December 2009: for the sake of Auld Lang Sine

[LaDiDaDi]

Just thought that I would get this started before the ante-natal thread gets filled up, not that I've had much time to post since I had DS but others might be able to multi-task better than I can!

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Yes, it's the c-section that worries me. I think it takes longer to heal inside but how do you tell when you can't see?

Wish I had 5lbs left. I need to shift a couple of stone in all!! Not all of it is baby weight from this pregnancy.

Have given Catherine a dummy once or twice. She gags on it at first but when she has got sucking, it's put her to sleep straight away. Worked wonders when she had bad wind. DS never liked them and I don't think they'll become a regular thing for Catherine either but they certainly help when I'm out of ideas at 3am!

ds2 had been having a dummy but seems to have gone off the idea recently. You shouldn't take the dummy out of a sleeping babys mouth but you don't need to put it back in if they let go on their own. HV gave me some info about using dummies.

I'm carrying about an extra 1/2 stone. Don't care about the weight but definitely need to tone up my flabby belly. Exercise has been put on hold until ds2 stops being such a nightmare so will have to stay flabby for a bit longer.

my ds has a dummy and its a god send.... he sleeps through at 7 weeks and yes i plug him in once or twice but to be honest if i didnt i would end up feeding a hungry baby..... as it is he feeds a bit more in day so still gets his 6 good feeds and doesnt need the night one! i like to call it a soother!!! my hv said they are good if baby has deep rooted wind! STILL ON GAVISCON BUT NOT EVERY FEED AND HE doesnt like it!

DS 9lb 5.5oz today .

Had a nightmare evening yesterday as he alternately cluster fed and screamed with wind all evening and dd wouldn't go to sleep. Woke up a couple of times in the night but he went back to sleep fine after a feed and I managed to sleep well with him latched on.

Any ideas on what to do to reduce wind in a bf baby?

I'm going out with friends tonight and I haven't expressed so planning to take him with me, just going to a pizza typr place in the leisure type area of the Metrocentre shopping mall so hopefully it will be ok.

Ooh, I'm listening out for tips on reducing wind in a BF baby too. DS2 has a bit of a cold so is taking in more air when he feeds, with predictable effect on the amount of sleep we get! Might try dummy - don't they call them 'pacifiers' in USA Sparkly? Sounds a bit like a military mission - prefer 'soother'!

Hi everyone,
ladidadi - sorry you are feeling so tired! I had a bad day yesterday - just craved a decent night's sleep (although I shouldn't complain at all as she managed 11-5am last night but she had 4oz at 5am and then only wanted 2 oz at 9am, despite being "hungry").

She is now on neocate formula which has def helped and also has just started omeprazole which is a proton pump inhibitor and inhibits hydrochloric acid production in the stomach by up to 90%. Fingers crossed it works - it's supposed to be the best medicine...and that's all we can do now!

Am a bit worried about her food intake though as she only takes, at 10 weeks, between 19 and 22 oz, occasionally slightly more, in 24 hours. (approx 570-660ml). That seems not to be much at all, and more like what a 4/5 week old baby would take. She is also still being sick so losing some of that. She is gainig weight - was 11lbs on Monday - but has dry lips a lot which makes me think she is a bit dehydrated. Her nappies are wet though. Any thoughts? Perhaps she just eats less although if she ate more I bet she would sleep longer - just discovered she ate 24oz yesterday hence the longer sleep I imagine. If she takes over 4 oz it's a big feed for her when most babes I know of the same age take 5-6 oz every feed!

Re dummies - we use one. It calms her down a lot bit at night she doesn't use it or just uses it to get to sleep at 7pm and then not again - she spits it out herself and I never need to replace it. She really mostly uses it in the day to help her sleep as she gets overtired easily and realy fights sleep!

Anyway enough waffle from me - sorry! Glad to hear most people are getting on well!

Elizabeth loves her dummy but strangely not at night.
I had my check, I am weighing in at 9stone1, so im aiming to lose a stone and I will be happy with that. Mind you I wont get very far if I dont put down the chocolate digestives!!

9 stone 1..... dont think i was that at birth!! LOL

toby loves his 'soother'.....look up Billy Bob pacifiers..... I have got him one..... they are ace!!

I was 10 stone before I got pregnant and I hated it. Im only 5'2 so it doesnt sit well on me, plus because im lopsided extra weight looks bloody awful!
I loved being 7stone but am realistic enough to just think of that as a nice distant memory!

Me too ABF! I'd gotten down to 9.5 before I got pregnant but had been around 10 for ages. I'm only 5'1" so I looked big.

I'm now 11 stone

Would love to be 8 stones for holiday so got a lot to lose!

Bit worried about dieting while feeding though in case it affects my supply. BFing didn't help me lose any of the weight I gained with DS so I'm not counting on it this time either.

I was only ever 7 stone at uni and it made me poorly so I'm not going to even try to get there again

Feeling better today, hideous evening again last night!

DS came out with me for a meal with friends and screamed at full volume the whole time. Dd stayed at home with dp and wouldn't go to sleep. She knew that I had gone out but not that I had taken ds.

However.....the bonus flipside is that dd had a lie in until 9.30 today and ds slept from midnight until 5.30am then slept again until 7.30 then until 9.30. I feel like a new woman , healthy rather than exhausted and jacked up on coke zero!

Still not managing to feed ds in the close sling, have watched a you tube vid and still he doesn't seem to like it. Not sure if it's the way I'm doing the sling or if he just isn't happy in the sling iyswim. Any thoughts??

talking about slings .... i got a baba sling off ebay for 10 quid and ds is just toooooo big for it!!..... he also hs outgrown his bouncy chair nearly!

Haven't even tried ds in his bouncy chair yet . Will get some batteries for it tomorrow, if I remember!

LaDiDaDi - do you express at all ? I used to have the same problems you're having in the evening with dd and now with ds (i.e. cluster feeding and then being in pain with wind etc.). I am convinced my supply dropped in the evening so they were hungry but the constant feeding often gave them too more foremilk and just made them scream. I started expressing and giving a feed at 6pm which would then calm them for the evening. Worth a go ?

I had been expressing for a night out two weeks ago then stopped but started again last night as I had a sudden fear that he wouldn't take a bottle again. Luckily he did and I'm going to try much harder to express every evening so I might be able to give a feed at 6pm like you suggest, at least the expressing will boost supply.

I do find it really hard to get much out when expressing, around 50 mls in half an hour with a medela swing pump.

Another windy BF baby here!

DS2 can have really painful episodes from 3pm onwards but seems to take a really good feed @ 7pm and that's his one period in 24 hours where he can go for 4-5 hours between feeds. It still takes him a while to settle though. so doesn't fall asleep until @ 9pm... He is good at falling back asleep during the night thank god and hopefully the days of me singing him whle he screams at 3am are gone .

I've started expressing once a day to get DS2 used to taking a bottle (which he took to no problem - clever boy with the aim that DH can give him his 7pm/11pmish one (our times are still a bit all over th eplace) so I can get some more sleep. Trouble is I can only express @ 3oz at the moment so DH hands DS2 to me after he has finished and he feeds for another good half hour after that!

Its so hard to know how many 'ounces' of my milk he needs to have a full feed from a bottle without needing to be passed to me. If only my boobs came with ounce markngs .

The tiredness nearly tipped me over last week, just floored by the night feeds and being run down. Thank God for my Mum who took DS1 to mini gyms etc. so I could flake out when DS2 flaked out.

We are deifnately not as organised as I was with DS1 in terms of structured naps etc. Only thing that is is his feeding which is generally every 3 hours. I keep telling myself it will click into place in time, I really hope it does and I'm not still co-sleeping with a 3-year old!

Hope everyone's trundling along, feel like I don't really 'know' any of you as I only joined post-natally but its so reassuring to read everyone's similar anxieties!

We're a Pampers family, Huggies always leeked with DS1.

I put on 3 stone and have one stone to lose mostly from my arse .

Possibly stupid question but could ds2 hurt himself from crying too much. He cries pretty much whenever he's awake & a lot of the time can't be settled. I've left him a few times & he works himself up to roof raising screaming but then suddenly stops & either goes to sleep or stays awake but quietly. I've only done it a few times but he's screamed for about 5 mins (timed it as it feels like hours) I can't believe what a difficult baby ds2 is. I love him loads but not sure I'd have had him if I'd known what he would be like. Terrible pregnancy, awful birth & really difficult baby. Is it ever going to get better.

Claire it will get better and I think deep down you know that lovey but my dd was the same and its hard.

I am expressing at the end of a few feeds each day to boost what i am producing and its working as ds is filled up at a feed.....i put the milk in separate pots in the fridge and when its all chilled to same temp i combine it in a bottle.... ds is fine with it and seeing though its the milk from end of a feed its more 'fatty' and if we are out I give him it and he is settled instead of screaming and faffing with my large boobs in public laces. Still do feed him when out sometimes but now have the choice!!

sparkly - I know things will get better but everytime things seem to be improving something else happens & we're back to square one. Today has seemed particularly difficult for no particular reason. Doesn't help that I can't shake my cold. Just feeling sorry for myself & resenting the fact that dh gets to go to work & still moans about ds2 when he is home when I deal with his constant crying every single day.

My parents have offered to have either one or both ds's for 2 weeks in summer holidays. Never been away from ds1 for more than a few nights & obv not been away from ds2 at all. Not sure I want to be away from them for 2 weeks & distinctly mixed reactions from friends at the idea of 2 weeks away from their children. What would you all do given the chance of 2 weeks sans children?

Claire, is it possible to do one week instead of two? I don't think that I would manage two and feel happy tbh but I think it's a very individual thing, no right or wrong.

I couldn't do 2 weeks without DS. I'm terrible though, I makr DH drop DS off when his parents babysit overnight cause I feel really weird about leaving him!! Even happens if its me that booked the night out and arranged the babysitting. It seems like a great idea till I have to leave him. The longest I've ever left him was 3 nights while I had Catherine.

Leaving her for the first time tomorrow. Just 90mins while I take DS to his swimming lesson and I'm fine about it now but come tomorrow I bet I have that usual urge to run back in and grab her as I'm trying to leave!

I love the idea, I just couldn't do it.

Finally getting a bit of a routine here and feeling a bit more organised and in control. Getting a bit more sleep too. Still having problems with DS though. PIL took him to visit bith SILs and his cousins today which he loved, then they came back to ours for dinner. Catherine was fast asleep, I was peeling spuds in the kitchen, FIL and DH were half watching the rugby and MIL was in the lounge with them - 4 adults all to himself and he still went and hid under the kitchen table (his favourite spot) and wet himself!!! Any one of us would have taken him to the loo but he didn't say a word. We were even there quickly when he went to the table as we know he likes to go there but we were too late. He'd obviously gone there especially to wee!! He is getting better but this really shocked me. I just don't know what to do anymore

I wouldn't think any less of anyone who could/did leave their DC's for 2 weeks by the way. I think if your parents have offered and you're happy then do it. I am a firm believer in encouraging children to feel comfortable and loved in an extended family. I love that DS knows that his GPs and aunties and uncles adore him and that he feels safe and happy with them. I'm just a wimp and know I'd miss him too much.

dd peed on the rug in the living room today, it really seemed to gernuinely take her by surprise though. I was right next to her at the time so very odd. I didn't make a fuss as the whole thing was really strange and she's had the runs today too so I was just grateful that it wasn't poo!

I'm finding dd to be very oppositional, negative and defiant at the moment. Eg she refused to tidy up her dressing up box yesterday so I got dp to put it in the loft. Today I talked to her about making a chart so that each day when she tidied up I would give her a tick if she did well, a week of ticks would mean that she got the dressing up things back. She said that she didn't want to make a chart , that she didn;t want the dressing up things back and that she didn't care if grandmas was upset about the box going in the loft (gm bought it all for her). I know that I need to try to make her feel more positive about herself but it's pretty hard when she is so oppositional and impulsive. In the end we did the chart and she seemed quite happy about it but it took a while. I think that she is torn up by genuine love for ds and deep seated feelings of jealousy/feeling pushed out.