January 08 shiny new - year babys , tired mums and dads!

[lilyloo]

Will that do

hi to people posting today we haven't heard from in a while

how many weeks is Henry now katy? Alek fed at 10.30 and 2.30 last night then thru til 7 ... not too bad but I was wakeful last half of the night and had weird dreams, so feel really sleepy today.

Got appt for coil. I was thinking about the Mirena one but decided against. Hormonal contraceptives turn me into a psycho .

Hi Ange - Henry is 11 wks tomorrow. Tom started sleeping through at 10.5wks

I've been having really weird vivid dreams too - i often do but these are more so than normal. keep trying to remember them to tell dh but by the time he wakes up they're gone...
I have chickened out re coil so far, have prescription for minipill must try to get it this week.

was thinking...if i want to ttc when henry is 24months old and he is approaching 3months now, then that's only 21 months left to be 'safe' for, and (if i'm being honest here) we return to 'normal' activities then it's almost not worth it to worry about contraception , ah well, will give the pill a try.

Awen - so glad to hear the repair work has been done, hope you recover quickly so you can get going on ttc your no3.
well done on still feeding, will you be ttcing & cosleeping at the same time?
the housing market seems to be picking up a little so good luck with house selling.

hi filly (fluffy) - hope you all get more sleep tonight. poor dh, tis v hard to hide away when toddler wants to play. well done T on rolling, will have to have words with H!

hi Letsgo, pop back again soon.

got fed up with dh earlier, i was on phone to my sis (who lives in france and we don't speak as often as we should) and he announces he's off to get a spanner to fix a leaking tap...ds1 is in highchair nearly finished his tea, ds2 in bouncy chair nearly ready for a feed, wtf?
so i finish phone call, finish ds1s tea, feed ds2, and basically fix tap by twisting it shut with rubber gloves on (handy trick for anything slippy).
then he turns up with friend's spanner to 'save the day'
ah well, tried to let him to bathtime on his own but he was pretty useless at that too
of course he has to meet friend at pub to return spanner so now have peace

hi guys
glad everyone doing so well - its hard to work out what lo are doing what at what stage as i can never remember how old they are - and which order we had them all in!!

so to try to help i will put charlie's age in ( )
Anyway charlie (10.5 weeks) has just changed her sleep pattern to one i like less very annoying, has started doing 7-2 2-7, but is now doing 7-2, 2-5.30 5.30-8.30.

Anyway charlie also doing the sucking hand thing all the time which ironically makes it harder for her to go to sleep in the evening as she cant get her hand/finger/thumb in sufficiently to soothe herself so eventually gets a bit grouchy instead of drifting peacefully off to sleep as she used to do.

ANyhow - am going to try some exercise classes this week and also salsa with baby. christening in a month and am determined to lose some of this last stone and a bit. ( having just eaten a jam doughnut)

hello all!

George is another baby that has his fist in his mouth continuously! He is also dribbling alot....hmmm we will see. Had him weighed friday 15lb 8...so almost the same as you Awen?!

Lillyloo - I use the tommee tippee closer to breast too, and they do an anti colic bottle, might be worth a try?

Swimming went well...I was told the pool was 28 degrees....yeah right!! George was a bit shocked when we first got in, but i went in gradually...and he seemed to like it...was in there for about 5 minuted and thought he might start to get a bit cold...so did 3 "1,2,3" and unders with him and he was fine...loved it! So im going to sign up for aqua babies classes locally.

Does anyone wake their lo for a feed before going to bed? George will sleep from about 8-1.30-2, after having a bottle at 7, but dont know if to try and wake him at 10.30-11 to top him up and see if he will go longer? just seems mean to wake him up? He feeds quite quickly in th enight, so im up at 2 an dback in bed in 30-40 mins, so dont know if to let him just find his own feet?

Bluebell - I did the painting of the feet for his nursery today!! Tried with the hands, but once they were painted, he wouldnt open his fist and was worried about him putting it in his mouth, so abandoned hands, and just did feet

I have decided to stop breats feeding, so am going through the boob explosion feeling...any tips?? Have tight sports bra on, have had cabbage leaves in ( dont know if this works when giving up liek it does when milk comes in?) and have taken paracetomol? Any other tips?

Hope everyone is well xxx

Nicky6 - I am thinking about Georges christening, but worrying about offending people when asking godparents!! My family have been so good, so dont know if i should be asking sisters..but have 2 best friends that i would like ot have , but your supposed to have a couple of godfathers for boys?? Aghhhhhhhhhhh just dont know?? How are other people deciding? Obviously as im on my own, i do have men friends, but not sure if close enough to make godparents?

Beller - I'm technically still BFing Aaliyah although she only gets one feed a night. I found the best way to stop a boob explosion (hurt like hell for the first 2 days) is to gradually swap BF for formula. EG: if baby normally feeds every 2 hours then BF every 4 and give bottle in the between ones, then slowly faze it out - Dunno if this will help or if you even want to try it but thought i'd give you my 2 pence worth.

Aaliyah's hand is going further and further in. Went to Mothercare today and bought a teether ring you put in the fridge which seems to be helping.

Susie - if Sabela likes sucking your fingers I saw a glove in Mothercare that's designed to be worn whilst sucked (has some kind of pattern that soothes the gums?)

Aaliyah's milestones so far are - smiling, sitting pretty much without help and stands for ages as long as you have your hands to stop her falling sideways. It's lovely. Although she WILL NOT lie on her stomach - hates it and screams if I even start to turn her over. Also screams if we try and lie her down while she's awake (nosy mare)

Does anyone watch whos line is it anyway (US version on sky) there's an irish drinking song on there and everytime it's on (or we sing it to her) she gives off the biggest grins ever!!

Anyways gotta go - she wants food AGAIN!!

Quick question for bottle feeders - once i've put bottle through steriliser can I put it all together ready for when she wants feeding or will it not stay safe?

Evening ladies

Gingeme poor ds hope he on the mend soon. Well done to George can't say i am not

Lucky i think i can see white marks under Martha's gums today so maybe we have an early bunch

Hi Susie do you know am but have lost track how many weeks she is. Am sort of working on from her birth date so will say 3 months on 18th April. Am with you on the not looking forward to teething how quickly you forget.

Hey mixedm hope you ok , have seen your other thread things are still not sorted hope you can find an answer whether it be your dad or not, must be so hard.

Madm how sweet getting Nathan to see his first snow , i have a lovely pic of ds in hisfirst snow.

oooh barriastermum sounds abs lovely and not long too wait. Will you leave Cerys with listening service to have a break ?

ooh Bluebell can't believe you did it , and that ledto talk of another and dd slept so long asnd you had your first drink in nearly a year all on one night

Dotsie wow Patrick seems to be doing really well. The allotment sounds lovely maybe you can do us all veggie boxes when you get organised

Katy well done on the mammoth clean , would never dream of cleaning loft , your house must be spotless ! Well done on getting a full night ad doing the deed. Like dh spanner escapade guess good excuse for ening up in pub

Awen lovely to see you well done on the bf and co sleeping. We knocked the co sleeping on the head as i kept waking up wit stiff arm and neck although still bf. Another one ttc great think that's 3 of you now!

Hey (fluffy) sorry to hear dh still so it takes time i guess but he will get there. Well done you for being so strong for him and also Tamara for being such a good girl, can't believe she rolling over already!

Hey Ange considered coil how often do you need to go for that ?

Nicky with you on the trying to loose weight whilst still eating junk Also we are having the sleep patterns changed for the worse so much sympathy. Wow the salsa class sounds great tell us more!

Beller so glad swimming went well he sounds like real water baby. Aree you just reducing one feed a day or going cold turkey? I just let Martha wake when she ready so don't do dream feed but others do not sure if it works any better.

We booked christening today. I had asked my sisters but one has decided she doesn't want to do it (long story) so am having my sis and her husband. We had to go to priests house and go through christening booklet for an hour (catholic)
Beller you may have more dc's so don't worry i had my best friend and my sis husband for ds , then my dp's brother and two sis for dd1 and then my sis and her dh again for dd2.
Ds party went ahead as snow melted so thank goodness that's over as he has been so excited for days he has worn himself out

Hi Lets go, i know it's flying isn't it, congrats on baby Oliver.

LOL on the age thing Lilyloo - I've been asked so many times in the street (Aber is that sort of place) and had to screw up my eyes and think about it that now I always make sure I know before leaving the house. Ditto her weight...

Hello everyone!

Sabela slept from 1-7 last night. Unfortunately i still woke up fpr her usual 4 o'clock feed and spent the next three hours waking up every 20 minutes - without wanting to - to check her

Morning ladies a quick one from me.
Another 8-6 from George last night if he does it again tonight thats his routine
ds3 has gasterenturitis hes drinking Diaralyte now which he hasn't brought up yet so hopefuly on the mend. I said I'd get him a comic today and hes giving his orders what one he wants so I think that a good sign
Taking the big boys swimming tommorrow with ds4. Atleast do something with them.
Sorry havn't read through but hope all is ok xxx

Ginge,what a misery with sore tummies, hope it improves soon

Nathan had an old fashioned night of colic which I found harder to deal with not having had it for a week. He fell asleep at 10 on a half empty tummy, woke at 10.40 to tank up, kept me busy on and off until 11.30, but then did 3.40, 7am and 10am was a bit surprised when I woke up. He was awake from at least 9 though, I was vaguely aware of his excited sounds, but he is very good at occupying himself in his cot.

He has just gone down for a nap. The baby whisperer book is helping me to read his cues better and realise that two hours of playing by ourself, feeding, interacting with me and DH and the rabbit toy attached to my bed, then topping and tailing is enough to tire him out.

By the way, I have so much milk that I have just given him a full feed from the 'wrong' side. He is satisfied, but I am rather full on the right .Now planning to go on breast feeding until he is established on solids.

for some reason am feeling tired out today although charlie did her usual 7-1.30, 1.30-5.30, 5.30-9 and i went to bed by nine thirty ten but anyway.

annoyingly i got dressed and psyched up for an exercise class but when i arrived i was the only one there so class is not happen but they are giving me a free one next week.

I will try salsababies this week, you basically dance salsa with baby in sling thing looks like a bit of fun. they do them all over the place go on to website and see if one near you.

beller i went pretty much cold turkey and just expressed the odd oz when i couldnt bear it or just before i went to bed.

God parents yes very tricky - we are god parents to a few lots of children which made it even worse, i chose my sister and dh chose an old friend - am sure we have upset lots of people.

charlie bit grizzly today and little mouth looks bumpy on the gums poor thing.

also meant to say beller that re bottles and sterilizing you will find it on all our lists of bad parent things we do.

i sterilize all bottles in the morning and put the boiled water in them and leave them at room temperature. Then when she wants a feed i just add the powder give it a shake and 20secs in the microwave.

i know very bad mum x

i have been swapping BF for formula feed, so wasnt complete cold turkey and they are much better today, thanks

I do the same Nicky6, so im as bad as you

Gingeme - hope ds3 is better soon xx

Lilyloo - what an amazing catchup! Ladies, I feel we have found our replacement MrMac!!! (Although Katy does a damn good job too !!)

Beller - I think Gingeme mentioned that cold remedies with pseudoephedrine in them (like sudafed and lemsip) are good at reducing milk supply. But otherwise, Lucky's suggestion of dropping one feed at a time (usually about 3 days apart, although that does feel a bit slow) gives your body a chance to adjust without going into meltdown. I'm of the "wake to feed" school, so we give Tamara a bottle of ebm at around 11pm - although she doesn't really wake for it, and we do it pretty much in the dark...in fact the whole thing (about 5ozs) takes less than 10 mins including winding and resettling most nights. She is now going 7-11, 11-6.30/7 almost every night...its also reassuring because if she wakes during the night I know she's not hungry and she will resettle herself within a minute or so, without me worrying about going in. I must say, not getting out of bed between 11pm and 6.30am makes a big difference to how I feel about the world

Gingeme - sorry to hear about ds3, but well done on George's nights! Very impressive!! Are you managing to get some quality time in with ds1 and 2?

Katy - @ your dh! Bless...

Susie - sounds like Sabela has hit another growth spurt maybe? Can you squeeze in an extra feed or half feed before she goes down in the evening? Maybe that would help get her back to one feed a night?

Nicky - how annoying about the class...thats happened to me and its such a downer. I really want to hear all about the salsa babies class...please report back

I'm with all of you on trying to lose weight whilst keeping crappy eating habits...been really good all day, then just eaten half a bag of pretzels, 3 large rice cakes, a bag of 'be good to yourself' crisps and a mini dairy milk, all while catching up on Mumsnet ....all of those would have been ok on their own, but probably not in a single sitting ...must try harder! I went to the gym last week for the first time in 5 months and did an 'abs and back' workout class. 2 things to report back...a) I couldn't find my abs at all, so embarrassingly couldn't actually do half the excercises at all and b) I was in agony down my sides all weekend...!!

So I finally went in and had a 1:1 session today with an instructor to plan out my cardio training...its a bit scary but if I can get there twice a week (I think I can arrange childcare cover for an hour or so twice a week) then hopefully I'll start to see some improvement soon. Since I can't properly diet until I stop bf-ing, hopefully going to the gym will incentivise me to eat a bit more healthily ? Apparently the reason my sides were killing me is because our abs move properly apart towards the end of pregnancy, so now I need to bring them back together again....

OK, off to feed madam, bath sir and madam, do bedtime story things and pack 'em off to bed...and apologise to dh that I forgot to buy dinner this afternoon....oops...

Hello everyone

Has been ages since I last posted - we are in South Africa and only just got to my parents house, we had no internet access at my inlaws' house. Looks like everyone is doing well with some even sleeping through the night! I'm very impressed with that - my dd still wakes up at least once, but then she is a little thing (about 5.5kg) so I guess it's to be expected.

We've had an absolutely brilliant time here and it's been wonderful introducing DD to all her family. I'm so jealous of all of you who have family nearby!

The three weeks at the inlaws was crazy as my SIL was getting married so we had masses of family out from Italy for that. Lots and lots of babysitting help!
We had DD baptised on Easter Sunday which was wonderful. She was so good and didn't make a fuss at all when she was baptised. We had a big party afterwards which was great fun and she seemed to enjoy it too - smiling and giggling at everyone! It was a really special day.

We've taken DD swimming in the pool a few times which she seems to enjoy. The dogs found it hugely interesting too and were very keen to jump in and join the fun! Also put her toes in the sea but she was a lot less keen on that idea - maybe when she's a little bigger.
She has also learnt to sleep in the middle of noise and complete chaos - my PIL had 15 people for dinner the third night after we got there and it just kept increasing until we got to 35 the day before the wedding. We put DD in the quietest part of the house, but it was still pretty noisy but she has been wonderful at coping with it all. Better than her mother I might say - at times I was pretty grumpy about all the noise!

Anyway, we are now at my parent's house which is much quieter as there is only 3 of us here! (Although my mom seems to have gone deaf and turns the television up LOUD!) We're here until the end of the month and I've been promoted from no internet access to a dial up modem only so will probably still be a rather infrequent poster as it takes forever to load the pages.

Oh, and DD is also sucking her fist a lot and drools like anything so might also be onto the teething thing. I thought it was too early for that - hope she doesn't take to biting if it is teeth!

Susie that's so typical isn't it , we wait for them to sleep through then we can't through worrying about them.

Gingeme hope ds 3 is feeling better soon and way to go George what a good boy

Madmouse might be coming to you then for moral support to keep up with the bf as i would like to continue if we can.

Nicky shame about exercise class but the salsa babies sounds great will def look it up.

Beller good to hear the boobs have calmed down now

Filly thanks. Good on you getting back at gym already , have heard that about getting your stomach muscles back to meet in the middle before, think mine gave up the ghost a long time ago

bwmum sounds like your having a fab if hectic time. Can't believe you in south africa now it's freezing here keeps snowing. Martha also sucking her fists , or her gloves should i say as if she doesn't have them on she scratches herself to bits.

Hope everyone else ok , i feeling very stressed out after day 1 of half term and kids complaining of being 'bored' already!

Evening ladies. Thankyou for all the get well wishes. Im pleased to say he seems much more himself today . He still slept loads but actualy ate an ice lolly and half a slice of bread and butter and kept them down. Lots of Diaralyte too.
Taking ds1,2 and 4 swimming tommorrow. I feel bad not doing much with them because of ds3 being poorly. I dyed ds1's hair black yesterday. He's nearly 14 and is a bit of a Goth. Hes normaly a mousy brown and it quite suits him.
George has been a bit grumpy today. Not sure why. He is also sucking his fists alot and dribbling. Surely they can't all be teething this early! Mind you ds3 got his first tooth at 4 months old so could be.
Well dh has gone up the pub which has realy peed me off (long story) so Im off to bed I think.
Night all xx

Just a quick note before bed (Aaliyah's finally gone to sleep) is anyone else getting peed off with their DP/H's for not doing enough?
DP seems to think that cos he works 10-7 he should be able to sleep all day and expect me to watch Aaliyah and keep the house spotless, not to go out at all and not to wake him up till at least 8pm (even though he's in bed most mornings by 8am?!) GRRR

Gingeme - I don't know if that's the reason you're peed off. Glad to hear DS is getting better.

Anyways off to bed - just hope tonight she sleeps through cos i'm knackered and have parent and toddler grp tomorrow. Don't want to look like can't cope.

Yes lucky thats exactly why . All that plus having an ill nearly 4 year old and a very very clingy 17 month old and when he is home all he seems to do is sit on the f*ing pc
He asked before he went out'do you mind if I go out?'. I answered 'whats the alternative looking at the back of your head while your on the pc?'.
Night all xxx

Gingeme , Lucky sorry your dp's not pulling their weight.
What about arranging a few hours out for yourselves this weekend and leaving them to it, maybe then they might appreciate just how hard it is for you ?
Have to say my dp has been really good he get's up when Martha is up at 6.30 so i can stay in bed until 8 and he also does bathtime so that gives me an hours break.
That's all you need really it's not like you want them to do it all i'm sure but just ten minutes for them to take over so you can have shower, brush your teeth, read a magazine, have a cup of tea anything in peace!

That's exactly it Lilly - Take today for example. Aaliyah didn't go to bed till late last night and was up at 4am!! She's been really niggly all morning and has only just now gone down for a nap but has he offered to take her for me for a while? NO! anyways i'm going to baby club today followed by tea at my parent's so at least I know i'll be able to have a little time later.

hello,
no time for proper catch up but wanted to say hi as not posted in ages!
All well here, Charlie still fantastically easy going and happy - am enjoying him so much
Still managing to mixed feed but not BFing in the night now. BF from both sides before giving a bottle at every feed during the day which takes ages but means he is still getting some breast milk. Am amazed i've managed to last this long with my feeble supply but feel like its gradually slowing down so think it will be formula only before long, will see how it goes.
He is still sleeping for hours in the day too - long may it last!!
Hope all is well with your lovely babies

Toby sleeps for hours during the day too. Has been flat out for 2 hours this afternoon. He loves his bouncy chair with activity arch over it and that soon wears him out and he goes back to snoozeville soon after! .
I've finally managed to upload a couple of photo's of him onto my profile.He's such a happy baby, always smiling.

Gosh, I'm totally lost now!! What happened guys, I don't read this thread for one day and whoosh, all these posts! Great though, esp to hear from those who have been a bit quiet lately.

Had 2nd imms yesterday, so quite knackered. Was a nightmare, DH said he'd give me a Tana a lift to the GP, then phoned up 20 mins before he was due home to say he was tied up in meetings. I then had to really rush to get us ready, and was planning to take the bus...BUT had no change, and nearest cashpoint is past GP, so decided to walk with the pushchair.

Went to get pushchair out of garage - no sign of it. Its still in DHs car from the weeknd. So bundled Tana into sling, legged it to GPs and made it on time .

After her imms, then had to manhandle her back into wrap sling, she wasn't amused and so threw up everywhere (incl on mean nurse's floor ) but also on me and the sling. Quick mop up and we were on our way. Stopped at the shops to get cash out and change for bus. Waited at bus stop, and waited, bus 20 mins late, and it started to rain (had forgotten umbrella in mad dash), so used my coat to shield lo. Finally rain stopped, bus came and I got home ok.

Horrible!!!