September 2006 babies - smiles all round!

[clairemow]

New thread for us....

Anna,
Our journeys down south are usually about 4 hours and we stop once, 2 hours in for a feed, change, fresh air. I'm not sure if you are meant to stop sooner than this but we're always in a rush to get our long journeys over and done with
DS seems ok with it and then has a good stretch and kick about once we get there. I know what you mean about the car seats though they do look restrictive and DS always has the biggest strecth when he gets out.

Bristols, (Munki and Cruise, shut your eyes til next para )yes, DS sleeps from 7 pm to around 7.15am (just can't quite bear 7...) with 5 min dream feed at 10ish (for which he hardly wakes). Both my boys have been pretty big babies and I've been lucky with the sleeping (although I have to say in some part I put it down to the routine... - we are big fans of a slightly "relaxed" SWMNBN routine - but then I am anal and like nothing better than being organised... ).

Just read your later post Bristols, hurray for LO!

Liquid, hope your nights return to normal soon... F starts nursery in about 6 weeks time 2 days a week, so a bit nervous, mostly that I don't think I'll be ready to let him go...

Had Fraser weighed yesterday, he's 15lb 8oz now, catching up with his big bro who was a whopper...

Myrtle, sounds like your blockage might have released itself with an almighty explosion! Hope it's better today?

ARRRGGHHH! Got up this morning to find that DS1 had managed to remove nappy and smear poo all over his brio/thomas set!!! !!!

On a happy night DS1 returned to sleeping through last night

I'm so angry with DS1 though, I haven't been able to really tell him off I could quite easily lose it today! !!!

• and I thought babies were hard work!!!

have to tell you all, DH has joined MN, and has just spent a good half hour posting.... It's getting to be a family thing...

claire, what thread does he chat on?

he seems to be on quite a few...!!!

clair - what is his nickname???!

ooh, can't tell you that, he'd have to kill me!!!

is he posing as a woman?!

is he posing as a woman?!

no, as a man!

claire - that's so funny! I keep encouraging DH to sign up too - he spends so much time looking over my shoulder!

Claire - my DH will be so envious

DS still doing well with the sleeping. I don't dare to think that we've cracked it

Just had him weighed and he has put on 2lb 2oz in two weeks! The FF seems to suit him. He now weighs 16lb 12oz (he's 19 weeks old). Talk about a growth spurt.

bristols, that's interesting, because since I have been FF DS2, he too has put on weight much quicker than before, although not as fast as your DS! He was doing about a pound every 2 weeks, now he put on 2 pounds in 3 weeks.

Evening All!

Thanks Myrtle1 and Bristol - I take note the advice given.

Clairemow - I vistited a day nursery yesterday. Its a nearby one. I plan to put my lo in by august this year. The waiting list for nursery centres are incredibly long, over 100 children on the waiting list!
I know what you mean - 'not letting go' Its a big step for both mum and baby.

Coriander73 - Congrats to your lo sleeping thru'. My lo also sleeps from 10/11 to 6/7 am. However she does tend to rub her face alot during the night, even when she is asleep - any ideas why they do that?

p.s thought I'll let you all know that I am 1.5 lbs away from my original weight (pre-pregnancy), but plan to lose an extra stone - back to pre-wedding days! Horray!!

hi claire - what law do we have in scotland?

Evenin' all!
Claire, Coriander and Bristols - congrats on your little ones sleeping through.
Cruise and Munki - congrats on the improved napping - DS only had 3 x 30-40 min naps today, 2 in cot and one in pushchair, he has just gone down for evening and I hope this means that he will have a good sleep now, but I know that bad napping usually equals bad sleeping! However, he has been pretty happy all day, so fingers crossed.

Am in a bit of a need of a virtual hug tonight - think the bf is on the way out and am really sad about it. At appt with consultant on Mon, she discharged DS, as he had put on 1lb and 9 ozs in last 12 days, (now weighs 13lbs 13ozs and is 64.5cm long - yippee) but during this time we have upped formula top-ups big style (although I have still pursued hypoallergenic diet). She refused allergy testing as she "only prescribed the hypoallergenic formula to make sure I would give it" - I feel like I have been conned into ff instead of bf (as soon as I started giving more ff, I feel my bm has started to drop). Was v. angry at doc after appt, but I know she was just doing her job - it's just we get fed all this "bf is best" stuff all the time during pregnancy and then as soon as there is a problem, they say ff! I know plenty of babies are ff from birth, but it was my wish to bf for 6 months minimum - I have also always said that whatever feeding suits Mum and baby is fine, it is just that I feel like I am a failure because I haven't been able to feed my baby myself. But, he vomits much less on formula and seems happier, so I have to go with what seems to work for him. Anyway, enough of the wallowing self-pity, just needed to write it all down really. On the plus side, I fed exclusively formula today from 7am onwards (although also pumped a couple of times, as I couldn't face just stopping cold turkey) and DS has seemed happy and satisfied, although I did give a sneaky little feed at lunchtime when DS seemed to want it and he had a good glug before bed after his bottle too, so it's not all gone!

Imagine DH's face earlier today when I said we would just have to have another baby so I could get bfing right !!! Of course, I didn't mean straight away - I want to enjoy DS on his own for a while yet! He is a right little chatterbox and giggler, so it's just great - he always giggles when I wash his face before bath .

Claire and Bristols - just curious as I know you are ff, do you ever give cooled boiled water as well, or just always give formula? Am finding this quite complicated, whereas bf was simple.

Also, for those of you bf, I thought I'd share with you that I saw a Mum standing at the end of an aisle next to her trolley bfing in Waitrose yesterday! Obviously the little one needed it and she was happy to do it there - no-one batted an eyelid and I only noticed because she took him from on her shoulder down to feed, as I was walking towards her, otherwise, she just looked like she was cuddling him - so it is seeming to become much more accepted these days, just as it should.

Right - gotta go and get my dinner now and try to tackle the huge list of chores.
Thanks for listening.

oh Jingle, I am for you about what your consultant said. I really think you should start a new thread to ask Tiktok (resident bf expert and NCT counsellor on Mumsnet, and a lovely lady) her advice on the bf and allergies thing. She might have some good advice on what foods etc. are most likely to cause problems. (I nearly cut and pasted your paragraph for you, but then thought that would be just too interfering but I really think you might get good advice).

Your supply will drop if you top up with formula, but the good news is you could get it back up if you abandoned the formula, and fed DS much more often for a few days to get supply back up (expressing won't do the same job) - it's the increased demand from feeding that will get it all going again. I don't think you have a second child from your post, so if you spent the next week sitting at home on the sofa/in bed, and basically fed loads and loads, maybe even hourly, you'd probably find it built back up again - I guess it would be a bit like having a new born again on the feeding front for a week. Once I found my supply dropping at 2 feeds a day I seriously contemplated doing this, but couldn't see how I could with a 2 1/2 yr old DS1 charging about .

Again, I really can't believe what your consultant said , esp as you've said all along you wanted to bf for at least 6 months. And surely bf is best for your baby if he is susceptible to allergies??

I'm sorry this is long, but I feel quite outraged on your behalf!

PS - virtual hug for you, and also please don't see yourself as failing - I think you have done spectacuarly well in the face of adversity (and opposition from your consultant....). Just keep reminding yourself what a fantastic start to life your DS has had, even having these months of bf (that's what I keep telling myself too!!).

jingle - i'm so sorry and angry as it sounds like you've been getting a lot of mixed messages.

you have given your LO such a great start BFing until now...try not to beat yourself up about it.

Could you continue mixed feeding for a while?

Jingle, I feel so for you too though it's mixed as you say LO's obviously happier. I'd second others and say start a thread in the BF/FF section and hope someone like mears or tiktok comes along - there are also many others around who can help.

Did I give you this link before? I couldn;t remember. Don't forget either that a waning supply can be reversed and there are lots of techniques and some herbs that can help.

Please don't feel at all guilty though - you've tried so hard and I know this is cliche but there are so many things in the future for you to get right that are just as important - and you will feel better.

Jingle - sending you a hug. Paediatricians are a law unto themselves. I had trouble when DS was 3 weeks old and still hadn't gained birth weight. He was being esclusively BF and the registrar asked if I " really wanted to BF?" I couldn't believe it. Of course I did! And shouldn't she have been promoting BF?? Anyway, as clairemow said, you can get your supply back if you'd like to. My HV suggested it to me when my supply was dropping. She said lots of rest, offer boob hourly, eat and drink well. As you know, I have now switched to FF and I totally understand your feelings Having said that, DS seems much more happy and settled so it seems to have worked for him.

I do give him some cool, boiled water (with a little peach juice or he just turns his nose up at it) in the afternoon between his 2pm and bedtime feed. Like you, I found it a minefield to begin with. BF is certainly so much easier.

Good for the woman in waitrose!

Off to baby massage tomorrow. Can't wait because DS absolutely loves it. I love the one to one time we have together without worrying about housework etc.

Thanks for your support ladies, you are all so wonderful !
I will sleep on whether to face another week of trying to feed every hour, as can't make that decision tonight and must go get some sleep before he wakes. I may try it for a week (although we have two families with LOs visiting on Sunday, so don't know whether that would work - although both Mums understand the difficulties of bfing). I could then see how he is on my milk - if he keeps vomiting. I just keep changing my mind at the moment.
Bristols - have fun at Baby Massage.
Liquid - thanks for the link, might send DH to get some of those herbs when he goes into town on his day off tomorrow!
Thanks again for your support.

jingle - If I were you I would give it one last shot, not becuase I am a bf advocate, but because I think it would settle things in your mind either way iyswim. You would then know for sure that you are doing the right thing - whatever you end up doing. If it doesn't work out with the bf for whatever reason then at least you will know for certain that you did your very very best. hth
Either way, don't knock yourself out. You ahve done a brill job bf your lo thus far.