March 2013 - gurgles, giggles and going on holiday (for some of us at least!)

[pudtat]

Will this do? Never started a thread before so hope this works...

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Worse ah I'm so jealous of your pool. I don't think a dip in the Derwent would provide the same kind of satisfaction as an at-home pool. I think I'll be taking DS to the baths during the imminent apocalypse heatwave.

I read the wonder week stuff too, and find it quite convincing. Mini-plonk was an utter delight until a week ago, then hey presto he stopped babbling, playing with toys and became somewhat listless (prompting dp to ask what I'd done with his lists when I mentioned it ). He appears to be coming out of it now and his motor skills have just leapt forward. Maybe there's something in it? Either way I found myself telling him he was being such a big baby earlier.

Vj the wine makes it worth it! And you soon find coping strategies for the night feeds, just as you do for the our and about ones. I've heard people swear by a bottle warmer - apparently works in the time it takes to change a nappy. Personally I found leaping out of bed to bang a bottle in the microwave at the first squeak worked for us. The night feeds took awhile to settle down but he now goes 7-7.

Eig you mean Dd slept through that epic last set?!

Officially in 6-9 months clothes now. Packing the newborn threads up for storage made me sad I clearly am one of those mad women who has ten kids cos she loves new babies too much

We have made a monumental bedtime error. For some reason, after 2 bad nights and jabs today we decided it would be a good idea to go for dinner for DMs birthday. We went at 6.45, madam was asleep, she proceeded to sleep through entire meal (unheard of), she is now predictably wide awake and refusing point blank to even consider sleep. This could be a very long night. Plus I've got an appointment at 8.45. Error.

VJ well done for making the decision, you must feel so much better now you're not stuck in between and can get on with just enjoying happier you and Bubs.

Plonko hopefully the crappy afternoon will turn into a much better night.

Wors I am so bloody jealous of your pool! If you lived nearby I swear you'd wake up one morning to hear me splashing about. Outdoor swimming is my favourite thing in the world!

As for the hot nights predicted, we go for vest and then sleeping bag made from layers of muslin, window open and then just hope for the best. People have babies in hot countries and don't sit around panicking about it so I'm sure we must worry too much!

VJ - if you know it makes sense, you have to push through the tough stuff and when you come out the other side you'll know you made the right decision.

worse - the 17 week 'wonder week' is what my DD was up to last week. She was a right little handful, entirely not herself but all of a sudden is sleeping through the night, because of all the physical effort she's putting in during the day. Since last wednesday we have:
Found the right thumb which has a sedative effect
Learnt to push up onto forearms on tummy
Rolled from tummy to back (but only in a lefterly direction)
Breakdance/turn 360 degrees
Self settled for naps and night time
Taken longer naps

Clearly DD has been spending time mulling these things over, hence the proper strop but now she's on it like a car bonnet and I haven't shouted at her for a whole week now! Looks like we will be able to enjoy the sunshine too - I got the crab ELC pool with the sunshade (can't remember who suggested it, but thanks!) and I think we'll both fit in there....

how to cope with the heat? pool party at worse's I say :-)
dear plonko, what a crappy day that sounds. I have often found that good days follow bad so maybe tomorrow you will have model baby back gurgling contendedly under the baby gym and batting the eyelashes. FX.
soyo I have found the same re: slepp peak; downhill from a very satisfactory week 12 to a less so week 14. Bleuarghhh... Can you tell me a little of the rpcess of coil fitting...you mentioned it was ok. I'm considering options. Hormones don't suit me and allergic to latex. But bit phobic of the idea. Has your LO considred sleep to be an OK idea now? Hope so. FX for you too. You asked what we got up to today...We went to the market to buy ribbons in the colours of the rainbow to make a toy that we saw at baby massage yesterday. DD likes it wafted over her during naked time. We also saw HV for some hardcore patronising weigh in. 14lb 11oz which means nothing to me now but they patted me on the shoulder and told me to bugger off out of their clinic see them again in a month. I mentioned the muliple night feeds to the HV and she said 'BF'ing?' to which I replied yes. 'Oh she'll be doing it for comfort'. I wanted to say 'I'm sure FF babies find that nice warm milk and a cuddle from mummy is very comforting too so come up with a better explanation bitch'. but I didn't.
oh, DH has emerged from the shave parlour; he has interview in the big smoke tomorrow and is on stupidly early train so we'd better head upstairs to bed.
Good night wishes to you all and hang in there vj - sounds like (barring the poo or lack of) you're doing great. We take flask of boiling water and jug up to do night feeds of EBM to prevent us having to come downstairs - might that work for you? The milk is kept next to an ice pack to keep it fresh. And thanks for milk amounts help. I think I have a guzzle chops on my hands. 5oz 8 times in 24 hours. No wonder I'm eating like a pig.
Sweet dreams all. In haste. xx (and sorry for typos..)

Eco I've got a mirena coil so it depends on why you don't get on with hormones. It's a progesterone only coil but because it works locally its a very small dose so much less likely to get any hormone side effects, although a few still do. I got bad side effects with the depo injections & progesterone only pill but none with this. Also the vast majority of people have either no periods or lighter, shorter periods after an initial settling in bit. Other than the 6m trying to conceive LO I haven't had a period since I had the first one fitted at 19.

The fitting itself was very sore when I had the first one done at 19 although in hindsight not a patch on labour but the two since, the most uncomfortable bit has been the speculum & this one was easy after shoving a baby out of there I think the nerves are a bit shot. They put a speculum in just like for a smear and once it's in the whole process takes about 2-3mins. You just feel a bit if prodding and poking and sometimes a dull, period type pain.

The fitting process is the same for non-hormone coils too, the difference with them is that they're slightly less effective (98-99% vs 99.95%+) and the main side effect is they can make your periods a bit heavier. They are great, reliable, forget about contraception for people that have severe reactions to hormones or just don't like having them though.

As for the latex allergy there's none in the coils themselves so it would just be a case of letting the docs know and they'll generally do yours first things in the morning and make sure they're using latex free gloves. It's no more hassle though.

Madam has just gone a lovely 5hr stretch, a side effect of the jabs perhaps?

soyo am on husbands silly phone but a quick thank you very much for your response and personal experience. And great work miniyo! Five hours is the thing of dreams!

Yay for miniyo - you deserve a nice sleep Soyo!

Busy day today, pushchair bootcamp, quick run round the shops to buy cat fud so don't become bad cat mummy and pick up travel cot which I ordered from John Lewis. Hope this will provide temp solution for the growing out of Moses basket but can't fit massive cot in bedroom problem, plus we have a few family visits to do in the next few months so hope he will at least be used to it by then, may sneak into clinic for weigh in even though should be going fortnightly, as do still worry about minipuds weight gain and he's dropped a feed lately so want to make sure is still gaining even if is rather hammering my supply and then off to first baby massage class. chip fat at the ready

vj it would probably be unethical to say join me and plonko on the dark side and have a gag, wouldn't it? I had one elderly hv who thought it was fine because New motherhood is so stressful.

We don't worry too much about bedroom temperature. DD doesn't seem at all bothered by extremes of temperature. She only sleeps in one layer of clothes at the moment though. And we're getting through clothes stupidly fast because she keeps dribbling all over them.

Bedtime went beautifully here - the man was a bit perplexed by the total lack of crying and shouting so god knows what he generally does to her - and the night wad alright too. Wakes at 11.30, 2.15 and 5.15. She didn't want to go back to sleep after that last feed but I resisted her grumbling and she went back down until 7.45. I can cope with that.

Off out for lunch today, fingers crossed madam's well-behaved.

Re comfort feeding, I was vaguely wondering last night - comfort eating is much more likely with breastfeeding than bottle feeding. I wonder if there's been any research into whether breastfed babies are more likely to be comfort eaters in later life?

Right, best dash, Fartypants is shouting at me.

Stupid predictive text. Have a fag!

Stormy I dare you to post that on a bfing thread. There's a particularly shouty one in Pregnancy at the moment that had me giggling yesterday like the evil cah I am

Stormy Funky Giraffe dribble bibs are the answer! I've just bought a load as madam got a rash on her chest from always having a wet babygro!

Can you link to it, plonko? I'm still learning my way round this app. And I don't mean anything inflammatory by it, just interested.

SoYo dribble catching bibs are definitely going on our shopping list!

angry breast feeding thread I understand getting hung up on how you feed your own baby, but this is something else...quite entertaining if you don't care have judgeypants.

SoYo DS is permanently in a bandana style bib. Would rather change a bib than an outfit!

My ever expanding son is now out of size 3 nappies and I have 80 left. -le sigh- thankfully I can think of a gazillion pregnant friends I can offload them onto.

Pool party at mine ? Yay!!! Regards carpet of leaves and dead spiders coating the bottom with an air of slight panic Speaking of which I once wrote a cautionary article on why having your own pool is not necessarily A. Good. Thing. It sounds like a good thing. It seems impossibly decadent. When we were buying this place I was beyond excited about it. And then we moved in.... . Must dig it out.... although it is probably only funny if you have experienced the joy that is fishing out dead hedgehogs/mice lived the dream.

Another vote for the world of bibs here. The tiddler has developed what looks like a rather disturbing case of nappy rash under her double chin. Hot weather and dribble a bad combination make. We're currently going for a two pronged line of attack - regular washing and bottom butter, so here's hoping it clears up before the HV has me pinned as a bad mother. Speaking of which (HVs that is, not bad mothers) are the rest of you still bothered by these joys of humanity? I've not see hide nor hair of mine for 2 months now, and I don't have her number. I wouldn't normally complain, but the scar in my nether regions still hasn't healed. That can't be right, surely? Thought she might have an opinion... but then again, based most HVs opinions on most things I'd probably be better asking a dr.

Eco mini-worse is all for a bit of a comfort feed from me, but bottles just don't do it for her. She spits out the teat when she is full, and that's that. Fists, fingers, thumbs and mums are comforting. Bottles = food. The end. Although I can't speak for other babies who may have a completely different perspective on these things.

Have fun at bootcamp pud . I had to cancel training due to early morning jabs (for dd), but come next week I am telling Mr trainer that other people are allowed to run about and do proper exercise, and they haven't dropped dead in a post natal heap, so I want to too. So there. Ya boo sucks etc

V useful info on the coil SoYo, thanks. Hormonal contraception turns me into some form of bad tempered psychopathic nutter (not an exaggeration) so DH is quite keen on my finding an alternative. Only spanner in the works is I think I have a nasty infection. Weird dragging pain... must get to the GP tomorrow and get that sorted first.

We still see the hv but that's through choice. With the feeding and weight gain issues they wanted her weighed regularly, and with all the remaining clinics being a bit awkward to get to, I asked the hv to come round with the scales. She's coming back with them in a month, again at my request.

I found some teeny tiny newborn nappies with the bit cut out the front for the umbilical stump the other day. They're so small! I gave them to my brother, he'll need them soon enough.

Will check that thread out later, the man's still in bed and the baby's being a bit shouty. And off her milk.

Remind me where the pool is?

Have an insanely busy week this week with swimming, hair cuts, meetings at work and rehearsing for/performing in a festival (not quite Glastonbury) so will write more later but just wanted to say:

eco and worse, I had the copper coil fitted a week ago. No hormones as I was a bitch mess on the pill and I'm really getting on with it. The fitting was straightforward, despite the doctor presuming otherwise as I had a section so she anticipated that it'd be difficult but I had that and a smear all in one go. Felt a bit crampy the day after and had a bit of spotting but other than that, nothing. Got to go for a check up after next period but it's nice not to have to ruin the mood by looking for condoms or remember to have to take the pill.

Just thought I'd share what I did in case in helps in any way. Right, must dash, food for us both then off to see whether I can rock a fringe again or not. Decisions decisions.

God, might've taken on more than I can chew today! Just doing super speedy feed of the boy before heading out for baby massage. May have undone good of bootcamp by having no time for lunch and therefore guzzling two muffins instead (they had banana in!)

Hope DS will take his top up well in a mo as feeding schedule up the pictures today...

Bananas are fruit, pud, so that's two of your five a week day!

Phew! Home again and tucked up in bed feeding the boy. Seems a little ungrateful on what's turned into a lovely afternoon but think we both need a lie down in a darkened room...

Have erected travel cot which ses fairly massive, but is smaller than actual cot and can of course be used for travel . We'll see how he gets on with it shortly... Has a bassinet with mesh sides so I should be able to see him better than I can at the mo. also has a changing mat feature which will be useful at the in laws.

Also, excited as the necklace I ordered to commemorate his birth arrived today. It's this one - should mention that I only orders it last week, it just took me ages to decide which I wanted and what to have on it. Just went for his name on the big bead and date of birth on the small one in the end. Very happy with it.

Any one interested in little lambs real nappies, I had what seems to be a fab offer through on email today on their one size fits all pockets, don't know what they're like as I haven't tried them, though others on here have?

Gorgeous necklace pud, and a lovely idea to have something special to commemorate mini-pud's birth. It's set me thinking, perhaps I should do something special too. A photo board perhaps as we have a gazzillion photos on the PC, but none in the house. The tiddler's birth was a big turning point for me, and possibly the happiest day of my life .

I'm with stormy, bananas are fruit, hence good for you regardless of form

Off to bed now as feeling wrecked. That possible infection is a definite infection, and it's kicked in big time. Dr has prescribed antibiotics so hopefully will be firing on all cylinders again soon.

worse your upbeatness is always very cheering :-) Sorry about the dodgy nethers. The drugs will kick in soon hopefully. Good job you got that checked out. puds necklace is lovely agreed. My sister got all of Mum's creative genes and anything she turns her hand to she excels at. She made us a beautiful picture to commemorate DD. I will try and photograph tomorrow and share with you all.
I had my first foray into another thread today (plonko I had a look at the BF one?lots of people seem really angry with life?I find it quite amusing how outraged people get). I am not a seasoned MNer and found it all frankly terrifying out there. Anyhow, I read the most recent chapter in my ?your baby week by week? book last night and it made me wonder whether using Ewan the Dream Sheep is still a good idea as it was suggesting using sleep prompts should be tailed off a bit from 3 months on so the babe can self-soothe. I asked of people?s other experiences with Ewans (or similar)?.did you have one plonko? DD is wakeful in night now (seemingly for reasons other than hunger) and Ewan is needed at these times. She can?t seem to take herself back off to sleep without. Perhaps because of the wakefulness in the night by 1800 DD is worn out. Sucking her thumb and pretty much begging to go to bed. Do any of you alter your ?normal? bed time in these situations? Do you think it might lead to earlier waking in the morning?
stormy your theory on BF babies being comfort eaters was interesting. I am built like a racing snake and need to eat like a pig because my metabolism is evidently swift. If I have a comfort eating chubster for a DD it?ll be interesting!

pud that offer seems great. I might go for it myself. I have 8 little lamb ofsa bamboo pockets and 5 LL size one bamboos. But, that?s not enough to keep me going at all times (we still use a disposable at night and on washing day). The bamboo inserts and nappies are very slow to dry ? even on these summer days where we have sun and breeze. So I am tempted to get some microfibre ones so that we have some quick drying ones to start using again after a wash. The OFSA ones are handy in so far as they fit right through to potty training, tbh we?ve had some wee leaks around legs and on back but I?m only on week 2 of them so just getting used to timings and how many inserts and which poppers etc. They?re very handy to give to others (ie grandparents, baby sitters, nursery) because you can make them up in advance and they?re pretty much as easy to put on as a disposable. DD loves them on her bum by the way; they are very soft and snugly. Oh, and, like you, we recently graduated to cot. Third night tonight. She seems unfazed but does wriggle more.

something to fringe or not to fringe? Tell us! Thanks for coil wisdom. Sounds like that was pretty manageable then really. I may make an appointment to shat it through.

Like the rest of you we have torso rash from too much slobber. We also have 26 degrees on the thermometer despite having all windows and doors open upstairs. DD is in a vest and sleep suit only. I just had dinner out in the garden in my pjs so I figure she?ll be fine. Hope the rest of you find some cooling breezes from somewhere. I best away and do the debrief following DH?s interview.

worse go to the Drs & get checked! HV wil prob tell you to do that anyway.and then get narky with the personal trainer.

eco no personal experience of Ewan but know a few people who swear by him.

I've just ordered a load of bibs for ds, not bothered with the others but he's so drooly. Rash under chins here too.

Thanks for the link pudtat

Having done the real nappy trial, I ordered lollipop pop n gro birth to potty pockets. They are a micro fleece all in one and dry really fast. Find that all the real nappies need changing every couple of hours so intend to stick with disposables overnight. No experience with little lambs but at that price I thought it might be worth a punt if anyone was considering it.

Moses basket in cot tonight, we'll see how that goes. Ok so far...

Pramercise tomorrow, if I can get out of bed after today!

Got some photos printed and started putting them in an album. Does feel more special somehow.

Right, to sleep perchance to dream...

Meant to say for Worse and the poorly nethers, hope abs do the job quickly.

Eco, we use Ewan as part of bedtime and sometimes for daytime naps if he is fighting it. However I don't use anything to put him back to sleep overnight.