The March-ers 2019 - Baby Talk #2

[Angelmiracle]

Thread 2 for all our newborns ❤🤗👣

@AssumeItWasSomethingClever hope the coil is feeling more comfortable now and that the new GP fills you with more confidence than the last!

@SoBoredOfWaiting how did you find baby massage?

@cardboard33 haha i wish i was more like you with being able to befriend people so easily. I dont think I'm awkward or anything but dont have the confidence to set anything up myself really. I did meet two women at the baby massage yesterday who are also doing the baby sensory starting in 2 weeks so that'll be nice to have familiar faces in both. I'm just getting to the stage where i like to be out each day too so I'm hoping to do 3 classes or some sort of baby thing per week then go out for walks each day too although today was a nightmare in the pram so my confidence has been knocked a bit.

@ballanj hope your period has settled down a bit now, that sounds horrendous. My mum did say that hers lasted weeks at first so sadly i think it can be normal but worth speaking to the doctor if you are worried. We've also moved up to 7oz as of yesterday as hes been draining 6 for about a month and the past few days was cranky after his bottle and looking for more. We're also getting him weighed today too so hopefully he's following his curve ok. He's been merrily draining and keeping down the 7oz too 😮 he normally has a bottle every 4 hours apart from the night one when he sleeps longer

With regards to sleep we're mostly getting from his last bottle at half 10ish til 6am. He does sleep in his moses basket downstairs most of the evening after his half 6pm bottle until we take him up with us for his last bottle but I'm still not ready to put him upstairs on his own. My friend was shocked at that but I know what I'm like and even with a monitor I wouldn't be able to relax so for now we settle him downstairs and take him up with us and he does sleep well. Not sure how this will work when we want to move his last bottle back but seems ok for now.

@Sheeni i really feel for you. When we stopped bf we moved to MAM bottles and he seemed to swap fine then we moved onto tommee tippee. Which bottles have you tried? I really hope you can find a way forward, you must be exhausted

@cardboard33 I'm not sure on moving up to the next teat size. We've been having this conversation too. George does like to gulp his bottle down in 10 mins and thats 7oz so I worry with a faster teat he would guzzle it down too fast. Is your little one taking a while to finish?

Will catch up more when i canx x

@melissa112 it's amazing how much more they can take isn't it compared to only a few weeks ago! I got LO weighed this morning and he's just under a stone 😯😯 but is following his curve perfectly so no worries on the growth front.

I've got a phone consultation with my GP this afternoon. Typically it will happen when I'm out with friends for lunch so I'll have to step away and find somewhere quiet to have that conversation haha!

@cardboard33 I went up in teat when little one was old enough (MAM teat 2 is from 2 months, next size up is 4 for 4 months etc..) and it worked well because he was taking forever to finish a bottle and would often end up falling asleep on it as he was working so hard to get it all out because of the slow flow! It did take a few feeds for him to get better control of a slightly faster flow but I found he soon got used to it.

@kee80 it may be worth a try with the next teat up. It may take a few attempts for LO to get the hang of a faster flow. Perhaps have a conversation with your health visitor to see what they think?

@melissa112 you'll always have bad days with the pram, so focus on the positives. That's great you've found a "group" as it were... Hopefully some of them will ask to swap numbers with everyone, but if not then maybe in a few weeks you'll have the confidence to ask yourself once you've met them a few times? The worst they can say is no, and it's highly unlikely that will happen!

@ballanj & @whatalearningcurve hmm we should probs think about it then given he's still using size 1 teats and is now over 3 months. That said it sounds like your baby is a lot heavier than mine, at his last weight check around 12 weeks he was 10.5lbs. He usually takes about 15 mins for a bottle feed but only has one or two bottles a day, the rest is from my breasts.

@kee80 & @melissa112 We've tried Medela Calma (he got on well with these when he was littler), Tommee Tippee, Dr Brown's, Nuk and the orthodontic single use bottle teats from hospital (which he takes best, but they have only one tiny hole size and I would like him to try on thickened feed eventually as well). He was OK with Nuk for a while. But he only takes 0.5oz or so. And sometimes, just to mess with us, he takes 2oz or so.

@Countrychick26 Yes, it's the reflux. We've been to the paediatric assessment unit and to be honest, nothing came of it. Doctor said he's happy with the weight gain and we should try the higher dosage of Ranitidine a bit longer. Then either go dairy free or Omeprazole. But it was all very vague, no real review date, just referred us back to GP/HV.

I've started dairy free diet today, just to check if the CMPA might be an issue. I had a lot more dairy in last couple of days and he seemed even worse than normal, so I'm giving it a go. It means I can't really try formula for the next three weeks either, so I might have to express for at least one bottle.

@cardboard33 Not that I'm happy you're going through that, I'm really not, but it's actually good to know it's not just me being useless, but a "normal" reflux thing.
Sadly, he's not into his bouncer at all. Stays in it for 10 minutes tops.
We tried to put him to the next2me last night after the midnight(ish) feed. I think he lied in it for less than a minute. He screamed through the 20-minute-upright-before-lying-down stage. My mum was visiting for a week, acting like we're making the issues up and this morning before leaving she finally admitted that we're not and it's actually hard work. Maybe we should have let him scream on the first night, so she'd know straight away.

@Sheeni, sounds just like the palaver our GP put us through - so frustrating!! Could you make a wee video of one of the episodes of screaming and show to the doc? I found it so hard to convey how bad our nights were and it wasn't until a sleep consultant came and witnessed it that I felt someone finally understood. I would log 3 days worth of feeds, sleeps (or lack of) and crying episodes and bring it with the video to the doc and tell them you want stronger medication. When you have details in writing and the footage to prove your baby is inconsolable they should listen. Personally I think the 'reduce your dairy intake' advice is rubbish. According to the KellyMom site, it's what's in your blood that affects your milk, not what's in your intestines which makes a lot of sense. I also struggled getting mine to accept a bottle and eventually succeeded with the Nuk latex tests. They're really soft and have an orthodontic teat. Try to take care of yourself - it's very hard xx

Hi all. My little one was 11wks yesterday. The past few days she seems to be sleeping a lot more in the day, more asleep than awake. When she is awake she is really fussy and just wants to be sat/laid on me. Was wondering if anyone else noticed this with their little one at this age? I've been worry a little, thinking she maybe feeling unwell. She's usually a rubbish sleeper in the day

@kee80 Mine is not a good example of anything, but he's 11weeks on Friday and recently (last 2 days) became even more attached to me than normally. DH is a bit miffed as he feels a bit excluded.
LO's still a crappy sleeper though.
I think 12 weeks is another development leap/wonder week? With my LO it tends to show several days early.

@Countrychick26 Our GP is actually quite worried (bit too much I think) and willing to help. My LO is a wee baby, and as there's been a lot going on for him in the last month (tongue tie, reflux, vaccinations) his weight gain wasn't as good as it could be. I think if I push for Omeprazole I should be able to get it, but I hesitate, as I'm not sure it's so much the acidity that bothers him now, as the sensation of the milk and whatever else coming up. That's why I really wanted him to just get at least one feed from the bottle, so I can see whether thickening the food helps in keeping it down.
I need to find the way how to express some milk so we can try if he takes that a bit better. But I feel like my feeding from one breast only makes it a bit more difficult.

I don't really believe it's the CMPA, but it won't hurt me too much to try, and if it makes him better - yay!

@ballanj that's good that your LO is still on the curve, us too. He's now 12lbs. Hope you got some good advice from the GP.

@cardboard33 yeh that's true, i do need to focus on the positives. He loves being pushed anywhere near trees but he had a nappy leak halfway round and it was too cold/drizzly to get him out to carry so was quite a stressful end to the walk. But you're right, a few weeks ago he would just cry constantly so we have moved forward a bit. What do you do each day with your LO? Is it groups/classes or do you just get out and about each day?

@Sheeni sounds like you've had such a rough time of it. Could you try with the ones he was ok with and try to increase feeds then perhaps once he's used to a teat you could try to switch? Sorry, I've not had any experience of that to give any useful advice.

@kee80 definitely sounds like leap 3. My LO has been sleeping most of the day for the past week and half (he's 12 weeks and 2 days now) and we were worrying a little and then all of a sudden he's learned a few new tricks! He was good at grabbing before but now he is much more precise and he's doing a new hand movement (he sits as though he is praying and just stares constantly at his hands) , also has started new high pitched excitment screams. That's all started today and he's been less sleepy today too. It's so fascinating!

@melissa112 That's what the plan would be if I wasn't pretty crap at coming up with and sticking to a plan. I'm so tired.
Now that my mum is gone at least I won't have to argue with anyone that he needs a nap/isn't bored/doesn't need more food or fennel tea.

I also find it super fascinating watching all the new skills he's learning. I've tried the activity mat with him a few times in the past and he was so not bothered with the dangling toys. Tried it today and he was all over it, talking to them, bumping them with his little fist, trying to catch them. So cute!

Also, how adorable is the baby talk?! Like, he's so high maintenance, but a single "gah" with a smile makes it so much better. He's so funny, as most of his talking is complaining, especially when he wants to sleep, but can't.❤️

@melissa112 thanks for that. I was hoping it would be a growth spurt, she's not usually this sleeping. Gosh they really are growing so quickly!
@Sheeni mines the same, she seems to have have spurts a few days before the actual week. I worry every time as well without realising

@Sheeni have you tried the Haakaa at all to get some expressed milk? Its a silicone pump you just attach to the breast while feeding on the opposite one. It catches your let down. I get 120 to 180ml per day with it and it's only £15 on Amazon.

@kee80 my LO is 11weeks on Friday and the past couple of days she's been sleeping a lot more in the day but not sure if it's because she's had her Injections or what not .

Also has anyone's LO eyes changed colour yet . My girls are still blue yet we both have green eyes . My HV said they might stay blue but was hoping for then to change . Not a big deal I know but just curious

@sheeni you're really not useless you've just been dealt a difficult baby with extreme reflux. Shame about the rocker chair as genuinely it was the only thing mine slept in for a while. He hates the more horizontal ones as ours is very upright (kinda like a baby arm chair) so could be worth playing with the settings or seeing if you can get one very cheap second hand? We've got an old model of the Chicco Hoopla. Does your next to me tilt? We've got ours on a big tilt which he finally sleeps in - until a month ago (maybe 9/10 weeks) he wouldn't stay in it for very long and preferred the chair whereas now he will happily do the first stint of the night in there but I don't think he's ever done the full night yet. We are at 14 weeks. Also echo getting a haaka - I got a fake one on Amazon for £7 and use it pretty much every feed and like @anglwmiracle get enough for a bottle per day so I've stopped using the pump unless I miss a feed now. And also in the nicest way, screw your mum! :) I'm also enjoying interacting with baby a lot more now and he can do things like hold his bottle himself that he couldn't do a week or so ago. He gets tired after a few mins so we still do it, but I was amazed he can hold that much weight now.

@kee80 echoing the others, but yes sounds like baby is having a leap as ours got like that too ... Although 3 weeks later he's still there with the feeding and clingy-ness. If felt like I couldn't keep up with his feeding whatever I did for about 2 weeks so added in an extra expressed bottle each day but he's calmed down/my supply has increased now.

@melissa112 it depends. At the moment we've ended up with 3/5 days of classes due to when term starts/ends but normally we go to a lot of play cafe things, church play groups etc with other mums that I've met at NCT and classes. The babies are too young to "play" but they normally go for free and it's mainly for us just to catch up, compare notes and eat cake. Then other days I go for a lot of walks around the parks, to the shops, along the river etc. I'm fortunate that our area of SW London has LOTS of big open spaces/parks within v easy access of our house which helps as I don't feel like I'm roaming the streets with him.

@Sheeni you must be exhausted, when is your next GP appt? It's good that they are being so supportive and trying to work towards a solution with you. Oh i did have to laugh at you saying most of his talking is complaining, haha oh bless him. But yes it's gorgeous to hear the babbling isn't it and like you, a smile just melts me. He's started giggling now but its only when we take his vest off and i have no idea why! He also occasionally does it when DP yawns! Its crazy how quickly they change isn't it, we had the same with the play mat. He used to hate it then all of a sudden was fascinated and once spent half an hour just lying there with one hand in the air batting this lion thing hanging down. Unfortunately as he's been going through leap 3 he's been more clingy and the play mat has been a no go again!

@kee80 same with my LO, he was never usually so sleepy then just slept all day and was waking for feeds mainly. The past day or two he's now awake a lot more testing out his new moves so think he's out the other side! It's scary how fast they grow isn't it!

@Jenlou1992 i honestly can't even tell what colour is eyes are.. they never even really looked blue although i know they all are at the beginning. They just look like a dark blue/grey/brown depending on the light 🤣 i think they can change quite a bit before they are one and after too i think.

@cardboard33 oh no, do classes not run in the summer hols?i never considered that actually although i know the ones i looked at seemed to stop in the half term but didn't realise that meant summer too! Stupid question but what time do you go for your walks? I have anxiety anyway and right now its focused on not exposing him to UV. Then i did more googling and found out that even in heavy cloud and shade the UV can be high! So I've been only going out late evening or very early morning when my met office app says low UV but today it was sunny at 8am and low UV apparently but the pram UV sun visor thing doesn't fully shade his face and i was paranoid that he got too much sun and just stayed under trees where i could. Am i being over paranoid? He loves looking at the trees thankfully but it just means I'm restricted to very early or very late walks to feel less anxious and not sure if I'm the only one?

We are hit and miss with the playmat too. Some days we just don't have enough time to get into it and that makes me worry he will be late to roll over etc because he's not been on his back enough to experiment but I think I'm probs over analysing it.

@melissa112 here, lots of them close for summer, yeah, and the children's centre has a different timetable. I've also noticed that a lot of the play cafes also run reduced hours, presumably as a lot of people go on holiday. It might be different in other areas though. The church groups seem to run throughout the year though. We go out during the day and just be sensible with it in terms of staying in the shade etc. I figure he's going to be exposed to UV regardless of what I do and I can't keep him inside all of the time so just keep him cool if it's hot. Does your pram have a mesh air vent thing on the hood? I usually pull that up to let him see the out whilst being protected from the sun.

@cardboard33 ah I'm gutted about the clubs stopping over summer now that its taken me so long to pluck up the courage to go! The pram has another vent kind of thing at the back but i don't think he could see through it from his position. The sun visor just doesn't cover his face at all depending on where the sun is and can't always find shade as much as I try. The pic shows kind of what i mean, the sun just shines through the gap into his face and as i can't use sun cream i really worry.

@melissa112 so I had my telephone consultation and I'll need to have blood tests to rule out any issues with my thyroid and also been referred for a scan. Bit worried now that it's something more serious than my body just trying to get back into the swing of things. Scan is on Monday

@ballanj I'm sure its nothing to worry about but always better to get checked. My mum had 6 babies, me included and i called her when i got my first period after the baby and was so worried because it was so so heavy. She said her first period after giving birth lasted 6 weeks! I asked her if she was sure it wasn't the post birth bleeding and she was very sure it wasn't as she had obviously had babies before. Anyway my point is that i think periods after birth can be all over the place in terms of length and heaviness so hope that reassures you but definitely worth the scan and other tests just for that peace of mind

@ballanj how are you getting on with the 7oz btw? Today was day 2.5 of 7oz and he did bring up a fair bit when i took him out in the pram but wondering if it was the jiggling of the pram or whether he's had too much? He definitely drained the 6oz for about a month and kept most of it down apart from normal spitups so dont really want to go back down to 6 as he was starting to really look for more afterwards. In fact he didn't even finish his 7oz this morning, he had about 6oz of it and that was after a 6 and half hour overnight gap so maybe it's not that.. sorry, just realised I've done some out loud thinking!

Morning ladies.
After a good week and a half of G only waking up at 5am, he's now regressed back to waking up at 2am as well. He downs his bottle and then drifts straight back to sleep. I think he's waking up because he kicks and moves himself up the cot so his head is squashed against the top! Has anyone got any tips on how to stop him from doing this?!

@cardboard33 I don't even think his reflux is that extreme. I know there are worse cases. But he's still bothered by it a lot.

I was so uncomfortable tonight, struggling to fall asleep until midnight really. So in the end when he finished his midnight feed, I carefully laid him next to me - not into the cot, just on our bed. Not ideal, as we have memory mattress, so he was rolling into me a bit, but eventually I got far enough, he was on his back and he slept for 3 hours or so. So I'm now annoyed, because clearly it's not really the flat surface that bothers him that much. It must be the move from my arms to his cot, I guess. Or tonight was just a lucky one-off.

I've been on-off about haakaa. I would have to stimulate my "dormant" boob to produce milk again and if the haakaa doesn't work on it, I'll have to put it back to sleep again. Might still be worth a try.
And regarding my mum - she was such a pain while she was here, there's no nice way about it. No help, nagging etc. I was happy when I waved her off.

@melissa112 And you made me laugh when I imagined your little one giggling as you take his vest off. So random and funny
I might be the only one here not worried about a bit of sunshine. I wouldn't let him sit in the sun for a long time, but I don't think a few rays of sun will do him such harm?

We had a tongue tie check up, as I felt he still had some. And it turns out there was a tongue tie hidden behind his first tongue tie - he was still 25% tied, no scar tissue. Poor baby, he was already tired as I had a blood test in the morning which threw off our routine and woke him up twice. He wasn't even able to feed after the second division, fell asleep almost straight away.

@ballanj I got my 2nd period Tuesday and it's just how you've described. I'm leaking through tampax and pads, it's so heavy and annoying. I can literally feel it coming out 30 mins after putting a super tampax in. Sorry tmi. I know it's only my 2nd day just hoping it doesn't last mich longer. My periods were never this heavy!

@Sheeni my little girls used to be the same, she would only sleep on me or in my bed next me. Gradually over time I moved her closer to her next me and eventually just put her straight in after her feed and would stay there all night

@melissa112 our classes stop in mid July, so you've got another 6 weeks or so yet and by that point you'll most likely have swapped numbers with the other mums so you can continue to meet up, and if you haven't then it's a good excuse to swap which doesn't sound too "make friends with me NOW" :) for what its worth, your pram has more of a sun shade than mine does.... I think George will be able to see out of the vents, as mine definitely has been able to for a few weeks now. He loves looking at how the light shines through them and giggles about it. Ultimately I think we need to take precautions but by the same token we can't just not go out with them when there's a speck of sunshine. I don't have a car so if I didn't take him out then I'd quite literally never go out, but obviously it's your call. When we've had really hot days we've stayed in until about 4ish and then gone on our walk then.

@assumeitwassomethingclever no advice other than to say mine has been doing the exact same thing for the last two weeks, other than he ends up almost horizontal with his legs resting on the lowered side of the crib. We haven't had the sides fully up yet but think we are going to have to start doing so, but then surely he'd just end up with his legs even more in the air?!

@Sheeni yay for progress! you could maybe try that for a couple of nights, and then try putting him down just before he drifts off, and then pressing your hand firmly (but in a not "I will kill you sense" against his chest under the neck? That's what we've started doing and he seems to get comfort from it. How old is your baby again? And I totally get what you're saying about your mum... sometimes they just don't know when to stop with the "have you tried this?" kind of comments or "helping" in a way that they did things with you when you were young but is now outdated advice and then being all "well it didn't do you any harm!" when you tell them.

@ballanj & @kee80 feel for you... now not looking forward to the return of periods :(

@Sheeni I'm the same as you with the sun. I'm not going to expose him to it needlessly but I'm going to Mexico in a week and Florida in 6 weeks so even with all the best intentions - he's going to be in the sun at some point. I think it's just about not being daft with it and keeping him shaded when it's the worst of the day

@melissa112 hearing about your mum has reassured me somewhat so thanks for that! I don't think I'd be as bothered so long as I knew that it was normal because it's simply a post partum thing. I'm hoping once I've finished this first pack of pills that things will settle down. My period tracker has even given up counting the days I'm 'on' and re-set itself! 😂

On the feed front, we're doing okay with 7 at the moment. He doesn't take it all the time but I gave myself a rule that when he starts draining one size for more than a week or so then to up it. He doesn't always take the full 7, like today he drained two bottles and the other 3 he has probably had between 5 and 6oz. I guess babies are like us in that some days they are more hungry than others.

So along with dream feeding this week, I'm also trying LO out in the Snuzpod properly, as in without being in the Sleepyhead. We've been using the Sleepyhead in the Snuzpod probably for the last 4 weeks or so as he just wasn't settling and would only sleep on me. He's been sleeping so well in it. And the only reason we are attempting to stop using is because he wet through last night and I had to wash the cover. He had a good nap on the Snuzpod mattress so thought we'd give it a go tonight. Plus if he has a restless night and wakes up we have zero plans tomorrow 😂