October 2012 babies part 2: winding, yawning and grizzling, and first smiles?

[YompingJo]

Part 2: in which our babies learn to sleep through the night and make us tea in the morning

In bed on phone. Love all the news and shared worries on here.
Smiley, thinking of you in hospital. Makes pooathons tantrums etc pretty small stuff. I hope baby is better soon - sending recover vibes.
October i also have used gro bag but with baby in my bed i have been using a wadded sleepsuit from next. Mothercare do similar.
Zara i also have a moby and a bbjorn (inherited). I took to cuidiu ( bf support ) this week as i found both useless. Anyway now i am into moby. Tips
Put on your own body at start tighter than you think you will need.
Pull the shoulder straps out over the wider part of your shld, away from your neck.
If you travelled with moby it could double up as blanket.

Re weight and body image. I think i am putting on weight since birth - hard to be sure with constipation. Definitely feeling very flabby and unsexy.
Also and can anyone relate to this... When pushing (during labour) I was on all 4s on bed and I pooed. I was embarassed at the time and it is the most unsexy body image i can imagine and i cant forget it....

Llivvy delighted your mum is helping. That is great practically and mentally. Dont do the guilt thing and reject help. Accept it all and try to enjoy baby - steps down from soapbox, feeling lika a bossy mare.

In bed on phone. Love all the news and shared worries on here.
Smiley, thinking of you in hospital. Makes pooathons tantrums etc pretty small stuff. I hope baby is better soon - sending recover vibes.
October i also have used gro bag but with baby in my bed i have been using a wadded sleepsuit from next. Mothercare do similar.
Zara i also have a moby and a bbjorn (inherited). I took to cuidiu ( bf support ) this week as i found both useless. Anyway now i am into moby. Tips
Put on your own body at start tighter than you think you will need.
Pull the shoulder straps out over the wider part of your shld, away from your neck.
If you travelled with moby it could double up as blanket.

Re weight and body image. I think i am putting on weight since birth - hard to be sure with constipation. Definitely feeling very flabby and unsexy.
Also and can anyone relate to this... When pushing (during labour) I was on all 4s on bed and I pooed. I was embarassed at the time and it is the most unsexy body image i can imagine and i cant forget it....

Dont know what happened there

So, tonight's brought a brand new panic - found big section of black mould on our bedroom wall, behind (ironically) the plastic wrapped cot mattress being stored there until baby big enough for cot. We've wiped it off with detol wipes and I've moved myself and baby into another room, in case any spores etc stirred up. I'm panicking in case this will have already harmed baby (not to mention mortified at how slovenly it makes us seem) and have no idea how to get rid permanently. And should we bin the cot mattress? Help!!

Panicking and confused MrsC, camping on nursery floor next to (thank god) sleeping daughter.

Glad bloods clear smiley, hope some rest and milk helps the little one and she's back to normal soon. Thinking of you v much.

MrsC I.wouldnt worry about the mattress if it was plastic wrapped. Look for trisodium phosphate to clean the wall. Perhaps at a hardware shop? Use that and bleach.

xposted october- good advice re thermometres. Dodn't know that!

libeth I feel for you. I too look back on what I was like/doing during birth and feel self conscious but at the time it was all about surviving and keeping going, we had very little control. I am sure your husband won't be dwelling on the pooing bit,he will have been far more concerned with the miracle you were busy performing. Lots of love to you x

Think baby smiley is getting better (touches wood! ). She slept a bit better and has just fed well.

Ear thermometer great for older kids but I won't be using one for baby again - when I checked her temp at home with ear one it was normal but 38.4 with under arm one (kept checking as was so convinced she felt hot to touch)

Thank goodness Smiley , we are all thinking of you. Good to know about thermometer , need to address that pronto.

Get well soon baby smiley
Xx

smiley so very glad to hear that. Hope you are on your way home soon.

I'm feeling well this morning, as Jess continues her monster sleeps... 7.30pm-6am last night, 10.30pm - 6.30am the night before... I did feed her once last night but I woke her up as boobs huge (then she vomited everywhere, that'll teach me!) Also she has been completely quiet last two nights after being such a loud sleeper before? The only thing I have changed is giving her more blankets as i thought she was cold. Maybe all the thrashing was her feeling chilly, who knows!

Feel a bit better about body image after a trip to Bravissimo to get nursing bra properly fitted. They scoffed at my 36E (M&S put me in that) and tried to put me in a 30F !!!! It did fit so much better though.... I went home with a very pretty white and pink 32F bra and matching knickers in the end feeling a bit odd. Didn't think I was that big! Who cares, it fits nicely. Showed boyfriend and he managed to get Jess to sleep in 20 minutes flat and wrestle me into the bedroom, so that was a good result for a frumpy nursing bra. He insists I am getting smaller every week, just slowly... so I will just try to keep the faith, do what I am doing with the healthy eating and exercise.

(I have backtracked on sex though, what with worrying about pregnancy and a bit of bleeding (too much running? returning period?) I just feel a bit vulnerable I guess. But we tussle and get each other off, etc.)

Thanks for the commiserations and solidarity, I feel dead superficial/ashamed talking about it when I should just be happy to have a healthy baby, etc! Wantanorange I am kind of the opposite to you - not really fitting in my jeans but look so similar naked... I escaped stretchmarks and tummy looks fine and I don't really think I look like I've given birth, I think I'm just a size bigger all over. hopefully i can work it off. midgetm people say I look the same too, I should take heart from it... huffle don't apologise, I wasn't bothered by your weight loss, good on you sweetie! Everyone has their own hangups I'm sure... zara thanks for the sympathy, I never really lost weight with exercise either (though I get nicely toned and fit), I have to be careful what I eat... beccus It's hard when you worked so hard at it before isn't it? crazy I've heard that about holidng onto fat whilst breastfeeding and beeblebear I've heard that about hips widening too but almost everyone I know is skinnier after having babies, clothes hanging off them, grr! So how does that work...

MIckey I never said welcome and well done... sounds like a tough scary birth. Glad you have a lovely chilled babbie.

Jess has her jabs today, sob! Still she didn't even notice the heel prick test so hopefully she'll be fine. STRONG AND NORTHERN! (Not a "fragile porcelain doll" as my boyfriend's mum keeps calling her )

MY sister in law with the new baby said "PLEASE come, PLEASE!" when I suggested going to help her out on the first week she's alone so I'm going to do that, with a baby and my mad new multitasking skillz ... could be a disaster!

Huge post sorry

How was your nights sleep LondonMrss???

so glad to hear baby smiley is on the mend xx

londonmrs did you get any sleep? Big hugs!

On the topic of weight loss I look revolting with clothes off and on! Stretch marks and flab a gogo. However, I do not deserve much sympathy as am still devouring my body weight in choc on a regular basis. I used to run a lot pre ds1 but as dh is out most of the time, I didn't get the chance to train as much. I am hoping to run the GNR again next Oct to raise money for CDH which is a condition that caused my friend's baby to die shortly after birth. So that is a big incentive to find the time to train where I can and also, the thought of half an hour on my own with neither of them needing my attention is sooooooo appealing, I don't care if I have to spend that time running in the freezing cold!

I have to go out for lunch at my Mum's friend's house today and I really can not be bothered to have to make conversation, try and control toddler behaviour and breastfeed endlessly and cackhandedly. At home I just get my whole boob out-I am not great at the discreet stuff! I need to snap out of my bad mood thlough and stip being ungrateful. If I was at work I would have given my right arm to just be going for lunch somewhere!

Have a good day all x

Great news, smiley. Hope things continue to improve in a straightforward way. Thank you for the tip about the thermometer. Do you know if I can be a massive skinflint and stick the ear thermometer under his armpit?

DS2 has started sleeping decently at night recently. Not saying it too loudly as anything can change at any time and I'm terrified things'll get worse again (especially after what DS1 was like!!) but I am SO enjoying some decent blocks of sleep. Night before last he went 9.30pm-4am! That was amazing! And then went back down again reasonably quickly until 8am! Who is this child, surely he can't be mine? Last night he wouldn't settle til midnight, then slept til 5.30, then again til 8.30 (although sadly I had to get up at 6.30 as DS1 was yelling in his cot. Not crying, yelling )

Still, I feel amazingly human considering DS2 is only 7 weeks! It's so weird...still waiting for all hell to break loose. I'm not someone who accepts good stuff as the norm, in case you were wondering - pessimist over here

Thinking of CWest, Elpis and Fjord, and anyone else not posting any more. Miss you guys and hope everything's going well for you.

One week for me until childminder's back....these have been some of the slowest weeks of my life!!! When she's back she wants to "sit down and have a chat about next year" which fills me with dread. She's training to be a teacher, graduating early 2014, so I wonder if she's planning to stop work quite soon....nooooooooooooo

Hi everyone.

First of all, so glad smiley junior is on the mend. Am perplexed by all these thermometer options. I bought a forehead one and we tested it out last night. Humn. It gives all of us readings of 35 or 36. Think I need to get on amazon.

The sleep deprivation screamathon continues round here. I think the gaviscon helps with the reflux as she doesn't gag or arch her back,and scream as much any more. But she still has awful wind, particularly at 4am and won't then go back to sleep. I spend over an hour winding her but with no results. She is all clenched fists and misery. The only way to stop her screaming the place down is to let her doze on my chest, but she wriggles and snores and I can't sleep. So am averaging about 4 hours sleep per night and feel like I'm losing the plot.

So, ideas please ladies on the wind. Could it be what I ate? Or an allergy to the 2oz of formula I give her at 5pm each day? It is cow and gate.

Exhausted. She is too - can't stop yawning but refusing to sleep. I've spent an hour cuddling, putting her down, waiting four minutes, going in to reassure, etc. Hideous.

Man this parenting is joyless. I really, really hope it gets better. Squid it feels to me like you're on a different planet.

Come in DD. You're 4 weeks today. This is supposed to be getting easier, not harder.

londonlivvy I AM on a different planet. It is called the "my baby is 8 weeks old" planet.

Here is me when my baby was your baby's age:

misery sleep deprivation and despair

Sounds familiar?

I'm sorry hun it's a tough time. But seems like it gets loads easier for almost everyone. My mate whose baby is 6 weeks older than mine came and told me this at 3 weeks and I didn't believe her. She also brought me cake and cheese to eat - wish I could do the same - this message will have to do from me!! xx

londonlivvy sleep deprivation must really be taking it's toll, hope you have mat nurse this week? And seek out some RL support from friends or other new mums, everyone struggles at some point and I'm sure you'll look back at this with a clear head before long.

Like everyone else, feeling pretty unimpressed with post preg body, but haven't got much mojo to do something about it, lazy cow! Particularly unimpressed with the dark line that had tattooed itself down my tummy and my belly button looks saggy and bruised - what a delightful sight. Think I'm particularly shocked as I hadn't seen lower tummy for months as so huge! Friends have said this line lasts for about a year, anyone else feel like they have marker pen on them?

DS1 STILL unwell, poor thing. Been 10 days of diarrhoea Waiting for call back from GP, not expecting them to be able to give anything but seems long time for tummy bug. Obv he isn't in nursery so trying to juggle fractious toddler and bubs, feel your pain crazy

Hi livvy i could have written your post - baby liege (6 weeks tomorrow) was perfect until about 2 weeks ago, since then she's been v v grizzly/screamy in the evenings and after feeds (particularly at night), she takes ages to settle by which time she is hungry again. I am convinced it's reflux and not colic as her voice goes hoarse and she seems to be generally uncomfortable without the crampy movements/symptoms (eg pulling legs up and screaming). We have been using a dummy as she always seems to want to feed (maybe it soothes her throat) and then she gets too full and it's worse. So I try to feed little and often. my health visitor suggested winding during the feed especially at the beginning when it can gush out a bit and if i hear her gulping it down I stop her and wind her (she doesn't like it much) it seems to help. The HV said this is good because trapped wind is obviously uncomfortable and it can get compacted in the stomach during a feed making it harder to release, also air bubbles can make the baby think she is full only to wake up 30 mins later.

I also stopped caffeine completely and the improvement was noticeable, so maybe try that.

I havent used any medicine yet.. was rather hoping we could manage it ourselves though have been on verge of calling the gp several times.

Thought I'd share my slummy mummy moment with you all.. I thought I was getting symptoms of thrush, shooting pains between feeds etc so I was really conscious of any pain/itching between feeds.. then it started to really itch and I thought shit this is it I need to get down to the GP asap.. had a quick look in the mirror as I opened my bra a piece of crisp fell out!! nice.. no thrush though thank God!!!

No further news from Belgium really (hence the lack of posting).. except that we were taught at the hospital how to take baby's temp with an anal thermometer.. interesting that they do that here and not in UK. I am pretty hopeless at it, luckily DH takes over though I admit we don't take it every day as they suggested.

looking forward to joining squid's planet : )

Sorry if my post sounded flippant I mean to be encouraging, I really found things so hard around the 3-4 week mark and mates telling me it would get better were helpful to me. Off for jabs now... xxx

Squid. Good luck eith jess getting the jabs! And hope you have a good time at your sisters. I'm sure she will appreciate you being there. Here is a question for you that i have been considering myself as my brother is having their baby on December 7th. When helping out family, would you consider offering to ...

Continued from above...

Would you.Breastfeed your niece/nephew for one feed so that mom could get a bit of a longer sleep?

Wow, Beeble, for me it would definitely be a no, but a very kind thought and generous offer. What do you think you're SIL would think?

How funny beeble we were discussing this at the children's centre this morning (they were handing out leaflets about donating breastmilk). For most it was a no, mainly due to the closeness of bf rather than an objection to another woman's milk. Thou apparently in Africa babies just get past round and everyone bf each others so def a cultural thing!

Baby smiley still doing ok, much less lethargic than yesterday and giving us some smiles again. Now has a venflon in and having iv antibiotics, they are going to try lp again tomorrow but not today. Reading and thinking of everyone but phone too slow to reply sorry