September 2012 babies - warmest welcome!

[Macaroons]

Here's the new thread for September babies fresh from the oven!

I'm a first time mum and I'm struggling with breast feeding at the moment, my 6-day old DS always seems to be hungry (a feed every 2-3 hours, each lasting roughly an hour), and when he's hungry he's very aggressive towards my nipple it really hurts! Any tips out there? And how often do you feed your baby and for how long? how do you teach your baby to be gentle on the nipples?

Good luck to those still waiting for their babies to come out! Will be watching out for more baby news!

I have been looking at Halloween outfits for baby - Tesco ones do look good, especially at a fiver! We will be visiting family over Halloween so dressing her up would be quite fun...might get my niece (9 months) a matching outfit...we can take photos of them to embarrass them with when they are teens!

Yes smallgreen we got pumpkin one and its so so cute on. We had him in it last night. And he is going trick or treating on Wednesday so will need to wash it for then. But it's just so cute. Although it would be nicer if it had a matching hat.

Oh I am so dosed and coughing that much I have basically lost my voice. I sound like a man.

So my Oh had decided to do an online shop with asda but I stopped him and we are going to go to tesco's instead. I read the thread where the woman had ordered from asda and she was promised delivery 3 times and it never happened. And I def do not want that to happen to me.

Hope all you ladies who were partying last night had fun. Was a quiet one here but the fact that baby b slept a whole 7 hours straight made my night. Going to a belated halloween party next weekend instead.

smallgreenone . I have photos of ds in a pumpkin suit couple of halloweens ago. Got told off by his dad for posting it on facebook incase it's used for future embarrassment.

Definately starting to see the beginnings of smiles here which is lovely. Dd's skin is red and slightly weepy in a patch of a fat roll on the side she always lies on. Put a little fucidin cream on it as it looks raw and sore but know the best thing would be the air to get at it. Is there anything you can use to dry it out?

We won't be doing anything Halloweeny here as dd is terrified of people dressed up: she is still traumatised by the man dressed up as bob the builder at the Xmas fair. I hope no trick or treaters come either as she does not sleep well at best of times and we do not need more nightmares. It's really hitting me hard this week having them both: I'm so tired and run down and I just feel they are both getting the worst of me. If she would sleep through it would be much better but she still wakes 3 or 4 times and he never goes longer than about 3 hours at night without wanting a bottle. On the plus side he is starting to respond and smile at his sister now so she is less jealous and wants to interact with him. Right he's asleep I'm going to try and catch a bit of zzzzzzzz

Sorry ballroom don't know of anything that can help but agree letting the air get to it will help.
Sorry to her your feeling down leetleloo its terribly exhausting and I do cry some days with the tiredness but they will sleep through eventually!!! I hope it's soon though! Ds is 9 weeks and weighs 12lbs 12oz so a big boy but he wakes twice a night still and rarely goes longer than 3 hours. I'm very tired and thought we'd be down to maybe one night waking by now

Hello all hope you are all well and not too tired! My DS is now 7 weeks and still wants cluster feeding during the day, we usually feed him expressed milk at the midnight and 3am feed so we know better how much he has taken in. this morning at the 3am feed, he cried for food but only wanted 20ml and refused to take in any more. He was up again at 5 and finish the rest of the feed. Hope this is a sign that we can soon cut out the 3am feed.

We haven't bought any outfit for Halloween as he's too young to go trick or treating! Though the pumpkin outfits sound fun...

Hi all, we're still all poorly with a horrid cold and cough. DD1 is v grumoy as she coughs all night and dd2 can't sleep lying down because she can't breathe and keeps coughing. So dh and i are working in shifts holding her pright to sleep. zzzzzz. Nipples are getting sore again, i'd like to see someone to check dd2's latch but i can't take the girls out while they are so poorly, dd would just grizzle and scream - she's rubbish with new places/people at the best of times. Sorry for the moan...

Morning all! so I went to the GP first thing yesterday am and he tht it might be mastitis so he gave me antibiotics and at least I wasn't feverish yesterday tho can still feel stabbing pains...today started horriblyself indulgent rant coming up hadn't had the best night with Ava she started choking on sick at one point and I wanted to keep her upright and dh not very co-operative ds and dd1 actually slept in but very silly once they woke up and behaving very hyper, dh and i cldnt agree what to do today but iv got loads of extra housework to catch up on from being ill so i need everyone out or quiet this pm plus my parents visiting but sleeping at PILs coz we'v got no spare room so that's more people around...anyway dh taken ds and dd1 to play centre told them to be at least an hour and a half so things looking up lol x

self indulgent rant coming up

macaroons ds is 9 weeks now and wakes at 3 for a 2 minute feed which I'm sure he is doing out of habit more than hunger but.............how do I cut out the feed? He won't settle without the boob but then just sucks it half heartedly and goes back to sleep and wakes at 6 for a full feed [hconfused]

re waking out of habit i think they are too young to be doing that just yet...however DS1 did it briefly around 4-5 months after sleeping through from 7 weeks, and so DP started getting up to him and giving him cooled boiled water in a bottle when he waked in the night (old school advice from hv) and the theory was that if he only got water, he'd soon realise there was no point waking, it took less than a week for him to stop waking at night and he's slept through ever since.

Thanks loopy I'll try that when the time comes. We're having a bad day today I've got all my timings wrong and now he's overtired and I know he won't sleep tonight and I'm dreading the night. His cold isn't helping either. I love being his mum but sometimes it's lonely and I think I do it all wrong as he's seemed so unhappy today. Wish I had an older sister or someone but I don't.............. Sorry, bad day, am sure tomorrow will be better.

smallgreenone you can't try it, has to be DP/DH else baby will smell your milk and it prob won't work...hv suggested doing it when DP had time off work as it might take a while for DS to settle, and he might be up for hours trying to settle him, but it didn't take long each night and didn't take many nights either...was nice stayng in bed whilst DP got up instead though :)

Smallgreenone sorry you had a tough day. Sometimes I find it really hard too coz no matter how hard I try Sheldon just cries cries cries all day and looks really grumpy. However he managed to last 4.5 hours between feeds just now. (normally the longest is 3 hours, and during the day he cries hourly for food!) Hope that's a good sign that hes grown and he will soon sleep through the night!

Hi Smallgreenone, sorry you've had a bad day. I had one like that day before yesterday. Being a new mum is a relentless task and the sleep deprivation makes everything feel 10 times worse. With dd1 I only started to feel like I was coping when she was about 3 months and I started taking her to all sorts of groups. Until that point there were many days where I couldn't even find the time to shower and I lived in a permanent cycle of feeding, winding and trying to catch sleep. She screamed all the time with colic and I had no support network at all. Through the groups I made friends and found out she was not unusual, which stopped the guilt that it was something I was doing wrong. I am now looking forward to Euan having his jabs so he can start to have a little social life and I can GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!

Thanks ladies, I know it's just a bad day and its the same for everyone, its just overwhelming at times. DH took him this evening so I've had a bit of sleep, obviously hoping for more though!!

Smallgreenone- hope you have managed to stock up on some sleep and are feeling better today. I know how you feel. There are days when I think that I have absolutely no clue what I am doing. I seem to just bumble along and yes, it can feel very lonely. I try to get out every day with the pram, despite sometimes just wanting to stay in my pjs. It will get better- like Leelteloo said, by December, when bubs is 3 months, things will start to fall into place. Just in time for Christmas .

Ollie bobs has got his first round of jabs this afternoon. Can't say I'm looking forward to it! Hope you are all well x

It's crazy how quick you can lose this thread. I went into the I'm on bit and it wasn't there, had to do a search for it, maybe it's a sign I shouldn't leave it so long.

shoeprincess hope ollie was okay when getting jabs. I'm dreading it. Herbs has his in 2 weeks time. Still need to make an appointment.

smallgreen hope your well rested now and that Lo is feeling better. There is some awful things about at the minute. I'm just glad we only have the cold.

So Herbs was weighed on Wed he is 7 weeks old today and weighs 10lb 11oz. He's such a big boy. We also have no timings as he hardly ever goes 4 hours between feeds during the day, when he starts to cry it means he wants feed. He took 6 and a half ounces last night before going to sleep, so I just go with flow and if going out pack plenty of bottles.

How's everyone else getting on?

Rachel - Sheldon weighed 5kg at last clinic visit (6w). Hes getting so heavy that my arms get sore!

Sheldon's having his jabs next week. Like leetleloo, in a way I'm looking forward to it so he will be immuned to whooping cough and can go out more. Seems like a bad year for whooping cough this year.

How's the jab, shoeprincess?

Smallgreenone - hope its a better day today!

Those of you breastfeeding how often do you feed? Sheldon needs a feed every 1-2 hour during the day and it's really tiring. He can last for longer in the evening - like 3-4 hours. His cluster feeding makes me really tired during the day so I want to change his habit, but it's so hard to postpone the feed for 10 minutes when he's demanding it (by screaming) any tips much appreciated!

Hi all, have had a busy few days with it being half term and the older girls being off school. Took the two youngest to a Halloween party ( the oldest two were at a different party), and the three of us were dressed up as cats. Everyone thought Lola looked adorable in her kitten outfit, and there was a bit of pass the baby going on. I had to rescue her in the end.

Lola seems to be going longer between feeds now, although still tends to cluster feeds in the evenings. She actually went 6 hours last night, but then she hasn't been wakeful during the night since birth. She's also only pooing on average once per day now, whereas it had been at most feeds before. Of course now it's less frequent, there is a lot more volume!!

Did a stupid thing yesterday, decided I was going to express some milk to stick in the freezer, so put breast pump in a large pan to sterilise by boiling. Of course I then forgot all about it, the pan boiled dry, and I ended up with a melted breast pump. I'm so cross with myself as I'll have to buy a new one!

smallgreenone and leetleloo, hope you're both feeling better.

The jabs were fine. It was a bit of a conveyor belt of babies at the surgery, so it was a quick in and out. One jab per thigh- he cried at the first and his lip quivered at the second. He was more sleepy than usual last night- we got a whole 4 hours between feeds- but we didn't need any calpol. However, my 2 year old has a bad cough and cold now, so I think the calpol will be out for him tonight!

Ol is about 13lb 3oz now, so packing it on. Still no firm pattern of feeding, except he cluster feeds between about 7-10pm. However, he has started smiling and giggling, so it makes it all worthwhile (even though i haven't had a decent night's sleep since August!) Thank goodness for light reflecting makeup. Have a nice weekend everyone!

Hope you're feeling a bit better smallgreenone.

I'm finding it hard going mysef atm. I know Bethany is such a good baby but the nightly wakenings are a killer. She's normally only up twice which is good but takes an hour to sort out added to that I've started to get a bit of anxiety at nights so find it hard to sleep myself again. Bit down about stopping breastfeeding completely this week and cant help but feel a bit resentful at times at the way ex can just sail in and out when he pleases, has never had unbroken sleep since she's been born to do a night feed. Then I catch myself on and think breaking up with him was my decision so I really have no right to complain. Still sucks though.

Glad the jabs went ok shoeprincess. My friend's wee one just had hers and she was the same sleeping loads after.

I can't wait until B gets hers. My poor ds has hardly done anything all half term with the weather and I considered today taking him to an indoor playground then decided against as B hasn't had her jabs and I'd be too worried about her catching something with a load of kids about. Bit precious maybe but with this whopping cough doing the rounds and us being too late to get the jab in pregnancy I wasn't taking the chance

Am feeling much better thanks all. Hope everyone else is good too. It must be hard being on your own ballroom, I know I couldn't do it without DH so you must be incredibly strong. Fireworks have currently woken baby small just as he was about to go into his basket for bed

Ballroom - It must be hard doing it on your own. You have been doing great!

Smallgreenone glad you've had a good day. I can hear fireworks too but can't see anything from the window.

Shoeprincess - Glad the jabs didn't bring fever! I love watching my DS smile, looking forward to the giggling!

How much does your baby sleep each day? Mine doesn't sleep that much - on a good day he sleeps on and off between 7 to 7 and have 1-2 hour nap during the day, on a bad day he doesn't sleep till 9pm, or sleeps at 7 but wakes at 9 and doesn't sleep until its 11. And he hardly naps. Argh how can i encourage him to sleep more?

Glad you're feeling a bit better smallgreenone. It's not the fireworks we have to worry about here waking baby b up. She would sleep right through it only for the gun shy dog who goes mental at fireworks that wakes her up. Poor dog's nerves are shot.

Awk honestly you just cope when the chips are down cos you have to, it's nothing special. I'm just so so lucky I'm very close to my parents. There's not a day that goes by I don't talk to them or see them. I can say my mum is one of my best friends and she was my birth partner. Get my down days at times because it's not how I hoped my life would turn out but hoo humm that's life isn't it?

Macaroons what age is your lo? Yesterday I complained because dd was snacking all day and was very unsettled - and she slept from 11pm until 7am this morning when I had to wake her up (tried to feed her at 1am but she had none of it). She must of known I'd written here the night wakenings were killing me :) Today she had a quick half hour nap this morning then 2-5. 6-7 and 8 til now whenever she wakes up. I'm expecting two wakenings tonight. I had a non-sleeper with ds and it's hard going but they do eventually get into their own routine and you can almost time them when they do. Have no idea how to encourage sleep more. Think they just sleep when they want to. Sling or heat passes them out in my experience.