March 2005 babies - we are very quiet

[popsycal]

So how is it going for everyone? Most of us have had our babies so how was the first few weeks?

Hello you lot!! Just posted my very late birth announcement! I have a beautiful baby boy called Caleb and i'm in love with him. Am breastfeeding and so far it is all going well. Caleb was 6wks on Monday and is gaining almost a pound a week! Even though I gave birth on the 21st Feb it's you guys that I chat to so i'm staying with the March group! Much love to you all and hope everyone is doing well.

Well after reading the messages just thought I'd add a little more! Caleb sleeps in bed with me at night and we manage to get at least 5hrs solid sleep, he cuddles up next to me and screams the place down if we dare put him in his moses basket! He also has dreadful wind and farts non-stop, he also goes bright red and grunts when he poos. Thank god for infacol and gripe water!

Serena woke up at 5am this morning, i picked her up to feed her as usual, and instead of latching on, she just nuzzled me and fell back asleep!!

was very strange, but i guess as she gets older it means less feeds at night. she stirred about 8a, i bought her through to the living room, went to get me a drink, when i came back she was fast asleep again and didnt stir till 10am. so she effectivly went for 10hrs with no feed!!

misdee - that's amazing - what a star baby.

shalaa - brilliant news - I'd been hoping you'd reappear with your baby announcement!

for the first time ever I managed to get Iris to sleep all evening rather than screaming her head off and requiring us to make several outings with her in the pushchair to get her to pipe down. It was wonderful she just slept in her chair in the kitchen from 7pm whilst we had supper with friends.

And she did pretty well during the night too - though isn't ever going more than 3 hours between feeds. At least at the moment she wakes, feeds and then goes back down pretty reliably.

This morning she has slept in her bouncy chair in the kitchen letting me make soup for lunch, do the laundry and generally get on with jobs. So I feel really pleased with myself! Isn't it great when they sleep and you get to do stuff.

Yesterday I had her weighed for the first time in a fortnight, and she is getting fatter! So that was nice reassurance - particularly as the breast feeds had been so short because I was in so much discomfort. I was slightly worried I might be depriving her of milk by taking her off prematurely. Now things are so much better I can let her feed longer and I'm planning to go into laid back 2nd time mum mode and not bother visiting the weigh in clinic for a good few weeks!

Hi All,

Nice to see things are starting to settle down for everyone, glad you're now painfree Pidge and wow Misdee at 10 hours!

Well, here's fine. We've just gotten over having thrush which caused some problems for a day or two but i managed to get it treated straightaway so never got too bad thankfully. Day time dd2 is going 2/3 hours between feeds and sleeping in between anyway - bouncy chair, floor wherever she happens to be! At night though we can only occasionally get her to sleep in the moses basket - we put her down asleep then she wakes within minutes wanting a feed again - but she then keeps being sick so she can't be that hungry. Maybe a growth spurt though. Think I may have to give in and keep her in bed with us as that's the only way we get a reasonable nights sleep as she snacks without disturbing me. Last night I was determined to get her down in the moses basket, the result being she woke dd1 up and none of us got to sleep until 2am, then poor dh was up at 6am for work . Co-sleeping is going to have to continue for now me thinks!

Getting her weighed tomorrow but I'm certain she's gaining fine and I too am doing laid back second time mummy! Even with the cluster feeding sessions she has that I got so worked up about with dd1. Who needs two hands to eat anyway . I do wonder sometimes if she's comfort sucking rather than hungry, and if I offer bf first when I shouldn't with how often she's sick but I keep telling myself to just humour her until it settles more (half way there if the 6 week thing is to be believed!). Guess it'll all pan out eventually. I do think 'dummy' sometimes but so far not done it as frightened of mucking up the bfing.

serena has a hearing check today. am pretyy certain her hearing is fine, but because of the lump by her ear they want to check her hearing as well.

Well, Niklas has been really demanding the last few days so I haven't had much time to logon. Apart from that we are house hunting - probably why Niklas is grumpy when I am at home, he spends too much time asleep in the car seat and the sling then doesn't sleep long enough at night! When we are at home all day he doesn't sleep nearly as much.

Shalaa - great to have you back!!!! There are a few of us that ended up with babies in February, but also are sticking with the march mums! I know what you mean about the farting! Niklas grunts a lot as well and snores! How did you manage to get him to sleep through 6 hours at night????

Misdee - Serena sounds like a dream!!! I realised today that i haven't had more than about 3 hours unbroken sleep since.... well I don't know when! I hope her ears are OK!

Zoec - it sounds like comfort feeding to me! but niklas is 6 weeks now and is still doing it! I heard things settle down at 3 months.

good to see we are all in the same boat!!! excuse typing one handded,.
harry is doing well though still not brill at night - however we have just spent 2 nights at in laws where he slept in big cot......yes he SLEPT in it ...not in our bed. he seemed to really enjoy the space so dh has just sorted out ds1's old cot for harry in our bedroom. he still isnt going for long stretches at night - 1.5 to 2 hours - but if he is in the cot. it feels like night and not just an extension of daytime

also in the day he hates to be asleep lying down!!! he will sleep in a sling for a while. going to try him in the buggy though havent done yet.

DH is back at wirk tomoorrow after 2 weeks paternity and afew weeks hols,,,,,so harry and ds1 in my own, quite looking forward to it

my blood pressure is improving and they are gradually weaning me of the tablets! feeding is going really well though i also have a touch of thrush. harry comfort feeds too and tends to have clusters of shorter feeds rather than nice big ones. this doesnt bother me too much at the momemt but it is something i am thinking about and windering whether it will sort itself out ir will i have to 'impose a structure'...lol

is anyone expressing successfyully? i have trie but to be honest, harry feeds so often that i dont get much of a chance and when i do, boobs arw pretty empty

hope you are doing ok,,,

any sleep tips and feeding structure tips gratefully received !!

Misdee - how was Serena's hearing test? Which did she have done? Sylvia passed the OAE screening and is having an ABR test on the 20th.

Popsycal - how's your first day on your own with babe?

Sylvia put on only 100g this past week. She's still quite sleepy and feeds for only 5 minutes at a time and not quite often enough either (apart from during the night, she wakes up every half an hour between 3-6 am).

Leogaela - I think you're quite right about the comfort feeding. Last night she slept in with us so we all had a much better night. I'm going to leave things for now and see if she gets better voluntarily - dd1 had a dummy but was ff and I don't want to upset bfing. I am starting to try and not always offer bf first in the day as sometimes its not what she wants, she won't say no but is then sooo sick. My hv today said the thrush treatment can make them sick too so I'll be interested to see if that makes a difference when we stop that.

Had dd2 weighed today and has gained 6oz this week so that still seems fine.

Popsy - hi, how did today go? I found it much easier when dh went back to work as I could get dd1's routine back and she calmed down loads. Way too exciting have daddy here all day .

Starting to contemplate actively trying to get dd2 to stay awake in the day more and getting her to nap in the moses basket instead of whereever I happen to lay her down after feeding. Think that may help distinguish sleeping from day and maybe day from night. Don't know. Not going to try and change anything until at least 1 month or maybe even 6 weeks though as i suspect things may be a bit more settled then. Really it's only the comfort sucking I'd like to stop - may ultimately get a dummy if she carries on being very sucky. I'm just getting sore again, particularly as we seem to have just had a growth spurt. Got my new bravado nursing bras yesterday though which are lots more comfy than the ones I had already so maybe that'll help.

Sorry that got all rambly - just all my random thinkings at the moment! Perhaps reading it back will help make more sense out of some of it!

ZoeC I'm also Co-sleeping with baby, that way I can get 4-6hrs sleep at night as he helps himself to food when he wakes! I'm producing too much milk so expressing is quite easy with a breastpump, keep getting letdown every two hours which is like a stinging sensation in my boobs, is quite uncomfortable.

Caleb is asleep in the pram downstairs at the moment, he usually goes down for 30mins - 2hrs so I get time to shower and have a little tidy up! I have to hold him while he falls asleep and he's dreadful for comfort eating. Needs to be on the boob to fall asleep, poo, stop crying, stop hiccups ect ect!

Popsycal - good to hear you are getting back to health again finally!
I did try to get Niklas into the Gina Ford routine, but it was hopeless, it just didn't fit in with me and I couldn't keep him awake at the right time to feed him so gave up. Then I thought about the 4 hour feeds but he usually won't last that long, he seems to be feeding most of the time every 3 1/2 hours so I am trying to encourage him to keep going for that long each time, but when he is really grumpy and miserable I just feed him constantly. I think I have decided that he is happier just doing his own thing!

ZoeC, I was dead against dummies, but it doesn't seem to affect Niklas's feeding and is really really helpful (his doctor recommended I give him one as he is such a sucky baby so I decided to try).

I am trying to express and feed from the bottle so he gets used to it so it and dh can feed him as well. Usually it just takes too much time and is too much hassle, but I have the intention to keep trying and feed him once a day from the bottle, at the moment it has averaged out once every 2 weeks!

Cristina & 3mummy - did you try drinking beer? did it work or is it just me imagining it?

hearing check was fine. have no idea of what sort it was. they put a plug (like a mini headphone) in her ear and then told me it was pretty perfect . now we just have to get the bladder and kidney scan out of the way (not till end of may)

Good news Misdee!

Something I have been thinking about. I think those of us who's babies are feeding constantly and comfort feeding are all bf babies. How do the mums with ff babies deal with comfort feeding deal with this because surely you can't comfort feed a ff baby? Is there some guideline as to how much formula a ff baby should be fed?

Leogaela - dd1 used a dummy - think it was close enough to a teat to be ok. Guess nothing matches a nice warm breast!

There are guidelines to how much ff a baby needs. I've seen some at the hospital, depends on age, weight, whether premature or not. Formula tins also have their own guidelines, works out about 700 ml a day at this age.

Misdee - that was the OAE screening test. It's close to 100% accurate.

Leogalea - I think different children have different ways of comforting. My DD, who's also bf, just wants to be in my arms (or her dad's), she doesn't want to suck unless hungry. I don't think it's a BF vs FF thing. As can be noticed when babies cry due to colic, when you'd think they'd really need comforting, yet BF doesn't work to comfort them at those times. Regarding ff babies, it's said formula is "heavier" to digest, so perhaps the baby may not need to suck as much to satisfy hunger and that they can go longer between feeds. My DS was ff and his way of comforting was also just being held in our arms.

What do you take in your bag when you go out? It seems like I pack for a trip to the North Pole, the bag gets so heavy, yet I hardly use any of the things inside while out. I'd like to trim it down and maybe find space in just a normal handbag. I know I didn't manage with DS. We went to the cinema yesterday. Sylvia slept all through (we saw Sahara) and didn't need changing or anything. Dominic, instead, spilt water over his top and jumper, so I had to give him my jumper, which of course was far too long for him. I didn't have any change of clothes for him. He's 5 now. (He looked like a tramp in my pink long jumper. I shivered all the way home in just a T-shirt.) Sahara is very entertaining. Our local cinema also does a Wednesday morning show for adults & babies, they keep the lights a bit brighter and the sound a bit lower. I might try it one day so I can catch up with grown-up films. DS is now old enough that we watch most 12A movies together.

Just wanted to post a quick message to say hi - I haven't posted here since Toby's arrival almost 2 weeks ago. Seem to be so busy all the time (can't think why?!) and if Toby is sleeping tend to be spending time with ds1! It's a real juggling act!

Has anyone else suffered a case of the baby blues? I had them with ds1, and was expecting them to strike again. Sure enough, this week has been really tough and I've been feeling like a complete loony. Anything and everything sends me into floods of tears. Not helped by the fact ds1 (aged 3.8) is being particularly unaccepting of his new brother and takes every opportunity to duff him up. I'm anti-smacking and shouting in general, but I've found myself losing the plot with him a couple of times, and feeling absolutely awful afterwards . However much I use positive reinforcement and spend time with him, he still goes into attack mode the minute I change Toby's nappy, or feed him. Sigh. I'm really hoping this behaviour improves soon.

Other than that, things are going well and we seem to have a very contented little chap (touch wood!!) He sleeps well at night, typically feeding at 10pm, 2am and 7am, although I'm not counting on this lasting (seems to good to be true, to be honest!). Had him weighed yesterday and he's now 8lbs 4oz so doing well and progressing as expected.

Anyway, enough waffle from me. Hope you are all doing well and hope to get on here more now that things are settling down a bit (and ds is back at pre-school 3 mornings a week from next week). Hopefully the stimulation he receives in the mornings may calm him down a bit for our afternoons together?

hi everyone
joining you all post natally. gradually finding my way with the rollercoaster of new parenthood!!!!!!!

Hi everyone - keep meaning to post but seems that each timew I get on here, read all the other posts and then have to leave before I get a chance to post myself!
Now typing one handed with Grace aslepp in the other arm (so excuse typos!). Had her weighed this week & she has pu t on 8oz in a week which is reassuring. Was a bit down last night as dh had to go away on conference today and I was worried about coping on my own for 3 days. It's been fine so far - mum & dad came over after lunch & stayed until about 8pm. They took Grace out for a walk this pm so I managed a bit of shut-eye.
Oh - exciting news - I have won the mn competition! (barbie goodie-bag).DD1 is so thrilled - it's her birthday in 11 days so the timimg is fab! I never win anything usually!

Hi everyone,

Finally joined the post natal club! I had baby Ava on Tuesday 05th of April. I guess I kind of shouldnt be on the March thread but I know you guys!! and cant be bothered to start over

So apart from feeling like a patchwork quilt I feel fine.

You?

Hi Tamula and welcome to baby Ava. Any details about the birth? Or too soon and stressful still. Or just plain not enough time.

Me too bonym!! I'm in the middle of cooking sunday roast and my MIL is visiting - Faith is asleep, for the moment so I thought I'd see how you are all doing? I only ever get chance to read everyones posts then never get chance to update you all on our progress . That's life with 3 kids I guess !!

Faith slept for a record 6 hours last night! Yippeeeeeee! However, she will still not sleep in her moses basket! She is either on my chest, DH chest or in her car seat. We've tried everything to make her more comfortable in the moses basket, rolled up towels etc, she just hates it!

Still BF and still enjoying it , Faith does have a small bottle late evening as my HV suggested, which gives me a break and my milk chance to fill up again - I did worry that this would affect supply but Faith is practically always on the boob most afternoons and early eve that this is enough stimulation apparently. Have tried a dummy but to no avail - really do think she is just a hungry little girl, not just a "sucky" baby.

Hope you are all well. Well done Tamula! And hopefully we'll see Norash here soon !

tamula - comgratulations! I love the name Ava - it was my top choice was but I got out-voted by dh & dd1 .

Had a bad night last night - after waking for her 1st "night-time" feed at 2.30am, instead of then going back down until 6-ish, Grace decided to wake again just 1hr later and was wide awake. I finally decided my only hoe was to feed her again which worked until about 5.30am when she woke yet again demanding more milk! Needless to say I am exhausted today. Don't know what went wrong but am hoping it's not a sign of things to come as we've been doing quite well up to now!

Congrat's Tamula!

Did anyone see my thread lower down - or am I the only one to have suffered from a bit of a 'blue patch' and with a ds1 hellbent on murdering the baby?