April 2013 - We've all had our babies now. Let the (hard work) fun commence!

[HadALittleFaithBaby]

Thought I'd take the liberty of starting a new thread since the last one filled. So mark your places, get comfy and prepare for a few sleepless nights!

In particular we think of Empress and little Sam - hoping and praying he's coming home! :)

Thanks for the link Ann quite disgusting but interesting! may give the bf counsellor a ring to check all is normal with F x

User, could it be your LO is over tired? I've found Lucy better at a 7:30 - 8pm wind down, so bath, in sleeping bag, bottle, then asleep all within the hour, if I leave it until after 9 she's horrendous and stays awake for ages.

I've got the vtech one, but as Lucy sleeps on tummy she can't see the projection but the music is lovely and the little bear on the moon is cute. I like it even if she doesn't. :)

tea I have read that if you get dark bits in the poo it is some of the fats that you have eaten going through to the breastmilk that LO can't break down herself so they stay in solid form. If you aren't sure though, I'd get it checked out. It happens all the time with babies going onto solids when they start to eat bananas so wonder if you ate a banana could it have the same effect, or am I just grasping at very thin straws?

Hollie has been on and off sleeping most of the day and not eating as much as usual again. I hate it when she gets bunged up with poop and doesn't eat so much, makes me worry she's not getting enough nutrients. She seems in good enough form though and is having lots of chats and mastering sticking her own thumb in her mouth now and looking at her hands beforehand; because it is her hand - she's just noticed.

I hope everyone else is doing good night and gets a good night sleep with the LOs.

x

enjay gah I've become do desensitised I didn't even think to warn it was a bit disgusting!

Can I ask a quick question about naps? How long do your LOs nap for during the day? J rarely goes more than half an hour. We might have one long nap of 1-1.5hrs, but otherwise it's generally 20-30 mins maybe 5 times in a day. I think he needs more but not sure how to encourage it!

Welcome Ann

Sofia is usually the same, she manages a few longer sleeps of an hour or do but mostly cat naps, sometimes only 10-20 mins a time. If we are out I find she sleeps well, especially if she is in the sling (which she is most of the time now).

She managed to stay awake from 4pm til 9.30pm yesterday so was knackered and slept 7 hrs in a row. However today has been a day for sleeping, she has barely been awake! She napped for 4 hours this afternoon, woke for an hour and a half and has been asleep since 8.15pm and is now soundo in her basket. Maybe another growth spurt? She was 10 weeks yesterday.

She's also missed her cluster feed marathon this evening.. She usually spends most evenings on the boob but has only had a couple of feeds.

Hope everyone has had a good day

I better get some sleep before this little one is ready for play time at silly o clock! Got some clothes shopping to do in morning, gona treat myself to new nursing bra.. Am wearing one I had during pregnancy and my boobs have definitely shrunk since then!!

Thanks for the replies about bottles, dh tried again this morning with milk on the teat and 2 different types but she won't go near it. It's frustrating cos she's taken it before but never loved it. tea pig mutual sympathy to you, I hope your LO gets into it soon.

user yes I find that about toys...dd can happily sit in her bouncer watching the pink elephants sparkly bum for ages then suddenly she'll start griping at it! I assume it's overstimulation.

Ann welcome, your baby sounds just like my first, he was such hard work but really settled once he was on solids and able to move about, I think both helped him sleep. I recommend walks with a sling, outdoors seemed to help and hearing me talk to friends (ie not staying home all day desperately chasing naps.)
Also all that stuff about hungry/tired is true,and spotting tired signs. I accepted that some babies want to sleep on people a lot and then he got more sleep and was less grumpy. I still occasionally put him down and by 10 months or so he'd self settle in his cot...so I didn't "make a rod for many own back". Check out the Dr sears website too.

Trying grobag instead of swaddle for first time tonight, seems fine so far, she slept almost 4 hours :-)

Omg, I've had the best nights sleep in months! F has fed 8.30, 12.30, 4 and still waiting for her to wake up let's see if this lasts...

Hope everyone else had a good night too!

I got baby user asleep by 9pm last night, earliest so far! But she woke again at 2.15, fed and had to be changed then I just couldn't resettle her, OH did it at 4.30 since the dummy game was killing me, she went straight to sleep as soon as he was involved, apparently my swaddle just isn't good enough!

looby I heard the Dr Brown bottles often work when others don't. They are expensive though, my friend told me to buy bottles from pound land and just put different tops on, not sure if that works but if you are going through lots of types it's only £1 to try!

Enjay- woo hoo! Sounds good. Makes such a difference.

In the last few days my DS has dropped one of his night feeds so he goes down at 7, dream feed at 10.30, wakes at 3 then through til 6.30. Makes such a difference not getting up again (used to be 2 then 4). He's 12 weeks.

Were on dr browns bottles, we've noticed a massive improvement from the trapped wind we were getting, we only havefour but manage fine.

enjoy mirror image here! Dd fed at exactly those times too! She did the same gaps once last week, that extra sleep's soooo good isn't it. I wonder if the grobag helped... We had swaddled to stop her flapping which worked to a point but also annoyed her when she wanted her arms back. Grobags certainly make her more portable and it's ideal for early morning co-sleeping.

Unfortunately she soaked through her nappy so full change and therefore wide awake at 5 am! Gave her to dh! She then soaked the next nappy too, maybe we shouldn't be using newborn ones?she's 8 weeks and I guess nearly 10 lb. Did anyone else find you suddenly had a power-weer?! We use cloth too so maybe overnight that's safer. But by day it rules out lots of cute small clothes cos most of our cloth nappies are chunky.

Happy weekend all hope you have fun and rest :-)

looby we've been using a sleeping bag thing for a few weeks with a sheet/blanket over the top to tuck F's hands in. The startle reflex seems to be settling down now though, maybe the good sleep is a result! I think it was candy that linked the post about sleep/wake times according to age, it has made such a huge difference to settling her and keeping an eye on when she's getting tired user I try to settle F without a dummy as the dummy game drives me nuts too!

NEED SOME ADVICE - we're goin to try a bottle of ebm today but what size teats should we use? We have mam bottles. Thanks x

Looby FRUGI clothes are 'cut for cloth' so made to fit over cloth nappies. They are expensive mind but they have AMAZING sales, up to 70% off. I bought one full price pair of baby jeans, 6-12 months, with DD1 and she wore them continually and they still look new! So worth the full price for those.

You can find them at:
www.welovefrugi.com

Worth a google if you decide to get something I have never not been able to find a 15% off code which also gives you free delivery (returns free anyway.)

enjay I'd go with the smallest teat size so it doesn't flow too quickly. How much milk have you got?

I have left Faithlet with DH and been for a run doing c25k! Did about 4k total with intervals of walking and running. Tired now! Nice to have some time to myself though.

Thanks faith I used a size 1 teat and she downed just under 4oz no problem!! Felt very strange giving her a bottle and made me think how much I've hoarded her to myself bf without dh gettin a look in will try to be more considerate and involve him more from now on I think.

Talking of exercise, I really don't have the time or will power to go running or the gym etc. Anyone doing some 'easy' workouts at home that will help get rid of my jelly belly?!

It's weird with the bottle isn't it?! I feel like its the key to my freedom/'me' time though! That's how I could afford to go running - she fell asleep before I left and we knew with EBM in the fridge if she did wake for food it would be ok! I'm considering borrowing my sister's Davina DVD so I can do the 1/2 hr workouts while she snoozes in the day!

Lovely sunny day here but the wind is blowing in the wrong direction so we can't hear the music from the festival at the moment!
We have been out to a (very small) local theme park this morning which seems to have tired EVan out as he is now fast asleep on me whilst the DDs play/make a mess through the whole house. DP has gone to meet his BF before heading to the festival.

Lou we also use reusables and I have found it quite tricky getting trousers onto Evan sometimes - it seemed much easier with the girls so I guess they wore leggings/tights as they were at this age over the winter.

I am waiting/counting the days until EVan is big enough to wear these great trousers which I plan to buy lots of in about 4 months as they are so cheap but look so great and have a huge nappy space!

I am also very happy as a big parcel of new nappies arrived for EVan this morning. They are little bloom pocket nappies and are so cute. They are birth to potty and even the minky ones are very slim fit and seem to fit him so much better than the fuzzibunz we have that we used for the girls. It might change as he gets bigger. I am selling my DDs' Nature Babies pocket nappies as they are lovely but bright pink

Hope everyone has had a lovely sunny day.

It's interesting to hear how others are getting on with nappies. In disposables we moved to size 3 quite early (at the lowest weight, 10lb I think?) and they've been brilliant. I figure the bigger the nappy the more absorbent area there is - we've never had one leak (yet!).
However I am sooooo upset with most of the reusables we've got. MiL spent £240 (they were the babies gift) on little lamb one size fits all nappies - firstly they didn't fit her until she was 12lb and secondly they leak!!
I guess her legs are too skinny for the leg holes - it's always around the legs that they leak. So disappointed :(

When it comes to sleep there seems to be no 'natural' routine here at all, I've been keepin an eye on what she does at what times day to day and it differs so much! Today she wouldn't nap this morning but since 12 she had had a 1hr nap, 3hr nap and is now 2hrs into another! Usually she's far more awake in the afternoons than the mornings.
I'm not going to wake her but am prepared for a mammoth cluster feed when she does, and then it's bedtime!

I'm in 2 minds about bottles, sorry I can't name check but someone said they felt they were 'hoarding' their baby by EBF but I kind of don't want to give that up! Plus it's just another thing I'd get annoyed by if DH still didn't help!

Strange. I don't think DH feels like I hog the baby by bf'ing, especially as he is entertainer extraordinaire! He also often does bath and massage which is good for bonding.

Having said that I nearly cried when DH gave DS his first bottle and we haven't given him many. However, definitely plan to keep it up so that I can have a full night's sleep at some point in the not too distant future (I hope!!)

likecandy I personally think 'birth to potty' nappies are a bit of a con. We used ours (Tots bots Easyfit) from about 14lb onwards, when they were great but I remember trying them on DD1 when she was about 2 weeks. Ha ha ha! There was no way and she was born 8 lb 8. WRT leakage have you tried boosters? And how many times have you washed them? I think absorbency increases over the first 10 washes as they 'fluff up' if all else fails and they continue to leak I would email little lambs, with a photo of DDs damp legs and see if they will part refund?

Little C has only had one bottle here when I went out for dinner with friends. Struggling to find the motivation to express/sterilise etc especially as with DH off away for 6 months soon I can't really see much need. I consider C to be an extension of me and she just comes along wherever I go.

Ann welcome! Lovely that you have found us! Apologies I can't remember much of your original other than that your little one must be days apart from my second daughter, Celeste, she arrived on April 6th.

I am now the proud owner of a Rose & Rebellion baby carrier as well as my Moby. Opps! kellestar this is your fault after you sang its praises! The plan is mainly to use it for DD1 who at (just) 2yrs walks most places but if she decides she doesn't want to I really struggle as I have DD2 in the Moby. So I had been pushing an empty stroller (just in case!), DD2 in sling & DD1 walking. Plan is now to take DD2 in carrycot on buggy and DD1 in carrier as needed.

Off to stay with my parents for five days this week :)

faith is the Davina DVD any good? Will get on ebay or something if so! Half an hour each day sounds reasonable

bona/candy I think I'm the one who feels like I've hoarded F but also love bf all the same. Relieved that she took the bottle though incase I do need some 'me' time or a bottle of wine! dh hasn't really been that involved in all honesty, few nappy changes that I can count on 1 hand and and a cuddle here and there - was just thinking maybe it's my fault and he needs to be more involved to bond a bit more.

After a fantastic night of sleep last night, F has a little cough and snotty nose this afternoon horrible to see them ill! She's not quite 8 weeks yet so still a bit young for calpol. I can see me being awake lots tonight with her spluttering and snorting and panicking she can't breath!

Hope everyone else has a good night x

Marking. DS born 9th April on due date!!! Challenging , mostly bf. need 1x full nights sleep and some sort of routine!!!

Welcome pear!

enjay I hope F's cold clears up quickly and you don't have too bad a night.

T went 9pm-1am so I am hoping she will now go through to 6am but fully expect that she'll wake by 4 or 5.

We ventured to London for the first time yesterday and a lovely day. It's an hour from us by train and T was fine, she spent the entire journey asleep. It feels good to have pushed our boundaries a bit and a joy for me to go to London as I haven't been for three months. It's given us new confidence and so we're going to attenpt the 5 hour journey to Manchester for a wedding next weekend. I just hope that T hasn't lulled us into a false sense of security

enjay I have no idea! Only that my sister has it and liked it because it was a selection of 30 minute workouts. I really need to work on my belly!

too that sounds like a good plan with carriers. Have fun with the family.

I'm still hoping to use the bum genius nappies my sister has but I know although they have poppers to extend them she'll need to be bigger.

Can I ask about bedtime? What time do you take your babies through? I've been bringing Faithlet through around 7.15/7.30 after bath and bottle but sometimes she feeds on and off til 10 so I'm there for hours! Tough because with the reflux I keep her upright after feeds for 30 mins so if she stirs and feeds again it resets the clock!

Wow, F had a feed and went down at 9 and only just woke again!! Think I'll put it down to the cold as don't expect that to happen every night from now on, although it would be lovely!! Did T wake at 5 tea? Well done on the London trip! Did u use a sling? We drove to Cornwall a few weeks ago (about 3 hours from us) and was dreading it but F was fab. Just stopped half way for a feed.

dysgu those leggings are adorable! Will be ordering some of them!

Hi pear! We've only been following a routine at night for a last week but it's goin great! Can't remember the link about sleep/wake times which sorted it for us, perhaps someone else could put it on please?? Think it was candy who posted? F was/is a 3 hourly feeder anyway.

faith our bedtime is based around feeding time. Usually between 7 - 9, I know she'll be ready for a sleep around an hour after waking as she feeds as soon as she's woken iykwim? We previously had cluster feeds and very unsettled in the evenings but realise now it's prob cos she was over tired.