October 2014 // thread 2 // keeping each other company through the night feeds!

[sazzlehopes]

Hi all, welcome to thread 2!

Baby's puke a bit green - is this bile? Surely that's not good

For those of you having transfer into moses basket or crib issues, I bought a Sleephead mattress, which I've put in a crib by the side of my bed - seems to work wonders. I have a hot water bottle with warm water in it when she's not in it, then just swap them over when I put her down. I don't think she even notices it's not a human holding her! At the beginning we put the mattress between us in bed, but after a few nights of getting her used to one of us being right there, we put it in the crib and it's been fine ever since. I can put her in it a little bit awake and she'll go to sleep too. Not sure if it's the Sleepyhead or that she's just ace at being transferred, but it doesn't work anywhere near as easily, and she's much less settled in the moses basket I've got downstairs. From today I'm just taking the Sleepyhead downstairs with me.

My friend who has an 8 week old who wouldn't sleep in his bedside cot, and cried on transfer bought the Sleepyhead at 4 weeks and he's been fine since.

The sleepy head looks like the poddlepod , we're getting one with the hope he will sleep better in his moses basket. He sleeps well in his crib at night but the second I transfer him in the mornings.
Those of you with super sicky babies are you tilting their heads up in the moses basket? How are you doing it?

Morning all, thanks so much for the comments about the whole struggling with getting your head round an unexpected birth thing. It actually really helped to write it down and put it on here. I feel a lot more positive about it today and have decided to count my blessings things could have been a lot worse and I have a healthy baby at the end of it which is not something everyone can say.

Not sure if it's hormones or maybe just that Im Starting to feel more like my old self but having I bit of an I love my family moment! It's half term I should be tearing my hair out with four at home with me but I'm not I'm loving every mad minute of it yes I'm knackered but I wouldn't swap a second of it. (Well maybe the nighttime partying from r!!)

Dp is concerned about how I'm feeling, his words as he left were "before you ask no! We are not having number five )

I really need to get a grip of my diet,rich tea biscuits and coffee are and acceptable breakfast rant they?

Hope everyone is ok this morning :)

I decided to get a grip on my diet yesterday. Ran out of gift chocolate on Sunday, so not getting any more in the house. Three proper meal a day, limited sugar from now. Boooring!

it really must be his moses basket, he went down in it asleep and woke himself up and started crying so I put him in his rocking chair and now he is fast asleep! Little monkey

Yes, my post-GD-cake-fest needs to stop - the weight has stopped dropping off and as I'm not bf I need to start watching what I eat! I'm not going to go mad, but just be sensible.

mrsb we put a block of wood under the head end of our crib as she kept being sick and the mw said they can sometimes tilt downwards. She also said to make sure if you are using a blanket to tilt the mattress make sure it's a gradual tilt and the mattress isn't creased into a sharp tilt. Does that make sense?

Yes thanks binky ill try putting a blanket under the mattress for his next nap. I'm convinced he's more comfortable because his head is a light tilted up.

Aw bless her Yellow . Issy's cry just has a squeak at the end, she's definitely not hoarse as our neighbours can confirm after last night/ this morning.

We've had 7 days of a super sleepy baby and now she just seems to cry a lot. I'm guessing she might be growing as she's constantly hungry too.

fedup- I'd call your MW/ HV/ doctor. I'm sure I read/ was told to contact someone if your baby has green sick. Hopefully it was just a one off and your little one is ok now.

We still have a few bits of chocolate and naughty food in the house and it's been so tempting to live off take aways but I'm making a big effort to eat properly this week. Saturdays don't count though!

Yellow feeling for you with L's hard night. Glad you were already primed for it so not too freaked out today.

Pregnant I'm with you on the loving-my-family thing. I've honestly never been so loved up in my life. I'm tripping rainbows, even though I'm shattered.

Definitely need to get on top of my diet too. I've eaten a full tub of Roses in the last five days during late night bf sessions. Plus cake and Pringles. I'm sure that can't be too good for the little miss!

Hey Goats, does the hot water bottle thing really work? My SIL suggested it too.
What/ where do you put the hot water bottle once that baby goes to sleep? (Ie to keep it warm until the next time)

Missus - I put it in bed with me (I'm the only one in a king sized bed, so it doesn't touch me!) - then I always have to get up for a wee at around 5am, so refresh it then. I only use water from the hot tap - it's not very hot, just warm enough. It does seem to work as a trick - if you put your hand in a moses basket or crib sheets when nothing has been in it, it's cold, coming off of you, it's bound to wake them up a bit.

Goats thats a good idea about hot water bottle

My wee dd2 seems to settle well in moses basket, nothing like her big sister, but this time i am not lifting her for every wee grunt or groan i hear, sometimes if she wakes when i lay her down in it, i put on the white noise app, she loves the "womb" sound and will drift off listining to that.

I honestly can (so far) say she is the most content wee baby ever, hardly cries at all to the point where i am thinking something must be wrong with her ? But i suppose a baby who doesnt seem to have reflux or colic (yet) has no need to cry ? Its total night & day to my first dd who suffered bad with silent reflux, i feel so gulity now knowing how sore she must have been to be crying constantly compared to dd2 who is so happy & content? My mind is blown and so far that saying "you never get two the same" is appearing to be true ? ( i bet i have jinxed myself)

My dp keeps saying that my gran has sent us an angel to say thanks for all the help & support i gave her the last few years of her life... Dd2 was born three days after her one year anniversary, my gut feeling from the minute i knew i was due in october!

Completely refused to sleep in moses basket this morning, but happily zonked out on a beanbag for the last half an hour - in a draught where the builders have the door open. Cosy lovely moses basket = no. Draughty beanbag = yes.

Babies - weird.

So glad I found this thread! After a night with a restless baby who only wanted to sleep on me, I've now been pinned to the sofa for the last 3 hours in some bizarre relentless cycle of feeding for 10-15 min then napping for 10 min... when does mummy get to eat???

Stigz I hear you on the silent reflux. I remember visiting pals whose babies didn't have it and who were just your classic content to feed every few hours, don't spend the day and night batshit screaming and back arching babies and feeling very hard done by, and frankly when their Mums said how hard work they were. Silent reflux is an utter bastard - I'm just hoping, with me cutting out dairy on day 5 and getting meds on day 32 that we can avoid the worst of the pain. As soon as j was on meds and I'd been dairy free for 3 weeks he was like those chilled out content babies my pals had and I was so angry at all the people: HV, MIL, doctors who had just dismissed it as "some babies are just difficult / some babies just cry there's nothing you can do / its colic / he'll grow out of it". IME if all needs are met and they are still unable to be soothed - they're in pain. If my baby is in pain I'll do all they can to ease that pain and won't just be fobbed off hoping they'll outgrow it when there are excellent treatment options available.

Remember Lil's poonami in the OOH at the hospital last night when she had to borrow an NHS baby grow? You'd think that would have reminded me to pop a change of clothing in the change bag... nope, we're at the hospital now whilst DH has a colonoscopy and she's only done it again. Thankfully only her vest was winged by poo collateral damage and I can wrap her in a blanket and not feel like an utterly shit laissez faire second time Mum!

yellow i totally agree with you, it was horrendous, its making me think should i have done more to help her but it was my first baby, i was totally clueless and like your saying when gaviscon wasnt working i got the classics "she will grow out of it" or it will get better when she can have solids! Like you im totally prepared this time to fight tooth & nail if god forbid dd2 does suffer? My health visitor told me her dd had silent reflux and that she actually suffered with some type of post traumatic stress as a result, i can totally see where she is coming from as it took me a LONG time to even consider another child as i thought thats what having a baby entailed, constant crying & feeling absolutly devastated that mummy couldnt make her better

Stigz apparently there is a massive correlation between reflux and PND - I can well believe it. We were lucky with the reflux in that we were the last in the family to have kids and the other 10 in the generation all have it, my sister and cousins helped us identify what it was and to push for treatment. My sister was the first to have a reflux baby and she just thought it was normal to have a baby that didn't sleep for 18 months and would wake at the drop of a hat, who screamed and puked up every feed . Apparently because her boy was big and his puke didn't hit the walls - it couldn't be reflux according to her useless bloody HV who came out with that classic line "he's just a hungry boy - give him a bottle" .

I think violet has reflux, she vomits frequently, appears to be in discomfort during and after feeds arching her back and pulling away even though she is hungry. I have to hold her constantly, she cries a lot and has frequent hiccups. I'm exhausted and have been feeling quite down. My son was the same he didn't sleep through till 16 months though I didn't know abything about reflux at the time.

Any advice? Infacol hadvt worked, I'm going to see gp, are ranitidine/omeprazole effective? I gather from this thread gaviscon doesn't work?

me sounds like reflux, please go to gp, if it is reflux it will get worse, they will probz give you gaviscon, give it a try and see if it makes a diffrence but if it doesnt deffo push for an alternative, it does get you very down as its very stressful & mentally and physically draining trying to make then happy & comfortable with no sucess! and it must be harder for you dealing with the other kids when you are exhausted, i could hardly find the energy to get dressed some days and i didnt as i had no other dependants! Hopefully you get her sorted with medication, as i gather from yellow it can be managed, i just accepted " she will grow out of it" as i trusted gp's advice and was not made aware of other medication other than gaviscon

Me gaviscon can work well its just nigh on impossible to get into BF babies. Easy to give to FF babies as it just goes into a bottle. But giving a teaspoon of gunk after every feed when baby had nodded off - argh!!!

Ranitidine and omeprazole are better for BF - they try ranitidine first as its cheaper. If the reflux is linked to an intolerance (mucus or blood in poo? explosive nappies? eczema? fussing at the breast? family history?) medicine alone won't work you have to exclude the trigger food - most commonly dairy, soy and in some cases eggs.