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?

Hv just been and Faith now weighs 8lb 15.5oz, so still about an oz a day . I was talking to HV about constipation problem when little Faith decided to sort it herself and did an almighty fart and promptly filled her nappy, and then some!! ...... I think I'm as relieved as she is, ha ha. HV says keep up with either apple or orange juice until we get her regular again.

Faith is now sleeping happily with no straining noises .

Zoec - I can't believe what a night you've had, you must be shattered !

aoec - thank goodness someone has days like mine....yours is my typical day

Thanks ZoeC.

Do you mind if I ask what you are feeding your baby on.

Are you breast feeding, bottle feeding or both?

How many people here are mixed feeding?

Hi everyone - gosh this thread is busy all of a sudden!

Glad to hear that Faith has finally done the business 3mummy! .

Popsycal - I would give dh a cool glance if I were you...
I have also been trying to express as it's my friend's 40th birthday celebration tomorrow night (girls' night out!) and I thought I could go if I were able to leave some milk with dh. Have got the Avent Isis which I had when dd1 was a baby and seem to remember it worked fine, but I was unable to get anything out with it this morning. In the end I managed 2oz by hand expressing - If figuring if I can do the same tomorrow that should be enough to let me out for 2-3 hours!

Zoe - you must be exhausted poor thing - what a terrible night - I'm sure things will improve soon.

Well, after Grace being grumpy all day yesterday and NOT wanting to go to sleep last night, she finally dropped off at 11pm and, miracle of miracles, slept until 6am!!! Unfortunately this didn't mean 7 hours of unbroken sleep because I was awake at 4am and then couldn't get back to sleep again because I kept thinking she was going to wake any minute. I managed to take dd1 to school for the first time this morning as well (dh has been doing it since Grace was born) and my little babe has been like an angel all day. I'm hoping this is the start of a more settle period. Fingers crossed.

Spent ages yesterday trying to take a photo for Grace's passport. What a palaver! Do you have any idea how difficult it is trying to get a 5 week old baby to look straight at the camera, eyes open, and not pulling a funny face?. Finally managed it but it's not the most flattering, bless her (she has a face full of spots atm) and she'll be stuck with it for 5 years now (I think)!

3mummy, how long had Grace been without doing the business?

Hi norash40, Faith did a little something on Friday and it was 4 days before that when she filled her nappy. Talking to HV, breastfed babies don't "go" as often as formula fed babies, and it can be as long as 3 days between bowel movements, because most of the breast milk gets absorbed by baby.

I am breastfeeding BTW.

Sorry 3Mummy was just about to sorrect that. Faith I meant to say.

Forgive me .

My Mum said the same thing, she said that some babies even go up to 5 days.

No worries norash, I have 3 daughters and often have to stop before I speak to get the correct name!! There are lots of girls for March babies, it's amazing we all chose different names.

Haven't been online at all in over a week, which is a reflection of a rather hectic time dominated by Iris not sleeping and screaming blue murder. Last Wednesday in the 15 hours between 7am and 10pm she slept for less than 4 hours, and was miserable for most of the rest. And every evening she has been screaming with exhaustion, with all attempts to soothe her failing miserably. All because she could only sleep when moving in the pushchair, or in the sling, or being rocked, and frankly there are only so many hours in the day you can walk the streets or rock an 11lb baby. Anyway, this all has a happy ending, because on Saturday we mounted a campaign to teach her to sleep in her moses basket. We would get her calm, put her down, she would cry for 2 minutes then we'd pick her up, get her calm again and put her back down. On Saturday she went to sleep at 9pm, Sunday it was 8.30pm, yesterday 8pm and tonight 7.30pm. What's more, tonight she only cried once, and was easily soothed and I put her down awake and she put herself to sleep.

I can't tell you how amazing it is to have some evening without a miserable, exhausted screaming baby! A glass of red wine is in my hand as I type!

Apart from the sleep troubles, we have been having a lovely time. More smiles every day. And dd1 is just gorgeous with her little sister.

Leogaela - the 6 week check was fine - Iris is getting fatter, and all was well, apart from a tiny problem with her umbilical cord healing, which has now been treated.

Glad you're all as sleep obsessed as me! Now we're getting Iris to bed earlier, I'm trying to do a 'dream' feed at 9.30 / 10pm, and then she usually goes till 2am, though last night it was 3.30am. The first time I've had 5 hours uninterrupted sleep .

Congratulationas Norash - brilliant news! Glad you're already planning the next one - I mentioned having a 3rd about an hour after Iris was born, and the midwife thought I was nuts!

Ooooh boneym - when are you appearing in the Guardian? That's our daily read so I will look out for you.

Hopefully I'll be logging in a bit more regularly now to check up on news ...

(Got interrupted there by Iris waking at 9pm! So won't get too smug about having my evenings back yet, but (fingers crossed) she's back to sleep).

Bad day today - should have expected it after 2 very good ones! I'm finding the afternoons hardest - activities for dd1 are always morning, so we're out and distracted nicely, but in the afternoon I'm finding dd2 hard to get to sleep so I either spend half the afternoon upstairs trying to get her to sleep in the moses basket, while trying to convince dd1 to be quiet and let me, so she's getting neglected then. So today I let dd2 sleep on my lap, and that was no better. Between dd1 trying to wake her, and otherwise being really naughty (hitting, that kind of thing) - got into a bit of a fire-fighting cycle and the afternoon never really got any better. At one point she hit the tv with the play gym . She was never naughty like this before dd2 so i guess I feel guilty too.

Don't see how I can win - it'd take time to convince dd2 to sleep nicely upstairs, and I'd have to spend ages up there doing it so couldn't play with dd1, or I let her sleep on my lap and dd1 gets frustrated with me despite my efforts to engage with her.

Ooh, just got dd2 to take bottle of ebm though, so that's good news! I may get to see hitchhikers guide yet

Hi all. I need to go in a few minutes so apologies for replying to just one message.

ZoeC - I put DD to sleep in the same room as we happen to be with DS. It's usually the living room and she falls asleep in my arms or in the sling and I just put her on the sofa then. She's not bothered about light or noise. I don't know if this would work for you, or if it means storing up trouble for the future, but it makes things easy for me as I can always keep an eye on her and DS at the same time.

Re: poos. Sylvia went a whole week without one, then went to daily tiny ones, now it's a medium-sized every couple of days. Sorry if TMI. It changes over time. She's still BF.

Zoec - it sounds as if you are having a complete nightmare! Do you have anyone that can help you out with dd1?

Norash - I am not mixed feeding but we have started giving Niklas the occassional bottle of formula. Expressing just doesn't seem to work. I was hoping the formula would help him poo - the last 2 poos had 5 days with no poos!

I have had a couple of very good nights with Niklas , last night he slept from 10 (last feed)until almost 5! Unfortunately I woke up at 2 so didn't get the dreamed of unbroken sleep. And the night before he went from 9 until 3 (he had his last feed at 7!).
What do people think about waking a baby up for a feed? I was hoping that if I fed him at 7 he would naturally wake up at 10 or 11 for a feed.

We also have a real problem putting him down to sleep at night. He usually falls asleep in my arms or feeding around 7.30, but if we try to put him in bed he cries and cries. Last night we started trying to put him to bed around 8 so he would fall asleep at 9 (which seems to be the pattern), but he didn't sleep until after the feed at 10 (actually I'm not sure what time it was as I fell asleep and left dh to put him to bed)!

I took him swimming again yesterday. He loved it! I found a pool with a baby bit where he can kick his feet on the bottom of the pool and still have his head above water.

Thanks Pidge,

sorry you have been having a hard time. Hope it gets better.

You too ZoeC, I hope things get better for you.

Leogaela how do you express?

zoec we are having the same problem with ds1...really pushing his luck. To makre matteres worsec he has a cold which is making him grumpy. It is only me he is a nightmare for..

last night he slapped me and called me a stupid old woman

at that point i had t walk away....making a jelly baby linked star chart as we speak. at least i have the luxury of wed to fri when he s at childminders - i really feel for you zoe.

last night i had 2 glasses of wine , fed harry at 10:30 before bed, then he slept til 4 had a good feedthen slept til 8 p

About swimming: i bought a mesh sling and it has just arrived today. I won't be able to swim with DD in it but it should make it easier to have her safely in the water and keep an eye on my 5 year old at the same time. I don't drive so wouldn't be ab;e to keep DD in car seat on the side of the pool while i swim.

Got my positive parenting head on again today . I'm going to try and utilise my baby slings more - I'm experimenting with a moby wraparound today, which seems quite useful. Dd1 was at playgroup this morning, so I expect the time apart helped us anyway!

Last night, dd2 was much better - slept from 11am, fed at 3am and then 6.30am so I was pretty happy with that.

Leogaela - I honestly wouldn't wake a sleeping baby at all! re bedtimes, we're still taking dd2 up when we go but I remember doing a fixed bedtime routine with dd1 od bath, feed then bed and we'd sit with her in a dark, quiet room comforting her without picking her up where possible. Over a few days it seemed to work. Then we used the routine to bring bedtime forward as she'd respond to the bedtime routine.

re poos, dd1 only ever pooed every few days and was fine.

popsy - good luck with the star chart.

I've got another 3.5oz of ebm ready for dh to give her tonight - I'll need to get 5oz for a full feed I think but at least she'll get used to an occasional bottle - I really am gonna need a bit of space sometime. I'm enjoying bfing (didn't do it with dd1) but I do feel very tied at times.

Faith is colicky, so I have just put DDs 1 and 2 to bed, put Faith in her swing seat and put the hoover on! - It's been running now for 30mins!!! I had to cook myself something I was starving and of course I had to pop onto MN while scoffing! . Am I a terrible mom? My hoover is gonna die, but at least I'll have one bit of carpet crumb free!

Usual day today. DD1 has developed a cough, which usually turns into croup at night, so I don't think I'll be getting any sleep tonight . Roll on Friday evening, DH will be home, love him to bits and miss him like mad!

Gonna go now, turn hoover off and rock my sweet little baby girl. She really is lovely, I must see how to put a pic on here.

Bye for now.

onto 5th baby gro of the evening....

I keep wondering how some of the other march mums are getting on! Does anyone know if Sweeney or Tamula have been around and others that we havent heard from for ages?

Popsycal - what was 5 the final number at the end of the night? Is Harry OK or did you have a really bad night? As for the 2 glasses of wine -enjoy! A bottle may be too much but I certainly don't feel guilty about a couple of glasses!

ZoeC - I think you are right about not waking a sleeping baby, anyway I think we am having a much easier time of it than most of you so we should just carry on as we are.

Mummy3 - If the hoover keeps Faith happy, and you get 5 minutes to yourself then you are being a great mum!

Cristina 7 - i took the carry cot from Niklas's buggy into the swimming pool with me. he slept in it for a while while we were there. I went with a friend who has a 10 month old baby so while Niklas slept we took turns to look after her while we went for a proper swim.

Norash - I was expressing using an Avent Isis, but to be honest I just found it messy, time consuming and boring. I needed ot concentrate to stop the milk dribbling out at the bottom of my breast. I will look out for an electric one maybe its easier when you don't need 2 or 3 hands to manage it. Or hand expressing may be easier. but i also don't have a problem wiht giving Niklas the occassional bottle if I need a break or can't be around. I have never had the problem with painful engorged breasts.

Niklas went off to sleep last night like a dream baby, I was all set to try Pidge's pick up put down routine, but he was so calm, that I could leave him and he dropped off to sleep after staring at nothing for about half a hour. Not sure what I did right, but I think that maybe he just wasn't overtired when I put him to bed. I did pay for it later though, he woke up at 4 and would not go back to sleep again. He seems to get hyperactive and kicks around like mad and won't settle again.

ZoeC, am waiting for my moby wrap to arrive. let me know if its good.

Serena still has a cold, been over a week now. she is getting less snotty, and the cough is finally going. she is still feeding well. i went out last night to the cinema, left a bottle of EBM for my mum to give to her, and she slept the whole time lol. she is sitting on my lap atm watching the screen witha look of amazement. the things they find fascinating eh!!

I just use my hand, tried one of those hand held pumps and it was just as you say too messy.

I find it so easy to express by hand, I get a lot more since I learnt how to do it effectively and also in a shorter period of time.

Kieran is awake and more alart at the moment and feeding more than ever, I have not found the need to express lately. I give him a bottle when he has breastfed and still wants more. It does him good the topup, otherwise he gets very very grumpy.

Sorry to all those who are having problems with babies.

Kieran is eating his blanket, I think he trying to tell me he is hungry.