September 2006 babies

[Lysettes]

Start of our september 2006 post natal thread!

Sorry to hear about your day yesterday Marls and fingers crossed Clairemow that today is better. Wow, do you promise 12lb = sleeping through? I could do with some light at the end of the tunnel
I went to bed last night at 9pm, slept til 10.30pm when dd woke me up screaming in her room with dh. Went in and he was trying to settle her but to no avail. Dh very tired and ratty so I sent him to bed, fed her, she still wouldn't settle so ended up giving her the top up bottle (dh's job ), finally got her to sleep at midnight and then she woke up at 3am and then 6.45am so feeling a wee bit tired today. She's 5 weeks today and I agree with whoever said the tiredness sort of hits you after a few weeks of surviving on so little sleep. Luckily ds is at nursery today and dd is sleeping like an angel in her bouncy chair so I'm having me time on here and watching The Wright Stuff!!

Marls - lots of sympathy, I am having a few days like that at the moment, yesterday I woke up to find the fridge door had been open all night and the ice had built up so much I needed to de-frost it - emergency trip to my neighbours with my expressed milk to store in her fridge!
Today we overslept and til 8am - the time DH normally leaves the house - so I was left to feed, wash and dress us all on my own, I finally got my shower by 10am - not bad I thought, but could've done without it!
Tonight DH is taking me out!!! he has promised me since I had freddie.
Clinic tommmrow so we'll see how massive monster baby has become (12lbs at least I'm sure), so I'll let you know if 12lb = sleeping through!

Hey everyone,

Sounds like we've all had it over yesterday and today! I am trying to do all the washing and ironing that seems to breed in our house at the moment but without any luck and i'm sure our new washing machine is going to give up soon as it's on at least three times a day.

Next week is half term so it is either going to be a help or hinderance as DP will not be at work... thinking i'm going to write lists of who should do what on each day and then maybe he will appreciate it all. I'm looking now upon that week as to a week when I used to work as a nanny- and i'm boss he's nanny, not that i'm telling him that but as my new employer would've written down what is to be done and by when i'm going to do that... I guess it will be like a new job for him, seens as I have pretty much done it all. He also said last night, which had I not been queit so tired I would've laughed that he can't multi-task--- you're telling me!!! He cannot rock B's bouncy chair while he is on the phone to his mum. I replied what hope do I ever have of leaveing DD and DS in his (not) so capable hands. How on earth he ever became a teacher I never know!!!

B seems so fretful compared to DD. We have been having fun and games in the night as he wants me and grunts around until I get him out of his moses basket as he is fretting and so noisy. Thought about putting him in his own room but then he may wake DD if he screams whereas if he's beside me I can quickly shhhh him. And plus he isn't sleeping through yet and I guess the less I have to be up and about at night the better. I have resorted to, for the past two nights having him in bed with me to get another hour or so sleep. He loves it, which is a v.bad habit to get him into really. DD used to get in with me from about 5am til 6am but as soon as she started wanting it earlier and all the time it stopped but he has quickly realised that he can be in with us and loves me sleeping next to him. I can see him in the dark gazing up like 'ummm i'm with mum, got what I wanted!' So i'm unsure what to do. Let him cry and possibly wake DD until he settles himself or gets so windy/upset etc... so I then have to get him and in the process am awake anyway... or carry on with him in bed with me and then deal with the possible screams/tears etc at a later date just so we can all get some sleep??? The sleep looks very inviting but I know I may be just choosing that option because DP gives no help in the night and I am so tired that I just want to get him back to sleep as soon as possible.

Who watched panorama too and who is letting their bubba and possiblt toddler have the peunmococial (sorry I am useless at spelling but the one for meningitis and blood posioning) vaccine???

Marls they have apparently been doing it in the states for years and all ok, what are your thoughts???

Claire, Compo, Mabel, thanks. A lot of stress going around for all of us.

Mabel - Let us know about the 12 lbs!! DS2 should be almost there ...

Pol don't worry; DS1 spent the first 3 months of his life in bed between me and DH (we sleep like logs in same position all night, but he was still on a positioner so we would know he was there) - I say WHATever it takes to get sleep, just do it - you can wean him off later when you're working with full nights' sleep. DS1 transitioned from our bed to his without a fuss at all at, 4 months.

Pol - If you mean the flu vaccine, I see nothing at all to be afraid of. DS1 had his at 2 months, and if it's been available to us he's has it every winter. I really want for both DS's (as well as me) to be able have the flu shot this year. DS2 will get 3 shots at 2-month appointment and the flu vaccine's one of them. They regulate doses carefully for different ages here. Better safe than sorry; IMHO the shot's safer than the flu. Don't know if the actual vaccine content might be different in the US but highly doubt it, as our government gets most of its shots from a company in the UK.

Hi All - Liquidclocks told me about this thread as I have been posting on another one...DD was born on Sep 11th, trust her to come early and pick that date!!! I didn't know there was a thread for september babies, so nice to be able to chat to others with babies same age!!

Clairemow, thanks for the advice! We're actually at inlaws for a few days so the routine on my own has gone out of the window for now. DD has been great again...last night she wanted DH to put her to bed but was lovely with me beforehand. I know that I'll have to confront it again so to speak but hopefully I'll take it more in my stride - I'd hope not to turn into a blubbering wreck each time!!! She's just two going on 22 at times...seems very in control & manipulative when the mood takes her or are toddlers like that?!!! I'm told girls are much more sly than their male counterparts..

Re wind & colic....Jack is extremely windy, hardly burps, just farts away like a trooper but at times seems much in pain. He was awake from 5.15 to 6.45 this morning just contorting in pain & passing lots of wind. I've tried Infocol but I don't know if it's worth bothering with as I don't see much difference. On the plus side, over the past couple of days he's suddenly become more awake & interested in what's going on....I'd forgotten this stage with DD!! He's now 10lb 7oz....

It's now 6....gosh I hate this time of day...here we go again on the "how many feeds tonight" merry-go-round... Tassis, much envy at Georgia going for 7 hours!!!!

oops..not Tassis..Mandaz!

compo, rotfl at your ds and the 'nipples'! Re your lo's poos, my ds seems also to go for ages and then let rip with a huge deposit in the nappy department - he farts like a trooper and his burps can be heard from a considerable distance! . Father is v proud... Decided there are burps (dry) and BLURPS - the wet ones that creep up and cover you and baby in half digested milk requiring total change of clothes for you both. I've never done so much washing!

Am also hoping to do Homestart volunteering locally as these guys do great work with families and young mums in need of support...

Clairemow, agree with you about T&S and WN2Wear - still compulsive viewing but obviously scripted...[hmm}

Hope all the new mums are keeping well

This is a bit on the vaccine I found:
www.caringforkids.cps.ca/immunization/pneumo.htm

not sure how mush use it is to everyone but wondering what we are all decided on?

just a quick one - better day today. Managed to go for a swim with F in his car seat (asleep) by the pool (not right near the edge obviously!!!), which made me feel a million times better.

I'm off tomorrow to my mum and dad's for 10 days or so, so won't be on here much if at all, so I hope you all have a good week, and look forward to hearing from you all again when I'm back in the land of Broadband...

Hello, I haven't been on for a while so have been catching up on posts. Its so comforting to read everyone's posts and know that we're all going through the same types of problems
Edward seems to be recovering from his cold now - he is still a bit snotty but has been much calmer too. He's not settling in his cot though so we've been putting him to sleep in car seat but I am a bit concerned about him not getting used to cot.

Re. the wind, E gets loads of wind and really screams with it. I've noticed it sometimes seems worse when I eat certain things - mostly milk and dairy foods (i'm bf). Has anyone else noticed this? He also feeds and feeds during day - about every hour and a half and its good to know mine isn't the only baby that does this!

Hi everyone. Myrtle - I wouldn't worry about your ds getting used to the cot just yet. When he's a bit older he might be more interested in cot mobiles etc so maybe that will be the way to go? Have you tried swaddling? And when he's big enough maybe a grobag might help him feel more secure in the cot? Dd is stil in the moses basket but when she's 6 weeks (on Thursday ) we're going to try the cot so I'll let you know how we get on.
Oay night last night although she was awake loads between 9pm and 1am!! Then up for a feed at 4am and she slept from 5am to 9am. I don't bother waking her at 7am because it gives me time to get ds his breakfast etc. I usually take her out in the middle of the day and she sleeps for about 3 hours, the rest of the time she's on and off the breast.

Clairemow - have a lovely time at your mum's. Hope you get lots of rest with the extra help!!

Hello everybody, hope you & your lo's are all keeping well. Sorry we haven't been around for a bit, I haven't managed to grab 2 mins in the last month. DS still loves his little sister and Elizabeth is still being a good little girl. will try really hard to catch up over the next 24hours and then I'll know what everyone is up to x

Hi everyone - and especially Jam77 - glad you found us! It can be helpful sometimes to know what other mums at the same stage are going through as well!

Sounds like it's all just catching up a bit on us. Very pleased Pol's DP will be of next week - perhaps he can see how well she does such a hard job and develop a bit of respect for her!

Can I ask what all of you are doing re sleeping arrangements? I very aware of the SIDS advice about keeping them in the same room as you for six months and I'd planned on keeping Alex in with us until he outgrew his carrycot - probably about 3 months. However, with DS1 we ended up moving him at 4 weeks because he snuffled and snored and we weren't sleeping ourselves. DH gave me a bit of an ultimatum last night - him or the baby! He says he's not willing to sleep in the same room as Alex anymore as he thinks we'll get better quality sleep if whoever is doing the feed can just get up and go to a different room and not wake the other one up. I see his point - but is it really worth the risk? What do you all think?

I'm also on day 2 of a migraine (and loving my codeine!) so the idea of more sleep is quite appealing...

Hi LC - sorry to hear about your migraine. At the moment dd sleeps in her own room in her moses basket. We have a single bed in there so for the first half of the night dh sleeps with her as he does the top up feed and stays in there in case he needs to settle her etc until she wakes for a feed. At that point he comes and gets me and I sleep in her room and he goes to bed in our bed. However he doesn't like us not sleeping together so when we hopefully move her into her cot at 6 weeks we'll sleep together in our room. I too worry about the sleeping in the same room as her though so I might just see how I feel. The reason we think she'll be more able to sleep on her own in the cot rather than the moses basket on the floor is in case ds gets up in the morning and goes into her room before we get there - he can't get to her in the cot!!

Liquid- we had DD in with us, well mainly me as DP worked away during the week until she was nearly a year! I'm not sure how I managed now but actually looking back she was a quiet sleeper and very settled once she had been put down unlike B. I know he will not be in with us for so long!!! As soon as he is properly sleeping through I think he will be put out on his own.

Met three mums from netmums today and DD had a fab time! One has triplets so she was a wealth of info and took DD's huge tantrum like it was nothing! Why is it they decide to throw a wobbler when you're out?! B was angelic and was fed then went straight back to sleep. Had a fab time and great to get out and about like I really am human!

Hello,
i'm new to this site - bleedin glad to have found it though... have 5 wk DS... slightly concerned having just read the more recent posts here about having him in his own room - he sleeps in his moses basket, which is in his cot, in the nursery which is right next to our room... i had to move him in there at 3 weeks as he snuffles so much in the night it was keeping me awake and i couldn't cope with being so knackered. also i figured that since he was upstairs in my bedroom as he slept in the evening while i was downstairs, it wouldn't be that different. i keep both our doors open so i can hear him and he's literlly just a few feet further away from when he was in our room, it's just there's a wall there. But what is it with the SIDS thing? why would having him in his basket in my room make a difference?

also, he kips all day long and can rarely stay awake for longer than an hour... he eats for England (went from 7lb4 to 8lb in his FIRST WEEK!!!) and is already over 10lbs at 5wks, so i wonder if he needs all his energy for growing? he literally just eats and sleeps - very little awake time just kicking around - never more than 15mins really. is that normal?

also, he doesn't burp well but farts like a trooper - really loud and he often cries in pain and i can hear his tummy gurgling, then after a big let off he calms down. i am bf with one formula at night, and what i eat doesn't seem to make a difference... anyone any ideas?

Liquid, both DD & DS have slept in their own room from birth! Both started off in moises basket on top of cotbed then moving into cot when approx 6 weeks - we're going to move Jack this week as he has outgrown the basket. I'm staying with PIL for a few days & he has to be in with me which is driving me insane because of the noise he makes!!! Personally I think if you follow the current advice to put them on their backs, feet to foot in the cot, grobag, 18-21c in their room, no smoking etc etc...I don't see what difference it makes having them in your room re cot death. I do have the monitor on in our room right next to my ear so hear him as soon as he says boo! I guess it's a personal thing...like everything else we discuss on here!!! Hope the head is feeling better..

Welcome AngeandLuka! My DS is 5 weeks today & has put on 2lb since birth..currently 10lb 7oz (well that was when he was weighed on Monday!!) He breastfeeds a huge amount but I guess I keep telling myself that it wont be forever (the beauty 2nd second time round is that you realise these sleep deprived monster eating sessions wont last!!)

Glad to hear Elizabeth is doing well Cal!

Breast v. Bottle

advice needed! i am considering giving up breastfeeding at 6 weeks and moving to full time bottle feeding. DS currently has one formula feed at night, so he is used to it and i often feed him a bottle of expressed to top up when he's still hungry.

i don't have any problem with BF, it's just that i would prefer to do bottle as can share feeding with DP - at the mo if i express for him to give a feed, i still have to wake up to express or i can't sleep cause boobs too full.

so i was wondering what really are the benefits of breastfeeding? what difference will it make to his progress if i move to bottle full time at 6 weeks? i was always planning to do 3 to 6 months BF... if it really will make a difference for him, i will stick with it.

Why don't you try expressing during the day rather than at night? It's great that you have managed 6 weeks already - however as they say the longer you can do the better for him.......as I keep saying (& sorry to be a bore!) it's a personal thing but if expressing is working so DH can help & you have plenty milk supply, why not stick at it a bit longer? I only BF DD for 4.5 months & only realised how easy it was when I had to start faffing with bottles / sterilisation / formula etc....

The thing is that if i want DP to give him his 3am feed, i can express the milk for that in the daytime, but when it gets to 3am my boobs are at their fullest, so i still have to wake up to express some milk out or i can't sleep as they're so full they are sore.

what i am worried about is that my boobs are fullest at the 3am and 7am feeds, so i am generally expressing in the morning to give him a top up later in the day as he is often still hungry when my boobs are done in in the afternoon / early evening. then i also express at 10pm and usually get about 5oz, which i put in the freezer. so i'm worried that if i don't express first thing in the morning every day, i will stop producing milk at that time and then i'll be buggered for the rest of the day.

does that make sense?

i'm already having to do bottles and sterlising twice a day anyway, for the expressing equipment and bottles we use for top ups and the one formula feed. i was just thinking it might be easier to just do formula and also i can get more of a handle then on how much he's eating.

Hi Angeandluka - I'm almost exclusively expressing and just doing the odd 'proper' BF now, usually one at night and the 'breakfast' one. I formula fed DS1 and I have to say - expressing is SO much easier than FF and nicer in that it smells less and is MUCH more flexible than exclusively FF! With regards to the benefits of breastfeeding there are literally 100's of threads if you search MN archives and there are a few sites here and here .

If you do decide to go for FF just make sure it's absolutely what you want to do before you make the change as it's not something youll be able to change your mind about again. It is really hard to know what to do but as I think most people on here will tell you, it's a really personal thing and you have to do what you feel is right - and remember: happy mum = happy baby!

Coincidentally I had a 'big decision' chat with DH last night about the 2 things we disagree on - sleeping arrangements and me trying to BF. Given my migraine over the past few days I've realised that BF for me is quite selfish and really hard on DH because he has to do so much more when I'm not well. Given this I've decided to do 3 more weeks BF (until DS is 6 weeks) and unless a miracle happens and I'm completely well for 3 weeks (which would be nice please God!) we'll switch to FF and I'll go back to my more effective meds. I feel a bit sad about this decision but I've got to make the right choice for the whole family, not just me and Alex. Sleeping wise I've compromised at 'when he drops the night feed' which hopefully will be around 8-10 weeks as it was with DS1 and for the moment we're both going to leave the bedroom to do the feeds so there's no light switching on and hopefully then person not doing the feed gets a bit better sleep. Thanks for the info on what you all do btw, it's made me feel a bit better about this - like Cori says, we do everything else right so it's only one thing on a long list.

Hope you all have a nice weekend!