Sept 08 - Is it day or night?

[lollyheart]

Hope no one minds me starting a new thread?

I MMR'd DD1 as herd immunity here low as well. I waited 'til 18 months as at 1 she seemed too young and I'm sure I read something recommending waiting - can't remember what tho'!

M is soooo tired today - probably after the IL's have gone. Means I've managed to sort out the house though.

Also went to a exercise class this morning that has a free creche (which she slept through ) - anyone else exercising? It felt good to be jumping around for my own benefit.

no egg history so guess it was probably just coincidence.
he was maybe just taking in more air because he has a cold.

Thanks for the thoughts - I value your opinion NC with your medical knowledge and it's nice to see what opinions everyone's got. I might have a skim read of that book if I get the chance as well.

T is currently transfixed by baby einstein DVD (am such a bad mother!) and hiccupping away merrily to himself, but he's just done the most enormous poo and I need to go and change him. Seems a shame to disturb his enjoyment though!

Exercise?? Are you mad ninja? The only exercise I do is walking to custard cream tin! (yes, we do have a tin specifically for custard creams). I am starting to keep a food diary though, which I always do for a week or two before starting a diet, as it shows me all the easy things to cut out (enabling me to continue eating custard creams), and I'm doing loads of walking with T in the pram.

Agree with notcitrus, foxy etc on the MMR stuff. There is some great analysis by a Guardian columnist Ben Goldacre, who writes the "Bad Science" column. The media totally blew out of proportion one small study (of just 12 children) which was not significant, and which was also very dodgy. The writer, Dr Andrew Wakefield, is in front of the General Medical Council on charges of serious professional misconduct. But the damage is that so many people believed the media scare stories and have now avoided vaccinating their children against truly terrible illnesses. I agree, the media have a lot to answer for.

Sorry, hope I am not being controversial. Let's just say that this mum (who happens to be a scientist) is definitely going for the full programme of vaccinations!

Charlotte will be having all her jabs - I'm not worries at all. here we don;t get a 6 wk check up but an 8wk check up and combined first jabs.

Thanks for all the comments re unsettled evenings - glad to hear it's probably just something to go through. the dummy works but she spits it out every few minutes, so we end up constantly putting it back in. I do know how lucky we are that she sleeps through - DP had a 6.30am start today so was up at 5am. Charlotte woke and I managed to rock her back to sleep until 6.30am.
I think we are not being consistent in the evenings as she seems to like routine - her bath and bed time can vary by up to an hour, so it's probably our fault anyway. Must try harder!

Re sterilising comments - Charlotte and I were in transitional care after the birth and the mw and neo-natal nurses just said to wash the expressing stuff in hot, soapy water, FWIW.

hi all. well...like many of youAlfie is having unsettled evenings. last night was particularly bad as he cred or fed from 6 til midnight! similar to someone else dont think its colic as he isnt in pain. hope fully as so many of us seem to be having the same problems it means its just a phase! today he also decided not to sleep in the day and finaly went to sleep about 2 when lying on sofa next to me ( i know this is very naughty) am wondering if he is a bit constipated as he usually has a poo-y nappy at every change but there hasnt been any today. how long before i try cb water?

Btw, anyone starting 'activities' with their LOs? I'm taking Charlotte to a 'no obligation' baby sensory class on Wed - not sure it it's all a bit too soon. I'm not really a 'mum and baby' type person anyway, so thought something like this might be better than sitting around making small talk.
Any thoughts?

sorry for lots of posts but also meant to add that Charlotte's staying awake more i the daytime now. She has a good nap after her 7am feed and then a shorter lunchtime nap and then about 90mins in the afternoon, so is finally 'waking up' and is crying less in the day (tho not from 7pm to 11pm!!)

Gah! Instead of the usual problem of refusing to go down in his cot, T has been happily settling in it today (with me 'shh'ing and patting till I'm blue in the face, and a lullaby playing!), but has woken every time within 10-20 minutes. He's happily settled again (although I have completely lost interest during this last nap, and he is asleep in his bouncy chair with me bouncing it with one foot), but is a big knackered from not getting a proper sleep! He's been doing the most horrendously enormous green sh*ts today though, and grunting lots, so I think it's probably discomfort that's waking him.

Imoscarsmum awake time scares me! T is now awake for a good hour after his day time feeds, and I am so crap at entertaining him. Luckily he will usually spend a good 20 mins in the baby gym kicking and squeaking to himself (there is a mirror in there which fascinates him beyond belief), so I only have to pull stupid faces and sing to him for 30 mins or so before it's time to start settling him again! I've joined the NCT though, and I'm going to see if there are any coffee mornings or anything like that nearby.

A was unsettled yesterday evening, although the previous evening he fed from 6.30 to 7, then went to a Halloween party and slept through the whole thing including being dressed as a pumpkin, except for a brief feed at 9, waking at 2,5 and 7 for food.

Last night gave formula at 11, then bf at 2,5,7.30,9 and 11, and then he fell asleep and I woke him at 3.30 to try to feed him again and convince him this is daytime. Got him to feed a bit but he's zonked out again now. So goodness knows what he'll do this evening and tonight!

Those of you who feed at set times - do you try to feed before your baby demands it (in which case can you make them interested?), or have them demand for a while (maybe yours don't scream like A does?) If A wants to sleep or wants a new nappy, nothing will make him feed, and equally if he wants food, nothing will stop him yelling - so much as I'd like some routine, I'm just running with him. Or limping behind, rather...

notcitrus Hang in there. I'm having the same experience with feeding, but minus the thrush, so I guess, an easier experience.

Hopefully You need to do your research so you are comfortable with your decision. Mine led me to give all the jabs, but just a few weeks later than the guidelines, and I didn't allow them to give the OTHER jab that they give with the MMR until a month later. WRT risk, I believe the risks are very small (there ARE risks with every medication), but there are risks of NOT given the jabs, and there are risks of giving them seperately (often under-researched by those that choose this path).

just to point out that my background is medical research, but I'm not actually medically qualified.
This leads to bizarre interactions with medics - I'm an expert on embryonic nervous systems and how breasts produce milk, but until getting pregnant knew nothing about getting babies or milk out of my body!

I second Ben Goldacre's writing for anyone interested in vaccines and any other risks that have been published in newspapers - www.badscience.net, or his book Bad Science has finally been published (currently half price on Amazon!)

OK - just me then! You're right I AM mad. It just helps me feel like me

NC in my mind that makes you medically qualified! i promise not to sue you for expressing your opinion. Re the routine, some people just force their babies into a routine, making them wait to feed etc, which is where following a routine gets a bad name from, as that's pretty much torture. What we did was literally coax T into going an extra couple of minutes if he wanted feeding less than an hour after his last feed (I mean literally a couple of minutes, and holding him so even if he was distressed he knew we were there), or wake him after a max of 2 hours sleep during the day. Once he was going at least 2 hours from start of feed to start of feed throughout the day (which took around a week), we started pushing for 3 hours. I think provided baby is a reasonable weight and health, there's no reason not to start easing out the length of time between feeds, but equally it is a hassle and hard work, so if you're happier following what he does, why not? it will all sort out in the end.

Yes, I should also point out that I am just talking about my own decision - definitely not an authority in this area.

Er yeah, and this is my disclaimer!

LOL

what happens if you microwave breast milk should i still use it?

Oh barnpot! Don't know the answer to your question (yet) but am really pleased to see you!

I mean I know you can still use it, what I don't know is the effects of the microwave iyswim!

I'm such a heathen - we don't actually own a microwave.

Okay, - so for those of you that have managed to bf for 6 weeks, you can now afford to buy a:

'DVD player or season pass to amusement park'

with the money you haven't spent on formula!

(and for those of you ff, with the money you haven't spent on lanisoh LOL)

barnpot I'm still researching. I think it is just that the milk becomes less than perfect when it is heated too quickly.

maybe I should buy a microwave

Re routines - Charlotte slipped into her own one fairly quickly, so we didn't have to do anything ut follow her - having said that, she sometimes gets a very hungry cry after 2 hours in the afternoon - the trick for us is to spot that she's not actually hungry but needs to suck. A cuddle and a nipple/dummy soon calms her down (and this is how I got her to latch onto me after weeks of failure - she now has a good old suck for comfort. She only gets a few drops of my milk as it never got established, so no confusion for her but it all adds up over the days...hehehe)

so alfie still hasnt done a poo- think its giving him a sore tummy. have been rubbing it, anytrhing else i should do????

MMR my ds had the 1st jab on his first birthday. On his 2nd b'day had 2 lots of chicken pox on his 3rd diagnosed with autism. didn't give him the booster.
i don't think the jab gave him autism, we are more swayed towards the pox, but i didn' want to chance it.

Will get Robyn jabbed tho. fingers will be firmly crossed as having 1 child with autism raises the chances of next child having it.

routines We seem to have quite a good run from 11pm, bed, then between 3 and 5am for a feed and nappy change, then between 7 and 9 am for another feed. She sleeps quite well inbetween. The mid night feed lasts about 40 mins but the other ones about 25.
10am get changed and washed sleep then up again noon. If we go for a walk then she sleeps for a couple of hours.
For the rest of the day our routiune is just feed and snooze until the feedfest before bed.
She is only 6 weeks old so we are just muddling along and coping. I get enough sleep for a few days then it catches up with me and i'm a zombie for a day.