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!)

Eeeek! So much to catch up on! Right, am going to seize the opportunity at the moment to write a me-me-me post and ask a few questions, and then go back and read and digest...

Rhys just had his two month jabs this morning. What a HORRIBLE thing for all concerned -- I was v jealous of lizziemun having two nurses to get both of 'em over and done with simultaneously!

That said, I popped him right onto the boob (it was lunchtime anyway) and by the time he finished eating, he was all smiles again. Groggy smiles, admittedly, but still... We took him on an hour's walk on the way home; he slept all the way and he's still sleeping in his pram now. Hope he can stay out for another hour or so. Will be hovering over him with a thermometre for the next 48 hours!

I'm on my own since yesterday mum and dad left after a 6-week stay and am feeling rather panicky, having completely forgotten how to multitask ("Erm, how does one go about giving vitamin drops without someone to hold the baby? And the spoon? And the little bottle?" etc.). But Rhys, bless him, gave me a comparatively easy day -- we are (she whispers, darting nervous glances around In Case The Jinx Hears Her) even beginning to scratch out the very beginning of a daily routine.

Here's the question: he's still feeding every 2 to 2.5 hours during the day. I'd like to get that to 3 hours consistently, but if not, no big deal. At this point, he's still the boss when it comes to mealtimes(despite having to deal with comments from friends that we shouldn't let him get into bad habits!). What worries me now are the evenings/nights, and I'd like everyone's take on whether we need to make some changes (and how!).

I'm reading about all of your babies who go down for the night at 7 or 7.30, but we can't get him down before 9.30 or 10. Is there an effective way to help him start going to bed earlier? Should I be cluster feeding in the late afternoon/early evening? Should we already be on a pre-bedtime routine (like bath/books/feed/tummy massage/swaddle), starting early in the evening?

Then at night -- I'm actually really happy with the first portion, for the most part, as he'll sleep fairly consistently from 9.30 or 10 until 2am, having eaten at 8.30 or 9. But then he's up again at 4.30 to eat, and fusses consistently until 6.30 or 7. The fussing seems due to digestive issues, as there's lots of leg thrashing and grunting. We don't seem to be able to calm him in his cot, so DP ends up taking him out to the sofa and sleeping with him on his chest for a couple of hours. Lovely for me and Rhys, not so nice for DP. I've been intent on keeping that 2am feed as quick and unobtrusive as possible, but maybe I should be pushing him to stay awake and eat more, and then perhaps unswaddling him and doing his little anti-colic tummy massage (which he enjoys and which seems to be helping in general)? Enquiring minds want to know!

Okay, back to absorbing what's going on in everyone else's life...

Also doing the singing here, but mostly nusery rhyme stuff although i have to keep skipping over the lines / words i don't remember.

Mae isn't 100% after the jabs either. The jabs/calpol seems to have upset her tummy and she is doing more sleeping than normal but she wants to do it while attached to mummy and gets very grumpy if i try to move her.

Lula yay for the going out. We're having friends over tonight, really wish that the house looked tidier / cleaner or may be that i had the energy to do something about it!

We've got a book of nursery/action rhymes donated by my mum (ex Early Years teacher) called Tickle My Nose, which helpfully lists all of the actions too.

Gabriel feeds every hour or so in the day and then goes down at 6-7. He has a bath at 5 with his big brother and goes down in a darkened room, if he whinges I give it 5 min, then offer him a boob in the darkened room with minimal talking and put him down again. He usually goes to 4.30-5ish then sleeps til DH gets in at 7.30.

sorry to hear all the babies suffering with their jabs. L is due her 12 week ones next week but am going to postpone as she's not been well. Then I think I am going to go for it and when she has her 16 week ones, get dd1's pre-school booster at the same time. Am I mad ?

L seems to be so much better I am pleased to report. She is coughing much less which means she is sleeping better. Corgi - L doesn't go down at 7. We usually give her a bottle about 10 and then she goes down after that. I am intending to start moving her more towards 7 as she's very sleepy in the mornings so I think she could do with going at 7ish. That said, she currently sleeps 6 0r so hours from when we put her down so its quite good to do that at 10.30 as then I get the stretch ! Corgi - L's sleep has been v. similar to Rhys. The first stretch is always the best so up to a few weeks ago she would go down at 10ish and sleep 4 hours but then be up and down after that. I guess its similar now except she has stretched that first sleep out. NOw she tends to wake at about 5 but I take her into bed and feed her lying down and doze.

We too sing to L. For those with siblings, we sing 'just like baby Lara' and 'do the Lara' to the tune of 'just like baby jordan' from third and bird.... Proves we're all mad.

slick, how are things with FB?s head? Still worried that it?s flat? FWIW, after Rhys? visit to the cranial osteopath, we?ve done two sessions with a physical therapist (intensive massage and muscle ?training?). The first was awful ? he cried the whole time. But what a difference a week (and us focusing on tummy time at home) has made! He grinned and chatted all the way through the session, and was clearly pleased with himself. Now we have to work on asking him to rotate from lying on his back to lying on his front, in both directions, with a minimum of assistance. Considering he?s still not all THAT happy with tummy time, this should be an adventure.

Late to the sympathy party, but boobz, sorry to hear about the burglars! How scary and maddening.

Re thumbsucking ? Rhys has just started showing interest, but he?s not very good at it, so ends up frustrating himself! The worst bit, though, is that the interest always seems to arise while he?s nursing, so I end up wishing I had another two arms to pin down his wiggly little hands and stop him distracting himself.

Breastfeeding ? done it exclusively for 9 weeks; my goal is to make it until it?s time to start nursery (Sept. 1). I know my limitations, and know I couldn?t deal with the full-on expressing. But I can already tell I?ll miss it.

laumiere and others whose babies are tummy sleepers ? stupid question, but how do you get a baby to realise he/she can turn his head to the side while lying on his/her belly? Rhys hasn?t twigged to this yet, so once his neck strength is exhausted, he just lies nose to the ground and screams.

jollyjoanne and elsy, SO happy to know Rhys isn?t alone in his napping difficulties.

grinning, what horrid news about your friend?s husband. How awful for them both, and how dreadful that it seems so hard to find help/support.

laweasel, if Molly?s still hating tummy time, I?ve had some success with putting a mirror in Rhys? line of vision. Yesterday his reaction was very much one of, ?Well HELLO, you handsome devil!? with a big gummy grin to boot.

laumiere, hope Gabriel?s conjunctivitis and infection have cleared up?

jolly, re weighing: we have a walk-in clinic too, where I?ve had appointments the last two weeks (last week was a mistake ? they booked me in for jabs and when I showed up, looked at me and said, we can?t possibly do them before NEXT Friday. Grump. But they weigh him every time, and when we went in this morning he?d put on 350 grams (12 oz) in a week, which seems quite good. Funny thing is, looking at the growth charts, he?s at 98th percentile for length and only 50th percentile for weight ? definitely a long, tall drink of water!

lily, lol at horse story ? and congrats on the holiday booking ? lovely thing to look forward to!

fearless, I knew that the maxi cosi had a sunshade as I had read it in the product description ? but it took me ages to workout where it was hiding! I was ready to return it as defective?

Quick question - is there a standard window during which babies will run a fever following their jabs? (i.e., if they don't have a fever within 12 hours post-jabs, they won't have one, that kind of thing?)

(Can you tell I've been counting the minutes for the last seven hours, hoping all will be well? FWIW, Rhys seems pretty okay -- a bit subdued earlier on, but he had a nice nap on DP's chest and has been on his activity mat for the past 30 minutes, flailing away at his favourite octopus, so I'm feeling hopeful.)

Hi corgi I think if IIRC thats it normally within the first 24 hours if indeed they are going to get a temp, none of my 3 have had a temp with any of their jabs they have just been off and less settled for a few days. Alex had his 2nd lot on Tuesday his legs are now thankfully not painfull but he has been really off today and really unsettle infact i have just given him a does of calpol and i will give him another does after his dream feed at 11 o'clock.

corgi we were told up to 5 days after a jab.

Gabriel is still very fussy but seems better. We did have a bit of a session this evening (racking sobs, one very upset mummy) but he settled after a feed.

I'm starting to feel like if I don't make fairy cakes every day and invent amazing activities for DS1 I'm a bad mum. I'm still tied up with feeding Gabe a lot in the day, hoping it will ease when he starts to wean.

Oh, we did do 'experiments' today. We watched Nina and the Neurons and I put DS1 in a 'white coat' (his white shirt) and did things like pour water into glasses with a drop of food colouring in and adding bicarb of soda to lemon juice. It's good for at least 30 minutes attention of my 3 year-old!

Corgi

We told upto 5 days or if the site of the jab is bigger then a 50p (about an inch across). Then go back to see the nurse.

On a lighter note Robert is clearly 'gifted & talented' as at 3.30am this morning he had managed to wiggle up his cot and turn on his mobil remote to play so he went back to sleep .

Corgi Mae doesn't go to sleep early, she is generally staying up until we go to bed, I like it this way at the moment as it means that DH gets to spend time with her once he is home. But I imagine at some point we will need to bring it forward to ensure that she is awake when she goes to nursery.

Lizzie Mae clearly isn't G&T she hasn't mastered this skill yet or putting her dummy back in on her own. Can't wait till I am not having to do this every 5 mins!

Corgi Rhys's sleep sounds so like my DD. I have been desperately trying to get her to sleep by 7.30 for weeks, but she doesn't go to sleep until 9. Then she sleeps until 4ish and after that sleep isn't good - she'll sometimes only sleep for another hour although the last two days she's slept until 7 - felt like a real lie in! She can't self-settle and it's really stressing me out. DH keeps telling me to relax and that she'll do it eventually but I am so paranoid about setting up bad sleep habits (and also it's not him who has to spend 7 until 9 feeding and pacing the bedroom...). Have tried putting her in her cot awake the last two nights. The first night it kind of worked and she settled herself after about an hour (with me going in every 10 minutes and picking her up and calming her down) but last night she cried for about 2 hours and even feeding her didn't help. Always end these evenings in tears which is a bit pathetic but I just can't bear the sound of her crying. Gave up with it all tonight and just walked with her until she dropped off and put her in the cot asleep.

Hey, girls, haven't had time to post last couple of days and still haven't got time now so will properly read everyone's posts tomorrow hopefully.

FB threw up everywhere all day the day after his jabs so it def affected him. Think it was the Men. C. one that did it. He also howled more this time.

Re: songs, my made up one is to "It's a Small World" Goes like this:

He's a lovely boy and we love him lots,
He's a hungry boy and he eats a lot,
He likes to stare as he lies on the flair,
He's a lovely, hungy boy!

Flair is Scots for Floor!

Anyway, he seems to like it. Right, must go, hope you're all well and will see what's been happening tomorrow.

xx

Hi all, another random post from Modularville...

Corgi genius idea re the mirror and tummy time - I'm pretty slack at this but have just got DD1's play nest out again and Melissa quite likes being propped up against it on her chest, so may persevere with that for now.

Elsy, so sorry to hear you're stressed out with bedtimes - it's exhausting when they're unsettled at the end of the day when you so need a break yourself. I'm assuming you've already tried a dummy? That said, I found that neither of my DDs would go to sleep early until they were over three months - Melissa's just started to in the last ten days or so. Before then I was keeping her up with me until I went to bed.

Well tonight is a big night for my DD1 (2.6) - it's her first in a big girl's bed. We made a huge fuss - went to Ikea and bought loads of stuff for her bedroom so she wouldn't miss the big cot-shaped hole in there. I felt quite emotional - she looks so small in the bed (it's a normal sized single rather than a cot bed) so we stuffed it with all of her soft toys. We've dismantled the cot for now but will resurrect it in a week or so for Melissa to sleep in - she's currently either cosleeping with us or in her Moses basket, neither of which have long-term viability!

Anyone else tried a door bouncer yet? Melissa looked completely shocked when I put her in it, but it seemed to keep her amused for a while - better than the Bumbo anyway, in which she took more of a slumped pose. Maybe in a few more weeks....!

missmodular Yay for your DD! We felt the same when we moved DS1 to his big boy bed...

Anyone else's LOs starting to make differentiated noises? Gabe goes 're-re' when he wants to be picked up and 'ahhh-oo' when he's happy.

Morning everyone!

Told you Rosie's sleep pattern would change, she is now back to waking twice a night - ach well!

missmodular we've not tried the door bouncer or a bumbo yet! Rosie is only 12 weeks old so I think she has a few more weeks to get her head control completely sussed before we give it a go. It's nice to hear that your dd is 2.6 when going into her big bed - I get random comments from people about how my dd1 should get moved once she's 2yo - but I kind of feel that she's still happy in her cot - it keeps her safe - and she doesn't come and wake me up in the middle of the night . So I'm happy to keep her there for a wee bit longer (she's not yet 2).

corgi I'm not sure there is any effective way to get Rhys in bed at 7pm. We try to stick to bath at about 6pm, then a feed (even if she has had a bottle recently, she usually wants more after her bath) then we just put her down at around 7pm - sometimes awake, and sometimes asleep. The more we've done it the more it seems to be part of her life and it has become her natural bedtime. Mind you she is a baby that likes to sleep every 1.5hours and gets very upset if we miss the sleep window - that's when I have to feed her to sleep.

So. if Rhys naps in the evening - try just putting him in a dark room at whenever you want him to go to bed - and take it from there.

Elsy don't stress about the self-settling. I cuddled my dd1 to sleep at this stage. She can self settle now so I did'nt start any bad habits. I reckon at this stage you have to go with whatever they need to get to sleep.

What can work is timing how long they are awake for and working out when they start crying because they are tired. Once you know this you put them down before they reach the crying stage. Once they have got to the crying stage they are usually too upset to self settle and need cuddled/fed to sleep.

This all sounds easy on paper - it isn't easy - but one day it does just click - honest!

Songs - ours are too many and embarrassing varied to post here

wheely glad L's cough is better, and hopefully your stress levels are going down too.

lula I had my first night out too.I am sure Rosie sensed that something was up as she wouldn't settle - but I got out in the end (only half an hour late!). Felt a bit jaded the next day though - oops!

Poor FB after his jabs slick. Rosie threw up after her first set - but it was just after I'd given her Calpol, so I suspect that is what caused it. My dd1 was never really affected by her jabs - she got a bit grumpy and that was it. Have Rosie's second set next week - eek!

laimiere we are getting different noises from Rosie but I haven't quite worked them all out yet. She "shouts" when she is somewhere and wants attention - and coo's when she gets attention. She is also doing a giggly thing which is adorable.

Hi everybody, hope you're all OK.

See I got a mention honestly lilymolly there's no need to feel bad. I got a right old interrogation a few days ago and answered every question honestly. In the end when they realised they couldn't really pick holes in the facts anymore the only "proof" they had was the way I write/articulate myself. In a sense I'm flattered that people think I'm older than I am but at the time when they were swearing and mocking and bending the truth about things I'd never even said, and bringing my son into the whole dumb debacle I was in a right old state and having to actively prevent myself from putting a brick through the screen! They even tried to "trip me up" by telling me something on the pretence that they'd been working in a particular area for years, but ended up tripping themselves up by using info that anybody with more than 10 mins experience in the field would have known was false! They didn't seem to have a reply when I pointed that out. It didn't seem to matter how many people were on there saying "well actually that's completely feasible because I went through the same thing"... there were just still a select few who were determined to keep at it at all costs. It was just crazy and has made me really wary of sharing personal info online - as I said at the time there are people online who know my id here, who know me in real life! What really took the biscuit tbh was somebody informing me that because I hadn't conceived 10 weeks ago, I clearly wasn't 10 weeks pregnant and just 'LOLOLOL' in general at [i]my[/i] lack of knowledge. Was kind of darkly humorous in a depressing way when one of their cronies was forced to correct them. The gall of it was incredible and I kind of wish now I'd told them to get their knowledge of basic reproductive biology in check before they made a prat of themselves aggressively accusing other people! I think had I not been in that frame of mind at the time I would have found it funny! Now pretty much the whole of that section of Mumsnet knows my p.r. salary, the area in which I work, the areas in which I used to and just about everything really! I literally got to the point of thinking maybe I should scan in my birth certificate just to shut them up! And then I thought no, this is going too far.

I am in Essex now and annoyed in general because James' feeding routine is completely up the swonny since his jabs. He normally feeds for about 45 minutes or so (sometimes more!) but now he stops and starts regurgitating after about twenty minutes and he was constipated for a while. He's doing it less now since I've been feeding him a little less often but he's really unsettled. F*ing jabs. I've also managed to piss up my right leg. I pulled a muscle (GP thinks it may be less superficial than that now) and started walking with an altered gait. In doing that I've managed to throw my pelvis out of balance so I have an appointment booked with the osteopath next Sat. I didn't want to go down a rigorous physio type route particularly with a pelvic issue while I'm pregnant and my (admittedly quite infrequent) experiences with osteos in the dim and distant past have been good. Has anybody been through anything similar? I'm trying to realign it myself by pulling one leg/hip up repeatedly to try and "click it back into place" but it doesn't seem to be doing anything.

Just very apprehensive in general about tomorrow but at least I'm now a far more reasonable distance from the office which should help. And my mum will be looking after James for me until something more long-term gets sorted out.

Sorry for essay!

Glad youe ok Loli.

Are you back in essex for good, and when you start work.

missmod - hope dd1s first night in her big bed went well. We've been using thebumbo a bit and bought a tray for it today (they didn't exist 4 yearts ago) and just dug out our door bouncer. The babes are growing up.

I'm havimg a terrible time with sleep. Since L's cough she seemed to settle back down for a couple of nights and nopw she's gone back to newborn behaviour. Sleep for 3 hours and then not settle until I give up and put her ion bed with me to feed. I watched her last night when she wakes and she rolls onto her side and starts routing and then gets upset when she can't find me. So think I have stuffed things up a bit by putting her in bed with me from 5 and not getting her to self settle so she is using me to settle. Aaargh.

So I need to work on getting her to settle. We have also found a comforter she likes to chew/cuddle and resist putting her in bed with me.

Feeding also started to be a bit sore after it sorting outafter the tongue tie snip so not sure what that's all about but i wonder if for dome reason her latch has gone funny so she's not feeding properly. Also gone v. windy again which may support this theory. But, why wouls that suddenly happen - any experts out there ?

Sorry all a bit me, me, me but seriously considering giving up breasstfeeding because its just too exhausting> I know it might not be the magic answer but might make me feel a bit more in control of things....

sorry the babies are still suffering from jabs

loli glad you haven't been put off Mumsnet for good! Essex sounds like a much better commute for you, and I'll bet you'll find it easier to get into working knowing Jimmy is with your mum.

wheely They do trays for bumbos now? ooooh!
Tried Gabe in it today, he liked sitting up but got cross when things fell out of his reach. He liked his high chair a lot more!

(whispers) We've also started to tentatively give Gabe some solids as of today, after he started to go 10-20 min between feeds and still acted hungry. Having said that he's over 6kg (15lb) and is head height to me if I 'stand' him on on my lap. Gave him some blended apple today and he loved sitting at the table for dinner and having his own chair. He seems a lot more settled now so we'll see how it goes. I should also add it is VERY EARLY to wean but we had to do the same with Michael at the same age, so please don't shout/flame.

Well DD1's first 'big bed' night went really well - apart from getting up at 6.30am but that was DP's problem not mine, bless him

Meep, I did think about moving DD1 to a bed earlier, but now we've done it I'm really glad we waited - she's so much more confident on her feet than when she was just 2 and she really seems to have taken the transition in her stride. Plus I don't think she's quite twigged that she is now free to get out of bed whenever she likes - long may that continue!

Wheely, I've seen those trays for the Bumbo and since I'm thinking of using it to feed Melissa when I start weaning her, I might invest. Good for playing with things too, I imagine. Not sure what could be affecting L's latch - teething perhaps? Or a cold? M's got one at the moment and it's affecting which side she's happy feeding from...

Laumiere - M has started to blow raspberries and does this funny 'werrrrrrrrrrrr herrrrrrrrrrrr' vocalising when I sing to her - which might be in protest at my voice, I'm not sure yet!

Re settling, I've found Melissa much easier to settle than DD1. I don't know if it's personality or the fact that I've had to leave M to cry a bit more this time round before attending to her whereas with DD1 I was reacting to her every whimper. It's funny - M rarely falls asleep at the breast and isn't even all that keen on being rocked - the best way to get her off is to lay her down and leave her in peace! This is completely opposite to DD1 who rarely fell asleep without bfing or cuddles.

Right, now off to make some curtains

missmodular Oooh we haven't had raspberries yet!

missmodular we're having a lot of bubbles... maybe an attempt at raspberries lol? She is definitely more vocal than she was recently.

I'm not sure what to do about bedtime. Generally Mols had just been coming to bed with us but since she has cracked sleeping through have been putting her down in her basket whenever she goes to sleep from about seven o'clock. Oddly despite the fact that if she was cuddled with us on the sofa she'd stay asleep 'til we went to bed she is now repeatedly waking up until we go to bed too, or like last night until an hour past. I'm going to try and hash out a routine and try and make the seven o'clock = bed thing more of a routine, but am finding this more stressful than her waking through the night for some reason.

corgi we now have a mirror and have propped her up a bit and that seems to help, still not the world's greatest fan but hopefully she is getting more used to it!

Right off to make DP a father's day present.

Oh yeah Mae blows raspberries and lots of them, as well as being able to make lots of different gurgling noises and shouts but as yet no idea what she is talking about. But she does sound very cute!