Graduated Elderberries

[HazleNutt]

It's time to move to Post-Natal clubs.

[Cavort]

Merk and Thunder don't let Janey's tales of 12 hours straight fool you into thinking that's what all 9 month babies do I am of course wild with jealousy. The most E has ever managed in one go is 9 hours and that's a rare treat. A 6-7 hour stretch before 1 or 2 night feeds is more the norm here at 9 months.

I started expressing from 3 weeks so I could get a longer stretch of sleep and would highly recommend it. Even if it's just so you can pop to the supermarket without worrying about returning home to a ravenous screaming baby. I know many people say leave expressing until at least 6 weeks but we had absolutely no issues at 3 weeks and she never had nipple confusion (whatever that is). I think for the first few weeks you are running on adrenaline but when it catches up with you it's good to have some sanity-saving tricks up your sleeve.

Well so far i am pleased to say my cunning plan of coming somewhere with a 4 hour time difference has done wonders for my sleeping! We have kept E on the same schedule as at home so she goes to bed at the same time as us at 11.30 and wakes for a feed about 7 am so we get some quick breakfast and then we're all back to bed for a few hours. Heaven! I must try not to get too used to this as it's back to being up in the night when we get back.

[Quodlibet]

So after not napping yesterday, W went to sleep at 5pm for the night in all her clothes. We had to wake her to change and feed when we went to bed, and then she decided that midnight was a good time to practice her shrieking and gurgling. Obviously 4am was the logical time for her to start the day and crank up the shrieking again, but thankfully a small amount of persuasion convinced her that a few more hours in bed might be nice.

Am trying to convince DP (and myself) that she is just ahead of the game in setting her body clock forward. We are both shattered. DP did 10 laps of the flat with her at midnight to get her back to sleep, bless him. We are off on a mystery Mother's Day day trip today, about which I am quite excited.

Merk and Thunder, have you thought about expressing a feed so your other half can help out and let you get a longer stretch of sleep once a day? From what I remember we did this with W from about 2.5 weeks and it worked a treat.

[MotherOfCleo]

haha, I loved not having to pee every 2 minutes Janey, but my favourite part of not being pregnant is sleeping on my stomach again....bliss

Harvey had an amazing night, 9-5.30, went back down and is still asleep, that is his best ever He had a breakfast of porridge yesterday then a 3 course dinner of broccoli and baby rice, pear puree and then more porridge as he was screaming for more....little podge, wonder if that helped keep him full overnight? Started making my own food for him and he much prefers it altho one whole broccoli made hardly any puree maybe 2 pots.

[janey1234]

Aaah online chats from new mums in the early hours, I remember that! Big congrats again to you both oh and sorry to say this if it's tmi but are you loving having a normal pee? I remember we all were chatting about it straight after our babies, saying that it was amazing to pee properly again...

Last night was the first in ages that M didn't sleep for 12 hours straight. Instead he woke at 5.45am (was in bed at 7pm as usual) and I feel knackered. How does that work?!

[Thunderpantsarego]

That sounds good. I got kit to settle on her back at about 5am- small achievements! Haven't slept yet as feeding again but going to hand over to DH once we're done for three short hours a bit to have some myself. STILL so much better than pg insomnia.

[CatsCantFlyFast]

First sleep was on the pillow. Since then I've laid her in bed with me, between me and the pillow with just her blanket over her legs. She slept fine for 1:45 but at least when she woke we don't have to move to feed.

[Thunderpantsarego]

Oh no I'm not! How are you sleeping? Up on your pillow?

[CatsCantFlyFast]

Thunder hope you're getting some sleep - mine is in 2 hour intervals tonight!

[Thunderpantsarego]

Oh my god that hammock is gorgeous! I want one too.

merk I have an absolute stack of dried fruit packs next to where I feed- think the figs (enjoyed with Camembert) may have helped in particular...

Rubbish about the mw tho. If you think they're infected in really think you need to get them looked at. ASAP. Sounds like you've had a real mixed bag over there with your experiences. I didn't realise I would be getting so many visits by my mws. I have to say they are all really lovely so far although today's clearly just wanted to talk about herself a lot

Hi quod and thanks. Hope sleep better tonight (and you will therefore not be reading this any time soon)

[MotherOfCleo]

merk hope the nips are soon better! My friends were so bad that when he lo was sick it was red so sad. I spoke to her and she said drinking fennel tea helped reduce he lo's wind issues, might be worth a try?

Also I think bathing in water with a bit of salt in it can promote healing of your stitches merk, that and diluted tea tree oil (a natural antiseptic) can help get external infections under control.

[MotherOfCleo]

quod I have been their with the every 2 hours, hope W gets back to sleeping for you soon! H went to waking every 40 mins before he got better. That was due to teeth tho

thunder merk I'm afraid E and minithunder sound pretty normal. I found H liked being cosy so if I put a nice fleecy blanket under him her would sleep, I also had towels rolled either side of him (under the blanket) it seemed to make him feel more secure. He did get a bit used to sleeping on his back in hosp though as we were stuck in for 4 days and the midwives didnt allow co-sleeping, wrapping him tightly in blankets seemed to help.

have to go just been handed screaming H.

[Quodlibet]

Welcome to the motherland Thunder!

Alex, that is impressive. W doesn't do back-to-front, only front-to-back, and only because she gets pissed off with lying face down.

Our sleep has gone crap here - past week or so she's been waking every 2 hours or so rather than once. Except for the night before last where, mystifyingly, she slept through. Of course I woke up every couple of hours and had to check she wasn't dead. Hitting a wall of tiredness this pm and W is so far resisting a nap.

[BlearyeyedLol]

Hello thunder long time no see
Yep L would only sleep on me or dh for he first few weeks. Think it's got to do with the heartbeat which they are used to! Like merk I just accepted and made it work like that rather than fight it.
Oh and merk bf babies can and will go for days with no poo. Just be prepared as when it comes it will be massive! I don't know what to do about bleeding nipples. It can't be pleasant though. I feel for you!
Over here I crashed my car yesterday. I've only had it 3 weeks. It was nothing major and nobody was hurt but I was a mess after thinking what could have happened to L. Scary times. So now I'm driving dh car for a while until mine is back from garage.

[CatsCantFlyFast]

Just spoke to the midwife on the phone regards my concern about my stitches. Her response...."I should think it'll be alright"
Not v helpful and has not put my mind at rest

[HazleNutt]

We have this hammock: www.babyhammocks.com/index.php?route=common/home
It was brilliant when V was small, guaranteed to get him to sleep.

[CatsCantFlyFast]

Thunder you're doing better than me, a week on and I haven't pooed yet

[Thunderpantsarego]

O cav what's a hammock? Haven't seen them.
Turns out even smug mums don't also suffer from 'quite pleasant tingle in fingers during breast feeding' so have avoided too much BS so far- but I heed your wise words

Yeah merk thunderkit is the same- just doesn't want to be laid out at night. I totally accept it as long as we're not total weirdos just means we need to be nocturnal for a bit. But you and me were anyway, right?

Ouch sorry about the nips tho. Has bf got worse/more difficult after milk has come in?

Ouch re stitches too. stops self from sharing tmi about having first poo since labour

[CatsCantFlyFast]

My baby is broken; she hasn't pooed for 30 hours and I am also broken as I think my stitches are infected

Thunder I am co sleeping at night with E on a breastfeeding pillow and me sitting upright. She won't go in the Moses basket between 9pm and 7am. Once I accepted that (as opposed to trying over and over again to put her down in the basket) it's been fine, whilst I'm not deep sleeping I am managing to doze much of the night and she is much happier.
Unfortunately am going to have to start expressing from one side today as even the nipple shield has not saved my poor bleeding nipple :(
But in all honesty who do I thank as it seems so far we got a good one!

[HazleNutt]

Over here, we were not moses-happy at all. Loved hammock.

As for 'is it normal' - take boasting parents on internet, including MN, with a pinch of salt. If I believed the development threads here, everybody else's babies are walking, eating full roast dinners and talking in full sentences by the time they are 6 months old. If you meet up with your NTC or similar baby groups, the picture is not quite the same.

[Thunderpantsarego]

Hi guys and thank you for the welcome! I did think that sleep deprivation might be high on the agenda (did keep an eye out in case anyone else was awake between 11 and 5am!)

Have already started googling the 'is this normal' questions... Really do feel very clueless but it's not nearly as scary as I thought it would be. Maybe that will come in time. Simply LOVING not being pregnant any more- the world is brighter, food tastes amazing, head is clearer etc etc

Sorry for other crisp nights and for funeral, MOC. hazle why on earth do people think it's ok to bang on about anything relating to other people, let alone their children? Dozy bint. Still all credit to your 8 month superbaby!

So it sounds like it might be quite normal for new newborns to not want to sleep on their backs in the night to start with? We are Moses-happy during the day and Moses-mad at night over here....

[HazleNutt]

Forgot to share from last week - so DH goes swimming with V. As the class is so bloody early, it's very quiet, just a couple of other babies this time. There is a new baby there. The grandma with the baby takes one look at V and won't stop harping on about how tiny V is. "Just look at that, such a tiny little child! Absolutely minuscule! He is soooo small, isn't he!"

DH is at first but at the end of the class gets a bit fed up and says that actually no, V is quite tall for his age. Turned out the grandma assumed it was a class for 2-year olds. Indeed, my 8-month old baby is a little small for a 2-year old.

[MotherOfCleo]

yay, HUGE welcome Thunder! You are very very welcome!!! Congrats on becoming a mum, can't wait to hear what you have called your little pickle.

We had a crap night had to travel to a funeral a 2 and a half hour drive away and I think 5 hours in the carseat gave H wind. Went down well at 9, woke screaming with terrible wind at 11.30 had to give gripe water for the first time in ages, then woke again at 2.30, an he came in with us at 5 and thankfully slept till 7. I'd just gotten used to one wake up a night, hope last night was a one off!!

[HazleNutt]

we're almost full, whoever writes the last comment will make a new thread!

Hi thunder!

Night would have been fine here, except that our cat number 2 absolutely hates cat number 3 and they decided to use V's room to discuss the matter. At 4AM.

[Alexandra6]

Hi thunder huge congrats!! How are you finding it? Saw the wine and cheese pic, yum!

Yeah we're v glam here, just been discussing burps and farts.

S has learnt to roll over from back to front! Was very excited especially as I was jealous of quod saying W had done it She's done it three times now and gets stuck on her front haha, she can't roll back. Yesterday she rolled over, puked and face planted into it, poor her! Puke in the eye!

[Cavort]

Hi Thunder, of course you can come in!

Just to summarise for you, main topic of conversation is sleep or lack thereof, along with general neurotic questions about what is normal and then quite a lot of discussion about the contents and consistency of nappies. 'Tis all V. glamorous.

Welcome to our world.