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

Should have added, Freddie and I’s tests came back negative but because we’re in Scotland I’m not allowed out either, I think in England you’re still allowed out? 🤔

DH has eventually been able to work out when he had symptoms since because he was just saying all week before. On Wednesday morning he felt awful and bought paracetamol at work, so we’re guessing Tuesday/Wednesday but probably earlier. So he could technically come out on Christmas Day. I was wary of this and would have stayed away from him a bit longer in a normal week but I think given I slept in bed with him all week, even kissed him and didn’t end up with it is a good sign I’m not going to catch it 10 days later! We won’t go round our families houses though just in case but he can at least come downstairs and I’ll maybe just keep staying with Freddie for a night or two extra. Christmas with the three of us isn’t so bad but me sitting downstairs having a Christmas dinner and him sitting upstairs was going to be unbearable 🙈 My mum suggested I went for another test on 23rd and just went there with Freddie myself for Christmas but I couldn’t do that to him 😂

@Daffodil21 yeah I think that’s what he should be on, I haven’t upped it at all in ages

Got a really good set up on one of the long trains - if you ever get a train with a buggy make sure you ask for the wheelchair seats if they're available. Makes life soooo much easier.

I thought the carriage was empty and I was taking a pic of our set up to send to DH and DM, I was trying to get him to smile (unsuccessful) and was saying 'hellooooo. Can I have a smile for daddy and grandma please' over and over again in my baby voice. Turns out carriage was not empty 😂

DS started crying on the way to station which was still another ten mins away (train cock ups already!) as he chose then to want a feed, DH opened the window for about ten seconds and it sent him to sleep! May not work again but just thought I'd share in case it helps any of you 😂

@sarah13xx that's such a shame! Hopefully you can still have a nice Christmas together though x

@biscuitcat I wouldn’t have felt lame, I’d have felt smug!!! Was there a good turnout for the wedding? A friends was at the weekend and she said so many people dropped out last minute (I had rsvp’d no to begin with) shame for the waste of food.

@sarah13xx sorry for the positive result but it’s good you and Freddie don’t have it. What is the swimmer? This sounds fun! As for milk- baby gets fed 4 times a day. We have a totally full MAM bottle (literally go the top) plus extra in another bottle, but he has 11-12ozs per feed. In the morning he doesn’t seem that hungry so sometimes we split the feed with 7ozs first thing and and another 5/6oz 2 hours later. Sometimes he’d finish his milk and cry and that’s when we know to up an ounce.

We were at Christmas at Kew this weekend! It was lovely and we really enjoyed. Hoping being outdoors was ok, I know so many people with covid atm, more than at any point in the last 2 years. We are in London though where it’s totally rife but we’re only going to for walks this week and we did a big shop on Friday hopefully to keep us going for a while!

@Daffodil21 oh that’s today! Good luck, hope it’s a good journey. Still think you’re a super star for doing this, the only public transport we have managed is a cab!

@Inmypjsagain I feel like it's easier now he's happy just sitting in the buggy or with me like we would if we were at home, and doesnt need as much entertaining as a toddler. When he's older we might have to just look at flying as it's only a 1.5 hour flight. But I hate flying!! It's easier this time as he's in the upright buggy so he can sit in there sometimes without me having to hold him all the time he's awake like I did last time. The key is the accessible area so I can leave the buggy up, that makes all the difference! They said there's space for 3 wheelchairs so even if someone did need it there still should even be space for us, but of course I would move. I think he's about to drift off to sleep now so hopefully he'll have a good long stretch as he was up earlier than he would have normally been this morning and then hopefully he'll be all rested when we get to Edinburgh as we're meeting my old school friend for lunch :) I can hope...!

Another one over here who's had to have A PCR test. DS and I have had a cold for just over 2 weeks now and school sent him home on Thursday because they counted and he'd coughed too much so we had to take him for a test. I had been doing laterals every other day as didn't have any symptoms that are classed as the covid ones and they were all negative. Anyway got what I thought was my test results back Friday afternoon which was good as I had my first night out planned that evening. Still hadn't had DS results back by yesterday so rang and chased them up and turns out they'd mixed our tests up and I'd had his results back but not mine 🥴 anyway both were negative luckily!

Is everyone being cautious before Christmas now covid-wise? I don't know what to do, Leo and I had several catch ups planned with the NCT mums and a good friend of mine, and we were due to see his great-grandparents. I don't particularly want any of us to be ill over Christmas, or of course seriously ill at all, who knows. DH is in the office all week though, so I feel like we can't exactly prevent much.

If you/your partner tested positive, what symptoms if any did you have? I only yesterday read that night sweats, runny nose and sore throat can be typical for Omicron, although they're not officially recognised as warranting a test. This has freaked me out a bit as I had these symptoms last week (well sore throat not so much, rather a feeling of a sharp object being stuck in my throat, it was very odd). All gone now, but I didn't even think to test 🤦🏼‍♀️ not sure if it's worth testing now? xx

@lucyrp oh no, hopefully you get results back today! This same thing has happened to my sister. She went for a test because she’d been in her house and knew DH was most likely positive after two positive lateral flows, so rather than mix with people then have to go for one she just went. Turns out the man scanning the bag at the window to link it to her barcode didn’t scan it right so she had to look out the bit of paper she was given, read the barcode out and they managed to find the result 🙈 If she hadn’t phoned after 2 days she’d still be sitting waiting on a result that wasn’t coming.

@PurplePansy05 I was the one being careful out of my friends and cancelling plans yet we’re now the household isolating, so typical 😂 DH went on the only night out he’s been on since Freddie arrived last weekend and as I dropped him off I said wear a mask, sit down, don’t stand in a crowd. The next day I asked if he’d listened to me.. ‘well I can hardly wear a mask while drinking can I?’ So clearly not 😂 He’s so dismissive of covid so would never even have mentioned the cold symptoms he had. I think it’s basically just been a blocked nose but he’s thinking back now and realised on Wednesday he felt so ill he went and bought paracetamol at work 🙈 Only he would do that and not consider it could be covid!! So we’re counting it from them. I think he just felt run down though but it’s mainly a blocked nose and no cough at all, which makes me think it’s omicron. My nose was running at the start of the week so I’m also thinking maybe I actually gave it to him and now I’m negative but I have no way of knowing 🤷🏼‍♀️

@Daffodil21 that’s good, hope the journey is going well! I can see why flying would be preferable, a shorter journey with a toddler would be good but I’m with you on flying. I hate it. And just think how much hand luggage you’d need 🤯

@lucyrp glad you’re negative! Bit worrying they mixed it up through!

@PurplePansy05 I am but that’s mainly because we live in a busy part of London and as I said upthread I’ve never known so many with it. I had said no the wedding ages ago because I had thought this might be an issue a while back. We took PCRs last week because of the baby’s cold and I was always planning on taking a Pcr pre Christmas because I don’t want to infect my family. So personally I would test, even if it might be out of your system, but I recognise I’m a bit ott with this type of stuff. We had planned an nct catch up tomorrow but we cancelled (and one couple had positive pcrs yday so if we hadn’t have cancelled we probably would have after that). My husband isn’t at work though so I guess if he was in an office, commuting etc I’d think differently. If I was in a place where cases were lower I’d be a bit less worried about it, too.

@Inmypjsagain oh wow, I definitely need to up it then! He’s obviously having so many feeds because he’s just never full so I’m going to do 7oz per feed and see if he finishes them. He looks like he’s lost weight recently but gone SO long. The float was recommended by my friend although the last time we used it we took it swimming, he was a bit younger, a bit distracted by everything going on in the pool and had a full length wetsuit on so just kind of floated about and didn’t kick his legs. He really liked it last night once he realised if he kicked his legs he’d go forwards, it was really cute 😂 DH wanted to see though so I had him on FaceTime with one hand while ready to grab him at any moment if he slipped out of it somehow 🙄😂 it’s this one www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07P31TLNM/ref=ppx_yo_mob_b_track_package_o0_img?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

@Daffodil21 fingers crossed, just going to keep doing lateral flows and order some crackers etc for the table off amazon. It will be one to remember anyway 😂

@sarah13xx I didn't know such things existed! Added that straight to my wish list in the hope someone hasn't done their shopping yet 😂

DS is currently sleeping in a full and dirty nappy as the baby change looked broken so didn't want to risk it. Fingers crossed his nappy holds out another 20 minutes!!!! Thankfully he doesn't seem bothered by it yet but he may do if he wakes up 🙈🙈

@sarah13xx oh that looks great! We’ll get one too. Do you have a really long bath? I hadn’t really thought about him swimming it because it didn’t seem big enough but I guess why not?!! I’m not sure he’s the best barometer for formula though, he’s always eaten more than the box said he should do I have no idea what he should be eating at this stage. He has quite obvious hunger cues too. He’s also a heavy and long baby, but I think Freddie is even longer? I read on peanut to make extra formula because the bottle should never be empty when they’re done, I’m not sure how true that is but you could try making extra and see how much he has?

@Daffodil21 fingers crossed he continues to sleep and the nappy keeps everything in place!!!! 🤞🏼

@Inmypjsagain no he didn’t get very far before I needed to turn him 😂 my mums bath is bigger and we’re moving there for a month in January while our new house gets done up so it’s going to be like going swimming every night for him 😂 Yeah I think I was paranoid I was over feeding him when he first started eating more than the box said at like 4 weeks old but I haven’t looked at it since 🙈 if they’re hungry it’s definitely better just to feed them what they want. Maybe when he starts weaning (in January hopefully) he’ll not need as much

@sarah13xx 😂 Still sounds fun though! We’ve gone a bath with jacuzzi jets in, I should really turn that as well! Oh that’s eXciting, so the purchase is going well? Is it really January they start weaning 😭 💔 how did this happen?! I’m going to have to google how to know he’s ready (as clearly I’m not ready!) but he has no teeth yet. I’m still dreading the mess of weaning!

I’m so excited! We just had a Harrods hamper delivered… yay, but no note so no idea who it’s from! Someone will think we’re rude if we dont say thanks. Bad news is the doorbell woke the baby 😬

I haven't done full time FF but I know from all my postnatal threads and NCT group that it's very very common for them to seem absolutely ravenous at 4mo, the solution about ten years ago always seemed to be hungry baby milk or weaning, but people don't seem to be as quick to jump to those things any more. I'd guess that's probably a good thing? I know all the research people were always trying to stress that starting solids isn't the answer! And hungry baby milk is harder to digest or something like that. But it should settle down once you do start so just not to worry about it in the meantime I guess.

The reasoning behind always wanting some milk left in the bottle is because if you commonly feed a set amount and they usually finish it, any time they don't you'll have this temptation to try and make them have just a little bit more, not to waste it or in the hope it keeps them fuller for longer. That goes against the principles of feeding on demand to help them learn their own hunger and fullness cues.

@BertieBotts So if a baby finishes a bottle and there's no milk left, is this a good thing or a bad thing? I had this debate whether to up his formula top up now he's bigger, but I'm really struggling to understand if it's needed or whether he gets whatever he needs through breastfeeding anyway. He seems to be feeding more in the last few days and actually woke up for a feed around 5am twice in the last few days. He hasn't done it for ages. On a positive note, he is actually asleep now between 7-8pm, then feed between 10-11pm and then asleep again.

However, we have to wake him up between 10-11 for a feed, otherwise I think he'd go longer, but it's just not sustainable to stay up till midnight or 1 am every night or to wake up an hour after we go to bed. I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do?

Thanks for your thoughts re covid. I will rethink my plans for this week. I'm just really sad as they're mulling over more restrictions or even lockdown after Christmas. In Wales some restrictions are coming in on the 27th already. I really don't want to be stuck at home and not seeing anyone for months, I hope it won't come to this 😔😭 xx

Ladies who have have PCR tests, how long was it until you for your results? I’m not at 48 hours and no results yet! Not sure how long I have to leave it to be able to call 119?

Has anybody used nurofen instead of calpol after the 16 week vaccinations? DD hates calpol but I think will like orange nurofen?

In terms of feed I give 1 x 8oz in the morning and 3 x 7 in the day. The 7 oz are hit and miss, sometimes only have 5.

@PurplePansy05 have you tried to not give the 10 pm feed? We stopped waking DD up for it and she then never asked for another night time feed.

@Fran919 I did think about this, but he normally feeds quite a bit then, he would be getting a lot less milk in 24hrs if we skip it. And I very much doubt he'd then sleep 7-7, more likely he'd be up in the middle of the night starving 🤣 Would you feed more during the day to make up for the 10pm feed? I don't particularly want to end up with cluster feeding again, I think he could end up being glued to my breast for a lot longer during the day xx

I know, the whole thoughts of restrictions is just so upsetting, especially as those setting the restrictions don’t adhere to them! Last Christmas was compromised and I’d (perhaps foolishly) pinned hopes on this year being better. Even if Christmas is stopped I will take my Pcr and see my family. I will listen to any other lockdown rules bar cancellation of Christmas ! but then my husband’s family are out of London so I’d feel bad not seeing them over Christmas? And you know I really feel for those due to give birth in the coming weeks, I thought august was bad enough…

@Magik01 36 hours for us

@PurplePansy05 this was our worry when we dropped the 11pm feed but he slept through and had a big breakfast, we just found he ate more throughout the day to make up for it and he ended up having the same amounts. Of course we can measure, bit harder to tell with BF!