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!

Excuse typos and excessive exclamation marks please. I actually write important stuff as part of my job but brain = mush right now.

Hey, this is important stuff! And I think it merits excessive !!! Occasionally too.

Wing your colleague makes an intriguing point. But why do men never cite childcare as a reason for leaving early? Why don't they want to celebrate being fathers in the workplace? The answers may be obvious, but they're questions I feel ought to be publicly discussed. As it is, the discussion is always framed in terms of women's attempts to manage children and jobs, with the underlying implication that whatever men are currently doing is absolutely fine or even ideal and needs no consideration.

Anyway, I'm going to go to bed, because if I keep mumsnetting I'm going to end up drinking slightly too much wine...

God, am so tired. And can't really see how to get done what needs to be done and catch up on sleep for days...

I think I need to book some KIT days in to make me feel like I am more than a feeding machine. Slightly scary prospect though. Not least as makes mat leave feel all to short, although part of me thinks that's great right now! God it leaves your brain in a muddly fudge doesn't it?

Dd now has a cold and did a big poo and mucusy sick.... Joy. I greeted my husband on his return from work with " why the hell did we have another baby". Not a good day, wishing my life away and I really wanted to enjoy this baby stage. She is 8 weeks tomorrow after all..... But I can't wait til she is 2 and can talk, walk and eat dinner etc and sleep 7 til 7!!

Argh! Life is trying to finish me off. DH is an emergency service volunteer and has just been called out to a job! And I can only shut miniPud up by feeding him, but he is in pain and of course it fills him up and makes it worse. And he won't take his Gaviscon tonight. And he won't stop crying. I just wanted a break...

Wing - my blind male boss always says 'kiddicare' (I loathe that terminology) is his reason for being out of the office. I'm beginning to think my work place is pretty far from the norm... He says it in every situation and people just nod and smile knowingly because all anyone ever talks about is their offspring!

I just got a very cramped 2 hours nap on the sofa but never got into proper sleep because my legs were going numb. He fell asleep right at the start of Masterchef. DS now feeding with his hand shoved down my cleavage. No poos since this morning which worries me slightly. Plenty of farts happening though, mostly whenever he's lying very close to me. Pleasant!

Morning all. I really just try making a flask of tea for night feeds one of these evenings...

Pud - hope you're evening hasn't gone too badly?

Stormy - brain can't formulate responses to your points right now, sorry

Eig - I know what you mean about baby v child. I remember getting to DS's 1st birthday and thinking 'wow, I've survived a year' but also that I was enjoying the fact that he was more responsive etc and to be honest I do prefer children as opposed to babies.

So it's perfectly fine to wonder why you had another baby whilst dreaming of the later years when life has settled back down again! But don't forget the new baby snuggles :)

DD went 10:45-4;15 but that's because I ignored her massive elephant noises between 2-2:30 (no crying just super loud) and then at some point after that as well. Looks like she's zonked out now after her feed so hopefully she's ready to go back down...

I pressed 'post' and she opened her eyes for more food!

Are they wired into MN to know exactly what we're typing?!

And leni - what does your boss mean by that? Or is he just a twat? Odd thing to say. Hope you've got some more sleep too.

leni that expression has made me shudder a bit! No one I work with has kids. People either don't come back after their mat leave or move into a job at head office. You're just expected to do a sixty hour week as standard, being signed out of the working time directive is built into the contract. Really can't imagine fetching DS from nursery as a reason to leave going down well in my application for flexible working. Fiddlesticks.

eig I think it's quite normal to prefer them as toddlers. And just think, your baby will turn into a toddler. This too shall pass, right?

Now, does anyone have experience of using hungry baby formula? I'm not ready to switch yet but it's probably going to happen in the next month. DS is 8 weeks tomorrow, I'm not sure what he weighs but at 6 weeks he was 10lb12 so bang on the 50th centile (which he's been on since birth). Earlier this week he seemed hungrier (grumpier) so he's now having 5x8oz bottles. I read that a baby should be sleepy and satisfied after a bottle - he tends to be wriggly and rooting. We give him a dummy in case it's a comfort sucking issue but it does just seem to be that this child has a serious appetite.

Oh and I dreamt that we were both wearing the same vest last night. And mine had poopers where my nappy would be. Hmmm. Need to spend more time with grown ups.

Finally, a break! DH stepped up and gave dd a bottle at 9pm so that I could go to bed, and she slept through until 5am. Well I say 'she', but actually I mean 'I', as apparently it took him until 12.30am to settle her . Keen though I may be to off load some of the feeds the boob effect of missing one is not pleasant. Ow! Put it this way I was very pleased when she woke and even more pleased that she was hungry. I know, I know, I could express (and I have got a pump), but there are places I'm just not ready to go right now, and attaching myself to a milking machine is one of them. Sensible, practical, I get that, but....

Leni, I wish dd was half as regular- she goes days in between (currently 4 and counting) and by the end of it is one big bag of wind and bad temper. Right now I'm avoiding taking her on visits as anyone sitting down wind is in for a rough ride. Much as I hate to wish it on myself, but I'm kind of hoping for a poonami this morning so that we can all breathe again.

Right, I may regret this but I am going to wake her. I need to go out this morning, and she needs some breakfast first.

I've a friend who's son has hungry baby formula. Have you any specific questions, plonko, that I can ask for you?

Day started at six in the morning. Criminal o'clock.

I'm really hoping we forget just how relentless the baby months are. Otherwise the man is never going to agree to having another. And I've always wanted two (or possibly three) because siblings are great.

Are toddlers really all that? I've no experience, but I confess I like the baby stage. Putting her in the sling and going out for a really long walk is what keeps me sane. I fear I may crack when every walk has to be conducted at half a mile and hour with regular stops to look at snails.

In my limited experience, worsester, toddlers are far more interactive and thus more rewarding. You can talk to them. They don't just cry, they can actually tell you what's wrong. And they're capable of entertaining themselves while you have a cuppa. Also, you can carry them in a sling if you like. The friend I mentioned in my previous post carries her nine month old son on her front and her nearly four year old daughter on her back to take the latter to school every day.

I love babies for cuddles and, I confess, I love that DS is 100% dependent on me. I also can't wait for the day that he's not 100% dependent on me iykwim? One day he'll be able to bring up his own wind, eat what we eat and call me mummy. That's got to be better, even though I love him to pieces right now. I find other people's young babies mind numbing.

Thanks, Stormy. I'm mostly interested to know how effective it is and if it causes more wind/colicky issues. I know why it works, being harder to digest etc, so I'm interested to know if there are any negatives. Also, is there an age threshold? I feel DS is too young now, but it may not be long before I'm tearing my hair out! I'd like to get him to 12 weeks on normal formula.

Oh god, maybe we need hungry baby stuff too?! DS barely goes an hour before rooting, and he can drain both boobs and a 4 oz bottle of thickened formula, i don't know how much he weighs now but he was 7lbs 2 at birth and I did get on the very unreliable scales that suggested he was now 9 lbs 4 weeks later...

He just managed to slip off my nipple and latch to the side of my very painful boob - resulting in me going through the roof and him leaving what is essentially a massive hickey

GP booked for 11.20am but I have a feeling I'm stuck on the end of morning surgery because after calling from the stated time and it being engaged for ages, they told me all the appts were gone (how exactly one is meant to get seen I have no idea if everyone has to call at the same time) until I begged. Not sure if OH will go mad if I wake him to take DS especially if I'll have to wait ages, but taking DS might be a nightmare!

DS does normally do several poos a day - I thought that was normal but if not then that's a bonus! They're now coming during the 2nd night feed when he's lying on my legs with his bum pointing towards me, lovely

Yep, didn't mean to be down on the little baby, and you are right wingd she will hopefully be an adorable toddler, I have to say 18 months plus has been great first time around ..... And when they want there mummy to kiss it better or to give cuddles that is just the best feeling in the world. Anyway back to reality, need to te to boots to get a snot sucker for the little scream ball before this cold takes over! Only 2 to 3 more years before she can blow her own nose!

stormy I'd be weary of hungry baby formula, we decided to try it first time around and had awful constipation issues so even though our little boy was always up in the 95 per centile he just had aptimal number 1 milk. Occasionally we offered 9ounces but usually 8 five times a day was enough. We did end up weaning early, just over 4 months but did it really slowly so just baby rice, apple and pear for a month , then a few veg and no meat or anything til he was 7 months old.

stormy oops just realized it was plonko who was asking .... We were on 5 8oz bottles at 8 weeks with my DS. And a smaller one at the 2 am ish feed. The hungry baby stuff didn't work for us and in the end he was fine, at growth spurts we offered a bit more than 8 but usually he puked! Only thing I will say is if he can drink that much milk already you'll likely be weaning before 6 months. I still remember the first time we offered DS baby rice, whole bowl gone and nt a single bit wasted, think yourself super lucky to have a good eater plonko , it's the best "problem" to have that they can eat 8 ounces and still be hungry!

It sounds like I have a lot to look forward to Stormy , although I confess I'm finding the tiddler stage just lovely as well. I can't get over just how much dd changes every day, and going through all the firsts is so exciting. Everyone keeps telling me newborns are boring (well not on here they don't... but in RL).

They're so not though, are they? It seems just yesterday that dd was a small wrinkly faced monkey who couldn't really see let alone watch anything. Now she is a bright alert little button who follows me everywhere with her eyes, chuckles, burbles, tries really hard to copy sounds, and has me in fits every time she falls over sideways when attempting to move during the old 'tummy time' routine.

No, new babies aren't boring at all they are hilarious. Plus they can tell you what the problem is. Ok so their language skills are a bit lacking, but they certainly get their message over. DD has a wind face, a colic wriggle, a hungry scream, a wet nappy stare, a fist hammering head butting 'I'm having a melt down and I DON'T care' routine. Part of the fun is learning to interpret all the little signals, and who doesn't get a kick when they get it right and solve the problem? Probably helps that she's the precious little one and only, and I'm a SAHM with time to spend just gazing and no great career to get back to.

I'm sure the toddler stage is great too.... along with the starting nursery, graduating to big school and riding a bike moments. I'm struggling to see the upside of the teenage years right now... other than perhaps being able to bribe them to mow the lawn... but the way I see it every stage of childhood is special if scary, and expensive, but worth it.

Early teenage years have the potential to be a bit horrific, yes. But I'm really looking forward to the later teenage years when my child buys me a pint for the first time! On a similar note, I'm looking forward to her being big enough to reach the kettle and become my tea-monkey. And if she takes up smoking as a teenager, I'll teach her to roll her own and then she can be the rolling monkey too.

Awesome lunchtime here - four ounces downed in five minutes flat, with nary a whimper! She's having a nap now and my dad'll be here in twenty minutes or so to pick her up for the afternoon.

Eig thanks for the advice. You're right about it being a very lucky 'problem'. I guess we'll stick to the first formula as long as possible and just wean when we feel milk no longer sates his appetite. I asked my mum and she agreed with everything you said, in fact she was shocked that we're advised to keep them on milk for so long!

Personally I quite like teenagers. They're hilarious. Not sure i want to live with one though...

Another fuss-free four ounces at my dad's, and the six o'clock scream-fest was very subdued compared to usual. I think we've nailed this one.

Plonko I suspect the milk-only until six months advice is in the same vein as the don't touch a drop of alcohol when you're pregnant advice - they think we're idiots. If they say six months, they're reducing the chances of people giving their babies bacon at a week old, basically. In reality it's going to depend on the baby when they're ready for solids.

And we just tried a five ounce bottle at bedtime. Down in one, no fuss. I need to stop grinning, my face is starting to hurt.