September 08 - New Year PFBs, Last Year BFPs!

[ninja]

Hi - welcome to the new thread!

Thanks to all for the support, it is so nice to be able to vent a bit here...

The shingles are still doing their thing, which is not great, but I think I know why Diego is so unsettled and grizzly. I think he's in pain because of teething. Fairly evident when you think about it, really, but I just didn't clock it. He is constantly dribbling, he is clingy, he is biting my nipple (ouch) and putting in his mouth everything that comes his way. Makes sense, no?

What do you ladies use for your teething bubs? He really looks like he needs some relief.

Star, my DP is a gem, so he helps as much as he can, but he's got a job to go to as well. I think I may go to Spain for a week and be with my parents, as they'd love to see Diego and I'll be able to chill out a bit, eat well, rest, and pass the baby round.

Pacita we use Teetha powder (we get it from waitrose, I've also seen it in boots and sainsburys). It's homeopathic, and I know lots of people (me included) don't particularly believe in homeopathy, but it seemed to really help when T had a real red cheeked dribbly day. Of course, it might have been coincidence! We also bought some medicated teething gel (possibly made by calpol?), but haven't used it.

I can recommend the Nelson Teetha's. They are homeopathic and seem to really work.

A week at your parents sounds like a good idea. It will give you some time to recuperate.

thanks star i do feel kinda chuffed with myself! After not being able to bf ds1 i didnt have any expectations this time, but i also did lots of research whilst pg, the threads on here and the online videos etc. I felt like i knew in my head what to do more. Also the whole birth and after birth thing was different which helped. But i really love bf now, thought i would just do 4 months but now i cant imagine stopping...oo-er hope I'm not gonna turn into one of those women still bf when they are 7

you know what Starlight you have a point! Actaully we both have sleep issues, but DD1's sleep habits are just like (sometimesD)H's. She is a real night owl. He is so funny saying he's into routine for the kids when he has none himeself! Whereas I NEVER sleep through the whole night, even pre kids it was rare.

pacita Spain sounds good and it'll be good for Diego to get a bit more sun I'm sure.

We swear by bonjela for teething.
NC we use bumgenius and they've just started soaking through - a friend reminded me of something I told her when her ds was this age, which is that they are at 'maximum wee output' between 4-6months of age, since all they're getting is milk, and lots of it. Once you wean, the relative amount of liquid in their diet goes down. I've boosted the bumgenius this week with other microfibre inserts, hemp inserts, anything I can lay my hands on really!

DP has just returned with homeopathic teething relief from boots (same active ingredient as teetha), bonjeela and a thing for babies to bite. With this arsenal of teething weapons, surely we'll be able to sleep. For now, D's gone down like a dream and is asleep in his cot. Cue pacita enjoying a glass of red wine with DP - a wonderful analgesic... So thanks for the tips.

Foxy, following your advice (again) I emailed the breastfeeding network pharmacologist, who was very erudite and very reassuring. It's a great resource to have available, so I thought I'd mention it in case anyone needs it in the future. She explained the the amount of med that makes it through to my milk is about 1% of the amount that the baby would be given if he needed to be in this particular medication. She also said that perhaps the broken sleep was caused by the pain inhibiting my let down so my milk flow was slower than normal causing Diego some confusion and restlessness

I'm going to check out flights to Spain - not that it'll be any sunnier in the Basque country, mind you.

Sleepy vibes to all the sweet LOs.

carrie - in A's case, it's not just the soaking, it's that he can poo and pee out both sides of it, whereas with the Bumbles, even the Nappies Of Doom keep a cupful of poo safely contained. It's hard to find second-hand Bumbles - I think everyone keeps them for their friends!

Oooh I've not come across the Bumble, must google that! Thank you to whoever recommended the Bum Hugger on here, have bought one and it does ds beautifully overnight! I've also put him in dd's old size 2 bamboozles, which are enormous but do the job. Sadly the teddies nappy I bought doesn't stand up to dd's overnight wees. But hey ho, project potty in a couple of weeks!
Night all

For all of you who are unhappy with your babies sleep, here's something to cheer you up... Katie, noww 6 months old still wakes up every hour or so for a feed most of the night. The most I ever get is 3 hours and that is rare. Only way to make it bearable is to have her in bed with me. See, it could be worse

We're planning to have a go at DH settling her for a couple of nights to see if we can get her out of the habit. She really anticipates events now and knows what's happening so I think she might be ready. I know for sure she doesnt need to feed so often.

She's gotten very keen on her food now and grabs the spoon off me and rams it into her mouth. She also loves ricecakes and tried to get a biscuit off me the other day =)

Hi Sassy I'm sorry for your sleep - but it kind of makes me feel better

I had 10.30, 12.30, 3.00 (but might have been one innetween) took a while to settle here. 4.30, 6.00, 7.30 (amybe a couple of tthers) - Oh Joy!!

oh sassy and ninja my greatest sympathies to you, hope you get a decent nap today

Nap - what's that? I should try that one day

Hopefully I meant to say that I'm with you on the crying, especially when tired. Yesterday I was crying watching dancing on Ice (for the first time) MASH has me in floods of tears

Ninja I sometimes wonder how much of sleep habits are nature rather than nurture, iykwim. T has always been a really heavy sleeper once he's asleep, and unless he's hungry, he doesn't particularly stir during the night (last couple of nights we've have to tuck his arms under the covers once or twice as he's not swaddled any more, but that's it), and DP and I are exactly the same - sleep like logs, absolutely still, no wiggling legs, shuffling etc. And all three of us snore!

Sass and Ninja I am so full of admiration for you! I would have had a nervous breakdown by now. I am rubbish with sleep deprivation (as you all know!). Now I feel guilty for being a whingy cow when we get 2 night wakings!

Can't believe how well T is coping with not being swaddled. I'd really worked it up into a massive thing in my head, and was getting stressed as he was breaking out of it more and more and getting more stressed as his hands were stuck by his face and he was prodding himself in the eye and cutting his chin, and I think this was contributing to him waking up fully and needing a feed to resettle. So a couple of nights ago we just put him in a grobag and tucked a sheet round him, and we've only had an extra one or two wakings where we've had to tuck his arms back in, and last night he didn't need feeding till 5:15am, after feeding at 10:30pm!!!!!

Ninja and Sass I'm so sorry. I too am useless without sleep. I'm learning to cope better without it, but I'm still grumpy and confused, and would probably fail a driving test (any test, actually). Hopefully, very jealous of T's sleepathon.

D woke up three times, but I only fed him twice. When he woke at 3, two hours after his previous feed and he started whinging, something funny happened: DP noticed that he stopped whinging when I left the room to get some water, but resumed when I returned, so he suggested we leave him be for a bit. I expected crying, tears and full blown hysterics, but would you believe it? He fell asleep mid whinge 3 minutes later! Then my DP fell asleep too and snored all the way till the 5 o'clock feed, which combined with me not finding a comfortable position due to mulitple shingly sores, meant that I remained awake.

I'm really bored, as I'm having to avoid all my baby groups and mothers with babies, and I feel like the sufferer of some sort of medieval pest. Bah.

BTW, I think the recommended teething granules have been a success. Thanks!

thanks hopefully and glad you had a better night. pacita i'd tried leaving M for longer the night before and it just woke her up more fully.

good news is i tried that nap thing - over an hour, lovely. only problem is i feel all dopey now!

I have just put T in his cot for his lunchtime nap for the first time in about 2 monhs! Only because if he wakes up early then I get to go to another baby group I fancy trying, and if he sleeps then I get a chance to get on top of my housework. A win win situation!

Oh god, that makes me sound like such a geek - I am actually looking forward to the opportunity to do housework!

pacita You poor love Do ehat you need to do to sort youself out - Diego needs a healthy happy mummy. Really hope you feel better soon x

Tobys baptism on sunday - lovely service, lovely food afterwards, felt quite choked up during the service as Tom was one of his godfathers Could have been the 2 nights with no sleep prior to that I suppose! Poor Toby is full of cold and has a horrific cough - cant sleep lying down at all now Am so tired I can barely see straight.

Hey ho, off to do the school run.....

ds1 has just asked me for a baby sister. I told him no chance and then he sulked!

pmsl debi

pacita - have you got a cross on your front door and a bell around your neck

M seems to be wanting to sleep more in the day at the moment and is quite grumpy. I used to be able to leave him on his play gym for 20-30 minutes and he'd happily chortle away to himself. However as soon as I leave his sight at the moment he starts to grumble. aaarrrgggghhhhhh.

iltmimi c is like that - can't put her down for a moment. When i lie her down her face changes into tragedy mode straight away,it is apparently only bearable if i stand there and entertain her with chat and kisses. it's very har to do anything inthe house.

pacita sorry you're having such a painful time of it, have you tried expressing from the left side? is that as painful? if not, you could feed from right,express from left to give yourself a break

got c weighed today and hv annoyed me a bit saying oh her weight has tailed off, maybe she'll do better when you introduce solids in a few weeks (she's 18 weeks tomorrow). Just thought that's guaranteed to make anyone feel that their milk's not good enough. And yet sure, she's dropped below the 50th centile which she's been following mostly except around week 11 when she moved up towards next line before back to 50th. But she's just over 14lbs, was 7lbs12 when born, is very chubby but quite short - nurse doing 3rd vaccinations called her thunder thighs!!!

She is very sicky though.dd1 rarely let anthing more than a small mouthful of milk return, but c is forever vomiting. P asks why i don't put a bib on her. Don't know why s mainly she misses her front and gets it all over me or the floor or my bed

ILTMIMI LOL, yes, a friend in RL has made the same suggestion.

Pacita Gosh I really feel for you, no sleep, shingles etc, you poor love, I really hope things start looking up for you soon.

Starlight and Sunflower - That sling demo with the man in the hat ... errr HELLLOOOOOO! Hottie alert! I have come over all of a dither! And yes to the teeth!!

Splishsplosh - What rubbish, at 18w my DD was 13lb 6oz, she was 8lb 2oz at birth so not only was your DD less at birth but she is also over half an lb more now. My DD was on the 50th centile until 12w when she went down to the 25th and she's been there ever since, no HV has ever said to me that there's anything to worry about or that she'll pick up on solids (don't see why she would suddenly gain wait after eating a couple of bits of vegetable personally but that's a whole other argument). I will be doing BLW with her so she won't even be eating solids until about 8 months I shouldn't think.