March babies part II

[misdee]

Lauren loves to sit up. She loves for me to hold her hands tight when she is lying down and then she pulls like crazy until she is sitting up. Lots of looking around and looking pleased with herself. Putting her to bed with a little blankie now. She is starting to grab it and put it in her mouth. Everything is now constantly soggy. I have a toy with a mirror in that she loves. Likes to talk to the 'other' baby!
She is so cute when I get her up in the morning. I have a special good morning song that I sing her every morning and she loves it. She 'sings' along and gets so excited.
Last night wasn't too bad. She didn't want to feed but she was awake for quite a while.When she started to build up to a moan I just turned her onto her side and she went back to sleep. She seems to be battling to put herself back to sleep at the moment. All I hear is suck, suck, suck on her thumb in the dark.Can't wait to get her into her own room at the end of the week when we move into our newly renovated house. At least her every little noise - of which there are many - won't wake me. It's getting cold in Cape Town now. As we don't have central heating in our homes out here, I never know if she's too warm or too cold at night. (It's cold here by South African standards - not U.K or Switzerland!)

Hi All,

Wow so much to catch up on . Rebecca likes to sit up too, and does those sit up type stomach crunches! She loves watching her sister, and the other older babies at toddler group. Being a bit of a nightmare during the day re napping - she fights it and gets soooo cranky. Trying to make sure she goes into the cot to get a better sleep but only getting mixed success at the moment and a lot of tears .

Nights are pretty good - she's in bed (her own room now) by 7ish, then sleeps untile sometime between 1am and 4am when she wakes for a feed. If she wakes at 1, she'll then wake at 5, else the later that first night feed is the better the chance she'll go to 8am after it. Finding she sleeps better in her own room - we were waking her when we went to bed, and generally disturbing her sleep so this is better.

What do you all do about naps? Are your lo's quite good at napping or fight it?

Hi Everyone!!

What a lovely day it is (London)

Leogaela, with regard to how you feel physically postnatally, Its prob way too much information, thus i'll prob embarrass myself but i had a 2nd degree extended tear and now find that sometimes it feels like i'm filling up with air down below It feels very weird indeed, but thats my only gripe.

Norash, funny you should mention that because today for the first time, Ava was actively trying to rise up from her rocker chair, it was exactly like a baby attempt at crunchies, I was so surprised!

Ava also tends to suck anything within a suckable ratio to her mouth! She also held onto a soft toy the other day, not sure if i already said, but she did it with clenched fists she moved it a little way up her tummy and then was stuck!!

Jambot, Oooo, when are you moving to your lovely new home? How exciting!! Good luck with your move

Hi Girly

ZoeC, Ava is a very reluctant daytime napper, she fights it all the way, I dont want to form bad habits but the minute i put her in the buggy and walk to the end of our road - if not sooner - she will be fast asleep!!

Kieran is good with naps, it's going to bed that's a problem.

Hi everyone - once again, I'm find I have jsut enough time to read everyone's posts but not much time to post myself!

Congrats on the weight loss misdee! I have lost a couple pounds in the last week, doing the Paul Mckenna thing (really just not overeating) so will persevere. It's not so much the weight really as the large roll of fat around my middle - my 'mummy tummy' .

Mountains sound lovely Leogaela - it must have been nice to have a break. We're off on hols in 4 weeks (Sardinia) - can't wait.

Grace also loves to sit up - we get the best smiles when she's sat on my knee facing me. I'm certain she gave a chuckle earlier today - I was tickling her and she thought it was the funniest thing!

Well, nights are pretty good - goes down about 8pm and wakes about 5am for a feed. Does go back to sleep again but not always straight away. Problem is, she has been having shorter daytime naps the last couple of days.. She had been going for one long nap most afternoons - up to 3 hours or so but I can't seem to get her to sleep for longer than about an hour the last 2 days. She then gets really overtired in the evenings and grouchy.

She's getting very vocal now - sits and coos away for ages and we have little chats .

She has been na bit odd feeding today - a couple of times I put her on the right breast and she kept coming off and screaming so in the end I had to change her to the left breast before she would settle. However, just fed her again (from the right breast) and she was fine. I have noticed that she seems to prefer the left breast generally but not sure why the right one should make her scream - and then only occasionally. Any ideas anyone?

Is anyone having much success with tummy time? Grace really doesn't enjoy it so I don't tend to bother (bad mummy) as I always feel guilty when she gets upset.

Bonym - Ava hates 'tummy time' she moans, i feel bad so we dont do it

Sardinia sounds nice, bet you cant wait you big lucky!

Morning everyone, another day another moan . I hope you all had a good night.

Kieran had his injections yesterday, he seems fine and I don't think it affected him too much.
I have a cold from hell and my throat feels like sand paper. I just hope he does not catch it .

Sorry to hear about your cold Norash - hope you're feeling better soon.

We've had a lovely day today - we met up with two friends from my aquanatal class - one of them I hadn't seen since she'd given birth and her daughter is alomst 4 weeks old now. Grace seemed huge in comparison - it's amazing how fast they grow isn't it?

Weather has been beautiful here again today - really hot and sunny. Typical though -it rained almost every day of half term last week and since the kids have been back at school we've had sunshine very day!

Hope everyone is doing ok today.

Thanks Bonym .

Take advantage of the good weather gal. It's been so dead in here today. Fingers crossed.

we're off on holiday for thr weekend. finally i get top use the samasonite folding moses basket type thing i bought.

serena is doing well, but her teeth are bothering her in the evenings, so have had to give her a tiny amount of calpol the last 2 evenings as she was screaming so much in pain. poor little luv.

Enjoy your holiday Misdee, I hope you have a good time . Sorry to here Serena is not too well hope it gets better for her.

Have a great break misdee. at Serena feeling grotty. I was wondering if Grace has started teething as she's been very dribbly the lasr couple of days, chewing her fists and a bit fussy with some of her feeds. DD1 didn't get her 1st tooth 'til she was 11mths so wsn't expecting this so soon.

Oh misdee, shame serenas teeth are giving her so much trouble, poor little mite . Hope you have a lovely weekend away anyway and the weather stays nice for you .

Faith has a cold and is not sleeping well at all , so I'm pretty shattered too. She is sooo sweet with it all though, she is always trying to smile, even when she's really snotty she tries to smile through it - she's a little darling .

Been lovely here too today - got the paddling pool out for dd1 and dd2 slept in the buggy while I sat on the patio with a bowl of cherries and my laptop . Heaven! And now they're all in bed fast asleep. Pretty regular bedtime now, which is lovely, although last night she woke at 12.30 (I'd only been asleep an hour) so I got her in bed with us. Hoping tonight she'll go to 2 or 3 again (or 4 would be fab!).

No teething here, but dribbling and chewing hands quite a bit. dd1 was an early teether so I wouldn't be surprised.

Not much tummy time here, but she does love nappy free time - wriggles around loads then .

Work rang yesterday so I've told them I'll go back beginning of October (I work evenings Mon-thurs). dd2 will just have to take a bottle or cup of ebm or possibly formula then as I won't be here for bedtime. Tbh I've just decided she'll have to just get on with it - I can't afford to not go back at all. She'll be over 6 months anyway so will have been b'fed for ages, and hopefully i'll be able to mix feed, but if she complains at taking a bottle I may stop altogether to force her hand. Sounds mean but may have to happen. We'll see.

Get well soon to norash and faith for their colds, and hope those teeth don't give too much trouble serena (and anyone else who will be joining the ranks of the teething any time now

Popsy is having pc trouble btw hopefully back soon.

Lovely weather here today too. I took Sylvia out for a bit, then played a bit of tennis with Dominic (5). Sylvia (14 weeks) also likes to sit and stand up and she could really hold her weight on her legs for a bit.

I go for post-natal exercises at a gym nearby twice a week. I've lost 13.5 pounds over the past 7 weeks, but still many more to go. I'll try and find some time to learn how to put up pictures.

Leogalea - it felt so hot today that the thought of a walk in the mountains sounds very appealling.

Jambot - I'm breastfeeding Sylvia but bottlefed Dominic (he had a tiny bit of brestmilk too).

Misdee - have a nice holiday.

We STILL haven't decided where to go on holidays this summer. In fact Sylvia hasn't got her passport yet. I really need to get more organised.

This weekend I'm supposed to be sorting out our computer, with a view to us getting broadband, maybe then I'll be able to keep up with you guys!

Iris is now 14lb 8 (13 weeks) - she seems to be a veritable porker, unlike her string bean elder sister! And her sleep is better. I've dropped the 10pm dream feed, and as I suspected it wasn't making any difference to her, so now she goes from 7pm to 2 or 3am. Then usually wakes again at 6am, but this morning it was 7am. Normally I take the morning nap with her at 9am, but am celebrating a good night by mumsnetting instead!

Having got all excited at fitting back into my EXTREMELY BAGGY and now rather tight jeans, I seem to have got stuck. None of my other clothes fit. Last night I decided I needed to order something from a catalogue to boost my wardrobe, and was horrified at my waist measurement. I was kind of relying on breastfeeding burning off the extra lbs like it did last time round, but maybe I'll have to cut back on the biscuits too!

Thanks for the get well wishes Zoec. Kieran has the cold too now, I called the surgery and they told me that if he gets worse i should take him to A&E is this a bit over the top?

What do you guys give when they get cold? I have given him calpol and he is now asleep. Better get some rest before he wakes up.

Later.

a&e seems over the top for a cold tbh - if it goes to his chest your gp can listen and prescribe if necessary - hospitals are busy enough I think! Just keep fluids up as dehydration would be a hospital trip.

Hope he gets better soon - I've always found these things can be remarkably short lived in children, they are so resilient.

Thanks ZoeC I too thought it was a bit over the top, they only told me to go to A&E becausethey could not give me an appointment. I will just give him calpol again and see how he goes.

Oh well if he is still not well tomorrow then I will just go in and insist on seeing a doctor even if I have to wait 4 hours. I know they will not let me wait that long.

norash - if he is having trouble breathing because his nose is blockedf, saline drops are really good (you can get them at the chemist). Hope he feels better soon.

Poor Kieran. Dread Lauren getting her first cold. Have my saline drops and Karvol at the ready. I also have one of those room humidifiers. Haven't used it yet. There is a history of asthma is DH's family and I'm worried that if Lauren is prone to it (no signs yet) the moist air may bring it on!?? Don't really know. Has anyone ever used one? Those Karvol capsules are great for a blocked nose. Put some on a cloth and hung in near Lauren's face when she was a bit congested the other week. The oils really help clear the nasal passages.
Was up again with Lauren last night. She cried for half an hour and wouln't be consoled. Tried her with a bit of water in a bottle but it only made her choke and made it worse. She suddenly calmed down and went back to sleep till gone. She has taken to doing this every third or fourth night. Otherswise she wakes and puts herself back to sleep without a problem. Haven't figured out why she is working herself up so much. But luckily once she's back asleep she doesn't wake up again. Am going to put her in her cot in her own room for the first time when I move back into our house. She has been in a moses basket type bed up till now. Know they say don't use a cot bumper, but the cot seems so vast without something covering the bars at her eye level. What do you think?

jambot - I think it's ok to use a cot bumper up to the stage when a baby becomes mobile (and could pull it off). You just need to check the ties very regularly to make sure that the bumper is secure.
I can sympathise with your situation with Lauren - it's so frustrating when they're upset and you can't work out why, isn't it? Grace was a really grouchy this evening and wouldn't feed properly - kept latching on, having a few frantic sucks and then coming off crying. Not sure why? I was able to squeeze milk out myself so there was obviously some there. I gave up in the end and gave her her dummy which she sucked furiously, grumbling the whole time. Strangely though, as soon as I took her into the bathromm (to have a bath with dd1) she stopped being grouchy and was all smiles. Smiles lasted until I put dd1 to bed, then she started again, still wouldn't feed properly, so I put her to bed and she was asleep within minutes. So no idea what time she'll wake for a feed - could be much earlier than normal .

Lauren had her second round of jabs yesterday. After her first lot, when she was miserable for hours, I took the Calpol to the doctor's and gave it to her the minute we'd finished. Put her down when we got home and she slept for 3 hours. Fine when she woke.

hello all,

I hope your all doing really well with your darling abbes and yourselves.

norash - how do you structure Kieran's feeds? I dont know how to go about mix feeding very well only as its impossible to measure how much breast milk I give at each feed. Ava is wanting more so I am topping up with Hipp, but I think I'm giving too much and its making her very sleepy, i dont want to make her fat or encourage her to take more than she needs! how did you figure it out? Thanks

Ava's now sleeping a full 11 hours a night without waking!! I cant believe it and suspect it wont last at this age, but I am very happy!!!!