August 2021 Babies - They Had To Be Gorgeous, Just Look At Us

[PurplePansy05]

Welcome to the chattiest post-natal club on MN!

We spent a year together chatting about all things pregnancy and baby...

...we've tried and tested countless baby products...

...exchanged hundreds of tips...

...talked about all the big things in life, all the little things, the good times and the tough times...

...we had a good laugh together 😁...

...and somehow we now have gorgeous 3 month old babies without looking a day older ourselves 😅 (must be that good laugh!)

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 💖

Sorry if I've missed anyone, please join in! xx

Thank you for the thread lovely! No way has it been a year!!

Can I share my little victory? Rowan is a complete nap refuser usually but today he went down for all his naps easily and I feel so much happier and more relaxed for not having to walk a screaming baby round for half an hour every nap time (and my back is happier too!!). He seems to be starting to come out the other side of colic too, which means he's much nicer to be around!

@biscuitcat Velcro baby here still, worse than ever today! Think he's having a growth spurt. He's been cranky and unsettled and just wants to be held all the time. I don't know when this will pass 🤯😩 So pleased for you, when they have a good day everything is so much better! Long may it last! xx

I actually didn’t realise we had a baby girl and a baby boy Rowan - how lovely. I think it’s such a great name for both.

Checking in, with mighty envy of those of you with babies who sleep for hours at night! DS is 12 weeks on Monday and it feels like it will never happen…

I also have a baby Rohan (boy), great name 😂.
Thanks for the new thread!

Sorry @Smallbean27, I knew I forgot to update the intro properly! 🤦🏼‍♀️ xx

@RandomCatGenerator absolutely agree! We have a female Rowan who lives in our village, such a lovely name (not that I'm biased 😂) my Rowan is also not sleeping through - we very occasionally get 6 hours but that's not typical, usually 3 or 4 max in a row overnight. I figure he won't be waking to feed at 18, it'll happen at some point!

@PurplePansy05 DS is definitely still a Velcro baby - all the naps were on me (saying went down was probably unclear), but actually going to sleep is a million times better than usual. I started baby massage this week and the trick she suggested is amazing - just have baby on your chest and do deep breathing, like for hypnobirthing, and it just seems to get him to drop off within a couple of minutes. He's so heavy that walking him to sleep was destroying my back so I hope it continues working

@biscuitcat Great tip, I'll try now! He's on my chest after a feed now. I'm also playing the Baby Mozart app and it's lovely! xx

@PurplePansy05 thanks for new thread! I think we are having a growth spurt here too. She has cried every time I've moved out of sight today normally she doesn't mind. Also felt like I've fed all day .. have a bath tonight to try and stretch it a bit and literally Sophia was trying to eat me the cloth, the water her own hands .. and getting cross when nothing comes out of her hand no matter how hard she sucks 🙈 she fed at 530 and I gave her a bottle there at 750 - normally I only give her 100ml of formula to give the gaviscon in the evening but gave her the full 200 thinking I'd just see what she took (plus I need a break) she has finished the whole thing burped and is now breastfeeding as she was still rooting for more. She has slept through the night since really early on but last 2 nights was up at 3 and 6 .. still doing 930/10 - 3 though so absolutely can't complain but unusual for her just

@Smurf123 Leo had a bottle after DH finished work, he had 180 ml!! Then he was hungry 40 mins later so had 30 mins bf, he finished at around 7:45pm, zero sleep after, obviously! But at least he was chilling out in his N2M and I removed myself out of his sight. He's already starting to sob for more milk. It's unbelievable. Sounds very similar to what Sophia is doing. He even cried a bit in a bath today, he never does! He seems starving all the time. I'm exhausted and feel like a cold coming on (sore throat). Give me strength! xx

Sounds like an almost identical situation to over here. I was supposed to take ds to a football class this afternoon and ended up cancelling it and giving him tv instead not ideal but I was/am knackered.

Another huge fan of the name Rowan (for both) here 😍 it’s so lovely!

Thanks for the new thread. The fact it’s been a year is mad!!!!

@sarah13xx I know you said you dropped the dream feed, did you just try it and it worked? So tempted to try but don’t want to ruin what we’ve got going on right now. We’ve been very spoilt with ds as he sleeps from 7-10 when we wake him for a feed then he goes usually until 6am. We’ve just introduced formula at the 7pm feed and tonight he took 6oz nearly and probably would have taken more!

@wimbler I’ve upped him to 7oz with his last bottle (and usually the first morning one too) and he usually almost finishes it 🙈 I think when he was 10 weeks I didn’t give him his dream feed one night and he woke up at 5:45 the next day which is not like him at all because he literally never gets up early. He did go back to sleep after a feed though but I was then slightly put off doing it again. I think I gave the dream feed again the next night then stopped it again and for some reason that time it worked and he just slept to his usual time of between 8 and 9am. I think it was just luck really but he was never waking up at 11 looking for milk so I kind of felt like I was forcing him to take it and one of the last times I did it he didn’t open his eyes even after changing him and didn’t take any of the bottle so I felt like that was a sign he was ready to go without it

Feel like I’m getting a bit ‘stuck’ in life. Not in terms of with Freddie because that part of my life is just the best thing ever but it’s the more I look back on life before him and think about when I eventually return to work I just think what have I been doing? 🤦🏼‍♀️ I don’t like my job, realised that a while ago. Also starting to realise that I’ve said ‘no’ to sooo many things over the years. I’m a bit of a scaredy cat (hence the most controlled birth possible 😂) and I seem to find it way easier to say no rather than try anything that might put me out of my comfort zone. I feel like the more I do it, the smaller my little world becomes and I’ve kind of ended up with very little actual interests or hobbies. I’m going to set some proper New Years resolutions when it comes to it but I want to try and achieve some things before then.

My first thing is doing mindfulness/meditation every day to try to worry less. The second is getting back into workouts and running. The third is reading more, I could easily manage an hour a day (yet I will kid myself on that I don’t have the time). The last thing I’ve only just discovered right now that I’d like to learn how to do.. knitting! I’ve always seen it as something other people can do but have just looked it up and it seems you can learn! Not sure what I’m going to do with my new skills once I’ve established them but I can make Freddie some cute jumpers at least 😂

@sarah13xx Do you think there is a particular reason why you've become more closed off/anxious? It's an interesting point, I've thought that about myself too. I've struggled with anxiety since the MCs for sure, but I also think that even before them I started closing off from new experiences, old hobbies etc. I regret that. Not sure why this happened, age? Busy work life? Have I become really dull?

I find now I have a lot of time to think that I didn't have before. Some of the conclusions aren't great, my marriage isn't in a great place because I've realised how many things irritate/upset me about DH. I've concluded I need a different job, less stress and more money (don't we all want that?). I've realised I miss my social life and utterly hate the pandemic. As much as I'm happy in my cocoon with DS, I am also getting to the point of missing my traveling. I miss my me time, my gym I used to go to with my friend. Gin bar I used to go to twice a month, now shut down. I miss not always talking about baby stuff. And because he's a Velcro baby I have no time to myself at all and it's really wearing me down now to the point I'm considering leaving him at times to cry it out which most likely will not work, but I just need a break. How are you planning to squeeze in all this 'me time' whilst looking after Freddie? I feel like I've gone from being very organised to chaotic and flustered because of the baby and how he is & I'd really would like to change things. xx

Gosh I sound like someone going through a full blown midlife crisis! A lot on my mind, I can't sleep. xx

Ah I do think Rowan is a good name though people think it's American which is ridiculous! I think it's Scottish....

DD has gone from sleeping to 4am the list 2 nights to waking at 1am tonight. OH got her back to sleep but she woke again 10 minutes later so she's on the boob. Not like her to be hungry now but I guess I'm getting a bit too used to her routine and need to realise it won't always be like this. I just find it hard to get back to sleep after waking. The headspace app is proving good though.

I've put the thermometer back in our bedroom and it's reading 20 degrees! The thermostat is now on for the heating but only the lounge has a radiator on. Still it's below the bedroom and heat rises. OH insisted on putting the thermostat at 20 but I think it's too hot. Our lounge doesn't get the sun in winter though so it's colder than the rest of the house.

DD is in a 1 tog bag, vest and sleep suit so I wonder if that's a bit much!

My big girl has gone 6.5 hours so far tonight and I'm here awake at one of her usual times and she's fast asleep 🥺🥺 I feel so silly that I'm actually sat here in tears 🙈 she started stirring and I really wanted to pick her up more than anything and give her a cuddle and see if she wanted food but ended up popping her dummy in and she stopped moving around and wrnt back to sleeping 🥺

BF girls, are Vicks, VapoRub or Olbas oil ok to use for nasal inhalations or steam inhalations (for me)? My sore throat is much better but I'm so, so congested. Breastfeeding network says nasal inhalations should generally be ok? Any other alternatives that you can recommend, please? xx

@PurplePansy05 yeah I don’t really know what it is. I think when you’re so busy working and so exhausted when you’re not, life goes into kind of tunnel vision and it just becomes the easiest way to get through the day/week/month. I’d guess it usually happens to people a lot more after they’ve had kids because all of their spare time is used on them. I’ve only ever felt officially anxious since last year (started just before the pandemic so that wasn’t what caused it). Looking back though I realise I’ve probably always been this way but just didn’t ever really look into it enough to know that’s what it was 🤔 I’ve always been an introvert and enjoy spending time with my friends or when we used to go a weekend away or whatever but I just cannot wait to get back home after it! It’s not until I’ve joined a Facebook group for people who want to leave teaching that I’ve seen an awful lot of posts that have made so much sense. I went for a massage last week and the girl was saying she’d got her easel out and started painting again. I was asking if she was good at painting then I was saying it actually doesn’t matter if you are or not. You should be able to do things just for fun as an adult. That’s what the Facebook group seems to point out a lot. When you become an adult you just stop doing the things you found fun and it’s then just a night out every so often that’s classed as your ‘fun’ 🤦🏼‍♀️ I feel like women are much worse than men at that. When I think of my partner and dad, they both have a lot of hobbies and somehow manage to get to go to all of them 🤔

It’s okay to feel that way. It sounds like you used to do loads! You should still be able to do a lot of that stuff though, obviously DH would need to babysit (hate that word when it’s their child) 😂 Is your marriage fixable do you think? How long have you been together? I feel like when we first had Freddie I was starting to wonder whether we’d be together forever because we just kept arguing about daft things. Even last weekend when we went away we fell out on the first night and I’m more than happy to make up almost instantly, I’d far rather be able to bicker and get it out than have to bite my tongue, but he’s not like that at all and if I turn something into an argument he’ll go off the deep end and like last weekend was being so dramatic saying he was going home etc 🤦🏼‍♀️ That’s by far his worst trait! He eventually came and apologised but I did think that was the weekend ruined. If I could change that about him and make him say sorry more I would.

I’m not really going to have loads of free time available to do these things but starting off small with the knitting 😂 he’s in his bed by half 7/8 most nights so I do have a couple of hours where I could do it. It’s definitely way tougher with a velcro baby though! He’s not great during the day (he’s sleeping on me right now) although I do usually try to put him down so I can get stuff done. I’m a terrible cook too, I really can’t cook much at all so that’s another thing I’m going to slow start to get better at (hopefully in time for weaning)! I think just start small and pick one thing you want to do. Then either get a babysitter if you can or do it during a nap time. Running is my main hobby and the problem with a baby is you can’t just go a run. Especially now when it’s dark by the time he gets in at night so I have no intention of going then. I’ve got a running buggy and he can go in that from 6 months so I feel like i’ll get a tiny bit of me back then. Just going to make do with workouts at home when I can fit them in and the odd weekend run until then 🙄 (I say that like I’ve started doing any of this yet)!

@PurplePansy05 @Smurf123 it's good to read that your babies are doing similar things to mine- he's 11 weeks and eating constantly. He cries whenever he finishes nursing especially in the evening and when DH gives him a bottle he screams bloody murder when he's being burped. It's exhausting especially for my poor boobs! Trying not to stress about it.

Baby is sleeping one long stretch at the start of the night in his bassinet (9.30-3.30 usually) and then several early morning feeds where he wants to be held or lie with me. Daytime naps are still almost all buggy/sling or lap naps.. working on transitioning to his own bed but he'll only stay asleep about 20 min during the day if not being held... driving me crazy.

PS thanks for the new thread!

@sarah13xx what kind of running buggy do you have? I know I can't use one til 6 months but thinking of getting a 2nd hand one. I've been trying to do a brisk buggy walk daily and also started swimming a bit. It's so hard so far, my body is definitely changed esp by the c section. I'm lucky to have a pool nearby and DH working from home so can go on his lunch, but we're moving in Jan and won't have the pool so will try to run a bit then.

@WolfMother326 I actually have the baby jogger summit and you technically can’t run til 9 months with it but can walk from 6, I’m thinking as long as I’m not going up big steep hills or over rough ground it should be fine since the rest all say 6 months. I looked at the Thule one too, seemed to be some good second hand ones for sale

@WolfMother326 same here with the feeding! 10 weeks has been doing 7.30- 3ish then wakes.
Day time naps he has to fall asleep on us then can be put down. Really trying to get him to sleep on his own but he just ends up frustrated and crying. Maybe he's just not ready yet?

@WolfMother326 @Smallbean27 same for me re sleep. If my DD is knackered enough then she'll fall asleep in the pram at home with a bit of rocking. She's done that today actually and I missed baby sensory because she fell asleep 20 minutes before we were due to leave. I'd rather she slept though. I should be cleaning or something but I'm watching Grays Anatomy....

I'm finding that my DD doesn't ask for food much during the day. She dropped percentiles at the last weigh in so I'm trying to make sure I offer boob as often as I can. She feeds well when I offer but just doesn't ask.

@sarah13xx I miss the fun things too. I had a full life of hobbies and plans for more. Babies were a question mark in my life so I filled my time with other passions. I'm pretty creative and like to make things and love traditional music and planned fiddle lessons before covid. I've no time or energy for it all now. I've got a crochet blanket on the go from when I was pregnant but I'm generally in bed by 8pm most nights as I can't deal with little sleep so I spend my free time getting sleep. I do know this is temporary. A few years of my life. I just need to keep my creative skills up somehow.