June 2020 Babies-Newborn, snuggles, recovery, milk and night feeds! 2nd thread

[Busylizzie85]

New thread!

@UKtoSK I'm with you on the cleaning up and laundry. We both end up with about three outfit changes a day

@Cornishbumpkin 15 days wow you poor thing! I was 8 days overdue and still she was only 3.07kg at birth (I think that’s just over 6 and a half pounds) and I was so heavy and uncomfortable the last few weeks that was bad enough.

@Cornishbumpkin fair play to you. My DS was just shy of 9lbs and is a little chunky thing. I was so upset over the emergency section until a midwife told me his head measurements and we both felt it was a good thing in the end!

Anyone finding their LO only settling on them. My poor DH is finding it difficult to get DS to nap during the day. Baby was screaming blue murder until I came downstairs and settled him. I feel awful for DH as I think its effecting his confidence with DS. Any tips?

Exactly the same thing happened to me today @babbafett I felt sorry for my DH as he was doing everything the same as I would but she had just gotten herself so worked up then instantly calmed when I took over! I’m all ears if anyone has any tips

@babbafett the only way my husband can settle him is bouncing him in his vibrating bouncy chair otherwise its only mummy he wants for naps

Also have you tried giving hubby a Muslin/ blanket with your smell on it?

@Cornishbumpkin relieved to hear you are the same with clothes. We are 3 months today and DH has just got the 6-9 month clothes from the loft to review! There is so so much variation depending on shops though

@Pegase I know it's crazy! The other day he wore a 0-3 month romper in the day then a 6-9 month sleep suit that night!

@Gigitree I'm glad we arent the only ones!
@Cornishbumpkin I suggested that to DH but he seemed a little sad that LO just wont settle with him without needing me in some way. I can emphasize as I think I'd be really upset if DH could settle him so quickly and I couldn't.

LO loves DH and watches him with a big smile when DH is in the room. DH also got the first proper giggles out of him so he can do things I cant. I suppose it's just another phase and the day will come when he just wants his daddy and not me (and my heart will break a little)

Does anyone use the sleepyhead or sleepyhead equivalent? Mine goes down so well in it. We use it for day time naps, we just put him in after a bottle - usually still awake - and he settles himself to sleep. He has been having 3 naps a day in this, usually 1hr - 2hrs each time. It says it lasts till 6 months but hes already filling it out, probably why he likes it as so snug! Thinking I'll have to get the next size up as been really impressed with it.

For ladies worrying that their babies have not been weighed. I've been using a trick to weigh my LO every week. I know the weight is correct because the one time the HV weighed him, the weight was the same as I had measured at home.
Essentially, I have a weighing scale for myself (still trying to get back to pre pregnancy weight). I weigh myself, then weigh myself carrying LO. Do a subtraction and that's the weight of the LO.
The big boy was almost 2 weeks overdue so was always going to be biggish. Last I checked, he was 17lbs! Like others have said, we are already on the 6 to 9 month clothes, and he is so damned heavy to carry!

I tried that @Missgemini but I weighed her in at 14lb one week and then 12lb the next time so I am worried my scales are out or I'm doing something wrong 🤷🏻‍♀️ I weigh her before bath time so she's naked but the floor is carpeted (even though scales are meant to account for that) so I'm not sure I'm getting an accurate reading!
To carry her she's blinking heavy 😂 but I'd like to keep better track of it.

@Busylizzie85 ohhh that's annoying. The only thing I can think of is the carpeted floor. My weighing scale is in my kitchen tbh, so I'm quite confident in the numbers I'm getting.
Ultimately, we all have an instinct and know whether or not our LOs are feeding well and gaining weight. I just like a chart basically haha

@SRS1311 we borrowed a sleepyhead to try and it was the first time he slept in his crib for any time at all over night! He now sleeps in it every night (which I know he shouldn't but I had to weigh up the risks vs him sleeping on me and me never sleeping!). Funnily enough he won't sleep in it well during the day but he seems to hate daytime naps anyway so I've not pushed it yet! I am seriously considering getting the grand one when the time comes if he wont sleep in anything else but I worry what will happen when he wants to roll over in it?

@BabyBird20 Yeah I'm wondering the same about the grande. We also use it for night time sleep but I know the grande wont fit into our next to me, only a cot. But I reckon my LO only has another month max before out growing it and he wont even be 4 months by then. I dont think I'll be ready to put him in his own cot then (with the grande sleepyhead). However, I'll probably still buy it if hes still doing well with his day time naps as we dont have anything downstairs for naps at the minute.

I dont want to think of a time without his sleepyhead either day or night as he does so well with it at the minute! Have a feeling it wont last

@SRS1311 I have exactly the same problem!! He's just fine 3 months and his feet touch the end 😱😱😱 I'm so nervous to try without it! Have you any tips on how you got him to settle himself to sleep? Benji will work himself into a right frenzy if I try the drowsy but awake thing!!

@babbafett
@Gigitree
I don't think there is any tips until they are abit older they just want their mummies x

I also felt sorry for my husband recently because of that. She doesn’t cry hard often but I left her with him to brush my teeth and when I got back she was screaming and he was trying so hard but the instant I picked her up she stopped. He doesn’t see her during the day when she also gets grumpy with me. He thinks she’s always happy sunshine in the day with me and then grumpy in the evening with him. His solution when she cries is to bring her to wherever I am and say “look here’s mummy!” I had the whole family in the bathroom with me the other day when I was showering. Daddy holding baby, one cat on the toilet seat and the other on the sink 😫🤷🏼‍♀️

@BabyBird20 you can unclip the foot end of the sleepyhead so their feet kind of dangle off the end?

I think you just have to leave them to get on with it to be honest. DH settled DD for bed last night and she did scream more than she would for me but in reality it was probably only 5 minutes. I fully expect she will prefer him when he is off with her on parental leave next year and I go back to work.

@BabyBird20 no real tips, I think we just got lucky really and it probably wont last. Quite a few times when I put him down he whinged, moves around etc - I'm convinced he will not be going to sleep. But after 5 minutes of leaving him to it, he does go asleep so maybe the trick is just to let them be as it's so tempting to rush in and soothe them.
I've just got up this morning and given him his bottle, when I put him down he was awake and so fidgety and crying a bit. I left the room and went to make a cup of tea - gave it 5 minutes and hes now asleep. Maybe the tough love isnt for everyone though!

I also make sure I put him down after his bottle (milk drowsy) and ensure hes been awake for between 1 hr and 1 hr 30 mins each time.

Next step for me will be unclipping the bottom and hopefully get a couple more weeks out of it!

Hi everyone, I've been lurking for months on the birth club and post natal club chats. My DS is 14 weeks today and is my second, my DD is nearly 3. Reading all the messages has helped a lot, as I haven't found it easy at all. I think DS is going through a growth spurt, I'm bf and he's feeding every hour in the day and every 2-3 hours at night, it's so tiring. He's not very chilled out either each feed feels like a battle, he can sometimes cry and thrash about through the whole feed, other times just falls asleep! Anyone else finding this?

We use the sleepyhead too, and did with my first, for naps and night time. DS is a terrible napper, the longest he goes is 40 mins. My first was the same and nothing I did changed it until she was about 6 months old. I've just stopped swaddling him too as he suddenly started hating it. I think he's teething too as bites everything he can get his hands on! These first few months are so tough!

Welcome @Littlepixie85 Ivy will be 14 weeks on Saturday and last night woke me 6 times do feed!! 😴😭 so I'm thinking it must be a growth spurt as she's cranky also at feeding times.
I have been struggling more and more with breast feeding so as of today I have started to drop a feed and replace with formula, she's just had a her first one and managed 4 ounces fine so I will every few days drop another one but still continue to breast feed at night for a while. It's been a really hard decision but it's affecting me mentally and I know it's affecting her so I think it's best for both of us in the long run 🤞🏼

Hey everyone. Been awol recently due to life stress!!!

@UKtoSK you need to put your pjs in the sun to bleach the stain out

Dd has been signed up to nursery before she was born 🙈 its the same nursery my son goes to and its the only outstanding one in the local area so has a waiting list of at least a year. Can't believe I'm back to work soon. 2 children and lockdown have made it fly by.

Dd is also in 6-9 month clothes. Can't get over all these tiny babies. She was over 4kg when she was born and i dread to know what her weight is now. (She's super chubby!!) We had a growth spurt last week (15 weeks) where she either slept all day and fed very little or fed all day and slept very little.

She will also only take milk from me at the moment and shouts at dh alot so think I'll show him this thread so he knows he's not alone, hes been working crazy hours recently and we are all feeling the effect

@Busylizzie85 I think we all know that breast milk is best for baby if possible but it so often is not the best choice for mum and your mental health is needed for baby! I initially felt sad about switching to formula but I feel so so much better now. Feel like I can enjoy my baby without my mind splitting apart!