October 2012: onwards, upwards and rolling over?

[YompingJo]

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

seriously when is this child going to understand that 4.30am on the dot isn't morning?? these obscenely early starts have been going on for more than 2wks. I suppose I should be grateful it's not 3.30 any more up at 12.30, 2.30 then 4.30 for the day. I am utterly fucked.

now he's sleeping peacefully on the boob thank god ds1 is at the cm, I'm a zombie today.

Yomping I've been trying to catch up and just spotted your post about getting baby to take a bottle. we have offered DD a bottle nearly everyday since she was 6 weeks old and will she take it? No chance! Last week DH attempted to syringe feed her and it worked! Hallaluah! It only took us 12 weeks to figure it out! They cost 50p in Boots. I actually went to college and 2 whole lectures without DH needing to come with me! DH said he wished we tried it at the begining, so maybe worth trying.

DD has been waking 3 - 4 times in the night and up at 6am. I have a 3500 word essay due in wednesday and my temper just ran out....

How long is this growth spurt supposed to last?

firsttime I got the letter too - don't book an appointment! they can't do a smear until at least 6m post partum due to cervical changes potentially leading to abnormal results. hopefully my wasted afternoon can save you one! stupid reminder letter system

PELVIC FLOORS!

crazypaving Is that so? I had a smear about eight weeks postpartum with no mention of that. Came back normal. They were a bit confused by me not having a menstrual cycle back again, though.

I had a letter from an adoptions introduction agency today. Mum was adopted as a baby. It seems I have quite a few new relatives. Do you think some of them fancy a spot of babysitting?

oh maybe it depends on your GP surgery that seems bizarre. I was told in no uncertain terms to bugger off and come back towards May ish. dh had taken most of the afternoon off to look after the boys too so I wasn't massively impressed.

Huffle depends on the formula (they have different scoop sizes). I too use Aptamil so 1oz = 1 scoop. Divide amount of ml per suggested feed by number of scoops and you will get your answer.

Investigating childcare today. Looks like I will be going back in September (I was flexible, but DH wants one of us at home with hi, till he's a bit older), but need to sort out details with work. Would like to do part time, and longer hours on those 3 days so I'm doing 30 hours in 3 days IYSWIM. Maybe also could work from home in evenings 2 nights a week from 6 months. Who knows, need to negotiate with work once childcare places give me more details and I've gone to see them. My maternity cover is apparently cocking things up big time but I don't know if that puts me in a good or bad position for negotiations

Childcare is fucking expensive. Times like these I wish we lived in NZ near DMIL, she has said she'd do it for free also I think I'd feel better about going back to work if my organisation were better managed

Sigh. Need to do financial planning with DH this weekend. And career planning. And life planning!!

DS moody for the past 2 days. Not sure why? Refusing feeds and sometimes deliriously happy and next minute howling! He's currently in his chair grizzling while I bounce him with my feet and sssshhhhhhhhh while I write this!!

Grateful DS seems to be over his jetlag now. He is sleeping 6pm to 3.30am, then feed, then asleep till 6. I know many of you are having more wakings during the night so I'm grateful, but I'm like, come ON babba! Can you not even push it out to 5am? It's hard to get back to sleep at 4am

Have discovered BBC Radio 4 is a bit of a lifeline during the daytime for intellectual stimulation. Weekly mum and baby movie screenings are good too.

Glad your jetlag is sorted Zara
6pm to 3.30am is a really good sleep! Ours is similar, we are trying to push it back to 7pm to 4.30am, then feeds/naps with lights still off till 7-8am (I am a morning person and am not too bad post 4am... 3am is awful though)... it involves constantly nudging Jess from 6pm onwards.

On smears - I was told to leave it a good few months too, think it was around 6 months?

On formula it all sounds very complicated Think I'll be relying on the pre-made stuff at first. Great discovery yesterday: bean was too excited to feed before service yesterday. In desperation I expressed about 1.5 oz in the 2 mins I had before everything started. She actually drank it down cold / room temp about an hour later which meant she was able to grin around during her bit instead of going all Damian. So hopefully when we do start the whole FF thing we can just have room temp bottles!

We are all tired today, bean has had 3 naps. Think it was just all the excitement yesterday / seeing loads of peeps / long drive both ways etc.

Mikyah hope you eventually got some sleep.

Firsttime hope all goes well with your 'probe' - is it Thurs?

Elpis that sounds like big news - big decision! :)

Whatever you are all doing, DO NOT watch the Channel 4 Dispatches that's on right now about dodgy nurseries. Of course it's on the same day I was getting childcare quotes for DS. Making me howl. Watching this makes me want to quit my job and look after DS. And then home school him so he doesn't get bullied. And then never let him leave home.

Angelico don't worry you soon get into the swing of things with the FF routine! DS will take room temp bottles, except on very cold days, then he wants it very warm (almost hot!). Fair enough, really...

zara Every day I thank God for Radio 4 - apart from the bloody awful comedy they put on at 6.30pm, just as I'm cooking. The iPlayer app lets you listen to stuff you missed earlier, though, so I switch to that via my mobile.

Angelico Less my decision than that of my mother's cousin.

OMG. She just emailed me.

Hear hear for Radio 4! I only ever used to listen to the Today programme in the car to work which usually wound me up no end so it is nice to be able to listen to more of the calmer programmes.

Must be something in the air with the smear letters, I got one today too. Will check on timing before I make an appt, thanks for mentioning.

The only thing I miss about my commute is Radio 4 :)

Bean has been hard to settle tonight - as in kept waking up after 5-10 mins. Think she was hungry - I stupidly expressed a couple of ounces, then fed her on same side. After 3 re-settles I fed her on other side and she went to sleep. Boobs are a bit too efficient these days - very little spare!

Yey! We had 6 hours. 7.30 - 1.30. Now up and feeding again. But we have progress and that is good.
smears I've had one since DS was born, even made a point of asking if it was too soon, and was told it was ok. Had the result back also, and all is good. :)

It's 4am. DS is fast asleep. So is DH. Why the hell am I awake?! Argh DS needs to go into his own room pronto. Even his tiniest snufflings wake me up!!

Y y elpis that comedy they put on at 6 is AWFUL! Then I switch to FIP Radio while I cook dinner, it's a French station with eclectic/jazzy/fun random music.

anyone find it a bit ridiculous that you still cant have a smear test under the age of 25 even if you've had a child?!

what the fuck. could this be the 4 month asleep regression? but she's only 15 and a half weeks. baby has only slept for 10 minutes at a time since 3am. rather than her usual cheerful wake up, she cried and needed attention every time. I've just had to take a break because I felt irrationally angry with her. Felt like throwing her across the room. Obviously I didn't. I'm such an awful person.

london don't beat yourself up, we have all had that feeling of "what the fuck is wrong with you child???", quickly transferring into "I'm such an awful mother".

Would any of you describe your DCs as 'contented'? I can't honestly say that fits DS much he slews and feeds well but a lot of the time when he is awake he seems to want something that I can't work out, whether it is being held, put down, a toy, teething or something random. I also don't always have time to second guess with ds1 demanding something much more vocally!

Going to attempt to take them both to a playgroup in the village this morning, in the as yet unused double buggy. Mustn't leave till the lastinute and end up taking the car instead!