July 2005 babies

[AussieSim]

Welcome all those with fresh new babies. Oh the joys and tribulations. Post the lot here!

I hope I haven't overlooked a previous thread here for us. Anyway, here goes.

DS2 was due 3 July but arrived 29 June, 9lb 6oz. He has been growing nicely and is 4 weeks old today. I am breastfeeding and have already had mastitis and thrush but am pushing on with it. Biggest problem is sometimes he sleeps too long in the day and then wakes up a lot in the night, not that he stays awake for long, just long enough to feed and go back to sleep. The Midwife says that I shouldn't worry about his lack of wakefulness for the moment in the absence of any other issues, and to see how he is going around the 6 week mark. She also said I should wake him up during the day, which I have been reluctant to do, but I think I will have to do. Anyone else got an overly sleepy baby who doesn't seem to be growing out of it quickly enough?

Hi Aussiesim, I was just thinking the other day how we seem to have lost some people along the way - glad to see you posting. Very about all that sleeping through though, ds2 is definitely not doing that!

Ooh, HC buggysnuggle sounds nice. I am tempted to see if I can get a matching hat for ours - will now have to go and check out ebay!

Harriet at Go ahead biscuits! I had good intentions this week but they have gone out of the window! DS1 is 5 tomorrow and I have bought a birthday cake from M&S this morning .

Mrsd, did you get my e-mail?

ds2 is currently demolishing a toy arch which is attached to his bouncy chair - it is his favourite activity at the moment, although I wonder if he is getting a little bored of it now. Keep thinking I should buy him something new to play with but the living room floor is starting to look like the toy dept at mothercare which is putting me off slightly!

Hi Aussiesim, good to see you

Bagpuss - yes, I got yout e-mail - thanks for getting in touch. I'll look at the map too and get some ideas.

My parcel frenzy continues: ebay baby clothes yesterday and Monday, 2 presents for DD today!

What is a go ahead bar? Am I missing a new sort of chocolate?

I caved in and asked my hypnotherapist friend if he would de-chocolate me and he asked if I could hold on until they have taken a promotional picture of my happy face stuffing itself with chocolate . I don't know if he was joking or not but I'm too embarassed to ask.

go ahead are healthy mrsd, that's all i know about them...

both children have stomach cramps. arrrrrrggggghhhhhhh. poor them & poor us. at least ds can tell us what's wrong, poor dd is just intermittantly inconsolable. both are dosed up with calpol, ds is in our bed & dd is attached to me. oh god, it's going to be a loooooooooong night.

did you survive HC? xx

Hope your family are OK HC.

Got some very bad news to post I'm afraid.... According to an article in a Boots Parenting magazine breastfeeding doesn't burn up any extra calories - it in fact slows down the metabalism. Could this be true?

That's probably true belo 'cos I'm still a lard arse .

HC, sympathies re the stomach cramps - dd was up in the night as she was sick and she is still complaining of her tummy aches now. I have a mountain of washing to do as she managed to cover her whole bed it seems and the place stinks of neutradol. Ah well, the joys of parenthood hey!

On a lighter note, ds1 is having a fab birthday and was dressed as a mini darth vader by 7.30 this morning .

blimey bp - mini darth? you cld be in weird position of a toddler rasping '>I< am your father' at you

belo ihave my fingers in my ears at that news. not what i need to hear

rainy day in london, took the young man for his second imms earlier so now he's a bit downturned around the mouth and will be achy tonight. poor thing.

am aching all over myself with usual aches, and also my head hurts thinking about my poor dad who called last night to tell me he's having a heart by-pass before christmas. only 60, super healthy lifestyle, never smoked, doesn't drink much, walks loads and eats a superbly healthy diet for the last 20 years since he was told he had high levels, but still his arteries clogged right up with cholesterol. he knew things were wrong since feb but kept it quiet while on meds to spare us the worry while I was pg. god love him.

extra pleased we called Vin Vincent now, as he says having a grandson named for him makes him feel quite serene about this health scare.

ya boo sucks though

Merryberry, my father had a bypass a year ago and his health was terrible - chronic bronchitis, asthma, smoked for 50 years, depressed......and although it's serious surgery he sailed through it. I understand your worry though.

Hope all the peaky children feel better soon.

I'm not listening I'm not listening....breastfeeding MUST eat up calories. It must it must.

LOVE the mini Darth Vader thing! At the moment when I want DS1 to do something I hiss "it is your dessssstiny..."!

both of them slept all night, so much for my fears. both fine this morning, so ds is at nursery & dd & i have been to covent garden for coffee (shockingly i didn't feel like shopping. strange....).

sorry to hear about your dad, mb, hope all goes well. hope your ds1 continues to have a good birthday bagpuss. ds isn't really into starwars yet, i'm sure it'll come.

both our buggies seem to have died which is unfortunate. i'm haunting ebay again...

I'm one of the people that hasn't posted for a while but have been rather busy with ds1 starting school and generally just enjoying ds2!

I don't want to believe that bf does not burn extra calories - after an initial 2 stone weight loss after having Harry I now seem to stay the same weight - less that before I was pregnant but I really need to tone up those saggy bits!

I have a question for you all. Is it ok to put a three month old in a growbag type sleeping bag - the HV said that due to cot death fears it is not advisable until 6 months - due to the air not circulating properly? Why do they sell them for 0-6 months then? She wasn't my usual HV and didn't seem to be particularly keen on babies - couldn't wait to hand Harry back to me as he had just filled his nappy! She looked quite horrified and disgusted! She was just one of these women who didn't seem to be enjoying her job. Took both boys for their jabs yesterday (Harry's 2nd lot), ds1's pre school ones. So had 2 crying children to contend with yesterday!

Merryberry: Sorry to hear the news about your Dad. He sounds like he is chuffed to bits
with little Vin! Wishing him well for his op.

Hope all poorly kids feeling better. Since ds1 started school he brings home all manner of illnesses to share with us!

Off to have a peaceful shower as ds1 is out with dh and ds2 is fast asleep!

Happy weekend!

xx

thanks ww05, very much, and all of your kind comments.

grobags are supposed to be safer for babies than sheets aren't they? vin has been in grobags since the weather cooled. before that he was just in onesies. he is snug, feels safe and it sure makes him easy to handle when we're travelling! xx

dd has been in her sleeping bag for a while now webwoman, though i don't put her in it every night as our house is quite hot. her hands do get cold when she's in it though, don't know what to do about that. i'd ignore the strange health visitor if i were you!

my cow print buggy snuggle has arrived, yay. just need the weather to cool down now.... still haven't resolved our buggy problem, can't carry on using the sling, it's really doing my back in. my parents are on holiday in the states atm so i've sent them to look for mountain buggies as they're half the price over there. i live in hope!

Hi WW05! Glad things are going well.
I love grobags. The instructions say use from 10lbs. I've never heard that they aren't safe and also understood they were safer than blankets.

hi all,

dd continues to sleep from about 9ish till 7ish (WOW), with repeated dummy insertions to keep her calm and sleeping between 5 and 7M. Unusually, v. moody tonight though - perhaps the second set of jabs a few days ago ? Ho hum...

I think grobags are OK from 6 weeks / 10 lbs (or was it 8 ?). We like them althought they do get cold hands. We sometimes give dd little mittens ! You can also get a new born size (ie. not the generic '0-6 months' ITH).

hc: We ordered our Mountain Buggy from these people in the States. Very attentive but we had problems with the importer waiting for shipment and then (the importer) being dense... The importer (Sycamore Kids ) also sell direct and this may at least improve comms. HTH. Great buggies BTW.

We're also in the market for a buggy snuggle... whadyareckon ? butterfly or flower

mb: Hope big Vin's doing OK.

We're contemplating a long break away this Winter with the in-laws. We'd visit dw's Grandma in Houston, Texas, with her mum (a 4 generation photo would be lovely for Great Granny to look at - she's got Alzheimers so might not remember our visit after we're gone IYSWIM) and then go to San Diego and see my cousin (who has a dd of 2). Maybe stay for one month or so, avoiding the worst of the cold / ice / grey / flu etc.... Seems like it's too good and too rare an opportunity to miss. I can do computer work from anywhere. My preferred location is a tropical island with a maiden attending to my stiff shoulders.

...and only yr stiff shoulders h2d? >grin< san diego is lovely i hear.

we vote (mum and me) for the butterfly.

vin's fine ta

hi again,
best wishes for your Dad, merryberry.
hub- I think the flowers but i would as dd and I live in pink! Although someone did ask the other day what 'his' name was, even though she was head to toe in pink.... very strange.
MrsD- I am so impressed that you didn't know what go-ahead biscuits were- there speaks a true chocoholic, no regard for anything but the real thing!
I had a relapse last night and ate a twirl and a bounty.. in the bath... it was fabulous!
dd had her second lot of jabs this week too, it was very traumatic for all of us. However, she is now 6.5kg so is turning into megababy, she is now in 3-6 month clothes and is plump and gorgeous.
I am now having to think about going back to work and am dreading it- I don't want to be parted from my girl at all!

ok, ok, mb... she can rub my stiff pre-arthritic fingers too, LOL.

Hmm... one vote for the butterfly, and one for the flower... we do have a bit of a butterfly thing in our house (paintings, dd's nursery etc.)... and dd is totally, blissfully PINK btw, LOL... maybe a neutral unisex one would be more 'sensible'

pmsl @ chocies in the bath, Harriett ...oooh gotta love COLD bounty bars. We've had M&S choc chip cookies in bed this AM. Yummy.

mb - I think we are doing the walk to Hampstead thing again this AM. Maybe lunch in Dim T, as always, if you're gonna be there...

change of plans: Kenwood. Most of North London will be there with their Bugaboos. Do wave at any blue MB Terrains you see.

I vote for the flower. The purple one reminds me of some scary parents in the playground who I think are vampires.

When are you going back to work Harriett?

Hub, DS1 and I spent 2 months in the US when he was 2 - 4 months old. It was fab.

Where did you hang out, mrsd ? I'm trying to figure out if we'll get bored stiff staying one month in San Diego, even with close family there IYSWIM...we can do day / weekend trips around San Diego... but I'm wondering if we should plan on checking out a few other places - Portland, Oregon (though bad Winters), some of Florida etc. etc. hmmm maybe get a round the world to take in some sun in NZ or Aus ???

These are current playground parents!
Never been to San Diego so don't know what it's like. My rellies are in the Bay Area so plenty to do!

I vote for the pink flower one hub . But then I bought a very sensible charcoal paw print one from John Lewis for dd so what do I know.

Sorry to hear about your dad Merryberry. My dad (who coincidentally shares his name with ds1 also) had a heart valve replacement last year and that was a very worrying time. ds1 thinks it is great though that his grandpa has a lovely zip down his front the same as he does!

HC, blimey, the eternal pram conundrum! We finally bought a Maclaren Techno Classic for ds2 from Glasgow Pram Centre last month. It was £50 cheaper than Mothercare so a bargain. Service is also very prompt there I've found. I know what you mean about carrying for any length of time though. I had good intentions to use my sling for nipping from the car into school but have found it too much of a faff, hence the buggy. Shopping expeditions have also been transformed as my three wheeler always gets stuck in between things as the back wheels are so wide (then again that could be down to the driver ).

Webwoman, we have used a growbag since ds2 was 6 weeks old. We co-sleep and find it is the best thing for him although I also have the cold hand dilemma and neither the 1 tog or 2.5 tog are quite right for our room - I need one in the middle! I just use a sleepsuit underneath as a vest is too tight over his cloth nappies.

Hi Harriett and Mrsd .

All is well here - ds2 just asleep in his car seat after a visit to the in-laws. I am getting increasingly fed up with putting together star wars lego models and dh has wisely retreated to the garden to mow the lawn.

Sorry Hub, just realised my post makes no sense whatsoever! I'm not sure if a more coherent post will be any more useful though.

When DS1 and I were in the US it was lovely crisp winter weather (Feb - April) so we went for lots of walks. The US is really good for wheel-friendly trails so we managed well with just the sling and a bog-standard buggy. Just make sure you have shoes/boots with a really good grip so if she is in the sling you don't worry about slipping. I also borrowed a huge coat that I could button over the sling if it was really cold. My MiL very kindly bought a car seat and buggy so we didn't have to lug them over with us.

DS1 was so young (a few months younger than Camille will be when you go) that he was happy to be lugged around with us - we didn't really do any specific baby activities. We did what we usually do when we go there: walk/hike, eat, shop, hang out with relatives . DH came out with us for the first few weeks, then went back to the UK for a month, then came out again for a week or so.

It was very relaxing to be away from home and able to just cuddle DS1 without any domestic obligations. He was a very stroppy and vomitty little blighter so I probably would have gone crazy in a small flat with him during UK monsoon season