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...

Lovely pic, CC - what an adorable frock and hat ensemble!!

Our feeds rarely take more than 10 mins in total, although DD will sometimes stay on longer, although it's usually just comfort sucking. I worry that she's just snacking, but she can go anything from 1 - 5 hours between feeds, so there's no rhyme or reason to it. She's alert, lots of wet nappies, plenty of poo and gaining weight, so I guess I should just let her eat as she wants.

OK, Dr Karp's 5S technique...

He basically says that the human baby is born early (because of the size of the brain...if the head got any bigger, birth would become a real problem...) and for the first three months of a baby's life, it's still basically a foetus. For that reason, he says we should "switch on" the womb's own "calming reflex" which keeps the foetus reasonably tranquil when still inside Mum. Really, it's just a more efficient use of traditional, familiar calming techniques, but done in a particular order and a particular way:

S1: swaddling. make sure the baby is snugly wrapped so they can't move their arms.
S2: side/stomach. hold the baby either on their side or facing down... the "reverse breast-feeding" position is good (with the baby facing away from you).
S3: swinging. or rocking, to give it its more traditional name! Jiggle the baby so you get a good head jiggle going (obviously NOT shaking, just jiggling)
S4: sshhhing. say SSSSHHHHHH! loudly right in your baby's ear - it has to be loud enough to drown out their crying (remember many babies find the sound of a hairdryer soothing and they're pretty loud!)
S5: sucking. which is why breastfeeding works as a soother. Dr K advocates a pacifier as the nuclear option if the other 4S still haven't got the baby calm.

There are a few clips on Youtube of people using the technique on their babies if you want to see it in action. The DVD is great, watching those screaming infants switch off as if by magic is really sweet...they kind of look drugged, it's amazing!

Anyway, an update on the Dummy Wars... I allowed her the dummy for her mid-afternoon nap, then allowed her to have it for a short while as she settled for sleep after her bath and evening feed, but after the second time she spat it out, I didn't give it back, but instead jiggled and SSHHed her in her baby nest for a few minutes, doing a Rapid Return when she started fussing again - but only had to go back once and she was out. She then slept from 1945 - 00.45, which is a new record! She was swaddled again, btw.
After that, she woke up at fairly tight intervals for short feeds, but both she and I went back to sleep quickly, so it was a big improvement on the previous couple of nights. Twice she went down without the dummy and another time I gave it to her, then removed it shortly after. She also got her arms out of the swaddle twice, which was a nuisance - the blanket I have isn't quite big enough, unfortunately. Still, despite quite a few wake-ups, the re-settles were much faster and the sleep in between times was better quality, so it felt like progress.

Good luck the rest of you in your own Dummy Wars....

CC what a cutie!!

Thanks for the 5S IC

There is a light at the end of the tunnel (I hope)...DS only had to be settle down once last night at midnight then slept through up to 5am! (go and find some wood to touch as I'm going to jinx myself)

DS is needing the dummy less during the night but still use it during the day to settle himself or to stop crying... to be followed

Getting ready to go to my mum down in France on Friday week so we've taken the traveling cot out of the package, it took us 20mn to put it up! I was ready to bring it back to the shop! I'm going to need a suitcase just for DS and probably bigger than mine.

All the pictures are lovely, we all did a good job in February!
Here is a picture of DS

OMG what a day, went to bed feeling a bit achey and woke up realising it was mastitis. LO has screamed all morning, I'm assuming it's related. Anyone else with experience? This was before the jabs, which we've just returned from. The doctor said not to feed off the bad breast today, but I thought this was no longer given as advice? Even turning hurts, so I'm not convinced a day of just expressing will do the job. DH has come home from work early, so I'm off to bed with some painkillers and antibiotics, to be woken only when she wants feeding. Bless him, he is good.

hmmm.....sleeping in the same house as a newly rejuvenated screaming baby just may not work.

Lovely pics of your beautiful girls BG and climberchick - adore the strawberry hat.

gurnseyfrench your little boy is ever so sweet. Good luck with the travelling.

cc so sorry about the mastitis. How long does it last generally? Do you need antibiotics?

IC Can vouch for the loud shushing noise as we have a prince lionheart bear thingy that makes womb/mum's heartbeat noises (although we just took the noisemaker out of the bear and put it in the cot) and it works so well turned up quite loud to get the baby off to sleep.

I kind of thought we had naturally developed a schedule of feeding every three hours during the day and every 4 hours at night but it's gone out of the window yesterday/today and I am knackered after 2 bad nights. He's feeding more frequently and only one boob at a time, so less. I can' make him go for the other one whatever I try so he's feeding lots more fequently and without any pattern. He also slep really badly - kept waking me up to feed and then having just a bit. Twice I fell asleep with him on me - didn't mean to but was so exhausted and I think they were the only times I got a bit of sleep. Haven't got off the sofa today.

He's slept loads today - don't know if it is cruel to wake him up or if I should and then he might sleep better at night.

Also unable to get the usual respite courtesy of my husband as he's got a really sore throat and is doing his best to quarantine himself so he doesn't pass it on. He's also a bit irritable because of being under the weather. Him working from home doesn't always have its benefits.

Still having a bit of a nightmare trying to get his iron medicine into him as he's incredibly unpredictable when it comes to accepting bottles. Sometimes he sucks it down and sometimes there's no way he's having it even if v hungry and he gets very screamy. This is usually hubby's job so I'm not that good at it and I get upset when he seems unhappy and tend to give up and give him boob because my body is telling me to very loudly if you know what I mean.

Sorry for big moan. He is still utterly adorable, when he smiles and does his little baby dance on the changing mat it cancels out all the tirdness and stress.

IC I just watched the 5S youtube clip of the guy on Richard & Judy. Pretty impressive stuff!

Baby massage was ace, had another wee go before bathtime. DS has now wee'd on 4 towels today lol.

CC can you call one of the bf helplines for advice, they're likely to have the most up to date info... Get well soon.

Breastfeeding helplines

• National Breastfeeding Helpline 0300 100 0212
• National Childbirth Trust 0300 330 0771
• Breastfeeding Network 0300 100 0210
• La Leche League 0845 1202918
• Association of Breastfeeding Mothers 08444 122949

GF Awww... lovely picture.
I shouldn't look at all these baby photos - they make me broody! Mind you, I am reacting very badly to the mini-pill, so contraception is the LAST thing I need right now...

BG I'm not broody yet, but I'm thinking that it'll be nice in a year or 2 to give a little brother or sister to DS (is that been broody?).

My contraception is fine but at the moment I'm under antibiotics for a suspected cs scar infection so we have to be careful.

CC I hope you'll get better soon.

Sunny I know what you mean by DS wetting towels! Mine normally wets 2 per bath! He wees on the one he's wrapped in to go into the bathroom and wees on the 2nd one when on the changing mat being dried. Don't we love our little boys!

Nights are getting better every day, so yepee!

Poor you, CC, get well soon...

Not just little boys, GF! DD's wasted three towels in less than 24 hours too. Lovely pic, btw - what a cutie!

Well, Operation Remove Dummy continues apace and progress continued last night - I still let her have it for initial settling, but remove it after 5-10 mins. Seems to be working so far, thankfully. She still wakes up several times for a feed, but that is definitely preferable to the dummy wailing as she resettles fairly quickly from those.

Only other problem is her breaking out of her swaddle. I got a bigger muslin swaddle, which seems to do a better job of keeping her contained, but it's not fool-proof.

This baby-raising thing, it's all trial and error, eh?!

hope you're feeling better CC the guidelines issued by the hospital lactation consultants here say to continue feeding from the affected breast, and to use this breast first? they also say to try different holds (ie rugby etc) to make sure breast is fully emptied. Also to not use warm flannel etc for relief, but that ice pack etc is ok, but not applied direct to nipple? also expressing if baby not emptying the breast. Also says to avoid any creams or lotions on the affected nipple. hope that helps.

my news? nowt really? still cracking on with packing etc and trying really hard not to log onto the bbc every few minutes to see what the latest news is on the new ash cloud? fly a week tomorrow? (fingers and everyblinkingthing else crossed!!)

night all x

Thanks for all the advice. I thought I knew what to do, but when a GP tells you something different it knocks you back a bit. I'm feeling loads better today, it no longer takes great effort just to hold her as the aches are now minimal.
LO is a different baby today and back to her normal smiley self. I found it quite distressing listening to her howl and being unable to soothe her. Eventually we tried the 5S's, which worked once we replaced the sshhhing with a hairdryer. Also used a blanket instead of a sheet to swaddle her as her legs come out the sheet.

Know what you mean about getting broody, I see newborns and just want to hold them. More lovely pics I see.

Does anyone know a trick how to use eyedrops on a baby? I get the drops everywhere except into her gunky eye and she pretends I am trying to murder her...

Have you tried gently prising her eye open and dropping it in when she's asleep?

Might try that again, bearcrumble. She's very strong though and squirms away when I go anywhere near her eye, even when she's asleep...

...... feeling knackered.......

Sorry to hear about the mastitis and gunky eyes. Here, I have a stinking cold and both DSs have temperatures, colds, sore ears and stomach ache(DS1)/sickness(ds2). However, this was put into perspective yesterday by the little baby in front of us being whisked off in an ambulance with breathing difficulties.

Thought I might amuse you with today's tale of woe: Took both poorly boys to the post office as had urgent stuff to post. DS1 lay on the floor screaming, "Don't pinch me Mummy!" I knew that this was because he had watched the Tweenies this a.m with pinching on it (my own fault I know - was feeding, in my defence!)but I'm sure some of the other customers were contemplating a speed dial to child protection!! I couldn't get out of there quickly enough and couldn't really think of anything to say! [ blush]

babygiraffes perseverance is the only thing really, but the 3 years of administering them to DD has helped us develop the following (mind, she's ace at having them now - different story when a baby!!) We used this technique with DS when he had gunky eyes after birth...

drop them into the corner of affected eye nearest nose, then gently rub/massage the side of the nose, by the bridge, near the eye corner, which will make eye open up and also helps get the drops down into the tear duct where they can really get to work (this is advice of consultant DD used to see - as soon as we started doing this, saw a huge improvement in the speed with which eye infections cleared up for her?)

As an aside, if you're having problems cos of immature tear ducts, massaging both eyes briefly (as above, but without the drops!) every night as part of bath-time routine helps to prevent any infection starting by keeping the tear ducts clear. It also helps them get used to the whole process, so next time you have to put drops in, it's much less traumatic?

also, depending on what the drops are for, there might be something easier to administer - eg for conjunctivitis (which is what DD got every few weeks until last year) the usual thing you're given is chloramphenicol (sp?) which is a thin, liquid drop? but if you get fucithalmic acid (sp?!) it is a viscous gel which is easy to drop into the corner and then turns liquid on contact?

hope that helps! good luck

stoofadoof thanks so much for the advice - sounds like a plan!!
DD1 just tried her entire doctor's case out on dd1 - under my very close supervision!! The poor baby got several 'injections', said 'Aah' on cue to have her 'tonsils' checked, and had a temperature of about 111... Quite sweet to see the beginnings of the two playing together. Usually the baby will just beam at her big sister and try to talk to her, and the toddler is totally oblivious.
Makes me feel less guilty though to see dd2 so happy to watch her big sister, because otherwise she gets quite a lot less attention than dd1 at this age.

Very cute, BG, that they're playing together! I was musing over that first baby/second baby thing myself. I'd like to try and squeeze out a sibling for DD if I can and it occurred to me that there's no way child number two (if I have one) would get the reverent, undivided attention that DD currently receives. Guess that is the way of second and subsequent babies! My mate (father of two) put it another way - he said,
"Oh yeah, the first - that's the practice one."

I think I've now sussed my DD's current preferred routine. Basically, up for an hour (during which there is usually a nappy change, possibly a walk in the sling somewhere, maybe tummy time etc.), then she starts getting teasy so I give her a feed and put her down (swaddled in muslin, sometimes in the pram, sometimes in her bed, sometimes with a dummy to settle her, sometimes not) sing her a lullaby and maybe rock her a little and she's off to sleep. Usually for around an hour (although, looking at the clock, we're now up to an hour and a half, so she may have elected to have a longer lunchtime sleep) then the process begins again.

At night, we're still on the diminishing returns of sleep... 4/5 hours, then 2.5/3, 2, 1.5 1....

We're off to WOMAD in Caceres tomorrow, including a 3-hour train ride (once we've travelled across town to the station), so that could be - um - interesting. I'm half looking forward to it and half dreading it... Wish me luck!

Hi,

Lol bethylou at your post office protester. My DD1 (2 1/2 yrs) was reaching out to passers by on the street from her buggy yesterday saying 'Help me' and 'Stop it'. Luckily no -one seemed to take her pleas for rescue seriously, then again it is Hackney.

IC it's true about the first being the practice baby, my neighbour called it like the first pancake! The second is so much easier as you are more confident it's just dealing with the logistics of a toddler in tow that provides the main challenge. Impressed you are thinking about it already though, it took me 18 mths to decide I wanted another, had to wait for the birth memories to fade!

Still having weight issues with DS who is now 14 weeks and still only 9 1/2 lbs, very dinky cute and long but just wish he would bulk up a bit. I know that formula would do it but am still persevering with BF, HV doesn't seem concerned so I will carry on for now.

bethylou and clappedout what are you doing to your children? Social Seervices will be contacted lol How funny is that.

IC Good luck with the festival and train journey. Hopefully it will go smoothly. If you're like me preparing our trip to France, I bet you're wondering what you need as essentials and what you can leave home.

IC hope you have a fantastic time at the festival. I think it is wonderful that you are going. I agree that the firstborn gets more attention than any subsequent ones when tiny. But in my case ds gets better quality time than dd did. I had never really known any babies when I had her and felt very self conscious about being silly with her. A couple of my friends are really good at that sort of stuff and I used to watch in envy. Now of course my dignity is long gone, and poor ds has to endure dd and I inflicting all manner of craziness on him!

clappedout sorry you are having weight issues. Dd was very long and thin (still is, she is 98th percentile for height) and gained weight so slowly. It took me ages to accept that she was just going to be like that and stop worrying.

ICmy nights are identical to yours with the diminishing sleeps. I am planning to leave the tv on in our bedroom tonight so I can watch the general election results while I feed. I am so sad but I quite enjoy election night.

DS is doing really well. He has been holding his head for a while now and has started to enjoy looking at toys. He holds on to them briefly too and gets a cute confused but chuffed face when he does it. So day times are going well. If only the same could be said for nap times.....

Thanks for your good wishes, everyone!

chinook, I shall think about you during tonight's night wakings! Ooh, yes - what a good idea to watch the election results coming in!! I'm sorry to be missing it, being in Spain (although we did vote by post).

OK, that's it until after WOMAD.... x

whoop! Swiss did it again! we are now carless, and everything we stuck on trademe (kiwi ebay) has also sold! we've got the election on here (wonders of modern technology!) and for the first time ever, i won't have to stay up late to watch it all! (mind you, I can't really get stuck into the wine either? what with it only being 9.30 in the morning?. oh, and the breast feeding!!!)