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!

plonko we seem to have extended the range of acceptable feed sizes. Now we're on anything from three to five ounces, with four being the most common. I think she likes the tommee tippee teats too, they're a slightly different shape and much softer.

Stormy you posted while I was slowly typing with one hand. 27oz is fantastic!! I can't imagine the relief you must be feeling. I'm now gingerly holding the baby upright as he's just guzzled NINE OUNCES (still looking for more mind) so I'm certain a goodly amount of it is going to come back up. Definitely got hollow legs this one.

Nine?! Bloody hell, where does he put it all? I'd be intrigued to swap photos of our babies, possibly against a ruler - the size difference between them's got to be quite impressive.

And just to prove beyond a doubt that parents are never entirely happy no matter what their babies are doing: a calm and contented baby who doesn't make much noise when awake in her cot means I have no idea whether she's currently asleep and thus will have no idea whether she's napped for long enough. Argh!

Went down at about half past seven, asleep by quarter to eight. I was thinking sleep until nine or half past. Half eight she was grumbling, so I went and gave her her dummy back, and stroked her nose (makes the eyes close and gives her the right idea). Obviously still sleepy. Grumbles all stopped by quarter to nine. But is she asleep? If not, then I might as well get her up and feed her now. If she is asleep, I want to leave her until half past. But there's no way to tell without going in there, and the squeaky door handle will wake her if she's asleep.

I stroke DD's nose too :)

plonko join the footy widows club! Except I actally love footy and used to go with him before I got too large at roughly 8 months pregnant. Can't wait till next season when I can go again.

leni, if you listen very carefully you can hear the swallowing verrrry quietly. But far more reliably I find is listening to the break in the breathing. If you sit and breathe through your nose 3-4 times in&out then swallow, you'll hear the break in the breathing and a little sort-of-gasp-through-the-nose (impossible to put into words). THat's how I know when DD is swallowing.

Must dash x

Wing, the sound was what I was told to look for - the break as you say and the high pitched actual swallow which you can hear if you're not permanently plugged into a box set of DVD's to stop your brain dribbling out of your ears with boredom if you're very quiet.

Thanks Wing, Leni and Plonko

Last night we went to bed after last feed at 11 & were up 2-3.20, 5-5.45 & 6.15-7.30 (when I woke her Granny and handed her over and went back to bed until now).

That's definitely better than the night before but so much worse than usual and I'm just really scared she won't go back when we get home because there's no help during the day at home and no way I could cope like this. Guess I'll just have to hope for the best.

Stormy well done on the increased feeds, must be very reassuring. It sounds like your bubba is doing brilliantly.

Sorry if vie forgotten anyone, still only got eyes half open!

Hi everyone - looks like we're all having all manner of fun getting to grips with our new additions. Yay for hungry Stormybaby. It must be a massive relief that she is eating well again. I'm beyond envious of your sleep pattern though. Mini-worse can do a good 8 hour stretch of wakiness when she puts her mind to it. I'd really rather she didn't, as would she, as neither she nor I can really cope and the resultant tears are rather impressive... on both sides.

Leni - reckon I've screwed my supply now too, so we can feel inadequate together . The nightly bottle may be an essential for my beauty sleep, but I kind of felt the breakfast bar was a little depleted this morning. DD certainly thought so. She usually chows her 3.30am snack in 30 mins, but today was an hour and counting.... those little glittery eyes just wouldn't close, and boy was a I willing them to.

Stormy you are so right, I'm not sure the local gastro pub is quite ready for my assets. Tis a v conservative village. Actually that said it is so conservative it's likely the entire clientèle would be doing their politically correct best not to notice and I'd be the only one stressing about it... which I would. My boobs are not discrete... they spray. It's entertaining in the confines of one's own kitchen. Out and about, less so.

I'm all sorted though, so just call me super mum/anal cow. Two feeds, lunch prepped and a half hour walk all done so far today... and it's not yet 11am. Go me.

Happy Bank Hol weekend one and all - enjoy

Productive day there worsester! We're two feeds down and into the second nap, but sod the washing up, and as for outside, we've been as far as the doorstep. Lunch? Something we're not having until the man surfaces and can be sent to the shops.

Have decided it's pointless stressing about the waking up halfway through naps. So I'm listening to Rodrigo y Gabriela, on the grounds that if I can't hear her chuntering up there then it doesn't count, and if she actually needs me she'll cry.

Hey all! Still surviving here.

Dd has Tommie tipped bottles too now, likes them a lot and just managed 4 ounces, her record at the 10 am feed. I feed her next around 2 so don't know how much she gets in a day but if she looks content afterwards and sleeps then I figure it's enough. We still have the thrush here but no where near as bad, but would love it too go! How is your dd doing on another week of nystan stormy?

We have a cold ( in summer really) and the snot sucker is fab. You want to get one before you need it as a baby with a blocked nose who doesn't feed is lot more stressful than the concept! It's about 8 pounds from boots and you put one end up there nose and suck on the other. There is a block so you don't get their snot and it works! You control the pressure so much better than a bulb or the electric ones.

We've definitely got a routine going now, only difficult bit is bedtime as she takes til 8pm to settle when she is really ready for sleep at 7pm but that will come I hope. So relieved the first 8 weeks are out of the way. She has definitely mellowed! I've even been able to worry about other things like school applications for DS!

Worsester you have been busy! I dare you to try BFing in the local - but then I love seeing people hoiking their judgey-pants over completely normal things. Having said that, if it'll bring you out in a cold sweat perhaps best to take some expressed milk.

Stormy I'd be keen to put our babies side by side, but I worry that George might eat your lovely daughter. He's not fat, he's just really bloody long. But then most of the women in my family are 5'9" plus (except me), and the men easily over 6'. You should see his hands, they're like shovels. I dread to think what his birth weight would have been if he'd not had a 2 vessel cord.

SoYo you're a hero for dealing with those waking times. Hopefully the refusal to settle is down to being away from home (unless perhaps you suspect a growth spurt?). We stay at my parents a lot and before we had a good (but fairly loose) routine it was a nightmare. We now even take our own sheets for him to sleep on, and put a t-shirt one of us has worn during the day so he has something familiar nearby. Good that you got more sleep, but I think you deserve another nap!

Eig I was wondering how they feed with a blocked nose. Snot suckers sound gross but ridiculously satisfying. Bedtime routines rock, I'd be lost without ours and it really seems to calm DS down now he knows when he's going down for the night.

Baby's asleep and I'm sacking off the housework for today. Sod it, if DP can go on a jolly to That London I can get away with some time off too . Now I just need to find something good to watch...

So eig and plonko, what are your bedtime routines? I'm thinking ahead...

Today I've fed DD in the middle of a church lunch and no hoity toityness thank goodness. Yesterday was a bit of a mare as DD really doesn't like her car seat (which is a pain as DS loved being in the car) and she cried that heart-wrenching cry most of the journey. Ten mins from my SIL's place I couldn't take any more and i was crying myself and made DH pull over in a lay-by on the A road and I ran to the back, grabbed her out of the car seat and plugged her on for five mins to calm her down as she was v hungry.

I really don't remember DS having that same cry - the one that just literally screams MUMMMMMMMMY!!!! I told DH it is the sound of my heart breaking :( I think bfing has made me even more sensitive to her cries - or perhaps it's just because with DS I was in such a fug that I probably just wasn't affected as much?

Heading out at 2 to this school fair/fun day thing. Dreading it with the two of them on my own!

Eig I started noting the time and amount of every feed when we first started with bottles. Given the losing-weight issue it was understandable. I admit I'm probably a bit obsessive about keeping track now, but I can't see me stopping for a while yet. When we've had a good couple of weeks of decent feeds I'll hopefully stop worrying so much.

Thrush-wise, I have no idea how we're doing in her mouth. Haven't had a look in a few days. Will be getting it checked again on Wednesday though - she needs weighing, and her eight week jabs, so it'll be the doc's for us again. The nappy rash is all but gone now though, thankfully - it was a bit scary and angry-looking and just kept gradually getting bigger...

I will ask the man to pick up a snot sucker next time he's passing Boots. He will definitely refuse on the grounds that the entire concept is revolting, but will do it anyway because he's well-trained. Speaking of which, he's just got back from the shops with my jammy dodgers...

Wing bedtime here tends to start between 6 and 7, always with the aim to have him in bed by 7.30. We wait for him to start looking a bit hungry - not ravenous - or colicky, and give him a bath. Baths generally last 5 or 10 mins I suppose. If he's not demanding food immediately he gets a quick massage with chamomile balm but hes usually wailing by the time his nappy's on. He then gets an especially large and very warm bottle so he gets to drink as much as he wants. Then he gets put in his cot, dummy in, light and sound show on to mesmerize him a bit and we pop the monitor on.

It's worked for us for a fortnight and means he'll sleep 7.30 pm - 8am with just one night feed. Probably much easier with a bottle fed baby really!

Gosh, I've never known a baby not like a ride in the car! Really hope that improves.

stormy we've got jabs on the same day. How do you feel about them? I'm a bit nervous...

Wing bedtime here starts at six too. She has a bottle around four and the bedtime bottle at seven, but she can't stay awake for three whole hours, so she goes for a catnap just after five. It's the one time of day when the 45-minute nap thing is handy! She gets up from that nap, we play a bit, get the bath ready, get her washed and have a good splash. Bathtime usually lasts about twenty minutes. Then it's getting dried and dressed (usually accompanied by a screaming fit) and upstairs, close the curtains, into the swaddle, cuddle until she's calm. Last bottle, burp, and put her in her cot. She usually goes to sleep straight away. We're still on two night feeds but one is a dream feed about eleven o'clock. The other she wakes up for at around three; that one's nappy, milk, burp, and back into bed.

Plonko I'm mainly nervous about the screaming the jabs are likely to provoke. If it's anything like the heel prick test was, her crying's likely to set me off too! Hoping to rig a lift to the doc's for it so at least I'm not having to hike home while blubbing. Been advised to give her a dose of calpol just before.

Oh dear, I have no idea how much DS eats or what time he goes to sleep - it's completely random!

Stormy for a min i thought you meant i should put DS in a rucksack...

All started fabulously well this morning with an extra lump of sleep after a 6.30am short feed. I got up and made tea for our friends who stayed over and then DS had a 9.30am feed (managed to do it in front of them) and a peaceful snuggle until they left.

Gradually things got more unsettled and after a lot of silly short feeds where he just fell asleep until I put him down and then went crazy until I put him back on (then repeat the cycle), i gave him a bottle to make sure he'd definitely had a good feed. The dummy isn't having the same effect today

Just been through another round of silly non-feeds and then he was yelling and eating his hands so I made another bottle because he just wouldn't stay on the boob, but after 30 secs of the bottle he was spark out. Every time I think we have things cracked he changes it.

Does it matter if he falls asleep and then i can't get the dummy in?

leni I think the idea is you give them the dummy before they fall asleep, and when it drops out they keep sleeping without it. So he's unlikely to combust if he's asleep without it. If he falls asleep without then just don't worry. What's the alternative, waking him just to give him a sleeping aid?

Meanwhile, we have just discovered first-hand the thickening effect of gaviscon in the tummy. Makes the sick look like cottage cheese...

leni don't worry about not having a routine - there are many people out there, myself included, who believe that at this young age going with the flow fits with a newborns developmental needs, like feeding on demand, rocking/feeding baby to sleep etc. Every baby/family is different so I wouldn't worry about doing whatever works for you at this time. The only rough routine we do have is at bedtime which involves bath, quick massage, some play and feed (not necessarily in that order!) which usually starts at some point between 7-8 and DD is pretty much always asleep by 9. We use a dummy for settling to sleep for naps and at bedtime but once she spits it out (which she always does once she is fast asleep) we never put it back in even when she wakes up in the night.

Also have you considered trying to battle through one day of exclusive breastfeeding? If your little one then produces lots of wet and dirty nappies the next 24 hours, you will know he is getting enough and maybe that would help your confidence to not top him up with a bottle and help your supply as a result (as Worsester suggested).

Don't stress too much about the jabs. They do scream blue murder but it's soon forgotten. I don't think the calpol would make any difference. Just be prepared for them to be unsettled for a day or two after as it might make them feel a bit ill the next day. Be prepared for a day of cuddles.

Rainbow - yep we've done that and there were the same number of wees and poos, but he's still hand sucking and yelling/refusing the dummy etc. Fussing a lot at the boob suddenly after doing perfect feeds yesterday. Ahhh newborns eh? If only they could talk!

I'm watching The Voice - no idea why I torture myself...

Leni I think I'm just the kind of person who needs some kind of routine/predictability to my day. It helped me get through the newborn fug, and it's nice to know that DS has rough mealtimes. He did kind of shift himself into this routine, is still fed on demand (so there's always a few bottles made up in the fridge) and has no set nap times. We go with the flow to a certain extent, but he's been a much calmer, happier baby since we developed a bedtime routine. When DS was the same age as your baby we had no routine.

Stormy yep it's the aftermath of the jabs that I'm dreading. I must be a psychopath because I found holding him still for the Guthrie test relatively easy - it was for his own benefit after all - it wasn't nice to hear that particular scream but I wasn't in tears. Judging by his reaction when I caught a bit of thumbskin during an attempt at clipping his nails though, I think the jabs might evoke a different reaction. Calpol at the ready!

Zig a day of cuddles is always welcome in this house.

Oh dear I wasn't trying to start another debate like the controlled crying one ! I meant a bedtime routine as opposed to a full on daytime routine. Thanks stormy and plonko for sharing yours. I do think it must be easier with bottles but hopefully DD will start to cluster feed less in the evenings so I can plan a bath or something...

Leni, we're at the same stage and with no proper routine.
The main pattern I've noticed is craaaazy feeding in the afternoon/evening (if we're out that starts later so didn't begin till 4:30 today as I was out at that school thing, which went well even though I ended up BFing in front of 20 mums and dads all sitting round in the playground, most if whom I didn't know! ), then she'll zonk out somewhere between 8:30-9:30 (9:30 again tonight), then I'll change her and try to give her a last feed starting between 10-10:30 ish and we go from there overnight!

Five weeks is too early to worry about there being a routine or not :)

DD fed on and off from 16:30-21:30 and my DMum gave her the expressed 2oz of ebm with no problems. I feel absolutely shattered now though and have been lightheaded for the past hour. Once I have attempted this last feed at half past I can't wait for bed!

Hope you all have good nights ahead...

Panic not leni, another one here with no routine worth talking about, and thriving despite of it. I do aim for rough schedule to the day, but all hangs on the complex thread that is dd's actual napping pattern. If she naps, we can stretch to 3 hourly feeds, but if not it is only two. Bath is about 6pm, then a feed, after which we have an evening of bad behaviour, before a final bottle feed, much much winding and attempted bed. We have good days and bad, but the general trend since hitting the milestone that was 8 weeks is better. I'm definitely of the view that some babies are more set in their ways than others and the best any mum can do is to keep her little munchkin fed, warm, clean, and entertained, and all will turn out well in the end.

As for my day, well take a bow worsester, reckon I pulled it off. Not only was lunch edible, it was actually on time, and dd was full of smiles (and wind) and sitting nicely in her bouncer. I've got to hand it to her though.... she has a finely tuned sense of comic timing to rival the best Ms Aniston can offer. Waited until everyone was mid mouthful before letting out a rip roaring fart and firing 6 days worth of poonami clean out of her nappy right up to her arm pits. Laugh? I nearly cried!!! To give her credit she sat happily in her efforts cooing proudly for as long as it took for me to pick myself up of the floor, stop laughing and scoot her away for a pat on the back a full change and wash down.

Another one with a wednesday vacc booked, and bricking it. Here's hoping dd is more stoical or we will be a watery mess.

Fear not Wing I'm certainly not in a debating mood. Each to their own, those who want routines will find them, each to their own etc. well done breast feeding in front of blokes you don't know, that's got to be some kind of rite of passage!

Worsester must make sure to remember all these events, they're prime wedding speech material. "well we'd all just sat down to lunch, and DD was being very well-behaved when all of a sudden..."

It is way past my bedtime. I've been reading about weaning and getting rather excited. I realised that DS will actually join us for Christmas dinner and have had a big grin plastered on my face all evening. Wonder if he'll like goose?

Hmm, we had goose last year as DH used to have it when he was young but I'm afraid I wasn't impressed. Nice flavour but the meat doesn't carve into nice big thick juicy slices. Turkey for us again this year :)

YY to storing that up for the wedding. Have you for a baby journal thing you can write that into? We've got one and I've been rubbish at filling it in, same as I was for DS, but my DMum found mine the other day and it was amazing. She'd filled it full of interesting things they done with me, outings etc in the first months of my life and I really want DD to have the same experience that I did, 30-odd years down the line.

I don't think I'll include my breastfeeding escapades though!