January 08 - shiny new-year babies!

[Naetha]

Thought I'd start this thread now as I think there's already a couple of people to go on it, and I know there'll be an awful lot more!!

Will update when I get a chance

I've posted a reply on there

Hello! Whose LO had colic? Sabela seems to have just got it. We're exhausted . If you have any tips I'd be really grateful.
Thread here

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY ALL

Still haven't got my internet fixed so using it at my mum's today.

Me and Ali have a cold so not feeling happy at the moment. Not got help from DP either cos he's working and has to sleep. It's exhausting, she hasn't slept all night so makes me feel worse.

I've had to start using bottles as well now although she only has 2 bottles in the day and breast at night and in the morning, seems to be working for us. I don't think I was producing thick enough milk for her cos I never found time to eat properly.

Hope your all ok and when my internet comes back i'll read through all the old msgs and try to update it.

Happy Mothers Day to you all! Hope you're all being spoilt and showered with gifts. Charlie celebrated mothers day at 4am by showering me with milky sick. All over me, him and the bed - quite disgusting

Susie, Nathan seems to get a sore tummy in the evening, wanting to feed but too frantic to latch.

Some things seem to help:

Holding him upright on my lap while letting him suck frantically on his dummy. He will suck himself to sleep.

Leaning back while putting him tummy on my tummy and rubbing his back firmly.

Felt really special to have my first mother's day. I had told DH not to bother (he is still recovering from the awful first weeks too and is pretty exhausted) but it was nice to get flowers in church. Nathan was awake all morning in church and therefore hell to get to sleep in the afternoon. When he finally fell asleep he pood at the same time (which he only does once a day). Dilemma, changing a nappy will wake him . In the end he woke again half an hour later so I gave him a bath then fed him back to sleep. Someone did warn me babies were a full time job...He is good really, been asleep for an hour now.

Thanks MM - I know what you mean about the sleep / poo situation! Sabela has started to poo in the middle of feeding but if I put her down to change she screams and possets and if I leave it she screams from discomfort when she would otherwise be falling asleep. ?? !!

Sabela celebrated Mother's Day by being in so much pain from trapped wind she was screaming herself awake every 15 minutes or so most of the early hours. Poor little mite. I've been too exhausted to enjoy Mother's Day really. She's been sleeping for a couple of hours now. Mixed feelings as she'll probably be awake all night now.

I am loving it but this is probably the most exhausting day yet. Feel a bit incoherent!

Happy Mother's Day all
Esp to all first-times mums, what a special day, bet some of you thought you'd never get to celebrate it, so well done

sleep/poo, oh yes, sometimes i (bad mum alert) pretend i haven't heard/felt it and if he stays asleep i leave it, promising him that i'll change it before next feed

colic is bad - sympathies to anyone witha suffering LO.

madmouse - so happy to hear of nathan's progress, does he smile back at you when you smile? surely he is seeing you then?

gingeme - did you get a pub lunch? sounds like your dh is forgiven then!
mine sorted us out with chocolate supplies and picked some daffs from the garden

mamachris - can only advise you to ignore MIL, esp when it comes to bf. prob over time she will boast about you to her friends about you and your success at bf but for now sounds like she's finding it difficult to understand/support. been there.

oh, and re snipping tongue-tie, grrr . here they will NOT snip it, unless and until it causes probs with speech. by which time of course you need speech therapy ds 1 has it and i saw a specialist (privately) at about 6wks cos of pain when bfding, no joy. so he still has it, bfding gradually got better, and so far he doesn't have speech probs but it's early days...

well henry managed a 6hr sleep last night, hooray! of course, i was up for some of it having dinner,etc. but still s massive step forward. he's just gone to sleep upstairs so hoping for a long sleep too. do others also seem to have the pattern of a long sleep, then gradually shorter sleeps til the morning when we get to almost half hourly by 7am!?

right, trying to buy a phil and teds on ebay, how much would you spend on a second hand one??? got max budget from dh of 200?

Katy, they are pricey on eBay as they tend to spark a bidding frenzie. I paid £299 for my new one (Oxford pram centre, online) and it is worth every penny, brilliant push chair.

thanks madmouse, i want the doubles kit tho, and if i add the cocoon it takes me to over 400! dh not keen on spending that much. given we have a buggy (125)& a travel system (free - given to us) already.

am winning at 155 so far on a set with doubles kit, cocoon, raincovers, travel bag & panniers....fingers crossed!

Evevning ladies.
Yes Katy1 we did get a pub lunch though we had to wait quite a while for a table being Mothers Day and all. I even had a couple of glasses of wine so I felt realy special as I don't drink as a rule.
lo has been briliant today re sleeping and eating. Bang on every 4 hourly feeds and slept all through our lunch bless him.
Can't blieve hes asleep now in his moses basket too. I gave him a bath at 7.30 after putting my other ds's to bed and took a bottle and a magazine to the bedroom ready for a mammoth feedign and burping session and he drank an ounce and fell asleep. I put him in his basket where he cried a little bit and is now fast asleep . Wonder if it will last.
Trouble is I don't know what to do with myself now...........

Hi all

well i went to bromley yesterdya with my sister which was throuroughy exhausting.

Had lovely card and pressie this morning but so tired today had slight tiff with dh all ok now though.

But Charlie tonight for the first time went down after 8 o clock feed and is still asleep now at eleven!!! so at least 2 hours a t this time of the night whihc is amazing.

Normally at this time she cires for hour son end with bad tummy

However tonight we put a single duvet cut down to cot size, and placed it under her sheet so its a bit softer - she seems to like a bit of comfort.

Maybe this is what she needed.

anyway she has grown out of her newborn baby grows scary how the time flies

we are all good mums

Hello everyone
Had a busy week last week so haven't been on much but thought I'd catch up now.
DD "forgot" mother's day yesterday, but given she's only 8 weeks old I think she can be forgiven! DH on the other hand had to do an emergency flower run.......!

We are off to South Africa next Thursday so am writing v long lists at present. I think we'll need a van to get to the airport! We were talking to my MIL last night. We are spending 3 weeks with them to start and everyone is v excited to meet LO. MIL has all sorts of plans for evenings out and my SIL is getting married while we're there too so lots of family are flying out too. And on top of all that, we are having DD baptised on Easter Sunday and my family are flying down to Cape Town for that. So it's going to be a really busy time.

I'm quite worried my MIL hasn't thought what having DD around means - her comment to DH about the evening plans was "oh, she'll sleep all right in her pram". I'm not so precious about DD's routine that I refuse to go anywhere, but I'm not really up for most nights of the week. Firstly I don't think it's good for DD and secondly I also get really tired when up late. DD is a really easy going little girl, but the one time of day she doesn't like to have changed is her early evening feed and sleep - as in, she needs to go down by 7/7:30, having had a big feed before then. If you do that, she sleeps right through to 10:30 which is great, if not she's upset and cranky until 8:30/9 and then exhausted and unable to eat at 10:30 - which puts the whole night out.....
She still wakes twice in the night so I usually grab some sleep in the early evening while she is asleep and I really feel it the next day if I miss out on that sleep.

So, now my dilemma is whether to try to talk to MIL in advance but risk sounding like a completely neurotic first time mum as well as a complete killjoy or keep quiet and have one (or more?!) awful nights until she realises it for herself. DH's very helpful view on the subject is that if I talk to her in advance it won't make any difference because she'll forget in the excitement of having so much family arriving and if I leave it no one will notice the dreadful night except me, so I'll have to have the conversation when I'm there (and tired and cross no doubt....!). It's making me quite worried - I don't want to spoil the time that we're there.
Don't you fnd that it's often not the LOs who make your life complicated but people around you with views on how you should do things??!

Sorry about long rant, it's been going round and round in my head since yesterday afternoon so think I just needed to let it out somewhere.

Glad to hear most of you had a good mothers day.
And the latest pic of Nathan is too cute Madmouse - I love the way they lie with their arms up next to their head!

BWMum - totally agree! If it was just me and LO I'm sure life would be much much easier. Things get hard when I try and compromise what I know LO wants/needs with what other people want or what they think LO needs. But the compromise often results in a screaming fit (LO, not me, tho I'm tempted to join in ). Could you talk to MIL in advance and then just be firm but friendly every time she forgets? You could suggest alternative things to do together in daytime hours that fit better with routine?

katyt - trying to stand my ground with MIL. guess motherhood requires new assertiveness skills

awful that they won't deal with tongue tie - where are you? here (london) I had to get a referral from a bf support group, as midwife and hv said it wasn't a problem as long as he gained weight, regardless of my pain! but they've referred people long distances before, so that could be a route if you still have problems?

Have at last got around to putting up a photo of DD. She is such a sweet thing, I really shouldn't let other stuff get in the way of enjoying her!

Thanks MamaChris, I think what you suggest is probably best. I get on well with my MIL, which should help - as you say, be firm but friendly about what I think DD and I should do. I'm just really worried about seeming to pour cold water on all MIL's ideas, she is so excited about us comming to visit

No time to post as usual, but just waving manically at you all!!!!

hi all. hope everyone's doing ok. am supposed to be clearing the house up - currently looks like a bomb's hit it, but Patrick's feeding so thought i'd catch up a bit on here. Patrick's doing really well- feeding like a trouper, and generally a happy smiley baby most of the time. will get around to posting a photo one of these days...! took him swimming for the first time yesterday, and he quite liked it i think - until he got dunked anyway - didn't seem too keen on that! Found some floaties aquanappies in Home Bargains the other day for 69p each - fantastic! much better than disposable versions!

madmouse - what a gorgeous photo of Nathan. am so pleased he's doing so well.

really must try and do something about the state of the house. before i know it, it'll be time for the school run and i'll have done nothing.

take care all

wow dotsie - how do you find time to do housework???

also what's the earliest you can take LO's swimming do you have to wa til they've had their first jabs?

lol toomanyshoes at your mothers day pressie. I got a gigantic poo from smauel - he went for 5 days saving it all up for me lol.

bwmum - what a gorgeaus pic i have caught a half smile but nearly impossible to catch picture.

bwmum you were quick to get a pic of that wonderful smile. Seems every time we get the cam near George smiling he stops straight away
Well I don't know if any of you read Practical Parenting but you just might see me and lo in it soon. I was looking on the birth announcement thread last night to see if one of my friends from the Oct thread was on it and there was a thread that asked if anyone had an unusual birth story, if so to email this woman. So I did and it turns out shes from Practical Parenting mag and she wants to do our story . Cant wait. She wants pics of dh too so I mentioned in the email that he has a two week holiday soon so to hell be around. Can't believe it.

Talking about housework, I know I am bad at maths, but you add one small person to your household and your laundry doubles? How does that work? And he has not even started on his reusable nappies yet as they are far too big for his little bottom . Oh well, I am on top of the laundry, it is the rest of the house that suffers. Currently emailing thankyou notes to everyone who has helped us, cooked for us and given Nathan presents, far more fun .

Gingeme - that sounds so cool - maybe it'll be printed in time for the meetup?

MM - I know what you mean about the laundry...washing machine is set to 'permanent' in our house!!

Katy , know what you mean about ignoring the poos! ds was never that bothered, sadly dd seems to have a real issue with lying in a dirty nappy...probably a good thing, except she seems to really like waking at 4am, doing a poo and then crying till I change her.... Did you get the Phil and Ted? We've got one, with the baby carrier, and its brilliant, massively recommend it...but we did have traumas as we already have a Bugaboo and a McClaren....fortunately we then (very out of the blue) got given a 2nd hand one free , so we only had to pay £20 for the carrier...

Aaargh...time to feed. TMS, loved your mother's day present; Ange, I know what you mean about housework - on a good day I make the bed, do the washing up and get some laundry on and folded! Mama Chris and BW Mum - don't get bullied by MILs, even nice ones!!! Oh, and check out the Samsonite foldable cot (about £30 but no time to post a link right now), its a total lifesaver - no good for dinner in restaurants but fantastic for visiting relatives for the evening and stuff - it folds to the size of a dinner plate, weighs nothing and was one of the best presents we got when ds was born.

Got to run, hope you all have good nights xxx

Fluffy I have just bought one of those Samsonite foldable cots ready for our weekend away. We visit my parents in Kent quite a lot so will be using it for that too. So much easier than a great big travel cot or moses basket and stand.

boo hiss, didn't get the P&T this time, only went for 36pounds more than my budget so am watching a few more and may up budget to 250 as that seems to cover most of them. am pretty set on getting one now so dh will have to lump it!tho really he can't complain as we only ever spent the 125 on a buggy when most people buy a travel system for hundreds (tho we did go for recaro car seats which are pricey but v good and dh insisted on them so he can't comment ).

both ds's have been happy enough so far with dirty nappies - is this true for all boys??? - handy at young ages but perhaps will come back to haunt me at potty training time...

gingeme - that sounds cool, make sure you let us know when it comes out.

housework - [whispers] we have cleaners....
laundry - just about stay on top of it (tho dh is now trained after c-s laundry embargo, hooray!)

rules for firsttime mums:
sleep whenever you can
let the house go to pot
eat properly

speaking of, need dinner and pudding! back soon