December 2012: Sunshine, saliva & sleeping more...we hope!

[WeeJo08]

New thread ladies

Welcome back littlefei.

H's sleeping pattern is all over the place again i'm hoping its for just a few days though. Actually i'm hoping she sees DP today and starts sleeping again. He hasn't been up for the last 2 days due to work and i think shes missing him. As the last few weeks she has turned into a daddys girl, even though i do all the hard work

J got up for a feed at 3:50 am and decided that was quite enough sleep! I put him in with me but that made him laugh and play more he went back to sleep just before 6 then up again 50 mins later. My eyes are bloody burning!

We skipped the gaviscon because by the time anyone would listen to me about the constant and copious vomiting, A had dropped 70 centiles. The Dr wanted to go straight for domperidone to get the weight gain under control.

At the time we weren't sure whether it was reflux, as he's always been happy on his back, lying down and wasn't sick much overnight. But the pretty much pure acid he started producing suggests it is. Ranitidine sorted that, but seemed to put us back to square one in terms of sickness.

Roll on real food!

We had 3hrs, 1hr, 1hr and were heading for another 3hr stint when DD came in at 5.50, making it about 2hrs instead.

We definitely co-sleep, from A's first waking (so 10 or 11!)

There seem to be so many flaws with that study. Whether you co-sleep has been based on whether you admit that you woke up to find your baby in your bed on one particular day.

If they'd asked me on Christmas day 2010 I would have appeared in the non-co-sleeping data. Ask me any of the 25 weeks and 6 days leading up to it, or the 17 months following (give or take a further 9 nights) I would be on the other side. That's just crap.

And at the time the data was collected, I don't smoke could mean "but I do a 10 hour shift 5 days a week as a barmaid and you can't see across the room because of all the smoke".

A can push himself up on his arms easily, it's the leg bit he's finding difficult.

We're another one that never intended to co sleep especially given my speciality but have done out of desperation to get some sleep. Dd now comes into bed with us from about 5am. think we are all aware of the risks but sometimes you decide to take a calculated risk and reduce as many other risk factors as possible.
I quite liked unicef's response
www.unicef.org.uk/BabyFriendly/News-and-Research/News/UNICEF-UK-Baby-Friendly-Initiative-statement-on-new-bed-sharing-research/

Dd has been refusing her morning and evening/night breastfeeds this week and now a true ff baby which I feel quite upset about as she's my last and as mad as it sounds the only thing that would make me broody again is seeing babies bf! Although considering for both ds and dd I've had such bad supply issues the likelyhood is that the same would happen again and I've just been lucky that dd has been happy to mix feed till nearly 6 months. At least that's what the rational part of me says. My emotional part is a different story though!

Well done on getting this far ddas I'm going to be really sad when we stop bf. I never thought we'd get last six months but now I can't see us stopping, although will have to when I go back to work (if I find a job!).

Ds keeps scratching his cradle cap can it be itchy? What should I do? I normally just leave it...

Would Olive oil over night and then brushing it through in the morning help Spotty. I believe it takes a week or two though.

Hmm maybe. It's hardly noticeable normally but it looks awful now he's scratched it all!

Have you got a soft hairbrush? Ts always looks much better if I regularly brush it but I often forget! Massaging baby shampoo into it dry then washing off works well. I found olive oil rather hard to wash off/ out with dd1 and then it looked and smelt worse!

Coconut oil is meant to be good for cradle cap, and hundreds of other things. Makes them smell like a bounty bar too, instead if a cup shop

Success at the doctor this morning. I walked in and before I'd sat down she said "so you want ranitidine?" Then printed off the prescription. We got our peads appointment tomorrow too, last minute cancellation. So it's all go on the reflux. Hopefully he'll sleep through the night by the weekend - right?

What is it with the iPhone autocorrect? You type in the right word but it decides you want something else. That should read "of" instead of "if" and "chip shop" not "cup shop".

Hope it all goes well stacks - will be waiting to hear!

I use coconut oil on DSs cradle cap and it has made it so much better. I use a baby comb to get off all the scales then the baby brush with shampoo in the bath. It smells ok, but doesn't smell like coconut.

OK thanks everyone I will get coconut oil.... I can use that on his dry skin too can't I? He has a few patches on his legs..

Stacks hope your appointment goes well, I have autocorrect ishoos too

DS is really close to rolling now just needs to get that arm out of the way, in fact he was on his tummy, from his back, it's just his arm was under him....

I have hit that brick wall of tiredness today...

Yawn.

Just wading in here spotty coconut oil is our go to in this home for almost everything. Worked great on DS' cradle cap and we still use it on his skin as a moisturiser. I got some from Holland & Barratt but asda do it as well.

We co-sleep occasionally here but I'm probably the only one in the bed who doesn't sleep well. I just become so nervous when he's in bed with us, silly I know.

DS rolls occasionally both back to tummy and tummy to back. He also turns 90 degrees when on his back.

FX with the medication stacks

Quiet day for us here. Spending time fixing up DS' room. HAve bought some cute fairy lights and a rug, just need a trip to ikea for shelves and some fabric.

You can get all sorts of coconut oils, I think they have different levels of refining to remove the coconut flavour/smell or not. It's the current "big thing" on pintrest. Everything from skincare to cooking and household cleaning.

T has been miserable today. He managed not to give in to sleep from 5am till 11am. I managed to feed him to sleep at 11:30 but he was up at 2. He's been really refluxy since (far worse than normal), maybe just trying to prove to me he needs this new medicine. I'm not sure when to start it though. It's 3 doses a day; he gets up 6-7am and to bed 7-8pm. So one at say 7, one at 1 and 7? I always stress about these things too much. Like, if he's asleep from 12-2 what do I do? Move the 1 to 2 and the 7 to 8? Or leave it at 7? Should I just do 1st and last thing of the day, and do one sometime round lunch? Space it all out more evenly over the day if he's up early and bed late?? Too much stress!

For T's cradle cap I just did a few days of intensive hair washing we don't bath him much, so his hair got quite greasy. I think cradle cap is basically greasy skin which stays stuck to the head rather than falling off, as their glands are immature and can be over active. It worked well, though it was the cradle cap giving him the more noticeable "baby smell".

Our HV actually praised me yesterday for our lax bathing regime for T. He's got a bit of dry skin too, and a rash. She said babies don't get dirty, why clean them all the time? We've been told just use water again, though dr gave me some oil to bath him in. His rash and dry skin is barely noticeable, so it all seems a bit extreme. Maybe they've just clocked me as an over protective parent?

Ddas - I meant to say well done on the breastfeeding. I will really miss breastfeeding when we stop, as hard as its been and given how often I wish for a break, I know I'll miss it if I stop. Did you get any photos or memories of your feeding? If not, maybe make a wee journal now to look back at. If you want to.

ddas well done for making it this far. I think every woman who agonises over any baby decision needs a pat on the back. These things are never easy to take wether it be bf/ff, sahm/wohm/wahm, or front sleep/back sleep. Sometimes always along the way things won't go the way we want but we have all still done a brilliant job, wether we bf/ff etc etc. our babies are lucky little souls, each and every one of them!

stacks T only gets a bath about twice a week.

ddas definitely well done on the feeding - I doff my hat to anyone who successfully mixed feeds for so long. I'm the same as stacks there are times I'd love a break but will really miss the bfing when we stop, although I'm planning on carrying on for a while yet. I didn't manage to bf dd1 and it upset me so so much, she was well over a year by the time I stopped having the urge to boob her (even though there wouldn't have been anything in them!). I always felt jealous seeing other people bfing.

Well said isthat

I have a question about not returning after maternity leave...

I work in an office and no one can do what I do. If my boss wants to continue in the part of the business I run he will have to train someone from scratch (I've been doing it six years).

So I'm not returning. There's no given notice period in my contract. SMP runs out first week in August and ML runs out first week in November. So......

When do I legally need to hand my notice in?

Would it be better to do it sooner so they can find someone else?

If I did it now, but found a new job, could I change my resignation date? Or work new job whilst on unpaid maternity leave?

My boss is pretty flexible but, if I don't get a new job soonish, I want to stay employed to accumulate my full years holiday pay

Spotty I can't help with the ML issues. But I would probably hand in my notice with a four week notice period - although if you're not going back while on ML I suppose it is sort of effective immediately...

stacks we've only ever used water with a splash of oil & milk on DS. DP and I both have dry skin but we are possibly also a bit PFB

(Except for baby wipes)

spotty I don't know either but isn't there an hr/legal issues board here on MN?

Yeah I'm just musing at the moment thought I'd see what you clever ladies could come up with first!

I only use water in Ts bath and water for her bum when at home! Dd2 has the most sensitive skin with tterrible ezcema (hospital paeds apt in 2 weeks time) and the first time she ever really cried as a baby was when I first used baby wipes, they gave her nappy rash and broken skin, so when they say 'as gentle as water' I don't believe them!

spotty you are entitled to take up to a years mat leave so don't legally need to resign until the end of the 11 th month (assuming a one month notice period). You can always bring your notice forward but can only push it back with your employers agreement. It's best to protect your own position sadly, but if you have a sufficiently good trusting relationship with your boss you could always informally tell him that you don't think you will be returning to give him the best chance to recruit into your post. Is there someone covering your mat leave that might stay on? Are you sure you want to resign before you've found something else? Could you go part time while you job hunt?