December-the 'Merry Christmas' Babies!

[Calmriver]

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

AQ - having the same trouble here... always wants to be in arms, loads of wind & blasting poo, projectile puking... been going on for days....

Have called DH to bring in dinner several times, and simply giving the others a late snack.

I seem o be the queen of the television babysitter club right now too.. Feel like a right crappy parent on a regular basis just now... bawling like a baby myself at times too..

Anyone else having trouble sleeping even when everyone else has finally settled? I'm hardly sleeping at all, because I cant seem to get to sleep when I need to.

oli- nice to see that you're still here! As you can see, it's not good for keeping up with any semblance of normal life... it's pathetic that I'm only managing to check MN out once a week!

My DH has been back to work ull time since Jan 2 - I've done the preschool run solo every time. I'm really lucky though... I have some good friends who have picked up DD1 to take her to school, and offers to pick her up too.

Good God, I think I need Nanny 911 to come whip my whole family into shae. DH and I actually had a fight over laundry being on the floor rather than in the hamper -- I accused him of teaching the kids how to be messy littlr hellions... how ridiculous!

Will try to log back on later... break time over, must try to find floor of house!

calmriver

with the pump, its probably a positioning thing I switched from manual to electric and the positioning was different, I couldn't get suction until I got it right and it still loses suction sometimes. Also if you happen to have the avent isis iq check that the soft jelly thing that fits over the cone is fitted properly all the way around

Doesn't sound a good week at all, NM, hope the kids get better soon! I pray ds1 doesn't get sick as well, he's grumpy enough as it is. My conclusion is he's just too tired, so I stuck him in bed at 7 tonight - he can't tell the time!

I too am becoming tv mum, there's really no way round it is there? I used to have strict limits of 20 mins of dvd a day (only after he turned 1), hah hah. I did a risotto today for dinner, could I have picked a more time consuming dish to make. I'll have to accept my limitations I think as well as a permanently chaotic house.
Maybe you're just overtired northernmama, trouble is us mums spend most of the night sprinting around trying to do everything & then wonder why we can't sleep? Could you manage a bit of relax time before you go to bed, might help you sleep better?

how much is an electric pump, then, calm? I was thinking of one as my manual is giving me RSI!

AQ, electric is definitely worth it! Be nice to yourself and get one

NM, another TV mom here, too DS2 wanted to be held/nurse aaallll morning and I found myself just sitting on the couch, mindlessly starting at TV while ds1 chatted on about something.

I did redeem myself a little bit this afternoon. My lovely brother got me a NordicWare train cake pan for Christmas and ds1 and I made a cake together and decorated it. It really didn't take that long at all and assuaged at least some of my guilt about being such a crap mom to him lately.

NM, I know what you mean about sleep. DH has just sent me for a sleep at 3.pm as I could'nt keep my eyes open (DS feeding every 2 hours from a bottle - 5 oz!!) And I just lay there unable to switch off.

And even my cats are fighting over my attention now! Girl cat actually boxed boy cats nose for trying to get closer to me than she was when I was lying in bed.

Gave up trying to sleep after 45 minutes and came down to send DH up instead - as he gets up at 4am. No point us both being sleepless zombies!

YIPEEEEEEE!!!!! Finally back online
Well hello to all the new babies and congras to evryone who has finally made it to pistnatal

Ben is now 7 weeks old and not having an easy time of it. The tongue tie was cut and all went smoothly but his feeding still isn't 100%. He has reflux but without the projectile vomiting, gp has given us Gaviscon and it seemed to be wrking but now he has 2 ingrowing toenails and they are infected so he is on antibiotics and is miserable a lot of the time!!

He feeds 2 hourly still and sometimes horly at night so I am exhausted. Trying to get him to take a bottle so I can go back to work, only a few hours a week but I would rather he took a bottle than wait for me to get back.
dd4 never took a bottle so hopefully with practice he will

I have slept him on his tummy today while in the longe just to get a break Am I the only one who sleeps them wrong to get some peace???

Hope everyone is ok and will try to catch up although its probably easier just to keep checking in from now

of course i mean postnatal

Magnolia, no you're not! I have always put my 2 on their sides!!! They seem a lot more snug. I also co-sleep with baby facing me!

Hi Magnolia, nice to see you back! Sorry you're having a rough time of it, poor little thing, hope it sorts itself out soon.

Well, I've had the worst day since ds2 was born. Ds1 has been a screaming, tantruming nightmare from the minute he woke up - he's got a cough and cold and is shattered after his first full week at preschool so we've had tantrum after tantrum, he's been awful to dd, refusing to do anything he's asked, it's just been horrendous. He's never normally like it so it's almost harder to deal with because none of the usual strategies work. I've got a stinking cold and cough too and couldn't sleep last night due to being either too hot or too cold and ds going through his 3 week growth spurt - feeds every 20 minutes during the day and 2 hours overnight since Thursday. He seems to be through it now but decided today that he was going to refuse my right boob and fuss a lot on the left. Ds1 threw the mother of all tantrums at bedtime just as ds2 wanted feeding wich pushed me over the edge, I ended up so stressed and angry ds2 picked up on it and screamed for an hour, completely refusing to latch on so I ended up in floods of tears, panicking that the bf was going pearshaped again. Thank goodness it's all over now. He's had a good feed and latched on to the right side so I'm a bit calmer and he's now back into his usual cluster feeds. I honestly have no idea how all of you with colicky, reflux babies cope. I felt like I was losing my mind after an hour on one evening - it's made me realise how lucky I've been with my babies. I have so much admiration for you all.

Sorry to moan, hopefully tomorrow will be a better day .

when i was in hospital the midwives always put him on his side to sleep, and he slept much better there than at home! and i`m currently co-sleeping some nights as he wont sleep in his moses basket but having said thAT (TYPICAL!) he slept for nearly 6 hours in there last night and is asleep in there now!
wanted also to say thank you to those who helped me out re advice with tongue tie, had his snipped last week and it was no problem, and has been feeding well ever since, cheers

Well, all that whinging and I forgot to say dd slept on her front from 2 weeks and ds2 sleeps on his side. We also cosleep with him and he and I tend to fall asleep mid feed so he spends half the night tucked up against me under the duvet.

I prop ds2 on his side fairly often and dh put hin down on his stomach for a nap recently. They do like it, don't they?

Me too¡ DD2 is spending most nights with me & on her side s well. i don't dare put her on her back - it''s 2;20 am in Canada, and I just finished cleaning up the mother of all projectile pukes... 3 in a row, across the crib, covering the poor babe. If she'd been on her back, she'd've choked!

Thanks for the support while whinging on Fri. Nice to know we're not alone

Mine loves to be on his side or front too but he does settle well on his back once swaddled.

Think the digestive system is now in full flow the poo that comes out of that baby! How does such a little person produce such copious quantities that it fills and spills out of a nappy, fleece wrap and down his leg and through all his clothes?

Been expressing to make sure he will take the bottle as I'm back in lectures tomorrow. About how much would a feed be roughly? I have no worries about the amount he gets from me himself as he is happy and alert but couldn't seem to express much at all and don't want to leave poor Dp with a hungry screaming baby!

Magnolia- I've had a few nights of hourly feeding too it is so rough I have every sympathy!

We co-sleep as well, and I often fall asleep feeding too! In fact there are some nights that I feed in my sleep!! Did the same with DD1 and she's just fine.

And its almost impossible to lie a baby flat on their back when they're wearing a thick totsbot and fleece wrap! They end up with their legs sticking up (but thry do look cute ) Much more comfortable on their sides.

BP- I know! We are in fluffles and he does just look comical once you add the fleece!

Very fast hello before dd2 wakes up (probably at exactly the same second as dd1's bath is ready).

Magnolia and Oli, sorry to hear you're both having -or hopefully, had - rough times recently. Tantrumming toddlers and pained small ones are things I can relate to, though thankfully not so much of the former these days...she's calmed down a lot.

Mind you, the Xmas traumas left their mark - she still makes dens and pretends to shut the door 'so no one can escape'...and asks me where I'm going if I put my sweater on

dd2 is putting on lots of weight, and is less colicky/refluxy or whatever for less time recently...but its still hard work feeding her a lot of the time, and I'm having to express at least four times a day for the feeds she can't cope with b'feeding for. Might be her larynx, as well as wind - bad combination!

Apart from that, we're all doing well now and I pinch myself from tiem to time, feel very very lucky. Really had given up on having kids at all four years ago, never mind two of them

Finally...dd1 and I have streaming colds. No big deal, not really nasty ones, but I can't help worrying about dd2...so hope she doesn't catch it, or if she does that she doesn't get into breathing problems again. Crossing fingers very tightly on this one.

Oh, btw - dd2 sleeps on her side, always has done even before she was ill. Much quieter that way, and much happier!

Northernmama,you too...so sorry for the rough times, and wishing you easier ones!

Well, much better day today, thank goodness. Went OTT with the positive attention for ds1 and it seemed to do the trick. Not sure how I'll manage it tomorrow when dh is back to work but we'll see!

Thanks for the sympathy Eli, very glad to hear things are a lot better for you, will keep my fingers crossed that d2 doesn't get your cold. I'm also pleased that your dd1 has caalmed down - it's giving me hope that ds1 will go back to normal before too long. I know he's had a lot to cope with in the last month - christmas, ds2's arrival, his birthday, starting preschool, dropping his daytime nap (his choice, really not mine!) - it's not surprising the poor mite is all over the place but extreme sleep deprivation does not make for a patient mummy!

Indith, if you can manage 4oz or so of ebm you should be okay for a couple of hours away from your ds. Ds and dd used to have 3-4 oz per feed at 2-3 weeks old although that was formula but quantity to stomach size must be about the same.

BP, have got a very funny image of your baby looking like a beetle on its back - how cute!! I'm fairly sure I feed in my sleep a lot of the time. I have to get up and give him half an hour sat in the cahair so I know he's had a decent feed, then I go back to bed and fall asleep with him latched on. When I'm a bit more confident with the bf then I won't bother getting out of bed at all!! Do they ever learn just to latch themselves on without you actually having to wake up? I'd like that phase to be here asap if possible!

Elibean, hope the cold stays away from your dd2 I remember with dd4 how any cold would have me panicking about breathing problems coming back

Ben is better than he was but still a miserable bugger
I went to bingo tonight but WHAT A BLOODY MISSION getting out of the house!!!! Gave the 4 girls a bath then ben and put the girls to bed but dd4 started playing up, Dh was a star but I was panicking. Left expressed milk although ds1 will not take a bottle
Anyway was out for and hour and a half and ds1 is still in the same position I left him (on dh's chest)

How can I get ds1 to take a bottle??? I have the Tommee Tippe closer 2 nature and the Avent, also a sof spout But he is having non of it. I have tried, dh has tried and Mother in law too
I really want to go ot for my sisters birthday in 2 weeks but Dh wont look after all 5 kids unless Ben is taking a bottla happily