March 2013- here we go....

[Oodsigma]

Welcome old & new to the other side!

I'll start with a stats list!

Ood -ds 7/3/13, dc4! Elcs

If anyone wants to add any more details feel free!

Going back to doctors anyway this am so will ask. Other doctor at surgery really apologetic yesterday but should we really have to google our symptoms to check dosages ourselves! Feel like I live at the doctors at the moment.

I feel for you leni - I had a house full of builders for the first 6 weeks after the baby arrived. It. Was. Not. Fun. Your landlord is trying to do the right thing though as mould spores can be very dangerous for young babies and he probably wants to make it as safe as possible for you. If I were you I'd sleep somewhere mould free, even if that was a mattress on the floor in another room.

I'm thrilled to see the rain today. Really! Temps hit the 20s yesterday and poor dd didn't like it. She cried virtually all day and didn't nap. I was on my knees by late afternoon, so was less than pleased when DH let me know he had a work meeting so wouldn't be home until about 10pm, for the second time in 3 days. As it was the night wasn't too bad - she fed 7.30-8.30, and eventually went to sleep at 9.30pm for 2 hours. After that she was up and down snacking until 3.30 (not ideal), and then had a wail until 4.30am, was very sick everywhere, so filled up again with a proper feed and is still asleep now (8.30am ). That probably sounds like a bad night for all you with easier babies but believe me, for dd that is progress!

Wing I think I could happily go for a twelve hour stretch at the moment! Glad you managed a good night. Six hours with no feed in the middle sounds like bliss to me - DD won't generally last more than four hours. I dream of the day when she finds her appetite, guzzles a massive bottle, and sleeps for eight hours straight. Hopefully you'll be able to manage more short sleepy feeds, and not have to go back to wide-awake baby every few hours.

Months, Eig? It bloody better not be, for any of us! My sympathies for everyone who's suffering with it in the boobs. When I was in the chemist getting the stuff for DD, the male pharmacist leaned over the counter and whispered "Are you breastfeeding?" He looked ever so embarrassed when I said, in a loud and cheery voice, "No, don't worry, I haven't got thrush of the tit!"

We had a houseful of builders at the end of February, also for mould-related work. I was dead impressed with them, actually, they fixed it properly instead of just redecorating, and they did it pretty promptly because they knew I was having a baby. Definitely sticking with this landlord. The idea of having them in now though, with a baby in the house... Is there a shudder emoticon?

"thrush of the tit"

Sounds like you're bird watching!

I pray it's not months for you all until it goes. There could be many different reasons for it lasting that long that we don't know about eg they may not have had the same medicines or used them correctly/stopped too early (like people do with antibiotics). Or their physiology might have been more prone to thrush or they had a really bad strain of it. Please don't think it will definitely be like that x

I've been asking fir this mould to be sorted out since Oct 2011 so whilst he can get it done of course, he should have had it done ages ago. I've been asking and asking since being pregnant so he's had nine months to do it!

They're going to drill through the entire wall to make a vent and strip the walls to treat and paint with mould proof paint, so not a small job. I'm asthmatic and I told him this (we were lied to before signing the tenancy and told the layer of mould on the ceiling was because previous tenants had showers with windows shut) so if he was doing it for health and safety he should've a) told the truth and b) sorted it before we moved in.

We had to buy a dehumidifier which we run all day every day and which costs a fortune, it gets 5L of water out of our bedroom a day in winter

So yes, pissed off as we have nowhere else to go and his timing seems deliberately bad somehow.

leni I won't suggest you decamp to your PILs then! :(

Thrush of the tit made me laugh too! I am wondering if she'll clear up faster if I stop bf her. We have managed to introduce some formula but can't tell the difference. Wing d you are right re diet etc. for babies it's just adjustment. For me it means cutting out chocolate biscuits and pasta and pancakes and eating more healthy. I am also taking a probiotic course and have some of that in powder form that the man in the health food shop explained that I needed to make a paste, smear it on my boobs and let the baby suck it off! Got a few interesting looks but it's hard to embarrass me at the moment! Please god we are all over the thrush by Monday, surely not too much to ask... In return I won't grumble about sleepless nights anyone!

That's pretty appalling, leni. Moving house not an option? My last place was a bit of a collapsing dump with a horrific damp problem. Told the landlord if it wasn't sorted I'd have to move because it wasn't safe for the baby. Still no interest in sorting it out - I'd already been asking periodically for six years. Five months since I moved out and they still haven't even started on clearing out that place to get new tenants in...

Eig if you stopped breastfeeding you'd eliminate the possibility of the two of you passing it back and forth. Up to you though, if you really want to keep breastfeeding then I'm sure you can battle on through it. But no one would hold it against you if thrush was the final straw.

10am feed was a total disaster here. She took about two ounces before the screaming got too much. Been over a week since she's had such a tiny feed. So I ended up in tears yet again, feeling like a total failure because not only could I not breastfeed my baby, I can't even bottle feed her. I bloody hope the thrush goes soon and sorts the problem out, because I don't know how much more of these fussy feeds I can take.

Your LL sounds awful Leni... Bad LLs make me mad, as they give the letting industry a bad name. I'm a LL treat my tenants better than I treat myself! If I were you I'd move and pay rent to someone who'll value your business and treat you properly. The cynic in me would suggest that his timing has everything to do with him realising that if you or your baby suffer from health problems due to the mould he will be liable for a big bill.

Thinking of you during the building work Top tip, don't complain about them to your friend when they can hear you on the baby monitor . I nearly died.... and then I did it again the next day!!!!

We're trying to buy by the time this tenancy ends in Sept. then I can finally get a cat too! I've never even met the LL, it's all done through a management company. Council said there's nothing they have to do by law to sort it out which seems mad to me.

Will try and put them off once I know how long the work will take...

I'm not even sure I had thrush now, DS's mouth looks clear but I'm still itchy so no idea what's going on there. We're on a very annoying trip of finally latching without the shield but then falling asleep and not responding to tickling/face blowing etc, so i take him off but as soon as I put him down anywhere he's hand sucking and crying again. I end up just sitting in one place all day with him attached/asleep just to keep him relaxed and quiet!

I was just thinking about the pitfalls of baby monitors yesterday - used it for the first time and OH decided to finally try it on after not wanting to for 10 months, then we heard a beep and DS (like a tannoy in the supermarket) pipes up with his funny croaky noises that sound like words, as if he were making an announcement to make us behave!

Afternoon. Hope everyone is healing and the builders aren't being too much hard work. I've had the worst colic week yet this week with him barely sleeping and if he does it's when he's being held. OH came home to a wreak yesterday and he offered to give me the whole night off so I ran out the door for a long walk to calm down. I stopped in at the library and got a good book called baby sleep solutions. It's made me feel a bit better as it says if you're struggling with a colicky baby just do whatever it takes for you both to get sleep, you can always fix whatever sleeping issues it may cause once the colic is gone. I don't feel quite so guilty about constantly holding him to get some peace from the crying or about having no routine for him. It suggests waiting until they're 6 months then start sleep training if needs be so I'll be counting down to that.

I don't want to jinx things but I've actually had a good day today, but I'll hold judgement a bit longer yet incase it's just a one off and I haven't found a miracle cure.

Whatever works, zig. Remember: happy mummy = baby that doesn't end up thrown out the window. And even if, utterly worst case scenario, you end up with a kid with every sleep issue in the book, you know it'll all be over within a decade! Hang in there.

We've been alright for the past week or so, some feeding fussiness and still short naps but nothing I can't cope with. But today's been a hell day. I have been compiling a list of things known to contribute to this baby's fussiness at feeds. It's not exhaustive, and any one or a combination can be to blame:

Blocked teats. I am considering buying a new kettle in case limescale is causing issues.
Slow flow. Have stuck a pin through one of the size one teats to see if three holes works better.
Milk temperature. Unfortunately her preference on this one varies from one feed to the next.
Windy tummy. Burping helps if she'll stop screaming long enough to burp.
Windy bottom. Sounded like she had a whole troupe of drummers in there earlier.
Reflux. Bit of a bugger when it kicks in after an ounce.
David Cameron. He better not be on Breakfast again anytime soon. As soon as he started talking, she started screaming, and barely stopped until 2.30pm.

I've heard of that book zig and it's meant to be good. My DMum told me the other week that after a good stretch of sleep, you can tackle anything the day has in store. Apparently her DMum told her that when she had had my older DBro.

Haha Stormy. I feel the same about David Cameron as your DD

DD is still taking from the bottle but it seems to me anyway that she is almost drowning because she's just gulping away! I know that's because it's harder to get milk from a breast than from a teat (even size one) but I hope she settles down with it soon! Once I'm happy with it she's got used to ip the teat then we'll move it to the evening feed and DH will do it. Probably half ebm and half ff as now I've bought a pump I want to get a good amount of use out of it.

Right, we've got our neighbour coming over for tea in a minute so I'd better go.

And stormy, have you tried buying size two teats? But putting three holes in you may be jumping a stage and going up to a flow for a much older baby?

I am no expert though so feel free to ignore me!

*By putting...

We originally got a newborn starter kit with three small bottles, two large ones, three size one teats, and two size twos. Switched from size one to size two not long back and that seemed to help a bit. I dunno, maybe I just have a ridiculously lazy baby. The boob was clearly too much effort, but three holes in a teat is practically just pouring the stuff straight down her throat. Surely she can manage that? (Have already warned the man not to use the three hole teat for the dream feed else she'll probably choke.)

We often find when she starts fussing, if we tip the bottle up it's not dripping. I'm guessing that's not supposed to happen?

Sounds like everyone's been having some trying times, hope things can improve soon.

Leni your LL sounds like a douchebag, and fairly representative of my experience!! Hope you manage to buy in September. Kitties are totally worth it!

I think Stormys bang on with her advice on whatever stops baby getting chucked out the window. And David Cameron makes me wail too :D

Meant to add, Stormy, when we have fussiness it's often due either holding him wrong (he likes to sit up to eat) or him filling his nappy

Poos don't generally cause the typical fussiness here. She just pauses, grunts, and goes extremely red in the face until it's all out. Change of position rarely works, and I think only because digestive distress is the issue. What I can do about that, I have no idea!

Zig, have you tried infacol for the colic? A maternity nurse recommended it to me and it is brilliant at calming things down. I use it for a couple of days if we're reaching crisis point, and for occasional evening feeds. It isn't absorbed by the body so is totally safe, and works by merging all the little air bubbles into one which will come out whatever end it needs to rather than staying trapped inside.

I had a good day today!!!! I think she is exhausted after yesterday's scream-a-thon, but she has been a lovely smiley burbly little pleasure today. DH is on the night shift though, so if psycho baby comes out to play later it is so not my problem

worsester I believe this calls for a celebratory glass of wine! (I've had two already. And a cream bun. Feeling so much better for it.)

Stormy, I am definately phasing out the breast feeding but can't just stop as I did it for 6 weeks fully my boobs start to go lumpy if I miss a feed and I don't need mastitis. She now does 10pm formula feed and 5 pm as first part of split feed. By Monday I plan to switch 11 am ish one to formula too. Little one has diahrerra today. Worried its a reaction to the nystatin but waiting for doctor to call back.

I guess you just have to wait it out then stormy. thry say it passes around 3 months, right?

Glad you've had a better day Worsestershire, it sounds like you needed it! May there be many more to come. I think with these little people you can try so many different things to make them happy but they pretty much will be what they will! I expended so much energy trying to get DS into a routine and getting him to nap in the day - he rarely naps and has adopted his own routine regardless of what we do. Going with their flow is hard, especially when there's no rhyme or reason to it, but I trust it'll all come good eventually. Treat yourself tonight. You deserve it!

Cider and lamb burgers here. I think we all deserve a treat.

Argh. Fifth feed of the day, she's just screaming whenever the bottle passes her lips. She's only drunk eleven ounces today. No idea what to do...

Is the thrush going away, went back to doc as my boobs in agony and he said no more nystan ( apparently one effective half the time) so we have daktarin gel. It's meant for older babies but only because if you are an idiot and put a big glob in the mouth they might choke. If you just smear on it is fine. The thrush could be causing the fussiness....