December-the 'Merry Christmas' Babies!

[Calmriver]

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

Congrats Stokey, great to finally see you over here! That's 3 of us on here with 10lbers now, it's a very exclusive club but not one many people are desperate join, I suspect!

Castles, I can see dd and ds2 being bundled into the buggy in their pjs tbh! Good point about not doing anything bar the essentials and I'll be looking forward to 9:30 when it all calms down again!

Anna, I wouldn't worry too much about what to eat and not eat while you're bfing. Unless you think your lo has a specific intolerance to something you're eating like jabber's ds then I'd eat what you like. No point depriving yourself unnecessarily - we did enough of that while pg!

Does anyone else's lo cluster feed in the mornings? Ds2 is 18 days now and spent from 7-11am wanting to be fed constantly today. Normally he does it from 7pm but he slept that period last night. I can't decide whether he was just making up for what he didn't get last night or is starting his 3 week growth spurt a bit early. Or this could be the start of a whole new pattern, just to make life reallly fun in the mornings .

my little one is not quite 7lbs yet and she is almost 8 weeks old!I cant imagine her being 10 lbs yet!

Stokey! Good to see you!

Am very impressed, 10lb and just a grade 1 tear. On that note how long until it stops stinging like hell when I pee people?

Big improvements were made today as he slept on the beanbag for almost 2 hours. He has however been bringing up a lot of his feeds today . Starting to see a pattern emerging now, he is awake most of the morning, sleeps in the afternoon then is awake and mostly grizzly from after dinner until 11/12 when he feeds, sleeps til 4ish, feeds and sleeps til 8ish. Quite nice really although I do wake up feeling like I have a couple of oozing rocks on my chest! DP was back at uni today (I should have been.....) so I'm doing all the nights really but then he can take William between feeds in the aftrnoon and I nap. Seems to be working fairly well and since I have 2 hours of classes a week will continue when I go back I hope.

Bumped into somone from aquanatal today and hr 5 week old still won't sleep on her own. Please please pat me on the head and tell me of course I'll have William sleeping in his crib by then. Would be nice for DP and I to be abl to have dinner together instead of in turns so someone can hold the baby if nothing else!

Congrats stokey and welcome to the postnatal thread at last!
Indith, of course you and dp will be able to have dinner together - patterns change all the time, my ds is 5 weeks & things are getting much better every day. Promise
DS2 was weighed today and has put on 2 pounds in 2 weeks , I was so shocked I asked hv to double check. No wonder he's outgrowing 0-3 stuff & I'm having trouble carrying the car seat! Cannot believe it on breastmilk alone. All that cluster feeding (and yes, in themorning also Olihan sounds just like what he does, drives me mad when I'm trying to get ds1 to nursery) paying off.
Had time off on weekend, 2 whole hours in debenhams buying some clothes, bliss. But I missed my LO, cuddled him like mad when I got back, but good to have a little break now and again. I don't remember doing this 1st time, far too anxious!

CR - Seems so strange that my DD2 is now 10lb at 11days already and yours is still 7lb at 8 weeks..

Hayley - believe me you can feel the difference, my DD1 was 7lb 5 and DD2 was 9lb 9, I really felt the difference pushing DD2 through the birth canal.

Everyone is ill here, I have a infected Uterus that isnt clearing up, am now on 2nd course of antibiotics and waiting on a scan and DD2 is suspected reflux, projectile vomiting feeds across the room in impressive style.

Am doing my Tax Return this week, why why why didnt I make myself do this when I was still pregnant!!!!

Congrats Stokeymonkey.

Well, I had a terrible night. DD was up from 5pm until midnight! She was feeding almost non-stop with maybe 20 min breaks for me. I am exhausted. DH took her off me and tried to give a bottle to her but she took 1 oz and decided to stop as mummy was nicer

She then went to sleep and woke again at 3am, 4.30am and 6.30 am for 10 min feeds. I am knackered. She's just gone off to sleep and now i have to rush around like a madwoman to get DD1 out of the house in 20 mins....

She will be 6 weeks on saturday so i'm hoping this is just the start of a growth spurt as i cant do this for long.

Congrats Stokey and Indith! Nice to have you here at last. Not much to report here- had a raft of BRILLIANT nights (7pm to 1.30am to 7am) but now gone down hill again- just when you think you've cracked it...

cab;t remember but someone was asking about mixed feeding further down. just to say did not do it with DS1 and spent night after night bf for hours and hours with him- was utterly exhausted. with DS2 have introduced one bottle of formula at the last nightime feed and it really does help- even if he wakes for a feed in the night its a very short feed- maybe 10-15mins. introduced the one bottle of formula at one month. so i am a convert to mixed feeding.

PS just to add to the list of maladies, I have an infected tooth

off the the dentist for some drilling later.....

I think mixed feeding is great, it worked well for me with ds1. But I did lose my supply after introducing 2 bottles a day, which is what they warn you about I think. Perfectly possible to overcome that by still feeding on demand at other times or pumping maybe?
Satinshoes, growth spurts are normally 48 hours so it will be over soon. DS2's 3 week spurt was exactly like this, drove me mad, I was so sick of breastfeeding by the end of it! I'm trying to stock up some EBM for the next one which is due any day although quite frankly the little mite is already stuffing his face quite a lot anyway.
I slept in my own bed all of last night, bliss. Despite getting out of it 3 times to tend to LO. Could still hear every snort from my room tho!

Congratulations Stokey Monkey. At least with these big babies you have a greater chance of them sleeping through the night sooner. That's the theory anyway

My DD2 is being very kind to me and sleeping really well at night. Maybe she knows mummy nearly lost the plot after DD1 ...

Olihan, I turned up at school early this morning This is most out of character, I am never early for anything. Maybe I am finally starting to get organised.

DD2 is 7 weeks now and to whomever was asking it does start to get easier. I remember with DS1 at 10 weeks thinking "I'm really quite enjoying this now" and I really "don't do" tiny babies IYKWIM. Even thinking about using my brain (ha ha ha) again and getting back to work or study eventually. I really miss it. Anyone got any ideas for a dried-up ex-city analyst with an english degree?!?

AQ, I've got DD2 in her own room now. It is bliss to sleep in a proper bed again and maybe the reason why she's started to sleep so well. Having written it down it's bound to go tits up tonight

Yep, I think being in their own room makes them sleep better too. I also try and leave the room when he's settling for his nap otherwise my anxiety seems to seep through to him! Thus I'm in here whilst he's in the bouncy chair next door...
What about teaching, castles?? You might get paid to do a PG teaching qualification by the govt they're very keen?

Ah yes, I was going to add "not teaching". Terrified of all those pupils! I wouldn't mind tutoring but I'd still have to do a year of facing the little horrors in a classroom. Too many hideous memories of having to take prep at school. I'm such a wimp!

castles- thinking of moving ds2 into own room in a few days...he'll be 6 weeks on thursday. when did you do it? am sure i am disturbing him with my snoring...

ps- on the other topic, have just given up my job as a lawyer and............thinking of teaching!!! how bad can it be??!!

Congrats Stokey! I was jusr wondering about you. I bow to the 10 lb-er club Ds2 still isn't that big at 6 weeks.

I took both boys to the store for my first big shopping outing w/out dh. We all survived and I'm feeling quite proud Had even taken ds1 to gynnastics class first.

Another not so great night here. After going to 3 1/2 and 4 hour sleep segmenets, ds2 has now woken every 2 hours. Just when you think it's getting better.

I agree w/ castles as far as tiny babies. I really don't like that part either. I was just thinking a day or two ago, "Okay this is now starting to het interesting."

judemum and Aq it was me asking about mixed feeding. Ds is now 4wks so considering doing it soon as I am shattered with the amount he feeds especially at night.

Also does anyone here formula feed and have a baby that brings a lot up afterwards.
Ds brings up lots of milk after most feeds so was wondering if some forulas might be better than others for this.
With dd we gave her a bottle of aptamil last thing at night but that is the only formula we tried, she liked it so we stayed with it.

Ds is having tongue tie cut on Thurs. HAs anyone else had this done. Was it ok? I am a little nervous even if the hv tells me its so simple.

You might consider a lactose-free or soy formula.

Hi Judemum, sometimes I think teaching is the only option open for me but pretty sure I'd be rubbish at it. I bravely moved DD2 into her own room 2 nights ago. Have similar problem with DH's snoring though he tells me it's me! She's been sleeping really well ever since.

Carmelli, DD2 had tongue-tie & snipped at 1 week. She didn't even flinch let alone cry. It takes about half a second, not that I was in the room. Re formula, my DD1 had really bad reflux and I tried SMA & Aptamil and the only thing that kept it down was medication. Some babies are just quite sick. As long as they are gaining weight & not screaming in agony (like my DD1 was ) then it's probably just one of those lovely little baby quirks ... Always best to get it checked if you are worried though IMO.

Chaotic though it is, it's great to be back in the swing of things: going to school, playgroups, socialising again. I must say I feel quite good!!! No sign of the dreaded PND, hope everyone else is feeling the same.

p.s. Judemum, DD2 7 weeks now

just a quick one guys - sorry have not been in touch for so long - will explain soon

jabber I am trying to email you but same problem keeps bouncing back - do you have another addy?

Lots of love x

So sorry lubella! I have a yahoo one. I will email you from the hotmail account and give it to you. I don't know what's wrong w/ my server these days.

Congratulations Stokey

Having difficulty getting time online atm, dd's colic/reflux whatever it is has got worse. Anything between 2-5 hours of writhing in pain (not a big cryer, due to the larynx thing, but will scream for this ) most days, and always unsettled in the mornings as well as the evenings.

Another cluster feeder in the morning here - hence tummy pain then, I suppose, and she sleeps most of the afternoon.

GP says they can't/won't prescribe Ranitidine, its Gaviscon or nothing - and as we're coping and dd is putting on weight, they want us to struggle on. If things get worse, they'll refer us back to the hospital paeds - seems a bit over the top atm.

Still hoping its colic - then its more likely to be over sooner. Anyone else use Gaviscon and have very constipated babies? Any tips??

Castles, I'm also an English grad - and I never knew what to do with it workwise: spent years working as a therapist (have you thought about any of the vocational stuff, other than teaching??) which I really enjoyed, then learnt BSL and worked with Deaf people, which I was fairly crap at, though it was fun, and am now finally attempting to do something degree related and write: oh wait, that requires time and discipline, hey ho Good luck thinking about new directions - sounds exciting!

Jabber, can relate to sleep being good then getting worse again - seem to remember this about babies, the minute I say 'its like this' things change!

Sounds awful, Elibean, and your gp not being v.helpful. Why do they refuse to help, so many people reporting the same attitude from their gp & I can't understand it - do they just not believe mothers? We have some screaming every night but if it were mornings as well I'd be tearing my hair out. But I'd best not admit to good anything in case it disappears again
Stokey, was it you asking about stinging when you wee - if you drink cranberry juice (and lots and lots of water) it really will help, the only tip that did for me. Dilutes the urine so it doesn't sting as much.
Little man smiled at me for first time today, it was bliss!