October 2007 - the golden piglets have landed

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I couldn't find a postnatal thread - not sure if I am just missing it with post-childbirth brain! Anyone else around??

Ejt at C?s family. Why do money and possessions suddenly become so important at a time like this? They will look back and regret they wasted their energies on trivial stuff when there is so little time left with C. Hugs to you all x

Re the lady who lost her lo that was like when I was in hospital and Ollie and Dh came to visit. A lady asked Ollie if was here to meet his brother/sister and he said brother and then he asked if she had a baby and she said her baby had passed away the day before?. It really makes you put things into perspective and it has made me think during those ?testing? times that at least we have Henry and he is safe and well..

Choc- I?m with you on the clothes front. I am just going to save some money and go and hit the January sales having my hair done in the next couple of days as it is so dry and long (crispy I?d describe it as!!) and also get my eyebrows waxed as I look like an overgrown bear.
My h/v seem very nice even when I told them I was b/f with a f/f at 10pm I did expect the ?Good god, you?re not giving him f are you????? but they were very positive telling me that if it works for us then that?s fine which is very reassuring. I know he?s our second and we feel much more confident with him than we did with Ollie but it doesn?t help when the ?professionals? seem to be disapproving of what you are doing.
The m/w with Ollie made us feel totally inadequate when we told her we were giving him f so much so we lied to her about it the next time we saw her!!!!

Nellie- I had a bjorn with Ollie and never wore it as it hurt and I couldn?t get him out of it by myself but this hugabug thing seems very comfortable, supportive and I can do it myself.

Colly ? My friends lo had a hernia and had the op at 5 weeks (ish?) one night in hospital and he was fine.

J20 ? at your burglary, the nerve of the little b*ards!!

Choc - Friday would be lovely. Don't worry about the chaos - can't be worse than with 2 boys!!! I will just have Adam on Friday so at least we won't contribute to your chaos too much! I'll bring some yummy food that we can eat with one hand - I'll mail you to sort it out.

Muppet - glad you like the hugabub! I hardly got out of it yesterday so my second day on my own with 2 was a lot easier as a result! Would second the crispy hair though!! Not a great look but never mind ! Hopefully will get my hair cut when my mum and dad next come up.

J20 - at the little bastards that nicked your money while you were in the bath - just glad you and Shannon are OK. Look after yourself - catch up soon x

Colly hope docs appt went ok...

Well I have been to docs this am to arrange getting a mirena put in. Appt for 19th Dec so all good. Off to lunch with a mate now so will catch you all later....

Hi All

J20 sorry to hear about your awful experience .....must have been frightening esp being at home at the time!!!

Colly, Hope Jacob is ok and you keep your chin up..please don't panic it won't help you!!!!!

Stefka, re: sleep, I think babies sort themselves out with their own routine. DS2 now 9 weeks has slept from 11-7 since he was 2 weeks old. I can set my clock by him lol.

Dal - Stop feeling guilty, I had to stop bf Zachary when he was 6 weeks old and felt exactly the same. But now I realise it was best for him.

On another note, last night we were involved in a car accident, we had a courtesy car from the company we bought our new car from and were on our way to collect our car less than a mile away a car pulls out of a side street and hits us. He spun our car so we were facing in 90* angle. I screamed "The baby" cos he had hit the side Zachary was in in his seat and as I did i saw DS1 crying as he had hurt his leg. I have hurt my back and so has dp. We sat waiting for the police who i phoned back after ovr an hr wait and said I have a 9 week old baby with me i need to get him home and feed him. They told us we could go BUT the driver of the other car then made an allegation of violence from me to him!!!!!!!! I didn't hit him i did shout at him and tell him if he couldn't see then to get his eyes re tested and get stronger glasses.

How does the hugabub treat your back? I love my coorie but if I wear it for a long time my back hurts.

Dareh is feeding for a really long time - an hour long every hour and a half. It was my big fear as it means my boobs don't get a break. He's also taking all my milk so there is nothing to express to give him a bottle. I hope it doesn't last long or I won't cope.

Stefka, poor you. Have you considered a one off formula top up? I know you don't want to but it might save your breasts a bit...?

Well, my hugabub arrived, I managed to put it on, put my little girl into it and she yelled. Screamed blue murder until I took her out. This is not a positive sign! I hope she is going to like it eventually - did all your babies just go into the sling happily?

The health visitor came today. She stayed for ages. We also went for a walk, DH pushing the pram as I'm not allowed (I'm too bruised from the section). I am starting to feel like a blimp! All the chocolate biscuits aren't helping but I seem to crave comfort food again.
Alice - would you mind bringing those jeans? Thank you.

OK DD is crying again, so time to help DH with her...

Hey everyone, les - sorry to hear about your car crash, that must have ben awful, hope you're ok.
Well, to make sure i'm doing the right thing i've made an appointment for the breastfeeding councillor to visit me tomorrow at 3.30pm, i did give up cause it hurt too much but never saw an actual bf councillor and feel like i might be able to give it another shot, if it doesn't work out at least i'll know i really tried and won't regret switching to ff quite so much, i don't think ff is really wrong or anything it just wasn't my initial plan before i had the lo, always planned to bf and feel like i have a bit of energy left to try again so we'll see, maybe it'll go wrong again but i won't know unless i try . Starting to feel left outof the hug a bub club, seems like everyone has got one , not sure myself, i'm a bit too stingy to get one seen as though i already have a mamas and papas one. Anyway will let you know what happens with the bf etc. Stefka - sorry to hear your lo is on a feeding frenzy agian, hope it calms down soon, i mamged to mix bottles and bf realy well before switching to ff completely, maybe one bottle to rest might not be a bad idea? obviosly totally up to you though .catch ya later everyone

just quickly - choc - Mairwen hated the sling at first ... the trick seemed to be to either put her gently in it when she was already asleep, or to put her in as soon as she woke up and was happy ... she has a spell in it everyday now!

Morning all

Henry decided to feed every 2 hours last night and are now soooooo knackered.
Does anyone know of anyone who managed to have a b/f baby sleeping through the night as the couple of friends who are b/f still (5 months/ 4.5 months) still don;t have their babies sleeping through. Well, I wouldn;t even mind 11-5-6am is not even a full night. Oliver did 11-5-6am from 6 weeks as soon as we switched him to f/f. Wanted to go as long as possible with Henry as it is going so well but really can't function on 1 1/2 hrs sleep at a time!
We give him a 10pm f/f but I felt sorry for dh last night as he said he was really tired (HE'S TIRED????) so he slept in the spare room. I'm definately off to bed at 8 tonight though.

Got my hair coloured and cut yesterday and do feel more human again as it is, at least, now all one colour again! Having my eyebrows re-shaped on sat so I can start the old beauty regime again. -It's really like a forest everywhere on my body!!

Have to go H is crying
s

My husband has also pulled the 'I'm tired' line too! My jaw fairly hit the floor seeing as he never gets up in the night and goes to bed before me and gets up later than me!

That sounds like a hard night muppetgirl. How old is he? Maybe a growth spurt?

I am desperate to get my hair cut but I can't see it happening any time soon.

LES - how awful! Some stupid bint - 18 year old, aggressive driver - almost ran into the side of my car a couple of months ago - she was at a give-way line and swore at me!! It really shook me up as it was the side ds was on. I can imagine how awful it must have been to actually be in an accident.

Muppet - you could try seeing if you can settle him without feeding him when he wakes up or giving him some cooled boiled water to stretch out his feeds. Hard work though...

Stefka - I know this sounds crazy, but can you express whilst you feed your ds? That is what I do and you always get a reasonable amount of milk whereas I'm lucky to get anything at all if I do it alone. What about trying him with a dummy? It sounds to me like he might just be a sucky baby. I am quite happy to let Joe suckle on me, but it can make my breasts sore so we've just bought two dummies to use from time to time to give my breasts a break. And I HATE dummies!

I hate them too but already using one. I think he is a sucky baby and the dummies are great for getting a rest. Crying baby - got to go!

hi all

Happy mummy here! Little girl has put on even more weight, my bruising looks normal now AND she's in her hugabub! Moreover it sent her off to sleep.

This is my first day home alone with DD, who had a TERRIBLE night's sleep - ie didnt sleep - how much do all your babies sleep?

Anyway I'm doing okay, I think. Soon she'll want feeding and playtime but I'm so pleased she tolerated going into the sling....

Muppet, almost all my friends are bf and none of their babies sleep through yet (at 4-5 months). I feel for you nonstop feeding. You sound like you're looking good though! I feel less of a blimp now that I put my normal coat on and it fit perfectly despite residual bump.

Dal - good luck with the bf counsellor. Are you considering switching back? Maybe you could try mixed feeding... Or - I know I keep suggesting these - nipple shields really worked for me: Rebecca fed v well from them when she was refusing to latch correctly to me. Anyway do what feels right.

Stefka, you are a brave woman. I'd have gone for a formula top up by now...

Hugs to all of you!

ds slept through from 14 weeks .... and was a bf baby - although I did introduce a ff last thing at night, and that seemed to help - and I did the cooled boiled water thing - gradually diluted some ebm with it over a few nights - he then decided it wasn't worth waking up!

Will probably start doing the same thing after Christmas with Mairwen - she's not as big as he was!

Have just been to baby massage - it was fantastic - a friend from Church has to teach a full course to complete her qualification - so it was free too ... even better!

M is now asleep in her pram - going to try ans eat lunch!

hi everyone

Sorry I've not been on much - I feel like a bad MN'er at the moment. It's just so hard to find the time with LO around - don't know how some of you manage.

LES - how awful for you - hope there's no lasting damage to you all.

j20 - how awful for you too.

ejt - so very very sorry to hear your news. I can't stop thinking about that poor family.

Has Buffy been on lately, I do hope little Scarlet is doing ok. Does anyone know?

I've got two slings - a wrap sling and the Baby Bjorn Active. I like both. The Active has fantastic back support - much better than the original baby bjorn, and you can take the front off to get baby in and out easily. I went for a longish walk in it yesterday and didn't suffer for it. The wrap is comfy too, but I get scared the knot with come undone and I'll drop the baby!

Huw has a cold at the moment. The poor lamb keeps choking on all the mucus he's manufacturing. It's terrible to watch.

Funny to hear about your DPs being tired. Mine is looking absolutley wrecked. He's definitely coping with the disrupted nights worse than I am. He reckons its the way men and women are programmed. I reckon men are just a bit useless ! To be fair, though, he does change nappies at night on the ground that since I'm doing all the feeding, it's only fair that he should do something too.

I'm off to research cot mattresses. Need a new one for DD's old cot. Have a feeling it may not be a standard size.

On the breastfeeding and sleep question, Huw now sleeps (most nights) for five hours at a stretch. He still feeds every two hours or so during the day though. With DD, I stretched out the times and gradually got into a 3 to 4 hour routine. stefka - some of the best advice I've been given was to drink LOADS of water - hydration and rest are apparenlty the most important things for BF - rest may be a bit tricky at the mo, but drink, drink, drink. And take the little blighter off and employ distraction techniques if you don't want to feed him for that long. Huw would never finish a feed on his own - I always ahve to decide enough is enough, and he usually agrees with me .

Right, I'm off. Take care all.

A x

Choc - glad the hugabub is working today - read your previous post and felt very guilty! I'll bring the jeans on Friday no worries - they're really comfy.

LES - sorry about your accident. Glad you're all OK though apart from a few aches and pains. Must have been really frightening.

Stefka sorry you're having a rough time. The hugabub is def better on my back than the baby bjorn - I can carry Adam in it for 3 hours at a time. Not tried any other slings though so no idea how it compares to anything else. It is recommended by some Australian chiropratic society (or something like that!) - it's an Australian make. So I think its supposed to be good for your back.

Muppet Sam didn't sleep through the night for months! Well beyond the 5 and a half months I bf him for. He only woke once though and I could cope with that. This time if Adam has put on a decent amount of weight at his 8 week check I'm going to try greedy's trick of feeding him with water between 12 and 7 to try and get him to sleep through...

Hello dal and ejt!

Well on Monday Adam slept from 7.30 in the evening until 3am! Typically I couldn't sleep though as I was waiting for him to wake from 1.45 and so everytime he grizzled I was up on my feet! Then last night he was awake and unsettled every couple of hours - boo! So I think at the mo I just take it as it comes - he has proven he can sleep for 7 and a half hours though so thats progress and I guess if he's done it once it will happen gain at some point...

Cross posted Apricott and ejt...

Will def try the cooled boiled water thing then!! he has his jabs on Friday so maybe will wait until he is settled after that then give it a go...

Apricott it is the sling that lets me play on MN - Adam is sleeping happily in it and Sam is asleep in his cot upstairs!

Hi all, quick post as grizzly post - vaccination baby on my lap!
Muppet - my dd1 slept 12 hours at 4 months - totally b/f. dd2 was another story! ds now 8 weeks totally b/f sleeping 7pm - 3am and then to 6.30am. I nearly tried formula 2 weeks ago as the constant feeds were getting me - but it's all settled and he certainly doesn't need formula to make him sleep!
STefka - just to encourage you, I've had thrush and blocked ducts, and finally at 8 weeks the b/f seems to be coming good! I feel for you - it was agony, but really great all of a sudden, so hope that it turns the corner for you soon. Hang in there!

katsh - what were the symptoms of your thrush? think i might have it but not sure...

Hi All

Not time to catch up properly.... but regarding bf'ing, I found my diary from when Sam was born, for the first six months I wrote down every feed he had and how long he was on for... for the first 5 months he had approx 8/9 feeds in a 24 hr period. I started giving him the odd bottle of formula at 12 weeks. At 17 weeks I started the baby rice, and at 18 weeks proper pureed food. He did his first 12 hour sleep straight through at 19 weeks and at 20 weeks he had a week of sleeping through from 8 till 7am ish, but then for some reason went back to waking in the night for a feed again. At 6 months I decided he could go without a night feed so did controlled crying, it took two nights of an hour and a half's screaming at the feed time, but after that he then did 12 hour sessions, he has been the same ever since

This time round Ben is ff and is now on 5 feeds in a 24 hour period. He is now regularly going 8 hours between his last feed in the evening at 7ish. His best time so far was a feed at 8.45pm and sleeping thru till 5.45am I reckon by mid Jan he'll be doing 12 hours

Regarding the sling, I have tried him in it twice now, he is ok for 5 mins but then starts crying till I get him out, I'm hoping he'll get used to it if I persevere as it is very comfortable

Hello everyone,

I keep on getting behind...so many posts to read, so little time (and so few hands to type with!).

Just a few things though...

I've got a Hug a Bub too. It is great and DD loves it. My only complaints are a) she gets really hot in it (and so do I if I'm walking any distance)...she comes out of it looking a bit overcooked and red! and b) after a while it does start to hurt my back. Oh, and c, it's also really long so it can be a bit of a faff trying to tie it up when you're outdoors (with bits of fabric trailing on the ground). Apart from that it's great. Can't believe it costs £50 though...how can anyone charge that much for a long strip of fabric?

I've been having trouble getting DD to sleep too and, on the recommendation of a friend, I tried topping up with a couple of ounces of formula after the 9pm feed. It worked the first night but since then it just seems to make DD more excited and wide awake. It also seems to make her quite windy.

My DP has had the cheek to tell me how tired he is too . I was too tired to be outraged at the time...it was only afterwards that I thought about it. He's being really crap in general actually. Luckily, I'm not the only one who thinks so and he's got his sisters, his neice, and our female friends all on his back about how he needs to pull his weight more and be more supportive. Hopefully he'll listen to them since nothing I say seems to be getting through.

Bit worried about DD today. She's seems a bit off colour and sometimes makes wheezy/choking type noises which scare the living daylights out of me. I'm wondering if she's got a cold or something.

Anyway, I'll try to catch up with posts at some point. Hope you're all well.
xx

I really don't think that men get what it is like. My DH thinks he helps with the baby because he comes in and does the bath. It does give me a break but it's also a nice wee job. He seems to think that I sit at home all day watching tv or something. I don't think they get how full on a new born baby is. Sometimes I don't have time to get my lunch even.

Dareh slept all afternoon so I am worried he will be up all night. Thanks for the tip on the water - I am probably not drinking enough actually. I use breast shells when I am feeding as I still need both hands to breast feed so couldn't express at the same time.

Why are babies so grumpy at night? Dareh just wines all evening, it's exhausting.

I mean whines - I think that was a freudian slip!

hey everyone, saw the bf councillor today, she managed to help me get ds latched on so feeding didn't hurt and all was well, then she left and i tried again and i couldn't get him latched on without pain for the life of me , i was following all her advice but just couldn't get it quite right and after about the 15th atempt i gave in and gave him some formula cause he was screaming the house down with frustration and hunger! will keep trying each feed time as she suggested but if no better by the morning i'll have to call her again. On a better note, ds has put on 6oz in the last 6 days so going well. Stefka - hows the feeding going today? Ds waking up better go, catch ya all later

Hi All and thanks for the good wishes regarding Jacob's hernia. I saw the GP yesterday and he confirmed that it was a little hernia but that they didn't like to operate when he was still so little so I should go back when he's about 6 months and they'll start the referral process with a view to him having it done when he's about 1. However, I saw the midwife today and she ended up calling the paed at the QMC because J has been steadily losing weight over the last week and a half (it's been a stressful week all in all!) and when she mentioned the hernia to him, he said that J should have been referred straight to them and is now going to sort out getting him a hospital appt...all v confusing!

The weight loss has been awful too - I'm try to BF and have had problems from the start because my milk didn't come in for 5 days and he's always struggled a bit latching on -I think because I have big boobs but small nipples! I thought he'd pretty much got it over the last week or so but something must have been going wrong cos he's gone from 8lbs 10 to 8lbs2 in a week! I've now been told to FF for the next 48 hours to get some food into him and hopefully get him startng to put some weight on. I've just cried and cried about it all afternoon because I found it so hard giving him a bottle instead of BF after all the effort I've put in trying to get the BF to work! The midwife has said that if he's put weight on by Fri then I can start to offer him my breast again in combination with the FF and then gradually go back to exclusively breast feeding again...I just hope it works - it's probably tiredness and hormones but I feel thoroughly wretched this evening

DH was a real sweety though - I don't think he really understood why I was so upset but he popped out to get some formula etc and came back with a bag full of new clothes from Next to cheer me up!

Sorry for the me, me, me post - it was good to get it off my chest though!

Dal - good luck to you with re-introducing the BF! I really hope it all goes well for you

xxxx

Colly massive hugs to you - sorry you're having such a tough time. Really glad your midwife called the paed - as I started reading your post I was thinking 'that's crap advice from your GP - how do I tell her tactfully?!'. Great that its all now underway so he will get sorted soon... Hope he picks up with the ff too and that it doesn't affect your bf after all your hard work. Thinking of you...

Dal good luck reintroducing bf!

MrsF - sorry you are not having much fun with the hugabub. Hopefully Ben will take to it soon!

Stefka - make sure you look after yourself honey! I know how hard it is to find time for yourself with a newborn esp when its your first but eating and drinking has to be apriority when bf. Maybe get dh to make you some one handed food that you can nibble on during the day when he gets in in the evening?

Thinking of the rest of you... Off to bed now as totally shattered! Going to make the most of Adam sleeping! See you all tomorrow....