Graduated Elderberries

[HazleNutt]

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

Hazle I am absolutely whacked! E has decided that not only will she wake several times per night but now suddenly she also doesn't need as much sleep. She usually has about 10.5 hours at night and last night she decided she only needed 8 hours, meaning she went to bed at 8, spent 12.30-03.30 awake and then got up for the day at 7. I thought she would be knackered this morning after less sleep, but no, woke happy as larry and stayed happy for her usual 3 hours until the first nap and then only napped for 45 mins instead of her usual 2+ hours. Moan, moan, moan. This child will be the death of me.

Lol why does HV say to offer water at night? 60th centile is hardly problematic and at L's age it's not unusual to feed once or twice per night. This quote is taken from The Natural Child Project;

"Enforcing a strict routine when the baby may, in fact, be hungry, is similar to expecting an adult to adopt a strenuous exercise program accompanied by a reduced food intake. The result of expending energy (through crying/distress) while being deprived of food is likely to be weight loss and failure to thrive. Pediatrician William Sears has claimed that "babies who are 'trained' not to express their needs may appear to be docile, compliant or "good" babies. Yet, these babies could be depressed babies who are shutting down the expression of their needs."

I'm sure your HV is not suggesting you leave L to cry rather than offering food but it seems a strange thing to suggest.

Oh gawd, I haven't even thought about stair gates! We already have a gate in the hall to stop the dog eating the post while we are out so we will have gates everywhere! I guess we should also be thinking about a fire guard and those soft bumpers you put on furniture with sharp corners. I think I have seen the gates you mean Zombies. They look good but I bet they are quite expensive?

Alex we also had cosleeper and M happily moved to his own room after three nights of very little sleep so I wouldn't stress too much about that. In terms of having them in your bed, I have always drawn a line at around 5am - before that and M goes back in his cot, after that I sometimes left/leave him in with us. He always comes in at 7am when he wakes for cuddles anyway and if I'm tired I just want sleep around then. Having said that during the peak of his 4 month sleep regression there was no cut off time - anything for even 10mins of sleep!!

M still being pretty good at night, despite a long weekend travelling all over the place (including a night in a suite at what will be our wedding reception venue in Sept!). When we were away he woke for a feed every night at 4.30am but I reckon that's ok for strange places. Annoyingly though I keep finding it hard to her back to sleep afterwards, even though he does straight away - meaning I'm still really tired.

Wedding planning starting to play on my mind, as well as going back to work. Is going to be a busy few months I fear. Taking M into the office for the first time tomorrow - have been pretending I don't have a job or colleagues as am in denial about going back - wish me lunch for the tube journey from east to west london.... Am wondering quite how much worse it can be than it was in the summer at 36 weeks pregnant?!

Argh cross post cavort, feel bad now about saying M's sleep is ok. SORRY. Hope you don't want to stab me as a result don't feel too whacked and get a better night tonight.

Lol/cavort - maybe they've said it as they like babies to follow a growth line and don't like them to drop off it or shoot up it? My HV keeps telling me it's good M is following the line exactly, although I do think if he did a poo just before or after that would significantly affect his weight and progress so I really don't take it seriously. Tbh I don't trust my health visitors at all and think it sounds odd to suggest offering water without an explanation as to why?! Denying a genuinely hungry baby of milk at night seems cruel?

It's fine Janey. I know you hae been through this shit and I am genuinely happy and jealous that M is sleeping well for you.

V is improving, so hopefully E will follow soon, cavort

janey according to US websites, you're wayyyyy behind with your planning! I remember before my wedding, logged on to one, put in the wedding date and it said I have about 604 overdue tasks. "And this week, you should be thinking about the ribbons you put on the candles and if the match the chair covers"..or something.

janey just remember you're doing really well with the planning - you've got the lovely groom, great venue, brilliant bridesmaids and good ideas for the rest with nearly 7 months to go. I'll help as much as poss Work on the other hand... I hate the thought of going back already too! Hope it goes well going in to see them.

S keeps making eye contact and smiling at me today, it's making me melt, she seems so much more with it each day, it's crazy! She's turning into a real little person!

The HV said to offer her boob every 3-4 hours if she wakes up but offer water if she wakes up in between. This is because she sometimes wakes up an hour after a feed and I know she is not hungry but she still wants the boob. So on those occasions she said give water instead. What do you all think? It made sense to me.
Janey where do you work? I live on the other end of the central line to you so just curious
Off to Brighton for my shot tomorrow. Very excited. Cav is he giving you your £10 off?

Health related question. I pretty much sailed through pregnancy and recovered quickly and pretty well from my section, but the last week I've been feeling really odd. I feel a bit lightheaded and wobbly at times, I keep waking up with either pins and needles in my arms or with numb hands, even when laying on my back.
I also have really painful knees, they have been a bit sore for ages but really hurt to bend and turn now, for example I can no longer sit cross legged or sit curled up in a chair as they hurt. Also getting up from the floor is a serious effort. They feel a bit hot, as if they are inflamed. The pain even sometimes affects my hips too. I thought it might be loose ligaments after pregnancy but surely that should be getting better not worse?
I've booked a docs appointment for Friday, hope they can help. Just wondered if this sounded familiar to anyone?

janey your commute sounds like mine

Just spent five minutes typing one simple sentence on the fb group page. Typos and stupid autocorrect etc. Need sleep.

Mother I've had bloody awful joints since having M, to the point that I told a friend I was going to go to the doctor as I was concerned I was getting arthritis In the evenings I could hardly walk after sitting still for a while - that's not an exaggeration - and getting up to M in the night was awful. However my friend had just had her second baby and said she has the same after both pregnancies, and that it stopped as soon as she stopped bf. Now I'm down to two feeds a day I think that thankfully it's easing. How long have you been bottle feeding for, I can't remember? If it's not that long maybe it's still a temporary baby related thing? Fingers crossed it is anyway...

M and DP fast asleep. I'm wide awake. Annoying.

A nutritionist friend who also just had a baby said vitamin c helps post pregnancy joints as it helps in synovial fluid production... Could be with a shot?

"Worth" not "with"!

On the subject of bf and connected events, someone at baby singing today said their post partum hair loss stopped as soon as they stopped bf?!

janey we switched him at 9 weeks and be is now almost 15 weeks. My knees are getting worse each day, its bloody agony

oh and zombies my hair loss is the same.

I'm going to get some vit c and some floravital which ia for anaemia, just incase. Have the docs Friday but not sure I can wait. Could be anaemia, I've been bleesing on and off pretty much solidly since having the coil put in a month ago.

Sounds tough mother, the only advice I can give is try and eat as well as possible in case you're deficient in something but I know that advice is a bit crap basic. My neck and back get a bit sore sometimes but I put it down to holding S and the angles when bf/winding for example.

A friend told me she only lost her hair when she stopped bf, she said that's when it happens at its worst -eek

S has had a lot of dirty nappies over the last 24 hours and this afternoon she's been straining and crying while she does it. Hope something I've eaten hasn't upset her tummy She's woken herself up crying and straining so I've changed her nappy again, fed her and am giving her a hug. I'm sure if it was a proper tummy bug she'd be worse though? Ahh 4am, I forgot what you looked like after a couple of days, and here we are again!

mother I'm a bit shaky and lightheaded sometimes, turns out my blood pressure is just 90/60 instead of my usual 120/80. I used to have low blood pressure when younger without any issues so doc wasn't worried, but still odd.

alex she doesn't have a fever or anything?

And yes, we probably all could use some vitamins that have been sucked out. Then again, I read a study that women who took multivitamins before getting pregnant were more likely to miscarry:
ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/01/21/ije.dyt278.extract
so I'm not really sure what to do here.

I'm still losing hair, but not as much. Have an odd hairstyle though, as lost a lot of hair around my temples, both sides, and now have new about 1,5 inch hair growing there. Nice that it's growing, but it looks like I've just taken scissors and tried to give myself a novelty haircut.

I don't take multivitamins personally, I just google high vitamin foods and make sure I eat really well. Oh and I'm trying to get daylight each day for vit d so I walk everywhere.

mother I also have low blood pressure I think as I did in pregnancy and I sometimes get dizzy now, just now and again. My mum has low blood pressure too and gets dizzy,

I don't think S has a fever as her hands feel cold and her head just nicely warm. My mum has bought her this expensive digital ear thermometer so I might work out how to use that and check. She usually wakes up in a happy mood these days but is cranky and has done yet another poo - that's about 7 in 24 hours compared to her usual one every day or two?!

She's doing another one!

I do both alex, vits an varied diet. We eat healthily. I have to rely on myself to be at my best to look after H so if vits are a quick fix that is ok with me.

I am out at least once a day with the dog so get vit d, plus when the weather is good I always walk into town etc.

Just hate feeling rubbish as I'm usually annoyingly healthy.

After a bad night with a cav special 3-5 H is now wide awake as he's done a poo and needs changing. Looks like I'll be needing matchsticks today

Have you eaten more fruit or fruit juice than normal alex? That gave my friends lo a few days of heaps of poos as it passed through into her milk. Had her worried till the doc worked it out.

I've actually had less fruit than usual - I did have two really creamy frappacinos on Monday, that's the only thing I can think of!

Do you normally not have too much dairy (and then you had the creamy frappucinos)?