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

[lilyloo]

Will that do

Thanks for the advice but i think i might have not explained myself clearly ( typical of me)

Re feeding waking cycle. During the day charlie will eat every 3 hours or so. I like to have her in bed by 7. So we have an evening eat dinner together etc.

Once asleep at 7pm charlie will sleep about eight hours before waking for a feed.

The thing is in the morning depending on when she wakes and how long she sleeps during the night she might wake up at a time that means her last feed would be 8pm (if she woke up at 8 am say) and i like to give her a bottle then bath her then put her to bed.

I dont want to wake her at 7am ezpecially if she had a feed at 5 as she wouldnt take it, if she doesnt want food she simply will spit the bottle out.

Spoke to health visitor today who said i was expecting too much charlie slept 7-3.40 last night then feed then through to 7.45am midwife said this was fine for an 11 week baby and the rest will come - so will be patient

Thanks for the advice re: sleeping bag. I have got one but I'm so concious of her getting too hot. Here's the thing..... (probably over wary parent so bear with me) When I put her to bed I have to swaddle her or she wakes herself up again. However, when she wakes in the morning she manages (after much grunting and groaning) to pull her arms out of the swaddle and then grab at the blanket pulling it over her head.

I want to be able to put her down without swaddling but it doesn't work... any ideas? Oh also if she's not swaddled (during the day) she sleeps with her arms above her head (kinda like "this is a stick-up") which makes her arms REALLY cold. (even with the sleepsuit on)

Lucky, Nathan sleeps with his arms tucked up like that when he is properly asleep and not about to wake. Means they are nice and chilled. Cold hands are normal in babies especially in the morning, two of them on your breast at 6am, nice .If you stick two fingers down dd's clothes you should feel the rest of her nice and warm.

Nathan is a very warm baby. In the pushchair he only wears a fleece jacket and a light fleece jacket (broke out in a sweat in the snowsuit), but he is fine in a grobag and does not overheat, as it leaves his head and arms to lose heat from. It sounds the right thing for your dd. You can always put it on a bit later at night if the house is very warm, I do that sometimes, but then Nathan does not properly go to sleep until about 10am.

That should read fleece jacket and fleece blanket, doh. And sorry, no advice re swaddling as I have never tried it with Nathan.

and i meant 10pm. you d think i am still preggers

have never swaddled charlie and she sleeps with arms over head or out to the sides like an aeroplane - dont know what we are going to do when she is touching the sides of her cot!! always has cold hands but the rest of her seems toasty enough

cold hands on tummy in the middle of the night, nice

fragolina - have heard that formula causes constipation in some babies? hope she goes soon

barristermum - well done for looking out for C, hope you are ok now? arnica for bruises x

gingeme - glad things are settling/staying down. hope birthday stuff goes well

hi to everyone else, got too far behind to catch up with you all...

H up once last night at 5, i think i had 7hours straight sleep, hooray{grin} longest since pg started messing with my sleep however many months ago...
and that was after his jabs so fingers crossed he is fine tonight too, fell asleep at 6.30 downstairs, i already had him ready for bed so just popped him into his cot when we went up with T. already feel a bit 'full' on one side tho so could be in for an uncomfortable night

went to a farm this morning with both boys, got rained on, played in sandpit, fed animals, had lunch (tho ds1 was losing it a bit by this point) then came home, ds1 slept for 2 hours, then dh took over
dh out most of tomorrow tho, boo, so hoping for sunshine and garden activities - sooo much easier out there!

sorry waffled on, best go!

amani to see lo has ear infection too. Samuel has ear infections too, horrid stinky stuff out of both ears (bright yellow). He has been everso clingy. Feeding been tricky as it hurts him to suckle but he is hungry and in pain so wants to suckle. BEen using calpol and giving him his antibiotics. Really hard on ds1 as his easter holidays and spet the entire week at home. Am not going ot brothers wedding tomorrow as baby poorly.

Have spent entire week feeling guilty for not giving ds1 the time he needs and wants. Basically been feeding, soothing, changing etc. Also no one else will do atm.

Hi ladies- sorry to hear some of the Lo's are poorly, Ruby was only under the weather for a day when she had her injections so not experienced it just yet!

My mom gave me some advice on constipation, because the poos are soft and they don't have strong muscle down there they find it hard to strain like us adults do.. so lying them on their backand pushing their knees against their bellies helps open the passage if you know what I mean, generally when we do it with Ruby you can actually see the stuff and within about5 mins of doing the exercises its open seseame!

You will all hate me but Ruby has slept through for the last 5 nights 8pm- 8.30am, she goes to sleep as soon as she is put in her cot... I feel human again!

Love to all xx

Afternoon all would also recomend grow bags we always use on on an evening when Martha in her cot with sheet and blanket.

Hi ladies, thanks for all the nice messages about fall. Would you believe later in the same day I went again in the rain when pushing the pram - I skidded on the wet pavement on a hill and had to cling onto the pram for dear life to stop it swinging into a busy road. Cerys was strapped into the pram and beyond a bumpy ride don't think she notices but now I have a brusie on knee to match bum. All this and I swear not a drop of alcohol inside me!

Re swaddling - we used to have to swaddle cerys but I got the impression that it was actually wriggling out of the saddle that woke her up and she might sleep longer if she could get used to no swaddle. So we started weaning her off by just putting 1 arm in the swaddle - she looked bizarre but still went off no problem We kept it like that for 5 nights or so and then she didn't need to be swaddled at all and we now use the growbags and she sleeps really well.

Nicky - have you thought of waking her at 10.30pm or 11 and feeding her then?

Naetha - meant to say - how nice to read nain and taid - we considered using those instead of granny and grandpa for cerys but in the end figured she was a little too far from her welsh roots and would only have to spend her life explaining it.

We saw a lady at lunch today who was 4 days overdue with her first - seems such a long time ago doesn't it?

Awen - sorry for illness.
Frag - am with you over Madmouse's day - phew!!
Katy - hope you had a quiet night.
love to all

Bluebell, Nathan likes to stand on my lap to do the dirty deed, pushing down on his legs and lifting his bottom. Dh calls it 'the rocket launcher', inspired by what comes next.

Have been concerned that he was not feeding as well during the day in the past week or so and that his trush was not clearing up. Gave him different medication yesterday evening and he started clamouring for food half an hour later and has really fed better today. Makes me to think he must have been quite uncomfortable. Looks like this stuff works then. Dactarin gel. Nystan was useless, horrible to give too(basically fill their mouth with some yellow goo four times a day. I swear it made the problem worse). He has just fed again and is now asleep. Am wondering how much colic was actually sore mouth??

We have been out for a long walk in the fields with DH carrying Nathan in the sling, facing outwards!! He did get a bit overstimulated towards the end so we turned him around so he could bury himself in daddy's chest. It was very windy and sunny, so a bit of an assault on the senses I guess.

BM & Naetha. My mum's parent's have always been Nain and Taid to me and they are going to be to Aaliyah (no-one seems to know what great nain or taid is) and also my mum is Nain E (cos her name is Eluned) and dad is grumps (he's not welsh) It's lovely - we're determined not to lose too much welsh with Aaliyah (or I am anyway)

DP's family have invited us to go to Gambia on holiday just before xmas. We've turned them down cos it was a nice gesture but it's gonna cost us around £1000, also Aaliyah would have to have 2 scary jabs (yellow fever and something) and I don't think she'd cope with the heat (I know I won't)

Aaliyah is asleep at the moment but we had another bad night last night. She went to bed around 11, woke at 3 and then 5:30. (sigh) I've bought her the 2nd milk today, we used to give it to her but it makes her constipated so i'm trying it as an evening bottle to see if it'll get her to sleep through without upseting her tummy.

Also can someone give me some advice on this? She's sick ALOT. She has a bottle and throws up around 1/2 of it during the next 3 hours till her next bottle. Surely this isn't good. She's putting on weight (now 12lbs 5, double her birth weight) but it can't be good. I s/w HV who said as long as she's putting weight on it's ok but I mean we go through 2 sets of clothes and about 6/7 bibs cos they get drenched. Not to mention the fact that she needs a bath EVERY night cos it's gone in her hair (esp like to puke when lying on changing mat) has anyone else had or got this?

Anyways enough yabbering - I'm going to bed.

Lucky, have you tried different brands of formula, also keeping her upright for half an hour after a feed?
If it happens when she lies down it may well be wind with the bubbles brining up the milk again. Nathan can be hard to wind and sometimes it helps to put him down for a few minutes (during which he sounds like he can't breath, with the wind stuck in him), then pick him up again and wind again.

Have you tried putting the head end of the cot higher than the bottom? Nathan has two fat books under the legs at the head end of the cot (although he is never sick, just has lots of wind).

Funny that what you describe as a bad night is normal here, albeit more like 6.30 than 5.30. Guess that is the difference between breast and formula.

lucky - Ds is very sicky too. DD was the same! Keep them upright as much as poss (always after feeds unless at night) and prop up top of cot so head higher than tummy. I always change Charlies nappy before a feed if poss as if you lie him flat it guarantees a spectacular vomit! Don't do tummy time either as the pressure on his tummy is another vomit inducer (plus he hates it!)
There is a powder that you can add to the formula which thickens it in their tummy so they don't bring up as much. Can remember name now but will pop back when it comes to me! Used it for a while with DD but then switched to giving her infant gaviscon (from GP) which helped. DS not quite as bad so just waiting for it to pass. Neither of them were/are bothered about the vomiting, both really happy babies and gained/gaining weight at a good rate. They grow out of it once they are sitting up by themselves! In the meantime I feel your pain with the constant changing of clothes (him and me!!) I have about 50 muslins and can often fill a whole machine load of sicky stuff at the end of every day

lucky - had thatwith charlie for a bit projectile vomitting a friend of mine advised burping after an ounce as it tends to be wind under neath that makes it all fly up, and infacol really helped us.

2 good nights with charlie. 7pm-3 and then 3 til 8am so hopefully that remains and then only one feed to drop tho get that magic 12 hour stint.

finding the baby weight hard to shift also still a bit achey in the fanjo area but have been told everything is fine.

baby salsa was good fun and i was sweating like a little pig at the end of it. will go again this week.

Hey ladies,

Nicky - I had a look at the salsababies website and it seems they are only in South LOndon, so on a mission to find something similar.

Lucky - not muchto add but wanted to say DS1 was the same we actually had to use a friends washing machine when visiting because we had used up all the spare clothes, luckily it was summer. DS2 isnt really sicky but I mostly feed him in his chair so he is sort of sitting rather than lying too flat and have doen for quite a while, but not sure it actually works as he isnt that sicky.

Lovely to see the alternative grandparent names. My boys call / will call my mum nana as that is what she has requested to be called, my dad dede as that is the turkish and dh parents dada and dadi which is bengali. DS1 is actually so cute when he sayd nana as he always puts his hands up to his mouth like he is calling for as we did this one day whilst waiting for her.

Had a breakthrough aswell as DS1 has just started calling me the Turkish word for mum rather than mum, but because he has only just learnt it he just says it constantly.

In other news have been doing my weight watchers since Tuesday and seems to be going well. Turns out my cousin is doing it too so that is nice to have someone to talk about diets to.

Have just had my hair straightened ready for a job interview tomorrow. It is a part time receptionist position so I can keep my childcare flexible rather than having to have DH family all the time. Problem is I have our holiday to Turkey booked for the whole of August so not sure when to mention that.

Bit peed off as one of the other roles I liked said I am over experienced for their reception role. I had been builing up my PA experience so now I want to go for recep roles as I think they will fit better with the children I am over experienced. The hours were brill as well.

Anyway have waffled enouhg

Take care everyone

good luck with job interview tom Mixedm
Nicky the salsa babies sounds good also sounds like it might help with the weight but can't find anything like that here either. Will def mention it to h/v as am sure lot's of mums would be interested. How many were there ?
Lucky as others have said prop the cot ? Am with you madmouse on the 'bad nght' though i am quite happy if dd does that routine!
Barristermum can't believe you fell again is your bp ok ?
Hope everyone else ok i am off to the caravan next week with dp and dc's , they are very excited i am as it's suppose to rain all week. Hey ho am sure we will cope.
Also just wanted to ask if any of you ladies have a mo to offer a word of support to feedmenow whose dd was still born and it's her funeral on Tuesday her thread is here and am sure a few kind words might help.
Take care all and see you next weekend

Hi (bye) lilyloo - have a fab time in the caravan, hope the rain holds off, some of the time at least.

Barristermum - are you eating enough? sleeping enough (haha). or just having a falling over day? hope bruises fading - arnica -

mixedm - bad luck with the other role, hope this one works out. so your LOs will have dede, dadi & dada? could be tricky...

lucky - lots of good tips on here, can't help much but best of luck ds1 was sicky but not that much.
silver lining - it meant he got attached to muslins so they became his comfort blanket which is fab as
a) you have lots
b) they are portable
c) you can always buy more when you are out in an emergency
(sure there are more)
have now refined it to blue for ds1 and white for ds2.

madm - like the rocket launcher
at least the new meds are working
oh and tried ds2 outwards the other day, was fine for a but too then got tired so turned him round for a sleep.

bluebell - lucky you with sleep

ds2 waking once a night atm, hoping he will go back to sleeping through again soon, have had 3 nights so far.
bil & his family here so shouldn't be on here really, is it rude do you think to have laptop on lap while we watch tv and i post on here???

(oh and they told PIL about emigrating, there were tears, mil hasn't rung us yet to discuss...)

Hi ladies. Ive skimmed through the thread sorry for no personals tonight Ive had a tough few days
My big boys went home today. Gonna miss them. They just seemed to have grown up so much since Christmas
ds5 has been just fantastic with his sleeping and luckily his tummy upset earlier in the week didn't turn into anything nasty. ds3 on the other hand has turned into the devil child He started to get over his gasterenteritis Friday. Just in time for his birthday party. Which was briliant. Two of his friends rang to say they couldn't come due to this tummy bug though. But hes has been having some disgusting tantrums. Just screaming and screaming for no aparent reason. The worst one was Friday am where he just woke up screaming took a good 45 mins to calm him and get him back to bed. Last night he did the same. I wish I knew what was wrong with him.
He was soooooo tired today. He had a little sleep on our bed and seemed a little better for it. We went out for dinner for his official birthday then went to Nannys house and he seemed fine.
Sorry to rant on I just hope this is a faze and it is soon passed.
Well enough of my troubles.
Off to bed soon got lots of housework to do tomorrow.
Take care all xxxx

Gingeme - could he be having night terrors? Or is the screaming starting when he is already awake?

Ok-ish weekend here...Tamara did 3 nights in a row from 7-7.30am with just a bottle of ebm at 11pm (9 weeks old, so it can be done by breastfed babies too!! ) and then, just as I was starting to think we'd cracked it we had a bad night on sat night. Mainly our fault..Tamara wouldn't take any of her bottle at 11, then we didn't go to bed until midnight as dh needed to talk about his father a bit, then ds1 had a nightmare at 3am, and again at 4am, then Tamara woke at 5.30 really hungry but insisting on a breast not a bottle feed. Would still have been manageable, but it took until 6.45am to get her to settle again. At least she then slept until 8.30 and ds slept until 9am, so we caught up a little bit at the end of the night. Even so, we both felt like total poo all day yesterday!

I took ds to a birthday party in the afternoon and left dh in charge of Tamara with a bottle of ebm for her afternoon feed...was a bit risky as she refused a bottle completely the only other time we tried that, but this time she took 3ozs, not amazing but enough...She's got a proper snotty cold, caught from her big bro, which is probably making feeding and sleeping harder as well.

Anyway, back to a 6.30am wake up this morning. She's so regular (6.34am precisely, except at weekends) that I'm beginning to suspect the milkman is waking her....we may try cancelling our milk for a week or so to see if that makes any difference....

Morning ladies.
Hi filly your lo sounds realy settled now.
Well what a difference a good night sleep makes. All ds's bathed and in bed by 7.30. dh and I off to bed at 10pm. ds5 woke at 3 drank 6oz went back to sleep till 6.34am.
Not a peep out of ds 3 and 4 til 7.15 am and ds3 is his usual lovely little self today.
What a difference.
Right I think the floors dry now. Take care all. Enjoy the sunshine

mm and ll there is also another compant called congaroo that do the salsa and they are also looking to set up franchise - mm could be the answer to job and weight loss

me feeling the same on weight i like to be 9and a half stone was a bit more tan that when i got pregnant i put on nearly 3 stone and noww 11. went shopping as charlie christening in 2 weeks came home and cried as i decided i looked awful.

went to exercise class today - noone else turned up so had a 1 hour personal trainer session! i think my body will ache tomorrow. but am determined to lose at least a stone by the summer. its only a pound a week!!!!!!

Just checking in, had great trip to folks - Alek was very good in his car seat on the 300 mile journey and slept most of the time, we stopped every 2 hours for me to feed him so journey took 7 hours... Had a good rest at parents. Mum took over on Saturday and I slept all afternoon! he also slept brilliantly in the travel cot so a big relief all round. I sppose when they get older travel becomes more of a hassle as they get bored!

Have reverted to giving him a formula feed as well as a breastfeed at 11 and he sleeps for 4 or 5 hours straight. I could not stand the waking every 2 or 3 hours, so it is much better for my wellbeing!

However he has generally been quite frustrated feeder when I am BFing him. He squirms a lot, and kneads and punches my boob and sometimes pulls off which really hurts, and it seems to be getting worse. Does anyone else have a LO who does this? I worry that the bottle is interfering with things...

Dh off this week as well so we can chill out together. Bought LO a door bouncer today and he loved it! still a bit young for it, only leave him in it for a few minutes so far. He really loves "standing" though.

Ange - My HV said they can't use those till at least 7 months but Ali loves standing too. Were there any problems with him being in there?

Thanks for all the advice on the sicky thing. I've started feeding her sitting up but it doesn't seem to be making much difference. She's happy enough so i'll just make do with the LOADS of washing for now.