March 09 - The spring babies have sprung

[jollyjoanne]

Thought I'd start us up a post-natal thread for the new mummies of March 09 (or thereabout!)

Hi All,

Sorry so hear lots of our babies are suffering with Colics

Alex also has what i think is reflux (DD2 had it so i have a little knowledge) so far its not bothering him to much but he keep throwing bits up that are from his previous feed (ie digested milk rather than what he has just fed IYSWIM) he is still BFing really well and is settle between most feeds, last night he actually went 8 hours from 9.30 to 5.20, after that we had to wake him at 8!!!.

Busy morning here i had to be out for 9 to take DD1 for an OT assessment, thankfully Alex slept for whole time i was out!! DH has been off work this week so its been great to have some family time. Dreading getting back into the daily school run next week!! the girls school is 4 miles away so we have to be out for 8.20!!

For those of you with the small age gaps, things at the moment are extremely hard right now, however as you all know it gets easier!! i am so glad now that there is a small gap between DD1 and DD2!! they play for hours together and most days i dont really know that ive got them!! infact i would go as far to say that 2 to is now much easier than one!!

Hey ladies!

Welcome newbies - and great pics grinning!

Bathing - not doing my two together until the chicken pox has cleared up on DD1. Bathed Lydia first last night and then filled up the bath and did DD1 whilst DH gave Lydia a bottle. Seemed to work OK.

THe chicken pox is finally going, she's looking more scabby than blistered thankfully. There are still a few spots that haven't scabbed over so I know she's still infectious, but she's much better in herself - so much so she has cabin fever from being at home! Prob go to the park tomorrow for our first trip out.

No spots on Lydia so far (fingers crossed).

For those bottle feeders who's LOs are suffering from colic, have you tried Dr Browns bottles? They're great and since we made the switch Lydia much happier. Tried infacol and it did bugger all! She was weighed today - 10lb 7oz which is great.

Wheeley I also have hayfever early on and have just been to the docs to get my repeat prescription for eye drops / nasal spray. Great this year as it's free!!

Slick yes every morning when I say goodbye to DH I have a gristle and a grumble - he sets off and gets to play his music (rather than some kids CD) and have adult conversation AND his company have a Costa Coffee on-site so when he comes home and says he's had a rough day I deck him!!

Lovely piccies Grinning !

Welcome Lelait - congratulations on on the birth of Samuel.

Phew ! I think Lara has just gone off to sleep - dd1 is on a playdate so was hoping for a little bit of time without one shouting for me. DOn't know what time dd1 is due home - probabyl any minute now .

Bathing - urm... we've been excessively slack and hardly bathed Lara . We have a seat thing for her and also someone has lent us one of those tummy tubs but we did almost drown her the one time we've used it...

3cute - am pleased to hear Alex has done 8 hours sleep. I have in the back of my mind that Lara is unlikely to sleep for a long time cos she's bf'd so its nice to hear its possible.

aunty - you've just made me realise I feel fine today with the sniffles and its raining here so it must be hayfever. I'll try and get something on prescription I think when I have my 6 week check next week (yay ! Next week !). Am assuming beconaise up the nose will be ok as the asthma inhaler equivalent is safe in pregnancy... will check though.

Right need to go and do something constructive whilst Lara is asleep (Must... not... lie... down)

Oh and we've realised the problem with Lara's name. Small children seem to think we've named her after a teletubbie (lala for those who haven't as yet experienced the delights) .

Grinning she is lovely!! Must be something about 04/04/09 babies
Have had a lunch out with DH today and aLuren, the girls went to a friends on playdate and they had a chance to let off steam.
Lauren is still sleeping all night!! I have had just 2 night feeds since her birth!! She is currently stretched across my lap and is showing signs of nodding off again!

Awww thanks everyone

2 night feeds and sleeping through slickbird ??? you are soooo lucky! I have a hungry monster here.

Just had a giggle - had to change her nappy due to loud squirty noises (she's not a quiet pooper!) and she decided to wee for england as soon as it was off. So, now we're in clean clothes as well

She's laying here in my lap like lady muck on her pink cushion being fed while I type.

What a life!

Oooops!

I did of course mean at Spooky

My brain has been sucked out obviously...

Sam pees every bloomin time you take his nappy off - the male fountain effect was a surprise! He also has a great talent for pooing all up the back of his babygrows leaving the nappy almost clean, oh and projectile vomiting - didn't have that trouble with Lauren (nice name you chose Spooky!) at all I've never done so much washing!
The poor little thing's got a horrible cough and has slept nearly all day so Im really not looking forward to tonight (specially as the last 2 nights have been shockers too) 8 hours in a row wow! Id be happy with 4..or 3...

Agree on the nappy thing - I think I mentioned it before - Mae is always managing to poo so that it comes out all over her back or down her legs - seem to be permanently washing and drying babygros. And she also isn't quiet about it and she can fart louder than me and her poos sound really loud and squelchy like when you get your shoes stuck in mud! Oh and she also wees pretty much everytime her nappy is off, she really impressed the midwife with the swimming pool of wee she produced when I was undressing her to be weighed.

Spooky that is impressive. Mae is getting into a sort of routine. 3hrs between feeds during the day and 4 hrs between feeds at night, so I am at starting to get some sleep which is very nice. She also slept in her moses basket for the first time last night.

Going to see a potential nursery for Mae next week and have also booked both our 6 week appointments at the doctors again for next week and have also sorted attending a baby massage course as well as going to look round the shops today so feeling like I have accomplished quite a lot for once. But pretty glad I don't have to cope with more than one child at present I am really impressed at those with other children.

Wheely yeah another possibly slightly smelly baby here - Mae hasn't had too many baths - she just screams so much when she is naked. It is much easier to wash parts of her and then recover her so she doesn't realise she is having a bath I suppose it is a sort of bed bath!

Aunty glad the chicken pox is improving, my nephew and neices had chicken pox, which appeared the day after they had been to visit Mae when she was less than a week old. Fortunately everyone here managed to calm me down as it seems it is unlikely fo babies to get it, if the mum as had it. Fortunately it is now more than 21 days later and she hasn't got any spots so I can only presume she was lucky. Hope your little one is to.

Wheely I actually dont think method of feeding makes any difference to how well a LO sleeps at night, DD1 slept through from birth (8-10 hours ) DD2 was a nightmare!! and didnt sleep through for 18mth!! my best friend is a breast feeding adviser and she has seen lots of people switch from BF to FF and not see any difference in how well LOs sleep at night.

any how his royal highness needs his booby, will try and post everything else i wanted to post later .

Hi Cheekycel - how are you doing! If you send me your email, I can add you to the email list for the next meet up in May. You can get me on ali_bishop at hotmail dot com

Good to see everyone else's updates. I have my dad and step mum here at the moment, so don't really have time to catch up properly and post on everyone's news, but will do next week when I have more time.

Okay - I don't know how you lot have managed to post in the last few weeks especially those not on their pfb!

Haven't had time to do more than briefly skim - Sorry to hear about all these colicy babies I know it must be terribly. Molly had a tiny patch of reflux but I shoved a book under one end of her moses basket to raise up her head a bit, and put her to sleep on her right side if she seemed bad which sorted it out. Probably not going to help if you have more serious problems though. I believe you can have baby gaviscon prescribed once they're two months but that's a long time!

Mols is nearly four weeks old now, and last night for the first time only had one middle of the night waking (at half three) which I was frankly ecstatic about as she is tiring me out! She has to feed after every nappy change and until two days ago was up fifteen times a day getting changed and then fed. I feel like a cow whose sole purpose is to shove a boob in her mouth... have also been beset by visitors more or less constantly which is nice in one way but totally knackering in another.

Having said that she's lovely and very beautiful, and I don't help things by curling up with her asleep post feeds and watching her instead of going back to bed

Tomorrow I'm going to a baby group and even though it will sound silly I'm really nervous about it. I feel really unconfident which is not the way to go into a group of people you'd like to make friends with. Will have to just get on with it.

Reading all of your posts I think I must be the only person to like night feeds! It's the only chance I get to snuggle with Gabriel , and as an added bonus he doesn't throw up at night ever (do other refluxy babies have this pattern?).

Daytimes on the other hand can be horrendous. Some days are fine and we get a few possets, today was 18 vomits (3 were enough to cause puddles on the floor) and 7 clothes changes for me (not to mention sofa covers, cushions etc). DH gives G a bottle of formula at about 4pm so I can cook and he keeps this down, but not BM (though he throws up digested milk usually). DH wants to put G on formula, but I'm holding out as hoping he'll grow out of it in a few weeks and don't want 8 months + of faffing with formula (not to mention the £500 or so it'll cost!)

So many posts! How exciting.

Laumiere, one more ?Bravo!? to your DS for his walking success! And an ?Oh my LORD? for the vomit-fest?

Regarding tipping cots and moses baskets up ? does anyone use one of those wedge pads to put their bubs at a bit of an angle?

Last night was unbelievably wonderful ? after a very fussy afternoon, Rhys slept from 11pm to 4am, woke for a quick feed and went down again until 8.30am. Bliss! The hard part now is not thinking that this will be a trend?because of course it won?t be (I just put him down 15 minutes ago and can hear him working himself up already).

Am still very of everyone who?s getting a decent stretch between feeds ? not sure if there?s a growth spurt at two weeks, but last night excepted, Rhys has been eating every 1.5 hours, absolutely attacking my boob every time (so laweasel, moo to you, too?). He still seems veeeery long and skinny to me, so I?m very curious to see what he weighs tomorrow at his checkup.

We?ve had some friends and neighbours over over the past couple of days to meet Rhys, and it?s been particularly hard with the older people, who are scandalised that we pick Rhys up pretty much as soon as he starts fussing and that I?m feeding on demand. Fearless, I feel like I have the Baby Whisperer looming over my shoulder every time the little man fails utterly to self-soothe and I pick him up ? I?m sure we?ll pay for this later, but I also figure I owe him another week or so of comforting.

Slick, I think someone may already have mentioned this, but fennel has soothing digestive properties. I?m drinking fennel tea (in the hopes it will get into the milk) and the pharmacist here recommended the drops for Rhys. Eight drops three times a day ? it?s hard to tell what works and what doesn?t and what?s just due to natural development and progression, but he has seemed to have an easier time of it since starting the drops ? he can have a bowel movement with just a bit of grunting as opposed to squinty eyes and drawn up knees and shrieking.

Wheely, the teletubby reference cracked me up.

Grinning, that is an EPIC labour story ? between you and boobz, the March mums get the ?We are so much tougher than you can possibly imagine? award.

wheely love your teletubbie story - dd1 adores her lala toy

corgi - you can just put a towel under the mattress of the moses basket and it does the same thing as the wedge - or a couple of phone directories under the legs of cot/stand. With dd1 I spent £10 on cot blocks that you put under the legs of the cot - waste of money really! Some moses basket stands also let you dip one end so that the basket is at an angle.

laumiere dd1 was a sicky baby - I was benerv without a muslin square at the ready so you have my sympathy. At least Gabriel is ok at night. Shhhhh about the cost of formula - it is horrendous - a tib of powde has gone up about £3/4 since I had dd1 in 2007 - eek!

lula and 3cute the only difference switching to formula made for Rosie was that she got enough milk to satisfy her and then was able to sleep. No difference in the milk - just in teh method of intake - and only works for those of us who can't get our boob milk into our babies! But agree, if bf is working well, switching to formula probably won't make one iota of difference to sleep patterns!

law impressed that you are already going to a baby group. 1st time round I had my NCT group to meet up with and I know I am really going to miss that with Rosie - so may also be looking fr a baby group to join . Like you will feel v nervous if I do. Good luck!

hello I am back...

birth story on talk/birth anouncements, picture on profile!

I have found it hard to find a moment to post, but read through what i have missed yesterday. I was last wasn't i?

you all seem to be getting on fantastically.

I was home from hospital on wed but felt terrible, so told to rest in bed. DH has been looking after me and the kids fabulously, and that made me blub too.

new baby girl is gorgeous though and totally worth it.

xxx

Congrat's Kanga

KANGA BIRTH STORY.

oh yes in addition i meant to add that on the monday our ds3 broke his arm and was to come to a&e at the hospital i was being induced at! he was fixed up locally but was seen at the main hospital fracture clinic the sme afternoon i was discharged. it was all a bit hectic and i think it will make a funny story one day.

Congratulations Kanga!

Big ouch on the cervix but I bet you're glad baby girl is here now

Congrats Kanga, you made it to postnatal at last! Your new little one is gorgeous - obviously worth the wait.

Back to another rubbish night of sleep last night - I should stop suggesting that she is doing OK it always comes back to bite me on the bum! So I am knackered today and I am so glad it is the weekend so DH and I can take it in turns to get a bit of extra sleep!

Laumiere I am shocked at all the sick, I think DD has only been sick about 4 times since she was born (again I'll probably regret this tomorrow when has done nothing but puke) although the lack of being sick may be contributing to the colic.

Wlcome back Kanga - we've been wondering where you got to. Congratulations on DD ! What have you called her ?

We had a rubbish night here too. I agree Joanne - just when you think things are going fine, it all goes horribly wrong. Bless 'em.

Apologies for starting a debate on formula/breast and sleeping. FWIW I think meep is right in that its easier to get more into them with formula (and you know when you've had a big feed) so they then sleep. I definitely notice a difference between length of sleep at night depending on whether i've given formula or breastmilk but am sure its because she'll breast feed and give up and fall asleep whereas she can glug 100 ml of formula down in a very short period of time.

My nipples have sauddnely got really sore again after thinking I'd got through the worst. Grrrr... Am trying to make sure she's on properly but it hurts. Grump.

Hope baby group went well Law - I start baby massage on monday so along with having to get dd1 to nursery on time I then need to go straight to baby massage. Methinks I should have thought a bit more about that when I booked it.

The baby group was quite good actually, I talked to a few people but Mols slept through the whole thing so it was a bit daft in that respect! It is free though, as it's the one at the children's centre so I'm not worried about wasting money, at least.

Baby massage sounds great though, and it probably won't be too much of a rush once you get used to it. Good luck too.

re formula/sleeping, sometimes we top molly up with formula if she is still really grizzly after a night feed but keeps falling asleep on the boob and then waking up again still hungry, it's great for that, and she tends to sleep a bit longer afterwards.

From one latecomer to another - welcome, kanga! What a story...

I have an uber-silly question, as I contemplate starting to pump some milk just to have a bottle on hand if I need someone to watch Rhys for me while I, oh, say, go to the dentist (how I WISH this were hypothetical). How do you know how much to pump/how much he's eating in a normal "meal"? Is a small bottle enough for one feed? (ie 125 ml)? Too much? Help!

Corgi I have been wondering the same thing - especially as it appears I am rubbish at exressing milk. Yesterday I only managed about 40mls and that was from 2 separate attempts. I can see it is going to take me a while to get good enough to fill a 125ml bottle let alone a 250ml one!