July 2008 - Now our babies are arriving let's have a thread to talk about them...

[minipinkscottish]

Hi ladies
I know there are many of us still to pop but thought it would be nice to start a thread that we can come to once the LO's are here

Abbie is 4 weeks and 3 days old today and my due date isn't here yet

Abbie is doing great - eating and sleeping and very content. The feeding was hard going at first as it is very frequent with her being early but I think you actually get used to being tired

Someone (sorry can't remember who) was talking about bottle and bf together and nipple confusion. Well all the times I have bf I have done so exclusively even when it was very difficult - I am stubborn As Abbie was early and lost a good bit of weight the mw advised topping her up with ebm through a syringe. This was tough as I was bf then trying to express only to bf 1 hour later - so I gave her formula to top up. Giving her the milk in a syringe became difficult as they tended to spurt the milk too quickly at times. So I gave her a bottle to top up( Tommee Tippee - closer to nature) and it was great!!

I bf her all day and then top up after bf at night to get a bit longer sleep - it's working - she is putting on weight and no nipple confusion

sorry for huge post - hope you will all come over and join me!!!!!

oh I can answer the first, at the hospital they said every 2-3 days

1. not that often top and tail twice a day bath erm maybe twice a week at this age

2. whenever you feel up to it, DD2 was out day after she was born, this one is going shopping with us tomorrow
   3)can't remember about the dummies, think DD2 was about 3-4 weeks got fed up of being a human dummy by this stage, be warned though some of them totally refuse to take a dummy at all

3. all I would take is nappies/wipes/change of clothes

4. It's an old Scottish traditional that if you see a newborn baby for the first time you give the parents money, usually it's put down the side of the pram or given to the parents, think it's for good luck

5. Bethany has only been in babygros so far, tomorrow I will put her in a babygro, cardigan and a wee hat with a light blanket around her

What did you want to know about babies and cats, I now have 3 of each they don't mix much especially at the start, cats stay out of babies way most of the time, it's only since DD1 has started feeding and patting them they have acknowledged her.

sorry spaced out the cat questions. I'm feeding a milk monster at the mo..have gotten a giant pillow that accomodates him and my tiny laptop.

I have two cats a big fat old one that has steered clear of the baby entirely, but the younger one that just wants things back the way they were before the baby was here. She's trying to get into DH's lap while he is holding the baby. She's also sniffing around baby's things and being an overall jealous puss. Is it ok just to try and co exist, or should we try and keep her out of our room? I feel so bad neglecting her. DS shows no sign of allergy,just the usual sneezes that babies have. Should I be hoovering more than normal now with all the cat hair?

OOH also..I don't want to be a dettol addict, so what do I need to use antibacterial spray on? I use it on the sink and the changing mat. Just zoflora and water in a spray bottle. SK I'm asking you because you know a lot about germs and seem to be on top of the cat/baby relationship game.

mcchesers - no one with a small baby has time to hoover more than normal!!!

I do not have a cat, but I suppose you might want to do more hoovering when baby is crawling. Or you might not!

god, i just realised that i introduced a dummy and bottle well quickly. thank goodness she took it and still takes the boob. I wish i had time to have read the books!
i think the Tommee Tippee closer to nature bottle is pretty good.

well, dh did the "night shift" of two feeds and once again i woke up dripping and grossed myself out. but then in the early evening, my supply seems to be a bit low. may have to start doing a top-up feed then, so she goes down well between 7 and 10pm.

that is such a sweet scottish tradition!

re. taking her out, i had a comment the other day about "how I dared to take her out so early". She is six weeks now! What am I supposed to do, stay in until she leaves for college????

Libra- I started using socks..they work better than anything else. Also and this is way cool, early learning centre sell wrist rattles. One of my friends sent me two..a bee rattle and a ladybug with a bell. They velcro onto his wee wrist like a watch and instead of bonking his hand or fist into his face, he bonks the soft stuffed bee. and it's super cute to boot

As far as baby..seems to be just to let them dictate to you what they want. My boobs were too engorged to sleep so I was expressing first thing in the morning and sticking in the fridge for dad to do the early morning feed and give me a break. There was no confusion...and the mw said if it works for us then fine, but they don't recommend expressing because the body thinks it's an extra feed that it has to produce for.

Hi all.

On the dummy/bottle subject, I gave Sam a dummy at about 4 days as he had trapped wind and the sucking used to work a treat with DS1, (was a tip a MW gave me) it worked again as 1/2 hour later Sam had done a massive poo!!! He doesn't have it alot as he just spits it out most of the time!

I have also started to give him a top up feed at about 10.30, he tends to cluster feed at night and my supply isn't quite enough ATM so he has 2oz of formula, he then goes to 7.30!!! Wonderful! last night was the third night we've done it and he still attacks my boobs whenever he's hungry, so no problem there, using Avent bottles and teats, not quite the same shape as my nips, but was what we used for DS1 so didn't want to go out buying new bottles (although got new teats)

As for taking him out, Sam was having Sunday lunch with us at 2 days old! (was a family outing already planned) And I take him for a walk everyday, he even came to the hairdressers with me yesterday!

SK glad SPD has all but gone and you can get around now...

Libra1975 your milk supply must be good to get all that out in a short space of time! Also, babies do what they want! Sam sleeps most of the day, and only wakes for a feed, over the last couple of days he's become more alert, but only for about 15-20 mins at a time, then it's off to the land of nod! I only had to wake him once as i noticed he was slightly jaundice and this can make them really sleepy, so on that day I woke him every 3 hours for a feed, seemed to do the trick.

Sorry for long post, did only pop on to check for more babies, didn't really have time to post, but there you go!

Just wanted to say that if you are breastfeeding the night feeds are the most important for maintaining your supply - sorry! Your body is at its most productive overnight so it is important to stimulate the supply then - ideally by feeding your baby, but you could express.

Dummy and bottle use is not recommended before 4 weeks in case of nipple confusion, but I know alot of mummies on this thread have not had this problem.

Oh ISAIDNO, you've worried me now... What can I do? will my milk dry up do you think if I'm not feeding at night? I've tried expressing while DH gives him his bottle, but there is nothing there he's sucked me dry!

what if your baby is already sleeping through, like Jodie's? are you supposed to get up and express?

i also heard that you produce more and better milk at night and that night feeds are important but sometimes you just need to catch up on sleep. isn't overtiredness also a cause of low supply?

Jodie - I would recommend you try on the breast first - the sucking will stimulate the production, but top up if you feel he hasn't had enough. Your milk won't dry up as long as you are still feeding, but I think it is important for you to know that night time feeds are necessary.

don't want to worry or upset anyone; just want to say - have confidence in yourself - feed as often as baby wants and the milk will be there.

Hmm, I was just about to post same as isaidno! It's just I got 'caught out' by this first time - started letting dh do lots of night feeds and my supply definitely dropped. It's the 'supply and demand' thing - if you go a long time at night without feeding, your body will start to think that you need milk less often so your supply will drop to that 'level' - sorry, haven't expressed that very well! And as isaidno said, the milk producing hormones are highest at night.

tjuice - I certainly wouldn't express if the baby was sleeping through! In reality babies do not generally sleep through the night until their tummies can manage a long period without refuelling. I think the rule is go with what your baby wants.

Of course it is important to get sleep yourself and you have to decide what's best for you. Personally I would say a night off feeding should be occasional rather than regular. I'm no expert though - and every baby and mummy are different.

I have a DH who would struggle to wake up if a bomb went off under the bed, so I have to do the night feeds!!

I agree re the night feeds etc. When I missed a couple of nights my supply dropped and I had to start expressing every two hours to get the supply back up again.

At the moment my supply is good so I feed Charlie for 20 mins off one breast first thing in the morning, then express 120ml out of the other breast. I then feed him from alternate breasts every 3 hours (offering second breast if he wants it) throughout the day. I go to bed and DH uses the 120ml bottle of EBM for the last feed of the 'day', i.e. when he goes to bed at between 10.30pm and 12am. I then do the middle of the night feed which is usually between 2.30am and 6.30am (sometimes twice which is a killer).

I really don't want my supply to diminish as we are flying to Australia in February and I would prefer to do the 24 hour flight without the hassle of formula feeding... but maybe I'm exaggerating the hassle.

Anyway, that's my two cents worth!

Jodie the dummy for wind thing interested me. I haven't given Charlie a dummy but he has bad wind so I'm up for trying anything. Do you have to persevere with the dummy or do babies either take it or leave it?

OMG my boobs hurt! Need to pump some more off don't think B is drinking enough yet. Had MW visit today she has gone down to 7lbs 11ozs from 8lbs 5ozs so not too worried. Still quite jaundiced as well.

My iron levels are down at 9.6 which is low for me, have to get iron prescription on Monday, she said undercarriage looked fine just raw I feel this birth out of all of them has really knocked the stuffing out of me. I feel so stiff don't know if it's bacause the SPD has went and I can move again a bit, we took Bethany out for the first time this morning shopping for DD1's birthday presents I was knackered though, haven't managed to get a nap this afternoon as well.

Having lots of visitors tomorrow then DD1's birthday on Sunday although we are just having a quiet one the 5 of us.

Bloody hell peanut - 120ml from one boob!

I was lucky if I got 30ml from both, and now even that has dwindled so I'm afraid I took the decision 2 days ago to abandon the ebm for Luke.

He's had 3 weeks of my milk which is far more than Sam ever got.

As for taking baby out, I went for a walk to PIL the afternoon after Luke was born at 8.07 that morning. We walked him to the postnatal clinic the next evening as well. He also did the Tesco's experience at 4 days old. Although my SIL did tell me when she went to visit her gran with her DS (now 28) just after birth, her gran drew the curtains once in the house as 'it is dangerous to take a baby out before it is 6 weeks old'. WTF??? Now I understand what the 'confinment period' was all about. Can't believe women used to rest up for so long after the birth (apart from the working class that is) - I am talking Victorian/Edwardian times.
Anyway, I've bitten the bullet today and e-mailed work asking for an extension to my ML. I was only intending to take the 12 weeks at full pay plus a weeks holiday, however my Mum who is my childcare provider has been waiting for a hip replacement and now has a date through of 4th August (lucky it's the day after my Nan's 100th birthday). Anyway she'll need time to recover, plus I don't want Sam to feel like he's being pushed to Big School in September whilst Nanny has a new baby to look after and Mummy has abandoned him and gone back to work. I've now requested to return to work in Novemebr after the 1/2 term holidays. We've booked a week away that week anyway and I already had that week booked as annual leave.

This return to work business could change though if I win the lottery. We will just have to tighten our belts for the next few months, not that we spend excessively anyway. Who knows what's going to happen in this current financial climate?

Funnily enough I had an e-mail from work yesterday advising me that the plans for us to move to a new purpose built building in 2010 have been cancelled. We're now staying put and they will revamp the current building!

Tells you something when a financial services provider starts to tighten their belts. Anyway looks like the redundancies will still be going ahead so I will certainly be busy when I do return (I work in HR, predominantly Redundancies).

Oh and Luke has a dummy, which we introduced at 2 days. This is just to settle him and once he spits it out, we do not put it back in. He doesn;t scream for it (but then he is only 3 weeks old). I don't want it to become a permanent thing. I can't stand seeing toddlers of 3+ still with a dummy, same as toddlers with bottles of milk or juice.

Mind you I sucked my thumb until 6 and I know how annoying that was to my parents. Maybe I'm just old fashioned and when the time comes I'll think differently because I'm in that situation iyswim.

So sorry for the long long post.

sounds like the sleeping all the time thing is completely normal which is nice to hear.

We have just had our first outing, DH and I (and A of course!) went into town had a quick bite to eat at the local cafe and a trip round sainsburys. Alexander was a star and slept thru it all.
Was nice to get out but was exhausted by the time I got home and we were only out for an hour.

I have read re:dummies as long as you don't keep stuffing it back in their mouth after they have fallen asleep and spat it out you shouldn't have any problems.

isaidno - re bottle/breast. I asked my midwife this morning and she said what you have, if poss wait until 4 weeks but do it before 6 weeks.

mcchesers - those wrist rattles do sound very cute! Are socks ok? I presumed that the elastic around the wrist must be bad otherwise why don't they just use elastic in scratch mitts!!!

Libra- MW said socks are ok..some of the mitts we got had elastic but he gets them off somehow..poor Aidan just scratches his face and bonks himself about the head. Apparently we have a few more weeks of this flailing about.

How do you decide what routine to take? Last night was a flurry of feeding and I can't even think if I got any rest at all. I kept waking up to DH holding the baby with a very sad look on his face.

Cheers mcchesers. Am with you on the routine question. Some say you should demand feed, others say every 2-3 hours and wake them to feed if they sleep thru this. I did query the MW this morning about this topic and she said that every 4 hours would be fine for a normal healthy term baby but so would demand. Tracey Hogg thinks you should implement a routine as soon as possible and as much as I would like to follow her book I I am going to let A determine his routine for a couple of weeks and then re-assess. However as I have no other children to think about I am able to take this route.
I think you just have to decide which is going to work for you. There is no definitive instruction manual which for someone like me is very frustraing!

A has only been home for 2 nights and DH can already sleep thru his wails! To be honest I don't mind this as I would rather he was awake during the day to attend to my every whim.

Do you know what I did with DD1 to keep her scratch mitts on? I got two of those little cotton scunchy things you know bauble type elastics but furry? well put two of them on her wrists as she was wearing shortsleeved vests as it was Summer. Probably not supposed to but it worked and it's not like she has funny hands now. I tend to just put the scratchmitts over the babygro arms and they stay on.

Routine? erm I had planned one with the first but didn't quite happen. I think she will fall into a routine as with the other two she will have to, am getting a bit wobbly though thinking about how am I going to cope with 3 of them on my own, think it might be baby blues though the same when we sent from one to two.

mcchesers - re the cats, I would allow the cat to sniff the new things for the baby but then shoo her away, mine tried to sleep in the babies bed before I shooed them. They sleep on our bed during the day on a duvet I wash every week or so, they aren't allowed in the girls rooms and as for hoovering yes I hoover downstairs every day and upstairs about twice a week. I also clean the carpets regularly. My cats are mostly housecats so don't go outside and bring "things" in. Cats tend to sleep away from the DDs all day then about 8pm kids bedtime they come downstairs.

Am still stalling about the dummy thing, DD1 is a thumb sucker (a lot harder to get rid of a thumb than a dummy) and DD2 spat hers out in disgust at 4 months as there was no milk coming out of it.

routine - I feed on demand, day and night, but I do start other things as routine asap.

• any sleeps after about 8pm take place upstairs in bed, in quiet and dark. (All day sleeps downstairs in light / noise.) I think this helps the day / night differentiation.
• have just started bathing each night about 6pm, then into pj's. This sets the cues for when night time sleeps are due to begin!
• try and get washed and dressed about same time each morning.

I still cuddle / feed Poppy to sleep at the mo, but will start leaving her to settle herself more often from about 8 weeks.

I have found that feeds seem to develop more of a routine all by themselves as baby gets older, obviously ff is different and I have very ltd experience of that.

my inflicted three-hourly routine from the hospital kind of fits into the hogg/ford routine thing. generally i try and follow a kind of gina-ish routine but allow for lots of flexibility (if she seems really hungry - i feed her - if she needs to kip, she has a kip). Its impossible to try too hard to do a routine at this point - at least for me. I would end up getting depressed about it, feel inadequate and not enjoy our time together, know what i mean??

but when we have visitors in the late afternoon and evening and things get really off-kilter -time wise - i notice she gets more fussy and difficult to put down . . .

does anyone know how long it takes for milk to replenish?

Evening everyone!!

It's my due date today and Abbie is 5 weeks old - - it's amazing and hard to believe that she could still be inside me xx

milk is replenished on a supply and demand system, so the more you use the faster it is replaced. To increase supply it is often recommended that you babymoon, which means go to bed with your baby for 24 hrs - do nothing but rest, cuddle and feed.