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!

Thank you all for your lovely comments about my ds1. I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

what a lovely boy misty i can only hope mine will be as good.

big christmas fan here too. i put my decs up the weekend before the 1st i just cant hang on any longer usually. been wrapping my presents this last week too. i think Kacie is going to like her first christmas a lot more than Ajay did as she is soooooooo nosy and grabby she'll love all the paper and boxes and attention. i think Ajay will really enjoy helping her open her presents too, as well as his own of course!

Kacie can sit for brief periods then sees something she wants out of reach and topples over making a grab for it. she has the ability to do it she doesnt doesnt have the sense yet that she cant be so grabby whilst trying to balance.

harverina men can be so thoughtless and they are not even right with the things they come out with, they just think they are. dont let it get to you they have no idea how much we do as mums as they can be so clueless.

Hello, not been on for ages, it just seems so hectic all the time!
Alexander's second tooth is just peeking through, he's testing it out on a cucumber stick :). He's sitting up brilliantly, I think he's trying to crawl but we have wood floors and he just slips and spins around. It's a bit easier upstairs on the carpet but I think he'll be a while yet. Going to get him weighed today, he's eating well but he's still up a lot in the night, three times last night. I think he just wants the cuddles really :).

Well, out the other side of the most recent tummy bug to hit the household. Still not having the best of nights with DS though. Just won't settle sometimes and gets himself so irate about it. Anyway, at least there's no more vomit to be clearing up in the middle of the night. For the time being, at least!

He's having a monster nap right now... been going for over two hours and not a peep from his room... Sometimes I wish I could see into the future as I would have made sure I capitalised on this time to sleep, rather than eat, sort out the washing, etc, etc!

at Alexander's teeth coming through, bettymum. I'm sure most, if not all, of our issues with DS are to do with teeth so I'll start to feel some relief when they finally show their sorry white peaks.

haverina, hope things are continuing to be peaceful at your house after recent 'glitch'.

Ooo, and had a little recipe tip to share. Made a nice oven bake pasta recently, which I gave to DD as it was and blended for DS. Just boil up some pasta shapes, sling in some tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, garlic (or paste), basil, grounded pepper, ham and frozen peas, mix it around in the pan, then spoon it into an oven dish, blob on a tub of ricotta cheese in a randon manner and top with grated mozzarella. Sling it in the oven until the cheese browns to your taste. Yum.

Hi everyone,

sayitwithme glad to hear your getting over the tummy bug. Things are great now at home, thank goodness.

I am a HUGE christmas fan too. Cant wait to get decorations up, although we dont have alot of room for a tree in my small living room so trying to think of an alternative this year until we move house. Maybe a fiber optic tree or a tiny real one? I have already bought Eilidh her christmas pj's for christmas eve and christmas night! Today I also bought her a christmas dressing gown and slipper set from Asda...very indulgent, will have to hide it from DH as he will say it is a waste of money!

Had a lovely night out on Saturday night with some old uni friends. Had a lovely meal and cocktails. Home for 1am and had a lovely long lie as had expressed milk for DH to feed Eilidh during the night and in the morning. Bliss

zeeky, hope you had fun shopping for xmas decorations!

Eilidh is napping just now. We had a really busy day today and she missed her morning nap so she is shattered. We have started going to a baby/toddler group and we had a lovely time at it today.

Hope you are all well and surviving despite sleep deprivation.

Stinky, havent heard from you for a while. Hope work is going ok.

Had a much better night with George last night - he woke at 11 and then not again until 5!!! He hasn't done that since August!!! Fingers crossed that he does the same tonight.

Crimbo decoration shopping was great. We have a fab garden centre near us which puts on a really lovely Christmas display. They have real reindeer there at Santa's grotto from end of Nov so will def be taking DS1 there then - he is very into Christmas this year (3 & half). Can't wait to put our decorations up. They usually go up first weekend of December but have been known to go up in Nov! It's quite a lot of work putting them all up so may as well make the most of them. DH said his parents wouldn't let them have the tree up until Christmas Eve and then would take it down a couple if days after Christmas - there's hardly any point in putting it up at all, and they don't actually bother with the decorations anymore (is it any wonder I've never wanted to spend a Christmas at their house??? But that's a whole other story!)

Right, that's enough rambling from me - time for sleep.

Been doing some cooking for George for the freezer - chicken casserole, braised beef & plaice with carrot & orange. Let's hope he likes them! Also was naughty and made some scones & had a couple with jam & loads of clotted cream at tea time

Oops looks like my post got a bit muddled up. The bit about going to sleep was supposed to be at the end! The hazards if posting from my phone!

Hi All.

We've had two very disturbed nights here, I do hope that tonight will be better as I'm getting rather short tempered :(

On the plus side J has learnt to crawl forward and sit up on his own after being on his tummy. He mastered these today. There will be no stopping him now. He already pulls himself to standing in the bath on his own.

DS had mince and tatties for tea tonight and loved it so I have plenty in the freezer for him. It was great just giving him what we were having.

Zeeky your scones sound lovely, any left?

Hi everyone,

Had a hard couple of days as DD has had a D&V bug. Started on Tuesday, she was quite sicky all day then had a high temp on Wednesday. She seems a bit better this morning. I have to admit I kept thinking the worst and checking for rashes etc...its the first time that she has been properly unwell with a temperature and I was being pretty irrational

I am still doing weight watchers and was delighted when I went to get weighed on Wednesday...lost 4lbs yay! Actually started 4 weeks ago but just couldnt motive myself. Feeling motivated now. Want to feel a bit better about myself. Have zero confidence at the moment in how I look and don't like feeling like this.

zeeky your recipes sound lovely. I did some cooking last week - mince and potatoes, salmon with tomatoes and carrotts, cod with sweet potato and orange, veg soup. Made some carrott and coriander soup yesterday too.

Are we allowed to use bisto granules? I havent so far and just wondered if they are suitable for babies...I am being very lazy asking this as have not even checked the packet yet to see whats in them!

Yawn, feeling very tired today. Staying close to home as EIlidh's tummy still a bit upset and she just isnt herself. Her temp seems to be back to normal so think that I will take her out for a walk today.

Hope you are all well.

P.s Neeko, have you gone back to work??

Haverina I would have thought that bisto would have too much salt in for babies. I think Heinz or one of the other baby food manufacturers do pouches of gravy specially for babies.

mistymoo still got a couple of scones left. Been having one every afternoon

Fu*king D&V.....

P.S. A friend of mine swears by the Heinz Baby Stock Cubes. Haven't tried them yet but will be adding them to my shopping list.

When I next get to see the land of the living that is.

Harumph.

Eilidh, you have my every sympathy.

Hi everyone..I give gravy to Jude(although not more than a couple of meals per week)..he eats basically every thing home made that we eat. I must admit that I'm a hell of a lot more laid back/lazy than I was with DD1..I also don't worry too much about variety of foods he eats..I give him onion/peppers in his food to add flavour, I would never have done that with DD..he had steak in gravy the other night, and last Sunday a lamb roast dinner..he loves his food!! I think definitely if you're not sure or not feeling confident about certain sauces, then deffo stick to the baby pouches..you get so many for them so they can still eat the same as us at mealtimes, but a baby friendly version. (If anybody knows that a baby of 8 months should definitely not be eating gravy, please say!!)
He's sitting up loads better now, and for a non crawler can get around the room..even if he does go backwards when he's trying to get forwards!!
In the next couple of days he is moving into his big sister's room...still not sleeping through the night..I think I'm setting myself up for hardship!!!!! x

Ok..I've been googling and googling, and have now decided to use chicken stock cubes on majority of Jude's Sunday dinners..although he will still be eating the odd bowl of Granny's stew! x

Hi everyone,
I'm afraid EIlidh cant have the baby stock cubes as they say on the pcket "may contain egg"...do they or dont they!!! Its so annoying when things say that.
Just phoned NHS24. Eilidh seemed better today. Still had a runny bum but no sickness and temp seemed to be back to normal. She went to bed at 8pm after a tiny feed and woke up at 9.30pm. I thought that she felf quite cold to toush and took her temp. It was 35 degrees. Got a fright so phoned NHS (after scaring myself online) and they said that 35-37 is normal and not to worry if she is otherwise ok. She had fallen asleep at that point and wouldnt waken up - this of course made me panic. She did, of course wkane up when we went to change her nappy and was fine but I was shaking like a leaf. I need to calm donw

*cold to touch, sorry!

sayitwithme, sope your feeling better soon x

Hi all,

Hope all sickness is passed - poor things.

Well, I have survived 3 weeks back at work. Team relations improving slowly.

Breast-feeding proving difficult to sustain. Feeding Boo morning and night, plus weekends, expressing at work, but have gone from producing 250mls to 60mls a day - stress related I am sure. Occupational Health provide fridges for BM storage, but have still not delivered one - apparently I am the only person to have asked for one which I think is really sad.

I am entitled to breaks to express, but invariably there is a meeting or something going on, or piles of paperwork to complete. I know I should prioritize my child, but it is hard as I still have a full caseload, and our jobs are under threat, so I need to excel.

I am thinking of starting to give her formula in the day and feed her am and pm, but do not want to be forced to do this by failings in the system, and I cry whenever I think of giving her formula (something I feel very strongly about for my personal situation - not being judgy-pants about anyone else's choices)

I have some frozen, but that is rapidly disappearing.

I am very of SAHMs

Hi everyone,

E is much better today thank goodness. We had a difficult night last night. After waking up at half 9 she was up unsettled till almost 1am then back up at 2.30am Today she seems almost back to normal though and teeth don't seem to be bothering her too much, so thats good.

Sorry to hear that you are struggling with breastfeeding now that you are back at work stinkypinky. Like you, I feel very strongly about breastfeeding, but as you say, I do not judge other people who don't or can't breastfeed at all, its just something that I have grown to love and I hope to do it until Eilidh self weans. I am not going back to work until next April/May...taking the full year plus annual leave. It's a decision that my DH and I made after Eilidh was born, although TBH we can't really afford to be living on one wage...anyway (how much do I ramble!) because I am not going back to work till Eilidh is at least 1 years old, I should hopefully be able to continue to breastfeed then cut down to morning an night. Not sure what my works policy is re: expressing, although I work for the local authority so I assume it will be similar to NHS, although I can't imagine having enough time to express given the caseload that I have!

Stinky, you sound like you are in a really difficult situation - you want to do well at work and keep your job but you also want to keep feeding. Are you expressing in the evenings and at weekends? I used to be able to express lots too but now that Eilidh is on solids I struggle to get enough to go out for any length of time. I have found that if I express at the same time every day, my supply does get better. How long are you away from her during the day? I suppose the only solution is for you to make sure that you get the expressing breaks that you are entitled to...or at least have them at the same time each day to maximise your ability to express? Sorry, this probably isnt great advice

Hope everyone is having a good weekend

harverina you are right about doing it at the same time each day... I was so confident at first as I was getting so much out - more than she needed, but it has just waned.
Had a good long chat with DH tonight, and we have decided that if the frozen stuff runs out, then she can have the odd FF, but he thinks if I stop worrying about hitting targets, things will start to flow again (literally). I will continue to express in morning and evening, and see how it goes at lunch time - just aim for the lunch expressing, and drop one bottle during the day - she had me today and was just not interested in feeding mid afternoon, so therefore could go without that bottle in the week. Apparently she just plays with it anyway of late, so she will have a snack instead.
I figure if I feed twice a day, I will be able to continue longer, which in the long run will be better for her.

Hope tonight is better for you

Hi stinky, that sounds like a good plan that you have worked out. Hope that you are feeling better about things now. If she is not that interested in her afternoon feed it sounds like she might be ready to drop it. How many times a day is she feeding now? Eilidh is feeding 3-4 times most days. Some feeds are very very short though.

I would just feed her when you see her, express at lunchtime and relax about it like your DH says. You may find that formula isnt necessary, but even if it is, its likely only to be one feed during the day. You have done great to feed her for so long and you will be continuing to breastfeed her anyway so she will still be getting all your lovely milk with all the lovely antibodies anyway. And you will still experience the closeness with her at what IME/IMO, are rhe best feeds of the day - I love the early morning and nightime feeds.

So far so good. E was in bed at 8pm and hasnt woken...fingers crossed we will only have one wakening tonight!

I'm away to have a choc pudding mmmmm, night all

stinky, sorry to post again, just have a quick question - does your DD "demand" feeds like before? I find that Eilidh really only demands feeds in the morning and at night after her bath - in between I tend to offer her a feed midmorning and mid afternoon before her naps (yes I admit it, I feed to sleep !) I'm just asking as I wonder if E is ready to drop a feed.

Thank you harverina, I am feeling much better about things now, and never apologize for posting

Billie feeds 3-4 times a day too. She is like a crocodile in the morning as she usually sleeps through (very lucky mummy emoticon) and I then feed her after her naps - about 11 am and 3pm - sometimes she just has a nibble, and then she always has a good feed at night, usually to sleep, although often wakens with wind. Sometimes she asks for a snack too, with an open mouth, oggling my boobies. She is well established on solids, and has water from a doidy cup. She is 7 months today.

I hope to feed her to 2 years, deffo 1, but apparently 2 is optimum from an immunity aspect.

How was your chocolate pudding night?

Stinkypinky our night was quite good. One wakening at 2.30am. Brought her into bed with us and fed lying down, half asleep. Made the mistake of going to bed late at 1am so i'm tired today. I'm hoping to feed till eilidh is at least 2 aswell, although like you, if we got to 1 that would be great. I sometimes can't believe we have made it to 7 months. Eilidh is well established on solids now too. 3 meals per day, main meal at lunchtime (3 courses ). Do you give billie snacks?
Went christmas shopping today with my sister. Eilidh stayed at home with her dad. I left 9 oz but she only drank 6 oz all day and hardly touched her lunch. Wonder if her tummy is still a bit upset from the bug? Managed to get lots of presents so i'm pleased. Went to the Debenhams christmas event and got a few bargains.

Hope you are all well.