Babies born July/August 04

[madgirl]

Hello everyone. My DS2 was born on July 4th and I have been waiting for a "Babies born in July" thread since then, but none has appeared! (at least I don't think it has). So I thought I should start one, I didn't have Mumsnet for DS1 and I wish I had. I thought it should be July/August since almost all of the July babies were/are late! How is it going for you all?

hi Dinosaur - congrats on the birth of Blake (i've been away and am very out of touch !) Looking forward to catching up Vivat xx

Hi everyone

Just enjoying a quiet Sunday morning as Ruby has a lie in with her dad!

Started taking her out and about in the pram this week - unfortunately I have to wait till I've got someone to help me as I'm not allowed to lift things up and down stairs after the op and we're on the second floor .

But she seems very content in her pram and mostly just sleeps during her trips to the outside world.

Question for all new and experienced mums - how and where do you breastfeed when you're out? I don't have any problem feeding at home, but at 2 weeks I'm still at the holding on to everything stage (tit, baby), propped up on loads of cushions. I'm not too concerned about the public side of things, just the actual logistics of getting a small baby up to my breast without carting all my pillows around with me! Any tips appreciated!

Yesterday I discovered that nursing pads are not just another useless item that they con you into buying when you have a baby - went into M&S to get measured for a bra and suddenly noticed I had a huge wet patch on my right nipple area! Today I'm going to try expressing some milk so that DH can have a go at feeding her, which will be great as she's feeding very frequently at the moment (though usually going for a good 3 or 4 hours at night between feeds - and fantastically went from 1.30am right through to 7am the other morning!

Hi Lupe - glad things are going well. I know what you mean about the logistics of all the pillows etc! I cracked it in the end by just getting on with it. For about 4 weeks I had to have a huge nursing pillow at home and could only feed underarm on my right breast which made me dread going out. However as soon as I went out I could feed either side with no pillows and it was fine. Completely psycological for me!

So just give it a go! Try somewhere easy like a shopiing centre with a feeding room to start with.

Hi Moongirl,
You know, I think you may have a point - I was thinking the same. Fergus wouldn't go into his cot the night he was born in hospital, and so slept cuddled with me. From then on he's slept in our bed most nights because he won't go into his cot and refuses to go down during the day unless he's really asleep. I think I may have made a rod for my own back here. The trouble is you do whatever gets you through the first few weeks don't you?! Lupe -with DS1 I spent my whole time breastfeeding in Mothercare changing rooms (and you remember how hot it was last summer - eeeesh) because I was terrified of attracting attention anywhere else with my inexperienced feeding but then I sort of relaxed into it and this time around get my boobs out wherever!

lupe i just went for it in public and fed without pillows. Some of the mother and baby rooms have comfy chairs or at least chairs with arms which you can rest your arm on which are helpful. I would try practising it at home, for example sat at your dining table (if you have one!) and see how you get on. When you have a crying baby on public and your dinner in a restaurant has just arrived and you're starving, you'd be surprised how speedy you can feed your baby! Really though, I think practise make perfect, so you just need to be brave and go for it!

hi all

I've only fed in public once and that was in a baby feeding room.

I'm so glad though I'm not the only one who has the baby sleeping with them, I started a thread under Sleep as everyone was telling me how wrong it was.

thanks for the tips emsi and freddicat - I did manage to feed her sitting on my lap at the computer yesterday so I guess that's a step nearer to ditching the pillows!

Emsi, Ruby slept with me a lot in the hospital too - and I was in for three nights. She just didn't seem to like the crib and wouldn't settle very easily. I did have her in bed with me a bit to begin with when I got home, but have persevered with getting her to sleep in her crib at night (it's right by the bed). She didn't seem very keen at first but a few things have helped - not putting her in the bedroom until late (usually round about midnight, when I change and feed her); putting a hotwater bottle on the sheet first to take the chill off it and using a music box/mobile to send her off to sleep. It seems to have worked and she's now sleeping in the crib quite happily.

Hiya all! How;s life?? Well we're settling in a bit now but like you hellomama Georgina is gutsing all her milk and sicking half of it of even all of it up! Amazing how many times, but they weighed her yesterday and she is gaining weight, 9 oz since birth, so we're just persevering for now, although annoying! Thinking of you all and hoping I get more chance to post when things settle. Been in bed for 9pm to catch up a bit on night feeds. Q xxx

Hellomama, Ruby is windy and sicky too quite often - and gets lots of hiccups, which is exactly what she did in the womb - it seems funny to see her having them on the outside now!

she's also been a bit grizzly lately so I'm trying colic drops, as recommended by my mw. They do seem to help her do a proper grown up burp after feeding and I think (hope) are calming her down in that department. However, between that and my outrageously leaky boobs (I squirted the poor girl in the face the other day!) I know what you mean about many changes of clothes...

And the wind and sick doesn't appear to be affecting her weight gain - 9lb 9oz at yesterday's weigh in!

from birthweight of 8lb 4oz 2 and 1/2 weeks ago!

Madgirl, I am using aptimil too. She is still only taking 3 or 3 1/2 oz at a time.

Had brill night Mon, as she slept from 8pm until 2am, then through til 7am. However, last night I was up from 1am until 4am with yher straining and crying. Turned out DH had put too much powder in her bottle and poor thing is constipated. She finally went this afternonn, after a bottle of water with teaspoon of orange in it! And has slept all morning!!

I never seem to find the time to come on here now, is it just me?!!

Catching up with this thread after a few days of settling in.
Harry is another one who seems to need to feed very often, especially in the evening. He has good periods of sleep during the day so I can get things done or sleep a bit myself, but from about 6-11pm he howls on and off and feeds all the time.
Last night was a bit better than he has been, wake ups at 3 and 5, which I can cope with as I express for dh to do one of them. However dh is off on holiday for a week tomorrow. My mum is coming up to help but it does mean I will have to do all the night feeding myself which I'm not looking forward to.
Harry had put on 1lb at 2.5 weeks - up to 8.5 from 7.5 at birth - so he seems to be doing well and he isn't too pukey (dd used to bring whole bottles up on occasion) and seems to burp quite succesfully so isn't windy (other than in the nappy area - phew).
I'm another one who needs a mass of pillows to feed although I did manage to feed him for a while sitting in the car this morning. I can do it but supporting him for any length of time makes my arm ache, and makes him more likely to slip off a bit and make my nipples sore again.
Oh well, I guess we'll get the hang of it.

I keep thinking Harry smiles at me but everyone pooh poohs it as wind. Still feels good when you feel your little angel is reacting though doesn't it so as far as I'm concerned he's smiling .
Gald to hear Blake's doing well now Dino. His nighttime schedule sounds pretty much the same as ours although if Harry's first wake up is around 2 then the second can be closer to 4.
No chance of putting him down to sleep awake though. Has to be cuddled/fed to sleep and then put into his cot or he won't settle.

on the feeding in public theme had a disaster yesterday when ran out of clean breast padshence discovered putting 1/2 a panty liner in each bra cup...what a winnerdidn't fall out when i fed in a cafe for once.
Emsi--have you braved the cot at night yet? i'm not brave enough yet! Lupe i might have to try the hot water bottle.

hi all

Abbie's raising her head up looking around for ages now. I like to think she's smiles at me. She has so much wind I have never heard a baby f* as much as she does and the burps she does as well. You would think it was an adult but it's this tiny baby.

She has no routine as well. Last night she went down at 9 I moved her to her crib and she fell asleep again up at 4 and then at 8 so it's not too bad. The other night she was up for an hour between 12 and 1 and didn't wake until 9 the next morning. I kept poking her to see if she was OK. She starts the night off in the crib but ends up in our bed after the first feed. I am trying to be good and get her to go to sleep on her own but it doesn't always work.

i believe they are real smiles and not wind!

Despite all the sick, Ruben is now 10 pounds 12 ounces (9.2 pounds at birth 3.5 weeks ago)! So he's obviously ingesting some of the milk i'm lovingly providing! Feel quite proud! Wow!

Glad everyone is getting along well and Dino I'm glad Blake is much better. Last night was our first night of all night 'fussing'. Little man was wide awake at 3am until 8am so i'm knackered and just so happens tonight is DH's first night out on the town since the birth. So will probably have a drunk husband and a crying baby tonight (Ruben has slept all day) - not a good combination for a good nights sleep! Wish me luck!

Oh yeah, his farts are phenomenal! What an embarrassment. Doesn't seem to have any sense of public decency and seems to enjoy it all the more when there is an audience! All this and only 3.5 weeks old!

wow how do you all get to post??? I must be soooo disorganised. max has put on nearly a kilo since birth (need to convert that to lb to mean much to me- think 2lb) but the midwife was very impressed so lactation herbs must be working - smelling like an indian takeaway due to fenugreek and other ingredients 24/7 is worth it (fortuntaley we love indian food so it doesn't matter but is a bit much when clothes smell when take them off as does poor max). we have no routine although i am trying, he seems to feed like crazy from 2pm onwards, sometimes 2-9pm with not much rest so poor nipples are very sore but when he does that he sleeps for 2x4 hour stretches during the night. unfortunately still in our bed as screems when i move him even if he seems to be in the deepest of sleeps.
he continues to be gorgeous, smiling (not wind) and loves cuddles. his big brother is good with him and has calmed down heaps since we bought him home but we now have a cupboard full of cakes as it's easy to entertain him with cooking and if i have to hokey kokey or head, shoulders, knees and toes again I will scream - ds - mummy that's not your knees and toes that's your thighs - me - you are lucky i can get that far after c/s!!!!!! as we dance around the room!!!

lol @ sibble and the hokey cokey

strange night with Abbie last night loads of cluster feeding from 6 until 11 (managed to get a shower inbetween though wow) then slept all night until 6.30am. Up at 11 another 2 feeds and back down at 1pm. That will be her until 5ish now (housework time for me).

She has a pattern during the day but it depends how she is at night ie if she sleeps in the evening it's a 4am/9am feed, if she's up and goes down at 11 it's all the way through until 6am!

We have put our house on the market now and are going looking this weekend, don't know how I'll cope with the stress of moving but need to do it before I go back to work in January!

sweetkitty- our routine sounds much like yours! Plus we are also looking to move house! eek! Had a bit of a nesting panic whilst pregnant and started to look but gave up after seeing the various dumps we could afford in south London, but now have started looking again. Our current one-bed flat is ok at the moment and very easy to keep clean / tidy so am happy about that :), but it will be great to have a 2nd bedroom so people can stay and Ruben has his own room. Anyone know of any cheap 2-3 bed houses / flats for sale????

Dh was very good last night and a) didn't get too drunk and b) did not get in late, and was so quiet I didn't even hear him get into bed and didn't realise he was home until Ruben started to cry at 3am! He was also very helpful this morning so think it did him good to get out and about! Now I want it to be my turn! I need to get organised and start expressing....

Hi all, especially all the 'Juners'. Can't believe I didn't find this thread earlier as I have been wondering how everyone is doing. Haven't managed to read all the messages yet, but will do so soon; in the meantime I'm settling into life with babe no 3 really well. Can't believe she's 6 weeks old already . Doing so well with breastfeeding this time around that my mw asked me to give a talk at the antenatal class last week! I 'failed' miserably with DS and DD1. DD2 is starting to settle into a pattern...she sleeps for about 2 hours in the morning, and at night she sleeps for about 6 hours, wakes up at around 3, has a feed and then sleeps again til around 6 which I think is pretty good. Wasn't managing to get much done during the day until I started putting her in a sling and carrying her around the house with me while I do housework etc. Anyway, really nice to be in touch with you all again, hope you're all well

I meant especially the 'Julyers'! Doh...brain still shrinking!