Caution! December 2011 babies can be hazardous to health, bank balances and carrot sticks!

[LittleMissFlustered]

aethel it'll be reassuring to be going through cold turkey together. I'm sure I'll have wobbles, but hopefully we'll both have reclaimed the boobs by next week. I may even be able to have a birthday drink!

Cherry it really was useful advice. I'm feeling a bit guilty that I didn't realise it was causing him pain, but in my defence he didn't seem upset, he just appeared not to like the taste of anything. Apple slices were happily chewed this evening

I'm glad I rarely wander beyond this thread after hearing all those stories!

Enjoy your glamourous evening Northern

Pleased to hear the 8 hour wait was worth it MissRee

My mum bought me a slow cooker last week and showed me how to do something's with it very excited about my first foray at the weekend.

Like. Someone said earlier about learning on MN more about bf I can see now I didn't know enough about cluster feeding and may have panicked early on. I also had him on 22nd so had lots of visitors and a day at inlaws for Xmas day within first 4 days when I should have just bunked down. However although I did have milk come in my breasts didn't change at all despite 3 stone weight gain, they never felt full, hard, hot, empty etc so though I suspect it was never going to work for me I do keep wondering.

The octopus likes his new toy. Jumperoo from freecycle, all it cost was the taxi fare:)

for Octoboy.

Tonight's £50,000 question: Will DS stop cluster feeding and go to sleep before my dinner goes cold? Answer on a bosom-shaped postcard to me.....

Bouncy indeed. Proof available on farcebook:o

Hope the clusterboob ceases soon.

Figgy - pork shoulder joint (on offer in sainsbos at the mo in their 3 for £10 meat deal), can of fat coke and bottle of Paul Numan BBQ sauce. Bung on low for 8-9 hours and you have the most amazingly melt in the mouth pork! I cannot recommend it enough...

I'm of your free jumperoo LMF, I want to get one for Freya but wonder if she will soon be too big for it?

Just popping my head in to say hi as I can't remember & cba to check back if I responded to tyel to say yes of course I'll meet you for a cream tea when you're down this way.

DS & I are on the mend, he's still got a cough that's waking him though so nights aren't great. BLW has started up again (his gag reflex was hyper-sensitive when he was ill even boob made him puke) but he only really swallows creamy things; clotted cream, ice cream, butter like mother like son He's happy to put fruit, veg, toast etc in his mouth but it all comes back out again >_< Think he swallowed a little sweet potato today though :) I keep repeating my mantra food before 1 is just for fun so I don't stress out but it'd be lovely to see him eating things & maybe he'd be less of a boob monster. Also I worry about his iron levels as I'm prone to anaemia. Ho hum, he'll eat when he's ready. He's given up trying to move too, no rolling or crawling since he did both back in May. I don't mind that though; at least he stays were I leave him :)

Sorry not to namecheck but I've not posted in so long I wouldn't know where to start.

Missree I would say get a jumperoo my niece was in hers until 1, it's hot 3 levels for height and DS is still on the 1st he will be in it a long time yet!!

I don't know figgy, I read so much about bf beforehand, and thought I was prepared for any eventuality - I also purposely made sure to have no visitors for 2 weeks (not so difficult as my family doesn't lice in England and my husband's famil doesn't live close by), and minimopsy latched fine, never really had a problem with latching on - but she just cd never get enough milk. I also couldn't get much pumping, although I was at it 6 times a day in addition to putting her on the breast 6 times a day minimum. For six weeks. And several all day in the bed skin-to-skin sessions. It never worked. Sometimes it just doesn't. Its natural but that doesnt mean its infallible. Had I livedin pre-formula times I guess I just would have had a really really hungry baby. Maybe she would have survived, she may well have in fact, but given that we live in a society with clean water and access to formula, I wasn't going to try it and see!! As my midwife said, I'd either have had to get a wet nurse or have a starving baby who would then have been more susceptible to illness. So I think, yes, more info would defs help in many cases, of course it would. Having more support would help too. But it still sometimes won't work I think.

MissRee Stick a shout out on your local freecycle/freegle. It can't hurt, this one is ace. It has no wings on the butterfly toy, but seeing as it was free I'm ot at all bothered:o

As for feeding. There needs to be oodles of support for new mums. No matter how you choose to feed.

Could the fact that I never got the sore, engorged, painful boobs be something to do with the fact that I never got F latched properly and therefor the stimulation to produce milk wasn't there? I didn't get any leakage either. This made me think that my milk didn't come in at all - is that even possible? When the MWs tried to get me hand expressing colostrum, I couldn't get anything out but I realise hand expressing isn't as effective as baby latching. Even so, it's something that plays on my mind, even now. Will it be something that I need to consider with future babes or can it be different for each?

I still feel blessed by the fact I had such an easy pregnancy and birth so I'm focusing on that rather than my failure to BF.

LMF I did rush to look at my local freecycle but all I could find were lots of wanted posts fit them. I'm guessing that people sell them round here rather than give them away! I was considering selling her super duper swing to fund the purchase but I've started putting her in the swing again and it keeps her quiet for ages so I'm reconsidering that move...

MissRee, I've been told by several different ppl that it's different for every baby so fingers crossed if I have another it will work. Going to try avoid the guilt trip I had this time though if itvdoesnt. Minimopsybis absolutely thriving on formula and couldn't care less how she's fed!

I bloody love my slow cooker, I normally use it at least once a week. Don't bother with recipes though, I just bung in whatever I have in the cupboard or fridge. Last time I done turkey, half a squash, onion, a tin of tomatoes and a tin of butter beans, was delicious!

Re BFing, I think it was just because both of mine were prem that neither of them had a strong enough suck reflex when they were born. I expressed until 6 weeks but I stopped because it was just so time consuming and I didn't have any time for DS. I wish things had been different but I done what was best for the whole family.

air good to hear you're ok, baby steps.

aethel and kate hope the cold-turkey works ok and that they both crack without too much hassle.

That's good news Mopsy! let's hope we have more success next time

Boxy packy boxy packy... Did I mention that I've bought a house or rather, my bank has bought a house and I am now massively in debt to it and shall be paying the evol Barclays mega-bucks for the rest of my life that is super, and we are moving on tomorrow ?!
Packing boxes still.
Enjoy the glamour of Coventry, northern!
kate Bfing never stopped me from having a drink. I decided that as the research was inconclusive it must be ok.
And for the next kiddie-winkle, I think I'll start mixed feeding earlier, maybe from month 2 or 3. It'll help for bottle acceptance, and for eventual reclaiming the boobs on return to work.
Back to pack! ( aided by wine, of course!)
G'night!

Joining the slow cooker love in:o 'tis marvellous for soups. And curry. Also casseroles and stoo.

Mmmm. Stoo.

I use it to do pie fillings too. Nothing as tender as steak that's been slow cooked with a healthy splosh of red grape product and a bit of stick and some carrots Snd onion:o

Bollocks. Can't type straight >_<

N'night!

Tha can't beat a nice sturdy box!

...but you can turn it into a car, a house, a den, etc., and then when it's knackered, it'll make a great slidey thing.

See this just shows how not only do babies not follow the books, neither do our boobs... I never had any leakage really, even at the beginning; never seriously engorged (just a bit bigger because I had put weight on) and never managed to express much until recently and then only with a hospital grade pump. I remember at 4 weeks expressing in the hospital to try and keep my supply going and being really proud to get 1oz in an hour of expressing (ouch). Never got anything by hand really, even colostrum. And yet DS produced copious nappies so something was going in there, even though my mother panicked repeatedly and tried to force me to ff just for her peace of mind and she is still desperate to feed him bottles.

I remember one day - I think DS was 12 days old? - I counted, just for fun, how many times I fed him in a 12 hour period - lost track around 18 and it was a lot more than that...

No guilt trips though. I mainly wanted BF to work because I am lazy and didn't want to get out of bed to feed DS in the night when he was a newborn. In 2 years time no one will know or care one way or another how he was fed for his first x number of months/years.

Ok sleep now - night all!

We are having a bad night. Octoboy heard me typing about clusterboobs earlier and has decided that he's in favour:( Been feeding an hour now, he woke up just as I posted my last:/

Bugger.

Ahh so annoying LMF! Hope he goes back to sleep soon and you get some shut eye.

Sorry lmf. Eva woke when I last posted and I couldn't get her back down. Nothing wrong, just awake but so unlike her. I bought her downstairs as I didn't want her to wake DS who is hatching a cold. She's now in the travelcot and I'm on the sofa.

Hope you've finished packing oi!

Oi Hope your packing is going well?

Sky woke at 3am, wide awake wanting to chat! DP bless him done the night shift so I could sleep first one he's ever done.

Going shopping with my mum & sister today to get mum's outfit for the wedding...should be a good day as once we're back we are going to finish all the stationary stuff, like placemats, table planner & goodie bag labels.