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!

these ones they are narrower and the teats are nipple shaped... the other ones i used for dd from about 6 months, they are wider like avent, but still have nipple shaped teat.

missJ Glad that nipple shields seem to be helping. About LO settling. Have you tried the Sssssh pat method from the baby whisperer? Works for us. But, be warned, it takes some time to work, the first time i used it it took me an hour to settle her, and it slowly decreased. Are you swaddling him for every nap time?

dummies Afraid can't be of any use with dummies, not using one. have 2 in draw just incase, but am steering clear as much as possible- worried she'll get attached to it and still be attached to it when going to school!!!!!

Gave Esme first expressed bottle today, Well i say first, we gave her a regular melda bottle the other day and gave up quickly as she was totally overwhelmed by the flow of milk coming out, and it just kept spilling out of her mouth. Ordered a haberman feeder (now known as special needs feeder) as you can adjust the flow, and she took to it well, as its just like the breast in the sense she has to "work" for her milk rather than just swallowing. Recommend it to anyone trying to continue breast and expressing a bottle too.

rray I've tried that method a couple of times but I have to admit I give up after about 5 minutes because by then he is screaming! Maybe I should get tougher...

Do you have to sterilise bottles before filling them with EBM? I'm sure you do. What technique are people using?

After a tough day, OH finally got back at 6pm, gave LO a lovely bath so I could finish cooking, then I fed him and we put him down (cheating though, as he fell asleep at breast!), and he's been asleep since 7.15pm! He's listening to Radio 4....

Do you pick him up when he is screaming? i think the method says you should pick them up and do the patting and shushing with them over your shoulder. Are you patting firmly and Susshing loudly? the idea is the sush must be loud and the pat firm, as they cannot focus on 3 things at once, so the idea is if they are loud enough, they should stop crying as they can't concentrate on the crying and "mummy feed me" haha!

I don't know if you have to sterlise the bottles, but i ahve been. I've got the Pod Sterliser from mothercare for ease. Its pretty cute looking too (for a sterliser!)

How funny, Esme has been down since 7.15 too! Fingers crossed for sleepy babies. I'm going to wake her... well i say wake, shove her on boob, for a "dream" feed about 10 and hope for the best, she has got out of the habit of her sleeping through the night sniff sniff, but hoping she'll get back onto it again soon!

spink afraid i am of no use RE: mastisis advice But, my opinion would be to get checked asap and not wait.

Heron Waking the sleeping baby is a bit of a personal preference topic. i started out thinking, i'd be mad to wake a sleeping baby, and didn't for the first few weeks, but then i realised her little body clock was obviously the wrong way round (day/night) so have since been waking her for a feed if she sleeps more than 3 hours on a trott in the day, and not letting her sleep more than 2 at a time in the afternoon, else she isn't tired for bed time and i'd be up all night. So i guess its what you feel is best, and what parenting style you want to follow! Good luck!!

...oh, and i'm SURE there is a Dog in place of my baby in the moses basket upstairs. on the monitor i keep hearing what sounds like a dog's bark. haha, i've checked on her, shes fine, she makes the craziest noises!!

thank you! will get some shortly

ray and missj- I think its recommended you sterilise all baby bottles, dummies etc. for the first year, as they are really vulnerable to the bacteria and viruses that they can pick up from non-sterilised stuff. With DC1 I sterilised meticulously for the first 6 months and slackened off after that...

Hi, baby Conor and I are finally out of hospital - we actually got home yesterday 15 days after the birth - were discharged from maternity on 6 February but readmitted to Paediatrics on Sunday 8 February. C had lost a huge proportion of his birth weight. This happened with my first baby so it was very traumatic having to go back in with C, but this time I got much better support establishing breastfeeding. We are having to top up but he's getting lots of breastmilk and hopefully will be able to be exclusively breastfed within a few weeks, if not it's still better than what happened with Danny, our first.

We haven't been discharged yet from hospital, are on home leave but will be discharged to community midwife team on Friday if C puts weight on ok tomorrow and Friday.

Hi Elkie- really good to 'see' you! Glad DS is doing well now and hope you are discharged friday.

Hi Elkie have been thinking of you and wondering how you were getting on. Great to hear that Conor is gaining weight and you are back home. Huge respect to you for sticking with it as well.

Here's hoping its onwards and upwards for you both from here.

Well done Dog on getting your homebirth - forgive me for feeling a little jealous.

Welcome StarbucksAddict

Re buggies, we have DS1's Maclaren Quest and a secondhand double buggy, and in December after some dithering I bought DS2 a Maclaren Techno XLR. It's actually very much the same size as the Quest and XT - I haven't used an XT but the XLR is only bigger upwards, and it feels like a really smooth buggy compared to our Quest - it may just be that the Quest has been used so intensively since it was bought in August 2007 and was our main buggy from September. We don't drive. The XLR and XT both have a big advantage over cheaper Maclarens for public transport users - they have decent brakes and don't have to be clung on to as much.

heron i wait till DD cries out for feeding except when i need to feed her before going out. then i try to finish feeding her 5 minutes before heading out.

eachpeach not sure what you are asking... 'prematurity than personal choice'. i didn't get to finish my post.

continuing from my last post... DD is 10 weeks and i'm only pumping 3 ounces in a 45 minute sitting. i'm pumping while feeding. i want DH to be able to give DD a bottle in the morning so i can exercise and shower without listening to the crying and see the 'oh my god' look on DH's face. its not relaxing. the pump did a number on my boob though, making the nipple so very tender. funny enough it only felt ok when she latched on good.

DD is chatting. she is starting to use her little voice and stares at our mouths when we talk. she's holding her head and almost sitting up on her own. there's loads of fist chewing and slobbering... oh, the slobber. where does it come from?

Lol- chefswife.... I hadn't realised there was more to come!
I read it as you only pumped, no bfing... I was assuming because DD was so early she couldn't feed from you- I know other prem babies where this has been an issue, sorry.

The slobber stage lasts a l o n g time I'm afraid- get used to it....

hey elkie great news that you are home and conor doing ok. huge praise for sticking at bf and sounding so calm.
any news from tree? hope things settled for her too.
i am whispering it just incase he hears and changes his mind but stanley in bed for 7, feeding at 11 and the last night woke at 4 for feed and back to sleep until 7. i never thought this day would come but at 9 weeks he is doing really well. smiling away too which makes it all worthwhile. ds1 behaving much better as well. i have gone back on the pill and def sorted out my hormones.
dribble goes on for ever i seem to remember....

i think that my little one has some tummy wind ache because he would feed and then stop and really stretching his body. i am taking him to see doc today. for 2 nights now, he hardly ate. i mean, he had 3-4 oz at 10 ish at night and then again at around 2 am but only took a couple of ounces. again a difficult feed.

has anyone heard of "silent reflux"?

heron* I had never heard of silent reflux, but am wondering about DD now. She always seems to struggle about gurgle as if choking and then have really noisy bubbly breathing for a while after we first put her down flat. She does settle, but only with reassurance from us and she looks really quite pained initially.

Found some info on it here

Other peoples experiences of it here

Well have finally managed to find time to try out my moby wrap and I love it. Put a very grumpy DD into it and she was asleep within a minute. I have now been able to tidy up, do the dishes, get the boys a drink, make myself a coffee and sit down to mumsnet for five minutes - question is, will I ever want to take her out of it? Am seriously thinking it could be an alternative to the buggy issue until I make up my mind.

Only thing is we seem to be getting quite hot, think I will look at some of the videos on you-tube to make sure I've got her correctly positioned in there! If I have, at least it will save money on the heating bills!

hi moose, that is what my DS does, struggle at the breast and bottle. and he will actually pull away with quite an urgency as if the milk is choking him. and he has bubbly breathing. well, i will see what the doc says this afternoon. does your LO take a full feed with no problem? we have started DS on a 4 hourly feed schedule. this morning he had a feed at 7am and the 2nd feed at 10.40am. time will tell whether it will work or not!

hi dog, wow, 9 days and only twice nightly waking! ur a lucky mummy!

i swaddle my LO all the time cos he startles so easily. i have a few different swaddles but the best one so far is one called miracle blanket. can be got from amazon. it holds both arms and legs in very well, unlike the other swaddles!

i can completely relate to you panicking about DP going back to work. i was the same, thinking i cant cope! do you have other children? i have an older child - 4 yr old. and i still panic that i cant handle both of them! mornings and dinner time are the most stressful time of the day for me. it is not easy! but you will see that as time goes by, you will find that things get better.

hello all

we have colds here so a very frustrated newborn who can't suckle properly without having his nose suctioned and saline....which he hates!

Can't believe 2 weeks have gone by already where does the time go?

Am aready getting frustrated about losing weight - but can't diet yet as it does affect my breastfeeding.... I think I've got 3 stone to lose - mind you I was already 2 stone overweight when I got pregnant so there is 'only' 1 excess stone there from pregnancy. I'm trying to walk every day but DS1 slows me down and he does love to come with us!

I haven't time now to reply properly but DD had reflux - the sicky type not the silent type. Many of the ladies on my other post-natal thread experienced the silent type though so I can help a bit if you need it. It can be pretty dreadful but meds help as does time. DD now only sick when she's ill, as compared to hourly as an infant

Dog - you can use a regular blanket (prob preferable now since she'll prob outgrow the swaddling blankets fairly quick as she is a good size). I posted a link on how to wrap them earlier on.

MM- another moby fan - yay! We love ours, and yes it is hot!

Welcome back Elkie, nice to hear from you.

fym - snap on the weight. exactly how I feel. I'm only 7lbs over my booking weight but am a good 2.5 stone overweight. Want to get it off so I fit my clothes but it really affects my supply if I don't eat well. DD slows me down so much it isn't even exercise! Plus I've gained round my hips/bum but lost off my arms and waist so am now a completely different shape requiring big trousers! Give me until 6months and if I've still not lost I'll go on a diet with you?