June 2008 - The Olympics are here and Mums deserve gold medals

[ThePenguinProject]

Thought I'd start a new thread before we ran out of space! Couldn't remember the exact name suggestion so have paraphrased, the sentiment is still the same though...

TGF S is normally offered 5oz (150mls) for the dream feed - same as his daytime feeds. Had different experience from paro - if S doesn't take a good dream feed he'll take more during the night. Am trying to make sure he takes a full feed at dream feed so that the first feed he drops will be the middle of the night and not 10pm or 7am.

I guess different things work for different babies. Why can't they read the same books as us

amber -agree with best money but went with consultant care ...and also reckon not much difference on the hungry milk formula (think theory is its got more casein in it which takes longer to digest but not seen much change here)

needahand am inspired by your example.. didnt go so well last night before 11 but did get her back in her cot after her night feed and she went through til 7.30 (usually I end up taking her into bed at this spot).

bloody builders so noisy..so much for getting edie established in nap routine upstairs -

My daytimes have been transformed by the electronic rocker - another 2 hour afternoon nap!!

OMG I think a monsoon has his Edinburgh. S having a snooze, so have been on photobox putting together a 'first month' album of all the photos and the heavens have opened. DH is on train on way home so hope there isn't any flooding at the train station. The road is like a river and its only been raining for 2 or 3 mins!

Needahand how did you approach the controlled crying thing? Sorry, you've probably already said.

amberc that's great that the rocker is working for you. S seems to have gone off his vibrating chair .

peter all back to normal after yesterday's jabs. He stopped being sleepy late afternoon fed quite a bit more but evidently had a temperature. Gave him second dose of calpol at 7 pm. He only took half the dose because the rest got spat out, we ended up with lots of vile pink goo all over him. After that he was a bit droopy but slept as normal from 9-3, and the temperature was normal by then.

evening all,

Am slightly envious of all of you with routines. I have not been able to stick to anyrhing during the day. In the evenings we bath him between 9 and 10 then feed and then to bed. He then wakes for a feed between 1 and 2, then again between 3 and 5.

re fennel tea I have been drinking this for about a week now and it has been great as I am trying to stock the freezer as we have a couple of evenings out for 30th birthdays coming up. Which one are you drinking? The Twinngs one tastes and smells like aniseed, I have also had the whitards Nettle, Fennel and Aloe Vera which tastes completely different. I do like both, but I have always liked different flavour teas (although I cannot bear Peppermint)

have spent a knackering afternoon in Croydon where we had thunder and lightening, monsoon conditions, sunshine what is going on with this august weather? I want the sunshine that I remember from my childhood

We have our jabs next week, and asked the HV today about calpol and she said not to give either before or after as it can only be used on children over 3 months, checked my bottle and it says 'over 2 months' now I am confused

Hoping to have a lazy day tomorrow think we will stay in bed and watch the olympics

Hedgehog - Are you free next Tuesday to join the London Ladies for a meet up in Wimbledon? It's just a tram ride away from Croydon (I get into Wim via tram and providing the lift is working at Wim station it's reasonably pushchair friendly).

Know what you mean about the weather, Wimbledon was the same. I took a cardie (cold when I left), hat (for rain) and sunnies (for sunshine) and needed them all. And I was boiling on the way home....

Fennel tea - I have Duchy Originals? (The prince charles one) Not being posh, it's the only one our huge Sainsburys stocked! It's lovely and aniseedy but I don't think it's increased my milk at all.

God, day from hell. LO possesed i think. Has just screamed at me all day. Nothing has made her happy. I think shes overtired and not getting enough quality daytime sleep. Its hard to implement any day routine at the moment tho with DD1 around. Hope we can start one when she goes to school next month. I heard a rumour that crying episodes peak at 6 weeks. Has anyone else found this to be true? Does it start to ease a bit?
Bristol Girls...I am in Bath, but only a short trip on the bus/train. Would love a meet up. Early/Mid sept good for me once DD starts school.
Have a good sleep all ;)

Would love to meet up in glasgow, how about silverburn? Afternoon is probably easiest, any day is good for me.

Hedgehog is your hv new? Calpol used to state over 3months, but always said on the side it could be given at 8 weeks after inj (at least for the past 10years). It is usaually recommended just to give a 2.5ml dose as a one off but no reason why you can't give it again if needed. They gave Mia paracetamol in hosp when she was 8 days old ( I wasn't awfully keen, but they recommend it before they put in a new drip line ).

fungle Mia def became much more settled after 6 weeks. She has slept really well last few nights 8-8 with just one/two feeds. I woke her at 11 the first 2 nights but decided it was just a pain to stay up and when I didn't wake her she just woke once at 4 and when I fed at 11 she woke at 5.30/6pm so I guess it just depends what your doing.

Mia keeps crying and pulling off the breast, I think it is a fast let-down but cutting out dairy helped as well. In the evening she can get really fussy, going on and off and crying but I think that its is overtiredness.

PP I'm sorry keeping thinking of your dh's shirts on a tree somewhere lol!!

Has been an up and down sort of day. J refused to feed at all yesterday evening and only managed to get a feed in him after 4.5 hours when he went to sleep. Then this morning he was still only feeding when asleep but managed to throw up both of the feeds I got into him hugely. Very upsetting.

Then, this afternoon, he has not been sick and has willingly taken a couple of small feeds which I guess is a step forward. I went to a breastfeeding clinc and apparently breast refusal is sometimes seen around 3 months so I am not alone in this and hopefully it will resolve itself.

Sorry this post is all about me but it has been a really long hard couple of days and I feel exhausted. Thank you for the positive messages though, it really does help.

Fungle yes 6-8 weeks is the peak crying time however apparently they then have bouts of crying for other reasons instead! Luke's crying is much better now and he is back to normal after a week of inconsolableness (not a real word I know but you know what I mean!).

Luke has a bit of a routine but only at bedtime, he has a bath somewhere between 6-6.30, then a feed and I start rocking him to sleep at 7pm on the dot. He is always properly asleep by 8 (after having picked him up once or twice when he's fussing) and then we wake him at 11-11.30 for a feed. He normally wakes up at 3 or 4 for a night feed and then is awake about 6.30-7 to start the day. Not too bad but can't wait till he drops the night feed!

Can't wait for the athletics tomorrow!

Sybil sorry your having a rough time, it is so upsetting when they get upset during a feed and then when they throw it back at you it is soul destroying. I saw someone said that they always retain some, so try no to worry.

I don't know if you've tried cutting out dairy it does seem to make a difference to Mia. I think some little viruses can affect their tummy lining and make them more susp to proteins in dairy, so if you cut it down for a few weeks it can help tums recover. I keep forgetting though (bad mummy) but even reducing it seems to make a difference.

I also finds feeding with lots of skin-skin contact helps, I just take my top off and strip Mia to her nappy. Stay as relaxed as you can, I keep getting anxious and she gets really tense too.
Hope you get a good nights sleep, I have been expressing so dh can do the odd feed it takes away some of the pressure. Big hugs for you.

katyjo and glasgow ladies - not sure where silverburn is, but was hoping we could do city centre? It'll take me the best part of hour and half to get to Queen St from home, any further might be a struggle. Was also hoping we could do middle of the day so I can avoid being stuck in rush hour when S due feed Sorry to be a pain.

Sybil hope you have a better day tomorrow!

PP and london ladies would love to do Wimbledon, Would prob cop out and drive as trains prove a problem at my end due to lack of a lift. DH used to work in wimbledon so email me and let me know a time and place ruthhayllar at aol dot com. Would take me about 45 mins to an hour to get there either way though

sybil I find that when Isaac gets upset during a feed stroking his head or back and repeating calming phrases helps him even something simple like deep breaths for me, like katyjo if he gets really bad I also go for the skin to skin
re the throwing it back at you - yesterday my son managed to throw his down my cleavage and back into my BRA

katyjo wasn't my normal HV but she isn't new as far as I could tell as she kept talking about where she had been based and also before our GP's surgery was built (at least 15 years old!!)

right trying to have some brekkie at the moment and then will tackle the nappy buckets!!

Morning all!

Bit exhausted here as S took two hours to settle following his middle of the night feed for the second night in a row. He didn't finish his 10pm feed both times the night before so tonight he'll be finishing it if it kills me!

Got my PND screening with the HV today so wish me luck!

PP I meant to say that was a shame about your washing, although having visions of them sending you postcards from around the world like that gnome who was on the news this week...

hedgehog - sounds like your HV could do with some training to bring her out of the dark ages! If we all know that they changed the age limits on calpol you'd think that she'd know! Oh, have just re-read your post and realised about bra, is it bad that it made me splutter on my tea?

GF I am glad you saw an improvement with Storm. May be she is a super fast feeder, or maybe you have so much milk she still only needs the one breast?

GF and fungle My preference would be John Lewis (just in case it rains) but you'll have to give me the address!. Also I won't leave in Westbury on Trym but in St Andrews. We were interested in a house on Westbury on Trym but the agency never got back to us, so we are in the process or renting one near Gloucester road. Mid September would probably be best. I am moving on the 6 and will probably need the first week to unpack (After that I will get bored and need a break!) Before I move I'll e-mail GF my mobile number just in case there are changes of plan and I don't have the internet.

BSQ the rules of control crying are supposed to be: you let them cry for about three minutes, then go and either pick them up and put them down as soon as they stop sobbing or just pat them and reassure them (I do the patting with SJ), then you go after 5 minutes, then after 10 minutes when they are that small you are not supposed to let them cry more than 10 minutes (I think you can go up to 15 when they are older). Each time you go you are suppose to speak to them less and less to avoid "rewarding their crying" you just need to do the minimum to settle them and leave. Also if they become histerical before 3 or 5 or 10 minutes you should go. Personnally because SJ is so small I don't leave it more than 5 minutes but I don't pick him up, I just pat. Yesterday was the fourth day and he never cried!

It is very very hard to do the control crying for a mum (my nerves are just curling into a ball when he cries) but honestly in the long run it is worth it. And I keep telling myself that it is better for him to cry for 30 minutes and have a good sleep routine rather than still be grizzly at 11 or 12 which is what he did before

hedgehog re fennel tea I drink and organic one which litterally looks like fennel seeds in a bag. And I really don't like the taste. The things we have to do for our children hey!

SJ has been feeding every two hours or hour and a half in the past two days. I hope it is a growth spurt as I am knackered (he still slept for a big stretch of time at night though thank god!)

BDQ Anywhere is fine with me, where are you we could come a bit closer to you. I can do city centre no problem, John Lewis/buchanan galleries might be quite good as easy to park and JL has good baby change facilities.

Hedhehog I've had sick in the bra too - yuck!!

I'm in Edinburgh katyjo but JL would work for me - its only hop skip and a jump from Queen St. Looked up Silverburn - would be a good venue for another meet up in the future but DH monopolising the car over the next month.

Thanks needahand. S seems to be getting over his colicky crying (fingers crossed) so when I'm sure that he has I want to look at trying to settle him again in the evening. The one benefit of all this colicky crying is that I think I'm now immune to it . Although he can now cry real tears which is heartbreaking!

S is being a monkey today. Because he was up so long in the middle of the night he didn't feed till 8am instead of 7am, but he still managed to demand his feed at 10am. Despite best efforts (from me) he'd only take half of it and has gone to sleep. So instead of good feed and hour's playtime he's snoozing again. I feel the day has gone t*ts up already! Thankfully have no plans to go out.

I'm not a candidate for PND though which is good!

Fungle are you having a better day?

laugh away at my bra sick, although i think i can now top it.....
been to tesco this morning, and thought i would make the most of a sleeping baby and had a coffee in starbucks, lovely, he woke for a feed so sat him on my lap while i prepared, suddenly had a damp leg, little monkey wasn't hungry but filled his nappy (disposable) which also leaked all over my leg. have a change of clothes for him, none for me. decided to do shop with pooey leg!! Will understand if london ladies cannot stomach my new level of slummy mummy ness and do not want to meet now

upside of all this - have plenty of ammunition now to expand my cloth nappy stash as i cannot carry a change of clothes for me too!!

LOL bra sick and poo lap. It's amazing how much stuff can come out of someone so small.

Sybil, sending huge hugs. I know how hard vomiting can be, especially when you're breastfeeding. The GP asked me to keep a record of what times she was sick, and we established that there is a pattern of her being either the morning or the feed before she goes down - or if I'm really lucky, both.

There are lots of tips about positioning to reduce the sickness here I really hope you are able to find some ideas.

Dorothy hasn't been sick in the morning for a week since I gave up tomatoes, and I'm stopping dairy for three days to see if that stops the evening one.

DS (now 2.9) was so easy - when other people talked about giving up this and that last time, I thought it was all hokum, but I'm willing to try anything now to stop the sickness. (Even Rice dream - foul in tea but nice on Weetabix.)

Have nice afternoons everyone.

hedgehog - ugh! I've been pooed on a bunch but only at home which is so much easier to handle.

I've been off milk since Fraser was born as DS1 was intolerant. I'm having yoghurt and cheese and goats milk though and I think it's going fine, I'm definitely noticing a positive difference in Fraser's poos compared with his older brother.

(Duncan was able to tolerate yoghurt at 12 months and cheese at 18 months but he still can't have straight milk so I figured it was pure milk that I needed to worry about).

Rice Dream - the sainsbury's own brand is far cheaper - we go through cartons a week for DS1's cereal.

I'm way behind on everyone's posts - I read them but my brain is far too frazzelled to reply! DH is offshore again next week and I'm feeling like I'm barely coping. I'm so impressed with Josey who's managing with 3 kids and doing so much with Olivia while her DH is away for longer than mine!

hedgehog the calpol with ibuprofen in it is three months plus - and says so on the bottle. am quickly coming to the conclusion that many HVs are not up to date...

fungle oo, bath, v close. excellent. i work in bath actually (well, worked...)

needahand st andrews is FAB. John Lewis might be a bit far then as it's at an out of town centre, but the new shopping development in the centre opens this autumn, including harvey nicks!

storm permanently hungry today. grrr.

Katyjo - Jonathan also comes off the breast crying, often when he does it he gets squirted in the face with milk so I think it just comes too fast for him, he only seems to have a couple of settled long feeds each day and the rest are screamy fussy feeds where he eventually falls asleep, I got him weighed yesterday and he is still on the 75th percentile so I guess he is getting enough.

Sybil - hope things improve.

J managed to get a large amount of sick down my cleavage twice in a row yesterday!

I've been waiting in all day for a cot mattress to be delivered but still no sign of it. It's been a lovely day here as well, we sat in the garden for a bit but still feel like we have missed out.

Had to skim through a lot of the posts as I can hear J stirring, hi to everyone else.

A better day after yesterday's injections - he perked up by the evening (and slept after the calpol).

Had a massive poonami, absolutely huge, basically coming out of the neck of his babygro. Amazing. It was also just after the cleaner left - all her good work undone! Luckily I hadn't put the new cloth nappy which I'm trialling on him - although it would have been quite a trial for it! I normally dry pail, but have decided that the poonamis are too much and I don't want stains to set, so I have a little bucket for soaking those ones.

Not much else to say really - tragic, isn't it?!