Post Grad Brookers - we're in here....

[Biscuitsandtea]

New thread - t'other one got full up....

I try to avoid eye contact, but it's hard when DD peers up at me because she just looks so cute when she does it. DH is the worst. If he happens to wake up while I'm feeding he starts cooing at her which makes her start smiling and gurgling back at him. Not impressive as I'm trying my best to feed her to sleep!

I'm afraid I was hooked in Too by the sales spiel. My Dsis is already a Bare Minerals convert and has been on at me about it for ages but I never fancied spending that much money. Drastic action needed these days though, I'm really starting to look older than my years all the grey hairs sprouting aren't helping

Oooh Scarlet I quite like the bare minerals stuff. It's a wee bit pricey but lasts for ages. Don't let the fact that I often look well ropey put you off it's rare I can be bothered to put any make up on at all these days even though I need it more than ever.

I guess that would be my only thing that it isn't super quick to put on - doesn't take ages but since I'm already usually late for everything I just don't have time .

Agree too about these super cute babies smiling up at us in the night - too cute!

Dream hope the colic continues to prove. Can you do the Gaviscon more often do you think?

Hope A finds a balance on the medicine Pomme - brooking for an improvement soon for you

Ha ha Biscuits. I've never seen you look at all ropey. If you do usually use it, it's worth getting it from QVC today as they're doing extra big pots of the foundation, something else and something else in a set for £39. I ordered online, all too easy really!

A couple of months ago I got sucked in by the Bobbi Brown counter in John Lewis and wound up spending £108. I'd already bought a Clinique mascara for about £20 as well. It was an investment - I had run out of foundation! did not need to buy special shimmering powder, blusher, lipstick and an eyebrow pencil as well. Especially as my eyebrows haven't been waxed in months Still, given that I put makeup on maybe once a week at present then it will last forever.

D goes quickly back to sleep in the night after a feed, I feed lying down and then just scoop him back into his bed if I don't fall asleep
Glad you had a good day dream

No way I could put mine down without picking up and winding properly wants, I've been woken up by being puked on by the baby which had fallen asleep feeding if i do feed lying down... The joys of reflux babies :) . Tbh, neither is happy feeding lying down, I need to sit up so they're comfortable.

I am so cranky nowadays. Especially after a night like last night. Getting worried about divorce, I'm no fun at all....

Ben down more easily by far again after gaviscon. Guilt, guilt, guilt!!!

Hope you get As dosage sorted pomme, what did the more useful gp say??

Dream don't feel guilty my love - just be pleased it is working! Maybe it is working now better than before because he's a bit older?

Pomme where are you with getting that paed referral through sooner?

Thanks for all the suggestions re swimwear (several pages back, eek!). Have compiled suggestions to show to DH tomorrow, after I've phoned up and actually arranged some lessons!

Too, I avoid eye contact, light and chatting. My main method of avoiding eye contact is to browse MN on my phone...

Dream, you are amazing, no matter what you think. The arguing is :-( , but presumably a lot of it's down to extreme tiredness..?

Iz slept a lot of the day - in the car lots and at a concert - so I'm predicting a bad night ahead. However, DH is now on his second wk of paternity leave, hurrah! And kitchen should be finished tomorrow, hurrah! Iz has her first set of jabs tomorrow afternoon though :-(

Hiding in living room because DH's incredibly loud sniffs are causing M to wriggle and mutter and so I can't relax. If he wakes her up with his ostentatious sniffing I'm going to be seriously displeased. Oh now, there was a loud gurgle from her. Oh joy.

too the bobbi brown shimmer brick (if that was what was under your strike out) is the one thing that keepse from looking like the walking dead most days and it lasts bloody ages so you made an excellent investment purchase there

pomme glad to hear a is doing a bit better- I hope both of you are able to get some sleep tonight. And dream I think you are doing marvellously!

Good to see you ninja

Sorry for dipping in and out a bit. I do carry on reading but have been feeling sorry for myself again and don't want to come on and be a big moany pants, especially when other people are having a much rougher time. I think I might be making some headway getting to know some people though, and swapped numbers with a couple ofthe before the toddler groups stopped for the hold. biscuits was it you who mentioned you were going to a children's centre? I am going try ours as I think everything runs over the summer. Don't think we have a sure start centre though

At my mum's tonight and she has said she will get up with dd1 in the morning!

hawthers I just read French children don't throw food a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was interesting. Lots of emphasis on waiting and having good manners. Dd1 wouldn't cut it in France, I don't think. She is good at being polite, moderately good at waiting but still frequently struggles to 'find her nights' at nearly 3...

It is the Bobbi Brown shimmer brick, Fishcake! I love it.

Is it the new house/not knowing anyone that you're finding hard? Feel free to come on here and chat as much as you want to - moan all you want! I do. Good for you swapping numbers with some people. Hopefully they'll be really nice.

Well, bedtime tonight has been an epic fail. I blame DH. Having woken M up with his sniffing (you would think no one had ever had a cold before), he then ruined my latest attempt to feed her to sleep by sneezing all over her head. In between he made me giggle and bounce her awake, which is clearly also his fault. So she had 1.5 hrs sleep, which must have been enough to recharge her little batteries, because 3 attempts to feed her to sleep resulted in a wide-awake full baby who is so not interested in either food or sleep at the moment. I am back in the living room with her and she is lying in her gym gurgling happily. DH is asleep.

Oh no for jabs, Musical! Hope they go okay and Iz breezes through them. Huzzah for new kitchen, though.

Dream, no guilt! As Biscuits says, maybe the Gaviscon is working better now than it was before. The important thing is that it is helping now. Brooking hard for you to get some sleep, my lovely. I'm sure your DH realises the pressure you are under at the moment and is cutting you any slack you should need. Bless you both.

Pomme, how is A getting on now? Any improvement in her sleep tonight? Hope you are managing to sleep now.

Night light question: do you use one? I have had a small light on in the bedroom since M was born, so I can see what I'm doing when I have to get up for her, and also in case she should be scared of the dark. The small lamp's bulbs keep blowing out, so for the last few nights I've been leaving my bedside lamp on instead. DH wanted me to turn the light out properly tonight - what would you do? What if M is scared of the dark and cries? What if me turning my bedside lamp on and off makes her spring back awake when I put her down? I have found a proper nightlight for tonight as a compromise, but I wondered if everyone else is trying to encourage their baby to sleep in the dark.

Hi fishcake! Nice to see you. Have you also tried the local meet up sections on here and on netmums? I've met a couple of people that. way. Keep plugging away at as many baby groups as you can. It'll get better.
Ds wasn't scared of the dark till he was a toddler. We have a nightlight on his monitor which was handy. They are useful though.

Morning all,

Fishcake don't feel like you shouldn't come on here - come on as much as you like. We're all here rooting for you . Yes it was me and the Children's centre. Well well worth it I would say - not only will you meet other mums, the staff there might have ideas as to things you could go to etc?

Too we had a similar thing with both DSs when they were tiny. With ds2 he would sometimes struggle to settle with the lights off so I would get DH to leave his bedside lamp on the lowest setting (you know how those touch base ones work? And dh's so it wasn't so bright / in ds2's eyes). Gradually though we needed it on less and less. Why don't you try leaving it off and see how she does? If she struggles to settle then leave it on for a bit?

Hope everyone else is well xx

Too no nightlight here, but thin curtains so when DS wakes at 4am onwards I don't need a light. If he wakes earlier I use the light on my phone so I can see to latch him on, then I either MN or turn the phone off and feed with eyes closed. No eye contact either here!

DS slept from 8pm to 5.45am! But I kept rolling over to get my boob out every time he stirred, so not quite as much sleep had as you might think!

Hello fishcake, come as often as you like. All I do is moan.... . Glad you've got some phone numbers, summer (??) playdates for DD1 will be a good start to making new friends. You're very brave and doing so well to be getting out and making the effort.

Right, Seb. He's driving me to distraction, not to mention exhaustion. Up every hour after midnight, can't self settle, shouts and screams if just put in the cot and I can't leave him or will end up with DD and DT2 and dh awake. I try and jig to sleep but I'm so tired I just end up feeding to sleep then allowing him in with me til morning.... Help?! Any ideas anyone? Our house has no sound protection at all, stud wall between boys and DD... Dh in box room, so stud wall between him and boys. Argh?!?!?!

I'm getting desperate...

Make up envy

No night light here. I put on a night light in our room when I feed, that's it.

By the way, the ?? was because there is yet more rain here, just ? whether there will be any summer...

Finally got M back to sleep at 1.35 am. By this time was too tired to try any experimentation with night lights, so I just left my bedside light on but put it on the floor so it wasn't shining into either of our eyes. Will try again tonight. She did then sleep until 7, and then I got her back down from 7.30 to 9, but surely she should be tireder? Having had much less sleep than the last couple of nights? She's in her play gym again gurgling and kicking happily, not looking tired one bit.

Dream, you deserve a huge hug for all your hard work! I don't think there's anything wrong with feeding S to sleep, is there? Or do you mean that he needs winding afterwards, which I take disturbs him? Did you try the Gaviscon with him as well?

Hello lovely No Brookers!

Apologies for going AWOL. After coming back from Stratford-upon-Avon last Monday I had a horrible stomach bug which immediately passed on to DD, so we had 3 nights of really uncharacteristic crying all night. Poor thing. Unfortunately she has recently decided that only Mummy will do, and as such she continues to scream while DH or anyone else jiggles her or tries to feed her, so I kept having to stay up all night with her despite being ill myself. I did try leaving her with DH for at least a couple of hours each night, but for a baby who almost never cries, it was just heartbreaking to hear her scream for 2 hours straight. DH gets all disappointed when he hands her to me and she immediately calms down though... :(

After all that we just had a super hectic week, and then we've been away all of last weekend as well. We've been staying at DH's uncle's house to celebrate the 2nd birthday of his cousin's son (Still following? :) ) It was good fun, and little A went swimming for the first time in their pool! They heated up the outdoor pool to super warm especially for us and DH took her in; she loved it! She looked super cute in her wetsuit.

I have been skim reading this thread occasionally but unfortunately between the exhaustion at the start of the week, and the hectic activities at the end of the week, I haven't been able to keep up. Is everyone okay? I hope there's good health across No Brooker Land.

Dream has the H, F & M gone away yet? I've been thinking of you and your poor little unwell brood this week, especially when DD wasn't feeling well. You are a superhero, I can't imagine how you do it all!!

So what am I missing? Please tell me all your news!!

We have a ikea night light next to my bed. It gives a soft green glow to the room but it is still fairly dark. I used it from the second night he was at home so reluctant to stop as he sleeps ok!
D seems to process his wind ok in the night so I don't need to disturb him before putting him in bed.
dream go with the co sleeping if that is what seb needs right now especially if it means you get a little bit more sleep. I often do that with d for the second Half of the night. I fold the duvet down to my waist and cover d in a jersey sheet.
We had our 6 week check this morning(8 weeks yesterday!) everything fine. D has put on a bit more weight and seems to be following the 2 nd centile ATM. He did throw up his last feed all over her bed though:(. Jabs on weds.

Yay welcome back Scream and Fishcake.

Sorry to hear you've been ill Scream and DD . Lovely that A enjoyed her swimming at the weekend. Did you have a good time in Stratford?

Fishcake good to hear you've started to meet people. It must be really hard to make such a massive move like that with 2 LOs. If you keep making an effort to get out and join in different social groups I'm sure you'll get to meet some like-minded people along the way.

I've just had DD weighed. She's 9lb 10oz now, so 7oz on in 2 weeks and now 11 weeks old. Not good enough really and I'm back to whittling about whether to increase her formula intake. She's still on the same centile but now slightly closer to the one below. The HV did admit though that the charts are designed for FF babies and if she ignored the chart and just looked at DD she'd have no concerns at all

Oh and no nightlight here. We never started with one and DS so far has never had any fear of the dark. Hopefully DD will be the same. I'd say get rid of it Too if you'd prefer DD to get used to sleeping in the dark before she's old enough to realise, but keep it just in case you need it in the future. If you'd rather she had a light though keep it. I don't think there's any right or wrong.

With regards to your current situation, try it tonight with the light off and see what happens.

We have a nightlight on all night as the monitor has one in it. It changes colour based on the temperature of the room. Gives enough light for me to feed without disturbing too much.

Dream hang on in there, you will get through this.

Just had DD's heel prick result through, all normal.

dream - I would probably give in for a bit and have him in with you. Have you tried elevating his cot? Or gaviscon for him too? Or even a dummy?? I'm sure you have tried everything but just in case.

A slept from one am till 6am last night - amazing!! she's now having an hour and a half nap!!we seem to be approaching some kind of trade off where she will be a bit fussy about feeds from 10am to 3pm but will not have insomnia. however my paediatrician's app has been pushed back until mid september!!!!! On a cancellation list for a private app now.

scream - sorry to hear about you and A being ill. Sounds hard. Glad to hear swimming went well though!

Just been trying the hip carry position with the Ergo. I wound up having to find a YouTube video to make sure I had it right. Sadly M was in a grump anyway so she didn't last long in it. Still, it felt like it would be good for housework because it gives you a bit more space around one arm to do things like hang out washing. I got maybe a quarter through my washing load before Baby Crotchet decided she wanted feeding right now, immediately and at once.

Pomme, that's brilliant news re A's sleep! You too with DS's sleep, Pet. How has your paed appt wound up even further back?? Madness! Brooking for a cancellation coming up soon.

Scream, being ill with an ill baby sounds wretched. Poor you. The swimming sounds fun, though! Wish I had a relative with a private pool - think I would go and stay for weeks on end.

Scarlet, if DD is still on the same centile, why is the HV concerned? I don't understand. at the fact that DD looks fine. I really think if the HV is saying things like that, and using FF charts, then she's just worrying you unnecessarily.

Good for D, Wants! Hope the jabs go well.

Musical, how did Iz's jabs go?

Pet, what happened with DS's growth? Has he put some weight on?

J'espere que Hawthers et Jaggy soient tres heureuses en France et mangent beaucoup de croissants! (Is my French grammar passing muster, anyone?)

Did I kill the thread?

Anyone watch Babies In the Office last night?