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

[claraquitetirednow]

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

that'll be my approach, too loucee. I reckon you can eat much more when BF, I just have to make sure that it is healthy most of the time (thus the fruit) and that i don't mistake thirst for hunger- am drinking a ridiculous amount of water. My other technique will be to allow myself a naughty if i really want it, but to buy a small amount of something gorgeous rather than a packet of biscuits which i stop enjoying half way thorugh but still manage to finish!

oo another response to my BF running question cut and pasted:

I agree with both of the previous comments, but also feel that some cautionary notes should be added:It's worth bearing in mind the fact that there will still be some hormonal effects on a woman's ligaments and pelvic floor muscles if she is breastfeeding, so if someone has any problems related to pelvic instability or any continence/prolapse issues I would discourage high impact exercise when breastfeeding until these problems have resolved.I have known women develop SPD/SIJ problems postnatally while breastfeeding, as a consequence of pushing themselves too hard too soon with aerobic exercise in a bid to return to their pre-pregnancy shape and fitness levels, so I would always advise women to listen to their bodies and be honest with themselves if they start to develop any problems.I am honestly all for exercise in the postnatal population, but I do think we need to be careful with the advice we give, as alot will depend on someone's previous exercise levels and whether they have/have had any specific MSK/continence problems.

Interesting what you say (whoever it was! Buzzy?) about dreamfeeds? I wonder if I should ditch that!

DD had her dreamfeed then woke at 2 for feed then 6.30.

oops, shhhhhh its pecka blowing her suedonim from a BF thread I didnt want to put my name to!!

Dont tell anyone lol

Can I just say how cute my ds is???
Getting lovely smiles these days (in between the screams!)
He is lying on sofa looking at me and sucking furiously on his dummy, is just making me go awwwwww!

insy - thanks. I basically give DD2 one feed breast and the next feed bottle, however I find that after she has been BF she only goes 2 hrs without a feed where as if I give her the bottle she can go 3-3.5 hrs.

Loucee - excatly what I was planning on doing - waiting for the weather to be a bit warmer then will let DD1 run around the house in her pants.

Not doing much for valentines - will prob get some take out food. DD1 has started to sleep at 10pm and I'm so shattered by then that I usually go to bed to - so much for a romantic evening.

Buzzy at your LO sleep through. What's it like having a good night's sleep?

Amani, which bottles are you using?

For the odd bottle DD has I use Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature but Im not that happy with how she takes them so I end up feeling guilty giving a bottle as she enjoys breast more therefore dont end up getting a break!

I use the Avent bottles and also the Boots anti colic bottles which work fine for DD2.

Pecka DS was very windy on the closer to nature bottle and couldn't really latch on very well so we are using the small avent bottle with a Tommee tippee nuby teat (it has tiny bumps on it to mimic the breast). He only has one bottle (with EBM) after his bath and touch wood he's been fine with it.

Amani in these early weeks do whatever helps you feel human, if it's bed at 10pm then do it! I think I'll end up ironing tonight !

I feel like a new woman Amani!! Last night record 12 hours!! But then was quite grumpy when she woke up even after a feed. Must have had a very empty tum!!

Re losing weight, I'm finding that by continueing to eat small meals only as I was when PG (due to indigestion if I ate more) I'm managing to loose about 1kg per week - only 4kg to go now and I'll be content to stay at that.

TBH my main issue is the loose skin. You see the celebs with flat tummies - how do they do it??? Even if I lost 2 stone and did 100 sit-ups a day I'd still have the spare tyre I'm sure! Any tips??

smoke and mirrors buzzy i'm sure

DS reverted to form, fed at 10.20, 12.30 and 3pm, but after 3pm feed wouldn't settle, kept making a sound like squealing tires and thrashing around, thought he was windy so kept picking him up and winding him, though his tummy was soft, so just cuddled him to try to encourage him to go back to sleep - but he was wide awake and wanting to play! I think I left him to sleep too long yesterday afternoon, he slept for 4 hours! I only let him sleep that long because he didn't have his usual hour's kip at 8am... He is now so hopefully he'll have a better night. Did ind myself getting really impatient with him because I was sooo tired DH ended up getting up with him at 4.50 to give me a break. Will make sure DH has a nice lie in tomorrow!

Loucee and Caz - think I have reset my preferences so you can CAT me but not sure - seem to have issues with things like that as we have an iMac not a PC and for some reason it doesn't behave normally - another thing to blame DH for!!! His choice and I've never really got round to learning how it really works.

Well DD2 slept right through the other night from 7pm, feed at 11pm then ok until half 6 - but, I think I was due to jabs that day as she did her usual half 4 short feed last night - oh well, I'm sure she'll give it up soon (I hope!)

Odd week really up here - I live in the village where a 2 year old girl died 2 weeks ago from being strangled in the cord from a window blind - horrible horrible horrible and I can't even begin to think how her parents feel. Her funeral was on Wednesday. So sad We don't know the family but know people who do and it's really made us stop and think about just how lucky we are. Wanted to mention this so maybe you'll have a few mins to stop and think about our wonderful little ones and how even on the rough days they are fab. Crap - now in tears

Happy thoughts people

Beanster i heard about that little girl - awful story. I;m going to cut all our blind cords short.

I think ds is on a growth spirt or something. He's doing nothing but eating and sleeping.

and I'll add sh*tting to that list!

Beanster still no joy being able to email you through the CAT facility. I'd heard about that poor wee girl and seen it on the news, its just so tragic.

Wizzska lol at your list of your DS's activities definitely sounds like a growth spurt. My wee one was feeding a lot yesterday afternoon then fed 3 hourly at night so I think he's taking a wee stretch as well. At his 6wk check he'd grown 4.5cm since birth - funny how that's all going on yet we aren't able to see it happening at that moment in time.

My friend bought me a breastfeeding top from Jojo Mama Bebe for Christmas and I'm wearing it for the first time today and WOW it's brilliant! I haven't ever had a proper feeding top but it's really good and it's such easy access too. She chose a lovely design so I feel modern as well. Think I'll get another one.

Sorry I know this isn't really the place but i just need to have a huge rant before I kill MIL! It's really driving me mad not having my house as my own. Yesterday she left the hot tap in the bathroom running all afternoon. I heard the HW tank hissing so went upstairs to investigate and found the bathroom tap on full. HW tank was empty so had to put water back on so there would be hot water for babies to bath, complete waste of gas, and we are on a water meter too.
She keeps leaving the washing up sponge floating in a bowl full of dirty water which is one of my biggest bugbears-pour the water away once you've washed up ffs! I know, I should be grateful she is doing the washing up but...

Yesterday ds fell asleep on me while dd was upstairs having her nap, mil said aren't you going to put him in bed, I said, not until dd wakes cos otherwise it will disturb her going in to put him to bed. So today dd was napping and I said to mil i was just going to pop to tesco. I was going to take ds but she said no leave him (tesco is 2 mins away) so I left him, get home and he is wailing up in bed and mil is carrying dd (still half asleep) downstairs. MIL says oh he was asleep on me for ages so i put him in bed and dd woke up. I was gone for less than 5 mins and he was awake when I left so hardly asleep on her for ages, plus it woke dd up when she should have had at least an hour more sleep and now she is being really tantrummy cos she is tired but of course wont go back to sleep now. Did she not listen yesterday when I said I wasn't going to put ds in bed until dd woke?? Tantrums made worse by MIL feeding her sugary tea several times a day.

Everything I do she questions "what are you doing? Where are you going? Are you going to eat lunch? How often do you wash the clothes? How often do you wash the nappies? What do you use to wash them wth? Why do you wash the babies clothes seperately (because dh is grubby and so non bio doesnt get rid of the sweat/deo/collar stains!) - it's driving me mad!! Feel like I can't move without being interrogated and what am I meant to say when I'm going for a shit???

Plus she keeps telling me my milk isn't enough for ds because he is a big boy-how the f* does she think he got so big??? Keeps saying I need to give him formula and start him on porridge. Everytime he cries she says something like "I know, you want porridge, mummy is mean to you" So much for breatfeeding being more the norm in Africa!!

Also ds was crying and she took him from me and was bouncing up and down really roughly so his head was banging on her shoulder and she was smacking his back really hard. At least dh stepped in at that point and told her she was being too rough but otherwise I feel like I can't even say anything.
Dh might think she is here to help me but it is just giving me stress! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Anyway, she is only here for 10 days and we are over half way through. Apologies for the rant, just needed to get it off my chest somehow! I won't sully the PN thread again!

Buzzy v jealous of 12 hours! Longest we had last night was 2!!

Clairey poor you. I know what you mean about the sponge thing, DH does that and it drives me insane. It means the sponge is always greasy and dirty and I end up boiling it up to clean it and soaking it in milton so it doesn't stink. Still, just think how great it will feel when your MIL has gone.

Just been for a walk for an hour. DS still sleeping. He usually wakes up half way through the walk, this is unheard of. Such a tired boy today. I guess I should be cleaning the house or doing something more productive than chatting on MN , at least I'm not watching the Alan Titchmarsh Show.

Hello everybody, I like catching up on all the thread but I only seem to get to the computer about every 3rd day... doesn't help now that my DH has started a new job and is mostly working from home ( ie right beside my computer) which makes me feel guilty when I sneak off from the kids to read Mumsnet!. Not that I get much sneaking off in half term week with 7yo, 5yo and the bubba. Must agree with how cute DD is right now, she's 8 weeks and giving lots of smiles and gurgles.
Have you all done the 8 wk vaccination? We did it on Wed and had a horrid 24 hours of no sleeping and wailing but she's OK now. Slept 7 hours last night....

For what it's worth, I've always given a bottle as well as b/f, last thing at night, from about 3 weeks, and I am convinced it helps the nighttime sleep to start off well and sleep a bit longer.

What about prams - any of you using a Quinny Buzz? Is it driving you nuts as well as me? Hard to take apart and wobbly as hell on uneven pavements???????

Oh no Clairey what nightmare!!! You poor thing. I don't really know what to say to make it any better apart from please continue to rant on here if that helps. I don't have a MIL unfortunately as she died before I even met DH so no idea what it is like; but I know my mum drives my DH mad when she stays - I think that always happens, however easy going they are!!!

Was thinking of you today as you mentioned that DS was sucking a dummy. Has that helped with things? I have found the dummy to be invaluable while I have been on my own and in fact have heard a lot of people who didn't use them with their first babies do with their second.

Funny that!

Anyway I am happy as DH due back within the next hour after five days away.....Hu-bloody-rah!

Have cleaned the bathroom, so feel less guilty now.

Clara - DS uses a dummy, he's always been a really sucky baby. He's sucking his hands now if his dummy isn't available. I think at least you can take a dummy off him, but if he gets into sucking his thumb or fingers there's no stopping it.

Ontheedge, DS had his first jabs a couple of weeks ago. He was fine after it, I was really glad. No ill effects at all. I'm going let him have all the jabs. There are some mums in my NCT group who are not going for the jabs, especially MMR, but I think in London you need all the help against disease you can get.

totally agree, wizz. I find it completely bizarre that people wouldn't. I had the same conversation with one of my NCT mates- disabused her of the autism thing (the lancet should NEVER have published wakefield's article IMO- did they even peer review it beforehand?).
I don't understand at all- these are serious illnesses and we can prevent them. Also can anyone explain why one person gave up BF when she found it very easy? The baby is totally FF now, but mum is back in her size 8 jeans maybe that's it

Oh no Clairey - what an nightmare MIL.

Had bad bad night sleep last night and it wasn't even due to DD2. DD1 woke up at 3am and cried for an hour. Nothing we could do/say/sing made her calm down, then suddenly, she just stopped and for the next hour started singing nursery rhymes and pushed away all our efforts to rock/soothe her to sleep. She wouldn't even let DH go in the spare room to sleep, as she wanted us both there. Eventually she fell asleep as 7am! My poor hubby went to work with about 4 hrs kip.

seriously - what are you guys doing to get your LO to sleep through the night?????