December-the 'Merry Christmas' Babies!

[Calmriver]

Hi Guys, thought I wouldn't betray our months of being together...whats a week amoungst friends!!!

Hi all, working again...

Hopefully should finish it tonight and then I can SLEEP, am really starting to suffer with sleep deprevation, am struggling to say what I am thinking clearly.

Really good news is that the MW came yesterday for her 5 day visit and my DD2 has managed to not only not loose her birthweight of 9lb 9oz she has gained 4oz and breastfeed babies are meant to loose more weight before they start to gain.

I did jokingly say before to her that all it felt like I had done was breastfeed!

so much to catch up on! Been full-on here last couple of days - guess thats normal life resuming, eh. Well, that plus colic or whatever it is.

Divastrop, thanks so much for posting that - I'm so sorry you went through bronchiolitis hell too, and worse than us at that, and so glad your LO is all well now. I think it happens so fast we're bound to be shocked and anxious for a while afterwards - its unreal at the time, how rapid the decline can be. Thankfully, same goes for the getting better bit! Fingers crossed I can post the same as you 11.5 months from now.

Bewilderbeast, I'm glad your LO is ok too - sounds like you had a bit of bad luck, nothing to do with your mothering! Hugs...

Took dd2 to GP yesterday after babyclinic, as HV thought worth checking out whether colic or reflux. GP knew far less than HV. But have tried Gaviscon - makes no difference whatsoever to her pain, and she's not throwing up much as long as I don't let her over-feed. Tonight started off a bit easier, but from 8pm till 9.30pm she was white faced, screaming with pain (not all the time, seems to come in waves), had extremely runny poo and threw up once. Now asleep. I imagine this is still sounding like colic?? She has a lesser degree of the same discomfort in the mornings after feeding, too - but not in the afternoon or at night, which are her sleepy times (feeds less, might be a clue). Any colic experts, please feel free to comment....I'm baffled....

Castles, I hope your dd is feeling better on the Ranitidine...

WB,can relate to sleep deprivation....even dh managed to double book clients tonight, and forgot two appointments this week. Poor man was tearing his hair out saying 'whats wrong with me?' - at least I still have enough brain cells to remember its NORMAL at this stage!

And another one with a stack of cloth nappies as yet unused...she's going to be too big for a few of them at this rate...

also have the unused re-usable pile, he was too small for them, now he is the right size the washer is not working very well and could not cope with the extra loads (it can barely do baby clothes) so like your dd Elibean he will probably have grown out of at least a couple of the wraps before we get chance to use them. I have to admit that I have bought a little lamb trial pack today though I have re-usable nappy addiction without even using them yet.

Hi all,

Another baby gym addict here. DS loves it, spending up to 30 minutes a time kicking about and watching the toys hanging over him. And he loves his tiny love chimes - DD seems to like them too and commandeers the gym every time I get it out and DS is'nt on it!

DS slept for 5 hous last night and seems to be going longer and chucking up less now. Perhaps this is because we have almost switched all feeds to HB.

Taking DD to pre-school on my own today with DS in front-carrier - should be a spectacle!

Sorry about spelling being worse than normal, but have a snoozing DS on my knee!

Oh and am in pre-preg jeans too! yay

Eli, persevere with the gaviscon. It takes about a week for the oesophugus (sp?) to heal so there will still be pain/discomfort for a while. If Mischa is not being sick so much then something is happening. If after a week there is no improvement then go back to your HV/GP. With my DD2 there was an instant improvement with gaviscon in that she stopped being sick but the screaming continued which is why she's now on Ranitadine. Also, make sure you "melt" the gaviscon properly - something I learnt with DD1. Of course as my HV said, some babies have reflux and colic. Oh joy!

BWB, have I missed something? Hope you and your LO are ok

castles- you are so right- after abysmal night on monday night- nearly sobbing with sleep deprivation (!) had a great night last night- DS2 slept from 1030pm to 330am and then on to 7am . best night's sleep I've had since I had him. feel great today! no doubt it'll all go pete tong again tongiht, but hey ho..

those of you staring at the cloth nappy pile- I do sympathise. It took a great effort of will no my part to start using them but honestly, once you get going, its fine and doesn't seem like too much of a chore.

DS1 is 2 tomorrow and I'm so excited for him. going to (try) to find time to bake him a chocolate cake... and next week he starts playgroup. also very excited for him . he's a poppet and has been great with DS2- playing him songs from his "baby tad" teddy last night..

That is fab Judemum. It does baffle me this alternate night thing, I'd love to know what it's all about. I hate to piss people off but my DD2 slept from 10pm to 5.30am Of course I didn't benefit - spent the whole night checking her & waiting for her to wake up I'm sure tonight will be a complete disaster as well!!

My DD sleeps ok for half the night and then seems to have a 3 hour wake time first thing. yikes

Ie last night slept 22.45 - 2.30 had a 25 min feed then only slept from 3am to 4 am. I can cope with that but then she was awake for 3 hours!!! Slept 7-8 then woke for another feed, and back to sleep from 8.45 and of course now she is sleeping like an angel.

i know what u mean, charlie slept from 12.30 til 4, then was awake for ages, i think til 6am then he slept until 7am then i got up so im feelin tired today!

ditto here- when we have a bad nights its usually because hes awake from early morning onwards.

castles -WOW!
whats the secret?????!!!

Judemum, the only thing I can think of is that DD didn't sleep in our room last night? It wasn't deliberate - she was in her moses basket in the playroom (downstairs) where we keep her until we go to bed and both DH & I fell asleep on the sofa in the sitting room. We stayed down there waiting for her to wake up and of course she went through until 5.30am. Come to think of it, DS slept similarly when I put him in his own room at 2 months because DH was looking so knackered. If I feel brave enough I might try it again tonight and let you know.

mmmhh- interesting. am just wondering when to put DS2 into his own room- probably in the next few weeks. I do wonder if sometimes I wake him up with my snoring!!! and it would be nice to share my bed with DH again- starting to get lonely!

Let me know how you get on...

Hi All,

DH and I feeling very pleased with ourselves as we have just caught Pixifoto in Mothercare and got some great shots of DS and DD individually and together - looking forward to getting my hands on them in a couple of weeks.

Also bough DS a sleeping bag - half price - £10 in the sale. And in Next found some fleecey PJ's for him. I am sure half the battle with him sleeping is to keep him warm, I think he likes his milk so much as it warms him up. He is currently on his 4th hour between feeds - during which time he slept through having his picture taken as well!

Will persevere with the Gaviscon then, thanks C.....its odd that its only certain times of day (morning a bit, evening a LOT) but I suspect dd has both colic and 'silent' reflux. She rarely throws up. Does Ranitidine have any side effects? Imagine it might be more helpful for the 'silent but painful' sort than Gaviscon, and less constipating...

Sleep isn't too bad here, two feeds in the night and she sleeps till 9am...but if dd1 has a nightmare/gets cold/coughs that adds to it, and I'm still expressing after the first feed of the night (its that or burst) which adds to the awake time for me

Have a sore throat and am terrified of getting flu or a bad cold - not for me, but in case I give it to Mischa. Paranoia? I hope so Things are just getting to feel normal again post-hospital, so maybe I'm just being superstitious!

I'm now tearing my hair out. DD2 started life at 7lb12, went down to 7lb4, then up to 7lb8, then down to 7lb7, regained all of birthweight (by last Saturday, day 16), and has not gained anything since. She may even have lost a little since then.
I'm feeding on demand, poos are really yellow, nappies are soggy - WHERE AM I GOING WRONG???
To give her credit, the HV isn't worried, but I have to go back again on Friday for another weigh-in. If she still isn'y gaining then will be referred to GP.
On the bright side, although her face is still yellow, her eyes are now lovely and white!

Mardy, you are never far from thoughts. Sending lots of hugs and good wishes.

Tuesday night was one of our best to date. ds2lept for 3 1/2 hours was up for 2, back asleep for 2 1/2, up for 1, then back down for 2. The 2 hour interval was interesting. He fed, etc for an hour - typical - then was just really, really awake but not crying. I decided to roll with it. After trying to rock and sing him back to sleep I put him in his play gym and started to work on my taxes

Tonight he did major cluster feeding before going down, slept three hours and is now nursing furiously as I sit here wondering if my nipples will ever toughen up...

Glad to hear there's been some other good nights as well.

babypowder, weight was a huge issue for us, too. It sounds like she is just a slow gainer. I mean, happy baby and wet nappies is a good thing. She'll probably take off on her 3 week growth spurt.

mornin' mummies. DS screamed the place down from 6pm until 2am yesterday with no discernable cause. Am totallly frazzled. HV coming today (I think, it could be tomorrow) so we'll find out if he's gained enough weight. Not looking forward to telling her that he's getting some formula cos mummy's norks have dried up like old prunes though

Morning all
Had the worst day yet yesterday with ds only sleeping for 2 and a half hours from 10am 'til 12pm. Lots of crying, and wailing in between... Needless to say he them slept through until 7am this morning. By this time my boobs were rock hard, watermelons have got nothing on me...
He went back to sleep at 8.15 and is still in the land of nod now!

Oh you guys have had a time of it

Well, I've cut out dairy again for the past couple of day and have had better nights. Still not 100% sure that's it though.

AQ and Jabber - so hard to find time to express enough isn't it, amid the feeding and bottle feeding and everything else that needs doing!

Is it ok to keep one bottle going in the fridge over the course of the day? And can you use the pump without sterilising it again each time? By the time I have done another round of sterilising I have usually run out of time to use the damn thing.

I have just got a Medela battery pump, though, and it is faster than the Isis.

My cloth nappies are unused too. I had no idea how little time I would have.

LouLou, I think you are "meant" to sterilise each time. It's up to you, in France they don't bother about sterilising at all. Putting it in the dishwasher is probably just as good.

Eli, don't think there are side-effects for Ranitidine (that's what worried me). DD2 still up and down & I'm not sure yet if it is reflux, will give it another week or so. However she does seem to be sleeping quite well at night. My DS NEVER slept during the day for 1st 3 months & was sleeping through night by 2 months so I just HOPE & PRAY I have another like that.

So bored of being tired & housebound. This is definitely my last