Elderberries no 2 - all old and new berry babies welcome!

[HazleNutt]

New thread!

I noticed today S has a rash - over her neck, body and chest. Little raised red bumps. She doesn't seem in discomfort at all - quite the opposite, she's been in great spirits, chuckling away and smiling all day. Funnily enough MIL had a rash yesterday so I wondered if she's caught something but I don't think MIL knew what her rash was and feel like I can't ask without risking offending! I'm fine leaving it for a while but that doesn't sound like meningitis or anything serious, does it? Anyone have a clue what it could be? I wondered about measles etc but surely she'd be itching and at least a bit poorly.

Oh and poppy I know what you mean about the staring moments. I have a pic of my baby taken a minute after she was born and she's holding onto my finger and staring right up at me, I absolutely love that pic and would have it framed if my nipple wasn't such a prominent feature in the background

Alex. do the spots go away if you push a glass on them or not?

They do seem to fade if I push a glass but you can still see them a bit. I THINK they fade enough to rule out meningitis. Having said I wasn't worrying, I now am! She's asleep but I can't relax wondering if she's getting worse up there!

No idea I'm afraid Alex, but have you googled meningitis rash? The pics I saw on my first aid course were very very different to the ones of S, more under the skin than a raised bumpy rash. I could be wrong though! Also think it's v common for rashes for things like chicken pox to start on the torso and spread then to the limbs. I girl from my waterbabies class said her son had it (this was about four months ago before you blame M ) and that he was in good spirits and perfectly well throughout, just covered in spots. If it is something like that hopefully S will sail through it too ... x

DH said maybe chicken pox. I won't worry (well I say that, but have spent the whole night googling and making sure the ear thermometer is at the ready)! I agree, touch wood, it doesn't seem like meningitis. Fingers crossed she'll be rash free in the morning! Bless her she has literally been in such a good mood, kept randomly breaking out into giggles, so def not in pain.

They def said that a rash is often the last symptom of meningitis, so if a baby or child displays other signs but no rash to still urgently seek help. If therefore assume the converse is true: if you're well but with a rash it can't be?
Hope you get some sleep :) xx

Just checked NHS site and a rash is one of the last symptoms of meningitis so I truly wouldn't worry about that x

Thanks janey and everyone for fb posts, she had a great night (one short wake up feed and one soothed with dummy) and she's woken up in a great mood again - the rash definitely isn't worse today and in fact it's gone down and is only really there around the neck today. She isn't hot at all. So sounds like an allergy or something perhaps? Would you bother going to the docs?

Good news Alex. Personally I wouldn't bother if it looked like it was on the way out and not affecting her, but then I am already very bored of the inside of our doctors waiting room!
Sleep over here has gone all tits up - every 2 hrs all night, and really only sleeping when next to me in the bed. 4 nights on the trot like this now and the zombification is starting to set in.

Alex perhaps give NHS Direct or 111 a call and see what they think? I phoned 111 last week with E's cold as she was very chesty and I was concerned it had turned into a chest infection and they did a very thorough phone assessment and then arranged for her to go to an out-of-hours Doctor to be checked. Thankfully it was just a cold but I was impressed with the 111 service after hearing a few people moaning about it

Hazle in desperation for an explanation after another bad night, I got the Wonder Weeks book out this morning and there's a big black cloud over E's current week so I presume V is the same. It says, "Your baby may sleep less well. Most babies do now. They either refuse to go to bed, have more difficulty falling asleep, or wake up earlier. Some are particularly troublesome sleepers during the day. Others are worse at night. And still others are reluctant to go to bed at any time." Really? No shit!

We had a little better night here, but he still didn't want to fall asleep as easily as he usually does. So how long is the fun supposed to last this time?

Argh not another regression ahead of us! Any sign of that with Miles too janey?

So went to the docs, and as I suspected, they were none the wiser! The first doctor said Sophia seems a lovely, smiley and alert baby (proud mum) Then the head doctor came in just for a second opinion and Sophia screamed when he touched her and wouldn't stop screaming until he left the room! She's never like that with people and was due a feed, but it made me laugh as I don't rate that doctor at all so I think she's got good sense like her mummy He said he didn't really get the whole rash/tumbler thing as it doesn't work (?!) and he didn't know scarlet fever is going round but said S is too young to get it (didn't your nephew have it at 13 weeks Cav?) Anyway the good news is they are happy for her to just deal with it naturally for now and come back if any other symptoms.

quod hang on in there, S's sleep was terrible but has suddenly improved again, as of last night anyway. When you've had several crap nights in a row, it feels like it will never improve though doesn't it!

Alex from your photos the rash seems to be around neckline, could it be some new laundry detergent or something simply irritating her skin?

That's what i thought hazle. Has anything changed - detergent, softener, anyone else washed stuff for you?

Haha - funnily enough I was at my mum's house on the wkend and she's a self confessed clean freak so she kept washing and ironing S's clothes, could be a reaction to something she uses or even the vanish stain remover. Or maybe it's just having clean clothes for a change? (I'm joking, she always has clean clothes!) Although just seen a post by merk on fb - she's found a rash too and her doctor says it's blocked sweat glands.

Check what washing powder it was - bet you it was that!
Knew you didn't do your own washing

Hazle if V is a little ahead of E then he should be back to normal in a week or so according to the WW. Another 2 weeks of this fun for us apparently

Can I ask you all when you started using a bed time for your baby? When does a routine need to be set? I am not very fond of routines but I should rely think of one.

Hmm I don't remember exactly but I think it was around 8 to 10 weeks. Started by just doing bath, cuddle and feed to sleep and then started really encouraging her to sleep at 7 with a dummy if I couldn't feed her to sleep then. I also started putting her in her own bed rather then letting her sleep on me, and we were able to do that in her sleepyhead pillow in the front room with us and then carry her to bed at our bedtime. Just goes to show that you can't rely on older generations when they boss you about give advice, because already I've forgotten when we did it exactly!

6am start here and quite a few mini wake ups, yawn!

Oh and by the way, the good thing about a routine for you is you get your evenings back but I've found I need to go to bed earlier sometimes to get enough sleep myself (as she always does her best run of sleep first). I do wonder if we should have made it 8pm and then she might start the day a bit later but now she is blatantly tired and gets cranky around 6pm so we stick at 7pm bedtime.

I think at around the same time. We went on holiday at 11 weeks and I know by then he was in a lovely routine (bed at 7pm, dream feed 10.30pm, he would wake for a feed at 4.30am then up for day at 6.30-7). Of course that all went to shit wrong once we hit the four month regression, but after a few weeks of that he settled back into it again.

Cav and hazle - really hope it isn't a developmental thing. WW has never matched up for us (on due date or born date - during the bad times I tried both!) and I'm getting far too used to him sleeping through every night.... Scared!

We had a terrible night. L is terribly constipated and doing the smelliest farts in the world
We're in Spain and I have no gripe water. Any suggestions? The poor thing has a belly bigger than her daddy's. She is literally full of shit!

I really, really hope S sleeps through too - I wonder if it is the daytime nap routine helping, along with him being a good sleeper?

I'm a bit worried S is getting too used to a dummy to sleep, purely because I don't want her to keep waking up for me to put it back in during the night. However it's the such a good way for settling her for naps and when feeding to sleep doesn't work at night, and also a good way to stop her having lots of night feeds (as sometimes a dummy will soothe rather than a feed). Tricky!

Compared to my NCT group he was always an average sleeper - not good, not bad - I think calling him a good sleeper around four months when he was up every 45 mins would have made me cry! He is good now though, and I genuinely think he's a baby that likes a routine so it has helped...

Lol how's about some orange juice? Seems to work for M...