September 08 - New Year PFBs, Last Year BFPs!

[ninja]

Hi - welcome to the new thread!

Meglet am also shocked at your xp. I suppose at least you know where you stand now and can try & "move on" - is there anything anyone on here can help you with practically? It is hard enough when you have a supportive helpful DP, so I'm sure anyone would do whatever they could to help out....look after yourself xx

Meglet at your xp, that is quite viscous hope you feel better without him.

Eandz About 2 weeks before i found out i was pg i was really sleepy. I was going to bed at 8.30 and sleeping through until at least 7. we were starting to worry that my ovarian cysts were getting so big they were affecting me.
looking back i think they would have given me less sleepless nights

meglet also at your xp. If you fancy meeting up me and lollyheart met up before Christmas and were planning to meet again soon and were planning to ask you too. Facebook us both if you want to organise something and let us know if there's anything we could do to help.

bookmarking

Oh lovely new thread!!

E is now shreiking away on her playmat so thought I would logon quickly.

Meglet sorry to hear about your ex

DD's basically vomited all her feeds today... she's also slept a lot more than usual - this morning she slep 2.5 hrs, which I think she might have done only in her first week! she's still all smiles and playing with her rattles atm, but definetly not looking as her usual self...

hi all, i have been away for ages as had very limited access to computer.anyway hope everyone is well.oscar is now 17 weeks on sunday and im loving every minute (mostly)!
hopefully..........oscar has started doing exactly the same he normally goes through from 10.30pm to 8 am BUT for the last week or so he wakes at 5 am on the dot everytime.wondered if it was some wierd body clock thing?
has anyone any experience of a baby having feeds of 8 oz normally suddenly refusing more than 5 oz each feed? am somewhat puzzled.

meglet poor you, sorry you're going through all that.

Hmmm, MIL just visited, she does drive me slightly mad sometimes - just in the way she repeats the same stuff every time she comes round and doesn't seem to understand that we might want to do things differently, or that some things I am not necessarily against, and have tried, but they didn't work for us.

She thinks we should be in a routine, bottle feed (esp because I keep giving LO thrush), put her to bed at 7 and leave her to cry, doesn't think we should raise the end of the cot or hold LO up after feeding, doesn't think we should have made a little nest in the cot when she was tiny, doesn't think we should be using 2nd hand clothes, we should have dummies, we ought to have been giving her food for weeks, and C is never going to know her GPs if she only sees them twice a week and we need to visit more.

Sigh. Sorry, just needed to moan for a second there!

Really enjoyed my exercise class today! It was basically dance aerobics, involving the babies. T was the first to disintegrate into tears, but he also managed his second ever belly laugh, which was brilliant.

Jenbot poor you, I frequently have to bite tongue when spending some with the many ILs.

Sunflower poor DD, hope she's on better form tomorrow.

Meglet horrified by your exP, hope you're coping ok.

Jenbot You shouldn't even KNOW what she thinks. It's none of her business unless you specifically ask for her advice on something. Why does she think that you would welcome her comments?

Perhaps ask for her advice on something you ARE struggling with or something that you aren't fussed about once in a while, - to make her feel important.

What about:

'Here is a BLW book. What recipes do you think will be quickest/easiest to make?'

or

'We're getting another blanket for the baby. I wish I had the time to knit a colourful one - any ideas?'

Good news - postnatal physios have confirmed I'm back to full health and can do other exercise besides walking. There's new buggyfit and yoga classes locally so might try them - want A to be happier about baths before taking him swimming.

And the windows upstairs are practically done - it's noticably warmer already.

Less good - was going out for dinner with MrNC tonight, but sitter's friend has just managed to knock himself unconscious tripping over her computer so needs looking after. She's coming tomorrow instead but it's annoying.

Also met some other local mums today and almost had an enormous rant at one who was complaining that she shouldn't have had to get off the bus with her buggy just because someone with a wheelchair needed to get on (who in the end said he'd get the next bus) - she was being patronising as hell saying 'I know you have to feel sorry for them because it's so awful, but poor babies are so vulnerable...' Managed not to thwap her. Even when she very loudly told a stressed mum with a younger baby to leave her baby to cry for 10 minutes before doing anything. Grr...

Meglet, pretty horrified at the facebook act. No class at all. Have to say, you sound remarkably sane and sensible given the circumstances, and my hat is off to you, lady. I hope you can set up you PC quickly, as I find going online is always a great help on a bad day. xx

Notcitrus I can't believe the stupidity! I would not have been able to bite my tongue! Apart from anything else, the buggies spot is for buggies UNLESS there is a wheelchair user.

So, went to the breastfeeding group today (but starlight and foxy, there are much more experienced mums than me there - I'm still winging it). I wanted to ask the superb BF expert about expressing, given my shite yield of the past weeks. Turns out I get out a lot more by hand expressing!!! My nipples seem to be not pump friendly. She taught me how to prepare the breast and hand express, and hey presto! 30ml in five minutes. I'll give it another go tomorrow to test whether it was fluke...

pacita 5 mins, that's amazing! Gawd, I remember sitting for 30 minutes with the pump thinking 'I'm sure I could be using this time better'. Haven't really had to express the last few weeks as everytime DH and I go out in the evening, A manages to sleep the entire time.

meglet but good riddance if you don't mind me saying so.

starlight did you do BLW with your first? Was wondering whether it's worth getting a BLW book or if I sould just offer everything we eat (unless it's salty or spicy).

A had a very unsettled night. Woke every two hours after his 11:30 feed and would NOT be ignored. Thought he was hungry but then would only feed for 2 minutes before falling asleep again.

He'd been gnawing savagely on his fist whilst trying to get to sleep the night before so I thought he was teething again, bought him some teething powder and tried it out last night. Was hoping it would help him sleep longer, no such luck.

His daytime naps have shrunk to 30 minutes, has been grumpy as hell in the afternoon. My back aches from carrying him to sleep at home (sleeps fine in pushchair when we're out though). Will not be fed to sleep during the day anymore. Am worried, the 'easy' stage has passed.

Evening all!
Meglet and [seriously impressed with how cool about it you seem to be emoticon] at XP.

Ds woke at 5:20 this morning, fed and went straight back to sleep. I woke him at 7:30, fed him again and he spectacularly threw the whole lot up all down himself and my bed. Thanks for that. Was then unsurprisingly hungry before his next feed was due! Been fine for the rest of the day though.

digital are you saying you would like to start teaching your ds to self settle for naps?

carrieon A has been dabbling in a bit of self-settling. IF I time it right, after a feed he will happily go into his cot awake have a bit of a talk with the animals on his cot book. Wriggle a lot, rub his face on the mattress a lot, then after maybe 10-20 minutes of this he drops his head for the final time, closes his eyes and falls asleep. I know when it's going to be successful when he starts dropping his head.

However, if he's overtired the only way to get him to sleep is to hold him upright to my chest while I stand a sway gently.

T kind of self settles (not really). He will fall asleep in his cot if I sit next to him either patting and shushing or just resting a hand on his tummy. However, since he now only has one nap a day in his cot (lunchtime one almost always in the pram so I can get out, afternoon one now only 10-15 mins, so I tend to just hold him), I kind of feel I can't expect him to get any better until we're also settling him in the cot for either another nap or the night time feeds (currently hold him till he's asleep and plop him in his cot - he sometimes wakes for a moment then drifts off again).
Now he's getting a bit more predictable in the evenings (3 hours awake time after short afternoon nap, without fail), I think we might start putting him in the cot for his evening sleep, rather than in the pram down with us, so that will be another opportunity to get him settling in the cot.

I haven't pumped at all for weeks - just can't be bothered with it! DP and I are going to lunch at claridges at the end of the month, and I suppose I will probably leave formula - since he already has that one bottle in the night, and I hate pumping so much, it seems silly to make myself suffer pumping for a few days in order to extract one feed's worth of milk.

well done pacita with the hand expressing. I have never tried it. Ah, but there may have been more experienced mums there and less experienced ones too. You are teaching them by example while learning at the same time by example .

Meglet It sounds like you will have saved yourself a great amount of difficulty in the future by his 'exit strategy'. Talk about lack of communication skills.
chin up. we are hear to listen

Gah! Teddy has really quite happily settled into his 3/4 hourly routine, right up until 3am, when he feeds 3, 5 am 7am! I really feel that he's genuinely hungry at these times, but mostly because he's dropped his calorie intake at the other feeds (Easy distraction, falling asleep because he hasn't had a good stretch in the night etc).
It's not the end of the world, but a bit annoying. He's generally a bit more tired and grumpy at the moment, am i'm convinced it's from interrupted sleep in the night. I'm thinking i might pump after his daytime feeds and top him up after the next feed, iykwim, to try to boost his daytime intake a bit, and see if that helps. Also going to be more determined about him being fully awake at 10:30pm feed so he takes as much as possible.

Oh, and Meglet, I'll post this again when you're next on here in case you don't scroll back and read this page. I see you're in Hampshire - I'm probably only a short train ride away from you, depending on where you are, so if you need someone to come and take DD for a walk in the pram or something so you can get sleep (can pop T in the sling), I'm always available, T is so ridiculously easy during the day that it would be no bother, and it's nice to have a reason to go somewhere!

meglet what an arse, you are a star

for the first time ever, last nights feeds were almost exsactly yht same time as the night before- 11, 3.30, 5.30. I feed him in bed at 5.30 so manage to get a bit more rest. Also he only fed for about 10mins at 3.30!

Was wondering...as they get bigger would a bottle fed baby take longer for feeds than a bf baby? or the same time? or just vary?

Last night I ended up calling NHS direct...

We were in bed, past midnight, when D started coughing and making choking noises. Cue spooked mother jumping from bed like a spring. While I'm on the phone to NHS direct he does two massive burps that release about a pint of liquid with cheesy bits on it. Once ascertained that Diego had nothing life threatening, the NHS direct dude tells me to go see my GP in the morning.

I think what happened is that Diego developed a cold and was sniffly, before I could even realise. Because he was sniffly, he took in more air while feeding, but as I don't burp him at night feeds, he was lying down and trying to burp, unable to get it out.

So, I've not paid much attention to all you ladies with sniffly babies, but what do you do to help them breathe? I have olbas oil, but I seem to remember someone saying that it was not good for babies... Any tips on babies with a cold is most welcome.

pacita sniffly babies - I think steam / more humidity is the best thing. Just put a couple of bowls of hot water on the radiator in the room you're in?

hopefully just read about you on a sleep thread, you sound a bit like me!

Pacita ds cold was definately affecting the probs i have had with his sleeping. But since seeing osteo on wed and also propping up mattress with pillow under it and using calpol plug in vapouriser he has been much better! I love the vapouriser, it smells lovely, not too strong and has a night light. The other thing is saline drops, i use them just before a feed when he is particularly bad.

Poor you though, its horrible when they make scary noises in the night and your sleepy head races around trying to make sense of it isnt it?! Good luck!

Thanks all for the tips. I'm cleaning out and connecting the humidifier, and going to pharmacy to buy calpol plug in vapouriser!

Just went to get T weighed (first time since he was 8 weeks), and he's fallen to below 25th percentile! And that was straight after a feed and he hasn't done a poo for 4 days! Feeling like a very bad mother.
HV obviously instantly suggested increasing formula, and I asked if I could just stick in a couple of extra BFs, which she was very enthusiastic about (I wonder if they just automatically suggest formula as they don't want to pressure mothers or something). Am going to offer an extra feed in the two stretches where T normally goes 3.5-4 hours - between 10am-2pm and 7pm-10:30pm and see how he goes. I know weight gain slows down in BF babies, but he's fallen from 98th at birth.
My mother is of course going on about weaning him (she thinks it is my fault that T wakes in the night - he's starving apparently). She read the guidelines that say 6 months, but no solids before 4 months, so she thinks that he needs solids now. She is also going on about hungry baby formula, but T's gut is so useless I imagine he'll just wake up with uncomfortable constipation instead.
I assume I'm doing the right thing just BFing more? He's not one of those that needs food early is he? He has crap co-ordination and still pushes things out of his mouth with his tongue, so presumably not ready for food?