December 2007: It's all worth it for the smiles.

[claraquitetirednow]

I've never started a new thread before - has this worked?

Hi AnastasiaB.. aargh really feel for you. It felt like my milk was dwindling a few weeks ago, ds was really restless and lost a bit of weight, I introduced a bottle of formula in the evening, DH was really pleased to be able to feed him, I couldnt express for some reason. I had mixed feelings too, He now has formula during the day and I bf at night and early morning, this really works for me and I haven't had the breast agony and I know it is agony! He doesnt seem to be confused, I was a little hurt at first because he doesn't seem to be bothered which one he has!
It is lovely though because I can cuddle up with him when he wakes up at night. If you are in really bad pain give dd a few minutes on each side and the pain will go, or if you really want to cut off bf, try a bath with warm flannels. Hope it eases off soon

Hello all...

PABLOP-yeah i know what you mean about feeling a bit miffed, I'm still like that when ds sinks a bottle of formula at night,after me preciously latching him onto me all day long. He's such a traitor! I'm glad mix feeding is working for you, we've gone back to a 4oz bottle at night and sometimes through the day. I love the cuddles too and i'm far too tired to be arsing around with ff in the night. I'm hoping we can keep this up and drop the f when weaning and then i'd like the last 6 months of bf to be fewer feeds, tailing off to one a night up to when ds is a yr old (I did this with dd)

There seems to be a lot of scaremongering on mn about mixed feeding though-I'm getting a bit sick of it tbh. I haven't dropped to less than 2hourly bf's except at the night one when he 'might' go for 6 hrs in between bfeeds-my milk supply's fine and not tailing off at all. It works brilliantly for me cos if I need to leave ds (rarely) I can drop him at his nana's with a bottle of f and he's happy for an hour or 2 but still getting all the 'superior boob juice'.

Buzzy-I'm soo pleased to hear your info. Ds HATES tummy time so i don't do it. He likes to sleep on tummy but no way when awake, he gets so stressed!!

macdoodle, I'm so pleased she's ok and glad you're getting some gorgeous smiles again. Still can't believe how horrid that must have been for you...

Skid, yay another non-ironer, I'm so relieved to have found solace

Suey, wow please let us know how much you enjoy seville, I've often dreamed about going...

Oooo, I've just had glass (read-tumbler) of wine handed to me. goodnight all!! (I'll prob be asleep in half an hour now)

Evie doesn't mind her tummy time for ohh about 3 minutes (think she is pleased someone has come to interact with her even if it is just to roll her over - poor neglected child).

She did her 1st proper laugh yesterday at dd1 - it was very sweet and she laughed at her again today. Doesn't laugh at me, dd2 or dh yet!

Hi all! Sorry for the long absence again, don't know how you all manage to keep up!

Macdoodle, what a completely terrifying time for you, thank heavens you were on the ball and DD is okay now.

Dundee, I take DD to be weighed most weeks but only for my own peace of mind as I worry she is not getting enough milk from me (even though she is content and growing well...). Our clinic has a self-weighing afternoon though which is nice as there are no HVs but you can check baby's weight is going up.

Wobbegong, hello! Your DD is gorgeous! Snap at keeping baby up until we go to bed. I find that she stirs when I take her up so I then give her a mini dream feed which tops her up so she goes through until around 6am (give or take). Slovenliness? I often forget to put mascara on or straighten my hair, there is so much that needs doing which is more important! Thankfully I have never been much of a stylish person so do not look too much worse than usual!

Bouncing, what an awful woman, which planet is she living on?! Shame that the group has to close for a bit but good for you for speaking up! Well done on putting so much into the new group too, you will be a great support to new Mums struggling with BF, I wish there had been someone around to tell me how hard it could be and support me when I had DS1. I was always too shy to phone the laleche people etc. How are you feeling now?

Insy, I have already started with the contraception but did not fancy the coil so have gone onto the mini-pill. It has always worked well for me in the past. Scarily I did not use contraception for 6 months after having DS2, thankfully my poorly balanced hormones mean I find it difficult to conceive but I'm not going to risk that again! DD is definitely my last baby!

Fifi at Ethan's sleeping! Glad he's doing well though, how are you?

Loucee, I still have a bump shaped belly (when I am not holding it in...) Not sure if it is because the muscles have not come back together at the top yet though as don't remember this with the DSs.

Pablop, hi! Welcome to the thread!

Kelbel, DD also usually goes to sleep feeding at night and I do worry that this will become a habit but what can I do? Once that girl is asleep she will not be woken until she is ready - I have tried! She will self-settle in the morning though after her 6am ish feed so hopefully it won't be too much of a problem when she is older.

Lizzer, gorgeous pics of your DS! Its lovely now that their personalities are really starting to show on their photos!

Amani, don't feel bad about losing your cool with DD1, I think most of us do it at some point! I certainly do on a daily basis with the DSs now they are older but it does make me feel bad afterwards (and I do go and watch them sleep and say sorry too...). IKWYM about entertaining the babies in the daytime, there is not much else other than what you mentioned but that is enough for them at this stage. DD also hates tummy time and just rubs her face on the floor and gets distressed. I am thinking of getting her one of these to see if she likes it better.

Beanster, every now and again I feel that my supply is dropping, DD takes ages to feed and wants it more regularly - I am guessing it is growth spurt stuff! I find that after a couple of days of offering both sides (she usually only takes one) that the supply comes back up to meet demand. Does make my nips a bit sore though!

Evie is doing well at the moment and has just got over her 3rd cold! I now have one so am hoping I caught it from her otherwise I am sure she'll have another soon. She's due her first jabs on Monday but a friend who I was with last week thinks her baby has chicken pox so might cancel them in case she is incubating it, I hope not though, she is far too young and I am far too much of a worrier! She is now able to get her hands into her mouth whenever she likes but can only rarely manage to unfurl her thumb and get that in (much to her disgust). Will be glad when she can though as she is liking the dummy less and less and will only take it when in the pushchair (which she is beginning to hate). Anyway, must go as it has taken me ages and ages to catch up so she is overdue for her dream feed (bad Mummy...) x

skid millie will be just over 4 months when i go back to work. But have found a lovely nany- she is 60 and has looked after babies all her life.

Lizzer have been to seville before- my favourite town in andalucia- dh and i ahve been learning spanish for the last 3 years- originally because we went to south america for our honeymoon 2 years ago.

hi all

beckle - like you, i struggle keeping up on here. i manage to read posts most days, but by the time ive finished and want to type something flynn has had his 10 mins of being put down n wants to play again.

macdoodle - i'm so sorry to hear that, my family went through something similar, same disease, so pleased everything turned out well, lots of hugs to you and lo.

Flynn is 12 wks today and having a major growth spurt at the mo, getting him weighed tomorrow. he's feeding pretty much all the time. we've also taken him out of the swaddle (torture) blanket n started using growbag - he's not as settled but getting there. also getting too big for moses basket too, moving his cot in our room tonight

where are you lo's sleeping now? do they sleep on backs? i never thought of doing any other than on back, n for first 6 wks flynn just didnt sleep, then mil put him on side (virtualyy on front) n he's slept well ever since. i was so worried for weeks coz of all the press about sleeping on their backs, wondering if i should try getting him on back now, but i'm reluctant coz he's comfy x

Kelbel/Beckle, I'm only on here so much cos I use ds's frequent feeds as an excuse to sit down and MN!

Skid, ds wil be 13 weeks tomorrow (wow a whole quarter of a year!) and is definitely going through a growth spurt at the moment. He has been feeding every 1-2 hours through the night for the past 3 nights and I'm having to change sides at each feed instead of block feeding now-at least that means my supply has finally regulated!

oh and how, er, was it the other night???

Amani ds doesn't really like tummy time for play, even though he'll only sleep on his tummy! I remember dd was the same but when she got to 4 months or so I started leaning her over a bolster pillow with a book or toys in front of her and after that she started to enjoy tummy time. Picture here

Buzzy that philosophy sounds interesting. I guess like anything else you have to pick and choose the bits that will work for you-for example ds would go mental if I didn't prop him up-he hates just lying there like a baby! He isn't yet as bad as dd was-I used to have to hold her in a standing up position for hours on end, the people at baby singing group couldn't believe it when she stood up for the entire hour and a half session at just 14 weeks old!

Suey so glad you are happy with your choice of nanny-must be a huge load off your mind.

BT I was meaning to ask you, what does being a peer supporter involve and how do you go about becoming one? I think I'd be interested in doing that too.

Kelbel, snap, DD is 12 weeks tomorrow and is having her first night in her cot tonight. Sniff, my little girl is growing up. Moses basket is so cute, sad to see it put away for the next babies possible future.

Clairey - A Peer Supporter is someone who has been breastfeeding exclusively for at least 6 months, and who will provide support to other breastfeeding mothers - the idea is that some mums would be more likely to seek help from other mums than health professionals. Various organisations offer training, I'm probably going to get mine through my local sure start.
I've already been asked if I wish to support new mums in a very informal way by my local sure start - the town I live in has a very low take up of bfing, so they are keen to get anyone on board who like me, is a keen bfer. Be great if you did the same!

Claireybee/Kelbel - I think we may be having a growth spurt at the moment, combined with some major teething isshoes. She seems to want to feed more frequently and has woken at 5am after a 3am feed for the last couple of nights. She will be 13 weeks on Tuesday (God is that really quarter of a year already?).

Can anyone remind me - when does it start to get easier again?

Kelbel - I find she sleeps better on her side, I have started putting her onto her side when she needs wants to go to sleep and it does seem to be having the desired effect (touch wood).

I have put dh on Weightwatchers so am following the same plan - I am allowed 10 extra points as I am breastfeeding so we can have the same amount. Hope it works - am fed up of being fat blob.

Although have got back into a pair of pre-pregnancy trousers today

Suey - I am glad you have found a suitable nanny, I hope it works out ok - finding good childcare is such a stress, whatever age they are when you need it. I have a fantastic childminder who dd1 started going to when she was 18 months and it really helped that I knew I was leaving her with someone I could trust and who obviously cared so much for children. She has been wonderful and I know we will all really miss her when we go abroad.

Hi all. Another bad night last night. Two nights on the trot he's fed 11.30, 1.30, then dear DH has taken DS to the living room because he's not settled after 3.00 am and looked after him until 6.30 then we swapped shifts. I'm fed up with it now and have bought (whispers) a Gina book. Am I going to get thrown off Mumsnet?

Wizz - I doubt it, I'm sure that plenty of other mums do GF

DS is starting to sleep at night for 3-4 hour stretches, last night he did 11:45 - 4am!! But from 4am onwards he is generally awake, hard to settle and back to feeding every 2 hours, even though I make sure he has lots! Hoping it will get better. This has been going on for a week now, didn't want to say anything before in case I jinxed it.
He has been going to bed earlier some nights, tonight we have put him down at 6.50 because he was sound asleep. I'm hoping that he will stay that way until 10.30 when DH and I go to bed.
Basically we've been looking at why he is waking up as it is not necessarily for a feed. Sometimes it is because of a wet nappy (experimenting with night nappies atm) or he is just a bit unsettled (he woke up twice at 2am and 3am this morning, gave him his dodie and he went straight back to sleep).

definate growth spurt here - my little boy looks soooo huge all of a sudden. He got into a pattern of sleep 7-4-7 for 3 weeks, think he spoilt us, coz he's certainly not doing that now - suppose we should be thankful for those weeks, but makes the constant feeding now harder. don't mind though when he looks so chubby n healthy x

Morning!

Well ds woke up at 9pm! Fed him and put him down at 9.30am. He slept through to 2am, gave him his dodie and then he slept through to 3am and I fed him. Back to sleep, stirred again at 5am, again with the dodie and we were both up at 6am! So definitely getting better!

Lizzer/Clairey. The idea I think is to follow their lead. So if they like/want to spend time on their tummies or propped up then great! The Pikler philosophy was developed with childcare centres in mind too so need to remember that. For example, it advocates against using highchairs - all babies fed on laps of caregivers. But as Mums we need a bit of relief from time to time and highchairs can provide this - I guess so long as they're not used as "prisons" for extended periods of times. I would imagine that Pikler would not favour the use of playpens for example!

[my Mum is a well respected early childhood education researcher/writer/advisor in case you're wondering!]

hummm - the rain is coming in in a corner of my plasterwork - ahhhh.

oh must go and feed evie.....

Phew, think the growth spurt is over! DS went to sleep around 8.30 and slept until 2.40. He woke again at 4.20 but seemed to be trying to get his dummy in his mouth rather than wanting a feed so I popped it in for him (fully expecting to be got out of bed again 5 mins later!) but he went straight back to sleep and woke at 6.45! So we only had one night feed last night!!!!!!!

Don't usually use the dummy at night as he will usually settle after a feed and I don't want to have to keep getting in and out of bed to replace it but it worked last night!

I was awake all night though because of the bloody storm and dd is always restless when it's windy, think it frightens her a bit. Hopefully ds will be more like dh and not be a ridiculously light sleeper like me and dd...

Wizz if you think GF will work for you then go for it! Even if you don't follow it to the letter you might get some ideas from it.

BT I'll ask my hv if she knows anything about peer support, if not I'll get in touch with the local sure start group. There is a latchers group but it's on at the same time as dd's toddler group so I haven't been

Hello all, I'm going off line for possibly a week as we have to give the macbook back to mil our broken one hasn't even been sent off to be fixed as it'll cost £££'s and we car parts, mot's and tax this month so priorities have to be made-hopefully we can borrow this one again once mil has finished with it... We've also been told that the 1st photos of ds and all the house rennovation pics will have been lost as wwe didn't copy them onto seperate hard drive, i'm so about that but as dp says we still have the house and ds!!

Bt-wow sounds like you could really do some good being a bf peer, good luck with it..

Buzzy, how great for you to have a fount of child knowledge as a mum, you don't have to rely on someone you don't know for expert advice

Clairey-yes ds has just calmed down from another growth spurt too. he has had one at 3 weeks, 4 w, 5w,6w ooo pretty much every week....

Wizz, yeah don't worry, gf works for a lot of people, I would say only do it if its making you both happy and fits in with your lives. If it does then bingo!

Beckle i love lazy days too

Awww ds is going cross eyed trying to look at his hands and get his thumb in his mouth, gotta go as he's getting frustrated with it all....

Btw, I just realised that sometime in the next week a WHOLE YEAR AGO we conceived ds (very unmemorably I might add!)

havent been around for a while. baby been fretful since wednesday tho no temperature. 10 weeks old now and wonder if teeth bothering him as dribbley and can see the white outline of them on the bottom clearly.

Still bf but have very painful right breast when he is feeding, pretty sure latch is ok and wonder if he is sucking stronger. Also he has been feeding alot again, thougnh we had some kind of routine done as managed to get him down for a nap on thursday in his nursery.

Despite him being fretful more i have been getting lots of smiles, cooing, noises, chuckles and on saturday he rolled from front to back! He is also pushing himself round, in bed he pushes himself closer to me

Hmm maybe growth spurt not over. DS been feeding every 40 mins-1.5 hours today! Still, at least it's not through the night and it isn't like I want to be going anywhere in this awful weather!

hello everyone

Not been on for a while - weekends are always hectic when DH is at home. DD seems to come out in quite bad dry skin and is itching her face lots, leaving flakey skin behind and I've been applying lots of Oilatum to soothe it. Bit worried as my DH had severe ezcema when he was a child, so hoping it's not heredity and DD1 had ezcema aswell for the first year and it was hard work with the creams, watching what she ate, finding suitable clothing etc (cleared up fully now thank goodness). Anyway am hoping this will go quickly.

Anyway how is everyone? Defo feeling human these days, been trying to meet up with different friends at least once a week to remind myself there is a world out there!

Clairy and beckle - thanks for the suggestions regarding putting baby on tummy. Lovely picture by the way Clairy - think I might try that as we already have on of those roll up cushions at home. In economising mode now that SMP has kicked in. Thanks to everyone else who posted suggestions and comments too.

Cazzy - hope it's not a serious leak? Anyone had bad winds in their area (and am not talking about what comes out of you LO rear end!) . Woke up at 3.30am as it was gorwling otside.

Hi all, well DD had her jabs today, I know they are necessary but I felt so bad for her! She was really good for the first jab, just a little crying but she knew what was coming with the second one and was sooo upset . Have not heard her cry like that since she was born! Gave her a little feed to comfort her and some calpol (which she hated) and she went off to sleep. Nurse must have thought me an idiot, I had tears streming down my face! DS1 was sent home from school early today with headache and slight temperature so now praying DD doesn't pick anything up from him while she is processing the immunisations.

On the plus side I won the auction for one of those tummy time spinners on ebay last night so am very chuffed!

Awen, he could well be teething. I had an incredibly painful right breast for a while a couple of weeks back, no pointers though as I just fed through it and after a week or so it went away. No idea what it was thiough but at the time I put it down to teething as she was really dribbly and kept chomping on her hands (and me) but no teeth have appeared yet!

We have had winds and freezing rain here Amani but nothing too bad, even had sunshine at lunchtime for an hour or so!

Hope your leak is not too bad Cazzy Lizzer, how awful about losing your photos , I have put most of mine on CD now after hearing your story. Do friends and family have any photos at all which you may have emailed them or they have taken which you could copy?

Whizz, do whatever works for you, no-one struggling with sleep deprivation would begrudge you using any methods (even GF's ) to help your LO into a routine!

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