May 2009 - loved-up new mums and/or sleep-deprived zombies this way please

[pulapula]

Here's a nice new thread for us to share our experiences with our new LOs.

Momino- it was/is really hot today and i'm sure S was affected by it. It's hard when even cuddling won't help them calm down. I think you do right to have a brief break from H - I remember the early days with DD where i would just put her on the bed and shout at her "what do you want?!" and i felt really bad about it because she was so tiny and i couldn't interpret her cries .

I felt very self-conscious in the park when even lifting S out of his pram for a cuddle with mummy had no effect on his screaming. When i let S sleep on me from 4-6pm after his park antics my mum said "you should try and put him down in his basket". Well i wasn't going to try that again after 2 attempts in his earlier nap that led to him waking up and screaming and being put back in the sling and walked around until asleep again.

Shouts Frazz's special custard

sausage just read your post from earlier. Sorry I didn't acknowledge it earlier. Hope you are feeling better now as I think we have all had those moments when you feel like crap mummy. It will get better and sounds like you are doing a fab job so far. Its funny that it always seems to be the DH's wanting to introduce the formula.Bless them, they must feel pretty helpless when we are BF. I know my DH struggled with the fact that he could not see how much milk DS is getting from the boob. Its a man thing I think and its kind of nice in a way. They only want to help.

pula, that's exactly what i yelled at Harper today. and felt silly because she couldn't answer back .

pula Yes I'm selling my ring sling. It's hurting my back. I sort of thought that might happen when I bought it though. It's an ellaroo padded sling, this one.

momino I'm sure your S was suffering from the heat. When it's this hot babies can be v. unsettled. My ds didn't cope with the heat very well as a baby and still doesn't (he complains about being hot as soon as the temp goes over 18C ). The girls seem to be OK though.

grumpy lol at the special custard

It does seem to be dh's that suggest formula, doesn't it. I'm very lucky with my DH, he would reassure me that I do have plenty of milk and that baby is happy with what he/she's getting. Actually he always says he doesn't understand why some men want to feed a young baby as bm is best and there are plenty of other things that you can do with the baby, bathing, cuddling, bathing, nappy changing, rocking, etc...

Whoops, momino I meant baby H, not S that's pula's lo. Sorry I remember yelling that at ds, for some reason I haven't done that yet with C even though she's let herself heard plenty of times.

just got Harper asleep. i think it is heat. maybe should try a fan.

Morning ladies

Hope everyone is keeping well!

It is nice that the temp has dropped a bit. Was able to have a good nights sleep and so did baby S. She fell asleep at 7:30pm. I was sooo tired but I stayed up thinking she would be up between 10 and 11 for a feed. I went to bed at 10 and stayed awake waiting for her. I finally fell asleep at 11 and she didn't wake until 1:45am!!! I was happy of course but also mad as I could have been sleeping earlier lol I managed to stay awake while feeding her until 2:00am and put her back in her cot. She then slept until 7:30 this morning. I was thrilled beyond belief yet I still woke up with a roaring headache Just hope this is not a one off lol

I am finding that I am not getting annoyed with baby S but with DD instead. I am lucky it seems as baby S is a very settled baby and never cries (so maybe that is why). However, I am getting frustrated with DD which is not fair on her, but we are getting better and I am praying that things get easier sooner rather than later.

Ohhh DH just called to see how I was getting on. Very sweet...

Is anyone thinking of going back to work yet? I know it is early days but since I moved here I have been a mom. I knew we wanted #2 soon after DD so I only worked at an agency every now and then. Now however, i feel like I can be 'me' again and do something I love. I like the idea that I can find myself again and am really excited about what the next few years will bring. I am just not sure what to do. DH works from 6am to 2pm and as I don't drive here it would be hard for me to get both babies ready and to nursery and then myself to work all before start time. We were thinking about DH doing flexihours or even dropping to part time and doing the childcare himself, but I would need to earn a good amount (DH does not make a lot and I think I could earn more so thats why we thought I could work full time and he could do part time to save on childcare). However, I like that he is off at 2pm so that way the babies would not be in care all day and it would save money too...Justwondering if anyone even had a moment to think about it lol Had a great conversation about it all with DH last night so that is why it is on my mind

Hope everyone is enjoying the day!

Morning everyone.

No 5h sleep by C this time. She was doing that noisy stretchy snortyness again in her sleep. Woke up for 2 feeds (1.30 and 3.30). After the last feed she was doing the noisy stuff. At about 5.30 I took her back in thinking she wanted feeding, but she barely took anything and ended up being noisily asleep until 9.00. Bet she had a lovely sleep. I didn't. With hindsight I'm thinking that maybe I should have put her back in her crib at 5.30, maybe we would have had more sleep then. When she woke for the 1.30 feed she was quite funny. I woke from her sucking noises and she'd rolled all the way on her side and I'm pretty sure she was sucking the bars of her crib!

It's a lot cooler here today. Hopefully that'll mean more settled babies for everyone. I've got loads to do, not sure what to do first. Maybe ironing, which to carry on from the sock conversation on the a/n thread, I also do in size order . Am I sad or what?

Hello
giggling at grumpy yelling about custard

I have been chatting on the antenatal thread (duh) when I should be on here.

Morning!

Belgian - never heard of ironing on size order before but love it! Anything to make it a bit more interesting...!

We have another weigh in today, only 48hrs after the last. Am really of all of you with babies piling on the weight.

Ses I do it to make it easier to pile things into the laundry basket. Still, that doesn't make me any less sad... Good luck with the weighing. I hope your lo has put on some weight. I wish I could send you some of C's, she's putting on plenty and could spare some!

Thanks
Please can everyone with babies that can spare some weight send some in this direction maybe?? Just an ounce from each of you would be great!

No problem, ses Actually. I'd send you some of my own extra pounds too if I could

Right, off to do some ironing now C is asleep. In size order of course

Hi girls. Well my mum and aunty have headed up to London for the day and I've been left on my own with 2 grumpy kids. Rueben has been out of sorts for the past day or so- porbably the spicy curry we had the other night was sooo good though.
DD is always grumpy in the morning as she has SIL in her room while we have so many people staying and wakes up really early. She is having a nap at the moment so hopefully will wake up in a better mood.
DH really pissed me off. I went to bed with DS at 9.30 last night as I was really tired and had a sore throat. at 11 DS was still fussing/ feeding/ not settling so I called DH up and asked for his help to settle DS as I wasn't feeling great. He managed to get him into his moses basket and off to sleep. DS woke an hour or so later so I feed him and went to the loo and asked DH to change him and see if he could settle him. He wouldn't settle so I had to feed him again and DH got all pissed off with me for waking him as 'He can't feed him' and why do we both have to be up.
I have been really good about not waking DH for the last 2 weeks as he has been working lots but last night I was really tired and needed extra support. His attitude problem lasted until he went to work today and I had a go at him so now I have that to look forward to when he comes home. He does help alot and I know he was also tired last night and thats worry I got the grief but I am really that he couldn't just understand how draining it is BF and coping with toddler extra.

Sorry to ramble it probably doesn't even make sense but I feel better to get it out.

Ses, sorry, i can't send you any ounces from Harper. HV just left and Harper weighs 8lb 11 - she's only gained 5 oz in 2 weeks and down another centile. HV suggests i add an extra feed during the day. i do find that in general Harper is a sleepy baby and have been so busy with the other 2 between feeds that i don't wake her if she's gone past a time when she should feed. i'll have to pay attention and see if she gain do a more impressive gain.

on another hand, it seemed like allll i did yesterday was BF and still H wasn't settled. so then felt like i wasn't producing enough or was feeding her wrong (somehow)... but HV said, as we discussed earlier, yesterday was exceptional being hot/humid so babies were less settled, wanted to feed more often.

anyway, ses, hope your weighing goes ok.

IKWYM about milk supply.. when g wants to feed all the time and won't settle I end up thinking the same.. usually at 1am when i've been feeding her constantly from 10pm ish. i'm wondering if my milk isn't as satisfying by the end of the day? could this be??

i've not expressed yet.. but thinking of giving it a go. may be a daft question but when in the day is it best for expressing?

ses ds was slow to gain weight and that was on formula.. he dropped a few percentiles until he found one that suited him and then stuck to it.. but it is hard not to worry. xoxox

'and see if she'll do a more impressive gain'... i don't proofread very well!

Fi, I've intended to express but have only done a few times to give a couple of bottles. This worked well but it's a bother to find time to express. I sometimes express early morning as this is when i seem to have most milk. otherwise i express at lunch time as this is when it's most quiet/convenient time in my family.

expressing I don't think there's an ideal time to express. Like you said momino a time when it's quiet and you've got the time to mess around with breast pumps and the like is probably the best. fi maybe ds's nap time would be a good time*baby weight gain Ses and momino, I think what Fi says is true. Some babies drop a centile or 2 until they find their ideal weight and then start following their 'own' curve. My dd1 did that and like momino's H she was quite a sleepy baby and if I wasn't careful she'd go 5-6h without a feed, especially when out and about. Other than that she was happy, had plenty of wet and dirty nappies etc... After all weight gain is only 1 aspect of lots of things that will show a baby is thriving.

I was looking at C's red book just now and noticed the HV yesterday put 4 weeks old. She's 3 weeks old, but maybe the size of an older baby at 11lbs 2oz. She clearly likes the 98th centile she was born on as she's sticking to it.

Hi all. Hope everyone is ok today.

Ses good luck with the weigh in (sorry, that sounds like your LO is a boxer!!).

Febes sympathies re grumps with your DH. The tiredness does all make it seem worse though. I have had a moan about DH on here before and am about to have another one, but I must say the vast majority of the time he's really good with H and would do anything for him. So - my moan: went to bed last night leaving H in the moses basket in the living room, asking DH to bring him when he came to bed. I woke up with H at 3.30am to find H had no bedclothes on! The living room was really warm last night but the bedroom is cool so he really needed something, esp as I didn't put a vest underneath his sleepsuit. I left choice of blanket & gro-bag on DH's side of the bed but he just moved them and went to bed without thinking, as he 'was tired' I'm sure he sometimes thinks as I'm looking after H most of the time I will give him instructions of what he needs to do and as I didn't specifically ask him to put bedclothes on he didn't bother. I was obviously a bit ratty with him at the time but he now feels really guilty at letting H get cold, so I don't think it will happen again.

Oh, can I confirm to you all that detsy is a domestic goddess

Afternoon ladies-

Is anyone else still getting engorged? I was in so much pain last night i had to feed S at 5.30 even though he didn't wake for it (or at least only woke when i started moving around in pain). If it carries on tonight, I'll speak to my MV about it as i'm worried about developing mastitis.

Well its been quiet today as the older DCs are in nursery. My mum has been OK, apart from suggesting i make the effort to potty train DS1, who will be 2 in a few weeks time. She suggested sitting him on a potty after his breakfast as that's when he sometimes does his poo, and that my DD was trained well before she was 2. I said it's very different as we only had DD so could spend time on it and that now isn't a great time to do it. She was still a bit but it would be madness to try it now! The thought of cleaning up puddles and pooey pants as well as managing a newborn is just too much to consider. Please reassure me i'm not missing the boat- I'm sure when i've mentioned this before, some of you advised waiting til more like 2 and a half years old.

That should be HV not MV- she's coming tomorrow at 10am. Will see if S has gained weight- I'm sure he has as he's getting a bit chubby

spangle - please don't worry too much about not enough bedclothes on H. I think someone once said to me (might have been MW or HV) that babies will soon let you know if they are too cold, but they might not if they are too hot (I guess this is because they will pass out with the heat/lose consciousness).

I have been really snappy with my DH, especially last night. I was really with him when he came to bed last night, but decided it wasn't worth raising it (as DH isn't well at the moment and is knackered as he's back at work), but basically S woke at 9.40pm so i went up to feed him and hopefully get an early night. I fed him and as he was very sleepy i thought i'd try and settle him in his basket again, and was doing well til DH came to bed at 10.20. I can't be sure he disturbed him, but he then wouldn't settle, i fed him again (and again) whilst DH fell asleep (snoring), and in the end, it was 11.30 before i got to sleep [grrr].

pula re potty training. Don't worry about doing it now. You're right that it's a bad idea to do it now at a time where there is such a big change going on in your family. A lot of children aren't ready when they're 2. My ds was dry during the day by 20 months and as my dd was quicker at everything I expected her to be dry at about the same time. In the end it turned out she wasn't ready until she was 3. Lots of children are 3 and there's no use in trying to potty train a child that isn't ready, it just wont work (I found this out the hard way with dd1). Go with your instincts and ignore your mum.

My dh is the same with waking in the night. He can't see the point as he can't feed C anyway. This time around he's not very good at settling the baby either. With the other 2 he was much better. If C doesn't settle quickly enough he just assumes she wants more food and hands her back to me . I try not to get too annoyed with him if he does that, because I think him working away from home has a lot to do with it. I think he feels he doesn't know her as well as I do and so thinks that I know better what will settle her. With the other 2 he still worked at see, didn't go back to work as quickly and was home for a whole month before going back, getting to know the baby a lot better.

Oh and Spangle, I was wondering. Why is Detsy a domestic goddess?