April 2010 - our little bundles are here!

[lineky]

Thought I'd start a Post-Natal thread as there are so many of us now sorry about the uninspired name.
Well I am slowly realising the sleepless nights thing is no myth - VERY tired!

Neeko - here's what happened with DS1. From about 12 weeks we tried him with a bottle every couple of days but he would just scream. I kept trying weekly with both expressed milk and formula and various make bottles but still wouldn't take it. We started him on solids at 20 weeks which he took to really well. After a couple of weeks of solids I thought I'd try the bottle again. It was formula, mid afternoon feed, and he just sat back & drank it with no crying or fuss!!! I was amazed! So I did the same the next day & again he took it & so I gradually swapped the daytime feeds for bottles. I planned to carry on doing the morning & night feed but one morning wheb he was about 6 months old, I had no milk left, so that was that! I'm hoping George will do the same except this time I haven't tried with a bottle for weeks. Also, the only brand bottle DS1 would take was NUK with a brown latex teat (I later switched to silicone when he was more used to the bottle, as the latex teats don't last very long). We did have quite a battle to get ds to give up his bottle at around 18mths, as he wouldn't drink from a cup, so as well as spending a small fortune on various bottles, we also have every shape and design of cup you can think of!!

Phew! That was a rather long post!

To all the breastfeeding mummies, you should all be so very proud of yourselves, for being determined and comitted to feeding your babies the way you wanted to, for however long you have chosen to or choose to. Breastfeeding has such a commercially 'right' feel to it, and conveys bondness, love and tenderness...and for all of the reasons we love to breastfeed, it is also hardwork. The only guilt you need to contend with is your own guilt....guilt that you don't even need to feel, because you've done, and are continuing to do, an amazing job....and your babies love you for ALL that you do, so if it's starting to have a negative impact on you, think about stopping, and if it's something you want to stop, I'm sure you will more than compensate in cuddles and play with your little cherubs. I know I personally feel less tugged at now I've completely stopped, but Jude is no less happier,nor enjoys his food any less...it didn't stop me feeling sad at the time, but now it was totally the right decision for me and Jude, and only I could make that decision. Don't listen to well meaning friends and family that blatantly tell you to stop (mostly my partner cuz he could see how tired I was with constantly feeding or expressing) , do it when you feel most ready, but when you do choose to stop, DO NOT FEEL BAD!!! Being a mummy is more than being a boob full of milk ;) xx

Princess you have made me cry (in a nice way) :).
Up five times between 1am and 6am this morning, twice with DD and three times with Alexander! Lots of coffee for me today I think...and a bit more rice for Alexander .

Cyber hugs sent your way Bettymum :) xx

Thanks for your lovely words Princess.

Bettymum I feel your pain! I was feeling very sorry for myself this morning as I was up three times between 2 and 7 and hadn't gone to bed until midnight as we had a friend over for dinner. I'm knackered but your night sounds even worse! Trying to hold off starting the baby rice until start if October as we're off to Eurodisney next thurs for weekend so want to wait until we're home. Hoping that the solids will make a difference to his sleep. He had been good at night until he hit 4 mths :(

Princess, what a lovely post. You are 100% correct.

zeeky and bettymum, I wish that I could e-mail you some energy . You both sound like you had a bad night.

mistymoo, Eilidh can only roll one way too. She did roll from her front to her back once but hasn't done it again.

Can I ask a personal question - is anyone on the mini pill? And if so, how do you feel? I started taking cerazette about 10 weeks ago and don't think its agreeing with me at all.

Hope you are all well.

Morning ladies, up three times last night (12,2,and 4) but I went to bed at 9pm so not feeling too bad this morning!
harverina, I had Cerazette after I had DD, since I could take it while BFing. I found it OK, but I do think it affected my libido, which went from small to minute. This time I am going to try the Mirena coil, I have had an initial appointment and swabs but I must phone and get the fitting appointment (one of the doctors at the surgery does it). Apparently the level of hormone that gets into your bloodstream is the equivalent of one mini pill a week. It is lower because it's releasing the hormone in the uterus, so it's more localised. You can keep them in for up to five years. It sounds promising, will let you know how it goes!

Hi all. We have a tooth here! This combined with taking solids and dropping the teatime nap means H is finally sleeping better and we were only up for 20mins last night Suddenly the feeding doesn't seem so bad and I'm going to see if I can work some zeekymagic with the bottle in a week or so and combine feed.

Princess thanks for your post and you are right. Sometimes it's your own inner voice that's the hardest to ignore.

Zeeky Thanks for the details. I'm crossing my fingers that it'll happen here. We have all the bottles too

Harverina I took the minipill after DD1 and disn't like it. I thought it affected my libido too (although I think it might be the Bf that does that) so I had the coppercoil fitted this time. Mind you, I'm pretty sure H is my last so a 10 year contraception is a good choice for me. Are you taking iron for your tiredness. Spatone is helping me again and H feeds that often during the day too.

Mistymoo Glad you had a good holiday. I see you're feeling the mummyguilt too though it sounds like he's happy so you shouldn't.

Bettymum Hope you have a good holiday and manage some rest.

DD1's birthday on Monday so we're having a Fancy Dress Toy Story party on Sunday. Eeek!

Just had George weighed and he has only put on 1oz in 3 weeks! Previously he was gaining about half a pound every fortnight so this is a big change. HV wasn't concerned as he is a big boy & put it down to him being a bit more active so burning more calories. I think he's ready for solids which is what's causing the waking in the night. He also seems quite disinterested in feeding during the day. Just have to wait until we have our eurodisney trip next week out of the way & then I can concentrate on starting solids & getting him to take a bottle.

neeko glad to hear things are better with H's sleep. Fingers crossed for the bottle feeding. I'm hoping George will start taking it in a couple of weeks.

morning ladies hope you had some better sleep last night.
Kacie now has a 2nd tooth and was awake through the night moaning about it. very sleepy this morning, dont know how you all do it every night i would be going insane. i cant function without sleep AT ALL! ha

zeeky hope you have a fab time on holiday. we've been to disney world twice with Ajay and we all loved it. im getting withdrawl just thinking about it now

harverina hope weaning starts well for you tomorrow

oh and congrats on the tooth and better sleep neeko

Morning all.

Does anyone have a rough guide about how quickly you move on to 2 solid meals and then 3 a day? I know I've done it twice before but I was just as confused then as I am now

J only woke once at 3.30 last night. That's a first for months so hopefully a sign of things to come.

Misty, I have Annabel Karmel's baby and toddler meal planner, worked really well for DD. In fact I have it next to me in preparation for starting with Alexander.
She says (in a nutshell):
Week 1 - one solid at lunchtime (and keep all milk feeds)
Week 2 - add a solid at breakfast
Week 3 - same
Week 4 - add solid at teatime, with water to drink at teatime but milk feeds at other times
Week 5 - drop milk feed at lunch (water/juice)
I found it a very good book, I know some people don't like her but I found it very helpful and the recipes are nice and easy to make.

Hi all. I jinxed it. Had a 3 hour wake again last night. Hopefully it's another tooth.

Nicnac Think the pint is we don't cope!

Mistymoo Sorry I'm not sure. H is taking solids twice a day but only in tiny amounts.

zeeky I'm having H weighed next week and expect a similar slowdown. Thank goodness. I'd like her to still be in 9-12 month clothes at Christmas or I'm going to get all out of season

Thanks Bettymum That sounds easy enough. I started with breakfast first and have been doing that for over a week so I could give another one now. Milk feeds here are random anyway so will go with the flow on that one .

Neeko J is already in lots of 9-12 month clothes and is only 5 months. He has thunder thighs and so even some trousers don't fit him even though they are too long.

i know what you mean misty i think i have been more confused this time with weaning than i ever was with ds. in the end i just went with the flow and changed when i felt she was ready for more. she was having breakfast and tea for a while and has just started having lunch as well this week. she has cut a bottle out now, which means she is going to bed after her tea time bottle at half 7 and we are not dream feeding her anymore.

her schedule is:
7 - get up
7.30 - 8oz bottle
10.00 - breakfast
1.00 - veg puree
2.30/3 - 8oz bottle
5/5.30 - veg puree and fruit puree
7 - 8oz bottle
7.30 - bed

it's probably completely wrong compared to what it is supposed to be but it works for her so i am happy with it for now.

Hi everyone hope you have that friday feeling ! Bettymum and Neeko I notice a huge difference in my libido with the mini pill. I'm not interested at all! Don't like feeling like that. I also feel my heart racing sometimes and have been getting headaches. I decided to stop taking it on thursday night so will get a docs appointment and think about what i'm going to do. I can't take anything with oestrogen because I have Obstetric cholestasis at then end of my pregnancy.
mistymoo I have the annabel karmel planner too. Her recipes look great and everyone could eat them. My mouth was watering just reading the book!

Today we were at a farmers market buying fruit and veg and eilidh tried melon, banana and pear. We had planned to start tomorrow but the stall holder handed us fruit for her so we just handed it to her as we are going to try baby led weaning anyway. She really enjoyed the pear and melon but wasn't as bothered with the banana! Babies are amazing!

Think its pretty normal for weight gain to slow down at this age. Getting eilidh weighed next wednesday.

mistymoo I like the sound if J's thunder thighs - all chubby and squeezable! Can't believe he is in 9-12 mth clothes. Still cramming George into 3-6mth ones at 5 mths. I hate moving up to the next size and having to pack the clothes away - makes me sad that my baby is growing up :( And also some stuff is barely worn so determined to get as much wear of it as possible. With the weather getting colder though I really must pack the shorts away & crack open DS1's jeans & jumpers. It feels like only yesterday that DS1 was wearing them [weeping emoticon]!

I have a 9-12 month clothe wearing baby as well!!!!! I call him my chubster, I reckon when winter really hits, I'm gonna get him a 12-18 month coat, so it fits over his clothes.
Jude eats pretty much the same as Nicnac, he gets up around 7ish, and has a breakfast, made with about 5oz milk, and I'll offer him a bottle of milk before his nap at around 9.30. Between 11.30-12.30, he has a dinner and a puding, with a beaker of water, maybe takes 2-3 ozs, he has a tea around 4.30-5ish, and I'll give him milk before bed at 7ish. His milk intake is really varied, sometimes he'll take 2 5oz bottles between 2pm and bedtime, sometimes he will only take 4 ozs.
I just let him lead me with food intake, he was weaned at 4 months, and back then (!!) some days he wouldn't take a breakfast, most days he would. Once he was having a breakfast every morning, I offered him a tea after around 2-3 weeks, and then a week later a dinner as well. It's only the last couple of days I've introduced a pudding as well....and he demolishes it!! (I did offer him a pudding with his tea, but the first night I did, he didn't take any milk before bed, and was restless, so in Jude's case it was better for him to have a pudding with dinner....until very soon I imagine!!)

harverina the lovely lentils in that book are really, really yummy, make extra when you get to that stage .
I gave Alexander lunch for the first time yesterday, I pureed a bunch of carrots we have lovingly and organically grown on the allotment. He had a few tastes but mostly turned up his nose and spat it out . Going to try sweet potato from the supermarket today.

A random question but is anyone on here from Plymouth?? x

nope blackpool here

No, I'm in the West of Scotland .

So, we started weaning this lunchtime. It went really well. Gave Eilidh carrot sticks, Pear slices, Broccoli florets and mashed sweet potato. She seemed to enjoy herself and was absolutely covered in food. She really went for it although alot of the food came back out! We had a few gags but she managed fine. I had been really scared about her choking but feel better now that we have started. Going to keep trying the baby led weaning and see how it goes...so far so good!

That's so cool Harverina...might give Jude a go at some pear slices..he likes it mashed so here's hoping!
The reason I ask about people in Plymouth, is I've lost my lil girl's best mate Bun, she's had him since birth, and although she still has one left, I'm terrified I'm going to lose him too, and plus she has realised that one has gone...I've even set up a group on facebook lol...long shot I know, and in reality I don't think he will be found..although we have always been really lucky here in Cov, but I couldn't not try. The things we do for our babies hey lol x