September 08 - Just ladies with babies

[pacita]

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

Thanks charitygirl. How old is Frank now? I am hoping for a smooth face soon too...

sooo GP said the lump is hormonal from breastfeeding. Hope he's right, it seems very odd for that as it feels like a separate lump and I would have thought hormonal would be just general growth, but then what do i know?!!!

starlight at 9oz in 12 mins- thats like a tap!

plusone D has a lump in one nipple, which seems inverted. Will ask doctor on Weds, as have my 6 week check up. Very bizarre.

plusonemore - J had swollen baby breasts for about 2 weeks after birth - i know this is different - My MW said you only really need to worry if they bleed or ooz pus

I forgot to add in my earlier post about dummies - they appear now to be recommended for babies as they reduce the risk of SIDS.

Starlight - i think its fantastic that you can donate your milk, its lovely to think you could help another little baby in that way

A few random questions....

M seems to have developed a nappy routine in the last week, where most nappies are either wet or have a small smear, but once a day there will be a huge explosion, which totally fills the nappy (and always leaks out of one side!) - very very runny - does this sound normal? Wasn't sure how I'd tell if he hafd an upset tummy?

Also, someone told me today it's illegal to leave your baby alone in the car - if this is true, how on earth do you fill up with petrol?! Anyone know/have any clever ideas?!

Thank you! x

Also, does anyone know of any Child Trust Fund provider where you get freebies (like vouchers) but where you only deposit the £250, rather than adding more by dd each month? I know there are a few that give you perks for adding at least £10 a month, but wondered if there were any if you just put in the basic?

Mellabella first time round my periods didn't come back until I started weaning which was just before 6 months. Oddly I didn't start ovulating then though - it took going down to one feed a day before that happened (I was trying to get pregnant again so I was using ovulation kits!). Of course this time round when I am not planning on having another one you just know I'll start ovulating earlier!!!

Hopefully staying up til 12:30 for the last feed seems to be working ok for me - I'm in bed with the light out by 1:30 and then get just over 5 hours before he wakes up for the morning feed at just after 7. But I quite often get a short nap (up to an hour) when DH is around to look after them and that takes the edge off the tiredness. It's more sleep than I got in one go towards the end of the pregnancy! The difficult bit will be because we are waking him up for that last feed we won't know when he could last a bit longer so I guess we'll try settling him to bed earlier in a couple of weeks and just see if he can sleep through - if not we'll try in another couple of weeks, and so on...

starlight I'm impressed! saying that the bottles I expess into only have 6oz of capacity. i had thought of donating too but the nearest hospital is 50 miles away which is a shame. let us know how you get on.

I hope you have a better night, i'm amazed you have the energy to post coherently!

cat I was going to ask for advice about trust funds - I don't know whether to wait in this climate. anyone have any idea?

starlight - thanks, she's been dribbling a lot and munching on her knucles too, but I hope it's not teething! I've tried the bottom lip/chin thing etc ,but nothing works so far, she'll eventually latch on after crying with the nipple in her mouth, suck for a bit, and then start the crying puppy-nipple-searching thing again... ninja, M seems to do the same thing too, sometimes waiting for the milk and loosing vacuum. Never bothered me (only at the beginning cos it hurt) as she's been growing well, it's just this cry-searching thing of the past two days... mmm, maybe it'll sort itself out.

and I was so amazed at my 8oz of last night, but really can't compete with you two!

Thank god, I'm glad (in a nice way) that some of you can't console your babies either!

I'm thinking I sometimes actually try to settle T before he's tired, which pisses him off so much that he then goes through being tired and gets overtired without ever actually being able to go to sleep. He really can cope with being awake for a good 90 mins, sometimes up to 2 hours, and sometimes I'm trying to settle him after he's only been awake an hour and a quarter.

jearund interesting to see that staying up later works for you - I'm tempted to give it a try, but have a similar fear, that he'll continue to wake at 4am after I've stayed up late! Might bite the bullet and give it a go.

starlight that's so generous of you to donate milk. I think it's such a great thing to do (not something I'm likely to, given that I can express all of 1 oz a day if I really go for it!)

ninja I think we've going to put our £250 into the high risk shares type account. With ds1 we put his into the medium risk shares one but I think it's worth the gamble of the high risk one when the share prices are so low just now. We won't add to ours though, we'll set up an investment ISA in our name for him and put some money into that each month.

Thanks Debi - I guess over the long term it could be the best idea - I'm just wondering if they're going to go even lower?

sunflower hopefully a growth spurt or something temporary, 7 or 8 oz is more normal for me I should add.

Night Ladies

T is actually killing me inch by inch. his settling at night has reached epic proportions of crapness. he was up for a feed at 3:45 (so earlier than normal) and finally nodded off again at 6:00. he then woke ay 7:30 for breakfast! although i'm managing to snatch the odd few minutes during the day, i'm pretty much existing on 4-5 hours a night, broken into chunks.

foxy - have you heard of a magazine called The Mother? I've got a couple of old copies that I'm happy to send you if you would like them. From the tone of your posts I think you would. It's what people would call lentil weaverish, I don't always agree with what is wriiten, however it challenges my opinions and views, which I think is a good thing.

If you would like them, send me your address to greensj @ waterswood co uk, and I'll send them to you.

starlight - that is one impressive yield!

Pacita - There is a shampoo you can get for cradle cap, from Sainsburys/Tesco, I have it as Elizabeth had some flaky skin on her scalp and although not full on cradle cap I thought it might be the start of it, one wash and the flakes were gone! I'm in bed on the laptop atm so I'll post you the name in the morning, although it's obvious when you see the bottle.

Sunflower E is doing exactly the same with the crying at the nipple and the fist/dribbling thing. I am conning her now by putting her dummy in, positioning her ready for a feed and then when she's settled taking the dummy away from her and shoving my boob in her face! Sounds ridiculous but it works, she just gets herself worked up so she then won't take the breast, even though she's hungry.

Hopefully E is inconsolable sometimes, nothing specific makes her calm down, she decides when she's ready. DP thinks this means he can leave her to 'cry it out', I think this attitude means he deserves a kick in the crotch, and seeing as I am the one that looks after her all day it means that what I say goes as I am never ever going to enforce the 'crying it out' idea.

Yesterday I drove from Oxford to Leeds to see a friend and her new baby and it was fine, Elizabeth just slept although I stopped for a feed both ways.

My (Callum's) CTC chq arrived yesterday and I am putting it in a stakeholder account which we wont add to and opening a seperate savings account. Chances are the stock market will improve by the time he can get to his money, don't forget, it will be in 18 years time!

Hopefully I really feel for you. I think I have it bad. Some days ok and others like last night. Put C down in his moses basket at 10ish. Lay awake for ages flashing us his smile! Dropped off on his own, woke at 3 but just pig snorted (blocked nose from cold) and gurgled til 5, fed then wouldn't go back to sleep. I put on TV in the end, then he fell asleep!! He's still up there now and I'm not

Wow - Oxford to Leeds faint. well done!

hopefully - oh my gawd you just described my night to a tee timewise. I feel ok now but know i will be shot later. To top it off, Frank is horrendously congested, so was like sleeping with a bellows. am terrified he will get full on cold (having been ridiculously blase and 'he has to get one sometime' about this possibility so far).

pacita - frank is 8 weeks tomorrow.

charity it is insane isn't it. I think i'd get more sleep if he was still feeding 3 hourly all night but settling quickly.

lollipop i agree - my mother has taken to asking me whether I should leave t to CIO, which is just not an option. I have taken to just holding him very close and standing very still and shhing in his ear, not rocking or anything, and the last two times he's screamed hysterically for 2 mins, stopped for a min, screamed for another min and then conked out. I was able to plonk him in the cot and leave him!
if only that would work after the 4am feed - he screams in the cot but stares and smiles at me if I hold him.

Toby WIDE awake from 5pm til 11pm last night...fed him at 11.15pm in desperation and he didnt feed again til 6am..although because of his cold we did wake as he is very snuffly.

Tom is also coming in our bed in the early hours too which is actually more disturbing to my sleep than Toby....any tips? Dont want to tell him he cant come in - just to understand I dont want him stroking and pulling my hair all night!!!

School run is a nightmare - will be glad when its the xmas hols!!!!!!!!!

moan alert sorry nothing baby related but have to rant. some people are absolute bastards, been old that nearly £2000 was attempted to be taken out of our account, thank god we're with a bank that recognised this as unusual activity and stopped it
on the baby front, i know co sleeping is scary but i must say it works so well or us, elli just swims towards me when he wants feeding, feeds with his eyes closed then drops back off when he's finished. i know its not sleeping through but its as close as we're going to get as the mo.
he's still so small as 10 weeks so needs little but frequent feeding.
he's seeing the hv today for weighing, and i know i'll get the usual, 'well hes still off the chart' HE STARTED OFF THE CHART WOMAN!

lolli was it dentinox the shampoo you used for cradle cap?

moan alert: I want to join the sleep deprivation collective moan. I have not had more than 2 hours uninterrupted sleep since god knows when, and it's taking its toll. When o when will this baby stop feedign every 2 and a half hours?

Also, had a tough day yesterday. it was rainig cats and dogs adn we could not go out. Spent the whole day alone wiht the baby, who was either feeding, sleeping or crying. My only adult interaction was via MN...

lolli was it dentinox the shampoo you used for cradle cap?

moan alert: I want to join the sleep deprivation collective moan. I have not had more than 2 hours uninterrupted sleep since god knows when, and it's taking its toll. When o when will this baby stop feedign every 2 and a half hours?

Also, had a tough day yesterday. it was rainig cats and dogs adn we could not go out. Spent the whole day alone wiht the baby, who was either feeding, sleeping or crying. My only adult interaction was via MN...

Pacita - Just checked and that's the shampoo I've been using yes.

Hopefully - I've found that holding E facing away from me so that she can look around seems to be helping to calm her....for now!