March 2008 births

[MarchNowFebMum]

Welcome March Mums (and late Feb/early April Mums!) from the March 2008 threads.

Hit 6 week growth spurt last night...see you all in a few days! Please tell me this is the last one for a while!

c4it - bf is sooooo hard. i had a major wobble (ie lots of tears) yesterday too. i don't find it physically difficult, just mentally - especially in the evening when i am tired.

wondering if dd has reflux although not sure what reflux is! she's always sick at least once during a feed, about a spoonfull just kind of pours out (not projectile). some times she's sick after a feed but a smaller amount and more 'curdy'. she's a champion burper though, and a bit of a thunder-pants. she def takes in lots of air when feeding, i can hear it. does that sound like reflux - if so does it matter?

LFTS, think that's just normal posseting of milk, it's only a problem apparently when it's more than a spoonful (don't know what size of spoon!).

We get projectile vom, but not after every feed, so again don't think LO has reflux, just a tense tummy.

To everyone still bf, big hugs and a big well done, I think i'd be on anti-ds if i wasn't ff now...though obviously not cos that would interfere with the bf!

Baby Einstein activity gym is my lifesaver at the moment, he's absolutely entranced with the smiley lightup star to the extent he'll stop himself falling asleep to keep watching. Cranial osteopath stuff appears to have gone the crying direction but with added extra sleep if that makes sense? We had a good day all day yesterday where he fed, burped and slept with no crying then last night got about 3 hours constant crying. However he has started to sleep about 6 hours straight overnight.
Feeling very worn out with it, got 2nd session with COsteo on Weds and can't come soon enough.

Hello all,

Well, Charlie was discharged from hospital yesterday and seems to me well on the road to recovery. He was pretty poorly for a while and the doctors don't know what was wrong but think it was probably a virus. On Wednesday night he just became inconsolable with a raging temerature. I phoned the Out of Hours GP who advised us to come to the Out of Hours Walk In which is part of the Royal London and a five minute walk from home. The GP sent us straight over to Paeds A & E where Charlie was poked and stabbed countless times in many mnay futile attempts to insert a canula. His screams were heartbreaking . We were then transferred to Sugical ward as there were no other beds where they inserted another canula as the first stopped working. So now he has one bandaged hand on a splint and the same on his foot.
There followed a surreal 48 hours where Charlie improved, whilst being a on a ward full of very sick children and their anxious parents, attempting to follow the elections on a TV which shut off after 9 pm and trying to celebrate DP's birthday. Also, spending a goodly part of my time trying to get a urine sample from Charlie. Ladies, a watched willy never wees but can get surprisingly erect .
And one of the silver linings is that Charlie has radically altered his sleeping pattern (please last, please last) and instead of messing up my hard won success with bedtime the stay in hospital seems to have had a very positive fact. He now goes down at 7 with a feed in the bedroom and wakes at 10.30-11 for another. And then sleeps till 3!!!!!!!Has a feed and then sleeps till 7!!!!!! Please stay on this schedule till you drop another feed, Charlie.

Oh and AIBU to be disappointed and a bit bloody angry because DP did not get up in the night to feed Charlie even though he said he would. Have to go, DD arriving early, aaggh

Just time to finish my post.

Just a little peeved that after I spent 2 nights in the hospital with our poorly son DP didn't fulfill his part of the bargain to do ONE feed, not the early morning ones mind. And fortnightly Sunday monings DD is at her Dad's so rare opportunity to not have to get up. He was tired as he has sat up until 4am the previous night playing some computer game. Tired?? Tired??? I'll give him bloody tired. And exDH being an arse as well. He brought DD home early as she has a touch of earache and he thought she shouldn't be going to a party they were en route too. En route!!!!!!!! So she's now home with me and her ear seems ok. But she's missed her party (which for the record involved 8 children having lunch at Carluccios in South Kensington before going to the V&A- nine year olds) .
Whatever happened to Pass the Parcel and too many cakes?

Oh and big thankyou for all your get well messages re Charlie.

Glad to hear charlie is well. Hospital stays sound bloody terrifying. I wouldn't have minded going to that party, although any party sounds tempting. I wanted to live in the v&a when i was doing my degree.
I'm doing my own little celebratory victory dance today as DD slept from 8.30 to 1.30 and from then until 5.30. As we take it in turns in the night we both got a good nights sleep. Still feel absolutely knackered mind, I think it might take more than 1 night.
DH, DS and DD are all asleep in the car in the drive at the moment, does that make us bad parents? . the silence truly is golden though.

Glam, glad Charlie's home and doing ok now, after all the time spent in hospital with the birth, i hope never to see the inside of the place again...and sounds horrible what they had to do with the canulas!

Forgot to say earlier, bad move to go out for a night with the girls, indulge in a few drinks and get home at 12.30 then fail to arrange with DH to do the middle of night feed. 3am was particular hell on Friday morning
To make matters worse, DH then went out on Friday lunchtime on his belated "wetting the baby's head" session, got in around midnight and got off scot free with the mid-night feed as we reckoned he was too heavy a sleeper after alcohol to wake up if Lo was hungry. I was ever so cranky yesterday, but had a night to myself last night and didn't wake up until just after 9am! Bliss, but still not enough sleep

Glad to hear Charlie's ok - sounds scary!

Well, top up seems to have done the trick - just 1oz ebm sent ds to sleep at 9.30 and woke for feed at 3.30am! 6 hours! HORRAH!!!! Fingers crossed for a repeat performance tonight!

BTW anyone got any good ideas for healthy(ish) snacks that can be eaten 1 handed and require no prep? Seem to be living on Cadburys at the mo

Gosh - everyone is saying things I've been thinking just today!

Glam - so pleased Charlie is back home with you, poor little mite. His canulas sound horrid

LFTS - my DS is exactly the same and I've been wondering about reflux as well. He's generally being quite touchy at the moment and quick to screech (but then fairly easy to calm down, at least to just grizzly if not completely) I guess some sort of colicky/unsettled phase - he's 5 weeks tomorrow.

FN41 - a friend bought us the baby Einstein and it is the best present we have received! DS just loves it - loves bashing the dangly ladybird and just this week has become entranced by the flashing star. We're also trying to kid ourselves into thinking that he is learning French and Spanish as he plays - cat/le chat/el gato is incredibly useful after all

c4it - I've been living on chocolate as well and trying to wean myself off it gently. So the three things I've bought are nuts (easy to leave lying around in a bowl ready to grab), cherry tomatoes (again ready to eat) and malt loaf (a bit more faff unless you buy presliced, still a sweet hit but healthier than choc). Sadly the chocolate still tends to win, but at least I'm thinking about the healthy snacks occasionally...

Hello everybody and everybodies babies!

Hope you are all getting on ok - sorry, havent posted for an age but have been trying to keep up with the posts

Sending get well messages to all the poorly ones. How awful having to end up in hospital with precious LOs and glad they are back to health.

I have been struggling a lot with hormones and moodswings even though Dillon is such a good little boy - I feel so bad for him sometimes as I dont feel like a good mum to him.

The main issue just now is that I just can not go on with BF... Dont wanna post this on the feeding thread cos there are some martyrs to the cause on there and I know they wont want to advise on weaning from breast to bottle at 7 weeks so am looking for your good advice again. Looks like I am not alone on this from some of the latest posts!

Main question is how the hell do you cope with the engorgement? I am substituting one feed a day with a bottle of aptamil. I have been expressing a little so that my boobs dont explode and am noticing a definite drop in milk levels but when Dillon cries, they seem to fill up all of a sudden and then I am not feeding him from the breast and am not sure if expressing some is just making me produce more!!!

Have yet to talk to HV about this but we really REALLY dont get on and I KNOW she is convinced I have PND but I dont think I am depressed - just a little hormonal from time to time. It is also coming up to the anniversary of my mum's death (she died suddenly last year) so this aint helping.

I also feel really bad about giving up BF but LO is not satisfied and I feel really awful, am constantly exhausted and have lost so much weight cos he feeds 24/7. Adding a bottle here and there of formula has made him much happier baby and me too - DH is happy too since he doesnt have to come and get me if LO needs fed and there aint no expressed milk in the fridge/freezer. It has just caused a lot of heartache and I am totally torn between struggling to carry on out of guilt for being able to BF and now "choosing" not to and also, MIL and most of DH family said I wouldnt be able to do it and gave me NO support AT ALL - right down to saying they couldnt babysit during the week AND they wouldnt babysit at the weekend when DH and I were trying to arrange our 1st day out together even though they promised loads of babysitting before we told them we were BFing him... It does sound petty but the whole BF thing became a huge issue and there was a fight about it (how sad) which caused some prickly times between us all. I have no problem with people FF or BF - it is a personal choice. It was all them. They really REALLY had a problem with me BF (I know - I have already gone over this with you all before so will shut up now) but when they find out I am trying to get off BF and onto FF they will have a field day. Ah who f**king cares man.

Sorry for the long post!

Main question is, who is giving up the breast for the bottle and if you have managed or are managing to do so, how the hell did you control your boobies so they don't explode?

I have an image in my head of that old clip of Kenny Everette dressed as Rod Stewart with his bum inflating and him eventually floating away - that is how my boobs feel!!!

aw paranoid, what a horrible situation with the inlaws . I was dreading my work colleagues visiting and finding out i was ff my LO as I'd confidently been telling them all I planned to bf for 6months and absolutely hated the fact that they'd proved right when they were saying not everyone can do it. But although they may have thought "I told you so", at least they didn't say it.

Afraid I was quite lucky on the engorgement problem as i'd only been bf for 2wks before i gvave up. I was advised to take it gradually, replacing one feed a week with ebm. But I went cold turkey and the bulk of my milk dried up in 48hrs, then took another week or 2 for me to stop leaking at crying time. I think expressing a little is better, also had it suggested that you just relieve a little of the pressure in the shower by hand expressing some milk under the warm water. Hth a bit?

p1t, flying visit. kelymom best link here main thing i found when stopping with ds1 at 8 mths was it took time, i could only drop one feed about every 5 days without norkage explosions.

that whole 'we don't support you' from the ILs over BF really, really REALLY REALLY SUCKS . yaboosucks to them from me, hopefully on your behalf. tell me to butt out otherwise

merryberry Thanks for the link - excellent.

Yes - yaboosucks to them indeedy.

Paranoid - BF is so hard isn't it. If you have not yet made up your mind to give up it might be worth seeing if there is a Baby Cafe (][http://www.thebabycafe.co.uk/]]) near you - I found them really helpful and supportive when I was struggling and on the point of giving up. But at the end of the day you have to do what is best for you and your lo, which might end up being ff.

Baby Cafe link again www.thebabycafe.co.uk/

glam - glad the littleones ok

parinoid - dont feel guilty about stopping if its whats best for you. do you want to stop completly or mix feed? the dropping one feed every few days sounds like a plan, maybe you'll find a balance between the 2 that works (have no idea myself as i ff )

hi to everyone else, have a very windy baby who wants to sleep on me all day!! have 6 week check later. iz is still spotty and now has a head full of sand thanks to dd2

weather like this makes the lack of salary worthwhile for maternity leave

Wish me luck girls, off to the dentist this afternoon for the first time since i was 4 wks pregnant...dread to think what he'll find in my mouth considering how much sugar i've consumed (mainly since the birth!)

just back from gg's 1st doc visit. lord glam, all strength to you recovering from yours!

he really really found his hands yesterday, and was looking boss eyed at them and shovelling them both in mouth at same time to suck and in the process gulping loads of air. gave himself such huge burps he managed to inhale some posset. he had a croaky, fussy sad old night of it, but doc says his chest sounds clear and he's smiling and happy now, so no harm done.

except to sleep-deprived muggins here, who lept up with every sigh to check he wasn't choking on more possett!

clarify. gg found his hands, not the doctor

hello all,
just spent another night in hospital, this time with DD. She had been poorly for about a week but then yesterday got a raging fever and couldn't stop being sick, even though her tummy was empty, so it was yucky green bile . I whipped her down to A&E where we spent hours. The doctors and nurses were fab though. In the end they decided to admit her as she was so dehydrated and in pain. She spent the night hooked up to a drip and I spent the night trying to explain to the nurses why I was back 48 hours after leaving! I know it's not called this anymore but I started to get paranoid that they might suspect me of having Munchausens by proxy! And it was horrid being away from Charlie.
We're back now, thank goodness. No more hospitals for a while, I hope.

Hope everyone else is doing well. X

Oh Glam, you poor thing! Hopefully your run of bad luck is over now and you'll all be very well soon.

Have had a lovely weekend away in Cambridge and went into work today using one of my KIT days - really enjoyed it and can't wait to start doing my one day a week from home from next week.

Have posted a date suggestion on the meet up thread so Londoners please have a look, here.

The weather has been scorching today, Tilly hasn't really dealt with it very well, wasn't sure what to put her in so just stuck with vest/nappy and then took vest off and replaced with babygro as it has got cooler - hope this is ok, she doesn't seem too hot. All you mixed/formula feeders, what have you been doing regarding water in this heat?

The Griffinator has replaced gassiness with a raging cold, which I have too. I'm currently sporting a 102 fever. Fun stuff!

We took him to A&E yesterday b/c he had a really horrible coughing fit overnight that scared the crap out of me. I was quite sure it was just a cold/cough, but I figured with a 6 week old, you can't be too careful. They were really nice and didn't brush me off as a paranoid first-time mum. They stressed I should come back if I'm at all worried about him. That was comforting.

Today he seems better - snotty, but feeding better, ironically, than he has for some time. I suppose he's quite thirsty.

Anyhoo, will see how he is once his cold is gone. Perhaps the gassiness will have passed by then.

Hugs to Glam - what a horrible experience for you. Hope DD is feeling better.

MMH - I just had DS in a vest and nappy yesterday. I'm going to buy some rompers today as I think they'll be really useful in the summer. I think it all depends on how comfy the baby is - Leo doesn't seem to be a cold baby (only sleeps with a sheet and he never feels cold nor does he seem to complain of it) so this seemed fine for him. Having said that, my mum saw a newborn in the park yesterday who was wrapped in 2 blankets, so I guess it depends on the baby (and parents!)

Anyone heard from derah recently? I hope things have been going okay with her and DD2.

Griffinator , I like it.

How is it you spend months deliberating over the best name for your precious bundle of joy, and then within days of bringing them home you give them a daft nickname! Luke is often referred to as Pookie, which can evolve into Pookachoo

BF still going really well with me. Big hugs to everyone who is still finding their way with feeding. I've managed to bf in the open at Chessington and Winsdor Race Course. Feeling quite open about bf anywhere now. Hats off to those who are making up ff during the night, i struggle to get the boob out in time for ds, let alone making a bottle up!!!

Damn he's awake again! Best go....

Liking the weather, yes, particularly as we have found a really good pub that has a play area for DS and real ale for DH. It does feel like Evie has lived through 3 seasons in her first 6 weeks- with the clothes to match; from the pram suit the week she was born to the rompers yesterday.Can't sit in the garden tho' as I'm currently on day 2 of loitering round the house awaiting delivery of my new pram.So exciting! (So Sad am I).
And it looks like we've sold our house! I can stop doing housework! live like a slattern again! the bliss! Just got to find somewhere for us to live,DH arranged 2 viewings for us to look round houses yesterday evening and DS threw the most amazing wobbly cos we weren't going to the 'pubpark'. . I dread to think what he sounds like to outsiders. Like the youngest alcoholic ever probably.