LadyT it's baby J's conception birthday in about 6 days. I think we'll celebrate it this year the same way we did last year The story about 'Lunch' made me laugh too - was he toilet trained? I hope he's still kickin about down at that farm and that his name hasn't been self fulfilling...
Cat our baby has more milk than the guidelines say, if it's any consolation. Having said that, he is above the 'normal' range for growth, but I'm not worried about him being overweight as he's long too - so he's proportional. Just another King Kong like LadyT's friends' baby Anyway I wasn't about to deny him milk when he was obviously hungry, and the doctor said not to worry as his growth wound probably start to slow a bit and he'd fall back into the normal range. Which seems to be happening, as I've noticed he's now starting to take less milk each day than he did before (down from over 1000-1200ml a day, to now between 800-900). Anyway is it the night feeds you're trying to cut down on? Because we're doing that now, and it seems to be going ok, though it's hard work. He goes to bed between 7-8pm, and was waking every 3 hours almost on the dot! So I've been reducing 2 of these feeds by 10mls every night, and keeping the feed in the middle where he can have as much as he wants. He has grumbled a bit as we're now down to only 10ml for the small feeds, but no screaming, so I know he's only doing it out of habit rather than hunger. Tonight though he will just get the dummy, or failing that he'll get 10ml of water if he gets too upset. We are also spacing out the day feeds more now too, as he was just 'grazing' all the time rather than finishing a bottle. Which meant he was having a snack every 1/2hr or so! So hopefully with this new routine in the day, he will cope better at night as he will be more used to longer periods in between feeds. It would be really interesting actually to do a bit of a survey to see everyones routines, for those who are keeping one of course! We didn't really have one till this week.
Rosmerta what a shock to hear about your cousin It's scary to think there are people out there with such violent tendencies, it's a reminder to be careful although sometimes it's just a matter of wrong place, wrong time isn't it? Anyway I'm so glad he's ok, he must be counting his lucky stars to still be alive!
jump hope your friends' daughter is recovering well. The thought of my little one being seriously sick is one of my greatest fears, as I'm sure it is for every parent.
arti you are too kind. I am terrible at: geography, remembering peoples names, being tidy, housework in general, and listening (I get a bit over excited and talk over the top of people sometimes, though not intentionally of course!) I also look a fright most of the time - pretty much all of those Facebook pics are my 'public' face so not a realistic indication of how I am 99% of the time. But thank you for your kind words. We should definitely pair up our DCs one day. If she is anything like her mother I'd be proud to have her as a DIL And I've got all this great classic MIL material ready to spout too after hearing all the wise things Kayz' MIL says [ffwink]
rosmerta how many times does S feed a night? J was feeding 3 times, with the 4th at 6/7am when he woke. Tonight I've just settled him for the first time without milk at his 10pm feed time, and it was fairly painless for us both, hurrah! I just reswaddled him there in the cot, popped the dummy in and went 'shhhh' for a minute and he fell back asleep after about 30 secs! Then when he stopped sucking the dummy so much (about 2 mins) I just took it out, and he's still asleep now, over two hours later. Of course now I've said this, he may wake up just to prove me wrong Arti it sounds like your DD was doing what J was too - starting to wake up more frequently for comfort feeds (he usually passes big farts in the night so feeding helped him to get them out, although this created more in turn!) We've gradually getting him back to sleeping longer periods though, with the above method. Do you guys use a dummy? I know some people don't like using them, but sucking is the only thing that will calm him when he's expecting a bottle/boob. It often takes him a minute to realise it's not the same shape as the bottle/boob though (nipple confusion) so we just have to hold it there until he grabs it properly with his mouth but then it's a lifesaver! This is actually the only time he uses a dummy now too; in the night for weaning him off those feeds. He doesn't seem to need it during the day, as if he grizzles I just pick him up and do something else to distract him from it until the next feed/sleep/bath etc. Anyway hope you find some way soon of getting back some sleep in the night!
Verso sounds like you have another child to look after with your (d)H's shanannigans! Perhaps you need to treat him as such too - with ignoring bad behaviour and rewarding the good? Therefore a few 'oh well, never mind' whenever he complains of man flu, but then lots of kisses and OTT praise when he does anything to help out?
LadyT I'm sad you didn't win your first class trip to Auz - guess I'll just have to work on getting some principal roles at Covent Garden then eh? Or.. I suppose I could settle for ENO ps: don't worry you're not missing out on too much sun, it was pi$$ing down rain here tonight. Bah!
Kmp if you do end up swingin by Sydney on your trip to Oz, I'll give you all a free backstage tour of the Opera House!
Katie I love the look of the Bumbo, thanks for recommending it! We've found a shop here that sells them and will pop there next week to get one as DS will be ready for it very soon I think. He is getting much stronger at holding his head up, and loves to watch us in the kitchen as we cook etc.
Veggie I'm sorry you're sad about not having a girl. My poor uncle & aunt had 5 girls (!) I too might be feeling the same as you when I (hopefully) have a 2nd - DH keeps talking about 'if we have a girl' and I'm worried he's jinxing it! But then I think about all the positives - having 2 boys is great, because 1) They can wear all the same clothes 2) They can play with all the same toys 3) They will have a lovely brotherly relationship which is something special (DH and his only brother are very close), and 4) having any child that is happy & healthy is a true blessing. And remember - your 'female line' doesn't stop with you, as if one of your DS' has a girl, then she is a direct descendant of yours, oui?
Kimberly you poor thing and poor little Judah! What a horrible scare, so glad he seems to be ok now. xx
Cat and WG I'd love to hear your routines if you have time to share them? Now that we're starting to get into a routine too, I'm very interested to see everyone else's too.
zoe I'm so relieved to hear you are responding to treatment. I think mine just got so bad because the doctor didn't think it was thrush so I went untreated for some time, despite me suggesting we both had it Now after this experience, I know it should never hurt to breastfeed, but am still very annoyed that it ended up in my having to switch to full time expressing before I was quite ready to do so. Anyway it's funny the little faces they pull when you put meds in their mouth - my DS would blow big raspberries at me (with just his lips, not tongue) because he didn't like it. Anyway after a few weeks of it he stopped trying to spit it at me, no doubt because they make it sweet and he changed his mind and thought it was yummy! I'm sure he'll be into the chocolate buttons as soon as he's able Also if you ever want a super hit of probiotics, the tablets have much more in them than yoghurt (the one I took had 25 billion good bacteria per capsule, it was this), but they are a bit ££. They're usually kept in the fridge section at the chemist.
Ok, so y'all have guilt tripped me into changing my FB profile pic I promise this one is a more realistic interpretation of normality... and the glamour shot of course was from my work, taken by a colleague. And looking like that involves 1/2hr in a chair with a professional makeup/hair artist - it's very heavy theatre makeup which takes an age to practically peel off, and fake lashes etc etc. But the fact that I turn up to the opera house most days wearing tracksuit pants and flip flops says a lot more about my priorities these days. In fact, I used to be quite the makeup queen and never went anywhere without putting on 'my face', but I'm quite proud of the fact that I haven't actually worn makeup (except the stage stuff for work) since the baby was born! I am a reformed woman (ie: I've let myself go)
I'm loving looking at everyone's photos on FB!! I must say we do have the most beautiful bunch of babies - Dec/Nov/Jan is clearly the time when all the good lookers are born Sorry to those without accounts - although of course it is possible to be completely invisible to others except for those you friend request if wanted? So you could just set up a kind of 'fake' account and just friend request us, and set it up so it just notifies you by email when new pics have been added. My MIL has done this, as she's an ex school teacher and doesn't want any of her old pupils finding her, so she's completely invisible to any except those of us who are friends with her. And yes I am a real friends with my MIL on there as I'm lucky that she's fairly nice - although I try not to bristle when she starts talking about how 'when her boys were babies, she...' as I know she only means it in a helpful way. At least, this is what I tell myself
Now, must go and catch up what I've missed! Just wanted to get that all down before my epic got too much longer (and yep I do always cheat and take notes, or rather just copy the bits i want to respond to)