August 2021 Babies - Running on Caffeine and Baby Smiles

[PurplePansy05]

Welcome to the chattiest post-natal club on MN!

We have welcomed 31 gorgeous new babies together 💖💙 ...

We have filled up several more like a hundred threads in the antenatal birth clubs chat...

...and now we have finally graduated and officially moved to the postnatal birth clubs chat! 🥳

Graduates of the August 2021 (and thereabouts) thread:

@Smurf123 & baby Sophia 💖
@wimbler & her baby boy 💙
@Jessicapebbles & baby Ebony💖
@Inmypjsagain & her baby boy 💙
@PurplePansy05 & baby Leo Alexander 💙
@WinterBabyof89 & baby Rosie 💖
@Winecoffeeteamum & baby Emily 💖
@Ready2020 & baby Rowan 💖
@Magik01 & baby Isaac 💙
@Hoares3 & baby Ellis 💙
@Daffodil21 & baby Elliot James 💙
@sarah13xx & baby Freddie 💙
@MrsB2019x & baby Ella💖
@biscuitcat & baby Rowan 💙
@Whatshouldbemyusername & baby Arya-Nyah 💖
@notinthestarsigns & baby Erin 💖
@Aaaaa1519 & baby Anum 💖
@Angelesque & baby Isaac 💙
@Millymay13 & baby Ethan 💙
@WolfMother326 & baby Alasdair 💙
@BertieBotts & baby Alex 💙
@RandomCatGenerator & baby Solomon 💙
@lucyrp & baby Evelyn Rose 💖
@HopefulB & baby Chloé 💖
@Mmr224 & baby Alasdair 💙
@Smallbean27 & her baby boy 💙
@Fran919 & her baby girl 💖
@Caz1226 & baby Dougie 💙
@Ava50x & her baby boy 💙
@dirtyfries & baby Frankie 💖
@ame88 & baby Lily 💖

Tagging @Dia12, @livingwithbees, @Sheisfee, @Alittlexmasmagic and @LottSE20 in the opening post so you know we're here as and when you wish to rejoin/share your updates 💐

Here we go!

More and more these nights DD wakes up more with the night feed and requires swayed to get back to sleep. She is still downstairs from 8pm then OH changes her and brings her up to me. I'm not convinced he careful OH is in keeping things dark and quiet plus the stupid cat follows OH up the stairs meowing. DD is wide eyed when she gets to me and feeding is not as guaranteed to get her back to sleep.

The best solution must be to have her sleep up stairs with me from the start so is less disturbed during the night. Thing is she is less likely to settle up stairs from 8pm, we've tried, but I think we need to persevere!

On dummies I got DD a Tommy Tippy dummy to replace the new born Mam dummy as its a bit bigger and has a loop for a clip. It's a different shape to the mam one though and DD just spits it out.

What shaped one is better? Should I just go for the next sized up mam one. I feel they are quite flat though. I could just kero offering the Tommy one and hope she accepts it eventually.

I can totally understand those of you wanting to go back to work, looking after babies can be pretty boring! I think in some ways it's a shame that we spend the hardest year at home and then once they're getting really interesting/fun to be around we go back to work. I know some people hate the toddler years but so far I'm loving it, DS1 is so funny and we can do so many things together now and have conversations. It's making me enjoy DS2 as a baby so much more as well, since I'm not bored and isolated this time around. Totally exhausted physically but hopefully that'll improve with time.

@Ready2020 I’ve heard good things about the nuk dummies. Might be worth a try? We only use a dummy occasionally but still on the 0-2 month mam ones but might try the next size up next time I see some. Last time I was in a shop all dummies were out of stock.

Ds is 12 weeks now, I can’t believe it! Officially out of the 4th trimester now. He still won’t nap for longer than 30 mins annoyingly but seems happy enough so it’s just lots of short naps throughout the day. Thankfully it’s not affecting his nighttime sleep so I’ll take that over crap naps all day long. Got the next round of jabs on Friday, honestly where is the time going?!

If anyone has it in their area I’d really recommend hartbeeps as classes. We went with dd and I’ve been to a couple with ds and signed up for next term. It’s so fun and he seems to really enjoy looking at all the colours and lights. Plus it’s so nice to do something with him and sit in a room with other mums. The lady who runs ours is just the nicest too.

YY afictionado I think that too! Age 1-3 is definitely my favourite bit.

@Ready2020 oh noo. Sorry you didn't get your evening - I'd be fuming!

I'm so gutted I'll be missing out on a lot of his lushest years. I thought the same that no matter what I do now work-wise in a sense of how long I'll be off for, I won't be off with him when he's at that age. But then he'll be well looked after in a lovely nursery we picked for him and I might be able to go down to 4 days in work and will make the most of evenings and weekends. I know it already that I will be sad though. I'm now well and truly into the phase of adoring him and having this fuzzy feeling after tough weeks 8-10. He's turning into a fabulous little boy and I can't imagine how gorgeous he'll be at 1-3 😍❤😭 xx

Its actually really sad them growing up and not being able to spend the days with them. I feel so guilty about DS as by the time I finish work and collect him all we have time to do is have tea, a bath, book and bed 😓😓

I’m looking into going back to work 2 days (if I have to go back there at all) as I know the ‘week’ won’t drag in that way and I’ll always just be a day away from being off again! I’m going to do some online tutoring and stuff to make up the income to the same as what 3/4 days would have been, as that’s really how much we need to live on, especially with the new mortgage! It means I’ll get to spend a lot of time with him at least as he grows up and I’d still have the security of my job to go back to full time if need be later on 😊

Bugging myself that I’m wasting all this time off, on full pay, that I should be enjoying with him worrying about things that won’t be happening til my SMP runs out on 10th May I calculated!

Also.. my mum reminded me today to apply for child benefit. Totally forgot that was a thing but we’ll be due about £200 back dated 😊

On the subject of nursery - how far in advance do you need to book a place? And do you ladies have a sense of how long before going back to work you’ll start putting your babies in nursery - if at all?

I go back to the U.K. early next year and am not overly looking forward to navigating the childcare system!

It's so much easier with a generous maternity package. If I was in DH's job it would be a breeze now, but in private sector it often isn't comparable at all. I wish he was allowed to take SPL on full pay after my maternity leave, but this isn't possible. Very frustrating there's no flexibility for dads.

@RandomCatGenerator My DS is signed up (we did it towards the end of my pregnancy) because the nursery we chose requires an 8 month notice to guarantee a space. It's the best one in the area IMO and the only one that does wrap around care for the school DS will go to so it was quite important for us to arrange it in good time. But it varies, depends on what area of the country you're thinking about and how many young families live in a particular locality. Also how is your cat doing? Is he going to stay with your mum for good or as a temporary measure? That's really sad you had to move him xx

@RandomCatGenerator I've signed up for creche already so far she can only offer me from July but thought she might be able to get dd in from April but hasn't confirmed yet.. Ideally I need earlier than that with April being the very latest I can do 🤨

@RandomCatGenerator I rang the nursery whilst pregnant and they said there was absolutely no need to register interest so early and to ring back September/December time for a place in may

Well the high chair was an absolute hit! DS absolutely loved it and was all lovely and smiley while DH and I both ate dinner together up the table

Oh my goodness we had a dreadful day yesterday 😫 between 8am and 10pm he slept for maybe 2 hours, and was so fractious all day as he was overtired - I was exhausted! BUT then I gave up in the evening and just did our pre-bed nappy change and feed early and he only went and slept through! 10-6:30, I felt like a new woman! (Though my boobs leaked EVERYWHERE, never been so long without feeding him before!). He's had a couple of naps today so don't think he'll do it again, but it was very lovely!

@RandomCatGenerator I think a lot of it depends where you'll be - my London friends had a nursery booked right from their 12 week scan! Worth calling and seeing when you need to be looking xx

@biscuitcat 10-630 sounds amazing! How did he sleep during the day today? Hope you get another night like that tonight!

DD has been asleep downstairs with OH since 8pm and I feel like I need to check on them! I woke up as this is well past the time he usually brings her up so I'm paranoid DD is OK lol. If only she slept like that in the snuz pod!

Went to check and she is still asleep. OH was trying to sleep on the sofa poor guy.

Our fecking cat was being really loud as he usually gets locked in the lounge after OH brings her up. So we've moved DD in to the hall (she's in her pram) and I'm hanging about the stairs/top landing waiting on her to wake up! The perils of having a tiny house and pain in her neck cat!

@Ready2020 I hope you weren’t waiting on the stairs for too long!

My DS slept from just after 10 until 4am yesterday and it was amazing! Tonight he’s back to normal though with a wake up at 12.30 and 4.15am. Hopefully once he’s back asleep now we’ll be able to sleep through until DH gets up for work (or later if I’m lucky!). I hope everyone is having good nights tonight 🤞🏻

She woke at about 4. I'm kinda annoyed at myself as she just slept almost 8 hours! But i only got half that due to our stupid set up of DD sleeping in the pram downstairs and my own inability to get to sleep! Now in fact I'll get less sleep as OH will sleep later due to going up bed so late so my morning nap won't happen before he starts work.

DD currently in snuz pod in a light sleep mixed with slight waking. I'm surprised she's not full awake after that long sleep.

Did the jabs mess up anyones sleeping patterns? We've been getting about 10:30-4 lately and then shorter after 4 and last night we got until 5, and then not again until 8! He wasn't asleep from 10:30 last night but he was quite happy awake in his crib for a bit before dropping off. We had a lovely day yesterday, and he's being happy and smiley this morning (a shit day the day before though!) and I'm worried his jabs this morning are going to F it all up 😂

@biscuitcat I had few days like this when he was around 10 weeks, you can tell from my posts on here I was at the end of my tether 🤣 it's true what they say, this too shall pass. I think a lot of the time there's so much focus on good night sleeping that non-nappers issues get overlooked, but I can totally understand an awake & clingy baby all.day.long is exhausting. I think I've only survived because he still slept ok at night, if that was 24/7 I'd be hiding in the garage by now 😂🤦🏼‍♀️. My friends with ff babies don't seem to have the same issues, maybe it's because bf babies take in less in one go and tend to need more feeds. My DS certainly does that.

I don't want to jinx it but he has actually started to have some independent naps this week at 11 weeks old 🙏 for those of you with similar babies, I'm sure you've tried hundreds of things by now. What seems to be working for us is to go for a walk after a feed, he might cry at first, but I perservere headphones in and he settles and sleeps during the walk and for 45 mins after, at home. He's also ok if put down after a feed in a dark room in his crib, again a 45 min cat nap. But it's better than nothing! And he fell asleep for half an hour in his Bjorn, too, whilst watching me make a salad for lunch. I had the time to make it!!! It was just amazing!! I won't be making a habit out of that, I didn't expect him to fall asleep on his own, but I took note of roughly what time he fell asleep and I'll try to put him down in his crib around that time today. I am positive now that he prefers not to lie completely flat because of his reflux so anything that reclines seems to work better. I ordered an insert for the stroller seat and will be trying him in that when it arrives. It feels so good to finally be able to do few bits and bobs when he's resting. So hang in there

He's also now falling asleep by himself anytime between 8-9pm, we're making more of an effort to make sure it's quiet for him then. Once he's asleep, he doesn't mind the noise around. He still has his feed before bed, but we'll be encouraging this sleep to then blend it in nicely with his night sleep. 🤞

@Daffodil21 Yes, they've affected Leo's sleep but he slept more, from 11pm until 8/8.30 am and then a lot on me during the day for 2-3 days. Our next lot is coming up next week, I wonder how he's going to be after these now xx

@PurplePansy05 I expect them to effect him for a couple of days, hopefully the way that yours did - but I just hope he goes back to normal after. Obviously I'd love him to drop the 4/5am feed altogether but that's a bit optimistic 😂 glad you were able to prep a salad etc! That's partly why I bought the high chair, so I can put him in that and he watch me in the kitchen which is probably pretty entertaining for him now! I didn't expect him to love being in as much as he did though, so hopefully it lasts!