August 2009 Welcome to the world all of the little princes and princesses!

[OonaghBhuna]

I would like to say congratulations to everyone that joins us on this thread and I am looking forward to hearing lots of birth stories and interesting developments of about our beautiful babies

Hello all, Bella is 7 wks now and starting to smile which I must admit is a good job as those early weeks are so thankless and a smile makes all the difference.

Having 3 is going ok but my other two are 4 and 6 so can be left to get on with things pretty much which I am sure makes a huge difference.

Self settling, ohhh how I wish I could have that. Sticking with it and trying not to create a 'prop' for going to sleep, (had this with my son, boob, car seat, pram, car, you name it) but very hard when they are obviously tired and you know what will send them off pretty quickly. Swaddling seems to help alot here, I just make sure that she isn't too hot under it.

Try this site for slings as well ladies. We have a freedom ring sling and a murron's pouch in my size and like them a lot. So does the Bug, more importantly.

MichaelaS EDD 20 Aug 1st May @24 +1
Oonaghbhuna EDD 3rd Aug 14th July
Uki EDD 29th July 16th July @38 +0
BumpVLump EDD 1st Aug July 22nd @37 +4
Noodle12 EDD 6th Aug 23rd July @38wks, 7lbs 13oz
traceybath EDD 1st Aug 23rd July @37 +5, 6lb12oz
Nandos EDD 30th July 27th July @39 +4, 2.9kg
LeninGrad EDD 4th Aug 28th July @39+0
Mayl EDD 7th August 28th July
martinemorris EDD 7th Aug(?) 28th July @38+4
Haribosmummy EDD 7th Aug 29th July
Queenoftheharpies 29th July @36 +6
2HotCrossBunsAnd1InTheOven/3HotCrossBuns EDD 28th July 1st Aug 40+4
MakkaPakkasWilly EDD 21st Aug 2nd Aug 37 +2, 8lb 3oz
valz EDD 18th Aug 3rd Aug, 6lb6 & 5lb4
fairygirl3 EDD 12th Aug 4th Aug @39wks +2, 8lb 13oz
readyfornumber2and3 EDD 27th Aug 5th Aug @36 +6, 6lb1/2 & 7lb2 1/2
Mellin EDD 3rd Aug 6th Aug @40 +3 8lb 4oz
nellyup EDD 2nd Aug 7th Aug @40 + 5, 10lb 14!!!
mama2leah EDD 10th Aug 7th Aug @39 +5, 5lbs15
MrsThePoint EDD 11th Aug 8th Aug @39+4
CraftyandClothy EDD 4th Aug 8th Aug @40 +4
Sheenaisapunkrocker EDD 2nd August 8th August @40+6, 8lb 9oz
Pussface EDD 29th July 10th Aug 7lb8oz
Babycat EDD 14th AUG 11th Aug, 8lb
fruitymum EDD 13th Aug 11th Aug, 8lb10oz
TrixyMalixy EDD 2nd Aug 11th Aug, 7lb8oz
fairylights EDD 7th Aug 12th Aug
mamamila EDD 12th Aug 12th Aug, 7.1lb
HeinzSight EDD 13th Aug 13th Aug, 9lb6oz
ScummyMummy EDD 6th Aug 13th Aug @41 wks, 8lb1oz
Quixotic EDD 20th Aug 14th Aug, 7lb 2oz
Rachel1963 EDD 3rd Aug 14th Aug @41 +4, 9lb7oz
BabyBump2B EDD 9th Aug 15th Aug 8lb11oz, 21inches long
CoonRapids EDD 6th Aug 15th Aug @40 +9, 7lb12.5oz
Cairns EDD 4th Aug 16th Aug @40 +12, 10lb15oz!!!
Kitkatqueen EDD 18th Aug 23rd Aug @ 40+5, 8lb 8oz
Longtalljosie EDD 12 Aug 21 Aug @ 41 +2 8lb 11oz
YanknCock EDD 25 Aug 24 Aug, 8lbs 6oz
Josiejo70 EDD 18 Aug 20th Aug @1808, 6lb 11oz
Duchesse EDD 17th August born 27th August at 2am, 7 lbs 6oz
VJay EDD 26th August born 1st September @40+6, 8lbs 6oz

Have found you all and added myself to the the list. Relatively easy birth, quick and painful . Now all I seem to do is breastfeed!!!

RE Slings: my friend has an Ergo she carries her baby all day great for older babies, and it does look comfortable, loads of back support, she loves it and has tried them all.

Mimile- oh you have some of those grandparents sounds like my mum with all the advice and the worst thing about hers is she then contridicts her own advice!!! I have told her many times her advice is outdated and unwanted but it still comes

Monae is now 2 months old and is growing fast now, sleeping better and starting to smile. I can 't remember her now as a tiny baby, you forget so quick what they were like.

I have been getting out more, even with 3 dc's although not easy. But sometimes it's too mad with 3 at home.

My Ps have gone now - and as usual I feel bad for getting crossed with them . I know they mean well, but they are quite undermining too. I guess that the fact they live abroad and won't see Daphné until we go there for Crimbo makes it worst...
Now, we have the in-laws to contend with.
My "routine" has been shot to pieces, Daphné feeds like a little monster, I have only one summery breastfeeding friendly top (that she projectile-pooed on yesterday) and I'm freezing!
This baby business is definetly not easy... On top of that, I just feel totally unable to speak to her in French, although I know I should, but there is just something odd about it.
Maybe next week will get easier...
Hope you are all doing well!

My connecta has arrived- it's lovely looking and comfortable to wear. Marianne seems to like it- fell asleep right away and was mostly pretty settled. Not entirely convinced there is optimum head support for a tiny baby though- she woke herself up with a bump after startling and was very pissed off for a few minutes- and so think it will be even better in a few weeks time. It did adjust to support Marianne's head a bit more after my partner tugged on all the straps and got them properly tight but I'm not sure how I will achieve that when he's not around!

Marianne is having more alert happy times which tend to end abruptly and noisily when she gets suddenly tired, hungry or windy...

Hello ladies

All this sling talk has had me confused as I don't use them.... but now think I should

Things going OK here, had v busy week with MIL staying and then SIL and brood for the weekend, really exhaused now.

DS1 (age 2) is starting to be very naughty at the moment which is testing my already non existent patience. He is great with DS2 but is just playing up. DS2 is lovely, I am really enjoying this baby phase this time, I was so worked up when DS1 was little to try and get him to sleep better that I don;t think I enjoyed it as much as I should have, but with DS2 it is different, he is adorable, has started to smile and is lovely and chubby and no he doesn;t sleep at night either but have come to the conclusion thats what babies do

The main thing I'm not happy about now is my weight , I have stopped losing it and just feel horrendously large with mammoth boobs to go with it, saw some pics of me this weekend and hated them, not just my tum, but thighs too.. yuck. So have decided now is the time to start to give it a go to lose this jelly belly, I reckon I have 1.5 to 2 stone to lose.....anyone fancy joining me? will start I new thread I think

Hooray for smiley babies! It's amazing how quick they go from being newborns to little ones with a proper personality! Makes all those night feeds worthwhile...

cairns I'm with you on the losing weight, I have just started to think about it too, but I'm breast feeding and get sooo hungry.

Hi everybody, been a bit busy lately Nice to see everybody is here Dp went back to work 2 weeks ago when no4 was 2 weeks old, so my 1st day with all 4 kids was also dd1's first day back at school after the summer break. Nothing better than being dropped in at the deep end as they say!

I took the advice of a fantastic mum of 4 on how to get 4 kids aged 5 and under up and out on time without resorting to shouting and so far its working

I've been dual feeding ds1 and 2 together and its been working really well, this is the 1st time that I've had a newborn and no nipple damage at all! I also haven't had thrush this time ( yet!) so i'm sure the nipple damage the last 3 times played a part.

ds2 had to go into the paeds assesment unit last week because he was still jaundiced at 3 weeks 2 days and is finally looking less tango'd!!

My biggest problem atm are ds1 and his throwing tantrums (ie chucking the nearest thing he can grab)- never had that with the girls and sleep deprivation because although ds2 does sleep at night and in his cot too he's been cluster feeding from 1am til 3am and then ds1 wakes either before / after and dd2 has decided to have nightmares. LOL! all good fun....

ds2 likes either being swaddled under the arms or wearing sleeping bags btw and won't sleep for long without one or the other.

Oh and I need to lose 2 1/2 stone

Hi everyone - popping in to say hello and hoping I can join you all. I was expecting to be part of the September club as dd was due 15th Sept but she arrived a bit early and snuck in on 31st August! . My dd1 is also an August babe so I'm not panicking too much although most people gasp when I mention her birth date .

My little girly is 3 weeks today and a real little love, I could just stare at her all day long. I also have a dd1 who is 5 and a dd2 who is 3.5 and has cerebral palsy. It's been pretty hard work getting back into the routine of school runs and I'm finding it a bit of a strain having to lift dd2 so much but I was absolutely blessed as really was expected to have another c-section but instead I managed to get my v-bac .

I can't believe how fast these first few weeks have gone - it's a blur and she really is so grown up already.

I'm now going to have a read through this thread so I can read all about the lovely August babes .

dd is 6 and half weeks old, its very tiring wiht 2, dd1 is going to be 14 months...

i need to lose weight too, where is the thread? i got baby fat from both pregnancies! and bf makes me gain weight!!!

hello all, hope lo are well and behaving!

x

Hi Babylon! Welcome to our ragged thread. We're all a little busy still for this thread to be updated more than sporadically at the moment...

Just came in to announce that 3.5 weeks after her birth, we finally chose a name and registered the Bug. We've called her Madeleine Ophelia. She'll always be The Bug to me though.

Hi all, have put Leo down for a few minutes and he's not roaring at me! Someone asked ages ago what pump I was using--it's the Medela Swing. I was using it in the car on the way down to London, very easy and compact! Never seem to get more than 80ml in a day, but it's still early days with it, and I should be expressing every day but have had some days off due to being away and not having the time.

Leo is 4 weeks old now, still not completely regained to birth weight. He was 8lb 6oz at birth, then was down to 7lb 8oz at two weeks, and up to 7lb 13.5oz at 3 weeks. MW came to weigh him yesterday and he was 8lb 2oz, so we are nearly there. She made some noises about formula, but the BF MW had said if he gained 4-5oz again this week she would be happy, and he had, so I just told this MW that and made it clear I wasn't interested in giving him formula. Very tired of all the conflicting advice on this and everything else! And he's wanting boob again....I'm off!

anyone fancy joining me to start losing this baby (and non baby ) weight thread is here

GTood for you Yank. i have been lucky that I have not been told to top up with formula by the health proffessionals although my mother is very against BF and has made enough rude comments about it. ollie is 10 weeks old today!!! He is on the 9th centile for weight but the 75th for length!!! He takes after his Dad long and skinny.

Anyway the charts mean nothing when you consider that they were created decades ago and a BF baby is going to develop at a different rate to a formula fed baby.

Im tired but all well.

Wow, there's been a flurry of activity on this thread since I last posted!

Liam is 7 weeks on Thursday and we have had a really tough last week as he seems to be having a bout of colic. Has really knocked me for six as DD wasn't like this and it's almost impossible to console him when he starts a bout of screaming.

Also went for our 6 week check-up yesterday and the Dr (60 I would say, from the old school of parenting!) asked how often he was feeding and when I said every 2 hours she commented that I should be trying to stretch him out to 3-4 hours as the regular feeding was probably adding to the colic woes

Normally I wouldn't pay attention to such a comment but it really knocked my confidence to think that I am adding to poor baby's woes.

Hohum, won't be like this forever I keep telling myself......

Promise I will post a more up-beat message next time!

Welcome Hangingbellyofbabylon

Hello - DD is 5 and half weeks now - she slept for 4 hours straight last night and I feel like a new woman! Sure it will not last. Been using Infacol as she is really windy and upset about it.

Anyone recommend good breast pads? I have tried Johnsons, Tommee Teepee and Lansinoh but all are too thin for me and constantly have wet patches. They all seem to be advertised as "slim" - I need super-dooper thick I think!

Mellin, ignore the old doctor - you are doing great!

Off to join the new weight-loss thread....

quix- I hate the paper ones- I find the edges jab in a strange way. My fave ones are washable bamboo ones. I got them from little green earthlets- they come in a pack of three pairs, but I think I might recommend getting two lots unless you're very organised. They are very soft, so much nicer than my Johnson's ones, and they hold a lot more leakage than the paper ones.

Duchesse - Lovely name

Re. breast pads, I have resorted to using breast shells, which at least protects them from being kicked from the changing table and collect enough milk for DH to give Daphné a feed at night...

She is just over 2 weeks now, and feeding like a little monster, and unfortunately sleeping most of the day, in a milk induced drunken state, to start partying at night once she is well rested... Hoping to get all that eventually shifted back the right way round...

Hi everyone. Real swings and roundabouts here. I was in a v chirpy morning mood when I started this post, mirroring M's happy time at and after the first feed of the day but then felt hugely frustrated and stressed when she again wouldn't let me put her down for a nap even though she was knackered. We've both calmed down now and she's sleeping angelically on me after a v fraught 45 mins before the older 2 left for school.

I'm finding that it'a practically impossible to do any of the morning essentials atm, like make sure the boys get breakfast and packed lunch, unless we do it to a background of escalating screams. I just can't stand hearing her like that so end up feeding her again purely to shut her up and barking orders at the boys to do things I should be doing for/with them. The same thing happens in the afternoons/early evenings.

She can't fall asleep without feeding or very occasionally rocking or walking fast in the sling first (the latter 2 to initial screams of protest!) and if she's put down in the cot or buggy once she's fallen asleep at the breast she's awake again within 5-20 mins and making her peevedness clear for all to hear. Whereupon the whole rock in vain then give up and feed to sleep then put her down only to have her wake up starts all over again. All while trying not to give in to the urge to have a massive tantrum or snap at the boys, who are being utter sweeties but often choose the most inopportune moments to reveal that they need xyz by yesterday!

The sling works well but only if I keep walking fast... not really possible to do at the same time as making a packed lunch or discussing where xyz could be through gritted teeth.

Arrrgh!
Does anyone have any magic way to help them sleep when they're tired? When do they start being developmentally able to soothe themselves a little? I've obviously blocked out my memories of this bit when the boys were tiny.

On the plus side the nights are going a little better once she finally settles to sleep initially between 7 and 8, after the same sort of put down- scream- rock- feed- scream- feed- rock- scream- feed- sleep- put down cycle! She mostly seems to settle into her cot ok after night feeds. She's up and hungry every 2 hours but does usually sleep in between.

Sorry- mammoth post! How is everyone else doing?

SM I have the same problem it is hard juggling three. Ollie wants cuddled all the time so he is in the sling for most of the day.I walk to school and have been putting him in the pram to get him used to it. Some days it works some it doesnt.
I am tired.

crap just lost my post!!

Dh out with DS1 for the afternoon, giving me some free time which I am wasting on MN rather than chores, while DS2 is (finally) napping

SM - Have similar problems re settling to sleep here. Was finding it OK but now the 6 wks have hit, DS2 is more alert so is taking longer to settle. I tried to avoid the rocking, feeding etc but to no avail... it is the only thing that works sometimes. I am trying to be more relaxed about it as I was so worked up with naps/settling with DS1 that I don;t think I enjoyed the baby phase as much as I would have liked to. So my general rule is if he doesn't sleep then he doesn;t want to (as long as he isn;t wailing the house down), except I try and get him to have short nap about 1 - 2hrs before bedtime or he doesn't settle at all. He loves his pram so I find this OK to go for a quick walk with DS1 in tow. Also if I put him down any later than 6 to 6.30pm then he is very overtired and takes ages to settle.

Oh forgot to mention , For those who have been told to 'top up with formula' we were told that too by HV's and midwifes given DS2s size, advice which I of course ignored (I ignored similar suggested early weaning advice with DS1)....... my large lump of a boy is now 14lbs 8 all on boobjuice no wonder my norks are mammoth sized .