FEB 2010 Valentines, pancakes and BABIES!!

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

Here it is, then - the post natal thread for the Feb 2010 gang - let the poo/bf/nappy rash/sleeplessness/crying

OMG whatdoIdonow!! conversations commence...

IC - Tried the moby again today using the hug hold, getting into it now I think. Also helps that this particular one doesn't need a lot of folding unlike the infant positions, just need grab the wrap and tie it round.

bearcrumble - I found that if you start expressing after a feed now, you increase your milk in time for the growth spurts, which means that when LO needs more milk, it's there!

Good for you, sunangel, where there's a will etc....

Yes, bc, I know where you're coming from - my DD was 4 weeks early. angelacarleen and clappedout's DCs also. You have to add the prem weeks to the usual infant development milestones and feel your way from there. Seems tough to have to wait longer for the first smile etc., but on the upside, we get to enjoy cuddling them for an extra month...

Back to the 2.5 hour waking pattern last night, but it was for feeding and I managed to grab sleep in between (previously, the windy straining prevented that) so a manageable night. She seems to be settling back down well, which is a blessing anyway!

DH and I married 2 years today, hoorah for us!!

Happy Anniversary IC!

Anyone else (in the UK) get thrown by the clocks going forward??
At 5 weeks, we were just starting to get into a bit of a routine, getting used to the times she would wake up etc....then British Summertime threw a spanner in the works! All over the place again now!
Took her up to her bedroom for the evening feed at 7pm last night, and it was light....

A nice moment this morning...I woke up before her about 7am, couldn't hear a sound, crept over to her Moses to check on her, and big blue eyes wide open staring back... melted my heart

I'm bathing DD2 every evening - I do DD1 so it makes sense to do them both (though one is in the big bath and the other in the baby bath in the shower tray). It seems to help with the evening routine and she really likes it (now!).

Had a bit of a result a couple of nights ago on the sleep front when she went to bed at 7:30pm and slept until 4:15am. Then she had a quick bottle and went back down until 6:45am, which would have felt a bit early if the clocks hadn't gone forward. Last night was not as good with the same bedtime but feeds at 2am and 5am, then she got up for the day at 7:30am (when DD1 woke up). But still pretty good.

Haven't had her weighed for a few weeks now, but can't beleive that she's seven weeks already and the first set of immunisations are just around the corner. Anyone had them yet?

Happy anniversary IC, did your husband get you anything nice?

Ooh yes, he picked out a pretty top for me (2nd year is cotton) and accompanied it with a box of chocs. I got him a new duvet cover (!) - we only had the one - and a head torch for reading while late night baby-minding. DD's present was to sleep soundly for a couple of hours allowing us to enjoy some quality couple time...

A quick look at the Big Day and fast forward to now...

Aargh.just lost everything I laboriously typed one-handedly .

Congratulations IC! Hope you have a lovely evening, and lots of SLEEP tonight as anniversary present from your LO .

Baathing - I really am a slattern, as Lerryn has only had 4 baths in her 5 weeks on this earth . She likes the bathing but hates the drying and dressing afterwards, and I find it very distressing as she screams herself silly. It was always my intention to make bathing part of the bedtime routine, but right now we don't even have a routine . We'll get there. I hope. And in the meantime she gets topped and tailed!

Marital relations - we gave it a go after three weeks. Unfortunately we didn't use contraceptive (I know, I know - that is how I ended up on this thread in the first place!) and now I'm panicking that we'll be one of those couples with a 10-month gap between children. Should probably just buy a test to set my mind at rest. And some condoms...!

Going to attempt expressing for the first time tonight. Can any one tell me why they advise after a feed? Surely that is when boobs are empty?!

Thanks for the congrats, bc and fizzi

Best time for expressing, fizz is usually in the morning. I do it then after a feed and get three times as much as when I do it at any other time of day.

If you're trying to build up your supply, then after a feed is a good time to express as it works with the rhythm of your baby's feeding, but you don't HAVE to do it then. the kellymom website is pretty good on the mechanics of breast milk, might be worth taking a look...

As for bathing, as long as they're not dirty and smelly, I think bathing is more for your preference rather than theirs! I don't think DD really needs a bath every other day, but DH likes to do it and it's nice to try and rinse the milk and posset etc. out of the folds of her skin... but I don't think it's a health necessity or anything!!

happy anniversary IC hope you have a lovely day.
Funny the good influence mothers can have on the household. I am goign to stay with mine this weekend. I can't wait to get a bit of looking after.

Fizi - Boobs are never empty Babies can always get something out even if it is only tiny drops of lovely fatty hind milk.
As for expressing i also find first thing in the morning the best time. Get loads then and hardly anything if i do it in the evening.

I bath DS with me it is lovely to be in a cosy bath with a naked baba. So we bathe whenever DH is around to help get baby out and dryed. Has been known to have 2 baths in a day just for the hell of it.

i too lost everything i typed one handed yesterday? ho hum? back again for a quick go with two hands!

am currently applying for jobs (DS 4 wks) as at least one of us going to have to be working when we get back to the uk (in 6 weeks - yippee!) No way ideal, but there's every chance that i'll get a better paid job faster than DH given our fields/skills/experience etc, so it's likely to be me that goes out and DH that stays? will try and carry on expressing etc, but will just have to see how we get on...

still plodding along here? DD is still being brill with DS, DH back at work and doing stupid odd shifts cos he's handed his notice in and they're taking the ** and I could still throttle my ma? she goes home in 2.5 weeks? i love her to bits, and she really has been very helpful a lot of the time over the last 3 months (aaargh) but, honestly, I left home at 18, and I have really been reminded why!!!

DD (3) is hugely excited about going home - bless her we've all been a bit miserable for the last year here - she's desperate to get back to nursery etc? can't wait

bathe DS every other day at the mo, but in a few weeks will start chucking him in the big bath with DD and DH every evening as part of a bed time routine?

using close baby carrier - DS loves it, and i find it comfy and easy to get on and off? it's reviewed on the forum here?

start immunisations at 6 weeks here, so next week for DS, then we're travelling (38 hours! ergh) in week 11 so he'll have to have his second lot when we get home! (shame really we won't get his second lot in before we leave, but didn't want to take him on the plane having just had them, and certainly didn't want him on the plane without having had even the first ones!)

aaargh? need to sell cars, white goods, start packing house, apply for jobs, try and find somewhere to live in uk? aargh.. sorry brain dump?

erm? think that's everything!?

forgot, still got perineal abcess and torn bum too? ergh? hope that's sorted before sitting on it for 38 hours on the plane!!!

and happy anniversary IC?. I really should stop trying to do 20 things at once? might get one of them right then..

Reading this every couple of days but not managing to reply. DH now insisting I watch a film so have to go again but happy anniversary IC and ouch stoof! Things pretty good here, just manically busy...

Bit of a cautionary tale here that our LO can be more mobile than we think! Put dd2 to bed last night and she settled herself looking at her book (black and white thing, she loves it) and all seemed well. I checked on her when I took dd1 upstairs about half an hour later and found dd2 had managed to wriggle up about 2/3 of her cot. She looked adorable lying pretty much in the lap of her big fluffy teddy, and appeared to have sucked its paw a bit too, and seemed very comfortable. But she was also very very hot! Had to strip her off to cool her down and she was pretty cross with me and then refused to settle for hours... But I am just glad I noticed when I did. So now no more soft toys at the top of the cot

Oh, and was going to whinge about having had the vomiting bug this weekend - with two young children quite an experience (plus a very large child ie. dh feeling very sorry for himself)... Too tired to go into detail (just as well really)...

Oh, and happy anniversary IC. Mine's coming up this weekend...

Good luck with the move and the jobhunting stoof. BG I took the toys out of the moses basket yesterday actually as he's growing so fast his head was getting close to them. Glad your daughter was ok, if a little overheated.

We also retired the preemie clothes yesterday and moved onto newborn - he managed to do big cheesey possets on three different outfits in one day.

My mum has also been helpful on the one hand and annoying on the other. She's great with him, adores him and he likes being with her. Often she will come in the afteroon and sit with him for a couple of hours so I can have a snooze. On Sunday she came over and cooked which was great but then she started going on about how a son is only yours until he's married. A very old-fashioned idea in my mind, and totally irrelevant when the son in question is 6 weeks old! Honestly, she's mental. She also kept saying to my parents-in-law last time they were down from Norfolk how they'd notice him growing much more than she would because she see him so much more often. When she was roundly ignored she said it again.

Thanks for the anniversary wishes, All! DH organised strawberries with chocolate ice-cream and a glass of Cava last night. He also sat up late reading using the new head torch while babysitting - which meant a couple of hours of proper sleep for me on the other side of the bed, yay!

Good luck stoof - where are you, Antipodes?

Poor you, BG - hope everyone's feeling better now.

DD constantly hungry and doing turbopoos today - could we have finally hit the 6-week growth spurt, 3 weeks late??!

We had a weird night with DS waking up every hours from midnight because of colics!

So this morning, trip to the chemist in order to get a remedy for it. I've been given 'Dentinox'. Has anybody tried this one?

DS is knackered today and me too!

Happy anniversary IC. Love your happy wedding pics on your blog. Glad you managed to get some shut-eye. I love the pictures of Rosie in her cocoonababy too - she looks very snug.

Totally thrown by clocks here - dd has abandoned her bed time routine although I am getting a bit of a lie-in at the moment. But I have just ordered a black-out blind too!

Yesterday was my first day "working" I am working 3 hours a day from home which is very doable although I am slightly worried about catching up - even though I have only been off for 8 weeks. I work with a bunch of workaholics who never take any time off and even if they are understanding of my need for mat leave - there is still the pressure to not let it affect my work too much.

Poor DD has just gone about 36 hours without doing a poo. I put her back on the Calmosyne syrup (sounds very like what you are using IC) but that didn't have much affect. She was farting non-stop too. In the bath last night she was like a little soda fountain with bubbles rising up out of the water. So I went to the pharmacy this afternoon where they gave me glycerine suppositories (!) and advised that I use a certain type of mineral water in her bottle (she's now on one a day). When I got back she had finally let her bowels go and poor DH was dealing with Poomageddon or Waterloo. She pooed non-stop for about fifteen minutes. I am wondering now if I should give her some of the rehydrating powders that they gave us in the hospital but I think I will just BF for the next 24 hours and see if she seems de-hydrated.

Is anyone giving their LO water? I was told that it can fill their stomachs and make them feel full even though they haven't eaten and babies should get all their needs from their feeds but I wondered if it would be a good idea if she has been gone from constipation to diarrhea (sp?).

She also has a very weepy eye which is full of gunk. I am filled with guilt that these little issues are all my fault for starting mixed feeding. Totally irrational I know.

The mixed feeding isn't going very well. She is getting a bottle in the mornings while I work and as soon as the lady who looks after her leaves I put her straight to the breast. It's almost a compulsion - she usually wakes from her nap around that time and even though she shouldn't need feeding she starts to grumble and I'm already leaking all over the place. I don't know if it's more of a comfort to her or to me.

I had my six week check yesterday at the gynae. When I told him I had started mixed feeding he said 'oh is that because you don't have enough milk?' he didn't quite get my explanation that I wanted to gradually wean her from breast to bottle as it would not be possible to EBF when I go back to work. He also told me that I had to make an effort to lose my excess cake baby weight and I had nine months to shift it. He really annoyed me and patronised me.

And - not that anyone really cares - but conjugal relations have resumed! A little tentatively but DH was seen going to work with a smile on his face this morning!

Thanks fc!

FYI my baby book says at about six weeks or so a lot of babies stop pooing so frequently and the pattern you describe is very normal. Some breastfed babies can apparently go up to a fortnight without a bowel movement before the doctors start to worry. Check on the feeding forum, there's a thread there on the subject.

I don't think you'd need to supplement with water, she has an all liquid diet already. I'm no expert, but from what I've read it's probably related to your DD's digestive system developing. But check with a real expert if you're worried about it!

My baby book also says breast milk can be used to clean gunky eyes in newborns...

HTH

PS Glad the re-establishment of "relations" is on track!

Good luck with going back to work FC. You must be streets ahead of me in getting back to 'normal' (although I suspect this is the new normal). I lost my brain in pregnancy and it certainly hasn't grown back yet; I'd be a positive liability if I tried to work. I don't enjoy my job though, so I'm not rushing back.

I keep thinking half-heartedly that i'll do something about shifing the pregnancy pounds (all cake and chocolate in my case ) but really I know that i won't bother until I start thinking about a wedding dress (getting married in October, yay) and then I'll do the bride thing and diet with a vengeance. Ugh, how dull.

stoof, OUCH . Best of luck with the move, how stressful.

So I did express 2oz last night and DD took it from the bottle no problem. Today I've got 4oz so far and hope to have 6oz by her bedtime feed (I know I should express frrst thing - but I'm the least together person in the mornings ever - will take much, much effort to achieve). But since last night when she had the bottle she has suddenly started demanding a feed evey 2 hours instead of 3 going on 4. Probably a coincidence, I guess...?

Hey GF, dentinox over in the UK (and in Germany, too) is teething gel....

Gunky eyes....we had this problem just after DS was born, try wiping the eye 2-3 times a day with salt water, it worked for us although did take about 2 weeks in total. If it doesn't seem to be improving our HV told us we would have to see the GP for some drops.

Well, after reading about people's experience with "relations" we decided to give it a go and it was fine, don't know what I was worried about....although weird to go back to using contraception (we were TTC for 18 months so haven't used anything for a loooooong time!)

Is anyone else being driven mad by cluster feeding in the evenings? Anyone got any solutions to settle their LO? We do the whole bath, cuddle, feed thing, then I put him in his carrycot and he is awake again in 10 mins and won't settle before going back on the boob about 4 times! No good for my poor abused nipples!

hey tb how old is your LO? LMC here says cluster feeding usually comes to a natural conclusion between 6 and 10 weeks - DS is still cluster feeding 5-9ish every night (he's 5 wks) I remember it ending with DD - it suddenly occurred to me after about 3 evenings that she had settled and that was that! Think she was about 8 wks when that happened.

IC yep we're in NZ? but not for much longer! we emigrated by mistake last year!!

gunky eyes - DS had one too? wiped with saline solution regularly for about 7 days, with regular application of breast milk (drop into corner of eye nearest nose and massage in - trick taught us by consultant as DD suffered with conjunctivitis a lot due to immature tear ducts) - this works a treat? and serves to get the milk (or drop etc) well into the tear duct, thus clearing infection from inside too? (massage down side of nose where duct runs if that makes sense)? chloramphenicol (sp) or fusidic acid is the solution if it's conjunctivitis rather than just an eyelash etc that's irritated? but chemist might be iffy about giving you drops without a docs prescript.

right, best go? much to do! (and another job application to complete!)