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!

Is there still a child trust fund voucher? After stock market dive and the way the economy is, I would have thought they'd dump the scheme tbh.

Yes, as far as I know... I'll dig out the booklet; it's buried somewhere in that bounty pack I have yet to go through!

my LO threw up 2 feeds today

looks like gaviscon is not helping much. he is quite uncomfortable today, wriggling etc.

i have spoken to the doc and he will prescribe medication. DH will pick it up on his way home today.

is this kind of reflux quite common in young babies?

heron- yes- it is common- as long as their weight doesn't drop, and they are hydrated, don;t worry.
There are loads of threads on reflux- do an advanced search to find some.

my LO sleeps on a hammock - natures nest (see www.amby.co.uk)

how can i prop him up?

hmm heron- amby's are supposed to be better for reflux aren't they? isnt lo already at an angle? (I had thought of getting one this time round after dd's reflux, then bottled at the cost)

oh gosh. no hope of catching up so just read this page..sorry!

we only use vaseline and no wipes, just water and cotton wool. I've never had a problem other than when we tried the asda eco baby nappies.

couple of things for those with reflux (and if you are sure its not a wind bubble bringing up a feed)

you can try cutting milk out of your diet if you are breastfeeding - so no lattes (!) but you can have milk products (cheese and yoghurt). and drink fennel tea.

if you are bottle feeding, try switching to a non-dairy feed eg goats milk.

night all!

I'm using just cotton wool and boiled cool water on her bottom, allowing her no nappy time as often as possible. The creams i've used are;

Bepanthen
metanium
Conotrane
Red clover Diaper Cream

none of them worked! Took her to doctors this morning (had to BEG for an appointment) Who has given her another cream beginning with T which is kept in the fridge, and said to give it 3-4 days to work & see if it works. Fingers crossed that does the trick.

Maybe its the nappies? which nappies is everyone using? i'm just using pampers newborn nappies, no particular reason other than they were the ones i bought before i had her and they seem to be doing OK.

EPPM i'm pretty sure they are still doing the trust fund thing- i have a leaflet about it. You can't register for the trust fund until your benefit comes through i think.

ray - try vaseline on a dry clean bottom after every change, and change a bit more often. can't remember if you are breastfeeding, but orange juice can give them sore bottoms if you drink it, so may be worth cutting that out. the pampers nappies should be fine, but if in doubt try something else! we use nature comfort, every baby is different!

EPPM - there were Amby equivalents on ebay when I was pg for a lot less than the branded ones. iirc a MNer told me about them and she said they were identical without the branding so prob made in same factory.

Catch up properly over weekend

Tomatoes also bad for nappy rash. Have you tried kamillosan (sp?) on it?

heron check out this site; www.infantreflux.org/

we've been lucky with DD in that there has been no real diaper rash. twice we saw it start and we gave her bath, no diaper time then a nice spread of the burt's bee's diaper rash cream and it went away by the next day. i think its all three things in combination that make it work. a good soak, 10 minutes with diaper off and then the cream. the diapers you use could also be the culprit. a woman at baby group said that she hasn't had any problems with bum rash since she switched to chlorine free diapers by seventh generation. i use the g system bio-degradable diapers which are also free of chemicals. the diapers decompose in 50 days, are flushable and compostable if there is only pee in them. i've gone a step further and made my own liners to fit with the g diapers from organic cotton flannel so if we are at home thats what she wears.

DH is very sick with a sinus infection.

Thanks for links on benefit claims. We registered C's birth - and nice long full name - this afternoon.

Child Trust Fund - yes, scheme is still going, and I guess if things ever improve the value of CTFs will go up, as share prices very low now. This time I'll just put in the government money and put any extra (probably just £10 a month) in a children's cash savings account for Conor.

Ray, we also use Nature Babies disposable nappies, available from Mothercare, larger branches of Boots and Waitrose among other places. We get ours from Sainsburys - unfortunately we can't order them online with the food shopping any more but our local big branch still stocks them. I don't know how biodegradable they really are but they use less chemicals making them, I find Pampers actually smell quite strange (baby emissions aside) with all the stuff used in the nappies supposedly to mask other smells. Of more ecofriendly disposables these are cheaper and easier to buy than many. Sainsburys and Tesco both have their own brands of "eco" disposables too.

elkie- I love nature nappies- always used them for dd (potty trained in day since may though)
DS is too narrow -hipped to use the yet... he just leaks when he wears them. IIRC dd didn't use them as a newborn for same reason- when she was a few months was fine.

chefswife - hope dh is well soon, sinuses are no fun.

rrayray- hope something works for you soon.

morning

bracken doing great gained 8ozs this week now weighs 9lbs5.5
how are other babies feeding
bracken has 2ozs 2 hourly in the day and at night wakes up twice for 1 oz

chefswife,thank you for the link. LO started on medication last night, ranitidine and domperidone. he fed better last night, 1am and 5am. unfortunately, he vomitted a lot of his 7am feed. he was sucking very fast and i should have stopped him.

thanks for all your advice ladies, am giving her nappy free time, and trying that cream from doctor. doc said to give 3 days ti work, but her poor bottom was actually bleeding this morning

think might switch nappies too- cant hurt.

am breastfeeding. i did have some oj the other day. didnt know about tomatoes- guess ill start avoiding any acidic foods!!!!!!

Tesco own brand nappies arethicker so likely to have less gel in them maybe? Or if you fancy swapping to washables have a look for Itti Bitti D'Lish nappies, they are gorgeous and so easy to use and no chemicals in sight. Fantastic for daytime use.

what's this about acidic foods?

DH is getting better but what a baby. lots of moping and sulking. i have to make sure he drinks his tea, juice and takes his meds. looking at DD this morning i think she may be getting sick... her eyes are bit glassy but she is still in good spirits so maybe she'll fight it off.

rrayray for DD's bum. it must be awful for her.

We had our worst night since DD was born last night! I don't know what caused it but she woke for her feed 5 and a half hours after her ebm bottle, fed fine, burped and seemed to settle, then cried out obviously in pain and we then had almost 2hrs of inconsolable cying and screaming! Eventually she fell asleep for 2 hours and then had another feed and was a happy bunny afterwards and has been all day. Its not typical behaviour for her at all, in fact I've never heard her scream before.

Took her to the SnowDome with the boys today and we sat in the cafe and watched them having a whale of a time tubing and sledging with Daddy. She was a perfect angel, not so much as a whimper and went 3hrs between feeds (although I did have to feed her in the back of our tiny coupe which involved removing ds2's car seat first to make room!). Suffice it to say I am now desperate for us to get a bigger car! Thought we'd found the perfect car and were due to view it after the SnowDome today, but the guy sold it before we got there!

I took a lightweight poncho with me today for public feeding coverage and it worked like a charm. My SIL gave it to me, but I will definitely be buying a couple more as it made for a much more relaxing feed. Think I'll see what there is on ebay.

Buggy has been despatched and have a tracking number for delivery on Monday.

moose- in tamworth?
Whereabouts do you live? (We're in S B'ham)

moosemama i remember the first harsh cry from DD too. not like it was very long ago mind you, but she was feeding, i was watching oprah, then all of a sudden, she pulled off and screamed and continued to cry for an hour. (usually she likes oprah). i couldn't do anything. she didn't even want to feed anymore. she calmed down and was fine. i think it may have been just a poo pain in her little intestines. but man, it freaked me out. its happened only once more since. fingers crossed i don't hear it again because it is nerve racking and heart wrenching.

rrayray are you the admin for the facebook group for this thread. i've requested to join a little while ago.