Jan '07: Finally, we can reach to cut our toenails, see to groom our ladygardens, and have norks the size of norway. Shame we're too tired to give a damn!

[2Happy]

Hmmm, hope it's not too long a title!

Have gone through everything is could be:

EAH - using SMA Gold. His poo is normally khaki green and fairly sloppy. Only goes once a day - is that normal?

He's cranky whatever I try - holding, putting down, in bouncy chair...the only respite I get is if I lay him on a towel with his nappy off. I get about 15 mins 'happy' time.

He nods off for a bit in his pram/car but cries as soon as it stops.

However, night time routine is 9pm down, awake 1am for feed, awake 5am for feed.

He takes 4oz every 3 hours.

An suggestions gratefully recieved - dr has put me on anti depressants

LTH - my cat would probably sit on your mice. She hunts and then sits on her prey. Alternative method I suppose.

UD - hope Zac is feeling better and has settled down tonight!

Can I just say, I feel like I am always moaning about J. I'm so sorry if you get fed up with me but I'm just finding it really hard at the moment and it is quite theraputic just to get it out onto 'paper'. I feel so guilty for saying how down I am because he is such a wanted baby, I had a m/c 2005 and sometimes feel I am being ungrateful as I have a beautiful healthy baby.

Wilkie, please forgive me for sounding so motherly and patroniseing now but I have to say it really doesn't matter if you moan all day, if you're not enjoying motherhood atm then it must make everything hard work so moaning on here if a brilliant outlet.
I'm very lucky and have never felt swamped by a miserab;e baby so I can only imagine how it is living like it. Don't get me wrong, mine have been through phases of being miserable little buggers but I've been lucky and it hasn't bought me down too.
I think the anti-d's will make everything alot better, I'm sure when you feel a little less frazzled Jacob will chill a bit too.

It will get easier though, mate...honestly it really will. I know it probably feels like a eternity away but in a week few weeks things will be differnet, Sleep deprivavtion makes everything 10 time worse so once he's sleeping through you'll be able to tackle everything else so much better.

If I lived closer I'd come over and take him off your hands for while, I'd take him to the shops and buy you a bottle of wine and big bar of chocolate.

Bloody hell...told you it was patronising, sorry

(have you got another appt with teh CO tomorrow??)

I thought you may say sma gold I also use sma gold but Hatties poo is yellow not sloppy but not hard (quite firm mustard pip sort of poo does that make sense) she only goes once a day (two at a push) but think thats quite common for bottle fed babies.

I have fed both dd's on sma,however, I have some friends and read quite a few articles/posts that sma can be quite hard for a baby to digest and can cause tummy upset/ pain hence the crying as you tend to feed them every 3/4 hours. When a friend had this she thought her son had colic and tried colief/infacol etc but he was so cranky all of the time her HV suggested swapping to 'aptamil' (can get in boots/ most supermarkets) as this is much easier for the baby to digest. It worked for her and a few other friends who had sicky/windy babies wapped andfound theirs were more content.

Not sure if it'll work for J but may be worth a go and it may take a day or too to see any difference as the sma will need to work its way out before the aptamil kicks in.

Good luck with the CO tomorrow if you want to chat my email is michelle parks 11 @ aol dot com

Yes, I mentioned before that Ds3 was sod to feed on SMA.

IIRC it's a lot thicker than some of the other brands making it harder on thire bellies.

and I completley forgot to say moan away I know that I find it so much better to type it all out and it straightens it out in my mind. Lack of sleep does make things feel worse and being indoors with a cranky baby can make you feel very frustrated (I often have days when I want to palm the dd's of onto someone and just have some peace) hopefully the AD's wil help and there is light at the end of the tunnel I promise it will get easier.

Thanks mate. Appointment with CO is tomorrow at 2pm.

DH getting cross with me, he thinks I should chill out more but it's not him with a screaming baby all day. He is at work from 7.30am till 5.30am ish (he's a golf pro so his hours change a bit).

Choc and wine sounds fabulous!! Might have to treat myself tomorrow.

Right I am going to hide message about your dh being golf pro as dh mad on golf and do not want him dissapearing to play golf on saturday morning especially after the last weekend (think he goes off golf slightly in the winter as the cold with his heart condition makes him have bad circulation in his hands and feet)

Hope tomorrow is a better day for you (and go and buy a huuuuge bar of chocolate as suggested by LTH) and think of me at 9am tomorrow attempting to get my take that tickets whilst you can relax and chill because you have yours (not that I am jealous!)

God, I;m slapping myself around the face for you right now wilkie but just chilling about it all will help.

I know I'm a fine one to talk, if you'd seen me earlier with the mouse/saucepan/twat DH thing I was far from chilled but just going with the flow and trying not to get let things get on top of you will help.

LTH you patronising wench

EAH - no nothing yet but I'll let you know if they do. Email addy is [email protected] if you need it.

Wilkie - I wouldn't worry about moaning, I haven't even thought that you were Hope things start to get better for you soon. Please don't feel guilty for having a healthy baby but not being happy after having a miscarriage, I've felt the same at times and I miscarried early 2005. I also miscarried 4 times between dd and ds1 but that doesn't mean that you won't get tired and upset having a new baby around.

LTH - hope the mice problem gets sorted quickly

SO many posts to catch up with!

whats happening with the mice now have you caught any yet ????

OK joie when they reopen I'll ask what happened with the post - does seem to have livened up on here past couple of days

actually, Jodie is right...it doesn't seem like you're moaning all the time anyway.

You moan away my dear

One last one for good measure....

EAH, nothing caught but i've spent 2 hours with my hands in the washing bowl washing each and every saucepan, frying pan, lid, grater, colender, baking dishes and all the other shite that was in my cupbaord.
I then had to dry it all because te draining board obviously isn't anywhere near big enough.

I'm going to have to leave it all out because theres nothing going back in that cupboard until he's got rid of them

My hands are like sand paper now.

LTH. I need to talk to you. See other thread in your name.

good luck lth

Aptamil has been recommended to me by a few people, I just don't want to make too many changes at once. Will see if the CO makes a difference this week and if not, will try changing formula.

LTH - your advice is well recieved...am in awe of you with 4 LOs!!! Read your thread link earlier - could have been me writing that. Lived my whole pg in fear of m/c. CO said this anxiety could maybe have rubbed off on J in the womb.

Think I'm going to try and get Take That tickets, just mentioned it to dh and he said he was going to buy some for me as a surprise aww. I think they go on sale tomorrow though and he didn't know that but the thought was there Don't know what's come over him lately being so thoughtful hehe, he usually never remembers anything.

Another vote for aptamil here - when I went back to work with my dd and weaned her off bf I used sma first and it caused her real problems. At first I thought it was just a reaction to formula rather than bm but swapped her to aptamil and she was fine. Fingers crossed for you x

Hattie - what probs did you find with SMA?

Aaah wikie sending you loads of hugs and as the girls have said on here it does get easier I promise, I wanted to send my ds back when he was born now I woulndt swap him for the world and I had another so it passes. I know its hard having a screaming baby maybe try and get out to a local playgroup a little chat with other mums does help and you will feel like you have achieved something and you wont feel so lonley like its just you and j and nobody else. Ds and dd both had cow and gate so I cant give advice on other milk.

Wilkie - the probs dd had with SMA were wind and constipation. Improvement was almost immediate when I changed to aptamil.

Hi everyone, just skimmed the posts as because my computer is in my office at home I never seem to get chance to use it.
Lauren is fab but the only time she is contented when awake is when she is being held. She only manages about 5 mins max in the bouncy chair.

Love to wilkie, and the hospital midwife also recommended aptamil saying it was the closest to breast milk. DS2 had colic for 9 weeks and it was dreadful. I used to push his pram with him screaming inside - people must have thought I was a cruel mother, but nothing would pacify him. I also tried CO but when he reached 12 weeks he improved. It really does get better, but you can't imagine it at the time.

You all sound like you are doing really well. Anyone mixed feeding? Lauren has been on breast but last DH gave a bottle 11pm as I have had flu (straight after my chest infection!) for last 2 nights and now she is fussing on my breast and crying. I'm using avent teats no 1 for newborns. I wa shoping to mix as I'll be starting back to work week after next (p/t from home) so my mum could give bottles in day and I wanted to feed morning and evening and night. I kknow bottle feeding will be asier but it feels like a wrench to give up bfeeding (especially after the first 2 weeks were such agony!)

Sorry for long post.

annie - by mixed feeding do you mean expressed breast milk in a bottle or ff & bf?? i've given EBM to zac but he'll only take 2oz max out of the bottle and then wants breast. i'm probably going to have to get him onto solids early (ie 16-18 weeks ) and just do a morning and night feed if i want to go back to work but i reeeaaalllly don't want to go back to work so we'll see. i think he just doesn't like the bottle - it's not the teat, i think he just prefers mumma smell and taste .

as for sleeping, Miriam says that babies have 3 hour sleep cycles and two different types of sleep. a light, nap-type sleep (where they wake very easily) and a heavy sleep where even the hoover right next to their head doesn't wake them (believe me, i've tried it, though not on purpose!) so what i do with Zac is cuddle him until he's in deep sleep (you can tell because their breathing is even and regular and their limbs are all heavy and floppy) and then I put him down. if i put him down before then, he realises he's not being cuddled anymore and cries.

i make it sounds so easy don't i? there are times when he just won't sleep at all though - sometimes being skin-to-skin and just chilling out with him on the sofa under a blanket calms him down to the extent that he sleeps. i've also heard good things about something called "kangaroo care" where you cuddle your LO between your breasts.....that wouldn't work for me because a) the poor mite would probably suffocate and b) Zac smells my milk and demands more, but if there isn't anything (ie, he's just emptied both sides) then he gets frustrated and cross. he makes the cutest face when he's cross though!!

it's a bit garbled, and probably a bit hippy-dippy too, but it works for me, and might work for some of you with shouty babies too. here's to quiet nights!!

Wilkie - {{{hugs}}} Hope it gets better soon. I second everyone else in saying that I've not notice you moan, so don't beat yourself up over it.

Annie - I'm mixed feeding with breast and formula. Been doing this for c 2 weeks as bf was just too painful and lo was not getting enough so would constantly scream. She always gets a breast in the middle of the night c 2.30am, then around early afternoon. I do feed some days early evening too if my boobs are full. It works for me at the minute, but will prob drop the daytime feeds by the time she is 3 months.

Good luck to all with getting the TT tickets!

well we had the worst night so far here tonight...Zac emptied both boobs then screamed for more i was in tears, i just don't know what to do. i thought the supply was supposed to keep up with the demand? got about an hour's sleep, which on top of my current sleep deprivation isn't good. kicked dh out of bed at about 4am because his snoring was making me want to stab him.