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

@Ready2020 say no more. What started off as a good night has not ended that well. We got home from visiting family as we normally do on a Sunday and did her bedtime routine and from what I remember she went down fairly well. She did come downstairs after bath to have food and then fell asleep on me so I took her up to her crib. OH and I stayed downstairs for an hour or so maybe to watch some of the Netflix series we've started and then went up to bed. She didn't wake until 3:20 so had slept for 7 hours which was great for her. She didn't go back to sleep until 4:30 then woke for food again at 5:15 and OH and I haven't managed to sleep since then. I don't think I really went back to sleep properly when she did at half 4. Had about 5 hours sleep in total when we usually get about 8 or more 🥱🥱

Bad night here too. I've been up with Leo every hour from around 2am. In fairness, he's actually slept all that time and is still asleep now but he has a cold and he was all blocked up and having an occasional cough which was unsettling him (and me). I put a damp flannel over the rads in the bedroom, soothed him, put the temp up by half a degree because it was getting cold. Will make sure to air the room a bit later and I'll change his bedsheets. He's in a slightly reclined N2M.

Anything else I can do to help him?

He's been feeding very well and actually had 3 naps yesterday which I was super pleased with. He's in a good mood so no concerns. No fever either.

Just not sure how to help him, he's so blocked up and it's all flowing in to his throat, really hope to avoid brioncholitis. Any tips before I ring my GP, please? xx

We had a terrible night too. Ds was so upset and clearly in pain with his tummy. Wonder whether it’s the formula I’ve introduced at bedtime. Can’t think what else it would be as he’s been the same the past few nights. Poor thing. Does anyone know if It settles once their bodies get used to something different to digest?

@PurplePansy05 if he’s happy try not to worry too much. We elevated ds’s head of the snuzpod a bit more when he was unwell and it did really help. I used olbas as well which I put on a Muslin over the radiator. You can get the calpol plug ins too which are good

Thank you @wimbler I'll send DH to Boots to get Olbas oil today. I might have the Calpol plug at home 🤞 and he's old enough for me to use it! Great shout, thank you.

Sorry I'm of no help regarding formula, he's always had C&G top ups. They changed it a month or two ago and it's far more frothy IMO. He's never liked it as much and was getting awful trapped wind and screamed in pain. So I now take all the froth out with a teaspoon before giving it to him. I tried him once on HIPP Organic which is highly praised everywhere and he absolutely hated it, brought it all back up and had terrible smelling wind and poops, so went back to C&G. xx

@PurplePansy05 C&G is horrendously frothy isn’t it! We actually stopped using it only part way through a pack because of it - DS is colicky anyway but it was making it much worse. Especially as it’s clearly super delicious to babies so he was guzzling it down…

@wimbler DS has been on four different formulas - Nan Pro, Nutramigen LGG, C&G and HIPP. He didn’t have any more wind in the first few days of use. We settled on Nutramigen, prescribed to help with colic. It is excellent. But extremely expensive unfortunately. We’re planning to move him onto a normal brand once we finish this current pot - fingers crossed…

On night feeds: I thought you were supposed to feed on demand too! BUT the books and online guidance often say ‘drop a feed at night’ or ‘avoid your baby getting into bad habits like feeding every two hours at night’. But they don’t say HOW.

@PurplePansy05 have you tried snuffle babe and saline nasal drops?? They always worked well with DS xx

@RandomCatGenerator Glad you said it about the frothiness! I find DS's reflux is now much better since we've introduced baby Gaviscon and since I started removing the froth from C&G. He is OK with C&G then, I still use size 1 teat and paced feeding to slow him down. No trapped wind since, he's farting away happily Maybe this could work for you when you swap? I know colic is a bit different.

Re night feeds, Leo just started sleeping through tbh. I bf him all day and usually DH gives him a bottle of C&G after work or I give him one if we have to leave the house for longer as I don't want to BF in the cold now. Then he gets a bottle just before we go to bed at 11pm and that's a 6oz one. I sometimes top him up BF too, for example now - he's having another growth spurt. Since we've been doing that, he just started sleeping through the whole night. I find he is the sort of baby that will only ever sleep with a really full tummy, or velcroed to me, or motion sends him to sleep. So for the night sleep option A is the only one 🤣 xx

Not yet @lucyrp, saline drops are on the Boots list for DH though - thanks! What's Snufflebabe? It's not the snot sucker thingy is it? I have it at home and still afraid to use it 🤣

@Whatshouldbemyusername Hey girl! 👋 We've missed you! Don't you just have a gorgeous princess, Arya-Nyah sounds delightful! How are you doing? Lovely to hear from you xx

@PurplePansy05 snufflebabe is a rub for babies. I have put it on a bib near his head as he's only 10 weeks. But think 3 months you can rub on their chest. I think it's really helped in the night.

I've used the snufflebabe rub on Sophia I had it in the house as I use it on my son too when needed I found it good. The plug ins are great when they are big enough but I think it says 6months plus not sure.
Ds has been up since 530 and is bouncy and hyper as anything. Had planned to go to the park but it is also torrential rain here so that's not happening!

We use Hipp organic and have always found it to agree with Freddie. If he seems to be in pain or constipated I add an extra ounce of water to formula which seems to help almost instantly. I think a lot of it depends on bottles too. We use the mam ones (I know most people on here do too) and I’ve always found them to be really good. I have a few friends who are using tommee tippee and having a whole load of problems with wind etc but I don’t want to be that person giving advice if they aren’t asking for it so I don’t like to say maybe try mam bottles 🙈

Thanks ladies. We’re using kendamil and it doesn’t seem frothy. I make the bottle before his bath then give it to him after so I don’t think it’s bubbles. I do use the perfect prep but I throughly cleaned it and checked the pipes after what happened to one of you. Also use mam bottles I think they’re great so not sure that’s it.

He did have a temp earlier though and has slept basically all morning in the pram whilst we were out. Possibly teething as he’s been drooling loads.

@wimbler with the perfect prep machine - I've read somewhere that it doesn't quite get the water up to temperature to kill the bugs in the formula. I think it's probably fine if you're giving it to them straight away (DS seemed fine in the night when we used the machine to make it but gave it straight away, but not in the day when sometimes we'd leave it sitting for a bit) but maybe if you're making it before a bath and then giving it to him after, it might be enough time for bacteria to develop? Not sure but might be worth just trying making it up without the machine and seeing if that helps? It was me who had the problem with the pipes.

Sorry for the delay but thanks for the swimming stuff recommendations, and also for the Huckleberry app recommendation - @lucyrp I think that was you

@wimbler of course ours will have had more bacteria in it from the pipes rather than just what's in the formula

@Daffodil21 hmm maybe but you’re not supposed to add water straight from a boiled kettle to formula either I read? That’s why you’re supposed to leave it to cool in the kettle for 30 mins before making up a bottle i read. Which seems stupid as then you have to wait ages for it to cool down!

@wimbler so my understanding is that the water needs to have already been boiled, but still be above 70deg so it's hot enough to kill the bacteria in the formula, but not so hot that it kills all the good stuff in the powder. I use a glass thermometer that I keep in the steraliser to make sure the water is between 70-75deg when I add the powder, and then I put the bottle in cold water to cool it down quickly. It is a bit of a phaff so we do make up a few and keep them in the fridge, and then when he wants it we put the bottle in boiling water to heat it up. I don't think it's actually recommended to make them up in advance, but he seems fine with us doing that. He was clearly distressed by something before we started prepping them ourselves (probably the black pipes!). I tested out the 'leaving the kettle to cool for 30 mins' thing but it was only 55deg so not hot enough to kill the bacteria in the powder. We do use glass bottle though so this may be why - they suck the heat out of the water quickly so I pour some hot water in beforehand to heat the bottle. It only takes a few minutes to cool to 70-75deg in the bottle, so I do this rather than leave it to cool in the kettle.

Wow, long message but I hope that makes sense! DS is exclusively FF now and doesn't have any problems with us prepping bottles this way. He did before this though.

I’m still a big fan of the Perfect Prep machine! Doesn’t seem to make any difference to DS’ wind situation - when we’ve been away and used boiled water, or heated up sterilised cold water using a makeshift water bath, it’s not made a noticeable difference. Interesting thought though. And your pipes situation still makes me feel funny, @Daffodil21, as did the google search that revealed you aren’t the only one…😷

We use MAM and Tommy Tippee. Can’t say I’ve noticed a difference between them for wind, but DS is very good with bottles and has never shown a preference so I could probably pay more attention.

He is getting much better at farting. This is my life now: celebrating a baby’s farts.

We use the perfect prep too and he’s always been fine but we did take the back off both of them and check the pipes after we saw yours 😷

We use MAM bottles too and have throughout so it was definitely the frothiness/different brand that made DS uncomfortable.

Thank you ladies for your recommendations regarding the cold - trying a couple of things tonight. He seems better now, too 🤞😊 xx

@Daffodil21 will give it a try. As it goes he’s been unwell today with a temp reaching 38.5 so I bf him at bedtime instead as he’s been so miserable. Thank god I can give him nurofen now as I always think it’s better than calpol (if it’s teething). He’s gone down now but would only settle with the dummy which is new. He was playing with his hair a lot which makes me think it’s definitely teeth or ears now. Poor little man, hate seeing them unwell 💔

Someone needs to be done about this bloody dummy. After the 3.30 am ish feed I'm putting it back in her mouth almost every half hour! There is no point in me trying to sleep. In the deeper sleep at the start of the night it gets put back in about 3 times.

DD will stir, shake her head about and smack her lips together. If the dummy isn't back in then she starts crying and will wake. I'm not sure how else to comfort her. A hand on the chest and sushing doesn't do anything.

My fidgeting in bed wakes her a bit I think then she realises the dummy isn't in.

She's been a lot more crying in her sleep recently. Any reason that might happen?

Something I mean!

@Ready2020 DD is exactly the same but I figured I'd rather wake and put the dummy back in and wait a few minutes for her to go back to sleep than her to wake up and be awake for god knows how long. She's found her hands a lot more the last week or two and that's why she ends up knocking it out of her mouth most of the time, sometimes I wake up to her sucking on her hands instead

Oops I forgot to join the new thread! Thanks Pansy :)

Check up day today and possibly jabs - can't remember. He's got a bit of a cold so we'll see what they say.

@Ready2020 that's my worry about dummys in general. Dd doesn't really take hers it might buy me 5 mins on the school run if she decides she's starving but that's about it. I do tend to put it in when she goes into her moses basket for night sleep but she spits it out after a few sucks and doesn't want it back. We just got the preschool checklist ft hv for ds and the booklet says to stop using dummy at the 6-9month Mark. Which I would think is early for anyone taking a dummy. On the other hand she's well and truly found her thumb now so she will suck that. She's been asleep since 11 last night I've heard her wake a couple of times to shuffle and suck her thumb but that's it. Waiting on her to wake now as I really need to feed her 🙈