December 2012 - the fourth trimester is nearly over

[MaMaPo]

:)

Hales, I'm bad with the ff, I pre make 4 bottles at a time (no longer than 12hrs in advance) flash cool them in cold water and store at the back of the fridge. Then when F wake, I have a flask of hot water ready to warm the milk, change his nappy and the milk is warm enough for him to drink.

Thanks for the London advice, I suspect I'll be able to strap F to FIL if I'm getting uncomfy, I will be taking a rucksack as a changing bag. Had thought of taking a light weight stroller that can be carried, but it will probably just get in the way.

Stacks jabs can make them poorly for up to a fortnight. Which is great when they have them 4 weeks apart. J had diahrroea for 12 days

Eggs I do the same, there's even WHO advice for making in advance and that's the method they suggest. Jamie is alive and I haven't cracked from sleep exhaustion, everyone's a winner

hales eggs willyou I take up a thermos of hot water and sterilised bottles and portions of formula in a bibi dispenser and make it up on my bedside table, and I cool the bottle in a big mug of water. It's quite faffy, I guess, but does mean that each feed is made up when it's needed so is pretty close to the guidelines.

Although now that I am on holiday I'm using cartons for the night feeds, and may do that when I get home too now that I've got a taste for the convenience of it.

Oh Eggs, Willyou and Seconds thats a good tip . I still havn't made up my mind whether to quit yet. I'm so indecisive at the moment.

Stacks its good to know someone else is seeing there HV as much as me. I was getting worried that she thought i was a bad mum

I met up with our nct group all together yesterday, only 2 of 8 are still breastfeeding. I was kind of surprised, but also slicked at how awkward bottle feeding looked! Baby screaming in arms while mum struggles to open carton, spills down lap, pours into bottle, then struggles to get the cap on right, then the baby only drinks half not to mention the ones using powder and having to get hot water from the cafe staff.

I'm sure it's loads more convenient at some times, like night feeds and in places where there's no seats/privacy for breastfeeding. Made me grateful I breastfeed though.

Managed to put T down for a nap, went down at 11:30 and slept til 12, then babbled to himself till 12:15. He'd produced a dirty nappy in that time, so may have slept longer if it wasn't for that. I'm hoping to get some kind of nap routine in place over the next couple of weeks, and I'm chuffed with this start :)

Slicked?? That should say shocked.

I have a Bjorn carrier and you lovely ladies have informed me its been handmade by the devil so have spoken to dh about getting a connecta which he agreed to without fuss (he's a tight arise). Thing is, although I only use the carrier for short distances I guess I use it quite often and now don't want to use the Bjorn at all. I have a slingeasy (ring sling type) but have tried did in it in numerous positions and she hated it-she looks so squashed in cradle and I don't feel confident with the support in a front snuggle. So until I can get my connecta do any of you have a good hold position with a ring sling, I must be going wrong somewhere but have followed the slingeasy website diagrams to make sure.

he's an arse not an arise

Anyone else read the Wonder Weeks book? I just downloaded it to kindle as I note that there's a fussy period beginning 11.5-12.5 weeks, which is precisely where we are. Going to have a look and see if it sheds any light.

I didn't think I'd take much notice of wonder weeks but when I looked at it properly with D's adjusted age it fits him fairly perfectly.

Chloe- RS is really comfy with them upright. I think there's a pic on FB of me with D in one like that, really easy to wear too. Let me know if I can help

stacks formula feeding is undoubtedly highly faffy. So I'd be surprised if any of the 6 in your group who gave up breastfeeding did so for reasons of convenience of preparation. "It was just so much easier to sterilise and carry around and prepare bottles of formula than to whip a boob out" says ... no-one ever. For us, Z was losing dangerous amounts of weight when exclusively breast fed, and when your baby is vanishing before your eyes the health benefits and undoubtable ease of preparation of breast milk become somewhat moot.

Although I must say I've generally managed to pick up on hunger cues and prepare a bottle before Z really starts screaming, and I also do usually manage not to spill it everywhere.

He's asleep. At a proper time for a nap and has been asleep for nearly 15 mins. This is amazing. Admittedly it's on me so I can't move but he's asleep!

I hope you can reach the biscuits honey!

Why is there always a poosplosion just as you've put the last load of washing on

Hmm I've found pros and cons to birth bf and ff. tbh even if I had tried bf first time I'm not sure I would have stuck it out, I've just been lucky this time that we didn't have any problems and I can't see me ever stopping

Seconds I think you've done the best out of all of us carrying on with the expressing and breastfeeding whilst ff it would have been so much easier for you to have stopped, I bet you're glad you carried on though

seconds and everyone else - I fully respect people deciding to formula feed for whatever reason, even if its just not wanting to breastfeed. I was commenting on the commonly heard "convenience" of formula (it came up a lot from people in our nhs antenatal class). I'm not sure where the idea came from, but I now think its well off the mark.

T has been using my nipple as a dummy for well over an hour :( when I take it away he searches frantically in his sleep, waking up if he can't find it quick enough. Time to swap sides I think.

Chloe sorry to put the wind up you re: the Baby Bjorn.

Good choice with the Connecta tho. Have you picked the pattern you want yet?

Stacks I think the "convenience" of formula idea comes from the fact that others can do a feed for you in theory, plus you don't generally have to feed as often (although I can't attest for the truth of this as I'm not sure Z was a standard case as he was on the breast 12+ hours a day), and it's also easier to assess results as you know exactly how much milk the baby is getting. But i personally think the convenience idea has at least some of its roots in the establishing of successful breast feeding. It's when establishing bf at the beginning that I think formula looks much easier and I can understand entirely why bf is pushed hard at this critical stage given the potential irreversibility of a decision to ff and the effects on supply if you dont estalish it properly. But then this may just be my personal experience because it was establishing of exclusive bf that was hard for us (not physically, but emotionally).

spotty y I am glad I continued, although I don't express any more - Z likes the boob and roots for it, plus it's a good way of giving him a snack between feeds and, while we're in Aus, extra hydration from a bit of fore milk without having to start him on cooled water. I do think the benefits of combi feeding are undersold, possibly because anything that looks like an encouragement not to breastfeed is verboten, but some women aren't aware at all of the fact that bf is not all-or-nothing. Eg a woman I met in a restaurant who'd given up breastfeeding asked me what I was doing and when I answered "both" she said "I didnt realise you could do that".

Well the nap lasted all if 20 mins. Better than nothing. My nipples are so sore. He feeds about every hour at the min and is sucking really hard. It's been like this for a week. Is it normal for him to be feeding that often off over a week? And he's gone totally off using nipple shields so I'm in agony.

Honey I know people with disagree with it, it's just what I did, when ds was feeding that frequently I tried really hard to get him going longer through the day. Just by distracting him as much as I could (letting him suck on my finger, rocking him etc) until I got him up to two hours and day times have been two hourly since. I didn't let him cry or anything though

Thanks spotty it's just weird as he was going 2-3 hours before

mama we are at 11.5 weeks and ds2 has been awful for a few days. Let me know if that book says anything good. How much is it on kindle?

It wad about £6 on kindle when I got it isthat

No, thanks fod I'd much rather know about the health risks than carry on oblivious. I was thinking something neutral so both dh and I can wear but he says he doesn't care if its bright pink with butterflies on if there is one that's cheaper than another

Did goes about 2.5hrly during the day and night. My HV said she should be having longer between feeds but when I try and push it longer we get full blown tantrums

Oh and did is obviously dd, this will happen a lot-bloody predictive text!

Ds will only go two hours in the day and he's 13 weeks. If he's asleep we might get three hours but not often.