January 09 - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4......and we're off

[fourlittlestockingedfeet]

Here's a brand new thread for the early party poppers!

books The itchy possible thrush-ness, seems to have sorted itself out. Maybe i was jumping the gun and it was just the itchyness of stiches healing?! either way, thank goodness!

Miss J LOL at your LO being nameless still! Swaddling is GREAT!

Fym Congrats

Am starting to think that DD sleeping is too good to be true. When we got home from bluewater yesterday had a little cry as mummy wouldn't feed her (was JUST about to bath her, so obviously not a good idea) then slept 10.30- 4 and is still alseep now (10.30am!!) Was rather sicky after 4am feed (not usual for her) but she must have just guzzled too much, else wouldn't be asleep now!!!

Bluewater was EMPTY yesterday- bloody brilliant! OH wanted to buy Eternity ring but the choice in the stores was shockingly poor... So we're going to see one of our friends who does all that to sort one out! Feeling v. spoilt! Can't wait for it to arrive!

Going to wrap up and take LO for a walk later. Snow all melted here - thought it was snowing in the night, but actually rain!

Anyones LO REALLY noisy? My gosh she sounds like a Seal sometimes making so much noise and snuffles! Little pickle!

oh, and one other thing, anyone else waking up searching in their bed sheets for the baby? LO is in a moses basket on my side of the bed, and i just pick her up and sit up in bed to feed her. i've never fallen asleep with her in there, but i keep waking up freaking out that shes in the sheets suffocating or something. I don't seem to be able to stop it, and i dont check the basket first. Doh.... its THIS thats interupting my sleep, NOT her!

rray amazing that Esme sleeps for nearly 6 hours at a stretch - lucky you! I feel grateful if LO makes it to 3 hours.

He is asleep now listening to radio 3 classical music - inspired by chefswife mention of classical music!

Anyone else's back ACHING? Obviously bad BF positioning plus total lack of tummy muscles. Talking of tummies, made the mistake of trying pre-pg jeans on this morning - despite having lost over 10kg in one week, there was no way those jeans were doing up... Those last few kilos are covering my bottom I fear... and talking of bottoms, still ouch whenever I sit down - my episiotomy scar feels like a long one!

Happy one week birthday to my LO today - really must celebrate by giving him a name! Am trying not to pressure OH....

Ray.. thats normal, had it all the time with my first. Also shaking DP awake to ask him what he'd done with her and to search the bed. Really odd! Also at your 6 hour stretches... am going to investigate swaddling NOW!!!

Congrats eppm and fym
Well after finally thinking I had cracked the feeding I have got mastitis . Feel like absolute hell, either boiling hot or freezing cold, achy and boobs are agony. ds won't feed off either and i can't get much off by expressing. i think its the final straw and i'm going to bottles, not an easy decision but just want get on with enjoying being with him rather than dreading each feed and crying about it every day.

Ray, I did the bed searching thing with both DSs. Haven't done it (yet) this time, but maybe thats the advantage of having a crib that hooks onto the side of the bed.

DD absolutely refuses to be swaddled, she hates being restricted and likes to sleep with both arms up in the air either side of her head. Its quite a shock as it worked a treat with the boys and they were much better at sleeping through for long stretches.

Bought 2 grobags in their sale which arrived this morning, had them for both boys right up until they were walking. Am hoping they will help her settle a bit better in her crib when we first go upstairs to bed as she never fails to kick up a fuss when she first goes in there at night but is quite happy to go into it at any time during the day.

JUst a quick post - had the day from hell with DD... constant tantrums (cos shes bored) which wake up DS who then wants a feed so DD gets less attention and has another tantrum... feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall with her today. Oh well, tomorrow another day...

Rrrayray - we did that all the time with DD, not done it with DS so far. Perhaps I'm used to it now, or have it yet to come.

MissH - Definitely not worth feeling guilty about. Not the end of the world. More important that you are both happy. DD was ff and is a very boisterous 2yo and after the initial guilt I came to realise that actually it really didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Hope you are feeling better soon.

We have DS in sleeping bags - he didn't like being swaddled either. Bought one in Sainsburys for £12 the other day which is absolutely gorgeous. And still swear by my bambino merino ones which last from 3months - 2years and are suitable both summer and winter... real money savers in the long run.

Must go... this was meant to be a quick post

miss h - poor u
lenni - my dd1 has been a pain 2
saw hv dd2 is 8lbs9ozs was 8lbs7.5ozs sun

lenni . those merino ones are £50!! Are they that good??? And not even available on ebay. tut tut.

can someone talk me through swaddling... do they need fewer blankets? I have an idea that you wrap the outsides over their arms and tuck those bits underneath them, then you wrap the rest around and underneath them, but then to you tuck extra blankets around them, or do you start with quite a thick one (am thinking that would be uncomfortable!).

aha! found this on page 3. looks a bit scary!

Am thinking that sleeping 4 hours on a trott (the 6 hours was a one off i'm sure) might be rather good to be true. Sort of waiting for her to turn back into the feeding every hour again.

Swaddling mothercare Swaddle blanket. FLF That mothercare swaddling blanket i've been using is quite thin, so i've just been using one less blanket than if she didn't have it on. Although i have to admit i'm a bit of a paranoid mummy with the temp thing. I feel like the 17c "optimum" temp for a room is rather cold, so been keeping it a little warmer and checking her temp whenever she wakes (obviously less now) as have a digital braun thermometer which reads it from her ear. Hope that helps!

thanks ray. he looks so happy sprawled on daddy's knee in his grobag, arms akimbo... not sure if I should 'do' it to him, though I will curse myself when he wakes at 10, 2,4,6...

Esme is currently snuggled on her Daddy's chest too! Must be daddy's evening. Think sometimes its nice as no doubt she'd wake up at the smell of my milk if on my chest! ha!

Well, Esme isn't very keen on going INTO the swaddle blanket, but, once in it, is a happy bunny, and it had an instant effect. She went from waking every hour to sleeping for 3 hours intervals, next night 4 hours, and now is doing 4-5 hours (so usually only waking around 4am) it might not work for you LO, but its worth a shot... the extra sleep will do you wonders! Good Luck!

Bedsearching Glad to hear its not just me being bonkers searching the bed. silly thing is, i don't seem to think to look in the moses basket FIRST. Doh.

LO has been doing poos that feel like (as holding her bum at time) explosions, bless her. They surely must HURT they come out with such Force?!

she is also poo-ing say 4 + times a day.... This seems like ALOT to me!?!

FLF - they are fab cos can use the same one summer and winter and they last 18months+ instead of 6months with a grobag. And they feel lovely. I got mine off ebay for £40, they come up 2nd hand sometimes too.

Ray - 4 poos is nothing DS manages more like 8-9! All explosive at the start (wind), they calm down once they get better at burping.

heron i give DD a bath and big 11pm feed. i don't let her flake out; you know when they are on the boob but not feeding because they are in that milk coma. i poke my boob a bit near her mouth and she starts sucking again. then i change her and do it on the other side in bed then its lights out for her. she stirs around 4am and i put her on the boob right away but her and i are barely awake. this morning i had to wake her as she continued to sleep until 8 and we had our baby group this morning. she wasn't to happy. slept right through group and the hour and half walk home. i think she sleeps through the night because she only really cat naps through day. that may be the key.

we feed dd2 @11pm then she wakes 2am-3am then
6-7am

gtd - sorry about your s+s; hopefully it will kick something off for you when you have it tomorrow
feeling pretty moany myself - think dd is having a growth spurt, as i've been pinned down on the couch since 10am and tyhink she is actually going to wear my nipples away... i am finding the transition from independent human being to indentured servant who does not have time to go to the loo a little wearisome today, i have to say

on the upside, the baba sleeps in four and a half hour stretches at night. when you can finally get her to go to sleep.

Hi everyone, DH taken out DD to granparents this afternoon and baby asleep on sofa so finally some 'me' time, plus housework etc....
Just trying to catch up with threads; congrats to the new arrivals, 10lb 50z in a HWB wow! Thats some going FYM, hope all is well x
HKZ My DD is 2yrs 7 months and although she is lovely most of the time she is going through a bad patch sleeptalking and shouting/crying at night. She was an excellent sleeper and my mum reckons it's all the pent-up jealous feelings that she's not letting out in the day. Also mistakenly turned my back when Zach was on the changing mat yesterday and she was trying to shove a plastic fish finger in his mouth
chefswife had to laugh at the explosive poo! Brings back lots of memories of DD who could fire it several feet across the room, got splattered on many an occasion .
so yes ray I think 4 poo's is normal, I would give anything for that as we are still at the 9-10 a day stage, plus many blokey trumps throughout the day.

Back to some very good nights recently and a few days of 3 hour 'feeding frenzy' in the evenings. Last night he went down at 9pm and then woke at 2.30am for half hour and then again at 6.15am (He then goes back to sleep till 8.30 but DD is sadly already up so no lovely dozing for me).

How is the expressing going for other people?
I had my first go on wednesday afternoon, to try out the pump and could only get 3oz of both breasts with quite some effort. Even tried sitting next to a crying Zach to try and Stimulate milk, just felt a bit mean! Anyway bit dismayed that not much came out, getting a sinking feeling that an £80 electric pump was a waste of money. Also bringing back memories of the nightmare of having to coax DD onto bottle at 3.5 months because I was going back to work and couldn't express after the first few weeks. Ahe never did take it really, by the time i went back at 4.5 months she was weaned onto solids and would grudgingly take a bottle from CM in day then had Breast the rest of the time. Am not going back till Zach is 8 months this time so I figure I've got a bit longer and may just try to get him straight onto a cup at 6 months (can you give follow-on milk from 6 months?) but would still like to express every other day or so from about 6 weeks if I could.
BTW, he was not keen on the bottle and took a long time to get used to the teat, but eventually took 1.5oz before just playing around with it. He wasn't distressed though and seemed interested but not really bothered. Should I give up this malarky and risk him not taking a teat at all?
Hope all that makes sense!

Dog So sorry for you. Hope you get your S&S tomorrow.

Pat havent tried expressing yet. How old is your LO? My NCT breastfeeding councillor told me not to express until breastfeeding established, which they said is around 6 weeks is it REALLY that long? I feel pretty established now! Hmmm.

Had my Aunt, mother and grandmother over today. So 4 generations in one room, so cute.