October 2012... PELVIC FLOORS!

[Londonmrss]

Ready...
Steady...
And squeeze!

we use cow and gate comfort milk for constipation, it has 50% less lactose so is easier on the tummy hence easier to pass poo's.
When we first started formula feeding we tried every first milk going, they are the same ingredients its true just differebt quantities hence different order on the tin :)
Poor DD was passing pebble poos every 3/4 days so we started giving her cooled boiled water to help her along.
The comfort milk is magic! Runny poo everyday now, they just smell abit!

Sensory swimming sounds amazing, wish we had that here (I mean for me as well as baby, sounds very chilled!) we haven't been swimming yet mainly as the small one still vomits every 10 minutes or so and I'm not sure the swimming pool wants curdled milk in it..... Shame though because I would really like to take her, she loves baths so think she would like swimming too.

Thanks for milk advice. Main advantage of Follow on milk seems to be that it's cheaper!

You know our bean only poos every 3 days at the minute although this week we've had a few 'poo smears' probably due to teeth. Always nice and soft so she isn't constipated. It was every 2 days from about 6 or 7 weeks, then went to 3 days. I don't know if solids will make her go more or less - I'm assuming more! Her record was 6 days a while back!!! GP etc said not to worry as it's quite common in BF babies because there's no wastage in milk or something.

And swimming was great! Hotel pool last weekend had little section marked off for babies so we took her in there. She loved it - but then she loves baths. What she still HATES is being dried and being wrestled back into clothes...

PS: big sympathy to all with wakeful beans! It might be worth letting DH / DP sleep in with bean and sleeping in spare room for a rest? DH took our bean last night and guess what - she managed from midnight till now without a feed (still sleeping) because the human buffet car wasn't there...

Cherry HV did mention comfort milk to me. I don't know what is 'normal adaptation' here or when I need to do something. She did day not great to change formula unless I feel really necessary. It is a bit like most advice you ask for "you'll know yourself"!!! Does my head in!

However we have just had a humongous dirty nappy. Totally different than before. More of a paste than watery. HV said only constipation if it is dry. And it stank......

So think I will keep to this for now with extra water in between.

That's good First that gp was ok with.

Such such sympathy for crap nights. I'm not saying too much. We had the worst for about 2 weeks. Truly shite. This week has been much better. Awake and fed twice. Nothing beyond 4 hrs but seriously better than 1.5 hrs........ Enough said. Don't want to jinx it......

Have been taking DS swimming every other week since 6 weeks - it's a much loved activity in our household. But then, I'm half fish anyway so I expected nothing less. I'm training for an open water event in May - the only real thing that would scupper taking part is the logistics of getting to it and doing it if it's a day DH is working.

Am so pissed off with this stupid regression thing. i'm not even pissed off with DS because i just feel sorry for him. His sleep is all over the place - there's no rhyme, reason, regularity, routine or anything else beginning with R to it at all now. I've given up thinking "he should be sleeping" now because it just stresses me out when he doesn't. So i just do whatever - if he doesn't sleep, he doesn't sleep. We were sleeping through sorta from 11pm to about 6am. Now it's thrashing about, waking four or five times in the night, with burns on his back from vigourous shuffling about. Sometimes he sleeps three hours on my lap in the evening, sometimes it's 30 minutes. Daytime naps are the same - some last 2 hours, some last ten minutes. It all feels incredibly random, flukey, with no element of quality control :)

I'm trying desperately to get my brain back. Books I'm trying to read a chapter of each day: The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee, Playful Parenting, Why Don't Zebras Get Ulcers, Baby Led Weaning. But then I saw Cheryl Cole's bio in the charity shop and I actually almost picked it up. I could literally hear her droning tones speaking the writing, rather than you know, actually writing something you could call prose I shocked myself.

I'm scared of quitting work, I don't know if I have to pay back the enhanced ML pay I got or if I resign in April, that will count as my 3 months notice up to July when I said I'd come back. My bonus would have paid it but I got taxed to fuck - 45 fucking %! - which scuppered that plan. I keep trying to read professional articles because right now, small businesses are doing a lot better at their marketing than I can offer, I'm so behind on trends and shit. I keep walking up and down our high street, with all the local businesses that could be clients but I'm too scared to go in and speak to them - I look a mess, I have a baby in tow, I can't form proper sentences.

Sorry, this is all me, and very first world, but I feel like I'm in a little bath whirlpool of water, spinning quickly down the drain :) I'm not used to feeling like this - so desperate to do things and so incapable.

No weaning here yet First. 20 weeks on Wed. Again one of those "you will know yourself" scenarios.... How the heck??! I think I read somewhere that they lose interest in milk as one sign. Or perhaps I'm dreaming... Don't think there is anyone weaning yet? I know Zara had intended to about 17 weeks. Can't confirm she has tho! Good luck, you'll know yourself........

Keen to hear what u think of snug.

Can I ask another formula question? What do u do if baby only takes half bottle as they either fall asleep or don't want it? Can't you keep for an hour? Just put lid back on and keep in room? If he doesn't take it should i make a bigger bottle later?? We now on 5 bottles and 4 breast feeds, tho 2 of those are overnight . Hoping if I up the volume gradually he won't need night time feeds leaving just last one and 6am. But this is likely wishful thinking.......!

First I think it's a common mistake for parents to think that their babies are hungry and they should start weaning. I'm reading a book on BLW and whichever way you decide to do it, it recommends not beginning any kind of weaning before six months:

• solids of any kind are not as densely packed with calories and nutrients as milk
• young babies' stomachs are tiny and can only process small amounts - that small amount needs to be as packed full of calories and nutrients as possible and only breast or formula milk can do this
• the baby's digestive system can't process solids so they pass through the system without getting the goodness from the food.
• if the baby has solids, the appetite for milk reduces even further, thus decreasing the nutrients in the baby's system even more
• it's possible babies who are weaned early develop allergies because immune systems are immature pre 6 months.

False signs of needing to wean are:

• waking at night: babies wake at night, it's what they do. There's no evidence giving solids reduces this. If the baby is hungry in the night, they need milk.
• slow weight gain - research has shown babies' weight gain slows around 4 months, especially in BF babies. it's not a reason to introduce solids
• watching parents eat - doesn't mean anything, they're just fascinated with anything at this stage
• making lip smacking noises - again, meaningless - they've just learnt to do this and they're practicing, ready to make sounds.
• not going to sleep after feeds - babies after 4 months are just naturally more awake and alert - they simply need less sleep.
• small baby - a small baby is small because they're either meant to be or they need more nourishment. this should only come from milk pre six months
• big baby - big because they're either meant to be or they're having too much formula (only in FF babies because BF babies will naturally stop when full). but big babies systems are no more mature than small babies so they do not need solids either - they would have the same problems digesting it.

Sorry, this isn't meant to be a lecture! Just thought this info would be useful as there's a lot of talk of weaning.

Sorry - my mistake - big babies: can be big if having too much especially if FF, not only. And only especially because it's tempting to make up a bottle and think they should have it all, whereas on the breast they will be more inclined to pull off.

But we don't really intend to wean before 6 months unless something dramatically obvious makes us think he wants to. The change to formula has been difficult enough!!!

And I am allowing DS to not take bottle of he doesn't want to, he was v good at that with bf. Ggood appetite control developing? But whereas I could offer him a boob 30 mins later if he wanted it, can't be making up tiny bottles every bloody hour.

Random posts.... I'll bugger off now!

The bottle thing is interesting Huffle. DS has one expressed bottle a day as it's the only way he'll take his biotics - mixed in. On the breast he takes what he wants - I switch back and forth but if he's playing silly beggars and coming off and on, I'll leave it.

Whereas if I express a 125ml bottle, I'm more inclined to almost make him finish the bottle, even if it takes ages. I think it comes from an anxiety I have no idea how much he takes from the breast - but maybe I should trust him a bit more??

Just a quick post! Yes did try DS with some baby rice and carrots puréed with baby rice this week - he took it but wasn't that fussed. So going to leave it till 5 months before trying again! Chatted to more experienced mums at playgroup and they said the baby should be opening mouth for next spoonful ie "yum more please"

I may go to hungry baby milk if he is still demanding more but not interested in purees. I am already most days having to give him an extra 60-90ml between his last two bottles to stop him having a meltdown.

Yeah it is so hard Oren. I am trying to pace him! When he was smaller he would have taken any amount of expressed milk given, up to 7 oz! Then I caught myself on. I'm thinking that as he has been bf until now he had actually developed some appetite control so I will not force it. But he had got used to feeding within every 2 hrs and ideally I'd like him to feed less often but larger amounts.

When someone finds me the baby rule book please forward it ASaP!

Good weaning info Oren. Guess this is the next complicated hurdle!!

Zara why are you trying? Even if he takes it, he can't digest it, and missing out on nutrients, so it's useless. Just keep giving him more milk? Sounds like he has a great appetite!

Huffle deffo agree about appetite control - I just wish I had your faith in it!

Huffle the health advice I've been given here (ie official bottle feeding booklet) is that formula can be kept for up to 2 hours. If DS falls asleep/ I will keep put cap on bottle and keep for up to 2 hours (but I prefer around 1 hour) and try again. I consider him to "finish" a bottle if 40ml or less is left in it.

You start to get a sense for whether you need to persevere with baby to take more of bottle (ie they're playing silly buggers) or if they don't want anymore. If DS does not want anymore he will close his lips and turn head away. If he is chewing bottle and letting it slip in and put of his mouth he is just distracted and I encourage him to focus/go to a quiet room. If he takes too much, you will soon see it again!

I do tend to try and get DS to take most of his bottle at set intervals, rather than letting him stop when he got bored, then he wants to eat again in a hour etc. DMIL was particularly bad for this as she never bottlefed so is paranoid of the whole FF babies getting over fed and obese thing - when really DS was just getting distracted by TV etc. I guess it's different when you're bf - DMIL said they would eat and then just pull off when they're done - so if DS was messing about with the bottle she thought he didn't want any more. With FF you do need to learn baby's "full" cues so you don't overfeed or are too quick to take bottle away.

I guess you could say I tend to be a bit firm with him being on a (flexible) feeding schedule, just so I have a bit of routine and can plan my day. Also it gets chaotic with too many bottles to wash, sterilise, makeup etc! He is now on 5 bottles a day (6 if very hungry), taken at approx 7am, 10am, 12.30pm, 3pm and 6.30pm. anywhere between 2-4 hours between feeds. After last feed and DS is in bed I do the bottles - 5 bottles of milk, 2 bottles of water for extras/going out.

Oren gave it a try as was advised by GP and heath nurse in NZ and Ireland. The advice has confusingly gone back to 4 months there! Thought I'd give it a go, and wait a bit if he wasn't keen

Ie I was advised to try weaning before hungry milk. I guess I'm trying to take a "somewhere in the middle, guided by baby" approach with weaning! Also known as "Give it a go, see if it works"

Thanks for all that Zara. Never thought we'd hear me of all people say it, but again, BF when it works was easier! Sitting here feeding on boob, only remaining daytime one, will be phased out by Friday. I feel so confident with it now and so totally dazed and confused by bottles!!! I hope I'm reading him ok. Never push it when he does the whole pursed lips thing but outside that he does some messin'! Much more than with boob. Guess it is the fun of having a bottle to play with. I def want to space feeds out more. I'm sure it'll all come. Over analysing as usual!

I hear ya huffle - when DH got back from supermarket after car breakdown drama, we did Rock Paper Scissors to decide who would do bottles I won and drank wine, hurrah!

Interesting to hear the stuff about weaning oren. Has anyone else had similar thing with dc grabbing food off their plate and shoving it in mouth? DS did the same thing again last night... Not reading too much into it as he will put anything in his mouth but feels like weaning won't be far off.

Those going swimming with DCs, are you going to specific baby classes or just popping along to local pool?