October 2012: onwards, upwards and rolling over?

[YompingJo]

Is this part 5 already? Where did that time go?

And YAY londonmrs!! Omg that's great! Can you offer nipple initially each time without shield? I know they're a faff to put on one-handed while baby is screaming

yomping, she certainly sounds v. high maintenance. i would be really struggling too if i was having as little sleep as u r getting, having to carry heavy dd about all the time, getting so little time to prepare food and eat and with so little support. your dh sounds like he is being fab, tho. god knows how ppl manage on their own. children r probably meant to be raised in a community and able to be passed around to multiple breast feeders so mummy gets a rest. babybeccus gets cranky after she's been up for 90 min or so and insists on only being carried with us standing/walking. god, i hate that period. i have started feeding her then as i cant be arsed carrying her about, she is too heavy. really cannot fathom having that behaviour ALL THE TIME! must be so hard. the other thing that is hard is how much crying u can tolerate while trying to shhh/pat them to sleep. it's a tough call. hope u get some rest. alice could not ask for a better mummy. whatever is upsetting her, u r doing a gr8 job comforting her and she needs u to do whatever u need to to look after u so u can keep being a gr8 mum.

There's nothing in my Uppababy's zipped compartment . What am I missing out on?

London, waving pompoms for your baby. Maybe she has just been testing you?

Orenishii, she has been teething for weeks and it does make her gassy but usually accompanied by lots of telltale drool and she has not been drooly over the last few days so I don't think that's to blame at the moment. I have also heard it can give them diarrhoea but blood in the nappy seems a bit extreme. On a related (other end of the body) note, I cooked myself a paleo breakfast this morning, was very quick and tasted good. Thought you'd be proud of me!

She did just do an ENORMOUS poo so maybe that's what all the windiness has been about, but it has never affected her like that before, not for the 3 days and nights before the poo! I love their face while they are pooing - such a range of emotions from confusion to satisfaction to effort to smugness to startled to "who, me? My shit doesn't stink!!!" innocence .

I feel so much better now that DH is home for a few days and can give me a break. Hope hope hope that tonight is a bit better.

Little play date cards. And they look proper. I thought they were business cards. Shall I post you one so u don't feel left out??? Look again, they are only cards. You sound more positive already. Xx

yomping so glad your dh has a few days with you. make sure you get some proper you time and some sleep.

I have to be a bit careful with the feeding- she is still a crap feeder and has only had 2 feeds today. it seems to be every other day that she is not hungry. I will offer boob without the shield when I can but often I just need to get the milk in her and don't want to rock the boat too much.

still feels like a massive achievement though!

yomping i know the blood is awful but it's tiny traces of it - i freaked out the first few times, went to the hospital and they assured me it was all fine. GOD.

Anyway you do sound much more positive - muchos fingers crossed for tonight. What did you have for dinner? I've made jerk hock - Jaime is jerk if this tastes rubbish!

Breakfast, not dinner!

Yay for London's shieldless nips!!!!!!

got the flu. fucking fuck fuck.

Get well soon mickey.
Much sympathy to yomping crazy and anyone else who needs it. Babies are very hard and I think in the past there was probably a lot more support around from extended family and also just neighbours and friends - I think it must have made a big difference when most mums didn't go out to work - not saying its a bad thing that we do have the option of going out to work (though it would be nice if the cost of living wasn't so high and it was easier to cope on one income.) but more other mums must have been around in the day then so I bet there was more community support. Meaningless ramble there, can you tell I'm knackered!
Slightly better night last night from my mega clingy baby - we have a plan (I like plans too, makes me feel more in control) that we aren't going to feed her every time she wakes (she would like to feed continuously I think) but make her go 3 hours between feeds. This meant dh spent a lot of time cuddling a screaming baby who wanted her mum last night but then she had a slightly longer stretch later ( all of 2.5 hrs but it's a start!)
She is proper fussy at the moment, clingy, cries when I leave the room, fussing when feeding and clawing at my breast with her sharp little nails. Fewer smiles than previously. But playing with toys more and in new ways. Guess this is all wonder weeks stuff. But worn out by it....

Sympathy to Yomping / Crazy / Smiley / anyone else with grizzly mega feeders / non-sleepers :( Lots of good advice above. One thing we have noticed is that when the bean starts getting screamy / fussy she usually needs a nap and it's better to get her down sooner rather than later. The one exception to this is at night as we don't wasnt her going to bed too early so tend to persevere and distract her so she conks out at bedtime.

Sympathy to Mickey with flu - yuck :( I feel your pain literally - getting a cold and quite achey too. Boo hiss! Skipped baby yoga today.

Big yes to getting out and about with people / inviting people round for tea etc. Wasn't out today (other than dash round supermarket) because weather was apocalyptic so missed baby yoga and lunch afterwards. Felt really flat and the day felt really long. Getting out is good!

Just a quick catch up before bed...
yomping huge hugs for you. You are a great mummy and your baby sounds like she is going through a very difficult phase, but it will pass. Zara's advice sounds great (welcome back btw zara). Also, I could have written that thing you wrote about not inviting people over because you're convinced they will just feel obliged to say yes. If you really don't feel up to it, just make sure you keep going to lots of groups etc.
crazy I'm so sorry to hear about your aunt
londonmrss great news she latched! Hope this is the start of feeding becoming easier for you both.
mickey get well soon

DH is working abroad again this week so I'm on my own

yomping glad your DH is going to be around to help a bit, makes a huuuge difference! Can you leave him with bottle of expressed milk/formula and head out by yourself for a few hours? A haircut/massage/shopping trip might make you feel human again. Or kick them out and have a proper sleep? You're coping faaaaar better than I would, I lose the plot after 1 day of screaming baby . Hopefully it is wonder week related, it is quite a long one on the chart too. Zara's totally right that you need to look after yourself better too, an empty belly and lack of tea makes everything worse. On not being able to put her down... have you tried an osteo? I'm normally very suspicious of such things, but have lots of friends who swear by them and have said it's really helped baby sleep better, even if only for a couple of days. Think they're especially useful if you had a non-textbook birth so everyone then The other thing I was thinking, is mini-yomping crying when you put her down (like emotional crying with tears, mono-pitch cry) or more protesting (varying pitch cry kinda like yelling) ? I only started noticing the difference really recently thicko mum and leaving a bit of the protesting has helped heaps! Sorry that's not meant to be patronising at all, I just had no idea until SIL pointed it out And getting her into habits now is the last thing you need to worry about, just do what you need to do now and fix problems later. One MW/sleep consultant told my baby group that babies don't form habits under 1yr old!

crazy and for you too

Can you get stuff called Rhuger in the UK? everyone swears by it for colic/wind/reflux here... it's some mix of rhubarb and ginger but is far better than infacol/gripe water.

october on your 69cm long baby! That's huge! And stupid HV, they make me so mad sometimes when should just look at the baby rather than the bloomin graph!

Glad flight back went well zara and good work on the 8hr sleep! Nice bulkhead seat would have given you plenty of space! Have DSs teeth come up yet?I think we're going to have some soon too, can see the bloody things in her gums and feel rough on my boob. gahhhhh dreading the real things

What on earth is in dairyfree ice cream? Great that there is such a thing though!

orenishii love that salmon recipe,will have to try that! On the paleo cooking... does it exclude essentially all carbs?

Bean had her hips scanned yesterday, all 100% normal just extra fat rolls despite doing everything that contributes to hip dysplasia! Was super quick and easy too, she just laid and grinned at the sonographer . angelico are you waiting for routine screening or does your bean have unequal thigh creases too? They screen at 6w (ultrasound) here if you've got family history or breech baby, so guess if you have to wait till 6 months they must want to x-ray?

smile4me it's not purposefully carb free like Atkina, it's just that it excludes anything from anything refined/processed etc, which happens to be bread, pasta, wheat-based things, noodles etc.

Basically you can't go far wrong if it came from the earth and doesn't require an awful lot doing to it to make it edible. So we get our carby intake from sweet potatoes, butternut squash, yams, broccoli - sometimes we use coconut flour or ground almond meal or something. But the emphasis is on protein and low starch carbs.

Smile really pleased all was well with your bean! :o Yes to uneven leg creases, she has 2 on right leg and one on left. She was fine at 6 weeks but at 15 week HV check she said about referring her, especially as one of her cousins on DH's side was in cast for first 6 weeks of life :( There does seem to be a strong genetic link to it. Hoping all is well!

Oh smile yes, awesome news about your baby's extra fat legs - meant in the best possible way

thanks for all the well wishes. i feel rough

october snap!! dd is 71cm long 3-6m babygros are starting to strain now.. she's only 11 weeks!! i am having a different argument with the HV though. we have dropped two and a half centiles now and everyone is at a loss. i have to go to the gp to check theres nothing wrong, but frankly im getting a bit pissed off with it. dd is content, happy, responsive, plenty of wet nappies and is fine. i refuse to force feed her formula milk just to bulk her up a bit. the hv can fuck the fuck off. i know she is only doing her job but still.
maybe i should just accidentally on purpise forget to get her weighed

yomping hope you have a better night love. everything looks worse under the fog of sleep deprivation. alice sounds very high maintenance, but like someone said earlier, you will probably be blessed with a lovely toddler

zara welcome home. your poo story made me laugh

bella2012 Great news about your DH's job. Such a relief at a time like this - for you as a family, I mean, as well as the off-on recession.

smorgs It's lonely without them, isn't it? DH goes to NY next week, Singapore the week after that and DC a few days later. Insane. I try to book in as many visits to and from family and friends as I can, otherwise I go a bit stir-crazy.

Yomping - I second what someone said about occasionally putting them down and walking away for five minutes. I am one of the most AP parents I know, but everyone needs a short break occasionally. How often are you taking her out for little walks? I find it helps in three ways: exercise in the open air for me, upright soothing motion for DS (good for his tummy) and it halts screaming as he is either gawping wide-eyed at surroundings or lulled to sleep. Could you take her swimming?

Tried the Ergo today now that DS is hefty enough to use it without the infant insert. Screams of protest. His legs are held much further apart than in the BabyBjorn. I have a winter cover for the latter so will stick with it for a while longer, because it keeps his legs so warm he doesn't need a snowsuit or an airtight outfit. It's also more comfortable since I last adjusted it. Extraordinary what a difference that can make.

Poor you with the flu Mickey, I hope you feel better soon.
71cm that is tall! Like you say, I don't think you need worry too much about her weight if she's healthy in other ways. Sounds like she's going to be tall and slim, lucky thing.

Glad everything was fine at the US Smile.
I was wondering the same about dairy free ice cream!
I forgot to reply about flights - DS will be 4 months when we fly (just me and him). I'm planning to sling it in the airport and feed on take off and landing. Zara has put some great tips on Facebook.

Smorgs, Elpis sympathies on the traveling DHs. Mine's off to America this week. It's not so bad in the week, but I hate when it goes over a weekend. I cheer myself up by thinking of goodies he can bring me back that you can only get in that country.

DS has a patch of eczema(?) on his cheek - red and scaly. It's now getting weepy and lots of fluff and stuff gets stuck on it. Should I go to the doctor?

I think I am going to go mad. How much longer can this hourly night Shite go on? There is no way he can be this hungry. Rocking back to sleep has him awake again in 10 mins. This is hideous.

Out if interest , any FF babies having sleep regression and night feeding issues?

Sort of sleep regression huffle - DS now wakes once for a feed most nights, doesn't really sleep through. That's nothing, though, I fully expect it to get worse!

We currently have jetlag sleep regression DS sleeps perfectly... All day! And doesn't want to sleep at night! Desperately trying to keep him in bed till 5am. Need to expose him
to sunlight as much as possible to help him adjust errr that's hard in winter... Fuck you 12 hour time difference!

7 times. 7 feeds. I'm finding it difficult to even smile at my son this morning. And the world is covered in deep snow. So unlikely out of house and thus no baby yoga. This warrants tears.

Huffle, surely it must be a growth spurt or Wonder Week?

Honestly 'I'm actually getting quite sick of telling myself that something must be because of a developmental phase. Wonder Weeks can fuck off. Particularly as this is what I read in it today, "Until your baby has gone through this leap, he can only perceive smooth transitions. After he has gone through this leap, he is able to perceive a short, familiar series of 'smooth transitions' with all his senses". What the fuck does that mean!?! That's not useful information, that's just a collection of words, it's barely even a sentence! I would have got more useful insight if I'd just picked up a handful of my baby's poo and smeared it over my face. I know they do these amazing developmental things, but can't they just say "Your baby will behave like a total asshole this week, but at the end off it they'll probably be doing some new cool / cute thing and it is this cuteness which prevents us from eating our young."

Sorry you're feeling crappy though Huffle. Yomping, how are you today lovey?
We had an ok night, but rubbish feeder only feed 3 times yesterday so who knows what is going to happen today. This inconsistency is DOING MY HEAD IN.

Babies are annoying.

Oh, clearly I'm in a lovely mood today!

Sorry. I know everyone is fed up of links and articles but this one is very good and reassuring and focuses one what to do about sleep AFTER 6 months. That is to say that until then, needs must and the poor little buggers need our help.

www.troublesometots.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-sleeping-through-the-night-part-i/

Refuse to read any further, liking this one. And acknowledges that some babies are indeed motion junkies and the swing/rocking/pram are necessary to get there!

Lucky we are snowed in. I look like shit and really shouldn't show up at the perfectly groomed yoga class...........

Please baby when u awaken be in reasonable form for mummy.

Off to make coffee and eat cake. It may only be 9.30 but I've been awake since 5 something or other.