August 2016 - early arrivals to the newborn cuddles & graveyard feeding shifts

[rumisyum]

So many August bus babies have arrived already! Anyone else fancy a chat during night feeds or wondering what to make of the contents of tiny nappies? Might as well get comfortable...

Yikes, nct competitiveness sounds grim. And lets face it, it's all a phase anyway - the good/easy bits and the tricksy bits. DS used to be a great eater. Now he is so-so. Am on a mission to broaden his horizons a little bit.

In the meantime I have managed a shower and made dinner. Now I am camped out on the sofa watching Poldark (gratuitous flim flam) while DD has her second breakfast.

Hope the check goes well today Pear

Oh, and visitors at 5.30pm...well the friends who have particular form for this probably just think we spend the whole day with fractious children because that's how they can be at the end of the day! We have other (v v good) friends who have slightly older children. They come at tea time sometimes - but then we all eat together, DS plays with their kids for an hour, we get some adult conversation. They take us totally as we come and will merrily tag team shoogling DD if she is grumpy. That's different and works surprisingly well. Perhaps communal living is the answer??!

Hi everyone, have been reading, but not getting around to posting.

A is developing an intermittent profuse vomiting habit. Lovely. Whole feed all over me and the bed at 3am. DD1 was the same, on a daily basis, but so far he's more a once every few days chunderer - less predictable but also less mess. He's not distressed by it, and gaining weight so I'll just keep an eye on it for now, and wash the bed linen again!

I had my six week check today, DS doesn't have his for 2 more weeks. This is fine by me as he has to have a hip US next week, so will have been sorted out before the GP appointment.

I hit a new multi tasking high last night - breast feeding and not combing at the same time anyone? There's an outbreak at school so doing a check over of my girls. Fortunately no visitors for DD2 - DD1's turn tonight. She's more of a complainer about tuggy hair so really looking forward to that... Makes my head itch thinking about it.

pear first baby yes. One of the others has n unsettled baby too but it's the other comments you remember isn't it! Hopefully I will have an early walker

biscuits guests who are happy to shoogle are always welcome!

lots excellent multitasking!

Parental competitiveness sucks. Mind you I'm a firm believer in karma. A mum I know from a baby group has a DS the same age as mine who was an amazing sleeper, went 14 hours a night, could easily be transferred from car seat to cot no trouble. When my DS was little if he fell asleep I didn't dare BREATHE in case he woke up and she was always very scornful of me. She now has a non-sleeping DD and now she understands what some of us go through. I don't laugh at all

Guests who turn up at my house at inconvenient times usually get a child unceremoniously dumped on them. They soon learn not to turn up at bed time! Funnily enough my dad is the worst for this. 6.30 every time.

I am down to one child for the weekend as DS has decided to decamp to grandma's for a few days. DD and I have plans to sit around and eat cake. Tomorrow we might even go OUT somewhere for the cake.

Oh, I nearly forgot. I want a third baby. I'm sure it's just hormones as I was certain this would be my last throughout my pregnancy. But then DD grows just a tiny bit bigger and I get all wistful...

someone give me a shake. NO MORE BABIES.

Bella I'm with you on that one (but second not third). I hated pregnancy. Literally hated almost every minute of it and I keep fondly thinking about how nice it was feeling the kicks. I'm even thinking fondly of labour . It must be hormonal. Or the sleep deprivation

I don't understand people who think having a child that sleeps is due to something that they have done. It's luck. My DDs are both good sleepers and always have been. I had no special skills, I'm just lucky. DS so far is showing signs of sleeping well too, but I wouldn't dream of trying to give anyone advice on getting children to sleep, because it's entirely luck. In fact, I generally try not to mention it when talking to other parents as it's not helpful to know other people are getting adequate sleep when you're not. I've been keeping out of the discussion on sleep up to now for this reason.

On the other hand, my girls are terrible eaters and weaning was an absolute nightmare. They wouldn't drink out of a bottle and I lost track of how much bloody expressed milk went down the drain.

Swings and roundabouts I guess.

Exactly, Lots! DS was horrendous until we realised he was CMPI, but even now at 3.7 sleep is not his favourite thing! I think DD is a fantastic sleeper, bit in reality she's probably average. It's just that anything is fantastic according to DS!

On the other hand DS is a great eater. I have a sneaky suspicion DD will not be, not sure why I think that though!

I've just had my first 12-2am sleep from DD in my bed but not on me Thank the heavens things are slowly improving! The HV visit went OK. She's jumped from 6lb 7 to 7lb 11 in two weeks. I'm so pleased I rang the duty doctor who has increased her dose of Renetidine from o.2 mil to 0.7ml so hopefully I should see a difference. I had to fill out a questionnaire about depression. Personally I think it's a waste of time as if I was depressed I would never say the truth to my HV in fear that it would cause problems. I wonder how many ladies in that situation answer the questions honestly.

Great news pear, hopefully that's the start of more sleep for you

That's brilliant Pear. I hope the increased ranitadine helps too.

I don't imagine many folk are entirely honest with their PND screening. I was essentially honest but it's such a snap shot - if you're having a good day then your perception of the past week will be different to if you're having a bad day. So long as we're honest somewhere about how we are feeling...

Great news pear
lots I'm impressed with your multitasking! I always used to quite like nit combing (I was a nanny when I was younger) as I used to find it satisfying to catch the little critters! Having said that, I was able to give the nit-infested children back at the end of the day so that probably made the whole process more palatable!

I had three weeks of E being pretty easy and content. I even had some fantastic nights of 4/5hours. THAT HAS CHANGED! Perhaps the three weeks was to make sure I bonded with her before she unleashed the beast.

She started vomiting a lot about a week ago, which is got steadily worse and stresses me out regarding how much she is keeping down (nappies and weight currently ok so I'm trying not to overreact) and then in the last two days she's become much much more unsettled- screaming after bolting, often crying if input her down, much more wakeful at night. I'm trying to follow some reflux management tips (elevating head end of crib, lots of burping which I am crap at and feeding her upright and keeping her that way after a feed) but I'm not seeing much impact as yet. I feel more positive today as OH took her for some of the night so I got sleep but yesterday involved more tears from me than her. A low point was weeping whilst feeding her in the doctor's waiting room (took her to be weighed) whilst the lovely lovely receptionist patted my shoulder and reminisced about how hard she found new motherhood.

Still, today is a new day and there's been no projectile vomit since 4am

The weather has broken here and it's lovely and cool and rainy. phew!

Plimsolls - no critters caught thankfully, was a precautionary combing!

My DD1 was a vomiter - profuse amounts at in opportune moments. She gained weight along her centile however and had plenty of wet and dirty nappies so I just kept an eye on it. It settled down at about 4 months. DD2 never vomited at all. DS has gone for somewhere in the middle with a vomit every few days!

The vomit situation has changed to one where she now screams in pain after she is sick, and today this has been every time I've put her down to sleep. She's been fine if sleeping held by me but as soon as she goes on her back, even if tilted, she is sick and screaming.

Is this acid reflux? What can I do? It's awful and I'm so stuck. I feel like I've tried all the prevention tips.

It does sound like reflux plimsolls, I would take her to the GP, she might need some ranitidine or other anti reflux med.

Plimsolls - if it is reflux then the first thing they will do is give you Gaviscon to try. If you can't make it through the weekend then you've got options. 1) take her to A&E to see a doctor who should refer you to a paediatrician who would then prescribe the meds if it is. 2) Ring 111 and get an out of hours appointment 3) Buy Gaviscon yourself to try this weekend (it should have an instant effect if it works but if it doesn't work then that doesn't mean it's not reflux but could be the wrong medicine for your lo. 4) Wait until Monday to see a GP. IMO it sounds like reflux. Is your lo crunching legs? Can you hear churning in the stomach? Frequent hiccups? Constant need to suck when showing pain?

Plimsols has her poo changed? It could also be a food intolerance, dairy or soy triggering the reflux off. Do you have any food intolerances/allergies yourself?

Thanks pear and lots. We were admitted to the children's hospital last night after O of H doc referred us to A&e. She's not been too bad (I think because she's not fed much and I've been holding her (in waiting rooms and for procedures etc) rather than her lying down. She was sick after her feed this morning so at least docs have seen some of it.

Latest doc said they'd prescribe ranitidine for her so hopefully that'll help. I'm currently sat with a bowl under her bottom hoping to catch a wee.

I'm tired and emotional and keep getting weepy when I look at her little arm with the cannula strapped in. She's only 4 weeks old today.

plimsolls that sounds super tough. I hope you can go home soon and the ranitadine works its magic quickly.

Am just back from OOH too - though for me. Turns out the pneumonia is still there so a new batch of antibiotics and I've to go back and get checked over on Friday. Ho hum

Awww big hugs to Plimsols and Biscuits! You both need it Sounds like you're both having a tough time. Plimsols I hope you're home v v soon and like Biscuits said the Ranitidine kicks in very soon! Is it definite reflux then?

Biscuits i hope this is the last of the antibiotics you'll need for good!! Poor thing! Is it common for it to return?

I don't think it fully went away Pear. And after a few days without antibiotics, everything just got worse again. According to the nhs website, I should only be expecting the fever to go after a week. Which it hasn't.

Those of you with other kids how much interaction with baby do you have and what do you do

In a typical day apart from feeding baby se ms to spend a lot of time in his chair as I fe l im either cleaning cooking or dealing with toddler or a lot of time in pram as we go out a lot to keep toddler happy

I do let baby lie under activity thing a we bitty but when awake he seems to just spend a lot of time watching us do stuff

I'm worried I'm not doing enough with him

Day on the days that I have both kiddies on my own, not a huge amount. But DD is happy to watch us, look around, etc. But I don't think that matters to be honest. At least I hope not! Have been feeling pretty unwell again the last couple of days, so even though DH has been taking DS out & about, I've been spending most of my time in bed so DD has been camped out with me. She doesn't seem to mind.

These new antibiotics are disgusting. Can't wait to be done with them and done with pneumonia.

Things have got a bit worse since I posted. We're in hospital still and they're discussion surgery. She might have pyloric stenosis (basically a blockage) but they're not sure. She's nil by mouth until they decide what to do. I put more details in this thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2736096-Hand-hold-and-advice-4-week-old-in-hospital

My poor little girl.