Ttc first baby catch up with our babies!

[Fivebyfive2]

Just putting this on in case anyone wants to catch up? We're all at different stages, so might be able to help each other out?

@Delilah7 @RanchoRelaxo @MrsR16 @thumper59 @trashkitten10 @Bostonfern @crossfitgirl sorry I know I'm missing people, I'm blaming newborn brain!

I'll leave the link on the 'pregnancy' catching up thread xxx

Sorry all - I’ll catch up properly later.

@Fivebyfive2 - keep your head up. I’ve had a similar night and it’s awful. You’re doing a cracking job.

@MrsEG - gutted for you the Gaviscon isn’t working. Finn has just broke his heart with reflux so we’ve committed to the Omeprazole now. I don’t care what the GP says about letting him outgrow it; I can’t keep seeing him this distressed knowing we’re nowhere near the peak yet.
Good luck at the docs, they’ll probs give you omeprazole but it’s totally a personal decision on using it or not.
Again, give me a shout if you like; I know how awful it is x

Hi everyone - sorry for disappearing for a while. I was getting a bit down with the whole lockdown / pandemic situation and I didn't want to spread my negativity to you lovely lot. Anyway I'm feeling much better now - thank you sunshine!

Sorry to hear @ELW85 and @MrsEG are having trouble with silent reflux, that sounds so incredibly hard. I hope the medication works and your GP takes you more seriously MrsEg...

@Fivebyfive2 the lack of sleep sounds really, really hard. Does he nap during the day? Can you catch up then? I know it's not as good as night sleep, but needs must and all that.

M is 3 months now and all in all she's doing fab. Had her jabs yesterday and was a marked improvement on last time (guess it could have been the meningitis one). I was getting worried about her sleep (she struggles to fall asleep alone), but I've decided I'm much happier just going with the flow for now. She'll get there when she's ready! In other exciting news we're hiring a Tula Explore baby carrier tomorrow...the baby bjorn is killing our backs and she's getting a bit big and heavy for the no structured wrap. I'm childishly excited...

Hope you all have a good day! x

@Fivebyfive2 honestly, Ethan's sleep following the 4 month sleep regression has started to massively improve literally this Monday just gone! We've got more sleep regressions to come but I'm not thinking about those yet!

@TrashKitten10 Daisy sounds as though she's getting on amazingly! You're doing such a cracking job 😊

@MrsEG oh lovely! I absolutely hate it when Ethan's crying and crying for no reason... that then gets me stressed out which really doesn't help him! It must be really difficult with two! I'm sure Ruairí won't hold this against you though - he sounds as though he's happy enough! I sometimes think some GPs just go "oh, you're a first time mum - you don't know anything!" type thing... just a midwife did with me when I was in labour!

@purplefig I'm glad you're feeling better! Lockdown will be getting to everyone in different ways for sure. How on earth is M 3 months old now?!? Where did that time go?

Hi all, it's Friday tomorrow and dh actually has bank holiday Mon off! I know we can't do much but it's nice having him home 🙂

Joe's been golden today apart from a nuclear meltdown about 2pm...i think he got over stimulated trying his jumperoo for the first time, he was only in there about 5 mins! All OK this evening though he's already asleep. Fingers crossed for an OK night!

How is everyone doing?

Here is Joe post feed this morning 😃

@Fivebyfive2 not great my c section wound is infected so on antibiotics for that. Breastfeeding is still so painful on my nipples I broke down tonight when she tried to latch on and pull away because it hurts so much. DH made the decision for my sanity and to look after little one to give her formula and order a breast pump.

She just doesn't latch like everyone says she should. He's tried to put her on my breasts, mum guilt is awful. I love breastfeeding (or is it I love feeding her full stop?) but I can't cope with the pain, on top of the c section. I'm hoping a few days of giving nipples a break and we can start again

@Fivebyfive2 yay for Joe having a good day!! That's exciting 😊 his little face, bless him! I hope he sleeps well for you...

@MrsH497 oh lovely I'm sorry to hear you've got an infection! I have no clue about breastfeeding, so am offering a virtual handhold instead! I hope it works out for you, but please don't feel guilty if it doesn't! You're doing an incredibly amazing job 😊

Ethan finally fell asleep this evening at 21:40... 20 mins before his next bottle was due! He's still sound asleep so I'm probably going to attempt to dream feed him! It worked well the other night, so fingers crossed it works tonight!

@MrsH497, is it the 'nose to nipple' way that you're struggling with? Sometimes I'd put Joe in my lap, lean forward a bit, then when he did the mouth I'd basically put my boob in his mouth! Once he was on, I'd support him with my arms and gently lean back, bringing him along so I'd be sitting up, holding him cross cradle. Sorry, I'm probably not explaining it very well!

There is a book 'your baby skin to skin' that you might find useful. I had it as a gift. To be honest, some of it is a bit ridiculous, but I just took some useful bits and rolled my eyes/laughed my arse off at the rest! Examples - useful bits on cluster feeds etc and the 4 month fussyness really helped me. But also, apparently skin to skin solves everything (🙄) and 'babies are so evolved they can practically feed themselves' read to me by dh as Joe was crying because no milk was coming... From him suckling my arm 😂

Your dh sounds like a good en 🙂

Good luck with pumping and don't let anyone make you feel bad if bf doesn't work out. Xxx

@MrsR16, good luck dream feeding!! Joe woke at 10.45 but back asleep now, fingers crossed for a good night!! 🤞😴

Hi everyone.

Can anyone recommend a baby monitor. Esme was v tired tonight so put her down in snuzpod at 8pm which then meant a v early night for me as didn't want to keep popping in and out all night. Thinking now is a good time to buy monitor so we can start having a bit of an evening again.

Thanks!

@Fivebyfive2 how did Joe do last night? Ethan successfully dream fed 🎉 woke up at about 05:45 this morning which really isn't bad!

@LikeTheFruit hope you're doing ok! I don't have a proper baby monitor - I use a camera compatible with my Amazon Echo Show! I can watch Ethan on my phone/iPad too which is helpful 😊

@MrsR16, go Ethan with the dream feed! And you of course 😀 Joe, not so good! He had a little wake at 1.30 then was awake 3 till 4...then up at 5.30!! He's currently on his 2nd nap of the morning, but at least I got him to sleep in his bed to his sounds so my arms are free. Small victories! We're gonna spend the weekend preparing his room and thinking of ways to tweak his routine to try to improve things. In the meantime I'm in my pj's eating a giant bag of popcorn 😋

@MrsEG, is it today Connor sees the gp again? Xx

Sorry I keep dipping in and out - finding it hard to keep up with everyone/lockdown/boys etc!

How is everyone doing?

Happy Saturday all!

Our neighbours are decorating, I actually think they will sand straight through to our living room at any moment! Joe kept getting woken up from his naps yesterday, so I took him for a 2.5 hour walk just so I knew he'd get a proper kip! Got my steps in at least 😛

Last night was a bit better, the weird naps put us out a bit, he went down for the night at 9.15, woke at quarter to one for 15 mins then 3.45 for 20 mins... He was a bit unsettled in his sleep after that, kept drifting in and out, woke up properly about 6.15. Probably the best night we've had for ages!

In other news, he finally got his foot in his mouth, his little face was an absolute picture 'ooo something new to do' 😂

Afternoon all!

Last night Finn woke for the first time without me waking him for feeds. It was probably the most unsettled night he’s had (I know we’re lucky!) as he usually sleeps from about 9pm-6am with a couple of feeds along the way. I’m hoping it was a one-off as he didn’t nap well yesterday and his last nap was late.
We’re currently setting up the nursery with a BT monitor, blackout blind and an echo dot (for white noise) as I’d like to get him used to napping in there instead of on me!
He’s 8 weeks today and I know it’s too soon to be too worried about a strict routine but I don’t want to get him into bad habits in the next few months, especially with DH headed back to work soon.

@purplefig - I really hope you’re ok, it’s stupidly tough at the moment. To be honest, the omeprazole May or may not be working. He’s still swallowing a load of reflux but seems to be ok. And his meds are only half swallowed on a daily basis (dissolved tablet in a syringe is really hard to administer!) but so far so good?! When he doesn’t have a flare up, I think I’ve imagined the whole thing...

@MrsEG - how are you doing? I hope the docs went well!

@Fivebyfive2 - ooh do you have any tips for getting them down for naps? I’m using a bum pat/shush method at the moment but Finn is getting big for that and I really have to time it right or he gets upset that I’m trying to send him to sleep too early! The pram is hit and miss for him if I’m honest!

@MrsH497 - BF can be really tough! Have you tried lanolin ointment? They do get better with their latching, I promise! We combo feed now because of the weight Finn lost in the first few days (ended up back in hospital; it was awful) so I totally get the struggle!

@LikeTheFruit - we’re just setting our monitor up now. I’ll let you know if it’s any good!

@ELW85 saw the midwife today she's happy with Charlotte and weight. She said whatever combination of feeding works for us is perfect. So we are doing a bit of everything at the moment mainly breastfeeding and expressing. It's so tough and nipple pain is awful!! Got the ointment and that's been a godsend x

@MrsH497 - that’s brilliant! You’re doing a great job x

Nap update! Pretty concerned as I’ve looked back this week and Finn has been napping poorly.
Anyone have any experience of it? He’s refusing to go down and cries when I try to get him to sleep.
@cupcakesandglitter - you LO is a similar age; any advice?

@ELW85, for naps I literally just try anything, even at 5 months! Basically, after 90 mins to 2 hours (or whenever he does his tired cues) I take him away from anything too stimulating, check he's not hungry etc. Sometimes he still feeds to sleep. Other times I put him down with his sounds and he goes off, either straight away or after a bit of cradling /rocking. Sometimes he is just rocked to sleep! If I know I need to go out, I'll time it around when he needs a nap so he sleeps in the pram. Things that work to get him to sleep, or calm enough to be put down are being held while I hum or sing to him or talking really softly to him, about anything really. If he's proper kickoff, I recently discovered walking around the garden calms him a bit. As you can see, we're still not in the best of habits, but it gets him to sleep at least!

@MrsH497, so glad the midwife was positive! We did a mix of everything with feeding at first too and then just went with what worked. You're doing fab 😀

@ELW85 Naps are so important! Sleep breeds sleep. As soon as we had naps nailed the boys slept through the night. Main things that worked for us - figure out where they’ll nap: cot? Pram? Sling? Whichever works best use that initially just to get the routine going. Ideal is obviously cot (so you get some time for yourself!) but you can work up to it - the boys initially only slept in the pram so me and DH would be out all bloody day!
Never let them stay awake longer than 1.5-2 hours; keep an eye out for tired cues like yawning, getting cranky, etc. And just as soon as you can, get them down. If in the cot, keep the room as pitch black as you possibly can and play white noise. When I was getting the boys used to cot naps I sat in the room with them the first few times and that really helped. Conor sometimes would cry settling so we got this slumber buddy elephant thing that plays lullabies and has stars on the ceiling - he’s mesmerised by it and it kills him to sleep. The boys have two 1.5-2 hour naps in their cots a day now (it went to shit a bit while Conor wasn’t right but we’re back on track this week!) It isn’t always perfect. Some naps I am up and down the stairs settling someone; but when they go down for that solid 2 hours my goodness it’s bliss!

@MrsH497 Ah that’s great that Charlotte is doing so well! With feeding you have to do whatever works for you! Happy mum leads to Happy baby!

@fivebyfive2 foot in his mouth! Amazing! Well done Joe!

@LikeTheFruit I have a Motorola video monitor and I love it!

@purplefig Glad you are feeling better and just going with the flow with M! She sounds like a fab baby!

Sorry if I’ve missed anyone I’m having a quick catch up while getting dinner (and importantly my Saturday evening vino!) ready! Conor is so greatly improved on the Gaviscon. It took maybe a day and a half and then it started kicking in. He’s just so much happier! He’s sleeping and napping so well again.
In fact both boys are doing brill with sleep the last few days. 7-7 at night, no feeds, I maybe settle one of them once a night and that’s it. Please god don’t let the 4 month regression come along now and bugger it up!! Happy weekend everyone x

@ELW85 *LULLS him to sleep! Christ what a typo!!!

@MrsEG, ha ha that typo made me really laugh 😛

I saw a thread on aibu the other day, about how sex is referred to here as dtd etc. It reminded me of when we were all on the ttc thread and I told someone who asked about the abbreviations that BD was Bone Down, only to be told it was actually Baby Dance 😂

@Fivebyfive2 Bone Down!! Hahahah! It took me ages when I joined the conception boards to learn the lingo!!

@PippaPug oh hey lovely! How are you and the twins?!?

@Fivebyfive2 I'm glad Joe had a better night 😊 and yay for the foot!! Ethan has found his feet and loves playing with them... they haven't made it into his mouth just yet 😂 I'm sure I remember the BD fiasco! 😂 that did make me smile so much!

@ELW85 oh my god, look at Finn! He's just adorable! We don't have good habits either with getting Ethan to sleep... generally it's rocking and singing to him! Sometimes he'll go to sleep on his own, but it's very rare.

@MrsH497 I'm pleased you're getting on better and the HV is happy with Charlotte! It's nice to have that reassurance that things are going well, even if there are bumps on the way.

@MrsEG that's wonderful that Conor seems to be better! I'm so happy for you!!

We actually had a good night 😀🎉 Joe slept 8.15 until 1.45, then 2.15 until 4.30...he was up and feeding on and off until about 5.30, but miraculously went back off until 7! It's the best night we've had since his 4 month jabs 🙂 Will probably go to pot again tonight, but I'm so happy!

@MrsEG - thanks, I tried to get him to sleep in his cot twice today when he was drowsy but he would either kick off or stay in for a second, wake up properly and then want to be up.
I’m at my wits end. I feel like I’ll never get anything done in the day if he’ll only nap on me.
I’m so happy for you that Conor is better on the Gaviscon; it’s awful to deal with.

@MrsR16 - ah thank you! I feel like such a failure in that I can’t even get him down to nap on his own. He does through the night; I even watched him self settle last night in his Snuzpod! Fully awake and then back to sleep himself. I even put him in drowsy last night after a feed. He started talking to me and then very kindly fell asleep, so why I can’t do it in the daytime is beyond me.