September 2006 babies

[Lysettes]

Start of our september 2006 post natal thread!

Lexy - glad your dd1 is happy at uni...fantastic that Keziah's doing so well at breastfeeding... totally agree tre noisy babies at night!!

We have tried the dummy- we have just put it in and he is now asleep, no wonder though as he has been awake since six thirty and fed a whole four ounces and then had a little from another bottle.
So I sterilised a dummy and have now put it in and he seems more settled. But we'll see how it goes. DP still has huge reservations but if it saves my sanity then it will be a godsend as DD hasn't had any quality attention all day.

Also DD has now cut her lunch time nap in her cot, two days last week she settled on the sofa and went to sleep but now she has screamed and screamed until she has come down and then not slept down here. She definately still needs it as she is sooooo grotty without it and unsoleable at bedtime but I know that she has not been keen in going 'up' because she knows DS is down here. It's driving me mad as it's a time when I could actually rest too.
Glad to here i'm not the only one with minor teething problems with first children!

Pol: Two arguments for dummies -
(1) Better for baby because help to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (crib death). (Unsure of reason - perhaps b/c keeps baby partially awake/aware due to intermittant sucking, but know it's true. Pediatricians recommend them here.)
(2) Better for baby and you because: Otherwise baby might suck thumb or forearm - no parental control; you can't wean them as easily from body parts as the dummy once they're older. I've seen some ragged, bleeding thumbs and forearms in my day - on other kids at playgroups.

What is it with these men???? My friend (whose DD is now my godchild ) had to throw a screaming fit to get her DH to help - at all - with feedings. He had said, "That's why you're on maternity leave. I have to work." I mean, really!! He's been clueless as to hard hard this can be (though is now helping ). Perhaps the best thing you could do for your DP - and yourself - is arrange to be gone all day and night, one day when he's not working, so he finally understands. Or throw a screaming fit; apparently that works.

I agree with Marls re dummies - An absolute life saver when they are little and if you wean them off them by about 6 months you'll be fine. After that the babies know and form attachments and its harder to get them to go without them. Most of my children have had them while little babies. A lot in the early days then less and less until only to go to sleep and then eventually put to bed without them, usually then with a cuddly toy instead that they had taken to bed with them for a few weeks as well.

Well, THANK YOU LADIES the dummy is a huge sucess we went four hours between feeds in the night and he wasn't put down with the dummy just put in when he started to root around his moses basket. I feel like a new woman with all that sleep!!!
DD still has her dummy at sleep time and night but she isn't dependant on it and it would've been gone but with the new baby I thought it wise to stop jealous if he had one (which he has bow) that she should be ok to keep hers until christmas- we plan to give it to santa to get big girls toys!

Marls- hope you're feeling brighter, those hormones have heaps to answer for and yes our house has had the odd screaming fit at DP to pull his weigh. Last night was the first time in nearly three weeks I had my dinner without a baby on my knee . I also forgot about the SIDS fact, which I found out when I had gave DD a dummy first time round- which won him over... Will kindly remind him tonight when he says he looks awful with a dummy. Personally... I'd rather a settled contented baby and mum than a more attractive looking baby...

Hope everyone is well! and hope their little ones are letting them get some rest from the never ending washing, feeding and bottie changing!

Glad to hear it Pol

I'm feeling a bit fed up...teary again! It's just pure tiredness that's all but everything multiplies when you haven't had a lot a sleep doesn't it? For the last two nights Jack has gone down at 6.30 until 10.30 ish so I've been in bed by 8 to try & get a couple of hours in etc (he's then up every 2 hours or so). He's just fallen asleep again & who knows if he'll do the same or not...& I'm loathe to keep going to bed so early even though it makes sense!!!

Is anyone else addicted to I don't feel like dancing by Scissor Sisters?!!! Makes me feel quite happy & bouncy...(doesn't that sound like a contridiction in terms given my current mood?!! )

Coriander - I feel the same as you... it's this time of evening when I start to feel a bit low and panicky. I hate having to give up my evenings to get a few hours sleep in but I know it's the only way to survive. dd has been feeding loads today and has been hard to get to sleep but now she's been asleep since 4.30pm which makes me wonder if she'll go down okay!! Wen does everyone take their lo's upstairs? We've been leaving dd down here in her moses basket until dh goes to bed at about midnight or when she wakes up! Tonight dh is going out so when she nexts wakes up I'm going to put her down in the moses basket upstairs I think. She's back to her birth weight so things must be going okay with the feeding thank goodness

p.s sorry if tmi but can anyone tell me if they are experiencing the same re. bleeding - dd is 11 days old and my bleeding is still sometimes bright red. Not much of it, changing pads about twice a day. But the midwife said as it was still red instead of brown she wants to take a swab on Friday to check it out My gut feelign is everything is fine and just wondered what everyone else's experiences were? Had a womb infection with ds so bled for ages so not sure what's normal

compo it is not unusual for the bleeding to be still red especially if you have been more active but i think your midwife is right to take a swab on friday if its still the same just in case - I would too.

Pol - SO glad that helped. And it's not like you'll be taking baby out & about with "paci" (as it's called in our house) - just having him sleep with it! We used to allow DS to have one only in the car and in the crib; despaired of seeing some children with them in their mouths day and night.

Cori - Like you, I'm either way up (today and yesterday, thankfully) or way down.

I think that if I were DH I'd prefer me to either (1) suck it up or (2) just go ahead and do something to curtail these hormones ( whatever it would take for me to quit talking about them)! I know I wouldn't be as patient with myself as he has been with me. Went on depression thread to inquire how long these feelings might last - story seemed to be "6 or 7 months and they?ll go away by themselves." Well, in the next few months I'll need to be an equal, helping partner to DH - not a third child for him to deal with. So I'm currently getting a prescription filled. If I feel as low again, I?ll start taking it. I'll only be on it the minimum time - 6 months. Frankly just looking forward to curtailing this rollercoaster.

LexyB ? Thanks for info. Like Compo?s, my blood?s still bright red (and I?m 23 days out!) but there?s not a lot of it at all, and nothing feels physically amiss.

Compo ? No matter how DS2?s been during the day, we?ve been waking him up to feed at 10 pm ? trying to get him on a solid 10pm-2am-6pm-10am etc. schedule.

Compo, my blood loss is still red at times..think it's been when I've been more active but after x amount of days of brown ish colour to see bright red is a bit wierd but I figure all is well as I feel ok. As for the moses basket upstairs...for the past 4 nights we've taken him upstairs at 6.30 to sort of try & begin an evening routine. We did the same with DD although no routine was established until she was 6-7 weeks ish. I just think that no harm is done...I then feed him in his room, lights off & in he stays until I bring him out in the morning..(he sleeps in his room..which is just across the tiny landing from our room..just as well as he is so noisy!!!!)..

Well done on the weight Compo! Re. sleeping upstairs, we've been putting Fraser down in his moses basket in his bedroom in the dark from day one home from hospital. I really think it helps, not only him, but my sanity...!! Although if he wakes a lot in the evening (like last night..), it means a lot of walking up and downstairs - tell myself it'll help the weight loss on my part...!! But he def seems to settle much quicker in the semi-dark and with no tv on. Like Marls, we're also waking him when we go to bed, whatever the evening's been like - he still took 4 oz EBM last night... But you should do whatever works for you, DH and LO.

On the bleeding thing, mine didn't really stop until a few days ago, although it hadn't been red for a while. Best to be safe on Friday I think, although there's probably nothing wrong.

Marls, I just posted on the other thread to say why don't you get some medication now if you're still feeling awful - then I just read you have! No point struggling on until November if you can feel better quicker.

Going to go and get washable nappies today. Our bins only get emptied once a fortnight () now, and they get really really smelly with lots of nappies in, plus I do feel really guilty about the environment...

compo that's great - well done! I am back at the gym trying to get rid of the weight.....i put on sooo much

pol - I know i'm too late but def was with you on the dummy front. my DH is against them too, and I had a really bad afernoon with jacob yesterday (wailing from 3ish till 820!) so i tried a dummy but jacob just spat it out after a couple of minutes.

Marls you poor thing but am really glad you are ok to post on here and also get a prescription sorted out.

Well done Lysettes on getting back in the gym! I just had a thought about your afternoon yesterday with Jacob - did you feed him soon after working out? If you work out and then feed soon after your milk could contain too much lactic acid (I think), which might make him uncomfortable. I was advised last time to arrange running so that I did it just after a feed, so that the acid would have time to go from the milk afterwards before I fed DS1. It might not have been that of course, but just wondered.

We had a bad night last night, after a heavenly one... I am with you all on feeling low and panicky in the evening, I dread it! Today he is quiet unsettled and hoping we'll be better tonight.

My bleeding seems to have stopped but I know last time with DD it went on for ages and was red for a while too. This time I did have a fair few clots though.

Felt mildly embarrassed today as was just throwing on some clothes while 'me too' was on the tv- thank god for cebeebies!!!- and slipped on jeans and bra and ran in lounge to make sure DD wasn't stroking DS too hard... when grandad (fil) knocked on window with nan (mil)... needless to say glad I had a bra on even so though they both got an eyeful... maybe next time they'll call before just dropping in!

Pol - so glad to hear the dummy worked.
Compo - ds is 12 days old today and i am still getting red blood - i get a bit of a 'gush' still after doing the night feed - think it's because of sitting up after lying down for several hours and also i think you do bleed more when you feed. the bleeding is slowing down, but not brown yet.
godd news - weighed myself on mil's scales today am back to my pre-pregnancy weight. must be due ti having such a big bruiser for a baby - he ate all those cakes for me!

pol - so glad the dummy's been helping...LOL re your PILs!!

compo and cori - sorry you're feeling teary. so jealous of your evenings, cori, so far Lucy's not been great at evenings - not unhappy, just wants to feed a lot or look around her.

compo - i'm quite surprised at your midwife's reaction to your bleeding. I'm sure I bled until about 6 weeks with ds. Def still red here (day 13) but mostly just if/when I do stuff.

Marls - impressed at your 10-2-6 schedule...we're aiming for something similar, but not quite there yet. Main issue is keeping dd awake, she tends to zonk on the breast and then wake 2 hours later wanting to be fed. Really hard to keep her awake. Will keep trying, but fairly chilled about it all at this early stage.

Claire - well done for switching to cloth. We keep putting it off! mind you, we're fast running out of disposibles, so could happen soon! What're you using?

please don't worry. I'll be fine.

Lysettes - Great to hear you're back at the gym! Esp. since that's what I would be doing ... running instead. Have 22 pounds to lose. Am losing roughly one per week right now.

Cori - we're in the same boat, then - Good to compare notes with everyone re: still red.

Pol - LOL; maybe that will teach them!

wow aren't you all good exercising I can't stand going to the gym or running its just not for me i find it really boring. My DH has just joined a local gym. When I met him he used to do weights and body building and was really into it and it looks like he is getting back into it. I have warned him I have no intention of doing it as well. I'd rather have a few extra pounds. Anyway I figure I get enough exercise running around after 6 kids!.

Tassis - compos midwife surely just being extra vigilant re bleeding. Not always easy to spot the signs of the beginnings of a uterine infection. Better that way then to ignore a possible sign until its too late. As I said before. I would tale a swab too - its best practice.

Had awful night with Keziah last night. She is really clingy now day and night. I am having to hold her a lot in the day ( although have ordered Freedom sling from e bay ) and she has been in bed with me at night even though I don't really want her there but at 3 in the morning I have no willpower and just want sleep!

Message withdrawn

and re the blood loss thing - i didn't stop till almost 6 weeks (c-section).

clairemow, i wish that exercising pre feed would be the problem, but i didn't go to the gym at all yesterday......and today was similar, but jacob has done better poos and is less bowel spasming i think so hopefully that was mostly trhe problem - we had a clingy session between around 5.30 and 8.30 so a lot less than yesterday, but he would wake up wailing as soon as i put him down, but happily sleep on me!

first day out in the baby bjorn that we were given today, as he's 8lb now, which is the weight limit - he loved it!

gotta go, i can her jacob snuffling on the monitor!

Morning ladies

Well, another night where I went to bed at 8pm...makes me feel quite depressed especially as MIL & DH stayed up watching a film... Jack did the 6.30 to 10.30 again so at least I got a couple of hours in. He then went to 1.30 then to 5pm so that was better than every two hours!!! I wouldn't call it routine quite yet as he's only 12 days but the HV (who called yday) said that some babies pick up their 12 hour routine quite quickly & he could be beginning to distinguish between night & day....don't know if that's true yet but hey we're going with the flow so to speak...just wish I could not feel so miserable @6-7pm when I know what lies ahead! One thing I'm struggling with is Jack's willy!! After having a girl, I can't believe how quick you have to be to be when changing them as he pees all over the place...this morning over my nightie & the carpet..!!!! MIL laughs at me as she had two boys but I tell you, I'm just not quick enough!!! Any little tricks I should know about??

Took Jack to see the cranial osteopath yday. Took DD aswell & it worked wonders..DH extremely sceptical but it helped last time so I figured we'd have nothing to lose especially given his postioning in the womb & the cord around his neck etc.

Very impressed with those who are gyming already!! Can't do much for 6 weeks as had section but whilst I'm still in mat trouseurs I did have to pull them right in yday as they fell down to my ankles so that made me smile Popping into town with MIL & DH later for a little retail therapy...maybe something cute & blue for Jack as he's living in his sister's newborn white babygros as the 0-3 blue stuff we have is too big.. BTW, I have two 18-36 month girl 2.5 Grobags that are going spare. DD is now in duvet & they are like new really. If anybody is interested pls let me know, I don't want anything for them other for them to go to a good home (sounds like I'm trying to get rid of a puppy!!). If you look at the bumpto3 website they are the little fairy & funky flower designs..just let me know

Reckon Puppy must have had her baby now Isn't Liquid due today as well? Keep smiling Marls

Hi all,

Norms, glad DS2 seems to be settling down well. We're also trying to fit DS2 into DS1's routine, although I'm not sure how that'll work next week when DH is away for a night with work - how to bath/feed DS2/read DS1 a book etc. all at the same time?! I need a tardis.

Cori, As I've got 2 boys, know all the tricks about catching pee!! Buy yourself a few flannels and put one over Jack's willy every time you change him - then the flannel will absorb a lot of it, rather than your top/eye/hair! Also you can often tell when he's about to pee, as the willy tends to gets rather engorged (like a mini erection!) just before he wees. Hope that helps!

1.30 and 5 sounds great, Cori - Fraser was doing exactly the same at the same age. Sounds to me like he's definitely learning about night and day. Now thankfully F's down to one waking most nights (4.20 last night - heaven!!! Bet you tonight it'll be twice again, just to teach me not to be complacent!).

Talking of grobags, we have put Fraser in his now - he looks so little!! But he seems to prefer it to being under blankets and sheets. We've also moved him from the moses basket to the cot, as he kept waking himself up bashing the sides when he moved his arms! Thank god we didn't buy a moses basket, just borrowed it!

Hey Ladies!
I can't keep up with this thread either and dh goes back to work next week so you will prob never hear from me again!
I'm still bf'ing. I did the deed in public the other day. Managed to shove the little blighter up my top. I was watched the whole time by a curious bloke who wondered what I was doing! Ds came out sweaty but satisfied!
My loss keep drying up then re-strating. I got caught out a few nights ago.
I have also.... had sex!!
I might stop there and wait for the dust to settle......

Ooh Cori -I'm definitely interested in those grobags if no one else wants them.
Dd was quite good last night, fed at 8pm, then 1am ish but then she woke at about 3.30am and din't want to go back to sleep. I ended up waking dh as I felt so tired and he was a bit cross and grumpy because he was tired and had to go back to work today so now i feel bad about that!!