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

[PurplePidjChickIsNotTheMessiah]

New fred...

Dr Browns bottles are amazing, I used them with dd1. They are a pain to clean but really help, I might get some today as lo has been having some wind issues and in pain, don't really want it to get any worse. I also noticed mothercare has 3 for 2 on them at the moment.

Stacey I was convinced dh was having an affair about a week and a half ago with one of my friends!?!? He is on his phone a lot for work and my hormones were everywhere, I had to tell him and have a big cry but realise I wasn't quite myself now. Have you spoken to him about it?

And I've read colic starts at 2-3 weeks and peaks at 6 weeks before tailing off?

Just tried expressing and got 10ml I could cry. Why don't I have any milk?! I could express 2-3oz in hospital feeling totally shit and have to go to my aunts and watch ds be passed around whilst we have a crappy time.

Sorry for the moan

Stacey. If you feel tearful for more than a day or so, please talk to your hv or dr. Down days are normal but longer could be depression, and the sooner that's caught the better. I reckon a good half of us will have PND to some extent - I have a history of anxiety and PTSD so am on constant watch for symptoms!

I have a thread in Chat called "Please tell me about Stroke" if anyone wants updates on that.

Spotty - babies are a bazillion gazillion times more efficient at getting milk out than crappy manmade shite. You've plenty of milk, your body just has fixed ideas on the method of delivery

Spotty - babies are a bazillion gazillion times more efficient at getting milk out than crappy manmade shite. You've plenty of milk, your body just has fixed ideas on the method of delivery

I am finding that Edward is feeding really well but at night he s much harder to settle than in the day. He seems to have wind at night but not in the day. Has anyone else found this?

Any advice for winding a baby?

bella reflux symptoms include horrible noises as gastric acid comes up the oesophagus and causes irritation - this gets worse over time if not treated and lo would cry when laid down. They often arch their back too. Another symptom is a constantly White coated Tongue where the milk keeps coming back up. Dd1 had it and it was miserable. Dd2 was quite a puker but was never bothered by it so I guess that was more just immature stomach muscles/valves.

spotty I'm not great at expressing either, and after a feed there is s limit to how much you should be able to get out as most of it should be in los tum! Why are you expressing? Nice bf lady I spoke to yesterday said putting baby on the breast to feed is much better for increasing supply than expressing.

I'm trying to be brave and not give formula in the day, and just accept that Tabitha will want to feed tons over the next few days. Not particularly looking forward to afternoon with dhs half sisters and family with my boobs out!

Just so when I'm having a bad night I can get dp to give ds a bottle of ebm rather than resorting to formula. I know I can express so it's just annoying to not get any out!

fod not sure about wind but Oz is definitely harder to settle at night and seems to get more alert if anything, between 1-5am, it's exhausting and we're only on day 3!

WLmum ours is puking for Britain too but doesn't seem.overly bothered. I just wonder how much is staying in?

Community midwife is supposed to be coming today - what happens?

Also more tmi - my discharge letter says 'perineum intact, episiotomy', i thought these were mutually exclusive, and Dh swears the doctor at the time said they'd made a small cut, so what does this mean? Sorry for all the questions!

FoD, my little one is much gruntier in the nighttime than daytime. Bit frustrating as others coo 'Oh, what a quiet, contented baby!' and I think 'No, we're sharing our room with a lawnmower.'

I think she gets wind too, as she grunts and strains and then farts or poos. I have tried some of the techniques to help her shft it, but without luck. Just seen a YouTube video with some other techniques I might try. When she's straining, she doesn't seem to want to be touched/manipulated at all.

WL, just park yourself on the couch, feed feed feed and let everyone else run around after you. :)

R is far harder to settle when I'm fretting, once I came to accept that I'd be up half the night it actually got easier and less often! Bizarro baby

Honey - how are you feeling today? I think it is really hard not to get too hung up on milestones, and what you think LO 'should' be doing but there is so much variation that they can only ever be a rough guide. I'd speak to hv if you're worried - hopefully will be more help than the pants consultant who sounds like the last thing you needed - but one thing you don't need to worry about is that you are absoultely the best person to be looking after Dash.

Stacey - . Think hormones and sleep deprivation can do funny things, but also def agree with talking to DP about how you feel.

Well, after a few nights of thinking we'd cracked it (majority of night in moses basket, just waking for feeds and settling quickly afterwards) we had a terrible time last night. He would not stop crying unless he was lying upright on one of our chests. Pretty certain it was wind related but none of the usual sure-fire methods would bring it up. Also starting to wonder about reflux given he would scream if we put him on his back. Felt so bad that we just couldn't seem to make it better for him .He's snoozing contently now though and DH and I are taking turns to catch up on sleep. Also feel a bit guilty that we're not doing that much with DS1 - had planned to go out for the day (not that he knew) but we're both too shattered. He seems happy enough playing with his new Christmas toys but just concious that DH is back at work again soon and would have been nice to do something as a family. I'll stop moaning now - realise that it's not that bad in the grand scheme of things.

utopian the episiotomy is a small cut and most likely will have been to the side in a J shape. In tact perineum probably means no tear towards your bum? They can make mistakes though, they put the wrong gestation for Felix!

Well I broke down majourly this Afternoon and DH has told me he's not leaving and loves his family etc etc. but he didn't actually explain why he's being so cagey with his phone.

Ethan has been laying under his play gym for 10 minutes. He's content and managing to whack the dangling toys, not sure if that's intentional or not! Lol

oh stacey

and hugs all round for lots of stressed and frazzled mum's.

I wanted to pop on to say my hv offered a nursery nurse to pop out to give us a colic techniques / winding workshop as well as checking for thrush (don't think it is, I just seem to need lansiloh breast pads to feel ok and G's sore bottom is loads better with metanium) so it might be worth finding out if hv can offer similar thing. I'm going to bombard her with little detail qs on bf too eg better positions now c section getting better.

had my first big melt down yesterday afternoon/ eve. I kind of think not bad for almost 3 weeks.

Stacey could you try asking him directly about the phone? maybe he's being a typical man not realised the specific things that have upset you? THey don't realise how irrational hormones can make us you'd think they'd have figured it out after the last 9 months

THanks everyone for your support yesterday. I am feeling better today thanks, though still worrying but trying to be rational about it. It's prob helped by DH being off today too. I think i worked out that Dash's head banging last night was due to the boob being empty my supply has gone incredibly temperamental when i'm stressed.

We've been using infacol for a while now but don't really know how much use it's been. Did a dose of gripe water today and things have improved (touch wood). Those who are using it/have used it before how long can you use it for? The infacol seemed to be use it as long as you need to as it works on the build up but the gripe water i'm not sure how long we can use it for?

Also, this is going to sound stupid but how do you know if they've got a cold or sore throat? He's not snotty but the grunts sound very mucusy and his chest feels rattley when he breathes, if that makes sense. He's also coughing and sneezing a bit but i always assumed if they got colds there would be mammoth amounts of snot! what can i do for colds?

And for those feeling a bit down

I think I might have to give some formula tonight I'm exhausted and ds fed at 3, 4, 5 and 6 and is still feeding now he doesn't seem tired and my nipples feel bruised!

Spent the day at Parents with extended family, with the hope of passing Felix off on an aunt/uncle/cousin to have a break, however Felix had other plans, and fed solidly for 4hrs, little monster! Everyone got very well acquainted with my nipples today!

Anyone else slightly dread the approach of evening? The amount of sleep (or not) is so unpredictable, and nights can be so slow and lonely... :( little C has jut stated cluster feeding (at about 4pm) and last time this happened I stupidly assumed that she'd finish up by 11pm or midnight but was still going strong at 6am. So now I am feeling nervous.

Honey, I'm also unsure if infacol is helpful but I'm not really brave enough to stop cold turkey... I bought colief drops too but haven't used it yet.

mamapo I absolutely dread the onset of the evening...

Another one who dreads the night, it's the same feeling I got when working on a mental health intensive care ward, wondering who would kick off and when!

honey I kinda did ask (well I'd said I felt he was only here because of ds2 and not because of me and he said he loved me and I was being silly, to which I burst out 'so how come you're getting texts from random numbers and are hiding your phone from me' but I grabbed ds2 walked out the room and collapsed in tears in the hallway, he just told me he loved me and wouldn't risk me and ds2 leaving but he didn't explain what had happened.)

Thank you everyone

Responses to questions: Jamie is 2 weeks today, which my midwife says is peak time for onset of colic. I have started infacol as too little for gripe water and have used tommee tippee anti colic bottles for last 2 feeds. He's like a different baby and we can even lie him on his back! Would only sleep on us last 2 nights. We've had the grunting, arching back, scrunching legs up and making vomiting noises.

Sorry to hear so many are struggling. Hope everyone gets a little sleep tonight.