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!!!!!

Hello all. doesn't time fly. Edward is 8 weeks now and 12lb 12oz. what a porker, my girls were lightweights compared to him. he's nearly outgrown his 0-3 vests and tops, will have to get the next size down from the attic or buy some more!! Will try to get him weighed every month, but once I'm back at work it will be very infrequently, esp as baby clinic is on a day I work.

School is back, both my girls are now at school. the routine is good for all of us, even edward is kind of in a daytime sleep routine. it really starts next week with ballet, swimming, gym etc after school. I'll be even more knackered than I am now. I'm enjoying my mornings with just him, went for coffee yesterday, going shopping with him tomorrow (well, I mainly need his things, ie nappies and breast pads!). I can't shop with the girls, they just run amok.

went out for drinks on mon at a girlfriends house. it was great to be out and to dress up. wore some new green mules, big mistake, walked there and back and now have blisters on top of my toes. considering I took them off as soon as I got there as she has cream carpets, I might as well have worn my flipflops. drank a bit too much wine though, so didn't notice the pain on the way home!

going into work on tues for an update. will have to take edward with me so hope he sleeps! have also signed up for bellydancing classes again, starts in 2 weeks time. have really missed going. is it Rumpel who also goes??? Edward will have to have a bottle of formula for the 2 hours I'll be away, as there is no way I'll express more than 30mls, and I'm sure he needs more. he may sleep better that night!!!

for Bebe and anyone else who is struggling with breastfeeding - the bottom line is your baby needs a happy mum. they all grow up whether they are breast or bottle or mixed fed. although I believe in breastfeeding, I think a happy mum and baby is MUCH more important.

sorry, seem to have waffled ++. Cass

if have a question never had this prob before not sure what to do

samuel has an uspet stomach hes had 9 dirty nappies today he keeps crying and hes still hungry every time i feed him he cries and instantly has a nother pooey nappy very loose as well just like water
shall i keep feeding him or is it best to wait whats for the best his tummy at the bottom is gurgling terribly
will calpol help?

mummy2bsoon - (you need to change your name now ) I got this one baby gym but got it on ebay as I'm not paying for a new one for 5 months, am planning to put it in the travel cot so B can lie under it without a big sister annoying her, bummer about the bleeding I know my periods came back a few weeks after post birth bleeding with DD1 despite BFing, I think if you have a gap of 4 hours or more between feeds it can trigger ovulation and hence periods.

Libra1975 - I didn't even get the questionnaire just the "how are you feeling?" question. I agree tears are common.

Tjuice - Elodie is as beautiful as ever re the hair loss I think every newborn loses hair I was told it's because they lie down a lot and it rubs off so they get a baldy bit at the back of their heads, grows back in usually a different colour. I wonder what colour B's will be, DD1 has brown curly hair, DD2 has blonde straight hair, it looks like she is going to have my eyes though, blue same shade as the others and me, DP wanted brown like his but no good genes prevail

hi Cass glad you and Edward are doing well

...talking of eye and hair colour - Does anyone else gaze at their baby and wonder what they'll be like in 1 or 2 or 4 years time?? I think having 2 older ones makes me wonder whether Edward will be like his sisters (pix on facebook) or completely different.

And I really miss the Olympics, nothing worth listening to at 3am amymore!!

With my first 2 I didn't have a period until 4 months, when I started weaning (slapped wrists, I know, couldn't wait until 6 months). Does anyone else use a mooncup??

I am doing very badly in the baby weighing stakes - Bryony has not been weighed since the HV came when she was 10 days old, I think I will get her weighed when she has her first jabs in a couple of weeks. She looks well and is outgrowing all her 0-3 months clothes at 6 weeks old, so I think there's no need to worry.

Disney, I think you should carry on giving Samuel his feeds, he is going to get dehydrated if he doesn't get plenty of fluids while he has diarrhoea. There's no need to switch from milk unless he starts vomiting it back up, then you could try water instead, but I think if that happens, he probably needs to see a doctor. They're always happy to check out tiny babies, especially if they have other problems as Samuel does.

Bryony's evening crying seems to be calming down, she actually went to bed at 7.45 this evening, I think having a bit of a routine has helped, brought on by dd1 going back to school.

Does anyone else's LO have a sticky eye? Bryony's right one has been sticky from birth, worse some days than others. I have been wiping it several times a day with cotton wool and water but there's no improvement and now the left one looks sticky too. She doesn't think much of being poked in the eye several times a day, so I'm hoping someone on here will know of a miracle cure

Hi everyone, popping in at last. I have found the summer pretty difficult with my three ds, especially as very few people will take ds2 off my hands for me. Also he's currently sleeping during the day as his meds make him very tired, then staying awake until late at night so dp and I don't get much time to ourselves. Ds3 (Conor) appears to be sleeping pretty well, so at least I don't have to worry about him . I won't try to get too smug about that though as I know it can all change from one day to the next.

It's so strange how it can really vary when people get their periods back. My best friend was unlucky when hers started a few months after her dd was born. I was one of the lucky ones and didn't get my periods back until ds2 was about 18 months old and they were pretty infrequent for the next year too. So I'm hoping I won't have to dig the mooncup out too early this time round. They are great by the way if any of you are thinking of trying one.

Re. weighing, with ds1 I went every week for a while but that was mainly due to our very unhelpful health visitor. She really managed to get us worried about everything, especially his weight gain, without offering any help in getting things sorted out. I wish I had never taken any notice of anything she said. With ds2 I probably went too infrequently, and it was only at about 12 weeks old that they noticed he was really losing weight and we started to worry about reflux. With ds3 we have a far more helpful hv and she said they leave the scales out in the surgery so I can go and weigh him myself any time I want to check without having to wait around at a baby clinic. So that's great, although he is another porker so I'm really not worried about him at all. I think he has a touch of reflux but it's certainly not as bad as ds2 was and it's not affecting his weight for now.

rumpel I didn't get a pnd questionnaire either, the hv just asked how I was feeling.

pigley I can understand you wanting to miss the babyclub, when ds2 had reflux it just wasn't very relaxing trying to be sociable and either dealing with people's 'helpful' comments or wondering what they were thinking about me/ds2. But I guess it doesn't help to hide yourself away either...

poledra sorry to hear about your dh doing his 'homework' every night. ime men just don't think of the impact of choices like that. I get really pissed off that my dp takes himself off to have a sleep at the weekend with the assumption that I will just look after the kids like I've been doing all week.

One day when I was really completely knackered, ds1 was on my laptop, ds2 was asleep and ds3 was awake but happy, dp wouldn't let me go for a nap because he was investigating our mortgage options and needed to concentrate . I was pretty angry with him .

oops I have posted a massive message and still need to sew labels on ds1's sports kit . Can't promise when I'll next be on but it's good to hear all your recent news anyway.

hi all - back on here at last! so much to catch up on...don't know what's happened the last couple of weeks, feels like it's been manic!

things going well though - F sleeping getting steadily better, and she's well over 12lbs at 8 weeks!! huge girl! she's in some 3-6 month trousers now - little fat tum and podgy thigh rolls. she is gorgeous....

can't really remember too much of the last 6 or so pages I have just read! - but good to hear everyone's news...

donutmum - glad bahrain seems to be working out ok

teachers galore!! i too am in education - primary teacher, now do sort of psychology / family support with children with emotional and behavioural probs.

disney - you're not flooded again are you?? we had all our friends and family from chelt and glos coming to us last year to use shower, fill water bottles, use washing machine etc - we were ok up here on the side of a hill!! colleague lives in tewks - was evacuated by canoe with just a pair of spare knickers and dh's meds - still not back in her house

bebe - hope the bf is getting better - hang in there - i had awful probs with dd1 but in the end it was worth perservering - and this time round is working like a dream. the nct cousellors round here are fab. if you can't get to your monday group can you get to stroud on thurs lunch for the support group - i go sometimes and although a big busy group it's very friendly and you'll get tea, cake and sympathy / help!!

libra1975 - i got pnd quizz from hv - but she was very nice and understanding and sane about it so i didn't mind. she told me i should lie on the floor with F in bouncy chair and let dd1 play around me so i can have a rest - i tried it and all i got was dd1 shouting 'mummy don't lie down!sit up!play with me! don't close your eyes!don't go to sleep!'etc etc!!

must go to sleep now...

good morning well im up with sam have been since 4.30am
ive been questioning hv with a problem i have and she says is common never had it with any of them though
samuels doesnt dribble milk from his mouth he never has or sicks from his mouth it always comes out from his nose
now hes all stuffed up as he was sick i cant lie him flat as he chokes as the sick comes from his nose even more
surely this isnt right?
any suggestions
please !!!!

Hi Disney ...up all night also. Tried to access here earlier but I think the site was down...
Have you tried lying sam on his his tummy across ither a pillow or your lap? That way some of the sick may flow out of his nose? Not sure if it would help, just an idea. I think you should probably get it investigated. I have found baby gaviscon has reduced Rafferty's vomiting.

Baby groups are funny places...some were great and some made me want to walk straight out and you do get the competitive mums and parent's who like to drop the odd disparaging comment...but then I have also been to some lovely ones and met some wonderful people. I think in the early days it is just about getting out...but TJuice I do know what you mean about being babied out. Frankly I get like that also...

Went to se Portrait of a Lady at the Rose Theatre in Kingston on Tuesday night and they had a discussion afterwards - it was fabulous to talk about something else.

Have to admit it has been 8 years since I was a teacher and as much as I do not want to return, struggling to work out how I can return to workforce and juggle 2 children!

Tjuice on a totally unrelated topic, just spoke to a friend who suggested we go to Malmo on our next trip to Copenhagen. She said you could also catch a ferry rather than go across the bridge (have been across before but when driving down from Stockholm).
Would you say it was worth it?

I have had approx 3 hours of sleep over the last 2 nights and feel awful. The colic is now all day. Rafferty either sleeps, eats or cries. Gave him a top up of formular last night to check if it was hunger. He drank the 150 ml after being on my breasts for 30 minutes...which suggests he could be hungry, but still did not calm down. We are using gaviscon for reflux, domperidone for cramping, gripe water and infacol. Have tried each individually and together. The gaviscon does seem to help with vomiting but have not seen any difference using everything else. I think you just have to ride colic out.
My question is this: I have been hanging on to the 3 month mark - but for those who have gone through this - does colic really just stop around then? I am coping with the crying and find if we go out and he is in pram or car we are all fine, but just occassionally like last night that little pulse in my neck went off and I had a melt down. (DH away). I just had to go out into the back garden and cry. It was such an awful day and on top of everything else our buyers who we were due to exchange with next Wednesday had to pull out as one of them has been made redundant.
Sorry for such a ong long rant - I am finding it hard to talk to anyone about this as I get teary and hate doing that. Also do not want to buden my family... I realise it is hormones and tiredness, but feel I can continue to cope if I get some confirmation that this crying business should slow down at the three month mark!

Apologies for such a long post - but it has been very cathartic...

awww cilc how awful for you right now
i had a colicky baby nearly drove me insane im ashamed to admit but at one stage i used to try to comfort him which of course you cant whlst having ear plugs in with him in a sling i needed a relief from the crying

and on a positive not it did go around the 3 month mark like as quickly as it arrived and i had a happy smiley baby

samuel nearly 10 weeks old and im still waiting for my smile
how i try we all do i just cant wait till he does

cilc i think middle of the night with a crying baby and no one around to help is the lonliest place to be ever your body is at its lowest so sleep deprived but we have to battle on it does get better
have a huge hug x

thanks so much disney...have to admit I am still bawling...you are spot on about that lonely place...

I have tried to stay so positive and not let it get to me, but last night... Probably a good thing to have a good cry and little meltdown, means I can get on with it now. Just feel that I am being a bit pathetic as I know things could be worse and I am quite cross with myself for letting it get to me.
Ear plugs sound like a good idea.

Have tried going without coffee and also tried have coffee and it makes no difference to Rafferty so I am now heading out for a walk and to pick up my one coffee for the day, think it might need to be an expresso today!!!

CilC hugs. Why don't you want to burden your family? Thats what they should be there for. Crying is very healthy, bottling it up is very bad for you and you are not being pathetic at all.

CilC- that's horrible I feel for you as I've been hanging on for 3 months as well. I can certainly relate to baby only being happy outside going for walks. So can you charge the buyer penalties for pulling out last minute? Have you already bought another place? What a nightmare! We took our flat off the market because I just wanted a break and have become dispondent about moving back home. We'd lose too much now if we did manage to sell having had to cut our price way low.

I've done some damage to my back trying to get him into his carry cot, down the stairs with the chassis in the other hand and then somehow managing to put it all together and escape the screaming. I guess I just have to do it as I can't leave the pram downstairs in our building. But on a good note there's loads of new coffee shops in the area so if I can get out..there's lots of places that I can go to.

Sorry this is so moany..just have heaps on my mind. DH is a serial nappy changer. I tend to leave it knowing that my boy likes to take his time with his movements. DH will change him in the night, all day, in the morning..at the slightest sound of a poop and his after it like superman. We spend a fortune on nappies.

At least he's clean, eh?

sticky eye- cool boiled water and fresh cotton wool, one swipe and thenbin that cotton wool, leah went in 3 days!

sk- i did go 5-6 hours without a feed...GRRR but the bleedin as completely stopped, i dunno wats goin on! after all the examination yesterday, everything down below is hurtin!

cilc - hugs it will gte better...

Purplejennyrose (and all others with older children), you need to teach your dd the game 'putting mummy to bed'. Seriously, lie on the sofa, send her off to find blankets and pillows, then when you are all snuggled up send her off for a book to 'read' to you, then ask her to sing a lullaby, then say you are going to sleep for a bit and refuse to get up until it's 'morning'. You could even set an alarm for a few minutes to encourage her to wait. With my two I can drag this game out for half an hour, often they will get distracted on the hunt for books and blankets, giving me extra time being horizontal, if not actually sleeping. It's my favourite game and bizarrely they seem to enjoy it too!

Have been doing MN research on treatment for sticky eye and am now squirting breast milk into it after a feed, apparently never fails. Don't think I'll be doing it in public though!

Breat milk is good for sticky eye ponto - I've done that before

sorry to hear some of you are feeling down and struggling abit...

disney - I would get Samuel checked out about the sick thing just to be safe...sounds like your having a tough time ...hugs to you honey xx

clic ....you moan all you like sweetheart...we can take it...it's awful to have a crying baby in the middle of the night, like disney says very lonely...I know it doesn't seem like it now and I'm sure you've heard it before but it does pass and you will forget these tough times. My ds1 gave me a real hard time as a baby and now he is almost 16..... I wish I hadn't wished then for time to pass more quickly

mcchesers ...sorry to hear you've hurt your back, hope it gets better soon. Is your dh for real? Do you think it's an ocd thing? my dh hasn't changed a single nappy since Abbie was born xxx

cilc - this is your forum for sharing - both the ups and downs so don't apologise. we all use it as a space to vent and we all understand. i have no experience of colic but all my friends who have say that it really is the 3 month mark. have you tried that cupped-hand patting back, with baby on side on pillow on knees? i read about it, used it a few times and some mums in my mums group swear by it. (sorry if you are already inundated with these kind of tips - nothing works for all babies)

re. malmø - the ferries don't go between copenhagen and malmo anymore sadly. they were fun and cheap too.

i used to live in malmo and got really bored so moved to copenhagen! but its nice for a day trip. lots of parks, cute old part of town with nice cafes and shops. A couple of decent restaurants too.
There is also Lund, which is a 20min train journey from Malmo. Its an old university town, kind of like a Swedish Oxford or Cambridge. I did my masters there and its also nice for a day trip - really old cathedral etc.

Let me know if you need any more info.

mcchesers - that's a nightmare with your pram. do you have "house rules" for that? i have the same thing in my apartment but i live on the elevated ground floor. but it would be good if you could just leave the frame.

anyway, big hugs to you both xoxoxo

until now we have been co-sleepin, but she is rollin over and movin alot,,,so im worried plus our bed is small its only a double bed...

any ideas how to get her to sleep in the crib?

I All,

JODIE - yes DD is 2 on the 4th October. I have been putting shades on her since she was a ferw months old - babybanz - as we have lots of skin cancer in my family ans she has pale grey eyes. Maybe you could attach some kind of elastic device? The opticians should be able to advise - after all they must deal with kids a lot.

CASS - yep me who bellydances (did) desperate to get back too - bigger belly now - more to shimmy!!!

CILC - and all other colic sufferers - try cranialsacral therapy or cranialosteopathy - it is really helping Calvin (although admittedly the gaviscon powders he has been on since yesterday have really helped the puking to stop). I canot stand a screaming baby - it churns my guts and freaks me out - I am not a very tolerant person I have had to leave him in a room sometimes for 5 mins until I calm down!

PONTO - that sounds like a fantastic game you devious person you I am looking forward to playing the beauty parlour game with DD when she is older - hmm foot massage, hair brushing, hand massage

Re AF - came back after a couple of months with DD - think it must be due in the next week now as I have been getting cramps - no mooncup here but have thought about it.

My DH is really good at the weekend he'll take DD into bed and get her brekkie and watch Cbeebies with her - he'll also take them both if I ask to let me get some sleep. I am very fortunate I have a wonderful husband (although it has taken me 13 years to train him ). I am intending to go off to a complememtary health show next Saturday sans children DH said he'll take them so I can go - I used to participate in these shows all the time but I like being a customer too and it will be exploring our new area a bit too.

The Mummy group I went to on Monday all seemed really nice - mostly about my age - it was nice to chat to people.

Anyone ever done callanetics?

cilc - very glad this place is here to vent. this mummy business is exhausting mentally and physically. It's good that you share, it's easy for us to feel very alone and isolate ourselves.

tjuice - not house rules,just no store under stairs. It was a coal store..well actually still is if you can believe that! Also bin men tend to throw the pram up the stairs if it's in the way and with kids breaking in its likely to get knicked or worse. I hate where I live. Glasgow is so hit or miss and a "nice" building can go "bad" just by having a 24 shop move in..ugh. ok rant over.

minipink- yes DH is for real. His mum is shocked as well. If it makes him happy to be apart of it all s'ok with me but...he's got to master keepin' the willie down in the nappy. I swear I've got the cleanest windows in town thanks to Aidan. He'll bypass himself and go right over his head, bear right, and hit the glass and radiator! DH says "oh dear" so now Aidan says "oh" all the time...so cute!

Put some new happy face pics up on my profile. Helps me remember that he doesn't always cry

hi just popping in quickly again, cilc I haven't read all the messages so don't know if you've already looked into this, but colic may be caused by a food sensitivity, my ds1 was very sensitive to cow's milk protein and was a far far happier baby one we'd figured that out.

unfortunately ds2's reflux didn't seem to have the same cause so we just had to stick it out until it was better - and for us that took a long time, sorry. (I have heard of other babies that magically get better at the 3 month mark, and I'm glad that happened for disney, but mine weren't among them.) Gaviscon didn't help, it just made him constipated. Ranitidine helped until his body started to make more acid to compensate, and then he went onto omeprazole. He was also on domperidone but I was always unsure whether that made any difference to be honest. All these three drugs weren't prescribed until we saw the paediatrician, and we had to push to be referred, as the GPs kept saying he seemed better.

It's something people tell you, but it's hard to do, but do try to get moments to yourself and do ask people to help out. I think with ds2 I was too proud to ask other people to look after him, but after months and months of the screaming I really was running on empty. I completely recognise your situation last night, I can remember the two boys screaming downstairs and me shutting myself in the study upstairs to cry. I called all kind of helplines - crysis were helpful to a certain extent - and I called the health visitor at our surgery and she started coming round to visit once a week. To be honest she focussed more on dealing with ds1's tantrums than on my state of mind, but at least someone was trying to help. Anyway this time round I really knew I would need help over the summer, even if ds3 turned out to be the happiest baby ever. So I thought of the specific situations I'd need help with and I made a list of people I could ask - some family and some people from school. Often people just need to be asked to do something specific. Some people haven't been very helpful but others have really made a difference to our summer - and because I made a list it meant I wasn't depending on any one person too much.

thinking of everyone

cilc - have a hug xxx

re periods - with both ds they returned 6 weeks after stopping bf - ds1 stopped at 7 mths and ds2 at 19 mths. Am hoping for the same again!

ponto - that put mummy to bed sounds like a good game.

I am having lots of peace today - ds1 at school and ds2 at preschool til 3pm. Poppy seems to have a tea sensor and wakes up everytime I have a cup

Skyler is asleep.
In his cot
Took swaddling + bouncing in new Amby hammock (I love it looks so comfy) + singing the Mamas & Papas to get there but

How long do you think I've got?!!!

(bearing in mind he was awake to feed/suck every hour even co-sleeping/on me last night...)

I give you 10 minutes... less if you decide to have a cuppa / eat / go to toilet!

14 mins