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! :)

birdbrain and likecandy thank you for the nursing bra tips the other day. Will have a look at the website suggested especially as my trip to new look didn't go well...They put the whole of their nursing bra range in sale so only had weird sizes left! I like the sound of the hotmilk ones, especially if you can get padded ones. I rely on the extra padding to protect me against leaks while im out if the pads fail!

Mama i'm sure Disneyworld will be amazing! I can't wait to take Sofia there. I have also been thinking about booking a holiday

I took Sofia swimming yesterday for the first time and she loved it She was a bit unsure at first, not upset just a bit serious. She must have been relaxed though bless her as she fell asleep after 10 mins. We stayed in the pool while she napped and when she woke 20mins later she was so happy. She did huge smiles for me when I lifted her in and out of the water.

Is anyone thinking about/doing water babies lessons or similar? I was completely put off by another mum the other day as they said the baby's get taken under water on the first lesson She said one of the mums was crying, I dread that being me lol. Funnily enough, just as I said to my mum about being happy I didn't book them, I saw the most amazing little boy in the pool... He must have been about 18 months or so, he was able to swim under the water, reach for the side of the pool, grasp it when his head came above the water and climb out of the pool. He then jumped in while Daddy stood in front, went under the water and bobbed back up. It was incredible and may have persuaded me slightly!

Have been busy recently car hunting, finally decided on Vauxhall meriva yesterday. Has a nice big boot and more importantly 5 doors! Sofia really does not like the car seat so I always end up stopping all over the place to get her out, soothe her and put her back in it. My pram has also got so scratched as my corsa was just too small for it and I had to faff about taking the wheels off.

Hope your all having a good day

Teapig your not alone with the dummy issue, Sofia gags on hers still. I have only tried her with Mam though... I have still not tried her with a bottle either. I just really doubt she will take it!

We had our best night so far! 9-6 woooooo!

Looby night feeds take us about an hour - actually, if Evan is back in his basket within an hour of waking then we feel we are doing well He can take anything up to 40 minutes to take 5oz and may well not finish the bottle. He would happily go straight back into his basket after finishing his bottle (as DP often puts him straight back in) but he then struggles to keep the milk down and I end up having to get him back out and change everything which is covered in milk/sick so I tend to keep him on me upright for at least 20 minutes to make sure most of the milk has settled in his tummy.

DP is good at doing night feeds although I often have to wake him up when Evan wakes... but I usually do the 20 minute holding afterwards. If DP tries, he falls asleep so i have to stay awake to keep an eye on Evan and put him back; or else DP puts Evan straight back to bed and DP can sleep through the gurgling and sicking! I also find it easier to stay awake in the night and am the lighter sleeper and am happy to read on my kindle.

Evan did his first poo in a reusable nappy today! He is usually so predictable that I can put a disposable nappy on him (and can then throw it away in a public bin on the school run but today he sneaked in a second poo and caught me out. At least this will give me a chance to see if the nappies come up clean and at least there were no leaks (as he was sitting on my lap and grinning when he did it!!)

All DC are in the bath right now with DP in charge. It is so hot that the DDs will be sleeping in their playroom where it is a bit cooler. Evan doesn't seem to mind the heat but it doesn't seem to make a difference to him sleeping longer at night.

Mama DP is very jealous of your trip to Disney. We took DD1 to Disneyland Paris when she was tiny (well, she was the excuse for us to go there for DP's 40th birthday ) and we have both been to Florida (separately). DD1 would love to do a Disney cruise but we have told her we have to wait until Evan is old enough to remember it a bit.

We house swap so the DDs are currently getting excited about going to Scotland in the summer. When they were tiny we used to take them abroad quite a lot but now it just seems such a hassle - they both have passports although DD1's has expired and DD2's is nearing expiry too. We have said we may consider going abroad again next year but we are limited to having to go during school holidays and it is just easier to load everything in the car and go stay in someone else's house. We did 3 swaps last year and could have done more but there were times I wanted to stay home due to PG.

Looby night feeds take about five-ten minutes but H feeds about three times in the night. I could probably try and get him to feed longer which may make him wake less, but I really can't be bothered to try and wake him when I want to go back to sleep too!!!

We do co-sleep though, so there's very little effort involved. No lifting, burping or even sitting up.

DD, however, used to be up for a good two hours every feed, so I feel this is my reward

I am not sure what sort of night we are in for here with Evan. DP had him and thought he was hungry so gave him a bottle - which he sucked on a few times before it quickly put him to sleep as he was tired. He then woke up after we had eaten dinner (so probably slept for 20-30 minutes) and so DP put him in the bath with DDs which Evan loved. DP then brought him downstairs and put him in his basket in the living room where he quickly went back to sleep.

He normally has a bottle before settling for the evening so now I am wondering whether he will wake up hungry soon.

Normally he feeds about 7.30pm, 11pm, 2am, 5.30am give or take an hour or so on each feed...

Congrats num3!!!

jo have you seem this swimming baby amazing!

Woohoo num3

num, congrats! I hope that's the start of sleeping through the night for you.

Bedtime here was meant to be 7.30/8pm but T didn't properly go down until after 10pm and then woke at 1.30am. It took ages to settle her for some reason and then she'd wake up after a quick nap. I blame this weather it's soooo hot.

jo, out of interest are you planning on introducing a bottle at any point? I sometimes (irrationally) worry that I won't be able to return to worl because T takes nothing but the boob.

I'd like T to do swimming sessions but I don't like the idea of her going under water so early. On the other hand I have always hated going under water and learnt to swim quite late so maybe the earlier you do it the better.

Sssh....F went 9 until 4.45!! (if I say it quietly I might not tempt fate for her to do it again! )

The joys of sleeping babies! After going from 10pm to 5am yesterday, E only managed 9.30pm to 12.20am, but then she has made it to after 5am for second feed, so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much! My neighbour has a 3 month old and she's invariably up from 2am onwards...

I did swimming with DS from 5 months, and it's probably a good thing that I didn't know we'd be underwater from the first lesson! But A coped with it fine, and within a couple of classes was totally anticipating me dunking him. Always ensure that you really trust the teacher, as that will make things easier. E is signed up to start her classes in September, and my only worry is how DS will behave on the side of the pool by himself! Teapig - that was my reason for doing structured classes, as I'm not massively water confident, and it's worked well for us, as DS is top Of the class amongst the boys (the only girl in the class is bearing the boys thoroughly!), not that I'm biased!

teapig I was planning in introducing a bottle but I have not tried her with one yet. To be honest when she was born all I heard was 'when are you going to express/give her a bottle so I can have her?' it just completely put me off! So basically not giving her the bottle is the perfect excuse for me to keep her to myself However, I would like dp to be able to feed her once in a while, was hoping to get to the Next sale next month so I am going to give the bottle a go. Will let u know how I get on

Enjay will have a look at baby swimming link later I was so amazed by the baby swimming yesterday, I may look into water babies lessons... Amber you have also pursuaded me, ur ds sounds like he really enjoyed it and it's good to hear he got used to going underwater

Morning ladies x H went 9.45pm til 6.45am, tonight we will try 9.30pm and continually move it earlier and see if it affects his waking time!

I am currently lying in bed with S asleep on my chest, total lie in luxury!

She usually takes her last feed at 7/8pm and will go 6/7/8 hours. wondering if I should try offering another feed before we go to bed to see if I can get that middle of the night feed to an early morning one?

dysgu my DH is just the same. he can sleep through anything! I asked him to do a feed the other day. He refused in his sleep then denied it the next morning!

Just wondering if any one FF can give advice on teats. I think we need to change up as she seems to be fussing and I wonder if she is frustrated but I dont know what I should be looking for?

Photo what bottles and teat size are you using?
Dd is nearly 12 weeks she has been on Avent size two teats since 8 weeks and I am about to order size three.
If you buy next size just try her with one you will soon know if she doesn't like it!

Think I tempted fate in bragging about dd doing 9-6, last night was back to 10-3, 4-7.

I am trying to hold out on buying sleepsuits in 3-6 before next sale! I much prefer paying seven quid to fifteen!

num3 Sofia is now in 3-6 month sleepsuits, am hoping to get bigger sizes in the next sale as she is growing out of stuff so quickly!

photo I was thinking the same about the middle of the night feed? F usually goes from 9ish until 3/4 so wondering if I offer her a feed bout midnight wether she'll go until 6/7 I'm the morning? Will wait until I know she's into a proper routine of sleeping 6 hrs and then try I think! ....quite funny how we're all so sleep deprived and desperate for a full night! I'm sure it'll happen for us all eventually

num using tommee tippee 150ml bottles (though just bought some 260 ones because if she goes 7 hours between feeds at night she is hungry! ). on size 1 teats but she is 7 weeks today. waitrose had an offer on tommee tippee when I went earlier so bought two size 2 teats to try.

enjay tempted to try but don't want to wake her and spoil the sleep she is having! I have heard about dreamfeeding but have to admit I don't really know what it is? perhaps I should just go to bed at 8pm too!

6 week check for me today with the gyaenecologist, have to admit not really looking forward to it!

I have that thought photo and go round in circles, I never have dream fed her though because some nights she feeds til 8.30 and sleeps through (rare) and some nights she feeds til 10 but still wakes at 4!

num we moved up to size 2 teats for the evening expressed bottle at about 7 weeks with good effect.

Hoping for another night without a feed until at least 6am. Good luck ladies. x

Fed at 9.30pm, and he literally fell asleep straight after it as I was sitting him up to burp! Had to burp him whilst he was asleep. Going to keep him upright and put to bed in 15mins xx

photo dream feed is gettin baby awake enough to feed but not awake iykwim?! Did it with F so she fed, burped and went back down without even opening her eyes but she still woke up same times so gave up! May give it another go now she's sleepin a bit more.

Has everyone had a post birth check up at 6 week's? Nothing here, not that there's any probs but don't think it's even been mentioned by midwife or hv?

enjay I just booked in with my GP for that.

I feel ill! Upset stomach, not good I hope it eases off, not fun to contend with this while BF!