June 08 babies - I know there's a few of us about!

[isaidno]

Thought I'd start a thread inbetween breastfeeding, laundry and bossing DH about tyo do stuff!

Let's make a list of members!

ISAIDNO - baby girl; Poppy Elizabeth; born 18 / 6/ 08; 6lb 4oz

Hi all

Thanks for all the sympathies re mastitis. It seems to be clearing up (fingers crossed) - I think I caught it quite early. Have still got a temp but boob not as sore.

essie I think I got it because my boobs were extremely engorged a couple of nights ago when I didn't express during DH's night feed. I remember you mentioning the same thing, so it's worth being careful and not letting them get to exploding stage!

Interestingly, Storm has been feeding loads today, almost like she's trying to help me clear it. Certainly it's working its way into her nappies tmi alert. neenz I don't know if it was the 5oz or sheer tiredness that finally got her off last night. Certainly in the evenings it's v hard to satisfy her - I guess cos the let down's slower?

Ok, haven't really caught up - too bushed, but will see y'all tomorrow! Night!

Morning all. Am trying to get back into habit of keeping an eye on the thread. Struan (and DH) still asleep. REally should wake him but enjoying the peace...

He's started to become really restless and hard to settle during the evening. He does sleep a lot during the day, but tea-time till about midnight he just screams the place down. Any tips? I feel like I need to try and keep him awake more during the day, but it's really hard to do. Once he does go to sleep for the night he's usually only up once (around 3.30) for a feed so I cant complain too much.

Re: foul smelling discharge - would also agree its usually a sign of an infection, so worth getting checked out even if its cleared up. Although I am a big believer in the power of the human body to clear up such things. Had an infection when I got out of hospital and got some general antibiotics. When the swab results came back, the doc insisted that I switch to different antibiotics as they would be the only ones that worked on this particular type of infection. Downside is that they are quite strong, would make me feel ill, and I couldn't give DS any EBM. I refused, had another swab done and the infection had cleared itself up. Had the same problem post MC, when nurse labelled me hysterical and over emotional for refusing to take a second set of antibiotics for the same reason until I had another swab taken.

Hedgehog at your DH. That is just so typical of men! Who did he think was going to look after LO while he got pissed?

Spongebrain - great news about Alex sleeping for 5 hours. To get him to do that at night just make sure he feeds every 3 hrs in the day (wake him if needs be).

Greenfairy was thinking about what you said about crying down... we used to leave DTs to cry for up to 20 mins if all else had failed. I don't think it ever worked back then but now Theo can settle himself.. I can leave him to cry in his cot and within 5 mins he is asleep. This may be just cos he is a bit older or may be because we left him to cry when he was younger. Who knows? Anyway, it didn't do them any harm (and gave us chance to have our dinner in peace - we used to shut the nursery door and turn the monitor off !)

dramaqueen good for you standing up to docs. The thing that has helped my DTs to settle in evenings is to give ebm at 6pm. I think they were hungry before cos I am so tired by evening which was affecting supply.

I am at way Esther's hernia is being treated at mo. Got referred from GP on call last Sat, on Monday I rang my own GP and he was dictating the referral letter to hospital, but referral wasn't faxed from GP surgery until Thursday . Three days! so it must have been sat on some secretary's desk all that time. I rang hosp Friday to see if they'd received referral and they said they hadn't dealt with Thursday's correspondence yet. Will ring again today. Rang GP's surgery to complain and GP rang me himself and said basically 'we have our systems in place and the case was working its way through.. it doesn't help to rush these things cos then sometimes details can get missed..' Bollocks!! GP on call said op should be done within two weeks and a week was wasted just trying to get referred.

I have had a major breakthrough with Luke. He is now interested in toys!!!!!! He's been batting things on purpose now instead of by accident so has worked out a bit of spatial awareness and general interest in 'stuff'. Am really pleased 'cos I can play with him a bit now. Have out a furry horse in his moses basket and I can see it moving around where he's touching it.

Had a rubbish night mostly because Luke has already at 5 weeks grown out of his crib. He keeps getting his arms stuck in the bars. Also he wiggles his way up and ends up in a heap at the top with his head stuck against the bars which hurts him and he cries (and wakes me from my half slumber which is the best I can get when on duty). Night nanny coming tonight so will at least sleep tonight thankfully. So pleased about the toy thing - funny hopw one day he didn't give a shit and the next he's mega interested - what goes on in their little heads?

I'm really interested in the night nannies, but don't reckon they have them here in denmark.

Do they wake you up to give the baby a feed or just use ebm? What else do they do? And . . how much does it cost?

Miss E doesn't seem to be anywhere near wanting to let go of one of her night feeds, despite split and cluster feeding early evening and loads of daytime feeds and playtime.
She is 7 weeks but was 3 and a half weeks early so I have to just accept that she will sleep longer when she's ready . . .

Morning everyone, I'm off to catch up on the thread in a mo, but firstly I need to have a rant and vent my feelings........

DH has really pissed me off. Maybe IABU but see what you girls think.

Saturday we all went to cricket. Infact I visited my Nan in the morning with my Mum and the two boys, I'd already prepared a picnic and we spent a lovely afternoon watching the team get thrashed and had a nice walk and DS1 rode his bike her there and everywhere.

Anyway If I don't go to cricket then the children don;t really get to see much of their dad as he works away quite a bit during the week often sleeping away.

DH did the night time feeds for me on Satuday night and was up once at 4am.

Consequently DS1 was shattered yesterday and very argumentative so I asked him to have a small nap in the morning if he wanted to go to cricket in the afternoon. I know he is four, but if the match doesn;t finish until 7-8pm and he's been out in the fresh air and he's been running around and playing with the guys he gets really tired, so thought it would do no harm.

Anyway, he just messed about in his room and had no sleep. Meanwhile I was in the kitchen preparing the sandwiches, cakes, and the rest of the match teas.

As a result I said he could not go to cricket as he had not done as he was told. I have threatened this before and not carried it out, but thought I must start to carry out my threats otherwise it could be a long summer holidays!

DH went off to cricket and eventually got home at 8.30pm.

Then he promptly fell asleep on the sofa whislt we were watching a programme I'd recorded from the night before. In the end I stopped the DVD. He complained he was tired. I stated that he'd done the night time feeds once.

He turned around and said maybe it's because of my work schedule over the past 7 weeks. (I know he's been working hard and it's been stressful) but then I pointed out that I haven't had an unbroken nights sleep for months now due to pregnancy, cramps, the needing to pee constantly, the night time feeds, needless to say the exhastion from childbirth itself, oh and having to look after 2 children most of the time, the housework, the shopping, the cleaning.
And I pointed out that I myself was still working full time up until 4 days before Luke was born. I did state that if he was that tired, he didn't ahve to play cricket on both days of the weekend.

Oh and although he's not playing next Saturday (he's got tickets for the 20/20 final at the rosebowl, and there is no match on Sunday he asked if he could go out and play golf on the Sunday with the lads from cricket instead. I've never refused him when he's asked before, but I'm afraid I did say no this time and asked when he was going to spend any time with the children. I feel like booking something for myself and leaving him for the whole day to look after the kids whilst I have some me time!!!!!
AIBU?????

Grrrrgh, Men eh? I would love to know what would happen to the human race if they had to give birth!!!!

Sorry girls, rant over, just needed to get it off my chest. Feel so much better now.

Why are my posts so long nowadays?

LL so with you on the men front. See my earlier rant about mine and drinking in Brighton - he finally got home at midnight and didn't understand why I had to put Isaac in his moses basket - although I had to dress him, change him, feed him and swaddle him - although he had been feeding on and off due to the skin to skin I think. DH also didn't understand why we couldn't keep him in bed and I wouldn't let him carry him to the nursery when he managed to fall over walking along the landing
Dramaqueen Isaac also fusses a lot during those times, we have found skin to skin and just letting him do what he wants re feeding, sleeping etc has worked and we can now feel a bit more human
All of you who are expressing can I have some advice please. We have been trying to get him to take a bottle of EBM which he will do from DH or other people but he is still hungry afterwards. He has between 3 and 4oz and I thought that was loads. How much do you/did you give your 4 week old? I would really like to be able to let DH do more feeds so I can have a bit more sleep but at the moment he has the bottle and settles for about 10 mins then screams for more!!

Thanks for listening

Hedgehog - on how much you'd expect your DS to take - I would expect to want around 5-6oz - give him an initial bottle of 3oz, wait approx 10 mins, then offer him another 3oz and see how much he takes. Hope this helps.

Haven't been on this thread much - just don't seem to get any time what with DS1 and DS2, however will strive to be more diligent.

Can I just backtrack a bit and ask those who have had coils fitted, how the actual fitting experience was? It's the one bit that puts me off.

Also, are people doing much exercise yet? I have been a completely lazy mare and haven't got off my backside yet and keep returning to the biscuit tin. Terrified that I will have to remain in my pregnancy kit becuase I'm so fat.

LL YANBU!!! DH and I have discussed how our DS1 and DS2 need him to give up non-family activities for the next few months but we truy to do family activities that he really enjoys (he sails model boats so we do that at the park together) to make up for the hobbies he can't do (like his cycling, which I know he really misses (but so do I, since I used to cycle to)).

We had a crap night last night as Fraser was screaming on and off from 2-5am. Finally we had to let him cry it out. Fortunately by then he was so tired it only took 5 minutes. Oh well, fingers crossed for tomorrow!

Thanks mellymell need to think about expressing more then so that he can have more for his feed.

So that leads to another question

Should I be expressing before or after I feed him?

Sorry you had such a bad night AH hope tonight/today is better for you.

re Exercise - I am waiting til I have had my 6 week check up although I have been making an effort to walk a little bit more, but the anaemia is making it tiring, the last time I did anything major I almost fell asleep even though Isaac was screaming

hedgehog I concur re: giving Isaac a bit more. Struan gets a mix of ebm and ff, and is starting to take around 4oz at two weeks old. I find when he has ebm only he definitely wants more than when he has a mixed feed too.

LL YANBU, but your story sounds pretty typical! When me and DH first got together it took him ages to realise that he couldn't go to watch Liverpool, go out with his mates, play football twice and bring work home all in the same week! He had to give some things up some weeks to spend time with me (and now me and the children). What is amazing is the assumption that someone else will look after their kids (ie us). When do we ever think of doing anything without first thinking about childcare?

Re exercise - I try to get out for at least 45 mins walk with the pram every day. Since then the weight has dropped off and it is really enjoyable too. Pram is getting really hard to push now with 20lb of DTs in it!

TJuice Mine were three weeks early and are now 11 weeks and not looking like sleeping through yet (Theo goes from 10pm feed to 4am though which is pretty good - he is 10lb8)

Amber it's lovely when they start to react to you isn;t it. Now you will have 'play angst' cos you worry you are not playing with them enough (on MN too much!)

Hegdehog I always express before a feed cos never get anything out afterwards. Babies are much better at getting milk than the machine. But as you are only feeding one baby it is different I suppose - at each feed both my breasts get emptied! You could try both ways and see what works.

Morning all

Well reasonably good night here in her new cot, she settled very well after a bottle of 4oz EBM at 7.(thank you neenz for the help!!) We then mistakenly read she was hungry at 10 so DP went up to feed her to no avail, she had wind and wanted a poo eventually!!! So then at 11 she did want food and then she slept til 2 woke again at 5 and then at 8 so not too bad

Tjuice iwanted fleur to try and drop 1am/2am feed but havent had any luck despite topping up daytime feeds witth EBM and having a feed at 6pm and then at 7 and FF at 10pm but hey suppose its the same as you she was 2 half weeks early and i had thought maybe this was why she didnt want to go through night yet

Thats my biggest worry mellymell going on thurs pm to see dr bout having one fitted and to see if all ok down there!!!

hedgehog read an interesting thing about amount of feeds - a FF baby typically needs 3oz per pound of body weight, spread out across the day. So if you assume it's the same with EBM (probably not, but for the sake of having some guidance), work out how much LO needs and then divide it for the number of feeds. Storm works out as about 5oz to 6oz per feed (she's 7 weeks), which is roughly what she'll take. Worth a go?
I express before a feed as, like neenz I can never get anything out after. If I'm not too tired I do it before first morning feed (9am ish - she feeds about 4am before that) as I seem to have the most then.

Last night I gave 3oz EBM for the 4am feed too, as it's good to get some in her quickly before she drifts off! But I do find she wants to suckle to sleep more and more these days so I still topped her off on the breast and then did the human dummy thing for a while. Ho hum.

Managed to wean her off sleeping on the sheepskin last night (she's starting to roll too much in her cot for it to be safe now) by putting a baby quilt under her fitted sheet to make the mattress slightly softer, while removing the danger factor. She'd co slept the night before but DH and I are both tall and need lots of sleep room and it was just too uncomfortable. I just stuck my head in the cot (drop side) so she thought I was in with her.

ll sympathies re DH. Mine has just settled Storm in the living room in front of the telly and not turned the bloody phone off (even though I reminded him), so of course it rang after she'd been asleep a mere half an hour and now she's awake again.[anger]

Storm is now about 12lbs8oz and has gone from 2nd centile to 91st! CHUFFED

Rolf you asked if there is a time factor on the hip scan - there is, in that after a certain period of time they can't wear the harness to fix any problems and need plaster and maybe surgery - but I think it's after several months old (according to this article more than six months) and Thea will still only be three months in September won't she? I'm sure that will be fine and as you say it's only precautionary anyway.

Feeling suddenly low today - had to take the cat to the vets for her jabs (cancelled last appt as was busy having baby!), got everything organised with Caitlin, fed, changed etc, wrap on ready to carry her, then the sodding cat wouldn't go in her sodding box - she is clicker trained and normally walks in v. happily - so had to ring and cancel after 20 minutes of hissing scratching cat and screaming baby in the background - argh!!! Sat on sofa afterwards cuddling baby and sobbing - my resources must be really low.

Dp has been exhausted and snapping at me for days and I think it's really that that's upset me - I'm letting him have the full-on newborn experience this time round, as last time he pretty much got to carry on as normal but he can't get away with that with 2 under 2. But it is something of an adjustment period for him and his response isn't doing us any good at all. To be fair though, he is suddenly doing loads more childcare stuff than he ever did before, and has been ill for months too. I just wish taking it out on me and calling me vile names wasn't his coping strategy of choice.

neenz thanks for the EMB advice, I'll try that. Also you've spurred me on to try to get out walking with the pram a bit more! At least the sun is shining today

Finally managed to get up, showered and dressed by 11am this morning with Alexander content. Feeling like a real slob as I feel like I should be up and about and doing a bit more during the day

greenfairy that's great re. Storm's weight gain - you've clearly got her feeding needs sorted out!

Ta for link on Mirena coil (sorry forgot who posted it) - had been considering this but wasn't sure - but can't seem to find a downside to it from the info on the link so think I will probably go for that. (If we ever have sex again that is - we'd have to start talking to each other first I guess...)

Cautionary tale all, do get contraception sorted out unless you are sure you might want another child soon, even if you've had trouble conceiving before. I went from 2 years infertility first time to conceiving on the very first occasion of unprotected sex this time; and I've just heard from a good friend who had a longer period of infertility first time round, her baby is currently 10 months and she has just got pregnant on her 2nd unprotected cycle. For both of us it's a good thing to have 2 close together but neither of us expected it!

Rolf, it sounds as if your brother has the same job as my dh, which I always thought was really specialised - small world!

Jamie has a nasty cold. His nose is really snotty and everytime he tries to feed he just snorts down snot and then is sick. This morning he feed for about a minute and then managed to projectile vomit down the side of his basket across my bed and over me. Lovely. Still, it did mean that he wasn't lying in his own vomit waiting for me to wake up.

I can see there is going to be a hideous few days ahead. Wish me luck!

right very basic question here on EBM (sorry if stupid question!). If I have expressed some milk into a bottle in the fridge, am I able to then express more into the same bottle, as long as I use it all within the 48 hours??

sympathies to systems for feeling low (and thanks for word of warning re contraception.. for first time in years actually had to think that might need to be careful and sounds like I was right to think that given your experience systems).

amber cute that luke is so into toys... edie just started to reach and grab (or reach and punch her toy hippo) which is very sweet and quite a surprise cos as you say just a day before really couldnt care less about them.

hedgehog agree iwth neenz re the splitting feeds idea - seems to work well with edie who is inclined to pig out on herbottle and then get wind/still feel hungry. I need to get her weighed as I know she has grown (going through in between stage as she is too big for newborn but some of the next size up stuff just way to huge) and is certainly heavier (even dh has noticed) but can't face a 2 hour wait at hv drop in...does this make me a bad mother ?

rant alert -hospital finally called (or I shoudl say I call them)..my emergency appointment is in ... TEN DAYS TIME!.. so am afraid I cheated and got dh to use work priavte policy to get earlier private appt on wednesday (drawback is early start for 8am appt in central london) but makes me wonder what I'd have done if not had this option.. I really wouldnt mind sitting waiting for appt sooner than that but wasnt an option. Waiting til next week would have made it 4 1/2 weeks with untreated mastitis.. and they wonder why women give up b/f...

So although still worried at least I know will get some answers on wednesday (been panicking thanks to mil comments re lumps.. you can imagine how emotive breast lumps are)

Quick question - just booked Dorothy for some cranial osteopathy this afternoon, as she has been sick once a day every day since we went to hospital. Also she's still very windy.

What should I expect?
Is it a con?

SA - thanks for the hip scan advice. We're waiting for appointments all over the place - I guess having a baby in June means you hit the holiday season. DD2's first jabs won't be until September. Sorry you're having a crap day.

Sybil - does your DH work in the public or private sector? My brother is in the public sector. My brother's in the public sector - if your DH is too I bet they know each other. Hope Jamie's cold doesn't cause him (or you) too much distress.

It's interesting to read what you're all saying about your DHs. Mine was really hopeless with the boys when they were babies but is great with them now. I used to get really resentful about it when they were little and was a real nag. He was hopeless with DD1 as well but there were mitigating circumstances for that. They are just beginning to build up a relationship now (DD1 is 3). He's totally different with DD2 and they are really sweet together. But that doesn't mean that he does nappies or night duty. It's 4 years since I stopped work (ie paid work!) and we've ended up in a much, much more traditional set-up than I ever would have thought when we had our first 2 children. We're only just beginning to find a level that we're all happy wtih (and still have a long way to go).

Hi all, havnt had time to read through properly, hope everyones doing ok.
Its been chaos here, there arnt enough hours in the day! Im sure it'll get easier...? 2 kids is manic, a bit like plate spinning. Isla wants to be held all the time, and I wish i could, but I cant!
Thanks Neenz re EMB for early eve feed, It helps out.
Greenfairy, just skimmed through and saw what you said on head in LO's cot, good idea, may try that tonight.
Anyone else got a noisy baby? Isla sounds like an old man, grunting away, most unattractive.
Almost gave up BF last week, Isla's latch went all wrong. Seems to be getting a bit better now though.
Am thinking of introducing a FF at some stage. what time do people suggest is a good time to do one?
Baby calls, will try catch up a bit more later

fungle the head in the cot thing is a winner - makes her feel safe. She's also a noisy sleeper, although often it turns out a dirty nappy or wind is the real reason she's unsettled and grunting! Last night I just whipped her nappy off in the cot and bunged another one on without wiping/ creaming etc . In my defence I'd finally got to sleep after her 4am feed - which went on til 5am, and it was 5.45!
If you're thinking of introducing FF then last evening feed is good as it fills them up more than BM. But have you considered doing an EBM feed instead? Then DH can have a go and you still get a break?

SA, it was me that had the Mirena - totally recommend.

Mellymell, as I said earlier I found the fitting quite uncomfortable but I was told that was partly cos I'd never had a child at that point so my cervix was probably in rather different shape to now! Also, don't forget I have the lowest pain threshold it it poss to imagine (I refer you to my birth story - managed 10 pathetic mins of labour before screaming for an epidural ) so probably not best person to ask!

allnew, no expert on the EBM being a slummy ff mummy, but my understanding is that you shouldn't mix the two feeds until you want to give them to your LO. So store them separately but you can then mix them together when giving them to your baby. It's to do with the different temperatures of the milk (putting warm milk into milk that's in the fridge and then putting it back in the fridge).

Does that make sense?

Oh dear, hungry baby crying!