September 08 - Just ladies with babies

[pacita]

I thought I'd start a new thread before we run out of space...

hello new thread - haven't been on here for ages! Things pretty hectic - but I have survived my first week with all 3 kids on my hands and dp out at work. Still totally ecstatic with my lovely baby - keep thinking this must be the post birth hormonal high and that I haven't come down from it yet, but A is now 4 weeks, so maybe we can just continue in this happy state!

Hope everyone else is doing well.

DP has been desperately trying to get T to smile all afternoon so he can take a photo. it's been highly entertaining watching him leap around, pull funny faces and sing, while T sits there looking very seriously at him, not a smile to be seen.

Foxy I'm still feeling guilty in case you thought I was being rude to you! Hormonal paranoid lady? Moi?

Urgh, family party tomorrow, I am already dreading relatives wanting to pass him from pillar to post (I am planning on claiming he's just got over a vomiting bug or something if it gets ridiculous, in the hope they'll get scared that he'll puke on them). I'm so mean. Have to drive all the way to Croydon too, haven't done a drive that long with him yet - around 90 mins I think.

bookmarking.....

hopefully we're driving all the way to Brighton tomorrow from North London to see the in-laws. Will attempt to time it with DS's morning nap, but that means getting ready to go as soon as he's had his first feed (and that could be at 7 in the morning). Am already knackered just thinking about it. They better bloody appreciate it! Unlike you there won't be millions of relatives, just MIL and FIL and their crazy stinky dog who barks at things like doorbells.

already forgotten, hopefully.

pacita, it would be nice if diego had a word to alice about pooing once in 6 days. she's still pooing at least twice a day and numerous wet farts. leading to me buying weleda nappy cream and sudocreme, and as of yesterday, metanium, serious bum cream.

DG we're practically doing the same drive in reverse! We're in West Sussex, driving up to Croydon. Don't envy you with the crazy stinky dog, but think we share the pre-emptive exhaustion.

Typical, T went down beautifully in the cot for DP earlier - well, not beautifully, he took 30 mins, but at least he went down, and slept for 2 hours. I had a 'break' and went to the supermarket. Really weird doing something without him, felt slightly like I was missing a limb!

2nd large poo since 4pm to clean {grin] if my gal is anything, she's consistent!

foxy - Maya's still pooing at least 3 times a day and loads of wet farts! and this morning, when I thought it was safe to change her, she decided to have another one on the changing tabel. as soon as I finished cleaning her she had a krakatoan explosion all over the bathroom.... she even made herself jump! that was followed by a fountain you would have expected from a boy, but she was loughing and looking very proud of herself!

Oh dear, foxy, why can't our LOs find a happy middle ground?

hopefully and DG, happy travelling! I bet you the car will send them to sleep for the duration of the trip.

I am staying away from the car cos our car is such a rubbish old tin, I fear it may break down and leave me stranded!

Gosh, wish I had the repeated poo problem! T at most goes once in 24 hours, and the last 6 hours of that are spent with him in misery, straining and grunting and crying.

I am so furious with DP. We got given £100 in Green Baby (eco baby shop) vouchers when T was born, and I've been nursing them and the catalogue ever since. DP goes through phases where he maniacally tidies everything, and I've just been looking for them, and he has patently chucked the catalogue, which the vouchers were tucked inside. Annoyingly, he's (a) not admitting to it and (b) just saying 'well, there's no point getting cross about it'. It's particularly annoying since I work so hard to keep our budget in check, as he got in a horrendous amount of debt and we're trying to pay it of asap. I know the two aren't related, but I just feel that he's so unconcerned about money and doesn't care about all the effort I put in to save us money. Bet he'd feel a bit differently if I sat there and tore up 5 £20 notes!

hopefully I think it came across as a philosophical observation on parenthood.

carrieon thanks for the suggestions, and foxy thanks very much for the link. That is extremely interesting! I had a long talk with my sister yesterday, and she is a babywise devotee! (born again christian mother of six). I have A LOT of respect for her as a parent, but we agreed to disagree about many of her methods, especially controlled crying - I said I could not do this, esp not to an 8 week old baby. That said, her kids are all well adjusted, outgoing, secure, and independent people I love to spend time with. My conclusion is I am not in a position to criticise what others do, only to inform myself as best I can and decide what is right and wrong for my family.

I think I am now beginning to get to a good place as far as developing confidence in my own instincts as a parent, a la hopefully's comments. If/when I do adopt a routine I feel I will have the courage to make good choices and not be afraid to leave the things I don't feel right about.

My sister and I observed that if we had had to decide pre-pregnancy whether I would be a control/routine mother or a cuddles/on demand mother we would have thought the former. As I have turned out to be a total softie it just shows you really don't know yourself until you are a parent!

Ponymum

'My conclusion is I am not in a position to criticise what others do, only to inform myself as best I can and decide what is right and wrong for my family.'

I think there needs to be a lot more of this imo! Although nothing wrong with a bit of debate!

Just posting to bookmark the thread.

Hopefully My dp is exactly the same, what makes it worse is when he hasn't thrown it away but sits there all smug whilst I rant then produces it from a drawer.

Thanks for the comments it was a great moment for us.

Robyn has had almost 24 hours in a 4 hourly pattern for feeding. 11.30pm 3.30am 7.30am 12noon 2pm 5.30pm. I can't quite believe it. She has also had 2 good naptimes today, although one was whilst out in the pram and she did cry herself to sleep. Am still exhausted so having takeaway for tea, need the claories for a night with no sleep.

For those babies who need a bit of help pooing - I find with ds2 (and it worked with ds1 as well) that putting them in a bouncy chair brings the poo along. My theory is they kick a lot when they are in the chair and this somehow stimulates the bowel. Our chair has been christened the poo chair

Am very jealous of the babies who feed every 3-4 hours. DS has just started to manage to last out for 2 hours, but I remember ds1 was like this until he weaned at 6 months. Ho hum!

had horrible thing tonight, was getting ds2 ready for bath, noticed one nipple was looking bit purple and inverted, when i showed dh i felt a lump- quite big. Its about the size of 10p peice and feels quite thick and solid and it moves a bit. Have phoned NHS direct cos just didnt know what else to do and am now waiting for return call. Have since googled it and lots of hits saying its quite common, although something that said it could be mastitis!! Anyone any experience of this?

Pacita - it must be the day for poos - M's had her first in 5 days too.

+1more sorry no idea - hope they get back to you soon.

ponymum i'm like you - i think my family were surprised hat i'm the least routine of the 3 of us sisters

come back starlight!!

btw- his nipple not mine! Didnt seem clear when i re-read!

NHS direct not much use but basically not concerned. going to a HV led group on monday so will get her to check it out then

ILTMIMI I find exactly the same with the bouncy chair! The number of times T has done the most ginormous loud poos while sat in it, and made himself jump before sitting there looking v smug.

plusone I was wondering whose nipple it was! I'm sure it will turn out to be just one of those things babies do to alarm us.

I always knew I'd be a routine queen. Anyone who makes colour coded spreadsheets for their hospital packing list needs a routine. In a way I wish I was one of those who can go with the flow and relax (I'm probably a lot more stressed than many people on here, for instance), but I know I'd be far worse trying to do that than trying to follow a routine!

Debs glad you had a good day, and glad I'm not the only one with a frustrating DP! We've had a pretty good day, although T is currently in the baby bjorn (fast asleep), since he refused to go down after his last feed.

digitalgirl and hopefully DO NOT worry about travelling with LO'S!! I was in bits before we left for England, working out how long we had to travel between different places etc and how it could be timed to coincide with naps (at home we wake at 7am, nap for about half an hour between 9 & 10am) nap between 12ish and 2.30ish) and in bed at 7pm) well he slept as & when in the car & still went down really well every night, I was really amazed! (2 hour drive to the St Malo ferry, 9 hours across the channel, drive to Essex, then up to Nottingham, across to Cleethorpes, then on the last day down to Hornchurch again and off to Portsmouth for the ferry!!) I don't know how we managed it because it is totally against everything I have ever read about what babies "should" do...

On the subject of poo's though, we seem to have one after every feed (still exclusively BF despite having a box of Hipp in the cupboard!) is it my diet that makes him more regular??

And thanks for the nappy cream tip too, worked a treat last night

plusonemore I remember my DS had a lump behind his nipple when he was tiny. It went afer a while. I think it may be a type of mastitis as a HV I saw recently led me to beleive that baby girls and boys could get it from the hormones while being bf.

DD is being very cute at the moment. She is gurgling away on her chicken playmat and flapping her legs about, her sleepy suit is a bit too long so it looks like flippers .

hopefully - yes, but if you recall I was the one with the variance analysis on my baby shopping list (complete with conditional formatting) and now I am cuddling and feeding in bed all day long with no idea what the time is! But then other parts of my life have stayed control freakish - I am very attached to my label maker for putting everything away in the right drawer, have super organised baby clothes and changing station, etc.

moveit - we have in fact had a couple of "accidents" in the bouncy chair with poos that went through everything. This was when I discovered that the fabric doesn't come off the frame!! How stupid is that for something designed for a baby to lie on. Picture me with scrubbing brush trying to manoeuvre the thing in the sink...

Speaking of, she is wide awake grinning in her bouncy chair right now, and Patch the pony (her favourite toy, according to me) is telling her a rather animated story. DH has just changed her nappy so I think we should be OK...

ponymum i have been planning to get a label maker to do the DC's drawers. Partly in the vain hope they will learn to read the words while tidying up .

Have just been trying to sort out photos & found one of him smiling!! added it to my profile (try & overlook the milk posset on his dungarees!)

Ladies, can you send me a link to this magic pooing chair?