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! :)

user I'm giving both because they both seem to help. 48 hours after starting the gripe water has resulted in more settled baby and more periods of activity where she's just content and requiring stimulation. Hang in there.

If you did cry on the doctor, you're in glad company - I did last week! I think they're used to it!

My lovely Dad has just looked after her for an hour so I could sleep, lush! He's also paying for a cleaner fortnightly which will take the pressure off a bit. DH said that means we'll have go tidy up once a fortnight but I pointed out that's no bad thing! :)

faith a cleaner sounds amazing! I only got one dose of gaviscone in her (more like half dose the amount that was spilt!) no gripe water yet but will do. Right after gaviscone she fell asleep for half hour then woke up with wind and cried for 3 hours.

tattooed think how much weight we will lose with all these walks, not to mention time spent tapping the sodding bouncer.

She is in a noisy light sleep right now, hoping to get an hour at least, I think this has been my worse day, in fairness though I was in tears first thing before it was really that bad, sometimes I think it's me setting her off.

Have 2 feeds frozen now, was considering taking mil's offer to babysit a night, would be nice to spend time with OH though scared its too early and would traumatise her!

Wishful's medical problem of the day- thrush! Hoorah! Dr has prescribed tablets for me and cream for P's mouth. He's been feeding really peculiarly today- chewing hands, obviously hungry, but not feeding for more than a couple of minutes- then almost pulling my nipple off with his mouth, crying, fussing around, repeat! I thought it was a growth spurt, but dr thought it could be thrush, and he's thrashing around because his little mouth hurts

Anyway, onwards and upwards, hopefully medication should do the trick- there's a breasts feeding group near me on Friday- will go if feeding isn't better by then. Back to drs tomorrow for blood tests to solve the mystery diarreah!

Right, I have another question for all you ladies that are expressing. Do you do it religiously every day? I have one bottle of expressed milk in the freezer, but after the day I expressed I had massive over supply for a week (which I think may have contributed to the mastitis). I'd like to be able to leave P with DH or my folks eventually, and having a stash of expressed milk would be great, I just don't want to mess up my supply- the supply / demand balance seems so delicate.

I guess I could just make sure I do it every day? Or see if baby will take formula in a bottle when I'm away from him? (And I could express whilst I'm away from him to maintain supply). I'm just interested in how others do it- lots of posters do with no bother, perhaps I should persevere?

Ladies whose babies are a bit windy, we have had a real turnaround since the mw at the Breastfeeding clinic taught me/us biological nurturing. The whole concept blows my mind, and DS feeds really well using this method, but the unexpected bonus is that the upright feeding position encourages the wind up and he spontaneously burps during feeds. Since then he is also MUCH easier to wind-it's as if he has learned how to burp. It has only been a couple of days, so I hope I'm not jinxing it, but overall he is just so much more settled. I would definitely recommend giving it a try.

wishfull I express first thing on a morning and last thing at night everyday I'm not sure if your supposed to change times etc i just do it then as those are the times I seem to have a lot of milk spare, interested to hear what others do though...

edin I think i will try that!

wishful I express usually first thing in morning or if one boob misses a feed (she usually does both every feed)

Crying is ongoing, we are in another lull now but they tend to last 30 mins max today (often under 1 minute) I gave her gripe water (smells nice I thought, much better than infacol) then OH winded her for an hour. Will be trying bath next if she doesn't settle.

Last feed was 6.30, already dreading next feed as bad as that sounds. Definitely our worst day so far, with a record for time spent crying (her and me!)

Oh username you poor thing if she's crying that much do you think it's colic?

wishful I express around 6.30am when DH gets up for work. Faithlet tends to be snoozing and I have plenty of milk. Ideally you don't want to express much more than she takes so you don't end up with oversupply. I will try to get a bit more mid morning if she's snoozing (not easy since she snoozes on me!) about an hour after she's fed. I never seem to be able to express much in the evening so stopped trying. Not enough gain for the effort!

Well my baby seems very different. More settled, crying less between feeds. She almost fell asleep after her bottle and the evening feeding isn't as incessant. She rested between feeds/boobs. Not sure if its the meds or just the end of a growth spurt but Long may it continue!

Question - are you putting your babies in vests still? I worry she overheats at times and end up stripping her off!

Thanks for all your expressing advice!

Faith- I'm still putting P in a vest and baby grow - at night he goes in a sleeping bag and one blanket- interested to know what everyone else does x

I am obsessed with vests I still have DD1 in them. I have little C in a vest and babygrow minimum plus a cardigan most days. She sleeps in vest, babygrow, sleeping bag then sometimes a light blanket.

C pulls her knees up inside babygrows constantly then puts her feet at the crotch and gets then stuck so screams snd stretches all the babygrows at the neck. It drives me mad & last night she slept in a long sleeved vest and leggings, anybody else have this (admittedly trivial) problem? I only have babygrows for her at present so it's a bit of a pain!

Faith... W sleeps in the same as baby wishful. Vest, babygro, grobag, blanket. We also pull the scratch mitts over on his babygro (integral) to keep his paws warm. Can be a bit of a shock during the night as they can be quite chilly .

A mixed day here, W good all day, he was cluster feeding all night, so DH in spare bed, while W was in with me. B was mischief, which was okay until about 30 minutes before DH came home when she threw a tantrum (she sat on W in the swing seat thingy and I said no) She was just awful and asked her to sit on the kitchen stool and contemplate her actions, cue lots of screaming, stamping and kicking of things. She did calm down eventually and came and said sorry, lub you mummy. She got a hug and I felt awful, hate seeing her in tears, even if she caused it.

W has started to make 'social' noises, trying to chat, very cute. Couldn't remember when DD started doing this. He has lots more alert periods now, love watching him watching us, his eyes seek out B when she's around as she often chats or holds his hand.

Been feeding W since 8pm, hoping for sleep tonight. HV at 10am to check on us, want to at least be prepared for her. Wondering what gems of advice she is going to have for me. Also going to weigh W as well.

Too... B is still in vests, kind of sad that she will be out of them once potty trained and it'll be the boring options.

B was like C, as she was so small for the gro's. happened every time we went up to the next size as she was just getting frustrated. Eventually tried gap pj's, they are slim fit and come up small. Much better night's sleep after then. Think they have 30% off at the moment. also when you are down this way clarks village have a gap outlet.

Faithlet is far too small for grow bags yet! She generally wears a vest and babygrow at night with a couple of blankets double folded. Room temperature is always over 16 degrees. In the day she has a vest, baby grow/outfit round the house and a cardy/jacket and usually a hat outside.

Well after an 11pm finish last night I am chuffed, she went down about 9.30! Fed for less time too. Time for me to sleep then. Night all.

Day is either

Vest/outfit
Vest/babygro

Night

Vest/babygro/grobag
Vest/babygro/blanket/2 light sheets

Our bedroom is normally 18-20 and I just go by what the gro egg colour to determine tog of bag or how many blankets, there's a little chart with the egg.

I fold his integral scratch mitts over his hands at night too!!!

faith how big is faithlet now? I bought a purflo sleeping bag 0-3 months suitable from 7lb. It's an absolute life saver only way to get her to sleep for more then 20 mins without being held

kelle and trish I also noticed baby bird gets freezing hands at night as they're out the sleeping and I feel really sorry for her but it feels mean to put scratch mitts on as she likes playing around with her hands when she wakes up...

faith I would love a cleaner!! dh seems to think that cos I'm home on mat leave doing 'nothing' that I have time to do all the cleaning and cooking now! (relationship stuff not good atm as u can tell)

Expressing - I've only done it 3 times since last Fri I think, in the morning, just after a feed on the boob F didn't feed off but my supply has gone a bit mad! Had to try and express some by hand this evening to relieve the pressure, had massive lump under left boob from engorgement. Guess you have to do it every day to balance the supply/demand?

F sounds like she's wearing the same as others - vest & babygro/outfit in day and vest, babygro, sleeping bag and sometimes light sheet also to tuck hands in to keep warm at night.

Kell F is the same with social noises and her big sisters, her eyes light up when she sees them and tries to 'talk' to them, so cute!

I would second what edin said about biological nurturing - the midwife showed me when F was about 3 days old and it was like a switch was flicked and made bf so much easier when my nipples were killing me. Def helped when we couldn't get the latch right too. Our babies are amazing and just do it!

Need to get some sleep now, came to bed early cos dh pissed me off and I've been on mn instead of sleeping! Oops

Evan always wears a vest. I did have to put him in just a babygro once when we were out and he had messed on every vest to such a degree that none could be left on and it felt a bit wrong to not have a vest on him!

It depends on whether he is in a pram or in a sling as to what he wears when he is outside but again, always a vest and babygro/oufit and generally a hat. Then I will add another layer and/or a blanket or his star.

He is currently asleep on my chest - he just kind of hangs on as though he was in the wrap but I am going to try to move him into his basket in a minute and see what happens...

I don't think I have ever used his scratch mitts (although DD2 likes turning them over his hands) and have never noticed he is cold... will check in the middle of the night when he wakes up again.

And I think he is going to have to settle for a pink sleeping bag when we go upstairs in a minute as he pee'd all over the last one I had small enough for him - I put all the others in the wash earlier (that will teach me). Right now he is perfectly comfortable wrapped up in a bright pink blanket

Marking place!

Baby User is always in vest, then wears babygrow as 'outfit' when goes out. To sleep just vest & swaddle, she always seems warm.

After my last post she slept from 8pm-4am, then fed & cried for 3 hours now back to sleep.

Faith people keep telling me its colic, we are on day 3 now so I'm hoping this won't last much longer, seems like wind to me.

How are you meant to know the difference between diarrhoea and normally soft baby poo? H filled in nappy at his 5am feed this morning and I heard it! Sounded so wet as he was doing it! Then lo and behold I changed him immediately and it was all up his back!

He doesn't have any other symptoms tho and is fine in himself x

Yes still wearing vests here, they are useful to help hold nappies in place!

Daytime vest plus babygro or outfit, night time same plus summer weight sleeping bag.

All well yesterday with the awkward family friends, thankfully.

Going to test out double pushchair for first time today I think. We currently have three pushchairs and really looking forward to cutting down. Once DD can also fit in the maclaren we will probably get rid of the heavy baby pushchair which takes up so much room even when folded. What do you all use more, pushchairs or slings?

trish - don't know the answer to your question, but for what it's worth we always hear P pooing- always like a wet fart. I just assumed every baby did the same!

Oh, and we have a baby bjorn and a moby wrap- we haven't used either of them very much- not convinced I get positioning right. There's a sling meet next Thursday near me I'm going to try to get to to figure it out.

Wish I always hear him farting but this sounded SO wet compared to usual! X

trish we always hear F farting and pooing! The severity depends on when she last went usually - the longer between, the more explosive!

I have a sling that a friend gave me which I might give a try today. Goin to the farm and don't fancy trying to get the pushchair through mud! Using a travel system atm which is quite heavy but just ordered this pushchair to replace our old McLaren www.amazon.co.uk/ZETA-VOOOM-Deluxe-footmuff-padded/dp/B007L40UQC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1369901398&sr=8-4&keywords=zeta reviews are fab!

True! He had gone 36 hours until yesterday at 6am so maybe just a backlog! Xxx