June09: the one where we learn to type with one finger

[Tee2072]

Hi all and welcome to our first post-natal thread! Nappy's, colic and burping OH MY!

Come join the conversation as our baby's grow and grow.

Morning all!

Once again, I was going to try and catch up, but Adam is getting cranky and needs a feed in a bit!

Really quickly...I'm with erm. NHS is less than perfect, but at least there are no decisions based on cost.

of all babies who sleep more than 4 - 5 hours in a row. Well, Adam does that, its just the wrong 4 - 5 hours. Trying to decide how to get him to go to sleep later than 9 so when he sleeps the next 5 hours it won't be 2am when he wakes up! Any suggestions?

I really will try to catch up with everyone soon!!!

Tee it certainly is the timing of those vital 4-5 hours innit? Arthur still doesn't have much of a pattern about when he starts acknowledging that we might be heading for bed-time and our attempts to put him down around 8 have failed miserably. Any time between 9.30 and 11 seems to be about right for him at the moment - even if he's fast asleep on one of us downstairs he'll object at being put down before then. Last night he did 11 - 5.10 in his crib then 5.45 to 7 and then 7.30 to 11 . So there was a kind of 12 hr cycle. Darned if I could get him to repeat it though...

LittleSarah sorry, meant to answer your nappy question. It's quite hard to get the yellow poo stains out of the nappies if it's gone over the edges of the disposable liner and the fleece, which it usually does, but can be done if you deal with it right away. Best thing I've found is to rinse off the actual poo and scrub the stained bits with any sort of detergent, then use a stain remover (I use Ecover) directly on it before sticking it in the bucket. Other people soak the nappies before washing but I'm trying to minimise the number of buckets in the bathroom! I wish all my nappies were white because then I could put a bit of non-chlorine bleach in too but they're from my sister who went for rainbow shades!

At last there's some sunshine, hope you all get a lovely warm day.

hey, it's been hard to find time to catch up with the thread this week...

mrsmc Thanks for your tips on travelling I had a look at gym/play mats in babies r us yesterday and they were shockingly expensive. I thought they'd be a fiver or a tenner but the ones I saw there go up to £70. (will have a look online of course.) How's things with dh?

daisy the heat is probably not helping with the constipation, babies retain the water. The HV advised me to give some aniseed. (not sure of the exact measurements but it was like a couple of aniseeds in one ounce of cooled down boiled water.) It worked at the time.

We went to baby massage yesterday (run by a slightly patronising mw but free at the birth centre). I went on my own with Calypso, in the car, for the first time and everything went well, such a simple thing but very empowering . I haven't been able to lift much until now and never actually familiarised myself with the pram/car seat etc until yesterday morning.

Baby massage was good, the babies there all enjoyed it until we turned them on their tummies to massage their back then they all started crying :D

naat Nightmare neighbours It can make your life so difficult. Can you move?
Well done on the haircut, I need one, but I need a pedicure more so that's the next thing I'm having done next time I have 20 minutes spare.

worried how are you getting on?

erm older babies freak me out :D They're so big compared to Calypso! She's only just moved up to 0-3 mnths clothes from "newborn".

choccie sorry to hear about the hip scan, we had to get our babe's ears tested but that was free.
they do get you to check stuff if you have family history even if everything looks fine, same with the ears.

littlesarah thought about you yesterday when we saw a tub of nappysan in the supermarket.
I've not used it though sorry I don't have any advice about reusable nappies.
dh always says or does something embarrassing when we see someone famous. (like saying very loud "OH MY GOD LOOK IT'S SUCH AND SUCH").
He's otherwise a pretty normal poised person

Tee re: sleep patterns, is Adam in some kind of routine?
We've got a rough routine where Calypso eats around every 3:30 to 4 hours,
after food we do an activity and then she has a nap before food again.
I say "rough" cause during the day now sometimes she does not nap very much between feeds.
To get it to match with the times we want her to be up or sleeping we just adjusted it on the days where she slept longer, when we took her on a long drive for example.
It doesn't always work and we keep having to adjust it and we're still finding our feet.
Generally though she will eat at 8, 4 and 12 AM and PM though I think we managed to drop the midnight feed last night.
I'd rather she had the midnight one early and dropped the 4am one so we clearly have to work on that!

I have to post this before I loose it...
Hi everyone else!
Take care!

Hi everyone.

Got my hair colured and cut this morning! So enjoyed the relaxation of it all!

(ooooh I can hear Elina squeezing out a poo).

Just a quickie as bringing the boys to a birthday party in 30 mins. Daddy will have 1 on 1 time with Elina

Apologies in advance to all those with babes that are not sleeping too well - I am pinching myself its not a dream as Elina slept from 10.30pm last night until 8am this morning!!!! I asked dh if he had fed her in the night (I normally do the night feeds) and he said no .

She is doing so well. It was the first complate nights sleep I have had in months and months and I feel so good today.

Right, better fly.....have a great day everyone.

Hi all!

Thanks for all your sympathy re. nightmare neighbours

Choccie, sooooooooooooooooo glad for you! Elina is a star, definitely Happy mum and dad, I imagine Glad you had some me time to go get your hair done
Sorry to hear about the decisions re. scans you and Mrsmc are in the same situation

June, hope you find a cheaper travel mat online and that you get your pedi soon Yes, we're definitely moving. These uncivilised neighbours have pushed aaaaall the buttons already LOL at your DH when he sees a celeb Glad you enjoyed baby massage

Ermin, hi! Thanks for the advice on reusable nappies (although it was not specifically for me ) We just got them btw Not used them yet as we were told we have to wash them 4 times to get their full absorbancy capacity... Great night, Arthur!! and therefore mummy and daddy... Hope Arthur likes his EBM so that you can enjoy your hair appt Mila has no prob with it, and DH gets to feed her once a day, he really likes it and makes a whole ceremony of it bless him

Tee, hi! Glad you managed to get your coffee this morning Mila is like Adam at night, and she also changes every few nights How's the yoga going?

Littles, what are fairy cakes? Sounds yum anyway, as the word cake is in Do shade some light over my ignorance Hope you have a great time at your cousin's

A strange night here... Mila slept 4hs straight but then went on and off the breast from 2.30 to 4.30 She didn't seem to be able to remain awake and feed so whenever I put her down she said "hold on, I'm hungreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyy" Aaaanyway, DH is playing football now so I'll take advantage of Mila's nap and work a bit on the dissertation and then we're going to a BBQ

Hope you have a lovely sunny day, Juners!!!

(((waves to all)))

Just got a quick question,

Does anyone here have a solution for a travel babyseat for our little ones for mealtime?
I wanted to find some of these material ones you can hook over chairs but they're mainly for older kids who can sit up.
I know we could use the pram/car seat... was just after something a bit lighter/funkier to get her out of the pram

afternoon all

june, how about something like this

just a quicky to say hi before dinner, little man isn't in the mood for being put down at the moment.

waves to all

Bigcar, June, we got that chair for Mila and look it up on ebay as it's much cheaper. We paid 23GBP

Hi Tee.

I think we are truly blessed with Elina's sleeping patterns but this is how it has been: she would feed 3 1/2 to 4 hourly thoughout the day and for the first 6 weeks or so we would give her the last bottle feed around 11.15pm ish. If she had her feed before that around 9pm we would give the 11ish feed as a top up.(we would have to wake her for this). After 6 weeks we gradually started to give the last feed slightly earlier in the evening. She was really wanting to go to sleep,was not making it to 11pm and we started to feel bad about waking her. She really didn't want the feed. So we have dropped the "dream feed" and now she seems to be able to make a 7 or 8 hour stretch.

With all 3 of my babies they just suddenly started to sleep for longer stretches of time during the night and you will find this with Adam soon I'm sure.The 2am wakings should not last for long so hang in there.

Sorry for babbling on and maybe I am not helping you at all but remember babies need time to get their mornings and night times sorted out and eventually they will sleep through the night.

You do of course also need to make sure that baby is getting enough milk during the day. Elina is having 5 to 6 feeds each day and totals about 20- 24 ozs.

Well, every time I think Adam has a schedule, he changes it, so no, no schedule yet! I know he'll get there.

He's real issue seems to be waking at 5:30 after his 2:30 feed. He isn't really hungry, only having about 20mls at 5:30 (this is after 90 - 120 at 2:30) so I think its because his bottom is wet and he is uncomfortable (anyone who says babies can't tell their wet with disposables has never met my son!).

Has anyone tried those 'overnight' disposables and do they know if they hold more so the baby feels less wet? Is that how they work?

Hey ladies Hope this finds you well and having a good weekend. We had rather a dramatic day here yesterday; DS had his first visit to A&E . He is fine though . We were getting ready to go out and he had his shoes on and slipped in the hall of the flat hitting his head on the leg of the coat stand. I was in the kitchen marinating raw chicken when it happened. He was crying so I went to cuddle him and went to sit with him in the chair in his room. I am so glad I sat down as seconds later we were both covered in blood. At first I thought it was coming from his eye but actually he had knocked and spilt his forehead on the left hand side. It was obvious that it needed some medical attention and so I called DH and we all went to the hospital. They were very efficient and we were soon out of there with just some glue and a bandage on the wound. He can?t get it wet for 5 days so no swimming for the little man. He also has quite a bruise developing now. It was all a bit nerve wracking, as was having Aaliyah in there pre injections and worrying about what she might catch. We had a long walk on the seafront last night to blow away all the germs (my theory!)

I didn?t find out if Aaliyah has Thrombophilia at her appointment because they would have had to take 8 more vials of blood and as the condition is not a risk to her until she is older I opted to get her tested when she is a teenager instead. I on the other hand need to have more tests as in addition to my prothrombin mutation they don?t like my Protein S levels so I have to have them checked, the joys!

Good news, the weirdo-all night partying neighbour is moving out! Yay!

All those freezing milk, what are you storing it in? I am using the Lansinoh bags which I think are great but I noticed on their website that they also do bottles that you can freeze. I thought they might be handy but they didn?t have any teats so I don?t know how you?d use them. Any experience?

By the way, Aaliyah seems to have made friends with the swing chair see my profile for a photo!

Daisy ? sorry to hear about Fraser and the constipation I hope he has ?been? now. Aaliyah doesn?t ever seem constipated she just doesn?t poo for a few days and then does 4 in a day like today, must have been the Caribbean Chicken I made for dinner, would you like the recipe? Great sleep from Fraser last night Aaliyah had her last feed at 12 and slept until 7am

Naat ? I have the same issue with 0-3 month clothes, think I need to just move on to the next size, cooler in the heat too if they are a bit baggier I guess. Aaliyah has quite a lot of volume in her voice now, it is very funny your neighbours sound awful surely they are annoying other people too though and you can all get together and say something? Are they renting too do you know? I can empathise you poor thing!

Littlesarah ? how we are missing the Festival and Fringe! We had a chat with Mark Watson before his show 2 years ago. He was nice. In future we?d like to get back to Edinburgh in August and dodge this heat and catch some shows of course. We?ve seen both 4 poofs and Reginald D Hunter, both excellent isn?t the pooing thing funny with babies? Never had this with DS.

Choccie ? hope Elina continues to sleep well for you are you going to have the scan on her hips done? I have never been able to ?dream feed?

Hey there Ermintrude the Spanish social security is really good, most things are paid for and they seem to go beyond what they did in the UK re tests etc but it is odd how they recommend ?extras?

Tee ? how about keeping him with you until later and then putting him to bed after a later feed? My DS always hated being wet too.

June ? we have a baby gym that cost a bit too but the travel one from ELC was about £20 I think. Try eBay, there will be loads. Aaliyah is liking baby massage more and more, she let me do her back tonight I always feed DS in his Bumbo in the early days.

Hey Bigcar

mrsmc, sorry to hear about poor DS Glad it was just a tiny cut, though, and that a bit of glue and a bandaid did the trick I think the "no-pool for a week" thing is going to hurt more The thing is, the rest are as uncivilised as the ones from upstairs

Daisy, I forgot to answer! Mila has not been constipated, she's had the opposite problem from time to time due to my diet when I've eaten too much fibre (you'd think by now I'll remember to not eat certain things and the other day I ate a flapjack and poor little thing had a nightmare poo session!)

Back later, Mila calling

(((waves)))

MrsMc poor DS, but glad the hospital sorted him out quickly and he'll forget about it soon enough.

I've only done a tiny bit of expressing just to have a bottle at the ready for DH when I get my hair cut on 29th (talk about planning ahead!) and do it into bags - not sure where they're from but I had them left from last time around and they were still sealed. Not sure about bottles you can freeze but they sound like a good idea if you're expressing a whole feed at once - 4oz or more. I don't want to build up more than he needs at the moment.

LittleS We're coming up to Edinburgh next week - staying in a caravan park because everything else costs a fortune. DH (who works in theatre) has some meetings and will see some shows for 'business' but then we'll all go and see other things and just hang out. I love festival time, there's so much for the DC to see and do, not all of it costly.

Naat Mila does have a sensitive bowel! Can the fibre you get from a flapjack really have that much effect on her pooing? I've never heard of such an immediate relationship between mummy and baby's diet - good job it's not the case with Arthur; I need loads of fibre and eat tonnes of fruit, bran cereal, beans and lentils etc so he would be pooing constantly

Hi Ermin! Well, to be fair, it was a big flapjack those that are quite thick (yum!) and I completely forgot! Fortunately, she didn't have the reaction she got with the apricots... she only had 3-4 nappies in a row, not 10 like the other time. But yes, it really me how my diet affects her bowels so quickly Aaaanyway... yay on going to Edinburgh! (and on seeing shows for "business" ). Hope you're having a lovely day. xx

Evening ladies we had a BBQ at my Mum?s this afternoon with my sister and her boys and my BIL?s sister and her two boys. It was fun watching 5 little boys under 5 (and one tiny girl ) playing together

DH has had rather a boozy weekend we had friends over from Edinburgh. I cooked for them on Friday night and excused myself at 1am. DH slept yesterday until 1pm. Then last night he went out for beers with BIL and woke up today at 3.45pm it wasn?t that I let him sleep either, there was no waking him. I feel like it has been a full on weekend for me with the kids without any help. I didn?t do any of the things I wanted to so I had fun with the DCs though so it?s not all bad but he is really thoughtless isn?t he?

Hey Naat, hope the flat situation isn?t getting you down too much.

Hey Ermintrude ? I haven?t expressed at all, only collected during feeds. That said I know that all I have frozen is foremilk and that to make it up to a feed for DD I?ll have to express a proper feed but thought it was worth storing it regardless. Send my love to Edinburgh 2 years ago we managed to get free tickets to loads of shows and it was great, traditionally it cost us a fortune each year!

june - as soon as they can hold their heads up properly, they can usually sit in a Bumbo ok, which makes the world a bit more interesting for them. You can perch it on a chair but would have to make sure it's secure. Is this because you want her to sit with you at the table?

MrsMcJnr - carribean chicken sounds delicious.

more to come later....hungry baby waking alert

Morning all.

Adam slept from 930 to 530!! DH and I are still in shock, especially as he then had a bit to eat and fell back to sleep until about 8. At which point he had some more to eat, did a huge poo and then fell right back to sleep! its almost 11 and he's still asleep! I am taking major advantage of this and getting things done around the house!

mrsmcj I honestly think your DH needs a big ole kick in the ass. Does he think he's single and childless again?

june we use a bouncy seat to put A in when he's not sleeping/nursing/being needy. So far as I know there is nothing you can safely put on a table for babies that can't sit up in a high chair yet. For meal times, we move his bouncy seat next to the table between DH and I so we can babble at us and we can talk to him while we eat.

Hello to everyone else!!

I've not posted for so long that the thread disappeared!

My busy week is now over, last of my guests left this morning and thankfully dh and I have been nice to each other for the last couple of days.

I stupidly stayed up chatting with my aunt and cousin until 1am this morning. Megan then woke at 3.45 followed by Eleri at 5.30 for a feed. Have been up properly since 7am and now feel exhausted.

Great that some of you have such good sleepers. Eleri generally wakes between 4 and 4.30 for a feed but only takes a little bit so I'm not sure she needs to.

I'm contemplating moving her into her own room as I think maybe it's me that wakes not really her. Where are all your babies sleeping?

Naat I'm drooling at the thought of that flapjack - trying to avoid cakes and sweets in readiness for my sister's wedding in Sept, but goodness me it's hard.

MrsMc Fab that you can store milk that just leaks . My let-down is fine for Arthur but not as extreme as it was previously - don't even leak in the shower. Mind you, there's still time, as he starts to drink even more.

Your DH definitely needs a talking to. Someone on another thread left her DH with their 6 month old baby while she had 2 nights at a spa and he kept complaining about how tired he was until he realised he'd been having her life for 48 hours. I know you can't do that - yet - but soon you'll be able to leave DH in charge with a bottle of EBM. Hope he rises to the challenge.

daisy my older 2 DC never took to the Bumbo - they could lean back and flip themselves out which was a worry. Will try it with Arthur in a couple of months and see how he goes.

Tee A was up for 2 hrs 15 mins last night between 12 and 2.15 . He just wasn't sleepy. Then slept till 5, had a feed, and then did 6-9.30. I'm pretty tired and he's gone down again for another nap . HOpe this isn't a pattern!

silk A sleeps in a crib right by my side of the bed so I don't even need to get up in the night (unless he's all wakeful like he was last night and DH and I took turns walking him around). Sometimes after his feed, if he's not quite settling, I put him in with us

Yeah Daisy thanks the bumbo looks like it coudl do the trick. c is already holding her head up pretty well so she'll definitely do that in November when we're planning to go.
We settled for 10 days at a cheaper rate (october is still "high season" in cyprus so november it is...) but Maaannnn is it expensive!! It's still not booked, and we haven't booked the ferry ot France for the end of the month yet...arghh....

Anyway, Tee I want something not necessarily to put on the table or hook to the table but something where I can put her while we are eating. (this is for holiday time, at home we have a bloom chair and it's brilliant.)
So for holiday meals out:
The pram: she only likes it if it's moving....
The car seat: she only likes it if she's alseep in in.
Mothercare also have some kind of booster that hangs from the chair and has sides as well so she wouldn't roll off, worth looking at.
It needs to fit in our luggage though which is also a problem.

I think I need to go to a random baby shop to have a look at the sizes, it's hard to judge from the sites on the net.

Also Tee Calypso also has days where she's just sleepy, especially if there was a lot of activity the day before.

silk same here with the waking up, I do a lot of it and the baby not so much! A friend of mine with similar age baby has put him in his own room and said it's a hundred times better for them. Calypso is quickly outgrowing her basket and we don't really want to put the cot in our room so she'll have to move soon.

mrsmc Agreed that you might have to let dh deal with dc on his own so he understands what it means. Dh still has days when he works from home like I do and sometimes I leave the baby entirely to him, he also had to look after her a lot more after my c-section so he knows how time consuming and tiring it all is.

Is your carribean chicken with banana? Please do send the recipe my way, I love cooking and trying new things :D

(Maybe TMI) I mentionned the mini pill to another friend of mine and she said she got pregnant on it. (and did not have diarrhoea or vomitted etc).
We'll finally be able to resume sexual life properly this week (after one failed painful attempt and one with condom -I don't care what they say, it's just NOT the same.)
We had a good laugh choosing condoms though, hard to get good old plain ones, they were all ribbed this and flavour that!! .)

Right better go for now

LOL June . DH and I have still not consumated things since baby no.3 . She is 8 weeks old now. We seem to keep going to bed at different times....

about your friend and the mini pill.I think I am going to try the conventional coil. Can't have it fitted until 3 months after birth though so some ribbed strawberry and chocolate flavoured condoms for us .

Hi Silk - Elina is still in with us but DH is keen to move her out. I on the other hand don't feel ready yet. She still has a lot of spit up after feeds and sometimes vomits so I just don't feel comfortable having her in another room yet. She is however getting too big for the moses basket so don't know what we will do. I am considering putting a travel cot in our room for a while. My pal has given me a travel cot matress which is much more comfy than the flat hard ones that come with the travel cots.

Tee - that was a great nights sleep!!!!! Hope he does it again soon for you.

Mrsmc - your dh really does need to cop on!As soon as you feel ready to leave him alone for an extended period of time with your lo's go for it!He will soon realise how hard it is and may appreciate you a bit more. I really think you are very good to him. He seems to be getting a lot of nights out etc. Make sure you plan some nights out (even if not late ones) for yourself.

Mrsmc - so glad your ds is ok. That must have been a fright. My DS2 has a horrible accident like that last year in Portugal. We were seconds into our villa and he slipped on a rug and went head first into a bedside table. The drawer knob split his forehaead open but lucklily he didn't need stitches. The head really does bleed doesn't it!

I took the kids to the zoo today with a pal of mine and her 2 los. We were there 5 hours and I am wrecked now. The boys just kept running off all the time and it was impossible to chase after them with buggies. I found it so difficult keeping my eye on them all and think it will be a long time before we do it again.

Hey ladies Aaliyah is now enjoying all the various baby chairs I have so we have quite an obstacle course going for her now last night she slept from 10.15pm until 7.15am how come I don?t feel refreshed??

Tee ? great sleep from Adam I put Aaliyah in her bouncy chair to watch her brother eat but not too close as he has a habit of hurling things! My DH is a nightmare when he drinks .

Silkcushion ? it?s lovely to have visitors but it is also lovely when they go, DH and I were just saying that last night. Glad to hear things are a bit happier with you, they are a bit better here too because our friend is going through such a nasty divorce that it has scared us out of our pettiness for now. Aaliyah sleeps in with us. DS did until he was 4 months but was a really light sleeper and we couldn?t get into bed without waking him up!

Ermintrude ? I had the same problem with DS in the bumbo, I had to be very close by because he could flip it, it was great when I needed the loo though, I could just stick him in it. I do plan a night out with the girls soon, as you say it might give DH a wake up call.

June ? sounds like you are getting very organized for your hols. I am with you on condoms, hate them. I?ll post the recipe tomorrow for you, it doesn?t have banana in it but I do add mango to it.

Choccie ? no resumption of things here either, I just have no mojo at all plus his behaviour doesn?t help. Sounds like the day at the zoo was exhausting, I can empathise and I only have one to chase with the buggy! Awful about DS2?s accident I had an accident the first day of our hols when I was 4 years old, I slipped on stone stairs and split my chin open and needed stitches and had a bandage on it that couldn?t get wet for the whole holiday ? kids hey?!

Hi everyone!!

Just a quick pop in... hoping to get on here properly in the next day or two for a proper catch up!! I have to unplug the phone line to do something to get the net set up on the laptop, so if dp doesn't do it before he goes to work in the morning, I don't really know how to set it up, and can't be bothered trying to find out at the moment!! That is my mental capacity these days!!

Just thought I would let you know I have put a few pics of Caelan on my profile, finally!!!

Breastfeeding is going a lot better since I got the shields, thank you so much everyone who recommended them. When I try and feed Caelan without them, he is a bit fussy latching on, so going to try and cut down using them over the next few days!! Its tempting to carry on with them though, as since using them, feeding has been A LOT less stressful!!

Can I ask anyone with hairy babies... as you can see Caelan has a fair head of hair!!! I know these are very early days yet, but what do you do about first hair cut?!!!

Will catch up soon... once again, many many many thanks to you all with your help with the breastfeeding, I am 100% sure I would have stopped now without the advice and support, and instead we are steaming towards my short term target of 6 weeks, and then we will hopefully carry on after that!! Now I don't see any reason why not!!!

DP is very happy, Saturday is the first match of the season, so I'm off to Everton, and DP gets to give Caelan his first bottle of EBM!! Kinda sad I will miss it!!

Naat- did you get my facebook message? I have a feeling you dont, as I got another message off you, and it doesn't look like you got mine??? My facebook is being rather annoying at the mo!