March 2013: Smiles, sleep & excellent feeding.....the thread of wishful thinking!

[SoYo]

Well we may as well start the thread on a positive note before the grumbling about the little darlings begins!!!

[pudtat]

Being prematurely middle aged in 1999 I was taking the exams which would qualify me as a financial adviser (I'm now an investment manager) and buying my first flat and (as the start of this discussion will attest ) starting depo injections. I'm not that old... Am I?

Eig, you've done great. Now enjoy your decision, and hopefully a swift recovery for both of you.

[StormyBrid]

Yeah, I hit fourteen and turned into a right horror.

Eig if she's fallen asleep and won't take any more, leave it for now. If she's used to boobs two and a half ounces isn't a bad start. Are you going to be offering a bottle whenever, or spacing them out, or what?

[Eigmum]

stormy going to try an stick to her routine ish as I don't think demand feeding is great with a bottle as it takes them longer to digest.

[StormyBrid]

Mm, if you were offering a bottle on demand she'd never get hungry enough to take a big bottle in one go. Or that certainly seems to be the case for us, anyway. Three hours between bottles, she'll manage three ounces, maybe slightly more. Two hours between? No chance.

[Eigmum]

So my plan is roughly 7am, 10am, 2pm, 5/6pm split feed, 10pm, 2/3am. With my ds oh did 10pm feed and first thing in morning feed which worked well. She is 12 pounds at 9 weeks old so should be on 5 ounces plus a feed but lets see where we get too, as she's up in the 75th percentile she is clearly doing ok.

[Eigmum]

Although given she didn't take much just now going to do 6,9,12,3 today to get her used to bottle I think ...

[leniwhite]

Nope I doubt anyone beyond the West Country heard of us! But it was fun, and it led to what I do now in some bands that people have heard of ;) earned my stripes shall we say.

Just had some elderly aunties visit but DS decided of course he'd rather eat and cuddle with mummy than be paraded I'm getting that awful thing where I want to tell my mil she's not holding him properly or that I want him back!

[StormyBrid]

I've given up worrying about "should" when it comes to amounts. We're at ten pounds four ounces (yeah! Broke the ten pound barrier!) which, according to the formula box and the pounds times two and a half thing means about 25oz a day. She's just not interested in that much. Mind you, she keeps trying to say she's full after two ounces, and I refuse to accept that! Seven feeds a day still, so she needs a minimum of three every feed. Anyroad, you could always get her weighed once a week for a few weeks, just to check things are on track.

[plonko]

Eig we found that DS got used to the bottles quickly and just wanted more and more. He usually guzzles a bottle very quickly but then doesn't want more for about 4 hours, and regularly goes 7-8 hours between feeds at night. I'm of the same opinion as Stormy, and have given up worrying about amounts (because according to the box he shouldn't be on this much until he's 4 months old). It's hard to know what to do when all the experts are saying feed on demand and follow baby's lead, but my DS hasn't read the side of the formula tin.

Good luck with the formula, hopefully it'll make everything much easier for you.

[StormyBrid]

Feed on demand my bum. Doesn't work when you've got a baby that doesn't like eating!

[Eigmum]

Agree, so far dealing with guilt well, really enjoying a caffeinated tea and two chocolate biscuits without fear of making her thrush worse!

[WingDefence]

Stormy, remind me how old your DD is as mine is roughly the same weight at six weeks

The NCT babies group was... big. I did know there was a children's centre-run singing group before hand and I walked into this big space to find roughly 40 women and babies everywhere. There was one huge oval table so I found a seat at the end but it meant I could only talk to one lady with a 5mo and who sent 20 mins telling me the details of her awful birth :(

On the upside, I did meet the sling librarian and tried on a moby thing which apparently is like the Kari me. DH came in at the end as I was wearing DD and was very unimpressed but that's because he likes the baby bjorn sod him I thought it was lovely actually, like she was part of me again. Blimey I am turning into a BFing, baby-wearing hippy

[WingDefence]

I didn't know there was a singing thing first.

[StormyBrid]

Ah, Wing, nothing wrong with being a baby-wearing hippy if it makes you happy! DD is nine weeks tomorrow (and about six hours older than Eig's). 7lbs 13.5oz at birth, dropped to 7lbs 0.5oz by day 5, switched to formula but her appetite's not great, and then we had the silent reflux issues too, so she's not growing as fast as some. She's as long as she should be, just not carrying the rolls that babies with actual appetites have. Worries me though - on the centiles chart she was halfway between 50 and 75 at birth, just over 25 now. Hoping she'll catch herself up eventually.

We're now trying the third nap of the day. Fingers crossed it goes better than the first two...

[Eigmum]

Yes we are trying a third nap too, other two have been awful, managed to get 3 ounces down her.... stormy can't believe we have managed 9 weeks tomorrow. Well done us!

[StormyBrid]

Bizarre, isn't it? Where did the time go? If I were feeling masochistic (and if I'd regained the ability to do mental arithmetic) I'd try to work out how much sleep I've had in those nine weeks.

What do you do with disaster naps, Eig?

[Eigmum]

At this point now if she goes 45 mins I accept that's it. Anything less and I have buggy ready and we're off out for a walk. At lunchtime I like her to go longer ( today as I know she didn't eat much at 10 I lifted her early and fed her early ) but normally I leave her a bit to resettle. If that doesn't work I go for the buggy approach to give her a chance to get a bit more sleep. I find if she doesn't sleep well she doesn't eat well and it's a vicious circle. My other fall back is to rock her to sleep and place get in the Moses basket in front of the tumble dryer!

[Eigmum]

Place her in, clearly while I have lost weight I don't fit in the Moses basket!

[StormyBrid]

We are having such a nap fail, I think she only managed twenty minutes before she started bitching. Keeps going quiet then starting again. Sigh. This is probably going to result in an impromptu nap after the feed due in half an hour. Cannot wait for the man to get home so I can turn my brain off for a bit.

[WingDefence]

Well I assumed that DD would be feeding like a manic thing but actually she's napped a fair amount and fed seemingly less than normal so she's bound to be a milk monster tonight...

[StormyBrid]

Last nap of the day = success! The 5.15-6pm pre-bath catnap took place in the buggy in the living room, and went perfectly. DD is now in the bath giving her dad dirty looks because he won't stop tickling the backs of her knees.

First daddy-daughter outing on Saturday morning is now planned out - he's going to enter her into the local paper's cute small people competition. And plans for the birthday are underway - he's got Tuesday through Friday off, so I get the entire Tuesday off duty! And going out for a drink Wednesday night, he's covering Thursday morning, so I can get shitfaced.

Is half past six too early to go to bed?

[leniwhite]

Currently at Reading services having an emergency feed of much thinner milk than normal, resulting in DS coughing it into OH's eye whilst I sit in the back of the car laughing. Although I'm about to try and change a pooey nappy on my lap so I expect roles to reverse shortly...

[StormyBrid]

Oh, that has the potential to be messy, leni. Do let us know how it goes!

[WingDefence]

Nappy report now please! The last two nappies here have both involved giant poos going up the back onto the vest. Argh!

[SoYo]

We've had 2 full poonami situations today & emergency tumble drying of the sleeping bag. It's the last night at my parents & I'm messing with it by trying to implement an earlier bedtime. Never tried before 9ish before.
I'm trying to start bedtime an hour earlier than the rest of the week just to see how we get on because she was looking tired (although isn't now, typical) & I didn't want her to nap just before bed. Wish us luck, it might be a huge error. I've gone for bath, massage, book, feed then hopefully down to sleep.

My only problem is that I haven't got a baby monitor here so I'll either have to stay upstairs if we succeed or run up every 5mins & try not to wake her! Error!