February 2007 Post Natal Club

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Hello

I know it's not even February yet, but here is the new thread. Even though Jacob was born in January, I feel he is an honorary Febster!!!

Looking forward to more new bubs coming this way!!!

marmitemad i to heard about osteopathy and started a thread on here about it.
Took dd today and she said that she definatly felt dd had stomach problems which would need medical treatment but she'd also try and relax the stomach and that there was a lot of pressure on her head at the front,(very common in babies being delivered back to back) and that we would need about 4 sessions. hopefully it will work, and fron the other thread every comment about it has been very positive, so its worth a go i would say!

well Abbie was as bad as usual to settle last night after the 10pm feed, DH had her sleeping on his chest and tried to put her in the crib twice but she cried both times. I didn't hear a thing until the third go at 12:30am when I managed to get her to sleep by holding the dummy in (bad mummy I know) and stroking her head, which she seems to find soothing. She started stirring/sorting/wheezing at 02:30am but didn't actually wake up until 04:30am, when I got up to resume BF. She fed until 05:30am and then went to sleep so tried putting her back in crib but she woke up and grizzled until I gave up and got out of bed at 06:45am. She then proceeded to scream for 45mins until DH got up at 07:30am to take her away from me. Felt very low and tired and had a few tears but managed to sleep for another hour before time for next feed.
We then managed to leave the house by 10:30am to go into my work to see everyone, and as predicted she slept until 14:30 (5 1/2 hours since last feed!!). She has been in the swing and done the usual sleep for 15mins then cry for 5-10mins the rest of the day.
Moosma - I have propped one end of the crib up on some books for tonight.
Smudgemum - I am using Aptamil as recommended by a friend, forgot to mention she has this as a top up to EBM for the late feed every night.
Sorry for the long post, have to go now as am meant to be cooking dinner. Looking forward to the osteopath appointment tomorrow.

Thanks for the sympathy - I'm feeling less sorry for myself today. My skin is improving a bit and the itching is less intense. I really hope this new treatment is going to work as I've been at the hospital dermatology dept almost every week since September getting treated. They're really nice though and I leave DD and DS at my mums who lives just around the corner and enjoy my half hour to myself!

I can't remember who was asking about osteopathy... DS saw my osteopath at 4 months and his tummy problems (sluggish digestion, wind) improved noticeably almost instantly. DH and I both said that we wish we had taken him when he was colicky the first 3 months of his life! So, with DD I have taken her to a different osteopath (mine has moved abroad) who specialises in children and pg women. She said DD was pretyt much OK but has released some muscles/membranes in her head to improve her feeding and get her feeding longer. She has also done some work on her slightly twisted pelvis and over tight diaphragm. She said that her bowel lacks tone and is very sluggish. She's had two sessions and has been a little more settled after each but to be honest there is no miracle result. She has significantly less hiccups and less wind. And her poos are still infrequent though they don't smell as bad. Though that could also be due to me taking probiotics. No real imrpovement on her colic. Although she does seem to have a very 'true' colic that isn't windiness - just 2 hours screaming each night! We're back in on Friday and I think that will be DDs last session. Looks like I'm going to need more work though as my neck is a total mess. I don't grudge the expense for DD as I really believe in osteopathy and believe that if's always a good thing to fine tune the body. And even a slight improvement in DD is worth it.

DD giggled for the first time last night . She was asleep and giggled in her sleep. DS was about 3 months before he giggled for us but DD has eben smiling since about 3 weeks so I think she might giggle earlier. It was a real 'Beavis and Butthead' laugh too!

Hello all!

Wow can't believe how time flies...Benjamin (Ben) is now 6weeks old and this is my first post here on the post natal thread. Time is so limited now, although it's getting better now Ben seems to be getting less colicky in the evenings. He is a BIG boy and feeds frequently day and night...but it's slowly improving.

Getting smiles also, so cute and heart warming forgot how precious those first grins are!

How are all the siblings doing?? My ds has become quite clingy and refuses to go to nursery, although he totally dotes on his wee brother. My dd just thinks Ben is a glorified doll!!

Tommorrow we are off to Hospital for Ben to get more tests to see if he's inherited blood condition that runs in family.

marmitemad, really hope that the osteopath helps. We used one for both DSs and I think it helped calm them and get them off to a good start (went with both at around 2/3 weeks when they were starting to get crotchety).

For those whose babies have facial rashes, might be worth trying a calendula cream - used this with Evan and it seemed to soothe it a bit.

maazaa, aren't the tears dreadful esp for the first few times! I'd completely forgotten from last time round and the first time Evan cried tears I felt absolutely awful.

BTW the code for a cheek coverer in our household is a 'Norris'. (As in 'Norris McWhirter rhyming with splurter.) Only works for those of you old enough to have watched Record Breakers as kids.

Evan doing OK, but quite unsettled at times in the evening, and waking once or twice in the night still (not including the 10:30pm ish feed). I dug out Baby Whisperer today and it reminded me of some useful stuff so will be dipping into that a bit more when I have a moment.

Right, off now to get ready for bed and the last feed of the evening... Take care all.

LOL at Norris...
Dedication,dedication, thats what you need..
if you want to be the best and you want to beat the rest
dedication what's you need....

A lovely day for us, we went to a baby and toddler group with one of my antenatal friends and her baby, it was great to have a chat and compare notes about sleep and breastfeeding

Tabetha is still very windy, but did a very good night again lsat night (7.30-3.30-8.30!). I tried Dr Brown's bottles having read some rave reviews about how good they are for wind/colic but I found they were worse than the normal ones so I've gone back to the trusty old Avent wide necks. I'm now giving Infacol a shot, she's had it with 2 feeds so far but I think it takes a while to start working so we'll see...

Moosma - wow most of your night!

Well we had trip to hospital today with Ben to get his blood tests and looks like he has the blood condition that runs in the family . His Hb is only 8 so that combined with his jaundice at birth makes it 99.9% likely...although definitive test can only be done when he is around 10mths. We've got to go back to Hospital in 1 mth for more blood tests and checks. However he seems well and he weighed in at a very healthy 12lb 14oz...chunky wee fellow!

Hey there

Hairy, what impact will the blood disorder have on your LO? Sorry to hear about that.

Moosma - apologies, I was one of the Dr Brown fans - I guess they work for some babies and not others. Hope things improve for Tabetha!

I can see the thoery is good and I'm sure they're brilliant for some, just not for us unfortunately. The Infacol seems to be helping so far though, she did 7.30pm-6am last night!

Cranial osteopath appointment went ok, she said Abbie appears to be in shock (probably from the rapid exit/floor bouncing birth experience!) and has a tight neck/compressed skull. Apparently there is a nerve running from the head down to stomach which is why problems occur with wind/colic. She treated Abbie while I fed her and said we will need 3-4 treatments, we are going back next Thursday.
The best bit though was the first proper huge grin I got while undressing Abbie, we have been getting sort of smiles for a few weeks but I wasn't sure if it was just wind, but this was definately the real thing, , DH is very jealous.
We have had a really good night, EBM bottle at 11:30pm, she then settled in crib on 2nd go at around 12:30pm. She started stirring at 02:30 but went back to sleep until 06:30 which is 7 hours between feeds and 6 hours sleep!! (although not for me ) and she is now asleep in the swinging chair - might try the crib soon.
HV also came yesterday and Abbie weighed in at 7lb 13.5oz (7oz gain since last week, so must stop stressing about inadequate BF). She recommended trying Colief for the wind and propping up one end of the crib (which I have done) as there may be a mild reflux problem.

Moosma- even more of your night now! sounds like infacol is helping, i used it lots with my ds1 and felt it helped him and he was v windy baby.

Maazaa- he'll have chronic anaemia currently Hb is 8. He needs daily folic acid medication and runs risk of sudden drops in blood count with viral illnesses. He'll need his blood count checked regularly to check it's not too low. The only "cure" is to remove his spleen - but obviously is risky in babies/children so they wait until they are older. In the scheme of things there are MUCH worse illnesses to inherit and as we've been through it with ds1 I feel I've been here before!

Am very of those of you with LO who are sleeping so long at night. We're still at the same as we were from about 2 weeks. DS feeds at about 10.30, then again at about 3.45, then at about 6. I know it's pretty good and can only guess that others aren't posting because they're too tired
Hairycaterpillar you sound like you were pretty sure that DS2 was going to be like DS and the diagnosis is a formality. I hope all goes well with the hospital visits.
Marmitemad, sounds promising for the osteopathy and how lovely to have had a proper grin. Someone said that's it not coincidence that they start smiling, grinning and making cute noises just when the sleep deprivation really kicks in. it makes it all worthwhile doesn't it?
DS managed to do a poo yesterday which didn't actually hit his nappy at all. It went all up the front and out the sides - anyone got a name for one of those?

Has anyone heard anything from Alocin? The last post I saw from her was one saying labour was horrendous and she'd post more soon, I hope she's ok...

We're having one of those days again today. For some reason my lovely boy just doesn't like sleeping through the day. He feeds incessantly, wanting fed, then pulling himself away, then back on etc etc. He alternates this with really horrible crying. After feeds he might take a 10 min nap on me, but 5 mins after I put him down he's screaming again. He usually has 1 - 1.5 hours sleep somewhere about 5pm, and is then up again till 10:30 when he falls asleep on the breast and sleeps to about 8 am with feeds at 4 and 6 which can take 2 hours before he goes back to sleep.

I'm getting pretty wrung out in the days, catching up a bit at night but it's really frustrating. I can't get a shower, a meal or talk much on the phone till DP gets home and night and can take him off my hands a bit.

...and there he goes again... he's been quiet in his bouncy chair for long enough to get a glass of juice and write this post and now he's screaming again. aaaaaarh.

smudgemum your nights sound just like ours!

suis, how grim, hope you find some kind of solution. Does LO sleep in the pushchair or car? might be worth a long walk or drive to get a bit of respite (esp if you can get DP to do the walking/driving).
Or it might be worth investing in a sling? When my DS won't go to sleep in the day (or when I haven't got time to settle him because DS1 is full on) my Wilkinet has been a lifesaver. DS2 goes to sleep in it v quickly and I can do most things around the house with him in it. It's v comfortable - and getting quite filthy as I have eaten quite a lot of lunches with him in it!

Suis - that sounds just like DS and a fair bit like DD! With DS, only time helped. With DD, she is improving. I'm not sure specifically why but over the last few weeks the things we have done are: avoid entertaining her for more than 10 mins at a time, avoid letting her get overtired if possible, single sided feeding to reduce my milk which flowing so fast she couldn't keep up (and kept pulling off), osteopathy sessions, womb sounds (slumber bear!). Womb sounds/white noise are great to calm her a bit when she's crying. She seems to have been feeding better since the osteopath sessions as her neck was a bit compressed. Hope something works for you...

We call those type of poo's which don't hit the cloth at all "Pooey kablooies"
I second white noise, limited stimulation & singleside feeding to reduce a stupid amount of excess milk, to keep my baby happy.
Tonight we're going to try going through with minimal feeding. He stirs a couple of times a night and I feed him, so I'm going to try and settle him back tonight. Wish me luck!

DD has just done her 4th good night in a row! The only thing I have changed is that she sleeps downstairs during the day where it's light and noisy, then I put her up in her own room at night where it's dark and quiet. She seems to know the difference between night and day now. Also when I feed her in the day she gets cuddles etc for a while afterwards, but at night I pick her up, feed her, wind her and put her straight back. After her 5.30 feed this morning she didn't go back to sleep properly, I heard squeaks about every 10 minutes but I left her there and she didn't start crying until 8 so it seems to be working!

hi everyone.

hope everyone is ok.

harvey is 8 weeks old on tuesday i cant quite believe how quickly its gone. the smiles cooing and laughing have started and it melts ur heart everytime

he has been waking once at night now for the last week usually goes down at 9 feeds at 3 wakes at 7 and goes 3 hourly during he day.

car is now back from the garage and had to have a whole new door. insurance paid so i shouldnt worry too much. it just makes you sick that someone would do a thing like that.

i do have some good news tho. dp and i have set a date for our wedding and its sooner rather than later. its this september!! i still have to loose this jelly belly! wondered if any of you wanted to share experiences of yours... this isnt my first wedding and feel if i had a huge affair ppl would think whats the point. plus i left work while pregnant so only have dps salary. i have decided to have a small family ceremony and reception and then have a celebration of marriage at later date.

what did you guys do and how did it go?

xxx

Hi everyoe. Things not too bad here, our night are settling into a pattern of about 4/5 hours sleep, 12-5.
I am having mad evening feeds. We are trying to get Maya into a routine of bath then quiet time with a view to settling her in the moses basket for a sleep early evening but she often feeds on and off for 3 hours in the evenings, this is quite draining and I am(again)concerned that when she does this she's not getting enough hind milk. We might try a top up formula feed about 10pm ish to see if that will settle her. She is also not really napping for long periods of time in the day which I think also makes her overtired. We are also trying a dummy as I wonder if she might be sucking for comfort.She doesn't seem too keen though!
Bubblebell I had a small wedding. We got married in a hotel near where DH's parents live, FIL at the time wouldn't have been able to travel far, with just family present (about 30 people) and had lunch, which was a cold buffet with hot potatoes. Dh and I paid for it and then we had a party in Nottingham my home town which my parents paid for about a month later. We stuck to quite a small budget and I can give you tips if you like.

peachy that would be great.. i have planned something very similar.

small ceremony with immediate family only then back to ours where we will have a garden party. party in a hall a month or so later.

would really be gratefull for any tips or advice.

xxx thanks

Bubblebell, we did that too. We got married in a school locally then had the reception in my parents' garden, we had 35 people I think, just immediate family and close friends. It didn't cost much either but that was mostly because we knew so many people who did things cheaply for us - SIL is a florist and did £500 worth of flowers for £80! Whereabouts are you? The lady who made our cake was brilliant, she also makes chocs for Fortnum and Mason but she wasn't that expensive.

This is info I sent another mumsnetter
I made my own invitations, cards and stuff to sick on them was bought from Lakeland and Hobbycraft. we printed inserts and stuck them in. For the party we bought nice paper and printed on the computer

A good website for all your stationary needs , place cards, invites, thank yous etc is
stationary templates

I also went on confetti a lot
confetti

Me and my mum made my dress, I am quite small, 4"11 so buying wouldn't have worked, we would have had to alter it anyway, but if I'd have been taller I would have bought in Debenhams, Monsoon or BHS. all have a good selection, in Debenhams look out for the blue cross days!!
I got my tiara and shoes in BHS ( again I have quite small feet (size 2) and they had and still do have a good selection, I went for plain cream sling back heels, and have worn them again) I also wore a red velvet wrap from Accessorise which I bought in the sale. I wore my mums veil which was a really nice touch.

For the men I bought matching ties, deep red, like my wrap, one for DH, two dads and two brothers, this looked really effective, again in a Debenhams blue cross day.
Attached is a photo of the meal, obviously I'm the bride, on my right is DH and the other side my Dad. The room we got married in had two parts the bit for the ceremony and we then stepped though the arches to the conservatory part for the meal

We got our Cake from Marks and Spencer who do really lovely cakes, I had a sponge one made (not great fruit cake lovers in my family). one tier was more than enough. I decorated it with two small playmobil people who I dressed to look like us and two I suppose you would call them twigs, but with lovely red berries on them from house of Fraser - Christmas decorations which looked really nice . For the party we had two tiers, one sponge and one fruit, again we had plenty and I took leftovers into work.

I had no bridesmaids and minimal flowers the hotel already had fresh flower arrangements in the rooms, which the wedding coordinator tried to fit my colour scheme. I had a bouquet and we had button holes for the main men and women, (immediate family)

I made little party bags with a sparkler and a packet of love hearts with 'just married' on them I got these from swizzles online, and made little bags up for the children attending, bracelets, crayons and a exercise book (nicked from work! but you can get them cheaply anywhere) sweeties. I also borrowed a bubble machine from work which I had blowing when I came in and it then kept the children amused for the rest of the day. The hotel lady was really impressed with it and said she was going to buy one for the hotel!!

I did have a photographer, She was on a confetti message board and was a student so I got it cheap (v lucky) in hindsight the photos could have been better,different portraits of us etc but on the whole they do look really nice and I am pleased with them.