***************December 2006 ****************

[lucy5]

I can't access the thread with my rubbish Spanish internet connection. Could someone start a new thread and link it on the old one too. Thankyou. Hope alls well!

Where did you live in oz, castles? I'm from Bendigo, in central Victoria although I lived in melbourne for a while.

Lowfat- we started in grobags but switched to swaddling, after 2 weeks of swaddling he now doesn't care what we put him in so maybe just try it for a few nights?

Sleep is settling down and he is feeding less but everything seems to go to pot after his 4am unless I take him in with me. I think in part I tend to think he has finished feeding when h is just taking a break, perhaps I ned to stop feeding him in bed and take him to another room so I can stick a dvd on and keep myself awake. Thinking of chucking him out to his own room very soon, our bed creaks loudly and I think that wakes him sometimes and othertimes he is chuntering away while fast asleep and I just lie awake thinking he will burst out crying.

Hair dryer castles? Hmmmm worth a try, Ds did stop screaming during the spin cycle on the washing machine today!

Oh and I remembered today why lunch has consisted of toasties for the past 3 weeks. Ds sleeping having just come in from a walk, I put eggs on, ds wakes up. Eggs are cooked, Ds wants to feed. ggs cannot be eaten one handed. Eggs end up on floor just as Ds covers mummy with vomit. Nice.
Since then he has been alternatly feeding and vomiting so I've passed him over to Dp. Good job somone around here doesn't smell of milk!

I lived mostly in Glenelg in Adelaide & Bronte in Sydney. Travelled about though. Bet you miss it!

I'm the same AQ, I always tell myself "must try harder" especially when DD1 goes round saying "mummy is very cross today" I am who I am though and 98% of the time I'm am an absolutely lovely mummy I spent most of the time sobbing when I was singing & reading to DS when DD1 was born as I felt like I'd ruined his life! Honestly, in a couple of months everything will have settled down and your DS will just be chuffed to bits to have a new live-in playmate.

Indith, definitely try the hair dryer! It is an amazing tip and much better than having the vacuum cleaner on all the time

Afternoon all, just back from HV and Charlie has gained 10.5oz in 2 weeks. Is this normal for a bf baby?? Still concerned he's not getting enough from me

i wud say thats normal hun, i have a charlie too (7 weeks tmrw) and hes bf and he put on a pound and 4 oz in 10 days on breastmilk!

I believe at this age they should be gaining on average 6oz/week. However it depends on the size they were to start - my 9 lber at birth is now following just below the 50th percentile (born at about 90% i think) - he was born big as the placenta determined his size but now he is determining his size and being average

Indith, that was good to read, we did about 2 nights in grobag before switching to swaddling, he is now growing out of his 'swaddle me' so maybe I should put him back in grobag again.
Margo, I think I will try the muslin tip - I hate watching him scratch his eye when he's tired, hence partly why we swaddle.

After a couple of nights of waking at 3 for a feed after a 10.30 feed he is now waking at 2 and again at 6 then 7.30 (when we all get up) - I hope this is just a phase and he goes back to 3 again soon - much nicer for me to only have to do 1 feed in the night! I too do worry if he is getting enough food all the time and I guess the slightly earlier waking means he just needs a bit more food in the night at the mo (feeding every 1 1/2 - 2 hrs today so must be a growth spurt time for him)

hello all,

need to ask your advice about expressing milk - So far DS has been getting a mixture of formula and as much milk as I can express, but now that I have hired a double electric pump, I would like to up the ratio of breastmilk and try and phase out the formula.
My question is: how do you increase the milk supply?
Should I express little and often? Or should I leave boobs to fill (which takes much longer) then empty them completely?
I only seem to have a whole feeds worth of milk in the morning if I don't express during the night..otherwise making up a whole feed takes a couple of goes if I express every three hours

What to do??
Any tips?

Thanks hayley, he was 10lbs at birth but lost a lot due to time it took for my milk to come in, ended up back in hospital for checks hence my concern!!

• i believe about 1 oz every 1-2 days is average weight gain. so 4-7 oz a week.

• ref expressing. i would express more fequently so your body thinks there is more demand. it will then probably inrease production accordingly.

Thanks Satin, that's reassuring.

re expressing, my HV says trying more often will create more milk. Body produces what baby needs but she said the body can't tell difference between expressing and baby feeding, just knows that milk is required an produces quantity to match (IYSWIM).

Thanks to all for reminding me about swaddling - I did it all the time with DD in a couple of lovely shawls my mum made.

Anyway, I put DD to bed tonight, came down, wrapped DS up in a light blanket and put him in his chair and within 10 minutes both children are out like a light . I'll transfer him to his grobag before his 10pm feed, which will be just enough disruption to wke him to start drinking, before he goes off again

DH and I have our evenings back and I am finally feeling a bit more human!

Thank you all so much!

Oh, the jump from 1 to 2 is HUGE, I found it really tricky for ages, dd was probably about 4/5 months old before I felt like I'd got to grips with it all. I'm exactly the same as you castles, this time is SO much easier, even though I've got ds1 and dd to deal with too. I keep telling dh that a 4th would be easier again but he's not convinced!

VM, have you tried putting him in his grobag with his arms inside? Someone on another thread suggested it - makes sense to me!

AQ, never realised you were an Aussie, did I miss that somewhere in the epics of the antenatal threads?

Well, ds2 still isn't back to his birthweight. Luckily HV is supportive of the bf (amazingly) so it's back to the bfc to see where we're going wrong. 2 oz in a week isn't great, really!!

Well ds2 has been sleeping prpped up in his boppy pillow for about 4 hours. He just woke up for a feed. That is the best thing so far to help his breathing and hence my sleeping

I sat down with ds1 tonight and played with his Thomas leggos. The night was somewhat better afterwards. He was still naughty about splashong water out of the bath but at least no temper tantrums tonight.

How could I ever have forgot about swaddling, my world has been re-opened!

Like you Jabber, I have found time to play with DD and DS just sits happily and watches or naps - no more constant cuddling! So DD is responding really well. After our afternoon stroll today we may even try baking cakes!

However both children not exactly good in the mornings. DD has a morning cough and DS is always full of snuffles. So much so that I have to have him in bed with me from about 4am so he is propped up.

Oh well it was all going too well we had to be due a bad night!
Ds very grumpy, am discovering the use of birthing balls once more as bouncing on it while holding him seems to keep him quiet.

ooops spoke too soon.........

Plus, in a totally unrelated matter I switched my laptop on today to be told the battery was low and I should switch to power. Thing is it was plugged in. Since my laptop is old and has a battery life of around 5 mins on a good day this is not good as I now can't even switch it on. I assume the power adaptor has gone wrong but I have loads of work to do for uni this weekend and nice as Dps computer is it doesn't have my stuff saved on it! A little trip to the nice all knowing and very patient man in the computer shop later I think.

My old laptop did this. The cord in the back would get loose. Did you jiggle it a bit?

I jiggled many lots. Then i took it to th computer place and came back wth a new charger. I'm all laptopped again.

Ds is being a little whatsit today and won't settle down to a good feed so of course is all sleepy and grumpy. Grr

Evening ladies,
Ben slept for 4 hours last night!!!! Which for him is great. But he is getting very irratable in the evening so instead of the nice relaxed telly watching from 7pm till 11pm its now constant feeding/whinging/wriggling Think i prefer a quiet eveing and a busier night time to be honest.
He still won't take a bottle at all and have tried all sorts of teats. Have tried the soft spout too and a dummy but mummy's booby is all he wants! Typical Boy I suppose

I swaddle him but it doesn't work in the day and he still won't sleep on his back, only on his side

dd4 (age 3) is being really tempremental at the moment so going to spend the weekend trying to include her more and get less angry

hi everyone.

magnolia same here. DD slept nearly 7 hours a few days ago but was up from 6pm until 1am. Feeding, pooing, cuddling, rocking, eeding, pooing, cuddling, rocking. Absolutely exhausting...

Has anyone heard from Northernmama lately?

Its so nice (?!) to hear that others are struggling with older kids. I was starting to feel like the world's worst mum Poor DD1 is just so attention-seeking atm, and she can emote at the drop of a hat. I might just capitalise on it and have her audition for Eastenders

DD2 started smiling today. She hasn't smiled at me yet ...

Evening all,

After days of topping and tailing sp DS did'nt get cold in the bath and make his cold worse I finally gave him a bath tonight - only for this to be the night he poos after 7pm . So my lovely fresh little bundle did'nt last long. I personally think he is campaigning to join his siter in the bath all the time as he really seems to love them!

Oh and while squeezing outnhis poo heyicked on the only blanket he likes being swaddled in - there goes my peaceful evening!

Tried to buy one on e-bay but paypal refused to work

Ah, LowFat, I know.....bath=guaranteed poo and/or vomit

Good to see several of us talking about going from 1 to 2, reaction of older sibs etc. dd1 has had a rough week, several bouts of hysteria (aka tantrums, I suppose - just doens't throw herself on the ground) and its fairly clear she needs to know someone is in charge of her shaken world. I've had some great moments in getting her ok again with going to nursery, and helping her learn ways to calm herself down, and some dreadful moments in not knowing what to do when she runs off in the park while I'm stuck with a buggy with dd2 in it. Or practising walking on a tightrope (back of sofa) while I'm b-feeding saying 'look at me, Mummy'.

Actually, part of me knows its good that she's doing all this now - life was too scary/abnormal for her to act up much while dd2 was ill and in hospital. But OH its hard being the (supposedly) big in charge person sometimes!

dh got the tantrum tonight though, I'm the 'fairest Mummy in the land' for some reason