January 2007 - i know i'm not the only one, come on, where are you all???

[theUrbanDryad]

hey, where are all you guys? i know i'm not the only one to have popped from the jan '07 thread!!

anyway, if you're out there, how's it going???

Our dd just spits a dummy out - it's a mystery to me - my son would n't take one either. To be honest if you have n't got a screaming baby that wants to have one - why bother. Why do HV have to be so perscriptive - one size fits all approach ?? It drives me mad - babies, parents and families are all different - each to their own.

Urban Dryad - I hope you feel ok about going back to work - it's early days.

galmum - i've told them i don't want to start work for another 12 weeks, and they still want to interview me asap! guess they must've liked my CV!

Can't belive hv advised dummy on the basis that baby comfort sucks; that's what they're supposed to do! Also helps stimulate milk supply so personally would rather let baby suck at the breast. I express and just got 4oz in 5 mins off one side, could have gotten more but didn't need to.

Re rubella, you can get single vaccines privately as that what we do for the children.

Will post more later as feeding and hard to type one handed.

Hello all, has no-one got a baby to look after? There's far too much posting going on here . Hopefully that's a sign that most of the LO's are settling down.

KR - sorry to hear you're having a hard time. I have no advice I'm afraid but just hope it gets easier soon {{{{hug}}}

laughalot - your dd slept for 7 hours? I'm very . Just when I think mine is getting the hang of a longer sleep (5.5 hours the night before last) he goes back to waking 3 times a night last night.

I've never been a fan of HV's and the dummy thing sounds ridiculous to me UD, and if Zac isn't interested then I wouldn't bother persevering. I've given up with my ds, sometimes he'll suck it for a few mins but most of the time it's straight out in seconds.

My HV had some very 'helpful' advice on sleeping at night - she told me "we aim to have them sleeping for 6 to 8 hours at 6 weeks old and 10 to 12 hours at 12 weeks old". How exactly do you "aim" for that?? I'm sure we'd all love it if they did that but back in the real world ......

I think hv are fll of s*it most of the time loads of them dont even have kids themselves I think mums know best. Dummies well my dd has a avent one and she did the same spat it out after a few seconds but she is getting better now but I do bottle feed.

I agree regarding hv, never even bothered to see mine with any of the kids after the initial visit. Can't stand the way they go on about the sleeping, you can't make a baby sleep lol. I'm quite happy to let my baby create his own routine and not force one on him. Mind you I am quite AP though and never have done any cc or anything like that.

I'm not anti dummies btw, if they work for you and your baby then great, I just don't advocate their use when breastfeeding especially in the early days and babies would be better off sucking at the breast. They are plenty of times at 3 in the morning when I think about going and buying one so I can try and get more sleep but I always change my mind come the morning!

Found a really good link here

sleeping
the rest of that site is very good too.

I go away for two days and you all start chatting!!

Loubie - that 'Cryababy shuffle' made me PMSL. Have cut and pasted it in an email to my sis who is having major sleep problems with her twin DDs.

KR - sorry to hear you are having a crap time. My LO grizzles unless he is being held when he is awake which gets really really tiring and frustrating. Big hugs.

Galmum - what did DR say about your bleeding? I have finished my antibiotics now but am going to wait until my next period before I attempt contact sports It could be a period you're having??

Lizz - PMSL at your expressing story. Your poor titty!!

Does anyone else still keep bursting into tears or is it just me? Spent two days at mum's and just kept crying every now and again. Mainly about LO not settling when awake. I know he's only 5 weeks but shouldn't they be able to have some quiet time when awake??????

I'm wondering if I've got an infection too...my bleeding keeps coming back, but it's red and watery. I don't think it smells funny but I've also got some pain along my c-section scar - not on top of the skin but behind iykwim?

Also, has anyone else had pains in their wrists and hands since having their babies? My hands really ache a night and my finger joints are sore. I hope having Ben hasn't given me arthritis or rheumatism!! I read somewhere that pain in your hands after giving birth is common (something to do with hormones and water retention disappearing), but haven't come across anyone else who's had it?

Had a good night with Ben last night...decided to try a dream feed as he'd had a feed about 7:45pm so he had 3oz (normally has 5-6oz) at 10pm and went right through until 4:30am I can cope with anything during the day as long as I get my sleep at night! I'm not looking forward to tonight though...DH is doing a nightshift so he'll be going to bed at 6pm, going to work at 11pm and won't be home till 1pm tomorrow afternoon Just praying I get another good night with Ben

Had some good news yesterday...we've sorted out a re-mortgage. Because we've got a lower interest rate and we've borrowed a bit extra we'll be saving over £400 a month which means we can afford for me to take a 3 year career break so I don't have to go back to work in September Which is a big relief as our workplace nursery is closing down in March so I was panicking about childcare or him.

Have a good weekend everyone

Hi all

Loubie - Went to GP who said it was unlikely to be an infection as I had no temp or pain, but has given me a swab to do just in case. Sooo pleased I can do it myself - it would be grim to get her to do it! She said it could be a period, but I'm bf and I did n't have one with my son until after 6 months. She did tell me to go to A&E at weekend if I did get pain or high temp. Think you should probably go to GP on Monday just to be sure.

DH off to wedding in Bath - so I'm home solo - it's an eve do so I can't take dd along - too tired and too smoky.

Welcome back Wilkie - don't worry about the crying - it's hard emotional hormonal work this baby game!

Urban - dont me its not 6oz all the time! Just from the right boob first thing in the morning. I average 4oz from each boob too. Have told myself to slow things down today though as boobs have turned into udders and I am in danger of stockpililng in the fridge!

Wilkie - I can cry at the drop of a hat at the moment. Particularly if people are nice to me. (?!) I'm sure its quite normal. Do speak to your Dr or HV about it if you are worried though.

Kat w'kits - my nips are HUGE! They are scaring me, let alone anyone else!

Hi wilkie dont worry to much about the crying I cried loads with my ds he was my first and he was good in the day but evil at night however dd is good at night but is not content in the day unless shes in my arms !!!! they all have there moments maybe just have a word with the hv if you are a bit concrened about the crying but from my experiance its natural.

Looks like me and liz hav same advice for wilkie lol

wilkie - my ds only manages about 10 mins under the baby gym on his own when awake before starting to whinge. I remember this stage with dd and thinking "will she ever be happy?". But I'm fairly sure (and most books seem to back this up) that there was a rapid improvement after 6 weeks - just takes them about that long to get used to the oursite world. Fingers crossed not long to go now {{hug}}

Thanks girls - feel better now. It's that old cliche of people saying to you 'Having a baby is such hard work...' and you kind of think yeah, yeah until they arrive! You thn realise exactly what they mean. He's asleep at the moment in his carseat as we have been to Asda and Matalan (got some jeans 2 sizes larger than usual ). I guess in my naevity (sp?) I thought he would pop along, slot into some kind of routine and I could go about my daily chores in between feeds. Erm.....no. Then I look at him and he is so beautiful and I feel cross with myself that sometimes I wish someone would take him off me. I keep forgetting it has only been five weeks of adjustment so far and this is a major life change.

MN has been such a lifesaver cos I don't watch TV so if I am fed up during the day it is nice to know you are all about and going through similar things.

God, I'm waffling - sorry

Hope everyone else is well and LOs are all piling on the pounds!

Lizz - how's the boob today??

Wilkie - I spent pretty much the entire first 4 weeks with ds1 in tears, a mixture of emotions and tiredness (tiredness always makes me cry). But life improved really quickly after 4 weeks. Someone once explained to me that basically the human gestation is 12 months, but we'd never be able to give birth at that size, so we give birth at 9m, but they're pretty much still foetuses until they're 3m old with no interaction, crappy guts and no daily rhythm. Then they get gorgeous!
ds2 has already put on a whole pound in his first 2 weeks, what a guts! He's feeding for britain at the moment, barely off my poor boobs.
Can't do a proper post, ds1 wants to go and look for some tractors on the farm , so I will just leave you with a shiny new thread

Breast feeding and goosebumps... OK this sounds rather odd, but is there any illness that gives you goosebumps? I have lived at the doctors & hospital this month, with Mastitis in both boobs, and before that Thrush (I think it got in through cracked nipple)... DS2 didn't gain weight this week, as stopped feeding him every hour because h/v said he had wind so I let him cry instead... now topping up with bottles and breast milk dwindling . Also asked health visitor about stabbing agony in boobs after feeding, when boobs are empty, but I didn't mention I also get goosebumps really easily. Am I ill or just stressed/borderline depressed because the b/f experience has been so cr*p? I get very very cross and crotchety... shouty & foul-mouthed far easier than I'd like especially with 3yr old DD1,and cried because I felt such a failure this morning... merely because we couldn't get out of the house before 10am... All that fairly normal on my scale of new-mum madness, but the goosebumps what's that about?

It could be thrush - I have it on my nips and baby in her mouth! Nice! She had this dreadful anniseed medicine which makes her scream and I have cream for the nips which I keep worrying that I will forgt to wash off before feeding her. So much forpure and natural breast milk ....and medication!

I looked up thrush in the bounty pack booklet and it says symptoms are nipples sensitive to cold (I would sort of start to shiver through my nips and then everywhere)pink nips, sore nips, pain in breasts, and white coating on baby's tongue.

I know how much bfing means to us emotionally, but really, we all know bottle fed babies thrive and it is so much easier! So try not to beat yourself up about it...you will probably feel much better once your hormones stop messing with your head.

I have given a few bottles and each time I think how much easier it is, but even with this bloody thrush, (baby has also had a cold, jaundice and conjunctivitis and is not 4 weeks old yet!) emotionally I want to carry on bfing, even though it takes ages and my other two children are being short changed big time.

jojo32 - sorry to hijack but i am trying to arrange a meet up. haven't seen you around lately but if you see this come over here