March 2013 - still too sleep deprived to think of a funky title

[StormyBrid]

Old thread here.

We seemed to be running out of space (again) so I made us a new thread.

Yep I'm a big believer in too clean and the hygeine hypothesis. We sterilise bottles (or did when we were still managing to use them) and the sippy cup but nothing else. To be fair, madam greets the dog every morning by holding out her hands to be licked and those hands usually go straight to her mouth and the pup usually gets at least one sneaky face lick a day, plus whatever germs lurch in our carpets and out on the grass when she's having a good wriggle, so that does seem to negate any sterilising benefit we have! Perhaps I should start bathing the dog in Milton!!!

Evening all, hope you're all snoozing well already. Nice couple of days here. DH has finally got it into his head this week at least that parenthood is pretty damn tough. So far since my moan I've been thanked for being a great mum, bought flowers, bought wine, cooked dinner (of a fashion) and told I'm appreciated. Which is nice.

Stormy Re: night feeds, cutting down the size of them really slowly worked for us. When we first settled into ff, she was having 5-6 feeds a day, the last one being at 10.30ish. She was then waking at 3ish for a full bottle. However, her first and second feeds of the day were then rubbish, sometimes only 2oz each at 7 and 11am. So we started making 5 normal bottles, then a 6th bottle for the middle of the night. We made this one an oz smaller every 4 or 5 days. Lo and behold she increased her 7am feed by an oz ish at the same rate. The lowest we got to was a 3oz bottle, which she then dropped. Took about 3 weeks. We still do the 11pm feed, although again she's getting less and less hungry first thing so we've dropped the 11pm bottle to 6floz to see if that makes a difference, and will probably try the same thing.

As for 4 hrly feeds, at what stage of hunger do you feed her? I was initially going for those very first hunger signs, and she wasn't managing much. Then i started waiting for a cry. Not a meltdown, just the first cry that she couldn't be distracted out of. She would then drink more, and go longer before the next feed. Started at 3 hrs, then 3.5, finally 4. Pretty consistent now, although I will admit to being a bit of a fan of a routine now I'm ff. bottles offered as close to 7, 11, 3, 7, 11 as possible. Obviously if she's hungry earlier I don't leave her starving, but whilst I loved the carefree, 'stick her on the boob at every opportunity' nature of bfing, ff just felt like it needed a routine to me.

Plonky, I meant to ask the other day re: health visitor. Did the measure DS' length as well? Because weight without length means nothing in terms of being overweight (which is pretty impossible with a 5 month old anyway!) if it's any consolation, by far the chubbiest baby I know is ebf, and they say ebf babies can't be overfed. Proof that they come in all shapes and sizes.

Wors, sorry you're suffering, well done both you and DH for pushing your gp. Hope things are resolved soon otherwise maybe you should visit soyo and she could diagnose you in her living room while mini-yo and the worselet play

Weaning. Well, because I plan to go completely 'baby led' (a phrase I hate, by the way, isn't it just feeding your baby!?) and totally mush free because I'm a skinflint and hugely lazy, we were going to wait til 6 months as per advice. However, in the last couple of days I've given her a couple of things to play with whilst I've been eating to get her used to it. She wasn't hugely impressed with the green bean out of my salad yesterday, but she went what can only be described as COMPLETELY MENTAL over a slice of apple today. It was too hard for her to gum any bits off, but she sucked all the juice out of it like a thing possessed. So it looks like we've started weaning, albeit very slowly.

Re: not feeding your baby things you wouldn't eat yourself... Formula totally grosses me out. Can't even lick it off my wrist when testing the temp. Which makes me feel a bit guilty to be honest, but hey, such is life. I tell myself it's no different to my friend giving her son marmite on toast when she thinks marmite is basically the devil's shit.

Anyway. Ridiculously long post. Especially considering I could have been asleep half an hour ago...

Vj glad to hear he's improving. I've had similar issues, even thought about leaving! God knows why they're so useless. I hate to generalise but this is such a common thing...

Ok ladies - tips on rolling please - DS can roll on to his face and then spends ten minutes making horrific straining noises (plus gargling, which is his latest favourite) until i help him, but then he just does it again straight away. Should I leave him to figure out how to roll back? He does seem to eat his hand whilst trying rather than using it to aid him!

Leave him to it unless he gets distressed, Leni. He'll figure out how to roll back the other way eventually, given the opportunity. DD first demonstrated rolls both ways a couple of weeks ago but doesn't do them often. She does like to sleep on her side though, and has mastered getting onto her tummy in her sleeping bag, but can't go the other way in it yet. Three times last night she started shouting and when I went in she was doing press ups.

vj hunger cries? What are they? We've been feeding by the clock for a very long time, because DD doesn't hitch for food unless she's ravenous. Just one more thing for me to feel guilty about - she obviously learned during her five days on the boon that crying for food is pointless. Although thinking about it, she cries when in pain and she can be a bit shouty when tired, but otherwise she doesn't really cry at all.

I did the night shift last night. Feeds at 12.15 and 3.30, only three flozzes each time then she rolled right over away from the bottle so had obviously had enough. Woke at 7 and I went back to bed after waking the man. Five and a half flozzes at breakfast, and five at eleven (probably would've been more if the man had timed the baby rice better). We'll persist with four hourly and see how it goes, and just hope it doesn't lead to increased night feeds!

Stupid phone, bitch and boob are totally legit words that don't need correcting!

We saw every hour of the clock last night....zzzzz

On the plus side the in laws are being very reasonable and no unwanted advice yet!

Madam pinched a bit of cucumber off my plate last night and went to town on it so I think we'll be starting the weaning fairly soon, just can't decide whether to do that or the big room move first!

Ah yes Leni, the rolling. Madam can sometimes roll back but she needs to have rolled into the perfect position to do it, if she gets stuck and whingy on her tummy I leave her for a bit, then manoeuvre her into a writer position for rolling and if she still doesn't manage I give her my finger to grab onto and help her over.

Ooh! The party was fab! I'll try and post a photo!

Morning all. Everyone had good nights? It's been raining all night here, and aside from a four flozz feed at one in the morning, DD slept through. Only downside, her milk intake yesterday was a bit low, as she had five bottles in total rather than seven.

Morning all. Yup, a good night here Stormy. So good in fact her littlestship is of the opinion it still is night and has yet to get herself up. The bigger bottle teats are a lifesaver, as she's back on her normal routine and a lot happier in herself (as am I).

5 daytime feeds is what you are aiming for, so if she is dropping the night ones gently encourage her to take bigger bottles in the day and you'll probably find she starts sleeping through. The worselet can be a bit funny about this at times, and what works for us is to give her a 10 minute commercial break to play on the mat half way through. She seems to forget she is full and finish up after that.

No rain here at the moment, and it looks like it might be a lovely sunny day but not too hot day. It feels a little autumnal though, dark earlier, cold and clear first thing... It is used drive me mad when DH declared autumn was upon us in the middle of the summer, but I kind of get where he is coming from now. It's age I tell you. I've caught him up on the old gimmer stakes.

Speaking of which someone guessed my age at 32 yesterday. They are my very best friend ever now. They are obviously also half blind and an accomplished liar, but I still luffs them.

Glad the party was fun Eig. Yes please to pics I am nosey

The rolling thing is a fraught business isn't it? The tiddler's official favourite at rest position is now on her stomach. Unfortunately her massive head makes this a rather tiring resting pose so she falls on her face after a few minutes, and wails. Rolling onto her back is obviously not the solution, as she doesn't want to be on her back. So she wails more and I stick her in her chair

VJ glad DH has stepped up. I think they sometimes don't see the amount of work a baby is. Mine was a bit rubbish until the time when I was so sleep deprived, dehydrated and starved (back in the early days when DD was ebf, but would not be set down so I never got to nap or eat) that I passed out. He woke up to the reality pretty sharpish.

Latest weaning news, the worselet does not like banana. She really doesn't. You should have seen her face. Horror and disgust doesn't even begin to describe it. Baby rice on the other hand was met with bland neutrality. Not bothered sums it up.

Morning!
Ooh lots to catch up on, i've not been on here since Friday.

Worse I was amazed at the difference teat flow rate makes. If it makes you feel any better I've had to have it pointed out to me twice before I've moved up a size. Hope worselet is more compliant now. Avocado eh? That's it, she's practically a yuppie already .

We're attempting to move to a four hourly schedule today. If he cries earlier obviously ill just follow his lead and not push anything, but his appetite's become somewhat unpredictable now he's able to stay awake (without grumping) for more than 2 hours at a time. We've been on five bottles for a long time (3 months I think) so this means dropping down to four, but as he's been having about 28 flozzes a day lately I don't envisage this being a problem.

Stormy she does look like a happy little thing. DS doesn't cry much either, unless he's teething or overtired.

Vj she did measure his length too, but I think she got the wrong measurement. I dunno, the whole thing pissed me off. She made me seriously doubt my competence as a parent with her pithy 'well you can't accuse him of failing to thrive' remark. She took no notice of the fact that he's a very happy and well loved little boy who, up until he started teething, asked for a lot of food. I'm glad the penny has finally dropped for your DH - it might be more of a team effort now.

We've had a busy weekend, went to the PILs house in the Welsh borders for SILs 20th birthday. FIL made an excellent speech, which started as praise for his danger but quickly turned into talking about his gorgeous grandson. DPs five mad aunties met ds for the first time and he charmed the pants off them all. Although I got very little sleep (as anticipated) and found it quite overwhelming while DP was playing video games with his brother and taking very little initiative with changing feeding and getting ds to nap, so I ended up having a little cry on mil's shoulder. A swarm of aunties surrounded me and told me I was doing a fantastic job.
His cousin was also there for a short while with his wife and their three month old. Tiny baby with a tiny cry, totally lovely but none of us were able to get anywhere near. I'd never seen anyone so clearly on the edge of PND, it was very sad. She wouldn't accept any help while she forced 2 cartons of aptamil into a 12lb baby. Thank god there's a midwife in the family who has vowed to have a gentle chat with her.

Nice to be home and calm again, even if I did have to change a poonami sleeping bag at 5.30am.

Just one night feed split in half after a day of refusing food yesterday here, but Sir still doesn't want breakfast! I tried to implement the 7,11,3,7,11 yesterday but the 7am wasn't happening so it was all messed up from the off. Help! He seems fine and chatty/screamy as ever so obviously not poorly, just snacking all day rather than having normal feeds. I've tried waiting until he's really hungry but even then after a few flozzes he's doing yuck face and chewing the teat instead of drinking.

He does get distressed as soon as his face touches the floor with the rolling thing, he can prop himself up really well once arms are positioned, but he seems to hate it!

Oh and for any fellow alt nineties teens - Manda Rin from Bis had her little boy Denny ten weeks early this morning, weighing just 2lbs 13... He's well so far. She has MS so not sure if that was the reason

I remember Bis, Leni! Very bouncy, weren't they? I dimly remember dancing around our bedroom to them with my sister, back when she was solely in charge of my musical education. Less than three pounds sounds shockingly tiny though. Hope he does alright.

We managed a six ouncer for breakfast! She started losing interest and chewing the teat after four, so I put her on the changing mat, reheated the milk, and pinned her flaily arms down, and she drank the rest happily. So maybe try reheating, Leni?

As for the faceplanting babies... We got DD a squeaky giraffe rattle thing the other week. She loves chewing it and rattling it, but has yet to figure out the squeak. So the man put in right in front of her when she was on her tummy. She got tired, faceplanted the giraffe, squeak! Even had the foresight to film it.

worse tell the worselet to send any unwanted banana this way, it goes down very well with DD. And forgive me but I must be nosy and ask how old you are now. Does anyone else have a bad habit of assuming people are the same gender, age, ethnicity, and so on as themselves unless proven otherwise? This means I tend to vaguely assume you're all in your late twenties.

Oh, and just wait until the worselet figures out how to roll onto her tummy in her sleep. We're up and down the stairs like yoyos in the evenings these days, and she's getting plenty of exercise doing press ups while calling for help.

Still loving the rain - ten more minutes and she'll have been napping for an hour and a half. Going for a sneaky smoke now while I have the chance!

Hello ladies.

In my mind stormy I am late twenties. In reality I am 37. But my DH is 28 so that keeps me young
It?s great to hear of all of your weaning and 4 hour schedule feeding success. We?ve only just started reading the weaning book and we?re going to get DD in her high chair to join us for breakfast and lunch every day if we can manage it just so she can see us. Generally at present breakfast and lunch are grabbed during nap times so she?s only really seen me snacking on cake so not perhaps the best role model thus far. We?re going to get one of those mesh bag suck on fruit things to start with I think. Anyone had fun with those. They hold it like a lolly.

Are any ebf babies on 4 hour feeds through day at all? We're still at 2.5 to 3 hours and no ideas if that's terrible or not. I think your HV plonky might accuse me of rather overfeeding my little blimp. Oh, and any ebf babies sleeping through now? If so when did your boobs settle down to not producing milk overnight or do you always wake wanting to prod your LO awake to suck and ease the discomfort? DD has only slept through 4 times and then not consecutively so my boobs err on side of caution and produce gallons overnight.

Rolling wise we seem to be where several of you guys are at. Can roll back to front with ease, happy to spend a few minutes there, then face plants and wails, I encourage her to roll back herself which has never worked so I give in and flip her, she rolls straight back onto her front ad infinitum. The demands for flipping in night are becoming less frequent now though and she seems fairly happy to sleep on her side and sometimes on her tummy too.

All your sterilising chat made me think?if you are now ?only sterilising bottles? what else did you guys used to sterilise? Dummies perhaps? Can you stop sterilising them at 6 months? It just got me to thinking I?m being a sloven of a mother because all we ever sterilise is bottle, pump bits that get milky and dummy.

Back last night from a camping weekend with three babies: 2 x 6 month olds and DD who is 4 mo. It was sunny and relaxed; babies asleep whilst still light so plenty of time for sitting around camp fire and nattering. The gentlemenfolk consumed some rather potent ales which meant DH wasn?t much help at night but DD did really well. I swear the exposure to loads of sunlight during the day helps makes them sleep really well. Life on the campsite is pretty feral, despite two showers. Within minutes of showering you are covered in filth, especially when dealing with a baby too. So, on the journey home I was very much looking forward to a lovely long soak in the bath. At 6pm DH decided to take the waste pipe off of the bath to unclog it from the massive postpartum hair moult that seems to be occurring and lo and behold he couldn?t get it back on again. So this morning he has had to go to the gym for a pre-work shower and I am faced with the sink. Strip washes. What a faff. DD is so used to accompanying me to shower/bath that she thought the whole strip wash palaver most entertaining. I?m off to meet NCT ladies soon and hope they don?t notive my hair that?s not been washed since Friday for a while. I have attempted a plaited fringe affair off to the side in an attempt to look like Kate Moss at a festival but fear I have missed the mark a little?..

Eco that's all we sterilise too. What else is there? Hope I'm not being very stupid...

Is reheating feeds allowed?! Within what time scale? I probably break the 2 hour time limit a lot lately

We sterilise dummies when we remember. Helps with clearing thrush.

Feeds shouldn't go back in the fridge to reheat later; if the bottle's been in the mouth you've got the possibility of bacteria in the bottle. Bit of a bigger when they decide they don't want a full feed!

A bugger! Why is my phone so opposed to colourful language?

Stormy I'm (ahem) forty.... but remember I only look 32 . In my mind I am about 15 and so rightly should have no responsibilities, and be allowed to sulk.

Rolling on face at night.... Nooooooo.... I am not looking forward to that. We already do the blanket dance. I put them on. She kicks them off. Cries. I put them on again. And repeat. I know a sleeping bag is the answer but knowing that and actually doing something about it are two different matters.

I reheat milk too. No one has died. Only with an hour though.

Never heard of Bis, what with being old and all, but I hope little Denny does well.

Eco A toy boy Good for you!! where did you find him

Eco we're still EBF and feeding every 2.5-3hrs. We've gone 4h a couple of times but that's all. We're nowhere near sleeping through though, my boobs are ready to explode on the few times she's only woken once overnight so goodness knows what would happen with all night. Luckily (ha) she's awake every hour or two at the moment so boob explosion isn't a problem.

So far today we've managed to feed every four hours, with bits of baby porridge and purée in between. His tongue thrust has completely gone and hes sitting unaided for short bursts, so I'm prepared to press on with weaning now. Where has my floppy newborn gone?!

We sterilise dummies, bottles, some rattles and weaning bowls/spoons. I too am a believer in not over cleaning, but dp has always bordered on being obsessive compulsive about hygiene. He's the type to open doors with the back his hand, and approves of my dads very OCD flannels-and-laundry-bin instead of hand towels system.
Incidentally dp's family all have allergies

I'm 27 in a couple of weeks . Dp will be 28 in September..

Still ebfing here too and because DD sleeps from 7.30 to 7.30 if I didn't feed her every 3 hours, she wouldn't get enough. I'm happy with that though as it's five feeds and that coincides with three meals and two snacks - ready for 'real' food.
I'm 33 at the last count but I feel 53 with my post pregnancy body.

How do you feel about a baby swap Any? DD is practically perfect in many other ways!

27 you say plonky. Would it be unfair of me to derive a modicum of amusement from the fact that you will be hitting the big 4-0 just as ds reaches his teens. Your poor DH !!!!!!

That is the one upside of having hit 40 already. Nothing left to fear. It's fine, honest although tweezers will become your best friend

No proper food eaten here today, as tiddler was on a schedule understood by no one other than herself. This according to DH is because she is a baby. He could be onto something there.

As for me I'm supposed to be changing the bed linen whilst DH is doing the evening shift. As you can see I have got distracted. It doesn't take much. I probably ought to un-distract myself and focus.

On the other hand, Worse, I won't be dealing with a teenager in my fifties . I seem to spend my entire life distracted these days.

Giving up smoking lasted 12 hours. Ds had a screamy late afternoon. I'm so rubbish at willpower.