November 2014 - newborn thread!

[Greenstone]

Welcome to all the November 2014 babies! Let all the post partum rejoicing and angst begin...

It's official- our DD has completely grown out of newborn size clothes, 3 weeks... And she is eating like a monster today

Hey all. Have been off the radar a little here with all the festive travelling and celebrating. It has been really lovely showing DS off to everybody and we have been very lucky with pressies and people offering their baby sitting skills.

We have my cousin coming to see us toady. Very sadly she was due to have a baby in March but had to have a termination a month ago (actually the day after DS was born) due to the baby's heart defect. We are extremely close but understandably she has really pulled away since then. She has told me she wants to come and say Hi. I just feel so sad for her and her partner and so lucky to have our healthy DS.

Hello all, it's been an eventful few days in more ways than one.

Baby Wannabe has been passing real stiff stools since Tuesday and even screams whilst passing them. On Wednesday he starting really screaming whilst passing a really stiff stool which scared me. Eventually it passed after lots of water and belly massage. I was told it was due to changing to the thicker anti reflux milk. On Christmas day his stools had loosened a little but where still quite stiff. On Boxing Day morning I noticed his bum hole was very red and sore and almost had a little tear, but luckily there was no blood.

Called 111 and managed to get an out of hours appointment. Unfortunately the doctor couldn't prescribe anything due to his age and I'll have to see our GP on Monday. His bum isn't too bad and should heal quickly, I just need to keep it moisturised. For the time being he told me to go back to regular formula to keep things moving whilst it heals. The reflux will have to be dealt with at the doctors but already he's so much better.

Off to my DH's aunts today for a family get together. No doubt baby will be pawed at by the 30+ relatives in attendance. Hopefully he doesn't get over tired and ratty. I've warned everyone that if it's too much for him I'm leaving early.

Wishing everyone a nice weekend!

oh cat how sad. I'm glad she feels up to seeing you.

wannabe it must have been more stressful with it happening over xmas. glad he's feeling better.

babydolly continues her screaming campaign. Started at 8 when she woke up. dp has her out in the car now. Is it normal? She's never awake and not crying. Morning, noon and night. She only stops to sleep and that's actually not that long, 10 hours at night and maybe 2 hours in the day. My head might explode :( It breaks my heart that I only get to see her lovely face as she sleeps. Otherwise she's just bright red and looks so upset.

wannabe that sounds sore. Poor bugger. Glad you got the appointment. Good luck with GP.

lady That cant be fun. We lucked out and DS doesn't cry much but also doesn't sleep much.

My cousin stayed for an hour and was brilliant. She had a cuddle and had a lovely chat with us over a glass of cava. She is so flipping strong.

Cat glad about your cousin and hope things work out for her x

A year ago I had a miscarriage at 11 weeks and one of my friends was few weeks ahead of me with pregnancy. She didn't know I was expecting because we were waiting 12 week scan to tell the close ones. So I was really struggling with her posts on Facebook about their first antenatal pilates class etc. She was very vocal about her pregnancy on FB and while I understood it was not her fault I felt so miserable, I just could not help myself taking a distance for few months. Luckily, she lives in Spain, so there was not so obvious me being odd with her and I got pregnant in less than 3 months afterwards, so it put things back pretty quick.

ladydolly I can't remember - have you had her investigated for the usual suspects - reflux or CMPI?

anna I haven't, I thought it was colic but now the crying is all day. We have seen a cranial osteopath though. I'm on my 2nd batch of antibiotics so until they're finished we can't really assess in case they are upsetting her.

At ILs..Dd. yet to.go to.sleep tonight. She has kindly picked the night I nearly fell over with tiredness while eating dinner to pull these shenanigans. I'm so so tired. Nothing seems to work

Greenstone I feel your pain it's awful isn't it having bad night here went down at 8 for 3hrs but that's been it other than short 20min sleeps, feeds falls asleep, pop on me for 5mins into cot, apnoea mat on, lights out (use a dimmer on lowest setting) I get into bed n 5-20mins later squirming n crying.

I am def sure it's reflux n have 6weeks check on Friday but considering trying to be seen before then but not tomorrow as Mon are hell at surgery n especially after bank holiday- they do a sit n wait at 11am but it's a free for all in terms booking in n a friend waited 2hrs on a Mon with her baby before.

east and greenstone that does not sound like fun. Have a because even think 7 am may be too early for

DS has woken up with DH' s cold. Snuffley and only seem able to feed for 5 mins at the time. Anyone know if there is anything I can do/give her at 4 weeks to help?

catg - Officially at that age, it's just saline drops up the nose, or putting baby in a steamy room. I found the saline drops do work - DD screams when I put them in but then does a huge few sneezes which helps clear her out a bit. Think you can use a bogey sucker after the drops too but DDs sneezes usually do the job.
Karvol and olbas oil type stuff are officially for 3m+ but I have put some on a Muslin tied to the crib, I didn't think it did much though.

Thanks cat - saline nose drops but buy from pay counter as only around a £1 rather than branded one's off shelf at £4.

Sometimes a damp muslin left to dry on radiator can help n I add a few drops of karvol too although not recommended under 3mths

east sounds like you need a night nanny!
Thanks cat for the which I will gladly accept. Saline drops are great btw.

Dd did a good night the previous night so was really hoping for a repeat. She's up feeding again now but hoping to get her back down for another hour.

So at 3 weeks old we have a baby who can push herself up off my chest, hold her head up for a good 10 seconds and is getting very close to a smile when she sees people (Nanny is a big hit! ) ..... Did I give birth to a six week old baby?!

The health visitor made a joke that perhaps I was more overdue than we thought (quite possible given that we had no idea of when I actually fell pregnant, I was 2 weeks overdue when she arrived) and madam wasnt showing any signs of appearing on her own... at all!

I really feel for all of you who are struggling with unhappy babies, breaks my heart when DD really cries and thats only because im taking too long with the food or I had the nerve to put her down and go for a wee mid feed before I wee on the sofa . Ive been a bit quiet on here cause she is such a good baby and I feel like im rubbing it in for those of you up all night when weve all just had 8 hours sleep. She feeds all evening with little half hour naps then will go right through from midnight/1 till 7-8, feed for an hour or so then go back down for a couple of hours. I go insane with no sleep so I have no idea how you guys are doing it!

Have also just found out that my friend who is expecting her first baby in June is going to disney land 6 weeks after her due date with her DH and step son! .... Im actually scared for her!

Ark I think they time the developmental leaps from due date, so if she was 2w overdue she could well be about to hit her 5w growth spurt! Sounds like she is doing amazingly.
We put DD on her playmat for tummy time for the first time last week (she was 5.5 weeks) and she rolled over onto her back!!! I caught it on video or I wouldn't have believed it. Total fluke as no sign of being able to do it since but v proud of my girl :-D

Aww clever babyMoggle! DD really is a brilliant baby, which is very very helpful cause ive found the whole thing a bit hard to get my head round and so has DP. My car is fixed so I may brave my first trip out alone with her today, if we managed to get to sainsburys and buy milk I will be over the moon lol.
DD is trying to move more, she loves pushing up with her legs, and will spend ages pushing herself up off my shoulder to look around. Think we might have to leave the christmas lights up a little bit longer cause she is just mesmerised by them! The multicoloured ones on my mums stairs are nearly better than food lol!

I was thinking of keeping some of the lights out after Xmas to make a little sensory type thing for her. Maybe wrap them round her gym mat thing so she can stare at them!
Good luck with getting out and about with her - I've found it great and so helpful for mental recovery to be out doing normal things. Plus it makes you feel great when random people stop to ask how old she is and tell you how cute she is :-D

ark I'm delighted to hear about easy babies, honestly, and especially thrilled if they happen to be easy boob fed babies because sometimes breastfeeding feels a bit like a mug's game (until suddenly it's just easy). I'll admit I was hoping for a super chilled number 2 but they're all just their own people! Dd2 is actually not miserable so long as she's being held or in sling etc so just needs that bit more work. Last night she was overtired for sure.

Re the head strength, dd2 is also strong as fuck and has been since day one! Makes us laugh because dd1 was really crap at tummy time for ages and never got a great crawl going, just walked instead.

Greenstone Phew okay I dont feel quite as bad lol. Shes got herself in this little routine which is actually fab, she feeds while DP is around to cook dinner etc but gives me time during the day to watch telly and nap walk the dog and do the housework...

We are still doing both formula and boob, though I am now catching up with her demand for boob so were down to just a couple of bottles of formula, mainly one after her big sleep as shes SO hungry she just needs it right away then she will feed from boob afterwards without having a hunger meltdown, and one before bed as it seems to keep her full for longer, the nights (3 since weve been home!) where weve had bad sleeps (ie no sleep at all for me or her) we just have an awful day following it and I spend the whole thing in tears.

I had a blister that went yucky on one boob but thats all healed so im back to firing on both er....nipples.

All pretty Ok here apart from the thrush situation. The thrush seems static, no problem for me, his tongue got worse then better and now seems still a bit white but tbh I'm not convinced it's even thrush! The medicine is the problem. I can't get it on the right bit of his tongue without him gagging and quite often throwing up everywhere - given that you're meant to do it after food it's pretty wasteful of precious booby milk! eastmidlands any tips? We've tried the dropper and a finger.
I just wish they'd done a swab at the outset and I'm pretty sure they would have contacted me by now to say it's not thrush.
How frustrating.
Going to a family gathering this afternoon where there'll be 2 GPs so might have to pick their brains. They also have a boy of about 2 so they'll be lucky to get rid of me!

Ark mine was 10 days overdue and is exactly the same. Huge strength in his neck and visual alertness from Day 1, and smiling early. He hit his Week 6 growth spurt around the beginning of Week 5, much to my horror shock.

He's 6.5 weeks now and is already in Size 2 nappies and 3-6 Month clothes. He's not fat - he's just loooooong. He's developed so rapidly that it really all has been a blur.

I am delighted you got an easy one though, with all the stress you went through.

Thanks Annarose , its made it all much easier to deal with I think. I may have lost the plot by now if she didnt sleep!

She is feeding non stop today so wondering if we are gearing up for a growth spurt. So far all ive done since 8 oclock is feed!

MiniWol was also holding her head up from day 1 (12 days overdue). But she's still so small. 8lb 9ozs last Tuesday and still looking small in first size clothes. She's mostly good but is a martyr to wind. A major crying session at 5am was solved by Gripe Water and then we were woken at 8am by what sounded like a brass band.

Greenstone I so do although with frequent bf not worth it, I know from ds1 it gets easier til 7/8weeks he fed 2hrly for an hr so only slept 45mins in between feeds but least didn't have the uncertainty n screaming/reflux. From about 8weeks we were getting 4hrs between night feeds and slowly dropped the midnight feed and at 15/16weeks did 7pm feed down at 8pm n slept til 5/6am then 7am n was exbf.

Even though I know it gets better from experience it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when up most night n have a pounding headache.

I have managed to get a 90min nap today though.