APRIL 2008- The One Where We Recite The Weaning Guidelines and Fight Through The Growth Spurts!

[VictorianSqualor]

07 March: Ashton, a fourth child for gemprincess, 5lb 13oz @ 34+6
09 March: Ted, a second DS for Daftmoo, 7lb 14oz @ 36+0
21 March: George William, a first baby for KnitterintheNW, 7lb 2.5oz @ 37+3
25 March: Olivia, a second baby for TheMaskedPoster, 7lb 2oz @ 38+4
28 March: Pablo, a third baby and first DS for vacaloca, 7lb 14oz @ 39+4
28 March: Matteo Alexander, a first baby for Gangle @ 38+0 (?)
30 March: A baby girl, a second child for PortAndLemon, 8lb 15oz @ 39+5
02 April: Jak, a baby boy for rainbowdays, 9lb @ 39+1
02 April: A baby boy, a second child for bunyanvillas, 6lb 14oz @ 37+5
02April: Struan, a baby boy for Donnabels, 6lbs 15oz
02 April: A baby boy for mummyofaprincess @39 weeks
03 April: A baby girl for PippiCalzelunghe @38+2weeks
03 April: Aeryn Daisy, a baby girl for Denny185, 9lb 8oz @ 39+3
03 April: Benjamin, a baby boy for Micegg, 8lb 3oz @ 39+4
03 April: Roelof Grové, a first DS for Sal22, 7lb 5oz @ 38+5
03 April: A baby boy for siikibam, 6lb 8.5oz @39+1wks
04 April: Matilda, a baby girl for AprilsFoolsBaby 7lb @
06 April: Henry Peter, a baby boy for Sheds, 7lb 130z @ 40+4
07 April: Sebastian George, a fourth DS for Peachy, 8lb 4oz @ 41+1
07 April: Jack, a first baby for ThePFJ, 7lb 5.5oz @ 41+1
07 April: Lexie Bea, a fourth baby for babywhiting, 8lb 1oz @ 39+4
08 April: Alasdair, a second DS for bunnyrabbit, 8lb 5.5oz @ 40+3
08 April: James Samuel, a third baby for honeybee10, 6lb 7oz @ 37+2
09 April: Zara Mia Martin, a first baby for V1KK1M, 7lb 10oz @ 41+0
09 April: Jasmine, a baby gilr for Niceychops
11 April: Kyran for rdk, 7lb 13oz @ 38+3weeks
11 April: Sebastian James, a second baby for Fleecy, 10lb 2oz @ 40+4
11 April: A baby girl, a first baby for CeylonSapphire, 7lb 12oz @ 41+1
11th April: Florence, a baby girl for LouMoose
12 April: Maya Alice, a first baby for egyptianprincess, 8lb 15.5oz @ 40+3
12 April: Sophia Viviana, a second DD for AussieDivaonaBreak, 6lb 12oz @ 39+3
15 April: Alexander Oliver, a third baby for VictorianSqualor, 10lb 3oz @ 41+0
16 April: Ailish, a first baby for Mollyfloss, 6lb 11oz @ 40+3
16 April: A baby girl, a second baby for elfsmummy, 7lb 13oz @ 41+1
16 April: Zoe, a baby girl, a first baby for ToastAddict, 6lb 10oz @ 39+3
16 April: Jasmin, a baby girl, a first baby for Eggandketchup, 9lb 3oz @ 41+4
17 April: A baby boy for paranoidmumy, 8lb 9oz @ 41+4
17 April: A baby boy, a second son for lorisparkle, 7lb 12.5oz @ 41+6
17 April: Benedict, first baby for LadyBee 9 lb 3oz @ 41 +2
18 April: Millie, a baby girl for scorpio1 8lb 9oz @ 41+?
18 April: Cameron, a second baby for munchkinmum @ 39+5
19 April: Oliver Michael, first baby for bashboid, 7 lb 4 oz at 41 +3
20 April: Samuel, a first baby for Velbels. 8lb15oz at 41+1weeks.
20 April: Angharad Mai, 8lb 4oz, 40+6, first for 7monthsplus
20 April: Emilia, 7lb15oz, a first baby for SuzeM, 40+6
21 April: Eve, a second baby for Scampmum, 8lb 4oz @ 39+3
22 April: Sam, a second son for Soph73 @ 40+0
22 April: Molly, a first baby for EllieG, 8lb 8oz? @ 40+5
22 April: Daisy, second baby for AttilaTheHan @ 40 +3
22 April: Zoe Olivia, second daughter for Piccallilli2 7lb 1oz @42+1
23 April: Jessica Elizabeth, first baby for BabyBratt @ 40+1 7lb 12oz.
24 April: A baby girl, a second daughter for christmaspixie, 9lb 2oz @ 40+6/41+5
24 April: Miya Jade, baby girl for ShelleySare at 39+4
25 April: Amelie, a first baby for Dondons, 9lb, 41+3 (i think!)
25 April: Aisha, a second baby for Jaq39 7lb 14oz @ 41+4
26 April: Hope Olivia, a second dd for northeastmummy, 7lb 11oz at 41 .
26 April: Gabriel, a third child for Bainmarie @ 41+5
26 April: Eli Michael, a baby boy for LittleMissTurquoise, 7lb 15.5oz @ 40+5
27 April: a baby girl for Ayomi, 6lb 1oz @ 41+0
28 April: Jacob Andrew, a 2nd DS for Kaybeeand2boys, 8lb 4oz @ 41+5
29 April: Thomas Henry, a 2nd DS for TLSM, 7lb 8oz 40+3
30 April: Harry Samuel, a fourth ds for Chipmonkey, 9lb 5oz @ 39+2
30 April: Ellie, a baby girl for Annamama
01 May: Sophie May, a baby grl for Annieroo, 6lb 5oz @ 41+4
01 May: Euan George, a baby boy for Jenniejennie, 8lb @ 40+4
02 May: Robyn Olivia, a baby girl for soph28, 8lb 1oz @ 42+1
05 May: Nora Martina, a first baby for Eva07, 7lb 8oz @ 41+2
05 May: A baby boy for Beeper, 8lb 10oz @ 41+0
05 May: Gabriella Summer, a first baby for Mum2babyroo, 8lb 4oz @ 40+6
06 May: Wilf, 8lb 60z for bigbadmom @ 41+6
07 May: James Andrew, a second ds for Moominsmummy, 8lb 13oz @ 41+5
08 May: Ellie Isabella, a first baby for Carey87, 7 lb 8oz @ 42+1
08 May: Robin David, a 2nd baby for Woollymummy, 8lb 11 oz @ 41+3
09 May: 4 kittens for scorpio's cat!
10 May: Astrid Mary, a second dd for sagitta, 8lb 8oz @ 42+0

The problem is Im too lazy for rainy days, generally most indoor activities generate most mess to tidy up. Managed with just felt tips and sellotape earlier, somehow dont think i dont think it will last DD1 already asking what next.

Hope you manage to get the red paint off.

Hello girls! Welcome Monmoo, read your thread and second everything everyone says. You have done amazingly well - I'm having difficulty (see below) and am incredibly lucky in that after the nipples-chewed-by-a-puppy-with-wire-wool-teeth phase I find bfing pretty easy (oh, I do feel sick for the first month, oxytocin maybe?). MILs are the best! I evilly can't wait for my SIL to have her first baby in Sept (also her DIL) as so far they spend all their time bonding about what a sh1t mum I am - not true, as all the girls on this thread who have met me for five seconds and then had my baby thrust on them/watched me boast about DD1's potty training whilst she's sitting in a puddle of wee can testify!

VS - excellent news re meetup. Can't wait to meet you. Monmoo, where are you? We are planning to meet in London next Friday.

Denny hush now, you are so not lazy.

SO, on to me (my favourite topic, the Mummalo said - excuse the uncharacteristic jovial tone, I just had a THREE HOUR sleep so am high as a kite.) In general, feeling much better in myself and DH being fantastic (though was out till 1am last night - he is having serious work stresses at the mo). BUT am giving serious thought to doing one formula feed at 11. It struck me last night that I was talking to someone when she was less than a month old and saying 'it's OK if I can get a 3 hour stretch in one go' - I haven't had that (till this morning) for 10 days and if I exclude a week of better sleeping prior to last Weds more than 6-8 times in her life. So it just doesn't seem to be getting any better!

I am dubious that it will help, but I think people (Dad, DH) are getting frustrated seeing me in this awful sleep-deprived state and seeing what they consider to be obsessive and OTT stubbornness about BFing. A few friends and my Mum have also broached the topic. (Essentially, Sagitta, I'm reposting your post but changing the words slightly and taking credit - is that plagiarism? ps PLEASE let us know when next in London, I want to know if we look the same too!)

Urgh, I half-wrote this post in my head in frustration at 5.15 this morning but I've forgotten all that and now I fear I'm just being incoherent. Essentially, I suppose, I'm losing hope that this is a growth spurt (her feeds in the day have calmed down) and thinking instead that the week before it started was the anomalous week and this is the norm. Shit, what if she hasn't even HAD the growth spurt and now starts feeding hourly in the night??! My relationships and health (not to mention looks [vanity emoticon] are suffering and everyone thinks I'm just being bloody minded. I REALLY want to bf and am very worried if I add a bottle now I will beat myself up about it (no offence to anyone who is mix-feeding!). I think I'm also concerned that in the formative period when DD1 was young I watched all my NCT girls try to mix feed only to drop BF totally within a month (without exception, though their kids were all around the 4-6 week mark). So I probably have irrational associations with that. The annoying thing is she CAN do it - will check back on the thread (my only record ) but am sure she once did 7-2.45 - nearly 8 hours! She has certainly done 9-2.45 at least once and 11-5 twice. Naturally I have had insomnia/DH out boozing without a phone/very important telly to stop me sleeping on these rare occasions.

My conclusion is I'll wait a week and see if it gets any better and then start a formula feed at 11 . The other thing I was wondering about today, though, is not waking her up for the 10.30 feed (having been on at DH for AGES to get it established ) - it doesn't make a consistent difference and I wonder if it's just programming her to wake after 3 hours. I don't know what I want from you guys - maybe a lone voice in favour of keeping BF will be enough to keep me going, or maybe I just think if even MN are in favour of me giving a bottle in an effort to stop being a walking zombie I will feel less bad about it.

I do try and settle her most times without feeding just in case she's not hungry, but sometimes I'm just not awake enough. She will occasionally settle but not for longer than 30mins or at most an hour.

VS - I WISH I could stop burping. Still, every time I am lured into putting her down without being 100% certain she is burpless, she is awake in agony exactly one hour later (and she is extremely wriggly and quite mobile). It is driving me mad! Means when I do put her down I can't quite relax and I am constantly feeling like it's my fault she is uncomfortable because I haven't burped her properly - another avenue for self-blame and recrimination which is all I need up here on this psychological tightrope!

Sorry for mammoth post. Hope all are relaxing into this lovely rainy weekend.

OMa - you sound exhausted sweetheart. You are obv very passionate about keeping BF - i can really see that clearly through your post. Would it be terrible for you to introduce one FF? Could you stick at one do you think? Could you stop it in a few weeks? It's very hard when those you rely on to support and hold you up have stresses themselves - my DH has just come through a work stress and it impacts on the family so much. You are not a shit mum, btw. You are having a tough time, thats all.

Oma, sweetheart, will DH do the ff for you so u can get some sleep or will it still be u doing it? 10.30 feed - with DS and DD1 did this feed and it def made a diff to them sleeping through but with DD2 didnt make a jot - woke at exactly the same time with or without. Could you drop the 10.30 feed but go to bed as soon as both the DDs have gone down, then on the off chance she does go till 2.45 you would at least have had one good stretch of sleep. OK dosent make for the best of social life but even if you do it 3 nights out of 7 it may help a bit. At the moment you sound so sleep deprived it must be driving you completely nuts.

At the moment DS and DD1 are fighting (quite literally) over crazy bones they belong to DD1 but she wont share them as "he wont share his cars!". To split them up or let them fight to the death?

Well it ended up with face painting earlier, I was an butterfly - allegedly , DH is taking over entertainment in a bit an making pizza with them.

Sorry people, don't have long to answer/read all posts but wanted to answer Oma.

TRy the water thing, it may possibly be not being able to get herself back to sleep, it might be that you need to let her cry it out for a week or two and learn to get back to sleep.

I can explain better vocally iyswim, so either wait til the meet-up or if you want I'd explain it over the phone, just email me your number and when to call.

Also hi monmoo.

Water thing v good idea - i did that with ds1 and took about 2 weeks - then sleep.

OMaLittle, you're a brilliant mom - if I could have such a happy and well behaved little girl as yours one day I'd want the world to know I'm the most amazing being alive! As you are (and I doubt I'd ever be...) I don't think there's anything I could add to make you feel better, but I just wanted to post to let you know I'm thinking about you. xxx

Oma - I have no advice. I wish I lived closer to you - I would come sit with the girls one afternoon while you went to have a sleep. In fact, I can do it if you would like me to? You live somewhere in South London hey? I am sure I could drive to yours. Let me know.

Hi denny and all other April ladies. I feel the same when it comes to rainy day activities.....shall we get the paints out? (OMG, but the mess it creates ) DD1 is pretty good (for her age) at sitting still and doing something like that for 30 mins or so. The trouble is I have to try v hard not to control her....we were doing sticking the other day, and I was really having to suppress myself from telling her...."darling, don't put glue on the duck, you've already stuck it down, so don't put glue on top of it" Bless her, she's only just turned 2!! There was a hilarious thread about this recently on chat I think, about how we all want to just kit out the dolls house by putting all appropriate furniture in appropriate room...not the fire engine in the bedroom and the TV in the bathroom .

Anyway, I am drivvling now.....sorry!

Argh, I'm stuck!
We can either afford the meet-up or moonfest (babyshambles are there and I love them) I'm trying hard to persuade DP that can go to both, not drink and drive at moonfest, and be dead cheap at the meet-up!!

Hi there. Gaps between - thinking seriously about having a large family (4)
In which case I think might go for 2 close together, then a bigger gap, then another 2 close together.
Don't have a huge amount of time though as am not really a spring chicken. And I fully reserve the right to change my mind about this when DS starts being more of a PITA as he no doubt will.

Greetings MonMoo, nice to have another. I read your AIBU thread, did you talk to the GP about the other meds for your migraines yet?
Can not even imagine how you have coped with a 3-year old AND a new baby AND migraines..amazing!! MIL should be in awe of you, not trying to make you feel inadequate.
I don't get the MIL relationship, they seem so fraught so much of the time. Fortunately mine has always been very kind and sensitive, but she IS on the other side of the planet, so opportunities for anything else are pretty limited.
I love the image of your DD1 sitting in a box gluing feathers and painting her feet , I'm sure we all feel like doing that sometimes.

I wanted to go to baby sing & sign, but am a bit disappointed they don't want to take a baby just under 6 months (do you think if I told them how advanced DS is it would help - they probably haven't heard that much before)
I'll be back at work for the next round of classes - unless it happens to be on a day I don't work. I wonder what the chances of that are?

Denny, what do baby einstein DVDs have on them? I've heard of them but because they're such a mystery to me I've never ordered one.

OMa - you poor, poor, thing. I knew you had had it tough, but didn't realise that it hadn't gotten any better still.
Can you just clarify what you're hoping the formula feed will do? Is it so that you don't have to give the late feed and can get sleep earlier in the evening without the added work during the day of expressing (or because your expressed milk doesn't seem to keep?), i.e. Will DH or your Dad give that feed?
Or are you hoping the formula itself will help DD2 sleep longer?
I don't want to tell you what to do, or make it seem like I approve or disapprove of any choice you make, but if it's the second reason, what happens if you introduce a formula feed and she still doesn't go any longer?
I don't know whether or why dropping one feed regularly would affect your supply for the rest of her regular feeds, and in my antenatal group, there are a couple of girls who seem to be successfully using a mix of formula and breastfeeding in the evening, for the 6-7ish feed rather than a late feed.
It doesn't seem to have hindered their supply so far, but maybe it's not just supply issues that made the girls from your old NCT give up, at around 4-6 weeks they might have still been struggling with BFing itself, and didn't have the same motivation to keep it going that you obviously do.
WRT waking for the late feed - we play this one very much by ear. DS sleeps in his cot for the first half of the evening, from about 8:30 to about 10:30/11 when I normally go to bed (I know, should go earlier), if he's sound asleep when I move him to his 'baby platform' attached to our bed next to me, then I don't wake him for feeding. If he looks like he's in a light part of his sleep cycle, then I do.
I worried about setting him up to need food every 3 hours, day or night, as well - so this approach helped me feel I wasn't establishing any patterns either way, and means he does about a 5-6 hr stretch fairly regularly. Unfortunately I'm not always asleep for it, but that's my fault not his

Speaking of sleep, I really must get off MN. I only came on for a quick catch up and now it's after midnight.

Morning all, wow Ladybee that was a post and a half, done so late at night too. Im impressed you are able to keep your eyes open let alone create coherent sentences at that time.

Baby einsteins vary from popping brightly coloured toys up on screen, puppets, scenery ie waterfalls to the discs for older babies that have animals, counting, planes etc on them. Got mine cheap on ebay, not convinced at first but they seem to like them DD2 watching them aswell as DS (23 months). Not all day I hasten to add, Im not a completely slummy mummy

Good morning.

Lol Ladybee - you must be having a great day to actually be able to type out you want 4! As one of 4 children I can testify that it was brilliant, but I can't get myself so far to actually consider it out loud. At the moment it's 2, possibly 3 (definitely no more than 3 if the next "one" are twins, which I've got a strange feeling it'll be...)

Hmm Denny, Baby Einsteins you say... I'm stashing up on "15-minute providers" at the moment - have realised I can't go through life unshowered (all the time ).

I laughed (quietly) yesterday: As I was doing the accounts all day, DH was in charge of Roelof all day. By 6 he asked me whether it would matter if he gave him a bath earlier than usual so that he could go to sleep, as he was "defeated". I don't think the guys realise just how exhausting a full day is. A couple of hours here or there is fine, but it kind of builds up if they don't sleep until you're ready to hand him to the binman just for a 5-minute break!

Guess what I saw too late yesterday. The bouncers are here, but the post office couldn't deliver it (closed gate), and we saw the cards too late for DH to go to the post office. I want my bouncer NOW.

I too can highly recommend the baby einstein DVDs, despite the embarassing name (it sounds as if we are trying to rear little brainboxes!)

They are about £15 each but you can often get a boxset on ebay from abroad (China), We got 22 discs for £45. They really are great, my DD1 is 2.3yrs and she still loves them, there are different ones for different ages, from 1 month up.

They are definitely worth the investment if you want the odd 20 mins peace here and there.

I also think they are quite 'watchable' for adults. They are set to classical music but in a plinky plonky style for babies, IYSWIM. Educational but fun too.

We've got a chinese box set of baby einsteins too, 17 DVDs for under £30 from ebay. It depends on what mood George is in to whether he'll watch or not.

Can I just say, I love my DH and I feel like a new woman today, after almost 5 months of doing night feeds he took G and a bottle of ebm to bed last night, and I slept in the spare room. I got 8 hours sleep and DH is shattered after doing 1 night! I think he now realises how tired I've been.

We're off on holiday next weekend, to Caister near Great Yarmouth. We're sharing a caravan with my mum & dad, and my auntie, uncle & cousin & her 3 DCs are sharing another on the same site. I can't wait! I also can't believe that George will turn 5 months old while we're there. It's flown!

Glad to hear of more sleep for everyone - Mimi is back to normal now, a 7am wake-up.

DH is at fight training today; well he will be back later and think we may be going out for a roast but will be going easy on the roasties and lots on the veg - loosing my mummy tummy!

Sal - my wii fit came yesterday but we were out and i cannot get it until monday now either

Oh brilliant, I'll have a (supervised ) look on E-bay, sounds great. I'll try and refrain from buying multiple sets this time... Buy-assist, you said, VS? Think I'll have proper supervision as well, just to be certain, hehe.

Scorpio, I'm going to tell DH about your wii fit, he'll be so jealous! We've been looking for one for ages, but it's always sold out. Where did you get one?

Knitter, what a lovely thing for your DH to do! They can be so brilliant at times. Which then leads to more babies...

DH ended up being at home with Roelof yesterday, so we went to the Mudshute farm today. I thought R's still too young to be interested, but he was fascinated by the animals, especially the pigs. I thought it was really funny.

Oma - if it helps at all I introduced a ff with my dd1 in the evening and did this from 3-6months when I stopped the bf and went fully to ff (with solids obviously!). It didn't seem to affect my supply or lead me down the slippery slope of ff before I wanted to. I'd say go for it and get your dh to do it so you can go to bed early and get a decent stretch of sleep, you must be exhuasted you poor thing.

I had the water baby enstein dvd for dd1, can't remember what it was called - must get it back from my sister actually. DD1 loved it, kept her quiet for ages. Actually she went through a period of being quite obsessed with it when she was a bit older. She is now obsessed with pingu....

MonMoo, just saw your other thread on migraine tips - how are you feeling? Do you get it all the time? (Sorry, didn't want to post on there as I don't have any tips, just wondered how you were.)

Have a great holiday knitter, we will have to organise that day out when you are back.

Scorpio v of the wii fit where did u manage to get one?

Oma, how are you feeling today? I keep on hoping and praying for a miracle break for you - an unexpected big, big sleep for a couple of hours or something.

SalLikesCoffee - I'm getting 1 or 2 a week at the minute. A total misery but am hoping they will stop soon. Going to go back to GP this week to discuss preventative meds I can take while bf as don't want to totally give up.

I really hope he can help you with something! It's been years since I've had migranes, but I'm a total whimp and not sure I'd be able to deal with that and a baby! I can't remember from your original thread whether you're doing it already, but if not, check with your doctor whether a diabetic type diet would help as well, as I've heard that falling sugar levels can trigger the migranes (I wondered if that which might be why it's more common for you when breastfeeding?)

We have had a lovely weekend - had friends around for dinner on Friday night, which was an organisational feat, felt like we were preparing all week but really just meant I needed to get one dish mostly made, chicken into marinade and picked beans, washed and trimmed them during the day, then it was just about 30mins worth of actual cooking to get food on the table. DS didn't quite cooperate, deciding not to go to sleep early that day, and I didn't feel like persisting in trying to lull him so ended up just bringing him down to be with our friends and chill out in his chair. He went to sleep before we ate in the end and they got to see him, so it was all good.
Yesterday we went into greenwich, despite the rain, and had a look around the market before trying to go to see the fan museum (don't laugh) - which has an orangery we're thinking about using as a venue for wedding reception (see, there's a reason, I'm not a fan obsessive). Unfortunately someone else had hired the place so it was shut, but we found another lovely place to sit and have tea and cake and chat just like we used to do B.C. (before child). Then met up with some more friends at a pub for very quick drink before taking Benedict home and putting him to bed about 9. It felt very spontaneous and just helped me feel more like 'myself', which was probably why I was up so late as well.
DP has been a total star all weekend, no tension about who is looking after DS, we've just been coordinating it between us and it's worked really well - such a relief for the weekend to be relaxing and not all stressy.

OMa - wanted to second MommyHAH's offer of help. I'd be less comfortable minding your DD1 as am not used to being around older DC so much, but would be more than happy to look after DD2 while DD1 was at nursery and you took a break to sleep/have a bath/read whatever. I've just subscribed to CAT so if you wanted to contact me that way, please do. I'm serious.

Wii fit - ebay!!! Sal, be careful, LOL

I had roast and choc cake but have been so good lately that i am allowed a BF treat IMO!