December 2012 - the sleep and poo thread (too much of one, not enough of the other)

[PurplePidjin]

Just left Ethan crying as I needed a bath. But he's stopped crying now. Yay bath without guilt! :)

Lazy day today as Ethan was up every 1 1/2 hrs last night .
Tomorrow we head off to town to meet an old friend of DHs for coffee. That should be nice.

Sorry to all those having wobbles. You've done so well to get this far, hopefully it will be better today but if it's not don't beat yourselves up. It's hard work!

I'm glad things are slightly better today COD I am in complete awe that you kept feeding through all that!

Hideous night last night. The two before that were brilliant and i stupidly thought that it might signal a more permanent improvement but last night disproves that. He feed hugely all day then slept from 12-2.30 in his hammock (yay,) but then didn't go back to sleep! Just demanding boob then fussing after 15 minutes, being sick and fudgeting. Tried everything - nappy change, winding positions, different feeding positions, leaving (in bed beside me) to settle - absolutely shattered.

Dh has taken him for cuddles and now out for a walk to let me sleep but every time he comes back he's showing feeding signals.

Supposed to be going to PILs for lunch and at this rate i'll be spending all my time feeding and they'll not get any time to see him.
Really looking forward to being able / i hope - to start mixing in one expressed bottle a day. Is four weeks too early to start?

Sorry for massive mememe rant!

Sorry so many are having a hard time. You're all doing so well much better than my 9 days

We've had a good night last night. We're still on 3 hourly feeds but since the tongue tie snip each feed only takes 30-40 minutes instead of 1.5 hours. I feel almost sane this morning.

My vsl sling has come this morning, only ordered it at 9am yesterday. I'm off to try it out on a walk to buy more maternity pads! How exciting! When did everyone stop bleeding? It's 4 weeks tomorrow and started to get heavy again.

My dp's are visiting in under an hour, the toilet is clean, the dishes are washed and the dog poo is cleared in the garden. F is bathed and sleeping peacefully in his chair (singing "horsey horsey" and waving an owl puppet in his face has the similar affect that The Clangers with Pink Floyd has on a stoner) now just need to convince DH to get dressed!

Utopian I think you could introduce a bottle now but some day six weeks.

WillYou ds is six weeks and I've just stopped wearing panty liners, was wearing them for a week or so. It's quite normal to bleed for up to eight weeks but if it gets heavier it's a sign that you need to slow down!

Wow eggs congratulations on getting all that done!

I am currently arranging a visit to my parents for feb half term. Their house is 4 1/2 hrs away (on a good day) so I need to plan stops (never had to stop before just throw food at the big dcs in the car! Lol

Had to share: I've been trying to settle dd for about 20 mins but every time I put her in her basket she'd scream until ds walked in and put his I pod on (quite loud) she immediately went quiet and has fallen asleep! Only problem is ds has now had to lose the I pod for a bit because if I turn the music off she wakes up.

Utopian sorry you had a crap night. We introduced 1 bottle if expressed milk at 3 weeks. I use the medela calma bottles which use a tear which is supposed to require the most similar sucking motion to the breast and we've had no problem switching between breast and bottle. One word if caution - only express once a day preferably in the morning otherwise if you express more (like I stupidly did) you'll end ukip with mahooosive boobs and engorged!

utop - basically ditto to bella - sorry you had a bad night. second the medela bottle treats, neo natal nurse in hospital recommended them and pinched a load from scbu for us the book we've got suggests trying every 2 or three nights. we did a couple in week 3 then have each night since he was 4 weeks but (as last night's post) some nights he seems to need the comfort of the boob anyway, others he's fine. winding is v important for it to go well though. also, though I was skeptical, infacol does seem tohave helped (or maybe he has grown out of it but I'm not risking stopping it!!) and yes just once in the morning!

that's great cod - what music?!

Thank you Bella and Elpth i will try all of those tricks. I'm also going to book back in with my GP on monday and see if he'll prescribe stronger antibiotics.

Utopian, i added a bottle of EBM every night at 3 weeks. I use the Tommee Tippee bottles and there seems to be no confusion. I do give it her at the same time every night. Oh and when she 1st starts she gulps it.

Willyou, i stopped bleeding at 4 weeks but kept stopping and starting again from 3 weeks. I do second that if it becomes heavy again, its a sign your doing to much and need to slow down.

Utopian - ditto Bella as well. We started in week 4, using Medela calma, expressing one bottle in the morning. C is fine swapping bw bottle and breast but is still rubbish at the dummy.

Gangnam style!!

Thanks, can lying on the couch eating custard creams be considered doing too much?

COD it's not worth it! I'd rather listen to a screaming baby than gangnam style!

Edward has had 2 bottles a day since a week old and doesn't seem to get confused.

fandango I'm still bleeding at 2 + 2 weeks, although lighter so now in normal towels.

eggs v impressed! Off to PILs half an hour drive away and took us almost the same time to leave the house because of O upchucking..

stacey my parents are 5 hours away too. Really wish we were closer , may be moving in 3-6 months fx but all dependant on dh's job.

bella and others thanks for the tip - will look for medela calma as we have the swing already and get going next week!

Back in pre-pg jeans!! (Just) still need to lose 12lbs to meet pre-pg weight so not sure how that works - can see I'm still soft round the middle - but I'm taking this as encouragement.. Amazing how much more positive you can feel after an hour's sleep (and apple cake brought home by dh for breakfast. )

Ha ha I just left her asleep and got on with housework.

I wonder how much extra our breasts weigh now? They're certainly bigger and more dense than they were.. I'm taking this as part of the reason I'm not pre pg weight, even though I seem a similar size except my thighs and bum.

Stacks I said the same thing to dp this morning! I weighed myself the other day and I'm at my heaviest pre pregnancy weight if that makes sense?! Need to lose about half a stone but might wait until summer is and I'm more into salad and fruit! Mmmm malteser bunny

Ooh I had a malteser bunny yesterday. Even made it educational by showing it to J and explaining it was a bunny rabbit before buying its ears off!

Honey I don't know if they have any of the colic workshops in your area:

Baby Calm

Really quite pleasant day at the Mapo house - a sleep in no sleep in for me, as little C starts to squawk, squeal etc from 6am with ?tummy pain? It's not colicky, just unsettled, and I think she's asleep through most of it, but she is so loud that there's no chance I can get any sleep.

But otherwise we have done some watching TV (started watching The Killing), did a little bit of shopping to make some slow-cooked ragu, got little C her passport photos (they're terrible, but you have so few options when the baby has to have eyes open, looking at camera, mouth closed, no shadows, no hands in shot etc etc), addressed some birth announcement cards... that's about it. C has napped for a couple of hours on my husband's chest, and now for an hour and a half in her cot... soon, she might be able to fall asleep in it at nighttime.

Tonight - it's a pregnant women's dream menu. Rare steak, bearnaise sauce, red wine, with chips and salad. Brilliant.

Hope everyone else has had a good day.

Stacks, have you ever watched Green Wing? There's a bit where one of the women weighs her breasts 'just to know what the postage would be.'

Mamapo they can be asleep in passport photos if they're under six(?) months

That you'll be going on holiday don't think we'll be able to afford it thus year

Spotty, not for the passports we're applying for (Aus and Danish). Shame, as it would make it a lot easier!

Little C will be doing loads of travelling this year. We're going to move back to Aus at some stage, so we need to make the most of living in Europe for a little longer...