October 2006

[Bronze]

Am I the first one here or have I completely missed the thread? If this is the only thread please come and join me
Bron

nicand2, I'm more or less on 4 hour gaps at night, started with the forbidden-to-mention woman right from the start (not following it to the letter but just following the feeding and sleep times only, otherwise you'd go bonkers if you did everything she says, like expressing 3 times a day just to get your milk supplies up..).. I'm trying to make the night feeds really boring as well, and make sure he's had a good pig out in the evening.. but not sure if it's because I'm doing all this or if he's just fairly placid and would sleep anyway..

Grrrr just fed Toby and tried to settle him in his moses basket and he's started crying. This is getting really hard now as I've been up since 4.30 and only managed a 20 min nap as baby and toddler haven't co ordinated sleep times yet. I feel like crying I'm so tired and everything seems worse this time of night. Might try contacting the cranial oesteopath tomorrow in case the unsuccessful ventouse has caused him some pain. He does seem tired but just won't lay down in his basket.

hello u lot, just a quick hello as I can finally join u over here now!

My gorgeous little boy was born fri 8.17pm, weighing 8lb4oz. We have called him kai david.

Speak 2 u all soon! xxx

we are at 4 hour gaps but I think it's easier if you're bottle feeding like we are. Hattie pretty much wakes once in the night, provided I get the 4 hour cycle right in the day. I followed the timings recommended by forbidden to mention woman, and also implemented the bath and bed thing from about 10 days. Haven't bothered with anything else she says. Again not sure if it's because Hattie is placid...

I have a suspicision that a lot of it is up to the individual baby. Ds1 and dd never woke more than once between about 11pm and 6am from the age of 2w (one was mix-fed and one was fully bfd), and until about 6w were relatively placid - if not actually asleep - from about suppertime to the last feed before adult bedtime, but ds2 hasn't got the idea yet! He is either totally restless and therefore doesn't feed well at the last feed of the 'day', and therefore has a frequent-feeding night, or is totally blotto and doesn't want to feed until about 1am, and therefore has more than one more feed during the night.

He's starting to be more alert and interested during the day now (I think babies sort of 'wake up' at around 3w), so in a week or so I'll start organising his day so that we can ease into some sort of routine. OMG I seem to be under the delusion that I can find a routine that will work for 6yo, 4yo and newborn. Ha ha ha ha ha!

Sounds a bit like our household prettycandles. Iwas sitting last night trying to work out a sort of routine to suit my lo and ds whos 3 because dh goes back to work next week and does shift work so its me and the boys realy. lo is feeding roughly 3-4 hourly now whih is a real Godsend so Im sort of working my day round him. Gonna start bathing him and getting a bedtime routine going. My ds3 doesnt want a bath with his little brother which is a pain cause it could work realy well oh well off to have my breakfast now.

Hi Guys

Found you ... thanks for tip Catty. Just getting sorted and will come and read thread and join later. Hope all going well

I can't rmember how old your ds2 is Gingeme - a week or so older than mine, I think? IIRC we didn't start bathing dd together with ds1 until she was about 5-6w old and he had a bit longer to get used to her. In fact we never bathed any of our babies every night until they were at least that age, as they don't need it and it's really a lot of extra faff! When it came to bathing them together I don't think we asked ds1, just went ahead and he accepted it. Anyway, he would already be in the bath and it was ust a quick dip and swish around with dd at first.

gingeme - my bedtime routine for two goes:

1. put baby in cot, tell toddler to take off clothes, run bath for toddler, fill baby tub
2. prepare pyjamas and nappies and towels for both children
3. put toddler in bath
4. strip baby and put baby in bath and wash
5. get baby out, dry and dress, lie in cot
6. remove toddler from bath, dry and dress, tell to go and choose a story
7. read story to toddler while feeding baby
8. goodnight toddler
9. good night baby

10. go back to bed toddler
11. stop screaming and have more milk baby...

Too much to catch up on this thread...need to read everyday...

Been shopping this morning - going to a wedding on sat and nothing fits my flabby tummy and HUGE bosoms. Can I find a nice top that it will be possible to pull up and feed in...no fecking chance...
At this rate I'll be going in jeans and a t shirt.

Ah ha - I have found you all - only 3 to go on the ante natal list so things are going quite quiet over there - and now I have over 200 messages to catch up with on this thread... go job ellie is sleeping!!

Hi every1,
Just caught up on the last few days postings.
Congratulations and welcome to all the new mums.

All you people with toddlers and children as well as newborn-well you must all be saints. I read your postings and wonder how it can be possible. One day I will find out no doubt.

Think I am being unfair to LO as I started to give her a few breast feeds again (still have milk!) and now I think I have confused her. She is like a little shark when I give her a bottle because she thinks she has to open her mouth wide and attack like it was my breast-funny to watch.

Has anyone thought about Christmas yet? Its creeping up fast.

Starting mum and baby class on Wednesday - quite looking forward to meeting people as feeling a bit isolated at moment.

Not unfair at all. If she's going at the bottle teat like a shark () then she's very clever adn will not get confused between bottle and boob. I mix-fed ds1, and all 3 of mine got bottles as well as boob, and I think the key to not being confused is to make sure they do the shark thing and drink from bottle as if it was a boob. Very few hard-asnd-fast rules...if you like giving her boob then go ahead, no matter whether she's getting virtually all her calories from formula.

Mine's more like a bottle-nosed dolphin trying to bite a big beach ball

I also take my hat off to those with more than one LO: you must really be saints!

pmoore, am also feeling a bit isolated, I think it's inevitable as all I'm doing right now is looking after the baby and that's all I have to talk about..

Went to the british consulate in brussels today to put littly's passport application, so he can be taken back to the UK and then back to Kazakhstan. It was very hard taking the passport photo!

Have just caught up with all the posts - v reassuring to see that everyone else seems to be going through the same things - wasn't sure if 4 hour marathon feeds were normal, it appears that anything goes.

Still having a few problems with bf, but HV says it could be due to a small tongue tie which we are having sorted out on Wednesday - initially not v happy about someone cutting my baby, but if it helps with the feeding I think it will be worth it - can also cause problems with speach development later in life so would probably need to get it done anyway.

Have given her a few bottles of expressed milk (although 1 oz is the most I have managed, but I usually express what is left over after a feed o that might be why). And when she is having her really grumpy won't settle no ,milk left in boobs about to get her adoped moments I have resorted to the dreaded SMA - seems to do the trick although makes me feel like a rubbish mum that I can't produce enough milk to feed my baby, but there is no chance of boobs filling back up if they have only had 1/2 hour to recharge - have only resorted to SMA twice in 3 weeks so I doubt it is doing that much harm and does make life vaguely bearable when you have exhausted all other options.

On a positive note on Saturday weighed myself and am back at pre-pg weight and (drum roll please) am back in pre-pg jeans - admittedly my fat ones and they are a bit tight but a real result nevertheless!!

Sorry for long post x

Good evening ladies.Yes I will give it a try sallyrosie. Got to get some sort of routine going soon. Lo was crying like mad earlier and ds3 was chanting for my attention and I said to dh'do you have to go back to work?'. mw came today. lo has put on a little weight but she wanted a wee sample anyway. Was so funny as she put a long plastic bag over his willy and bits and stuck it round his little groin and waited for him to do a wee. He was feeding while she was doing it so we thought it would come at any moment. So we waited and waited and waited. We all had a cup of tea and waited some more. She was about to give up and hey presto he did a lovely lonf wee for her.It all peeled off easily and shes gonna have the results by Fri.
jmcmugwump I mix fed my 1st ds and he did very well on it. Was seriously thinking about doing it again this time as my lo seems to have been feeding now for about 3 hours continously and is still crying for more. Doesnt he realise that MMummy has to re stock too. Gonna see how it goes till Fri and see if he settles into a better routine.
DH has made a yummy dinner and Im starving so Ill catch up with you ladies soon. Hope everyone has a good night x

Hi everyone, I too am stressing about establishing a routine - I need to get one soon so I can get dd1 and megan into it asap! Also, that will calm my anxieties and stresses about how I am coping and how I will cope with 2!

I notice some of you are using the lady that we don't talk about's 4 hour routine - can you tell me what it is and how to go about introducing it? I don't have the book and to be honest I really don't have the time to buy it either! Megan is feeding roughly every 3 hours and is having 4 oz - but it isn't set in stone so some nights she'll feed at 3,4,2 etc - quite knackering!

Any advice gladly received!!!

dd1 is getting slightly better, but dh goes back to work on Thursday, so that' will disrupt her again so watch this space ...

Hope you are all ok xx

gingeme - have to add that tonights lovely bedtime routine turned into baby screaming cos being ignored, toddler screaming because her mean ole mummy wouldn't let her put ALL of the bubble bath in...refusing to take off clothes...full blown I don't like you mummy GO AWAY tantrum...course she was all smiles when daddy got home...grrr

Anyway - am GOING SHOPPING ON MY OWN!! bye!!

sallyrosie, your bedtime routine looked impressive, even if it only works some of the time.
jcm-can't believe you can get back into pre pg jeans and your weight is back to norm. you must feel brilliant. i am trying to avoid looking at the saggy tummy, esp. when bare skin as look a bit like a rhubarb and custard sweet with the pink/red huge stripey stretch marks and slightly yellowy looking skin.
gemmitty we had to do a passport photograph as well. what a performance. had to wake H up and then calm her down as pic must have eyes open, mouth closed and hands away from face-as you can imagine took some time and H looked quite unattractive in the final shot!
had a bleak moment last night after hours of crying. felt like i didn't like lo at all, didn't feel any emotion towards her. thankfully it was short lived and dh was really good, but it felt horrible to have felt like that about her.
i took lo out in her pushchair today wrapped up in her snowsuit. when i went into a shop she started to overheat and scream-what is the best thing to do? do you have to take the snowsuit off or should i just wrap her in lots of blankets instead of snowsuit so that i can take them off?

Hi sallyrosie and girlygale. Tonight went quite well. dh made dinner which finnished about 7. I gave ds a bath about 7.30 while lo was asleep in his chair. Ds was in bed and had a story by 8. I then got to watch Eastenders and at 8.45 gave lo his bath and by 9.05 was feeding him quietly in our bedroom for about 45 mins. He is now sound asleep and hopefuly will stay that way for a few hours now. Trouble is dh and his son (MY STEP SON) have gone down the pub. Wouldnt mind but its my bloody birthday and I dont get to go out. Still they did promise to clean all the windows tomm. They'd better or else. Well Im off to bed now. Hope you all have good nights and long may the routine reign. Night all xxx

Hi All,CONGRATS ON BABY BEBNDYB,am exhausted so apoligies for erratic typing.Lexie has been screaming all day,she is only quiet if i feed her or if she falls asleep after a feed and i stay holding her.She also had a massive poo explosion earlier,it went everywhere all over my jeans,her clothes,body and her blanket.Maybe she has a tummy bug or my fruit intake doesnt agree with her.But by 10pm i had joint in with her crying so DH took her upstairs to scream instead.Am starting to panic as DH goes away to work for a wk so will be alone with 3 kids,not sure if i can cope,if baby screams like today i may put myself up for adoption!
Does anyone elses baby have milk spots,Lexie is covered in them,HV says they v commen and are just hormones,she said they last about 6wks,but they look awful and i wondered if anyone had any tips on getting rid of them.
Anyway back upstairs for another round of feeding and screaming to deal with

LO really unsettled all of last night think I need matches to keep my eyes open today.

Want to try and get professional photographs done today as they are in mothercare in Gravesend. DP wanted to know if she'll smile for the photos well, if he wants to try!

I really want to get into my pre-preg trousers by christmas, started my diet yesterday but its hard with LO to eat properly. Think lots of walking with pram is answer as put all weight on thighs. Good for making LO sleep too.

gingeme- happy belated birthday.

gemmitygem- I went for a long walk yesterday- made me feel much better. Our LO's were born on the same day, growing up quickly.

Have a good day all.

Happy birthday for yesterday Gingeme: hope you had some sleep as a present

Tried W in the sling last noght when he wouldn't settle - it worked! He screamed when I was putting him in, but snoozed off as soon as I started moving. Even managed to clean the kitchen (which really needed it ). Might be worth a try if your LO has trouble settling - the La Leche counsellor suggested it.

Nowhere near pre-pg jeans, but I am in the interim clothes I bought before pg clothes, i.e. 1-2 sizes up. Still feels great not being in maternity stuff.

swizzler- which sling do you use and where from? There are so many websites.

I've got a 'slingeasy' which is fab and would highly recommend it.
Totally - does Lexie scream when you lie her flat and stop when held upright? My DD had similar and it turned out to be reflux + cows milk intolerance. She turned into a different child with a few adjustments to my diet. But some kids just seem to get colic for no reason - it doesn't last forever but it totally soul destroying while it lasts. Maybe worth considering? Other things that help with reflux are raising the end of the cot slightly and some people use infant gaviscon.

Getting the kids to bed by 7 is something I have to do for my own sanity. I need that time in the evening to work or chill out. It is tough when I'm working as I'll often miss their bedtime, but better for them to have a set routine.
I managed to get an hour and a half of shopping last night on my own - thank heaven for late opening - and finally bought an outfit for the wedding we're going to at the weekend.

LOL at the stretchmarks comment. When naked I look like a big face - two boobs for eyes, belly button for nose and a big stretchmark smile along the bottom of my tummy. Attractive? I think not!!

Hello all

Thought it about time I popped into the thread. Congratulations to all October mummies.

Well we seem to be muddling through at the moment. Feeding is going really well, Megan is a real guzzler and latches on no probs - I hope I haven't just jinxed myself now!
The first week was difficult dealing with all the visitors but we've just had 2 visitor free days and it's been great just me, dh and Megan. I shall really miss dh when he goes back to work next week he is brilliant.
Alas my coccyx was dislocated during the birth so still very sore, I will try and get referred for some treatment so it can be manipulated back.
Hope to pop in more often, so talk to you all again soon.