can't cope with starting night feeds again :(

I had to get the bus on Friday to go to the doctors, and bumped into an old friend. I'm making myself go tomorrow, have got a chocolate and beetroot cake in the oven as I type. I think that my confidence has waned, feels like a huge responsibility now!
In regards to her sleeping, I know I'm very lucky. I've been doing the same routine with her since she was about 9 days old. Go upstairs with her at 9 to my bedroom which has a blackout blind so it's nice and dark and quiet, she feeds furiously and then drops off. Somehow it just works!
Sadly no relatives around during the day, fell out with in-laws over their behavior in the first few weeks! But I think if I just start doing it more I'll feel better about it!

Otherwise, I'm loving being a mother, it's made me feel complete. DD loves black and white books and this week has been smiling and 'talking' to her reflection! It's amazing how much progress is made in one day!

Evening ladies:)

DS went to sleep at last so i'm here munching some chocolate

Cydonia i could have written your post at some point-DS is fine in the chair for a while bashing the fancy teething cube and mauling cuddling the zebra but then gets bored and starts crying.This week he started yapping like mad-i'm afraid that he'll be one of these kids that never stop talking.Ordered baby gym off Amazon but they mailed me that's not in stock at the moment.You might be jealous of my sleep but i'm jealous of your feeding.

LittleLamb congrats on your beautiful,brave wee bundle,she's a real fighter and did a great job catching up.

dinosaur any chance of a recipe pleeeeease?I love beetroots,it's my favourite veg.Have a good day tomorrow,sod the inlaws.

cupcake,got DS a book,thanks for suggestion,ordered another 2 at Amazon-DS is very interested in the book,looked at it,smiled and made loads of new noises as i showed him the pages.

As for the other stuff:
His mind is a bit ahead of his body-he tries to sit up but obviously can't do it yet.When I have him in bed propped up on the pillows and let him grip my fingers with both hands he lifts himself into sitting position.I tried to put him onto his tummy-he hates that.
Dribbling like mad,goes through 4 bibs a day and 2 changes of clothes on average but surely too early for teething?Suddenly his vests started to be a bit tight and trousers end mid-calf.

Question time for you ladies:If you bf every 2 hrs,how long does your DC spend time feeding?Asking because I don't want to decrease my already small milk supply-DS used to spend sometimes an hour at one boob and then whinge for the other(obviously he got it).Now he spends less time at the boobs and I'm wondering whether he empties them quicker or my milk supply is decreasing?

My nipples are knackered due to DS pulling at my boobs-sometimes he looks into my eyes still sucking and smiles letting the nipple go (ouch!) and sucking it again(ouch!).Bf consultant said to take him off the breast if he's playing like that because he's not hungry then but DS protests.

Are your DC's farting?I can't believe that such a small baby can expell such a loud and long farts,I even accused DH of blaming poor child for his own stinkies.

Right then,off to bed.Will try to post a bit more,take care :)

lime glad the books were a success :)my ds feeds for only about 10 mins or less on each boob now. I can tell when he's drained it & is just suckling for comfort as you can't hear the swallowing anymore and the sucking motion changes. Mine also clamps my nipple in his lips while looking up at me, so cheeky! I tend to take him off quite firmly if he does that so he learns it's not nice!
As for teething, it can take months of dribbling/chewing before teeth appear.. apparently it's cos they can feel the teeth moving under their gums, not sure if that's true.

We've been back to just 2 wakings the last couple of nights so hope the growth spurt is ending!

dinosaur great news about getting out, and yum to the cake! My post-baby diet starts today so no more cakes and biscuits for me :( got 2 stone to shift!

cupcake the recipe uses oil instead of butter and has LOADS of beetroot in it so is therefore super healthy!

dinosaur,post the recipe please

cupcake i'm on the same boat-11 kg to prepregnancy weight but told to forget diets when i feed DS.I have to loose it as my bone frame isn't huge and my body will suffer in the future.Somebody told me if i ditch carbs and increase protein intake i will lose weight without affecting bf.Good luck with the diet-let us know how you're getting on.

Wow nice to see some activity on here again .

Welcome dinosaur. Definitely ignore the bus idiots, babies cry and social services would need to employ half the country if they were to investigate every crying baby!

Lovely to see more pics of your gorgeous girl little lamb, looks like she is doing so well. At her age ds1 was only a couple of pounds above that weight and he was born at term!

Glad the feeding is going better Lime. They do get more efficient now so feed for less time. Adam still feeds pretty much every two hours in the day and takes between 1 and 15 minutes to feed. It tends to be more frequent feeding at the start and end of the day.

In terms of entertainment a big brother definitely helps! We have this and it's a real hit with Adam. He also quite likes his play gym but whenever we put him down he flips onto his tummy. He then tries to move but can't quite manage it. Poor boy is getting rather frustrated! I also made him a taggie blanket which is getting thoroughly chewed!

Better go as I can smell a dirty nappy!

lime yeah that's basically what I'm doing..cutting out bread & crisps so having salad with some kind of protein (cheese/fish/egg) at lunch, and cutting out all sugar. First day today & I desperately want crisps!! I'm also gonna start swimming one evening a week now ds is settled at 7pm.

cupcake i love bread,haven't got enough will power to go on no carbs diet.You must be addicted to crisps if you want them so much!Any chance to replace them with some veg crisps?I know it's not the same,but...
Jealous of your swimming sessions,wish i could do it but DH is not too keen on staying with DS on his own-vicious circle-DS is crying when DH is in charge of him so he passes him over to me so DS prefers me.

Wrigglebum,nice to see you :) DS is still on mixed feed but doing well.HV comes on Wednesday so will see how my wee chicken is doing re weight.DS is chewing on everything,even my hand when i hold him.Got an email from Amazon,the'll send me playmat this week-yeeeah,managed to get the last one cheaper.Hope DS will like it,otherwise i'll go bananas-haven't got a clue how to entertain him!

Keep writing ladies if you have a while(easier said than done)

A good walk is always nice entertainment for baby and if you can do it fairly fast it's great exercise to shift the weight too. Songs are always good too and just talking to them as you potter around. We play peekaboo when folding the washing for example.

Can't believe Adam is 18 weeks now!

limeflower I used this recipe www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolatebeetrootcak_71739 but used sunflower oil in place of corn oil (chef Google said that any plant based oil bar olive can be used as a substitute), used 300g of beetroot and baked it in a loaf tin for a hour.

Wrigglebum when the weather was fine i was walking DS for up to 3 hrs daily.Now it's either p*sing rain or just about to p*s (I'm in north Scotland).

18 weeks-wow!How does it feel?My DS is 6 weeks younger.

dinosaur thanks for recipe :)

LimeFlower, yes to the farts! DS did such a loud one as we walked past a man with his dog I swear he thought it was me! When he deigns to burp they're usually belters too, the little charmer.
Feeding wise it depends, anything from 10 to 30 mins but average is 15. I think they're supposed to get more efficient, though I found DS would feed for longer when in a spurt, probably for comfort?
He's also been drooling and fist chewing for weeks! I have been told that it can be just a development thing but also that they get the signs of teething long before the teeth. Most of the babies at my massage group are the same.
DS is still very up and down with his sleeping and I think it's affecting his moods. Last night he didn't sleep well at all and was really grumpy all morning, screaming his head off and I couldn't comfort him :( He refused to nap, only went to sleep when we went out in the car by which time he'd been awake for 6 hrs! He woke up a different baby! Wish I could get him to see that sleep is not the enemy. I've just got 'The no cry sleep solution' for some ideas, if I ever get chance to read it.......

Cydonia ,my DS hardly sleeps at all during the day.Thank goodness he sleeps at night,because at the end of the day i'm shattered.I remember going out in the car when DS had colic-after few hours of screaming we've had enough.

He started chewing on his fists and dribbling like mad-today he went through about 6 bibs.

Glad he's not the only one with noisy backside,everytime he offloads gas or solids it causes roars of laughter.

Went to MIL today,she has digital scales so roughly can weigh him-he put about 600 grams in 12 days.Not too bad considering he had problems with weight gain,I had a problem with milk and he's getting only 2 bottles a day as a top up-each of them 4 oz.Tonight he had just one bottle-came back home lateish so fed him myself and put him to his basket.

Clothes rant that I was going to do for ages:Why there's such a difference in sizes even within the same company?If I get clothes 3-6 months some of them are for 3 and some for 6 months.No problem with outer clothing as you can roughly estimate whether they fit or not,but sleepsuits?

Will have to put his cot up as he's filling nearly all basket.

Right then,off to bed,take care ladies:)

When I had ds1 I used to struggle with the entertainment thing. I used to walk to the suoermarket most days as he loved being in the trolley staring at all the lights and all the old people would make a big fuss of him. he liked the noise and people in cafes as well. If I was really stuck I would run a bath and get in with him and have a really long bath, usually resulted in good naps afterwards. libraries have rhyme time in our area for little ones, baby massage is good cos you meet other people too. local church halls had baby and toddler things on a couple of times a week and a singing thing was held in a community room of a school. Usually quite a lot going on to fill days with. Now with ds2, hes just dragged around with me and ds1, must say time is much easier to fill altho much more exhausting.
We also live in middle of nowhere dinosaur but the council here has a flexibus scheme which runs like a taxi but costs bus prices,
Sleep here was going well, just one feed a night but up to 2-3 just now for some reason.
DS2 is very cute just now, lots of smiles and laughing which is jus as well as ds1 has turned into a truly terrible 2 year old, constant whys and tantrums so hard to deal with him consistently when looking after the baby as well

Local churches are a great tip goodname, I only discovered them when ds1 was about 18 months. If you google all the churches in your area you can find out which days they have their parent and toddler groups on. They're great cos they're usually much cheaper than classes (or free) and usually you get a cup of tea too! I take my 2 ds to different ones every morning of the week (though I do have the luxury of living in a city)

Ds2 is still waking loads here too :( also has a nasty cold so couldn't get himself back to sleep last night..I got about 3 hours sleep :(

Is anyone else tempted to start feeding solids a bit early? I was thinking about 5 months as the wee one seems so much hungrier now

Yep I definitely am tempted.. ds2 is waking all the time in the night, and feeding 2 hourly in the day. He's like a different baby the last couple of weeks, so whingey and hungry, really exhausting. He's 16 weeks today so will hopefully start soon!

goodname DS is brilliant when we go out to the shops with him,not a squeak.The problem is that we live 30 miles from nearest town(not much there),bus is twice a day.I don't go by bus because if I go to town I want to grab some shopping-I'm food shopaholic so need a bit more space than at the bottom of the pushchair.

I was wondering how people manage two kids with small age gap because I'm already thinking about another child- must be mad how do you find it?How do you deal with it?

cupcake I'm waiting for toddler group to start in the village-not a hoot yet.Hope your wee one got rid of the cold and you're getting more sleep.

Got some stuff of ebay tonight-DS doesn't like to get dressed in anything that comes through his head.I manage to put a vest on him but any attempts to put the top results in a fight.All the stuff I got has zippers/poppers/buttons at the front.

His playmat has come and he's fascinated by it-hopefully he won't get bored too quickly.

Off to bed,take care ladies x :)

Limeflower how do you cope? 30 miles from the shops? ahhh