April 2008 - the one where Scorpio and Millie show us all the 'through the night' trick

[Scampmum]

Sorry if someone else has already started one - couldn't find it!

Much better night last night, maybe due to gripe water?

Hi Scorpio Pleased to hear everything is OK with you & that Mimi´s sleeping well, it´s great to feel semi-refreshed in the mornings I know it sounds horrible but yes, we´re really pleased that it´s the mildest form as hopefully it means that he´ll be able to attend the same school as DS1, which is also the one we work at. However, that´s a way off yet so we´ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Unfortunately I´ve got to go back to work in Sept and feel dreadful about it but we can´t afford to pay the mortgage if I don´t I know Sam will be fine it´s just me having to deal with the guilt. Especially as I had 3 years off with DS1 because we were only renting so could live off one salary.

Anyway, have to go for now. DS1 wants to play on the computer, will try and log in again later. Great to be back with you again

Sorry Soph, xposted and then had to deal with DS. Fab news about sleeping through, so what's the secret, huh?? Must be doing something for two to do the same
Had a quick lookup of mosaicism & downs - sounds like he's doing really really well, you must be v proud , it's so lovely when they're gurgly and smiley isn't it. I love seeing DP make DS giggle before his bathtime in the weekends (DP takes over), makes me go all 'awwww' inside.

Thank you very much for the passport info, PAL. Problem is the extention of the indef leave to remain requirements - we were supposed to get it (ILR) this June, with our passports next June. The Government's decision to apply it retrospectively has already been ruled illegal for the visa extension requirements, but the extention to the ILR is expected to be changed back to the original time frame (for those already in the program - new applications will fall under the new rules) in June next year. For those of us that should have received the ILR in Jun 06, they'll take that into account (or that's per all the lawyers involved in the cases and according to them according to draft govt plans as well), so we'll still get our passports at the same time as when it would have been issued originally. I suspect this means we will have to pay the additional £600 to get Roelof's visa as tecnically we still don't have ILR now. Damn.
This also means we'll have to pay the £200 or whatever for Roelof's US visa which wouldn't have been necessary if he had a British passport. Urgh.
Hmm - just reread this - sorry for the rant, and I realise it sounds ungrateful... I think it's more because of the fact that for so long I had this deadline in my head and now everything keeps changing, then changing back, then changing...

Hi Soph. Sorry, took me so long to type my prev message that I missed about half a page! Sam sounds adorable. I had a brief glimpse of this sleeping-through-the-night-life, but Roelof's back to waking up at 3... You quite clearly know the trick though if it works for 2 of them!

Ben's back from his second round of immunisations, he was sooooo good! Barely a squeak. I got it wrong thinking there were three needles this time, it was just the two - three next time. Clinic took forever, it was very very hot and completely jammed, so I definitely deserved the chocolate icecream I have just consumed while feeding B. Too bad he's too young for it - I'm sure he would like it, not that the little chubster needs extra calories - he's jumped back to just under the percentile he was born at: 91st
Thought he'd been hungry recently

Ladybee, hope Ben feels happy for rest of the day too. Roelof got a bit groggy after his first lot, but was fine after the second batch.

That choc icecream sounds lovely! I've been eating Marie biscuits all day because I can't be bothered to cook. Will do something decent for dinner.

Does anyone know if babies' way of digestion change even if food not? I haven't been doing anything different, but R's been having the worst constipation the last couple of days, and it really seems to distress him. And I try everything - baths, massages, water, etc etc, and then when he does eventually go, it's, well, quite shocking (as in carry an extra piece of clothing with kind of shocking...) I'm hoping it will sort itself out.

Woohoo! Two radio interviews, two paper interviews and two lots of photos

Not now darlings!

pmsl

you'll be going all media on us now. you need some big big sunnies and you must rename Alex as Tarquin.

was it good fun??

Had a listen VS - you were great!

hey everybody. It has taken me ages to find you all and post. THings have been pretty crazy since ds2 was born. Hope everyone else here is well, have only had time to flick through posts.
We have had one hell of a stressful time here. Not sure if any of you have seen my other posts but ds2 failed the newborn screening and has since been diagnosed with a pretty significant hearing loss (severe/profound in one ear and looks like moderate in the other). I took it pretty bad and have only lately got my head around it. I'm kind of prone to stress/depression type things just with my neurotic nature! Things are on the up tho and we have all got used to it; there is no reason that ds2 won't develop normal language whether it be with hearing aids or cohlear implants. We are getting the moulds done for his aids today which is pretty scary. Our support worker has even asked that he is retested cos her observations showed every part of his presentation to be age appropriate and even advanced so she wants to be sure on the test results. Certainly not getting my hopes up tho.

As for what caused it... who knows?! nothing in our families, i'm 25 and dh is 27 so hardly past it. got have have hundreds of tests which is the most scary thing as hoping little one doesn't have any medical probs... touch wood all looks ok so far. there is a chance it may be from an infection when i had a prom at 31 weeks... who knows?

sorry this is all about me but i wanted to explain why i have been awol for 3 months!!!!i hope everyone is well... so much more to write but just don't have the time!! will try to get on here more often!

Hi paranoidmummy. Sorry to hear you've had such a rough time lately, but glad to hear you sound so positive now! Good luck with everything, thinking of you. xxx

PM.
So sorry to hear about your DS, would it be patronising to say that at least it's something able to be worked around?

DD s undergoing assessment for Dyspraxia and though it fucking hurts to hear your child isn't perfect and does have something wrong I'm holding on to the fact that we can teach her how to work round it and she should be able to have a happy successful life in spite of it.

Nice to hear from you, I was a bit worried something was wrong as you hadn't posted.

Scorpio

Alex will be in the paper probably tomorrow, they took pics of me with him on my lap and everyone else sat behind me. Did you hear the interview? I sounded like a man!!hahaha!!

Having a bit of a rough time today.

SENCO appt yesterday was hard; Millie seems to be crying alot today, DH's work is going a bit wrong & i have done Millie practically alone since Saturday. I'm supposed to be going out tonight......

I seem to have a million things to do; handed in TC final figures yesterday, think we may be due for more money but im anxious if we are - i need a bit of money to clear some stuff at mo...not important stuff but important enough.

Also not sure if im pregnant - or just PMTish.

VS, I'm so sorry for bombarding you with questions all the time, but may I (again) ask you something, please - I'm desperate. Roelof now won't take my breast at all. Not even suck. Screams blue murder, arches his back, everything. I can't even remember it being this difficult when he was just born. And I tried waiting till he's really hungry, but then he just cries more and gets really cross / anxious. It's a vicious circle, because as a result I've almost got him completely on formula these last couple of days. I don't want to stop breastfeeding completely, but wonder whether I should just admit defeat. At least I know where I went wrong and not to repeat it with next one??? I've tried calling the breastfeeding helplines just now, but couldn't get through to someone. Will try again. I can't really afford private consultants now - have checked, they cost £70 per visit, and recommend a couple. I'm so cross with myself.
Hmm, sorry - what I meant to ask - how on earth do I get him to at least suck again? It was fine the other day, now nothing...

Sorry Scorpio, missed your post there. Good luck - I feel stupid for moaning about rubbish now. xxx

tis not rubbish, my shit is rubbish compared to yours!

Have you tried skin-to-skin, go to bed together, bath together, basically be naked on top with him?

Ring your local childrens centre, they should have a BF person - mine comes out within minutes, lol!

Yes, I've done all the skin to skin things, and he seems really happy and content next to me, but just won't suck. At all. So when he gets hungry, he gets upset. I've even taken to walking around the flat in just my bra (blinds closed - wouldn't want to scare the poor neighbours to death just yet) so that when I hold him, we're closer. But nothing.

Good idea about the children's centre - I didn't think about that, but ours is usually really great. Thanks.

Of course you can ask!

It sounds like nipple confusion, well, that's what it's called but they aren't really confused just find it easier with the bottle.

Keep calling the BF helplines until someone answers, tell them you're desperate and that it's really important.

Don't underplay it, the more serious it seems the quicker they'll get someone out to you.

Have you tried posting in breast&bottle-feeding on here? You might be able to find a bfc near you that will come out, I know that most people will say the same as me though, you need real life help.

Try, as Scorpio says, going to bed, keep him next to you, skin-to-skin and try hand expressing a little into his mouth when he isn't hungry, he needs to relearn to latch and won't do that when he is hungry It is perfectly possible to back to exclusive breastfeeding from now if you want to, you just need to have the strength to not use bottles as a fall back for a few days, hard, but not impossible.

My email is fan-fkn-tastic @ hotmail .co.uk btw if you need to ask me anything and i'm not here, that's also my msn instant messenger which is pretty much always on.

NEW THREAD HERE AS THIS ONE IS NEARLY FULL

Hi all. Ladybee & Sal - I have no idea what the trick is with having 2 sleeping through the night, it just happens!!
Paranoid - sorry to hear about LO but at least things seem to be getting sorted. I know it´s difficult getting your head around these things though.
Scorpio - have a hug

Got to go for now as LO has just woken up so feed time. It´s just one huge round of feeding, washing, tidying up. I´m surprised I get anything else done Especially as we´re looking afer a friends house at the mo while they´re in England. We´ve got 3 dogs, 3 cats & 1 psycho kitten to look after. What with them, 2 kids & a husband it´s a bit like animal hospital round here. I swear Rolf Harris is going to appear any minute