we did it, we did it, the babies are here, now come and join us and we will give you a cheer!!!!

[Dozymare]

Hope this works

thought i would start a thread for those of us already in the heady World of motherhood, so we can share the trials and tribulations of the early days....

I shall start with my birth story and hope other's follow and I haven't started a dud thread

As you know I was dreading a 3rd CS, almost to the point where I was having panic attacks - we went in on the Thursday and after waiting for an EMC we were taken to theatre where I was DELIGHTED to recognise the aneathatist (sp!!) who helped deliver DS2. Now, one of my major fears about a 3rd CS was the fact that having had a "perfect" excperience with DS2, it6 wouldn't be possible to experience the same thing again...I was wroing, it was better The whole thing was started at 1315 and Tallulah was born at 1344 weighing 7lbs 2oz. She has a shock of dark hair but seems so small compared to the boys who were 9 and 10lbs respectively. The care I recieved was absolutely 2nd to none - no complaints or gripes.........So far so good.........

HOWEVER.........my god, do you forget the pain of breastfeeding before the milk comes in - I am in absolute agony and have had to top up with aptamil as the poor wee thing is so, so hungry...I am literally BF for up to 2 hours (the point of pain in both udders ) and then topping up with Aptamil. She guzzles 30ml and then settles.......As for sleep - sleep is for wimps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And there it is

misdee I wasn't cuddled up to him, he was one end, I was the other. He was quite safe from me rolling on him!!! Thanks for your concern though, I'd never put him at risk.

OK - he's definitely tired but he's being a stubborn one and fighting it. One area I didn't want him to take after me!!

I also tried a dummy to see if that soothed him, he seemed to like it and sucked on it for a minute before it fell out. I was SO against them before and I hated seeing it in his mouth but I have now moved to the "whatever works" camp!

Hope everyone else has good evenings. x

Hi all

mixed night for me, but the snuffles are abating here so everyone is sleeping better.

My DH gets very target driven, which runs completely against a small child's agenda, so I find myself telling him to chill out, which winds him up even more. I think he feels pressured because he knows I look after them all on my own a lot without too many issues- but I've spent a lot of time with young children. He's used to older ones who want a different kind of handling. I'm also an inveterate non-sleeper, so I don't mind too much about lack of sleep, but dh is very diferent.

barbs my DS best friend had positional talipes. It was re-checked when he got to 2.5 i think and had corrected, so he didn't need any treatment, luckily.

hanaflower ah, didn't know that. We're 'lucky' that our sofa cushions are sewn into position, I say 'lucky' it's a nightmare in reality as we can't move them around which means mine and DH's seats are worn and moulded into the shape of our bums and the others look brand new!!

Thanks for the clarification though .

James screams when his nappy is done, unless he's just been fed when he's content for anything to be done to him!

how do you all manage to feed lying down?

my floppy norks disappear under my armpits and F's face is all squished up against me and he can't breathe (never mind sofas being unsafe, mum's norks are too ), so although he slept beside me, I had to sit up to feed him. Kind of negates the advantages of co-sleeping but if it gets him (and me) some much needed rest, then who cares.

Mine flop down, don't try and hide in my armpits though. I was mortified at the hospital when, on my first attempt at bf I was told that I'd have to hold my boob up as it hangs too much for him!!!! and yet I've always had gravity defying boobs... gutted!!

They'll get back to some shadow of their former selves one day mummynic

I am pretty sure I am going to be in for a long night, Zack has been alseep since 8pm-ish but doesn't normally go down until 10.45 for the night. Typical it would be on the night where I KNOW I will have to keep Z quiet as dh has to get up at stupid O'clock tomorrow morning for a meeting.

Does anyone here have a breastfed baby that has taken to a dummy? If so, what kind are you using? I have 2 avent newborn orthodontic ones and Z really doesn't seem to like them. Mind you, ds2 never took to a dummy, but he had some oral sensory issues. Ds1 loved his cherry teats to start with before we moved onto orthodonttic ones.

I used the tommee tippee closer to nature ones with DD from about four weeks. they looked huge though. They have changed their dummies to orthodontic teats now and the couple of times I tried one with DS he just spat it out.

DS has slept all day Heartmum so I'm in for asimilarly long night I think!

I hope so leaky my DH is worried that I won't go back to my former self - although the upside to the e-cs is that my foo foo remains the same - something that was of particular concern to both of us!!!

I'm using the Tommy Tippee Closer to Nature newborn orthodontic ones for James and he's taken to them quite well.

Nearly cried when I first saw one in his mouth but I've got used to the idea now and they have a place I guess - have been using them quite a bit at night while he's been ill.

Oh, I've been giving him a bottle in the evening / night once a day too. Now that I have a machine I am able to express through the day (as per GF) so he gets a nice big feed before bed, tonight's the first night of doing that so fingers crossed I get more than an hour tonight!!!

James hasn't had any teat confusion at all but then on his 1st day in the world he had to be formula fed due to low blood sugar - it was an emergency to get food in him. So he's had mixed feeding since the beginning.

I have read somewhere that the cherry teats are actually easier for them rather than the orthodontic ones but I can't remember where I read it.....

Morning
gah! Awful night. Will wouldn't settle - has wanted to feed all night - evry time we put him down he cried and every time we picked him up he started rooting. My nipples are so sore
So have left dh to sleep and put Will in his bouncy chair thing with a dummy.
I just don't get it. The mw is meant to be coming today so maybe she can tell me what the problem is.
I'm sorry everyone else is having sleeping problems too but it's kind of reassuring too iyswim x

p.s am not sure about dummies anymore - they help settle ds but then fall out which then wakes him - seems counterproductive!

Hello fellow happy insomniacs!
I am shattered, thought nights were going so well, serves me right for being so cocky. Last night was the first night since DD arrived that DS slept through although he took ages to settle. She, on the other hand was up at least every two hours for a feed, took ages to burp, and weed through her pyjamas then howled as if I was murdering her when I put her in nice dry ones!
DH has just left, won't be back till tomorrow evening, please let me get some sleep while DS is at nursery this morning

Will catch up in a mo but have started a Stats list here

Pop on and add your details and we can count up boys vs girls

We had a rubbish night too - the second in a row with DS waking up at 2.45am and until 6.30am he was in a really wierd mood - he was feeding lots but every time he had my breast in his mouth he would fall off loads and then root around for it when it was right in front of him and make moany noises. Then every time he seemed tired he would just lie there whimpering.

Any ideas?????

Sorry to everyone else who had rubbish nights and good luck to all for today!

Sympathies to those not getting much sleep - I swear there is nothing worse!!

Dummies - iirc, DS1 never got to grips with the orthodontic teats and we moved onto cherry teats very quickly with him. Sam only has a dummy occasionally at the moment and, if he is not in the mood, he will not suck on it anyway. If he is in the mood, he will suck for ages - have got orthodontic ones as they were the first ones I found! Although as DS1 still has dummies (at nap/bedtime) I have to make sure Sam's are out of his reach!!

Another good night here - mainly cos DH was doing the night feeds Sam slept most of the evening, went down in his crib just after 10, DH fed him at 2 and 5 and then we all slept until 7.30 when DS1 came into our room Absolutely unheard of for DS1 to sleep until that time!!! But the flipside is that DS1 would not go down for his nap yesterday afternoon so I think he may be on the road to dropping his afternoon nap - which I will be devastated about but to be expected at 2.5!! Can't have it all I guess.

Thanks Ceebee have added mine!

Choco Think we had a very similar night!!

I didn't realise there were different kinds of dummies. I think we must have bought the orthodontic ones but Will loses them as he drops off to sleep - do you think a cherry one would stay in? Just that this wakes him up!!

Also, I think I read someone mentioned something about growth spurts - what are they all about - is there a particular time they happen and how does it affect behaviour?

ooh! just read that babies can have a growth spurt at 7-10 days and it causes them to feed more and be generally fussier - so perhaps Will is having a growth spurt?

Am kind of reassured by that. At 3a.m. with a hungry, fractious newborn you start to wonder what you're doing wrong.

Morning everyone

GREAT to see Rutho back, as others have said, you have been sorely missed.

Nice to see Monkeym posting.

I said to Dozy, that we as second/third timers, maybe should have prepared the first timers more, in pur An thread for what was to come. None of the books prepare you.
I am a bit concerned how much the first timers are not exactly struggling, but lets be honest, it is overwhelming. says Obs , who is having a major struggle herself
We haven't seen much of Cricri, Ruthy, Hana, Chocolategal, Pinkali, DrsWife, MummyNic( a few posts recently), Monkey, Autumlady - infact ALL our first timers.
Obs is a bit concerned that we have not supported our first timers enough.

Right, now we have had bad nights, fri and sat. Sun morn, I went out and bought new copy of GF. Started ds2 in it sun lunchtime. Put him to bed at 7, after 6.15 feed. Went to 9.30 Great. Then up from 1.30-4am = NOT GREAT.
But he is doing it like clockwork this morning.
We continue.
Don't know what else to do.
HOPE THIS BLOODY WORKS. COZ BUGGER ALL ELSE HAS

morning. sophie is still snuffly. at one point she was snoring so loudly dh said she was louder than me. didnt sleep well as kept checking on her. she is back asleep in my arms atm.

dummies, we are using the tommee tippee clear ones with no back to them (closer to nature?). which look strange but sophie likes them. a bit cherry-like in appearence but not big cherry iykwim. have heard they are discontining them tho.

Soory to hear Merrym dd not well.

dummies, we have avent ones, only one available to buy in supermarket at the time. ds2 just spits it out

Barbs, growth spurts, lots in first 6 months or 9 months. classic time is 3 wks then 6 wks I think. but they are only rough guidelines. increased desire milk. sometimes more tetchy. It is always witrh hindsight that you look back at the difficult time, increased hunger, and stupidly go, oh yes, obviously a growth spurt . tee hee.

sorry to hear choco, bad nights.

sympathy to yorky, barb and mummynic for bad nights. glad some of you are coming over to join me on the bad nights side
seriously. this is not good. big sympathy.

LOL at Mummynic and Leaky discussions of nipples. PERT NIPPLES ? now let me think, I did have those once. yes they pointed up. as I recall. Now I have to dig around, lift up boob, and go 'hey, so thats wher you were hiding, you naughty nipple'.
Columbus, th explorer would have trouble finding mine. Don't you just love pregnancy

I have something really sad/pathetic/embarrassing to tell you.
For the last week, (and the nightime woes have been going on for over 3 weeks, now, I think) I have been .............
wearing my slippers to bed
I am in my dressing gown permanaently aswell.
I get up to feed/wind ds2/. And I am in my dressing gown adn slippers. And becasue when I have finished,and get back into bed, I assume that I will be up again soon. which I am.
I get into bed with my slippers on.. to save time. so that I don't have to faff around int he dark, trying to find them, ithe next time I get up.

And I dawned on me, yesterday. That ... if someoen could see me now....
how sad/pathetic this really is.