September 2014 - Into the new year!

[RedToothBrush]

Shiny New Thread for a Shiny New Year.

Ella I saw gp today who said it's either reflux back or posseting. he was so lovely and gorgeous with the boy and so kind to me. he said I shouldn't ever worry about going to see them and certainly listened to me more than the doc last week.

roll on tuesday and weighing hopefully I can then obsess about something else!!!!!!

yeah B has only just started with it. the doc I saw last week said he had thrush - it was bepanthan, then prescribed diprobase after I had said diprobase wasn't working! nurse the other day gave me zeroderm - amazing. there are 3 who are great with babies and lovely with anxious mummies!!! I try to see them!!

Holls DS is probably sick twice a day, sometimes more. It's either full on milk or watery. He's done it since birth & it doesn't seem to effect him. Got him weighed today & at 17 weeks he's 17lb2oz which is 2.5lb more than last month & he's gone from 75th centile to 91st! Not sure how as I'm feeding him the same as always.

The HV here host a 1 hour session on weaning that they recommend all mums attend. I was sent a leaflet about weaning from them along with the invite to the weaning session. It's one of the start 4 life ones from the NHS. It's a good, brief guide to weaning.

wow topsy that's a great idea.

providing he has put weight on on Tuesday I'm going to fortnight/ 3 weekly weigh ins.

I had a home visit about weaning before Christmas. I have no idea if that's normal for the area or because I'm on 'supervision' so to speak. I thought it was standard!

I was supposed to get a call about a visit this week but I never got one. I think perhaps they think I'm fine especially since I've been to weigh ins a couple of times and my HV was there and had a chat anyway.

I hope so.

I'd love someone to basically move in when I start weaning. xx

Bedtime:
We started 'proper' bedtime routine (I hate that word) with DD@ 11 weeks or so as she wasn't grumpy for weeks before then from 5ish to 8ish on most nights resulting in us taking turns to try and get her off to sleep by walking around with her,rocking her whilst cuddling and finally resorting to swaddling if none of those worked

Initially I started with 9pm for a week,then 8:30pm and finally 8pm which is where we will probably stay.
we do change,sleep suit, sleeping bag, feed and then Pop her in crib. Usually she will fall asleep whilst having her bottle but if she doesn't I'll give her a dummy (is that bad?)and she'll doze off within five minutes whilst I read her a story.
I tend to remove the dummy once she's asleep and she tends to sleep through until 7am ish when DH gets up for work. The bedtime process takes about 30 mins on a good day but upto a n hour on a bad day. On bath days she has her bath just before 8.
Poo:
Amazingly bright yellow poos! Sometimes v runny and at other times quite thick and almost like a paste and takes ages to clean off. DD has taken to holding her legs up for me and gnawing at her toes whilst I clean her up this week!! She cracks me up!

Kitkat don't worry about it, the thread is to share our concerns and hopefully people do not judge each other or even each other's partner... Glad you had an hour more to rest in the morning , it is so nice

Hon was that you who said your ds is climbing percentiles? Were you also ebf? My ds , like yours, is very unpredictable over night; normally wakes once around 3-4am and once around 6am but that can change anytime, specially if he is having a bad refluxy day

Fate no, if anything I regret why I have not started weaning earlier... It is going to take a long long time to work out what works for him and what will not; starting at 6m only means he will be8-9 month by the time he will settle into solids

Night time routine: the time came naturally to him, he needs to be in bed by 9pm or else he will be over tired and grumpy, or will just start his night time sleep in lounge! But normally he is in bed by 8:30-9 ish after bath, sleeping bag, cuddles with dad and sometimes story, feed and night night :)
Unfortunately though the thing he associate most with sleeping is the last breastfeeding in our bed, and so the couple of times I have been out he has not slept until I got back! Even though it was past midnight

zanashar the dummy has been my saviour. I was v anti but truly it always settles b to sleep. he spits it out in the night and I just replace as required!!

interestingly b sleeps till 6.55 on a weekday (which is when dh gets up) but can go till 7.30/8ish on a weekend. lie in!!

b is like the devil incarnate if he isn't in bed by 7!!!!

sorry for the drip comments. Bs latest is that he lifts his legs high up in the air, farts and laughs. lovely.

Evening all, so much to catch up on!

Dd has gone to bed at 7 since 12 weeks. She used to go up at 10 with us but it became increasingly apparent that she was insanely overtired between 7 and 10, so we started going through her usual bedtime routine from 6.15 so she's down for 7 every day now. SO nice to have some time to veg in the evenings

Those of you who ebf: are any of you planning on switching to ff at 6 months?

Very jealous of babies who are only sick a few times per day. Dd is still being sick an average of 60 times per day

Apple: I am not. I may start introducing some bottles gradually if expressing and going back to work does not work but my plan is if practical keep at it until he is 1years old.
I understand you btw, I am pleasantly surprised if he is only sick a few times a day!

nazly yes DS was pushing 98th centile but is now settling on 91st. He is ebf and I don't think the HV believes me! She is always surprised when she says 'and he's only having breast milk?' Yes! They seem pleased though and I'm happy he's doing so well.

Apples I don't intend on switching at 6 months, but mainly because bf is working well for us (see above!!) and I won't be going back to work until september so I have no reason to introduce formula.

Haha honey I get the same attitude from the HV. I'm not sure they see that many people who are still ebf by this point. I think I will be switching, as although it's going well, I'm just really not a fan.

Nazly and others with reflux - do you find the reflux is worse when your los are less sick? Dd will sometimes have less sicky days but her reflux symptoms are worse then

Bedtime for A is anywhere between 7.30 and 8.30. Routine involves changing and feeding then up to cot after cuddles, occasionaly with a bath before the feed. He then generally sleeps through until 7.30, although does waken when DH alarm goes off. Usually the dummy will send him back to sleep.

We also have grainy poo's (and I also wonder where the graininess (is that a word?) comes from). One a day generally, but occasionally we skip a day. He pulls a lovely face whilst doing it too

DH is oncall this weekend. He is already very grumpy and it only started at 9pm. I think me and A will be going for some very long walks this weekend

Honey I knew somebody was similar but could not remember who; and I am so glad somebody else is in the same situation; so I know it is not abnormal, as I have heard times and again that breasted babies normally drop percentiles at some point and don't get very chubby! Not here! ds is very gradually going towards 98th but he is in the middle of 91st and 98th and not sure which way he will settle eventually... My mum asks me every now and then what I am eating as his milk is probably very fat!!!!

Apple I have not noticed that, but maybe I was not observant enough; I'll look out to see if that's the case.

What I am noticing here is that the days he is having a bad tummy could probably be related to what I am having, like some unusual food (very spicy, currey, etc.) ; Previously I believed what I eat is not related to his condition as I read a page in kelly mum about the issue and it totally made sense to me... What do other bf mums think about the issue?

On and Red, I forgot to comment on this before: yes it sounds totally wrong to through away that much breast milk!!! I can't believe that! Isn't there any other way? This may be a tall order but aren't there charities for donation? I remember hearing some disabled babies will specially benefit from it, but given some of these disabilities, mums body may not be able to produce enough milk, etc.... Failing that what about borrowing freezer space or something...

Thanks for sharing bedtime routines all. It's good to know there's variation in what's working for people! And still some other late bed timers!

Molly is another one who brings up a bit of sick almost constantly! And yes we also have the grainy yellow poos!

Lol Nazly I also get that 'what is in your milk?!' I'm happy, DS is happy, I just try and ignore. And be proud that my milk made him so chubby and yummy!!
My husband is quite a big man, not tall but quite stocky, broad shoulders etc so I always thought DS would be big. He looks just like his daddy did as a baby. So I'm not sure it's my milk at all tbh, just genetics.

A bit late to the party :)

If Elijah has a normal sleeping day he will have a bath at 6.30 change into pj's bottle (sometimes) and go down at 7 in my arms then sleep till 9 ish and have a bottle then bed. I have tried countless times to put him bed at 7 and he just wakes up. If he naps till 6 or 7 he'll stay up later then to down for the night. We are not brilliant with routines buy Elijah is happy.

He isn't sleeping through although he can, but often will wake for milk at least once a night and gets the rage if I offer a dummy!

Sleep - still struggling to work out nap times so he's knackered by 6.30ish. Luckily DH is home at 4.30 so not an issue. As we've given up battling with the cot we're co sleeping we either both go to bed for his mammoth feed about 7pm or he sleeps on us downstairs until his next feed at 11ish. Not sure how much he feeds during the night (half asleep) but given that his nappies have started leaking again I think it's a lot .

Nazly - a lot of kellymom info is great, but I too read that page and it made total sense but not sure I agree with it. Either DS reflux flares up by itself or it's definitely linked to what I eat. I've cut out anything acidic (Orange juice, apples etc) and I'm sure it helps. Theres plenty other sources that say some foods makes reflux worse. I'm worried about weaning making everything worse. I've read so much about weaning reflux babies that I'm not sure what I've been advised by doctors and what I've read online anymore. I know I'm going to take it really slow, probably avoid fruits as too acidic for a while. He's potentially to start today (20 weeks) but I'm too scared.

I don't see mine ever going on formula unless he can take the normal dairy stuff. I'm now not going back to work till he's a year old so hoping that will work better. The Gp is pushing to just get him on the dairy free formula but I don't see the point. Of course that links back to worrying that what I'm eating is making him worse! His weight's been between 91st & 98th but has slipped down between 75th and 91st this week

Red, I was also going to ask if you had thought about donating your milk. I had looked into it when I was pregnant, and I would have loved to have done it but I found feeding far more difficult than I was expecting.

I had written a long post about our bedtime routine and night time issues last night, but lost it

DD has had a 7-7 routine naturally for quite a while now, although she wakes frequently between those times. Recently she has been getting tired earlier though and is sometimes ready for bed at 6! I want her bed time to be later though, so I'm trying to push her a little later each night until we get to 8, and I'd like that to be her bed time. Last night we managed 7.20.

Bedtime routine isn't too great really. Change her into her pjs, bit of time doing calm play on her changing mat, a bit of a feed (she only wants about an oz) and then I rock her to sleep. She usually then sleeps on me on the couch until she stirs for her next feed, which is usually between 10.30-11.30. I feed her then, usually a fair size feed, and we go to bed. DD goes in her Moses basket until she wakes at around 1.

From then onwards she thrashes about and wakes about every 30-45 min. She can only be calmed with her bottle, just a few sucks and she calms. For some reason the dummy doesn't work. She then sleeps until her mega poo wakes her. This morning it was 6.30, but the past few days it has been between 4-5!

About 1-1.5 hours after she wakes she is ready for a nap of about an hour.

So, the first half of the night is pretty good, the second half is a disaster! Any ideas for how to help with the disaster zone would be gratefully received!

This is the website with all of the information on milk donation...

www.ukamb.org/donating-milk/requirements-for-donors/

For those of you who bottle feed, could I ask a couple if questions please?! DD is now only on formula, so I'm able to actually track how she's feeding.

1: I only make up 4oz (120 ml) bottles, but she often only gets through half of that, so I feed her about every 2 hrs. The formula box says she should have 6oz 5 times a day so she is having about the right amount through the day. Does anyone else have a grazer, and any ideas on how to get her to have fewer but longer feeds?

2: She has about half of her milk through the night. Clearly I need to get her to have all of her milk between 7am and 11pm to get her to sleep through. Any ideas on how to achieve this? She does seem to feed better when she's asleep. I think she gets too easily distracted when awake! So yesterday I started trying to feed her when she's towards the end of a sleep. Does anyone else do this?

3: How long would it take your baby to drink 3oz (90 ml). I takes DD a good 15-20 minutes. This seems too long? I wonder if she is just getting a bit fed up and stops feeding before she's actually full? We are using the second size teats for 3+ months. I was wondering about changing teats would 6+ months or variflow be better?

Thanks all! Can I just say, once again, how wonderful you all are?! I'm so pleased I joined this board as I've received so much help and support. I feel so clueless most of the time, so I worry that I'm not able to contribute anything helpful for the rest of you, but I'm still very grateful for you all