August/ September 2019 babies #2

[kyles101]

Thread number 2 for our August / September 2019 due date babies.

DS is having a regression on nighttime sleep since moving over to combi - seems to want to wale at 1am whereas before would always go through until 3am...

Aaa @Megan2018 Velcro baby is tough!!! Hopefully she'll be less Velcro minded in a few months...

Megan, I was about to say the same- is formula at that point completely out of the question? If she would take a bottle of course. That to me would be the lesser of two evils between expressing and formula! (I'm formula feeding anyway, but if I was breastfeeding). Might also be worth figuring out what you would like to do while back at work and make that the first step towards it- unfortunately it seems to be coming round way too quickly!

Sorry, just seen the next post. Velcro baby is very tough, but hopefully not forever! Indie is very much for me instead of dad, and kicks off if I do something without her, but we are persevering- I can't cope with that in the long run, so better to try and crack it now.

Touch wood, we've been really lucky re Velcro baby. He pretty much only naps when I settle him during the day (or happily with either of his nannies) but for anything else (bedtime, baths, if I go out etc) will go with DP without to much of an issue. He is a nightmare with his bottles though and will spit it everywhere and refuse to finish if he's fed by anyone but me or either of our mums. DP can get a bottle in him but he will think it's play time occasionally and mess about.

Going back to work really is coming around so quickly I think I'll be going back in may and I just know then next 5 months will fly by. I wish we could have afforded the full year but fingers crossed my reduced hours will be accepted so it won't be too many days away from him.

I’m not back at work until she’s almost 12 months so she won’t need expressed milk or formula in childcare fortunately (I know cows milk not meant to be main drink until 1 year but I can’t see that 10 days early will matter!)
Hoping to continue with BF morning, evening and night past 12 months too unless she wants to stop earlier.

We are hoping to avoid formula if possible but we’ll see how it goes (I was FF so not against it, is just that we’ve got this far EBF I’d like to continue if poss).

I can carry on as we are for a while and see what happens, I did get milk out when I expressed but I just can’t seem to get time to do it daily (and the required cleaning etc) in between feeds and the various things we do each day.

I've gone back part time at about 9 months with DCs1 and 2, and will again this time, building up from half days to full days by 10-11 months. Neither has ever taken any milk (EBM, formula or cow's) while I've been away, despite being offered, and it's been fine. I've fed both until about 30months, and been away for overnight work trips for up to three or four days from about 18 months (DC1 had cows milk in a sooky cup at bedtime when I was away, DC2 wasn't interested). DC3 is bound to be different, no doubt! But you might find that it all just works itself out fine. I threw away quite a lot of out of date frozen expressed milk with DC1...

Dusty, that sounds like a good way of easing in.

Megan, I only suggested it as I know you weren't fussed about BF before giving birth, but F took too it well. We had very similar views before birth, and for me the worst of all worlds is expressing- all of the inconvenient bits of both bottle and breast! You're very lucky to get almost a full year off with her ☺️

db92, what is it about nannas having the magic touch??

Ds is for all intents and purposes ff now. Managed ebf until 12/13 weeks but his weight gain was an issue for the hv and I didn't have the mental energy to argue. For us, I'm so pleased I made the switch when I did, at the time it was awful but now we have a predictable 5 bottle a day routine and a solid 9/10 hours unbroken sleep at night. We can enjoy our time together so much more. I'd deffo do the same again with any future children, unless of course we were getting the same sort of results from ebf only. He still has boob at night to go to sleep and sometimes if he's struggling to go down for a nap. I can tell he enjoys it as he strokes and his little leg goes wandering, but he will refuse the boob if he's due a bottle - he obviously knows it'd be harder work and he wouldn't get enough.

You don't need to sterilise bottles if using expressed breast milk.
Breast milk isn't sterile, a breast isn't sterile. As long as they are washed it hot soapy water it's fine with maybe a sterilisation every now and then just for good practice.

I was wondering what happens when the mother of a breastfed baby goes back to work. I'm not going back until Arthur is 1 so would he just not have milk whilst I am away and just be eating normal food then get his milk when I'm home?

Wondering how he will be because he refuses bottles of my milk now...
I'm worried!

@KnobJockey yes I was pretty ambivalent about BF before but as we’ve found it easy on the whole (exhausting at times though!!) it’s made me keener to keep at it as we’ve done the hard part now and it is so convenient when out etc, But it is all on me which is a bit wearing! I will look at Formula when we wean if I think its the only way to get some time out as we can skip the bottles then.
I never thought I’d feel as committed to it though as I am, mind you I never thought I’d bed share either!!

Interestingly all my NCT group are EBF so far (2 x July, 1 X Aug, 2 x Sept babies) which I think reflects how good the BF support is in Leicestershire & Rutland from MW and HV teams. We have a local facebook group for BF with weekly drop in sessions that is really good too. We have been fortunate to all have easy feeders though (although mine is a teeny tiny baby). If it’d turned out differently I’d have FF instead happily.

It is financially crippling to do the full year but as she’ll be an only child we are happy to do it. I am fortunate that the Bank of Dad is propping me up with £5k which helps and I’m chucking the rest on 0% credit card which I’ll be paying off for a while

@Horehound no don’t need to sterilise bottles but the bloody pump takes time to clean and dry and reassemble, that plus the pumping time is just not working out for me. I need an hour to pump and prep and Felicity feeds so often and at the moment has to be held pretty much constantly, this makes timing expressing difficult as she always feeds from both boobs during the day and if I don’t allow an hour after feeding before pumping then I get nothing out. So I need 2 hours at home where she will be put down to achieve it.

Yes once he’s one Arthur can drink cows milk or water from a cup in childcare and you just BF when home (if you want to). You can give expressed milk though in childcare if you prefer obviously but they don’t need it then. A feed before and after work plus at night if needed should be all he needs then if you want to keep BF but from 1 then get enough nutrition from food.
My friends baby stopped BF at 10 months though as he liked his food more, but another friend fed until nearly 3 so they are all different. I like the idea of using BF from 1 to reconnect after work. I’m dreading going to work but sadly no choice

Ah ok yes that makes sense re pumping..it is faffy.

That's for spelling it out to me, I honestly just feel like I'm so unaware of what happens re. Feeding and working.
We are also going to be short money wise especially when maternity allowance stops in may but bigger it he's only little once!
We also he'd share although we are trying to get him to sleep in his cot more. We've brought his big boy cot into our room last week though he's slept a grand total of 0 nights in it haha he just sleeps so much better in our bed and I love being close to him.
We've had to move the next2me downstairs as he's too big for the Moses basket now whhhaaaa

Awful night

Basically up since 3am

Ds has been in the cot for AGES! He long since outgrew the moses and is being moved into the seat unit of the pram this week. Two months early. He is huge

Oh dear sorry you had a bad night.

We will be moving Arthur into the seat unit in the next two weeks as well which is 2 months earlier than I'd hoped but he's really quite long!

Yes baby DECAF is not so much chunky but long. I dont see us having long left in 3-6 clothes, even the mothercare stuff is a good fit now and i find them the biggest size wise

I have to submit my essay today. It isnt finished. I really need to manage to put him down asleep without him waking up. Hes never like this

DD has also outgrown her carrycot on the pram, filling literally every inch, so she's gone into the big seat this week- here she is looking amused at it! She still fits in the next2me, but we got rid of the Moses basket by about 6 weeks 😁. We're trying her in her cot in her own room this week, very loosely as she is 14 weeks so about to hit peak regression time. She's being disturbed by us very easily in our room though. First night went brilliantly, only one dummy wake, 9 hours asleep, feed then another 3 hours. Last night was a lot more disturbed. Keep trying!

We've also got the walker out which she loves standing in. She's so tall so reaches the floor well already- going into 6-9 months clothes by 13 weeks.

Decaf, we're very similar sizewise- Asda 3-6 is out, we've only got the Mothercare 3-6 and a pack of Boots sleepsuits that are very generous that fit! Bit of a pain as some people bought clothes for Christmas for her without checking what size she needed first, and gave without gift receipts, so we've had to swap at sale prices.

Oh wow she is a tall sturdy girl! We dont have a walker as didnt have space in previous house, we do have a jumperoo though so i might just stick to that again. Kind of feel like 3 year old ds would end up pushing a walker around at high speed!

Ha, babydecaf would love it! She is tall and sturdy, so she's very strong with it and bloody cute, obviously 😁 I do keep debating with myself whether to get a jumperoo as well, or whether it's pointless given we have the walker

I just hope babyDECAF will be willing to go in the jumperoo or a walker. He HATES the baby swing. He will not go in it. Good job it has already served his brother and wasnt bought new!

I can't believe how big all your little ones are! I thought Catherine was a proper chunky monkey but she's still in 0-3 🙈

Arthur is in 3-6 but is filling them out completely length ways and I'm going to have to start cutting feet off some stuff to get more use out of them.
Lucky I got a sewing machine at Christmas so can test my skills hehe.

Oh I got a riding lesson too! Maybe I'll get a horse one day yet, @megan2018 hehe

She does look very strong @KnobJockey. She looks great!

Baby DB is tiny in comparison. 16 weeks and still not quite filling out all of his 0-3 months. His coat is newborn and still fits well! He's super strong though and is constantly trying to sit himself up and fussing when laid down

We are still tiny at 15.5 weeks, probably about 10lb now. Super strong though!!
Plenty of room in crib and carrycot yet, some 0-3 clothes are running out of length so we might end up in 3-6 this month.