February '15 babies - appearing thick and fast!

[GeekyHybrid]

Our first thread on the 'other side'. And may all our soon to be mummies join us in this adventure through the early days of parenthood as we continue to share exciting times.

Frenetic as others said maybe try the mixed feeding. I do bf ok now (I think ) but we still keep some formula top up especially at night so that I get some sleep.

Last night wasn't too bad in the end...I'm sitting downstairs whilst having my breakfast in peace. ..for now I know. I went to bed at 10, DH brought lo upstairs at 00.30 I fed her and put her in the basket at 2 ish. Up again 3 & 4.30 ish. Feeling fairly refreshed in comparison to other mornings. And DH is now getting some sleep.

Off to the sling library today. I really hope we find something we both like...although I'm thinking a cloth sling and my hubby the one with buckles.

Do your babies wear hat indoors? We have our heating turned up...around 21 degrees so seems warm enough and we stop giving her a hat (mostly as they don't stay on for long anyway ).

And do you change nappy as soon as you hear a squirt? Her bum is ok but worried about any future rush.

popsicle we have the same...she seems to be asleep after the feed at night and as soon as she touches the basket she starts crying. Mind you she doesn't like it much during the day either. Got our bouncer delivered yesterday so hoping she will like that.

donkir good luck with the move

Sandu I was told no hats indoors and to err on the side of underdressing rather than over - just one more layer than you'd wear, and in fact my lo seems to prefer not being too hot. Often just lies on her floor mat in a vest and sleep suit and our thermostat is set same as yours.

Also on the sling front do try the ergo as it's the only one I've tried that properly takes the weight on your hips rather than shoulders - and with the newborn insert it's really snug for the babies. Anyway I think I might have already said that but can't remember - baby brain!

Everyone on this thread is so great and doing so well - can't believe how close we are to the end of feb! Payday today thank goodness - though last real one for ages now.

Sorry, but f a posting frenzy! Popsicle and Sandu have you tried wrapping a blanket around them so that when you put them down in the basket they aren't lying on a cold sheet? I'm using a sleeping bag at night and after feeding I put the back of the bag over her back to warm up and then it's less of a shock when she's flat.

The other thing to try in the Moses basket is a towel under the top end so that the mattress is very slightly tipped up - can help with burping or snotty babies... Hope something helps!

Good luck with the move donkir.
sand we don't bother with hats indoors. Isaac creates as soon as the nappy is damp so we 'have' to change straight away, he'll even get distracted and stop feeding. We're going through lots of nappies but I hope it means he'll toilet train earlier
tonights you're doing amazing with your 4. Could you get help at teatime? If not family maybe a local older teenager could be roped in at minimal cost. I happen to run a youth club so easy for me to say but the local school or church could probably suggest someone responsible enough.
We did doze for another hour here and now having breakfast. I feel positively human compared to yesterday

Sand its no hats indoors at all is the guidelines, baby wears a hat/hood as soon as we are outdoors though.

Loopsy don't feel guilty look at it less as time away from DD1 and more she is gaving quality one on one time with daddy.

Ah payday how I have missed you so dh took the bank card today so needs to now ping me money with threat of if he forgets he will have to brave 'the big shop' with 2 kids tomorrow

Hello!

congrats to all the new babies :)

Busy week here, DH went back to work on Wednesday and was away overnight, so solo bedtime with DS and DD, survived it! Also drove down to my folks for the day yesterday, so today we are having a lazy day, DS at nursery so Phoebe and I are going to try to get some housework done, I bought a baba sling from boots, hoping that it'll work well to give me some hands free.

I agree with the pp who talked about the pressure that we are all put under by midwives to breastfeed. I found after giving birth all that pressure was taken away and they just wanted to know that the baby was feeding, I wish that that was the attitude in the first place!

I had a brilliant tip for everyone, thought of it last night, but I've forgotten what it was now! It was such a good one too - doh!

I got puked on in spectacular fashion this morning, the whole bottle came back up, managed to get none of it on the bed though - score ;)

So Phoebe had her first shower this morning, which she didn't dislike, will have to give her a shower once a week or so so she gets used to it.

I remembered!

Do you guys know that when the bit between the nose and upper lip goes a blueish colour it means the baby needs burped, a midwife told us that when we had our DS and it helps to know when they have done enough burps that the skin goes back to being pink.

Got infant gaviscon for LO, hoping this helps the grumbles. He's also got some sore skin in his groin, worried he has thrush. All the worries!

In other news I feel like a proper home body.. I got excited by the arrival of our new hoover. With three cats and cream carpets, the lack of power in our old vacuum was starting to annoy me. New one arrived today and I just watched DH use it, and wow. I've never been so excited by a household appliance.

How are your older ones dealing with the babies? We haven't noticed worse behaviour than normal (2yo has been having epic tantrums and power struggles for last 6 months so can't really blame it on baby jealousy). However same 2 yo wants to be ON TOP of her baby sister ALL THE TIME. Patting, grabbing, kissing, poking... And the best time of all to do this is when she's just drifted off to sleep.

Memphis - they don't seem to give it for breast fed babies initially. I think it's only if they have other concerns and LO is putting on so much weight they can't see it causing any problems.

He did have a better night last night so I am wondering if it was something I had eaten as I had quite alot of garlic the night before so cutting it right down.

Honey, my son is the same, loves his sister to an excessive squishy degree! We just try to limit the amount of poking the baby that goes on!

honey no older siblings in this house but my friends 2yo was exactly as you describe when she met Isaac, to the extent that when my friend had a cuddle, 2yo almost had full tantrum saying she wanted the baby back etc! Stern words about everyone having turns, bless her

Honey my older child is fairly indifferent to the new baby unless it's going to get a reaction from us. She's actually been playing up quite a lot with some epic tantrums and insisting on doing things on her own (which doesn't work well when it is using the potty... Or getting dressed when she managed to put every single item of clothing on backwards - though I was impressed by the consistency). We've started mostly ignoring the tantrums though and they're already on the decline - it was pointed out that she is going it just for the attention. Was

Donkir hope the move goes ok today.

My ds is 4.5 and has been fantastic, as a whole his behaviour has been better since the baby arrived, very loving, sometimes have to tell him to stop kissing him or just hold his finger not try to hold his actual hand. Fetches nappies, soothes him when he is hpset and actually stops him crying qucker than I can, for the bedtime book he lies on ds1 bed and stares at him

Wow, I can't believe people are managing to keep up with reading and posting as well as baby-tending! Congrats to all the babies and sounds like ppl are picking up lots of useful tips on here - I must find time to read thru but I am 10 days behind pretty much....

Sorry for massive post - here's our story:

Ben arrived on Tue 17th (7 days late) after a fairly gruelling 26 hours in hosp, and plenty of variety of approaches - TENS, movement, G&A, just about to get in the pool when waters EXPLODED all over the midwife covering her in meconium, so no pool allowed and moved next door into less-swanky non-active room. Then it was mainly on the bed being monitored and poked, with slow progress. Kept being told how well I was coping but also lots of suggestions of epidural due to length of time everything was taking and baby's head having a slight tilt which was slowing it all down. Eventually gave in and had the most horrible bit - bending over and keeping still for them to do the epidural....which they did wrong twice (well, the anaesthetist said twice - the midwife told Dave later it had been 3 times!) - think it went in a blood vessel (does that sound right? I can't remember this v clearly, luckily). So she gave up and was going to send a colleague but midwife suggested waiting a little again as was 9cm.

But it mega stalled at that point and they said I needed Syntocinon to get thru the last bit and again really recommended the epi - my hip was agony (not SPD, just a pain I had on and off for last month of preg that was relieved by changing position, which I cldn't do due to monitoring) and annoyingly it was cos of that rather than any directly birth-related pains that I had it! A v nice man did it straightaway, hurray! Then a couple of hours of less pain and a bit of semi sleep, then a couple of hours of being told when to push and not being able to feel it - this annoyed me. Still all v slow so had to go to forceps and episiotomy. Totally NOT the birth I wld have chosen (anyone who wld choose it is mad!) but Ben arrived fine and dandy at 6.09am.

He then decided to not feed at all for 24 hrs, meaning we stayed in for 2 days. But that's another story! He;s fine now tho, having not lost much by day 5 (3%) and put it all back plus an extra ounce by today (day 10).

Phew! Now I wish he wld just learn to sleep at night....

Red so glad you are ok that must have been hard. but they are so worth it in the end.

I must admit the fear of it going wrong is why I have never considered an epidural.

How has everything been since?

Well I am in for a pretty boring evening of sitting in my room with Lochie as my OHs brother is over. we don't get on so I end up staying in my room so the boys can bond. At least next week when he is over I will be able to get away. We had to stay so he could meet his nephew he clearly couldn't give a damn about!

On the upside Lochie is now officially registered and will soon have his own bank account.

also tried him in the Ergo 360 today which seems amazing. Cannot wait to use it properly.

Here we go again... Why am I failing so hard at nights?

I'm up frenetic. I felt like you last night and was sat crying as i fed her. Last night turned out not to be too bad in the end eithet! I was then feeling guilty for crying. Please do not see it as failing, you are doing a fantastic job.

I feel like a different person today. I went to breast feeding group and just being around other mums and babies made me feel so better. I suppose it was an extension to this thread and knowing it is normal that my baby cluster feeds etc. I also got to ask questions about expressing etc. I'm definitely going to be looking at other baby groups. I did pregnancy yoga and am going to do post natal pregnancy I think.

This positivity is also because my little miss has let me sleep a bit more so I may do a complete u turn later on when we have less kip! She's been better in moses this evening but still a long night ahead yet. Loopsy I always wrap her sheet round her as i feed so I don't disturb her when I put her back. We also have the Moses on a tilt. If it is reflux I don't think it's really bad but I'm going to monitor it. Thank you all for suggestions.

Frenetic it will be ok. We are here to talk chat rant to. My ds is working her way being difficult at night as well. Refusing the Moses basket straight out.

Red sorry it was so traumatic fir you. Hopefully it will go smoother for you now.

So my day was full of ups and downs. Both kids slept till 730 dd had a quick feedat6.

We pottered has breakfast midwife came for 5 day checks. Dd down to 3.16kg so lost 140g hut within limits. With the amount she is feeding I thought it would be less!

This pm oh and ds went and bought football boots abs shin pads as now he is 3 going to start Saturday morning lessons.

When they got back we decided to dos quick run to supermarket and test out the buggy board.

In walk I noticed one o the back wheels was off kilter. We got the stop and hear a crack. The chassis of the buggy snapped

So we now have no buggy over weekend and will ring company on Monday. Buggy is out of warranty as we had it for ds.

Hopefully we can get a spare chassis.
Sorry for epic post.

I'm up too. Finished feeding and hoping she falls asleep quickly.

How annoying about your buggy purple . We went finally for a walk for the first time and it was lovely. Hubby had to push the pram though as I was just about ok to walk...was having this tenderness around my tummy and the section scar.

Thanks for the tips re moses basket, will try those.

Red Sorry to hear about birth not going to plan. At least he's healthy and doing well. I was due the 10th and gave birth 17th 6.40am so we must've been in labour similar times. My first was a 40hours labour with epidural. I loved the epidural though and once that was in it was all smooth. Tried to recreate that with second and ended up with epi that only worked one side. Now this time there was no time for epi so had to do it all natural but it was quick....
Jack I'm still trying to figure out the blue lip thing.... Can't see it.
My two children's reaction to new brother has been good. My 3year 5month girl is very excited and protective about her new brother just need to make sure she doesn't try to lift him by herself or something. I can see that coming.....
Her 2 year 4month old brother is happy but not too bothered by new brother. Can see him being less pleased about not being able to scream, run and jump as normal as "baby needs to sleep "
All in all both seems ok with baby.

Frenetic a lot ofMums feel it about night times I am fine in the day but nights with disturbed sleep is hard!

Purple oh no to chassis! Hope you can find a new one.

Is anyone else trying a dummy? LO had one yesterday as really sucking hands in his sleep and disturbed sleep worked well especially with nappy changes which he usually hates but in the night when I hoped it would be of some use he keeps losing it and cries because he's lost it so actually waking up more often Arghhhh! OH likes it but I'm not sure

Hehe this is a funny article in the guardian today. Plus some useful tips for the future!

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/feb/28/38-things-you-should-know-about-being-a-mum

Sunshine oh the dilemma of dummy or not.
My girl had dummy from early on and she's still ( to my partners dismay) using one at night ( she's 3 years 5 months) and she still wakes up and can't find dummy then goes to sleep straight away after getting one.
My son (2years 4 months) never used one. But breastfed until 1 year 10 months.
Basically.... My daughter became independent much earlier as her comfort was dummy and blanket and anyone could give her that. My son was much more needy as I was his only comfort.
But now..... He's the independent one who sleeps better through night whilst she still needs assistant ( finding dummy).
I think I will try without dummy but making sure he can take formula as well as breastmilk ( my son refuses any formula it milk).