June 2008- Some are sleeping, others weeping and some are just eating

[poppy34]

Thought I'd start the new thread using paro's suggestion

Sorry to hear people are suffering in the middle of the night. We were up between 4-6 last night as Jamie was so snotty. We steamed him in the shower and then he was awake and stroppy and still wouldn't feed so had to wait 2 hours until he was tired enough to sleep and feed. God I wish he would feed when awake.

Re weaning - I have some Annabel Karmel books and we still use the older recipes as they are yummy. Never used them very seriously in a routine way though, more of a guideline although they do have weekly menus.

Talking of weaning. I know people are fdscussing whether there are allergy implications to early weaning and wanted to give my experience. DS was weaned at 4 months (as advice was to wean then 7 yrs ago). He has mulitple allergies and terrible excema. DD weaned at 6 months - no allergies or excema. Maybe a coincedence, but will definitely be trying to wait to wean Jamie.

fellow knitter here too, but brain too fuzzed to finish all my knitting projects from when I was on maternity leave so I'm doing this at the moment:

the big knit

Raises money for age concern, uses up all your odds and sods of wool and they are so easy to make even a baby brain like can do them! (Have already made nearly 40!).

Then I have a tea cosy, a Scottish bear and a Pudsey bear to finish, plus a jumper for Alex which I haven't even started (which is probably a good thing as it'll never fit him otherwise!).

good for you hedgehog. Used to knit when I was younger - don't know if I'd be able to do it now though!

sybil A was snotty last night as well. I felt so sorry for him and let him co-sleep. Between him and me coughing and wriggling, DH didn't get any sleep at all! Every time A got back to sleep, I think my coughing woke him back up again.

A has most definitely got his days and nights round the wrong way. He's asleep now and has been for over 3 hours. I'm lucky if he sleeps for 3 hours in the night. Also he feeds like an angel at night, whereas during the day he feeds infrequently and takes very little (unless he's become v efficient at bf - it's so hard to tell).

amber poor you re. the sleeping, or lack of. A and Luke sound like they were separated at birth!

debs re. the periods, I think I had one a couple of weeks ago (v light). I'm exclusively bf so am hoping this was a blip!

I should stop reading some of the other mn threads. Just worried myself by reading a thread about summer-borns!

This thread is so much quieter these days!

Allnew is that thread the one re schools etc?

hope you two have a better night...

poppy yep that's the one!

started to read it then ..stopped!!

Didn't realise there were so many knitters out there.
Poppy - teddies are easier than clothes so I started with them, doesn't matter if things are the wrong size/missed stitches etc. Once I have finished I will post some photos. My big project while I was pregnant was a Bagpuss for my mums birthday as I have a small airfreshener one in my car that she kept trying to 'borrow' Once I have a photo of that I will post as well.
re weaning as Isaac is 6 months on 24th Dec, have decided that we will have him at the table in his highchair at GP's and put some bits and pieces on the tray and see what he does - this seems to be the philosophy behind BLW

Hello everyone! Quickly trying to catch up as I can hear LO stirring....I'm sure I'll miss things, but here goes:

UDC - Chocolate has dairy in it doesn?t it? That ones out then. BTW has anyone tried CDM's new apricot or cranberry choc bars? Trying to be good here and resist. I love your DS?s choice of French words? How about those wrist bands for travel sickness for DS? I used them successfully when I was little. Or ginger nut biscuits (ginger is meant to help with nausea).

HH - Christmas!? Re: leaky boobs, I wear breast pads most of the time now, but I?m sure Essie will be along with better advise. Actually, where is Essie?

Amber - You deserved a good night out, so glad you enjoyed Stevie. The reviews have been amazing. Sorry about your house, hope the holiday makes up for it. Obviously never done it, but was told that feeding during take off and landing helps with their ears popping. You can take formula, but you have to taste it I think. Sorry about this week?s meet up, perhaps fortnightly might be better? One at Waterloo on Tuesdays and one at Wimbledon on Thursdays for example?..

Aberdeen hiker - Very cool extreme breastfeeding, literally. And you live up to your name too.

Re: FF babies sleeping thru, my HV did mention that they?re not meant to say that formula fed babies sleep thru more easily, but that in her experience, they generally do.

Amber/Poppy/AliPalli - It really is catching. My angel child that slept thru has gone .

Sophie - Yummy brekkie!

Whine gums - Ryder has become clingy too?.

Sponge - How are you finding it with Alex in the other room? I?m considering it ATM?.got to paint his room and get a sensor mat first. Does anyone have any recommendations?

LauraT - Just off to look on Tesco and Asda websites?.

Deb - No periods here. GP said that they could not predict when they?d come back if bf-ing and I?m in no rush for them to!

Libra lady - Grr at your DH and in laws. I agree that you should get one of them to look after yor LO?s and treat yourself. Book a haircut/manicure/cinema tickets etc, so that neither they nor you can back out. NB: ?I?m tired? is the response I get from DH if I ask if anything is wrong!

Phew!

Don't believe all that guff about summer born babies. DS born late May and is doing really well at school while other children born in the beginning of his school year are struggling. Its the individual child rather than the month they are born in I am sure.

In his year there were 10 children born 1st May to 31st August and of those 4 have been moved up to next year group because they are so forward. Only 4 others from the rest of the year have been moved forward.

Allnew - I meant to say in last post. 'Hello' fellow bfeeding struggler! Glad to hear A is feeding well at some time of day! Occasionally Jamie will have a really good night but often he wakes me up for just short feeds every couple of hours which is annoying and exhausting. We will struggle on though. I just need to get to 6 months and then we can fatten them up with food!

PP we have a nanny monitor and it's excellent - no false alarms at all except when Luke wriggled too far away down the cot - now have baby restraint so he can't do that either.

nanny monitorsafe t sleep

those are two links!

PP, I'm finding it ok with Alex in his own room - although he's only been there for 2 nights so still early days! (or early nights should I say!

I use the tommee tippee sensor mat - really don't know how anyone manages without them. I just couldn't imagine not using it even though we had that horrible scare at 4.30am Sunday.

sybil, totally agree with you on summer borns! I'm a Y6 teacher and haven't noticed any huge relationship between summer borns and achievement - much much bigger relationship between achievement and support at home tbh. And of course just genetics - some children are just cleverer than others! The most intelligent man I ever met (did my degree with me at the same time at uni) was born on 31st August so was the youngest in his year and the only one to get a 1st!

oops, x posted with Amber!

Hello all, hi Penguin, nice to be missed even though I hadn't really gone anywhere! I suppose I hadn't posted. But last week I was having a fun staycation in Wales, and we took lots of day trips to places, just like a real holiday! It was great.
However, Iestyn has reverted (too - several of you having the same problem I think?). He had a lovely pattern of sleeping 8.30-3.30 or sometimes 4 or even 4.30, then again till around 8am. It was great. But that was then, this is now... He may have been having some sort of growth spurt, but on Saturday night he woke at 1.30 for his first feed, then every 2 hours from then on. And he was in a foul mood yesterday too! But last night was better.

Penguin I use the Tommee Tippee one too. Sponge we have had one scare. ('Scare'?! I stopped breathing, and vomited shortly afterwards. 'Scare' doesn't even come close, does it? Anyway, DH reckoned it was because Iestyn was in a deep sleep and was just breathing shallowly. We now also put the sensor pad under his back, whereas before we just shoved it under the mattress. It might have been under his legs.) But in a strange sort of way that scare justified it. I do wonder if the sensor alarm made him start breathing again (if he ever stopped, which DH doesn't think he did). It's good because it has a room thermometer - the grobag egg is sweet but we don't really use it because it's easier to check the temperature when we're doing everything else) and a night light too.

Leaky breasts, you say? Did I hear someone needing the help of Welsh Black Woman {superhero emoticon}? (Welsh Black cattle, in case you didn't know; they're good milkers who do well in a cold wet climate. Like me...)
Anyways...leaking. Well, if it's coming, it's coming. As in, if you feel letdown, as far as I can tell not even a dam would stop it. But general leakage: if it's bad, 2 or even 3 breastpads. (I use Tommee Tippee ones; I've tried Johnson&Johnson, Sainsbury's and Tesco's own brand; and one other, but TT came out top.) Engorgement: take a pump, but maybe see how long you can last before going for it? It depends how you are by now though.
I've calmed down a lot now, and often can't manage more than 20mls when expressing. I saw Sharon last week and discussed this with her:
*12 weeks is longer than average for boobs to settle down but now, they're used to Iestyn feeding and won't be fooled by the pump. I also don't get random letdown (much!).
You should be ok, but need to express or your body might think you've stopped bfing.

Hark at me... actually, I really want to be a bfing counsellor now.

Also, how about LilyPadz? I've had mixed success with them. They're really comfy, but I find them pinging off the other breast when I feed, releasing a small but obviously-wet-top amount of milk. They can stop minor leaks though.

See - missing for a while, then a monster post. Sorry!

cor..Hi Essie you really are missing your vocation as b/f counselling.

Glad that your alarm is still earning its keep..haven't invested in one yet mainly as dithering over type...and glad you're joining the sleep going backward types - must be some kind of growth pattern if they're all at it

We've got the Angelcare Monitor. Had it for DS1 4 year ago and bought it in Argos. Using again for Luke as he's been in his own room since 5 weeks. No false alarms yet.

Thank you everyone for monitor suggestions - I'm looking at them all now!

Essie - Lovely to hear from you. Glad you enjoyed your staycation.
Your description of your "scare" is so accurate. The day Ryder fell out of my sling and nearly hit the tiled floor in the bathroom will never leave me (unlike the contents of my stomach in the minutes after it happened). You should be a bf counsellor, altho you may have trouble relating to those with insufficient supply...

Poppy - I blame everything on growth spurts, but think it may really be the case this time. Am I right in recalling 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months were the key growth spurts? If so, Ryder was 12 weeks today so is just around the 3 month mark.

Sponge - Thanks for the reassurance re: summerborns, I'll stick with that and avoid the thread you guys are talking about.

Evening all
LL Sorry to hear about your DH. I think it would be a great idea to offload the kids onto him for a day. It's only when I get DH to do my various chores that he realises how hard they are...

Debs No period here at 15 weeks

Fungle Sorry you're down in the dumps. Are you up for a meet up this or next week? Needahand is in Bristol now and emailed me - but she's on dial up for two weeks so isn't going on MN much as far as I know. Also, the new shopping centre opens on Sep 25 - woo!

Amber No advice here but sending you sleepy thoughts

hedgehog/poppy/whinegums/sponge Am an avid knitter - do you guys know about ravelry.com? Great resource for patterns and knitting groups and loads of hints and tips - you sign up to a waiting list to join and it takes about a week - well worth it.

allipalli re feeding to sleep, one of my books (What to expect in the first year) says feeding to sleep is pretty normal and easier to end when they are six to nine months old and would wake at the end of a feed anyway. It's contrary to every other 'expert', but am using it as an excuse not to worry about it too much. If I can't get her to sleep that way but she's tired I just put her in the cot and do a bit of reassuring and then leave her to it - she normally conks out in five mins! And there's always a walk in the pram if it's just a short nap that's needed.

sybil interesting to hear your own experience of weaning/allergies. I was all for weaning storm until I read that - am now convinced my mum's weaning me at 12 weeks (with baby rice mixed with cows milk...) had a lot to do with my probs - esp as cow's milk formula really disagrees with Storm

essie good to have you back - perhaps you have a BF pointer for me? Since Storm has started sleeping through (roughly ten hours a night on average YAY) I'm suffering terribly from engorgement in the mornings - I have to express at least 3oz before my breast is soft enough for Storm to latch on, but sometimes as much as 5/6oz. Is there any way out of the engorgement/expressing vicious cycle? Have had a few close calls before properly getting mastitis (for the third time) at the weekend. I just can't see a way out of it - what do you think?

What is this summer babies thread that everyone is talking about?

What is this summer babies thread that everyone is talking about?

What is this summer babies thread that everyone is talking about?

What is this summer babies thread that everyone is talking about?

What is this summer babies thread that everyone is talking about?

Sorry don't know what happened there