October 2009 babies - Waving arms and gummy smiles make the sleepless nights worthwhile.

[HumphreysCorner]

Here we are on the other side-finally. Well done ladies!

On 2nd lot of AB's and they are suitable for BF so no expressing needed.

HC
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ARGH! is all I have to say....

(Off to have a sob in the shower and then bed, I think!)

What's up Scout?

HC
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scout I hope that up are ok.....

I am up because Connor has been awake again and I HAVE A SORE BREAST !!!!!i THINK MY BREAST HAS HAD ENOUGH !!!!

Thanks HC & fidelma -- am just frustrated, I think. Fed up at the state of the house (DH a pack-rat and we just have stuff that I'd love to get rid of but "can't"), am tired despite having more sleep in the last week or two than I've had since July (maybe that's the problem?) and feeling a bit sad/hurt by some comments that seem to keep being made (same sentiment, different turns of phrase). Oh well.... today is a new day and I shall just show my "British stiff upper lip" and carry on.

On a positive -- Seb seems to have gained weight again over night. I have just put him back in his basket after a feed and he feels like a lead weight. LOL His silent reflux really hasn't stopped him from eating/gaining weight and boy does he love his food! Still hoping to carry on to 26 weeks/6 months (he's 16 weeks today!). Ideally would love to go longer but I need some medical treatment that I shouldn't put off too much more and can't have it while I'm breast feeding/pregnant. Talked to the midwife at BF Support Group on Monday and said I was planning to start expressing at 5 months and build a stock pile of at least another month or two worth of supply (one "meal" a day of breast milk after I stop BF) and she thought that was a wonderful idea on my part and seemed a bit surprised that I had thought that far ahead.

fidelma Hope your breast feels better. That has been the hardest part of BF for me sore boobies. I had such mini muffins before pregnancy that never got any attention and now they see so much action they can't handle it some days! lol

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Scout i hope you are ok, what comments are being made to you, they must be bad for you to feel like this. I think your idea for expressing your milk is a great one, get pumping soon, i think its up to 3 months you can freeze the milk, so you could get a great supply going (and another freezer lol ). Happy days with Seb's weight gain!

Fidelma good god woman! Have you an extra pair of hands somewhere? You are going at it like superwoman! Hope you get some relief with your breast.

HC how is M today? Did he have a better night? If you do get a fine in, i would complain to them about how quickly the lights change! Here's hoping you got away with it.

Faith is waking up more now that she is in the cotbed. She used to sleep from 7-2-6 or 7-4-7 but now she is waking for a feed at 11pm, & then at 2-3am she starts to talk! Ready to take on the world lol....the other morning, i think it was around 4.30am, she decided it was time to get up, started talking & cooing to herself, i pulled the covers up over my head to get some more sleep (was hoping that she would talk herself back to sleep), but she found me! Her cotbed is at the bottom of our bed, and she saw me through the cot rails, she screamed & shouted at me until i got up! Now i cant escape her, she rolls over to the side & screams until i get up....never at the right times...only in the wee small hours! Dont know how to get her into a good sleep pattern again. Also heard a thump last night, woke up to find the cat (who is the size of a med dog!) had jumped into the cot, & was about to lie down on top of her. He made a quick exit!

How is everyone else getting on????

Seb has just woken up in his basket, which is on my side of the bed. All I had to do was look over and he gave me the biggest smile and laugh -- gummy smiles first thing in the morning (or any time, really) warm my heart and make the dark clouds disappear. However, off to change his nappy because I noticed a stink when I came back to the bedroom from the kitchen....

Morning all.

Fidelma could it be infected mastitis?

Littlepea we have a cat and Im terrified of him getting into the cot with Fred.

Scout I have just bought these" I am going to introduce a bottle at his 11pm feed and see if it helps him sleep longer.
At the moment we are up every 2 hours.

Fidelma we made pancakes here too, my ds' love them. I made a lemon meringue pie on sunday which we all enjoyed.

I have to start exercising I still have 10lbs to lose to get back to my pe-preg weight and even then I was heavier than normal.....Its really getting me down to be honest. Im just so tired at night to do a run and Fred doesnt always sleep for long enough in the day or at a regular time.

That link didnt work.

these

They look great.

Hi everyone

lots of pancake fun here too! And my baby is STILL asleep at five to ten!...shame the other two were up at 6.30 grrr

fidelma will have a look in my reference book for you, is it very painful? is it on the surface of the breast or deeper? does it always appear in the same place? I can only think abcess but they tend to be more like a boil and filled with puss and are very very painful, so doesn't really sound like what you're describing.

scout sounds like a good idea about building up a stock of ebm, you can store in the freezer for up to 6 months too, (they have changed the guidelines) up to 8 days in the main body of the fridge and 4 hours at room temp

to everyone else

Hello everyone

I have not posted for a few days but have been reading. I haven't been feeling too fab the last few days. Have had a very achey neck and felt a bit blahhh. Today I feel all hot too but dh says I don't have a temp.

Last night F went down at 8.30 then woke at 1.30am ish and was totally snuffled up. He was coughing a lot and so snotty, he really needed to sneeze but just wasn't. I fed him and put him back and he did go off till 7am ish. ds1 woke at 5.30 as usual though
I think F is going to have a cold/cough forever.

Dh is off work for half term which is lovely. Monday he started building a shed for the kids bikes ( he was working on it all day in the snow and rain) and yesterday we saw some friends from ds1's antenatal class and went out to lunch. Kids were all good

I have been doing pat/shushh for F's daytime naps since last thursday. And it's working I swaddle him from the armpits down, arms out and lay him on his side and pat and shussh. I also put a cd on I had for ds1 with white noise on it. He goes off after a few minutes . Doesn't cry. Makes a few noises.
He is only sleeping for roughly half hour each time, has done a 50 mins twice.
But I think that it's good that he's doing it atall as before this he was only sleeping on me. I also looked in the Mumsnet archives and read that 30mins repeated throughout the day for this age is pretty normal.

Feeds are still 2 hourly. Hv suggested food but I am not keen. I think babies have growth spurts at 4 months and it's thought they need food. I will just go down the more milk route.
I am happy with the 2 hourly feeds anyway. (in the day wouldn't be at night!!!)

obe Wow!! very impressive
sore boobs sound very ouchy. The thought of pricking the blister with a pin sounds sooo painful.
thrush arrrgh! so annoying. I thought I was getting it again last week, actually I'm pretty sure F still has it as the inside of his mouth is all pearlised.
moses baskets F has never been in one. He is in a crib. He is starting to hit the sides with his arms so we'll move the cot into our room soon. I will have to take my bedside table out first though.
dribble F is so dribbly. We change his boob every hour or so. Has a red spotty rash round face because of it. He is chewing his hands a lot.....!!!!
valentines day dh got me flowers and a card. Didn't do anything else as dd had a party. I cooked a roast and made my own yorkshires which was a first!
pancake day we forgot!!! Oh well.
scout hope you're ok.

Oh and lastly, last night dh and I ahem... made progress of a different kind iykwim....!! First time since before he was born. I bet I'm the last on this front....??

Hi all!

scout hope you feel more cheerful soon, its so hard to look after a LO (and yourself) when upset {hugs}

fidelma Sounds like crazy madness a laugh your house

littlepea Sorry to hear that Faith is having trouble sleeping well in her cot - I'm interested to hear this as I'm expecting a cot to be delivered today. I bought it as Annalise seems to be uncomfortable in her Amby Hammock now. Am disappointed as I was hoping she'd like being in it until around 7-8months, it looks so comfortable.

Saying that Annalise has gone from super perfect napper / night-sleeper to devil-baby screaming purple face for up to an hour before I can settle her, and ssh/pat only seems to make her furious. Took her to the doctor's this morning thinking that it could be an ear infection, but apparently it was tonsillitis I almost can't believe it, poor little baby, but she seemed fine every other time aside from being put to nap - seems strange? Doc said just keep fluid intake up and monitor her temp.
She was weighed as well and only 9oz in 2 weeks, c4.5oz per week which is ok but not ace...

Went to a wedding yesterday - got soaked! Nice to see the sunshine. x

Change his bib not his boob !! LOL

hello all

been lurking a lot

if one more person in RL asks if she is sleeping through i will cry. The last few nights have been awful and her naps have gone to pot

i am on my knees

will try to catch up with the thread and post later

xx

Hey I've been lurking too ruby. William has a think now of waking at 6am but won't go back to sleep. This with two hourly wakes is upsetting! I was reading the "not sleeping through by 6 months" thread and fully expect to be joining.

Last night W woke at half ten then midnight but managed to rock him (took an hour and I was in bed), put him in cot and he woke for food at 3, half 5 then 6 with wind although he settled on me for an hour then feed then cot til 8. I think he's waking up for comfort from me as I can convince him not to feed and resettle but DH can't always. He's also more clingy in the day.

princess, no you're not the last! Haha hope youenjoyed

fidelma it sounds like you've got a blocked duct, hence the need to pop the blister. I don't know what the treatment is though - similar to mastitis I think.

Moses basket we had one but used it rarely. William now sleeps in his cot at night although likes to have his arms outstretched. This means I have to place him perfecty in the middle as he can reach the sides like this!

Oh ladies, can you tell me what baby groups you go to if any? I've started baby sensory and thinking of doing music classes. Other than that we don't get out much but as william gets older he's definitely getting bored and needing more exciting things!

iggly!

groups We don't do any yet. But tbh our days are very full on. We have the school run at 8.30-9.30 and then 2.45 till 3.30pm. Then in the day I either see a friend for a cuppa morn or afternoon, or just stay home in the peace with F. Then after school F can watch dd and ds and we have ballet/swimming/football/playdates on different days.
I have put my name down for baby massage but might not get a place till easter. It's free though so don't mind waiting.

dd and ds did tumble tots from crawling age till 3.5. They do singing during these classes too.
ds did music for a while but it got to be a right pain in the end as it always clashed with precious naptimes.
Also did a couple of toddler groups a week with both. The church hall type ones.

Oh and swimming with dd when she was 2 and ds was in school all day. ds and dd go in without me now after school.

Hi all, have been reading but not posting-too tired. DH still q ill but has gone back to work. His cough is terrible at night, I think its a chest infection but the stubborn so and so won't see a doctor. Every time he coughs he wakes Joseph who himself has been waking every hour or so in pain with his teeth, wanting to be held all the time. So for past 2 nights, Joseph has slept on a little mattress on my lap downstairs while DH coughs the house dowwn upstairs and I sit here wide awake, cluster feeding and studying. I'm getting 2-3 hours sleep once DH gets up but the damn cough keeps me awake. Have a strange headache that won't go away and feel like I'm walking through treacle. Hoping we can get back to our lovely co-sleeping soon. Green poos are slowly returning to yellowy colour-block feeding has been a big help.

littlepea-v impressed with you and Faith coping with chicken pox and teeth! Joseph used to hate car seat but is getting better. Still hates the pram/buggy. Tempted to take Joseph and my Wilkinet and ring sling to a slingmeet in Preston but its a 40min bus journey each way.I really need a sling tutor!

HC Poor Matthew,hope his cold gets better soon. Take heart re speed cameras-they may have the wee cameras on top and flash but not all have film in them. This was the case with DH at Christmas, he was convinced he'd get a fine but a taxi driver told me only the other side had film.

Bella [waves] glad Nathaniel's eye is healing so well.

peaches hope you have recovered from mastitis

smallone hope you've got some treatment for the thrush.

twinkle and devils you sound like you've cracked the sleeping, well done. Congrats to your fil Devils, I bet that was a day to remember!

fidelmaa Loving the mad pancake feast . Had to laugh when I read you'd popped the blister with a needle-tis exactly what I did! My luck ran out the 3rd time and thats how I got mastitis so be careful. My blister stayed firmly put until I tweaked the latch and positioning- (with help of bf counsellor) I had become complacent. After that, it went within 3 days.

scout-hope you're ok. Try not to let people and thier "advice"/comments get you down too much. I used to get very upset with the "rod for your own back" snidey remarks because I'm practicing some loose form of attatchment parenting. I hav since developed an attitude that allows me to tell v rude, nosey commenting strangers that they can stick their rod where the sun don't shine. Those closer to home are silenced with a "My rod, my back, my business." Being permanantly tired atm does have its advantages-I'm far less polite with people who feel the need to butt in with "advice"(ie thinly veiled criticim). You asked about hobbies-I'm itching to get back into my garden and start cooking lovely experimental meals again.

princess nope, you're definately not the last!

Calypso and littlepea-was reading somewhere that this is a classic time for sleep routines to go haywire, something to do with a big developmental milestone coupled with teething.

Iggly re activities-am conscious that Joseph is getting a bit bored too and could benefit from som playmates so from Mon our activities schedule is going to be this:
Mon a.m -rhymetime/singalong at library
Tues am - bf cafe
Wed pm - me- Slimming world 1.30-2.30pm. Joe spends time with MIL. We then pick up neice(5) from school, she spends time with Joseph. Other neice (10) comes in at 4.30pm so they both get some time with him. Leave at 5.30pm. Have done this already and it works well. We're also down to do baby massage course in March Wed pm for 3 weeks.
Thur-free until Sing & Sign in april/option church toddler group a.m
Fri- a.m Little Fishes toddler group

Am trying to get out every day basically

Right, am starved, love and good sleep vibes to everyone

Back later but just to say I had M weighed and he only gained 4 oz in 2 weeks so now just above the 9th centile. Still feeding every 2 hours day and night but for only 10 mins at a time so HV said he won't be getting any hind milk so need to feed 2 times each side instead of swapping sides each feed. Will see if that makes a difference over the next 2 weeks.

Pancakes for tea as the girls were at MIL's yesterday and wanted Pancake day with me.

HC
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Iggly Activities for us include Breast Feeding Support Group Monday mornings, Guides Tuesday evenings (that's my thing, really, but Seb comes along and is now the unit mascot), Babies & Tots Wednesday mornings in the village hall in the village I do Guides in (which is different than where I live), starting in March for five Thursday mornings will be Baby Massage, Fridays tend to be lunch with a friend of mine at my old job. We're on the waiting list for Baby Signing, which is Friday afternoons, I believe. And in March we can sign up for Aquababies for the summer school term, but I don't know what day/time slot we'll get for that.

twinklegreen Thanks for the tip about six months frozen BF -- I was still working until the thought of three months, which is why I wasn't going to start yet. Given that new information, I may just start March 1st and do a bag a day.

Am starting to feel bad -- we didn't do pancakes yesterday. I would do them with Guides and/or Scouts, but we're on half-term so no meetings. Though what you call pancakes here are different to what I call pancakes.... I'll start making a fuss over pancakes next year when Sebby can eat them on his own, not just through me.

Thanks everyone for the messages and good vibes. Had a spur-of-the-moment lunch with previously mentioned Friday lunch buddy and then went Easter and Mother's Day shopping (have to do things early to make sure they arrive at home before the holiday). Seb got lots of oohs and aahs as he was awake most of the shopping trip and happily chatting to me and smiling at anyone who looked in his direction. Because it's half-term, no Tots today and really needed to get out among people. FriendofScout was my first (non-Guide) friend post move to the UK, so someone I have known almost as long as I've been here and has a way of cheering me up. Comments haven't been by other people trying to give advice but things that my DH has been saying that have been getting me a bit down. And I think, deep down, I'm much more homesick for my family and American friends than I'd ever admit in RL.

Hope everyone and their babies are feeling better soon and sending good sleeping vibes your way for tonight!

~S~

speaking of advice

Was at a national grocery store one day last week. Stopped for a drink and a snack in the cafe, as well as to give young sir a feed. I had fed him and had him on my lap while I finished my treat when a little old man came over and started talking to me. He said something to the effect of "Boys like lots of cuddles from their mum when they're young but then move out and away from home. Girls want nothing to do with their mummies when they're small but stay home when they're older."

I just smiled at him politely.

Has anyone else heard anything like this before? Does anyone else have any funny stranger-and-baby stories?

Scout i do know how you are feeling, being here in Germany & so far away from family isnt to nice when you have a baby. Sometimes i just want my mum when things get on top of me, i have to phone her, but its not the same. And my DH can also say things that has me in tears...I hope you start feeling better soon xx

everyone in bed and I am going after this.
Great to hear from you all.

calypso it is crazy madness here !!!

Ruby also exhausted from 4 wakenings each night

litttlepea I do have alot of help with the housework I HATEHOUSE WORK !!!

my breast is still sore and lumpy with a small white blister on the nipple (that's not sore)It is very sore when Connor starts to feed but it eases.I don't feel very well tonight but I don't think that it is mastits,perhaps I should see the Dr tomorrow.Any advice?

Back to green nappies tonight and the last explosive one has a streak of blood in it. Really worried now. Off to doctors tomorrow

scout I think that it must be really hard to be away from your family.You are doing so well it is always harder after time spent back home.sending you good vibes x

'a son is a son until he gets himself a wife, a daughter is a daughter all of her life'

HC
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