August 2015 - Let the Sleepless Nights Commence

[nolongerwaitingfornumber2]

My DC2 was born on 5th August and I'm up in the wee hours feeding away. Anyone else with their August babies care to join me?

I still can't believe he's here and in my arms!

Ps Nolonger thanks for sharing that article. It's got some really good advice.

Welcome eqimum - congratulations

Dozy don't feel bad about posting your BF woes here, it's what we're here for. I feel like it's all I talk about as well, it is frustrating wanting to do it but finding it so hard. I keep telling myself 'maybe today will be the turning point'. As the others have said though do look after yourself, I truly believe that happy mums have happy babbas.

What does your boot camp involve MzzzF? DS has stopped sleeping so well in his Moses basket and if he keeps insisting on the chest sleeping I could see us needing your boot camp too!

Glad you're feeling better Fatty, great work on the cleaning too.

We took DS to his first festival today, he wasn't that bothered tbh, but we had a lovely time watching bands in the sunshine, who says babies have to change your life?

Good luck for tonight everyone... Sending sleepy vibes to you all.

Hi all,

Just popping in before heading up to bed. Like Kbro my DS is asleep on my chest so I'll be trying the slow transfer to crib move in the hope he doesn't wake up!

Oh I love Freya bras and didn't realise they did nursing bras too. Do Bravissimo stock them?

Hope everyone has had a lovely Sunday. Just ordered a Fitbit as determined to lose this pregnancy weight. We had lunch out and I literally had nothing to wear that made me feel slim but I could feed in. Hate feeling frumpy.

Night all - fingers crossed for good nights all round!

I feel very frumpy. I'm still wearing my maternity jeans half of the time. I went from a size 12 to a size 16, I'm the biggest I've ever been and hate it. I was a size 10 before the toddler was born, that's my goal as I've got a gorgeous dress I want to wear again!

Mr. Greedy is sleeping a little better now, but he's still up every 3 hours for a feed. I suppose it's better than being up until 5 am with him because he won't settle. Hopefully he's starting to figure out night is for sleeping and day is for playing.
clstow one baby doesn't change your life, its when you're trying to feed the newborn, while chasing the toddler and stopping them jumping off the couch and telling the child that you will play cars in a minute, that things get a little trickier! (Can you tell what kind of day I've had!)
But I still wouldn't change a thing.

Still in the mat jeans too. Fear I will never get the motivation to get out of them. Well done Nolonger on the Fitbit. As well as the maternity jeans and having no nice feeding tops, one thing that makes me feel really frumpy is the bloody lanishon (sp?) nipple cream is on everything I wear.

Nolonger I don't think bravissimo do nursing bras which is such a shame. Could be wrong though but think when I looked before they didn't have any.

DS is in such a funny mood today. Really unsettled again already. Not sure if he has some trapped wind as his tummy seems a bit rumbly. Thank god my mum is still here.

Mums are the best help are t they kbro?! I miss having my close by!!

clstow get you going to a festival?! That's awesome!

Baby boot camp isn't massively going well today. Trying to keep sneakily put her down to snooze when she's sleeping in my arms but she keeps waking up
I'm trying her in the Poddle pod but as yet she's not fallen in love with it!! Argh! Will keep trying though as she can't sleep on me forever.

Also today I've swapped to level 2 teats in an effort to reduce the gulping and air intake when drinking. She's done two feeds already and it seems ok... My thinking is, if I can reduce the wind she'll more likely sleep flat and if she can do that I'll be more successful at putting her down

mzzzf What is poddle pod? Sounds cute!!

kbro you are so lucky having your mum to help - my DHs family abroad and I unfortunately have no contact with mine. It would be nice to have some extra support and help, especially if I'm not feeling well or having a bad day.

Went to the library today with toddler and baby. Feeding baby in cafe when toddler has to announce at the top of her voice to the whole cafe "baby eating mummy"!! – it's sweet when she says it at home but not in public, drawing maximum attention to my breastfeeding

Anyone else's Dc have a growth spurt just before 3 weeks?! He is a milky monster since yesterday drinking so much! Lots of nappies and poo is more. Great stuff but he's feeding almost every hour all day and night am exhausted! When he does fall asleep if I put him in moses basket he wakes up again, back to square one! I got one hours sleep last night! Was going to go to my first baby group this morning but we were both just so tired. On the plus side, he seems much more alert today, taking an interest in books and toys. We had a lovely trip to the park where a nice woman with a toddler got talking to us and then came home for playtime. We even read our first book! I'm just so tired from the constant feeds - has anyone else had this with formula?

MaGrat - deffo a growth spurt for dd at 3 weeks ish. Also today I've changed her teats to a size 2 as she was feeding so little and often, plus gulping, in the hope she's get what she needs quicker! So far, so good (touch wood!) and only a little bit of regurg so far. Maybe move up a teat size if he's like this beyond tonight?!
Good on you for trying baby groups, I've not done any such thing with DD and she's 5 weeks ...
I can't even get myself sorted to take her and the dogs out for a walk!!!! Gawwwd I need to get a grip of myself!

Yep, DS had a growth spurt too around 3 weeks.
I had a "friend" round today. She's a pain in the arse. I just can't be bothered with the grief I would get if I told her to fuck off.

Yep we had the growth spurt too but now at nearly 5 weeks things seem to be falling into more of a regular pattern feeding-wise.

We're going to our first baby group tomorrow afternoon too. I might also try and do a bfing support group in the morning as I have to be up, dressed and out by 9.30 to drop toddler at nursery on a Tues anyway.

Well today I braved my first public bf. I was meeting girls from work for a cake and coffee so I didn't take a bottle with me so if she did wake up I would ha e no choice but to feed her. One of my friends has been there with her 2 kids so she was really nice and held a scarf up until I'd got dd latched on properly because I can't do the two things at once. It was pretty stressful but I've done it now.

Also went along to local bf group. Quite a lot of new little ones in the group so that was good to be around people with babies the same age and going through the same things. I seem to have fallen into a pattern of dd needing a bottle in the morning and at night which isn't actually too bad. She might not sleep for long after a bf but that's probably normal and it's prob me giving in too early and giving a bottle. Still expressing when I can but it can be hard to squeeze in between feeds and doing other things so aiming for at least 2-3 times a day if I can. She's pooing a lot more so I think things are working now. Only 2 more weeks till the magic 6 week mark where it apparently gets much easier!

Clothes! So bored of all mine now but I still have 2 stone to lose to get to pre pregnancy weight and then I was still needing to lose a stone before I was even pregnant. So I don't want to splash out on clothes but I need some things to wear. I'm still wearing my maternity jeans because I don't fit into pre pregnancy jeans. I was greedy when pregnant so paying for that now. I'm finding the best outfits for bf is a vest top underneath rolled under boobs and then I can wear any kind of top over it and pull that up so not got much on show.

Definitely need to get measured for a bra though. I have no ides what size I am, just that I'm mahoosive. The nursing bras I bought were in the sale online from mother care and they didn't have all sizes left so I just ordered the biggest they had. They're ok but not very supportive for my heavy boobs.

I'm gonna start using my fitbit to . I got it while pregnant to help motivate me to be active but all it did wasalee realise how lazy I had become lol . Took it off in labour and not used it since. Once I've got feeding sorted I plan on attempting a daily walk to help get fit again. Better do it soon while the weather is still nice!

Magrat sounds exhausting feeding every hour! You poor thing. I naively didn't realise formula fed were like that, I just figured they were more content on formula.

Mzzf I also thought before I had my own dd that babies that couldn't be put down were the parents fault for molly codling them but I now know that isn't the case at all and some babies just really don't like being put down! Mine is one of those ones too. She will go down some of the times but sometimes she really won't. I'm trying to let her fall asleep by herself if I can so she doesn't get too dependent on me but it's hard when they're crying. Hope the poddle pod starts helping.

dozy congrats on bf in public. That's one of the reasons I chose to ff. I'm just not that brave.
I think DS has a bit of a bug. he's puked his bottle up twice today (the entire thing, not just a little bit) and is very pale.
Hopefully its just a 24 hour thing and he will be OK in the morning.

Oh god I spoke to soon about the cluster feeding. It is back. And my boobs are sucked and chewed to bits. Thank the Lord for formula and dummies is all I can say.

I know I am really lucky to have my mum here. Was thinking today in the grand scheme of things I have a fairly easy baby and had DH at home for 3 weeks and now my mum for 2 weeks and I still find it amazingly hard.

Mzzzf our attempt to get DS to not sleep on me / DH / my mum went similarly. Think we managed a ratio of about 20 hours sleeping on someone to 10 mins in his bouncy chair. If we continue at this pace he'll be ready to sleep on his own about the same time he leaves home. still tomorrow is new day. Start again then.

Dozy congrats on public feeding. I have done 3 or 4 times now. It does get easier each go.

Clstow a festival!! Dead impressed. And a little jealous of you doing something so cool and fun.

Am braving a baby group tomorrow. Is a stay and play group for teenie babies (ie under one). Think will be nice to meet some other mums in the area.

Well DS is finally sleeping on my lap after an evening of crying and feeding so will start the transfer to crib and hope phases! Night all xx

Oh no Fatty, hope he gets a good nights sleep and is better soon.

Congrats on the public BF Dozy, sounds like things are going much better with the feeding now. I think I may have also (fingers crossed, touch wood) turned a corner with the feeding in the last 24 hours - if I've finally cracked it I'm going to be so happy.

It's been an evening of cluster feeding here too Kbro, I have to give it to DS, he's totally consistent with his inconsistency!

I still haven't weighed myself, but know I've got some work to do to get to my pre-preg figure. I'm out of maternity jeans but wearing a size up from usual and definitely a lot squishier than I used to be. I'm hoping to start running again, just not sure when I'll find time.

That sounds like an exhausting feeding schedule MaGrat, hope you get some more sleep tonight. What kind of toys has your LO shown interest in? I've tried to entertain DS with a rattle but so far he's shown little interest, but I'd love to play with him some more - as much as newborns play. Today is one month since he was born - what a month it's been, don't think I've ever learnt so much so quickly!

Thanks for all the windy tips. We had a better night last night and seem to be on track for the sane tonight. I've given him some dentinox colic drops at the first sign of wind so maybe that's helping.

We had a lovely day yesterday introducing ds to his great granny. A little bit sad as well as my granny died when I was pregnant and I couldn't help but think how much she would have loved to meet him.

The hv came today and ds is 10oz over birth weight. A very good gain at 11 days old. He's feeding like a trooper and looking really podgy. And we have yellow nappies most of the time now

I'm nowhere near ready to step on the scales or part with my maternity jeans yet. I'm quite aware of looking very walrus like in recent photos, but I shall continue to bury my head in the sand and exist on cake and biscuits until ds is about 6 weeks old.

kbro, I love Freya bra's. I've worn them for years and the couple of feeding ones I have are really comfy so far.

I hope you enjoyed the festival clstow. It's one of the things I've missed most this summer. I couldn't even think of dealing with portaloo's due to pregnancy sickness! Hopefully we'll get to go to plenty next year.

I may need to join your boot camp soon mzzf. Ds has been wonderful at going down in his Moses basket, but had now decided it's not for him any more. Just what I needed!

Well done on the public bf dozy. Dh is taking us out to lunch tomorrow, so I will have to face my fears too. I'm really pleased it went well for you.

I hope everyone manages to get some sleep tonight.

Well got some more sleep last night! DS woke at 12, 3 and 6. Also made the decision to use a dummy to get him off to sleep once he's full. My parents won't be happy as they hate them, but whatever works!! He fed again at 9 and is sleeping now :)
Going to baby sensory with an nct mom this morning then coffee with another this afternoon so trying to get out and about! DS has been mostly interested in a black and white book and his activity mat. And also a toy zebra. He loves music so I'm hoping baby sensory will involve some singing! Have a good day everyone!

Yay to more sleep magrat. Dummy is an excellent idea. Ds just spits them out so far, but I'll keep trying.

I think I jinxed myself with the last post when I said things were looking good. Ds then went on to cluster feed for almost 3 hours solid! I've no idea where he put it all. He's in a lovely mood this morning. I'm exhausted and headachey. We were going to go out for nice lunch today but i think we might scrap that, try and get some more sleep and then take him for his first trip to the beach this afternoon as the weather is glorious. There is a lovely beach cafe that might tempt us to have some cake.
Have a good day everyone

Hi all!

My baby is 5 weeks old now, only a week or so away from that magical smile! Is anyone else getting a bit fed up now? Looking after a baby is so relentless, makes the toddler seem so easy!

Breastfeeding is going well, in answer to the question I bf in public but tend to do it in the park/playground or family friendly cafes etc. I'm too tired to notice or care if anyone is bothered by the occasional flash of nipple

Baby still feeds every three hours or so at night, can't wait for that to improve and I'm sure it's not too far away...

Hope everyone's doing well!

Cake is my saviour today and full fat coke!
Took DD to her hearing test at the hospital this morning, I was worried about doing it solo but she was lovely and apart from a bit of crying she was great in the car. Which is he worst bit for me when you're driving!

Only managed a 30mins sleep off of me yesterday. But today she's be solo in the car seat and sat for a few mins in the chair whilst j changed so her indepedence is growing but I have to nail this sleeping solo malarkey!!!
Dummies have been a lifeline for us, I recommend the MAM ones.
Now just trying to settle her for a nap, she's not had a proper one so far today due to the hearing test. Can I give her a large bottle of merlot?! It'd work for me

mzzzf glad hearing test went OK.
DS is quite independent, but that's because he has to be! I'm so busy trying to get the 6 yo into gear for school, and keep the 20 month old out of trouble!

He seems a bit better today, hasn't been sick yet, but isnt taking all of his bottle, so I think we will be back to normal tomorrow.

I'm knackered, have been in town all day, buying Christmas presents!

Hi everyone. We have had a busy day today. My DD was in nursery so went to a bfing support group and a baby group. I also popped into town and bought a couple of tunic tops that I can wear with leggings and hopefully still feed in and a couple of nursing bras from Debenhams. They are padded so seem to give a bit more support. Got lots of "awws" when people saw how little DS is! He's 5 weeks tomorrow though which has flown by.

Dozy well done on the public feeding. It sounds like we are both feeling a bit unfit at the moment too. Hopefully in 6 months time we'll be back to our pre-pregnancy glam selves!

Fatty glad your DS seems a bit better today. Can I ask if going from 2-3 is harder or easier than 1-2? I feel like I am on a treadmill juggling my 2! Can't believe you are getting presents for Christmas already. Nice work.

Kbro glad your mum is a help. Mine is more like another child to look after when she visits! How was your baby group? Good luck with the cluster feeding tonight.

Clstow have you got a jogger buggy so you could go running with baby? With my last I found a nice evening jog with baby was a really good way to relax as well as exercise and I lost nearly 2 stone.

Frolic how lovely to have a great grandparent but I'm sorry you lost your granny so recently. It must be hard when you know how much they would have loved your new ds. Fab weight gain btw!

Magra how was baby sensory? I worry that I'm not playing with DS enough at the moment as I am preoccupied with my toddler or he's feeding/sleeping. I must get better!

Penny what date was your baby born and how old is your toddler? I am having the opposite to you and finding my toddler relentless and the baby ok! Toddler seems to be pushing boundaries at the moment and not listening to me at all!

Mzzzf glad the solo trip for the hearing test went well. Good luck with "operation sleep somewhere that is not on you". We manage it with the bouncer on vibrate sometimes. No luck with the crib during the day so not even trying!

Good luck everyone for this eve/night.

nolonger I find it easier, I've done this before, just minus the toddler . I think it helps that DS1 is at school (year 2 I feel old) so the little ones have to fit around the school run, so they just sort of fall into a routine. I found my second really tough. I had PND, and there was a lot of jealousy from DS1 as he had been an only child for 5 years. This time DS1 is used to sharing me and DD has never known anything other than sharing me. I'm a lot better mentally as well this time so things have just sort of clicked IYSWIM.

Baby sensory was great but DS fell asleep a lot! I think we might go back when he's a bit older though. Saw some nct moms and babies which was nice. Went for coffee after with another nct mom and that was so great just chatted for 2 hours!

Thanks Fatty. I hadn't thought about the second one not having jealousy issues like the first. We have always wavered between 2 or 3 so it's interesting to hear from someone with 3. Glad you are feeling better mentally this time too.

Magra we'd like to do sensory but wasn't sure at what age to go. Might wait then until DS can stay awake for longer than 30 mins which seems to be his limit at the moment. Coffee and chats will be the order of the day guilt-free in the meantime!