December 2012 - the Christmas buns are coming out of the oven

[PurplePidjChickIsNotTheMessiah]

New fred...

We have sort of got the Moses basket sleeping sorted, I have to cuddle him to sleep after a feed, but then he goes down fine. He has a Ewan the Sheep which makes heart beat sounds and I put him down on his side with a blanket rolled up behind him (not the recommended position but hi hates sleeping on his back)

How's the Ewan Eggs?

honey I remember when I had ds1 and I chose not to bf, I can remember crying for weeks because I felt so guilty I honestly thought he would be better off somewhere else. I just had such overwhelming love for him I felt there was no way I could be good enough. So I know how you feel but you honestly are, I would say though don't be worried to speak to a good friend or hv if you think your feeling really low. Sending lots of hugs your way.

Just a quick post to say hi and mark my place. DS was born on Christmas Day, but has kept me so busy since I've not had time to come over and post. Hoping this'll change now we're home and settled.

Have decided that the breast/bottle/express must stop! Apart from bring unsustainable for me, I'm worried that Tabitha is getting to know that she doesn't have to try at the breast cos there will always be a nice easy bottle at the end. Spoke to a really nice supportive lady on one if the bf helplines today and am going to try not to give bottle top ups in the day time unless I feel it's really necessary and will just prepare myself for some hardcore feeding. Will continue with night time top ups for couple more days to be sure of a bit of sleep. Wish me luck!

Good luck WLmum! Expressing is exhausting so I think you're doing really well

Welcome Stacks looking forward to hearing all about the arrival of your ds

Congratulations Stacks, welcome to the dark side!

Spotty I love Ewan, Felix is so much easier to put to bed with it. Before I would have to try several times to put him down, but fingers crossed he has been going down first time. Plus it puts me to sleep instantly!

honey try not to be hard on yourself (easier said than done of course), I remember feeling a bit like that with dd1 especially as at times everyone else's babies were doing really well and she was really behind with weight, and was quite slow with milestones. As others gave said though, it really does balance out. Physically she was slow, and is still not the most coordinated but was an early talker with an amazing vocabulary and now at 5.5 is one of top in her class for reading.
Groups are a good idea, I was referred by hv for a baby massage class - we called ourselves the specials cos we'd all been referred for one reason or another rather than just signing up. It was def helpful to see others needing support too.

Welcome newbies!

honey it may be useful to talk to your mw/hv about how you're feeling. It sounds a lot like I felt after ds1 and I got referred to home start for a helper/friend for 3hrs a week, and to a parents group and baby massage.

We are cluster feeding, better than 11-3.30 last night

Thanks all for your support today. Am currently having an internal battle - have a carton of formula in the cupboard and am trying to decide whether to go to bed and let DH give Dash that before he comes up. Does formula reall make them sleep longer?

formula is harder for their systems to digest and therefore stays in their stomach for longer and may make him sleep longer. If it means you can get some shut eye and look at things with a better perspective in the morning I'd go for it honey there's no need to over think things. You need sleep, dash needs food. Formula can tick the boxes for now and you can think with a clearer head in the morning.

Hugs being sent your way.

Thank you stacey

Honey we've been giving Aurelia a formula feed about now-ish every evening for the last week and it does generally make her sleep longer. I bf all other times...it just keeps my sanity! Go for it!

Ps I think you're doing a great job...oh and I hope you enjoyed the vino...I've had the odd one and its bliss!

FoD
I was in hospital for 5 days and they gave me ibuprofen 4 times a day and I've just been prescribed canesten by the mw so you should be fine.

Honey I've been doing a mixture of ff and bf- LOs feed around 10 is ff and then every other throughout the night

Thanks again everyone. Just been on a proper downer today. Has a postnatal consultant appt yesterday which is hoped would give me some answers about why he came so early and if I needed tone worried about Dash and it was a locum who was a total bag of shite a bit rubbish and hadn't bothered to even read my notes before I got in there so thibk I'd been counting on that appointment for answers but didn't get any. I'm still worried about all he little things Dash does (eg lifting and dropping his head repeatedly on my shoulder, eyes rolling when hes tired) which are 99% perfectly normal but whoch dr.google suggests could be something awful and with a history of depression and anxiety I'm scared its all starting up again.

Just feeding Dash now then hopefully some sleep - is it normal for them sometimes to kind of pull of the boob and writhe around a bit?

honey Ethan pulls off and writhes a lot. Especially in the evenings. He gets a bit confused as to if he wants boob or not. It can be hard work but they're still really small.

Writhing might be wrong- he kind of pulls of and shakes his head back and forth like he's looking to latch but its right there! Then pulls away and shakes again then goes back on

honey is it a little like pecking with his mouth wide open, like a baby bird? if so, little Z does that all the time. It just takes him a minute to be sure he's in the right place.

Sort of seconds but he goes on fine got a couple of mins before he starts doing it!

Honey that sounds exactly like what my dd does, I often wind her/check nappy/switch sides when she does this, but sometimes she just does it because she can!

Ds does the same and I'm sure he just permanently damaged my nipple by pulling away really far whilst still latched on

Another here whose little one does the same frantic trying to relatch behaviour - wide open mouth, passing right over the nipple, but too frantic to realise! Silly wee thing.

I woke up from a nap this afternoon with conjunctivitis - trying hard to remember not to touch my eyes as I don't want to pass it on, especially not to the baby. Eurgh.

How long are your babies going through the night between feeds? Z is one month old now but still a few ounces short of birth weight, and so we've been feeding him every 3 hours or whenever he asks, whichever is sooner. So he's due a feed at 1.30am, but is sleeping well at the moment and I'm wondering whether to still wake him at 1.30 or to stretch it till 2 or 2.30. Of course anything might happen in the next half-hour...

Felix goes anywhen between one and four hours. He did a five once, never again though at the moment the battle is getting him back to sleep afterwards he's such a grunter! Been trying for forty minutes so far...