FEB 2010 No longer newborns!!

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

Three months and counting, everyone! Our babies are gradually getting the hang of the world...and we are gradually getting the hang of them...

Congratulations DrCC.
Hi all, I haven't post for ages. My DP was off work and hugged the computer at home, thanksfully he has found a new job, let's hope it lasts.
DD2 is a little buddha, and I too have a lot of creases to clean, Flyingcloud. Have you try the 2 fingers'deep bath and letting go the baby. she loves it and put her chin (sp?) up to look and smile at me, which give me free access to her neck's creases.
Also I have been lurking, ashamed to have such an easy baby! Sleeps through, naps during the day, easy to feed now that we are on FF, never cries unless she is hungry, smiles at everybody.
No turning here, but she is almost sitting unaided, like her sister did. She is just a bit jerky sometimes and dives to reach something, so I am keeping her close.
Mine too is off the charts, IC, but at the other end, which makes me have words with the peadiatrician who is convinced that I overfeed her, and give her something else than milk... GRRR.
I had to go to see a midwife privately several times to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong. I am sure I will have a knock of my confidence tomorrow when I go for the last vaccinations, and she will have put on more than "normal". Compare to other 4months I know, she does have a bit less milk but she is massive, looks like a 9 months baby!

Good luck to all those with problems I hope they will pass quickly.

Hi Mamaloca welcome back

I too have a baby with lots of creases but he is middle of the average for weight and bottom for height.

He takes 210ml four times a day in average (sometimes he drinks five, sometimes he doesn't finish the bottle)

Going for his jabs this afternoon and I'm not looking forward to them as I have blocked sinuses which give me a 'hangover headache'! I would have much prefered a real one ;)

it nice to see that we are emerging from the baby fog and that old and new people are joining us

Abs it wasn't just me then with the random long belly hair?! I discovered one quite early on in PG and had to pluck it out about 3 times over the whole 9 months - so weird!

Hi mamaloco, good to hear from you again! I'm sure your LO will lose all that chubbiness once she's moving around under her own steam. Lucky you having such an easygoing baby! Love the image of your DH hugging the computer...

Well, bit of a 'mare in Casa IC early this morning. DD seemed okay after her imms, if a little fussy before bedtime, so I gave her a bit of paracetamol and she went off to sleep pretty easily. Woke for a quick feed sometime after 11 and felt a bit warm, so I gave her a bit more paracetamol. Quick feed around 2, then she started getting fidgety at 05.15. She woke up a little later and took a feed. I was just on the point of putting her back down to sleep, when I had a sudden uncontrollable coughing fit which fully woke both her and DH up. Damn. She was now wide awake with no hope of getting her back down for a while.

I elected to change her nappy and while doing so realised she was still pretty hot. I took her temperature and it was up to 102. Yikes. After effects of the imms, no doubt, but I figured it was time to give her a bit more paracetamol to bring down the fever. Did so, but it had a catastrophic effect - she vomited copiously almost straight after swallowing it. Luckily most of it was caught in a muslin. At this point DH got grumpy, so I ordered him into the spare room to go back to sleep. I then tried to re-administer the paracetamol with slow gentle drops and some at least seemed to go down. I encouraged DD to take a feed to replace lost fluids from the vomiting, whereupon she vomited even more spectacularly, covering both of us.

This time I ran a lukewarm bath and sat in it with DD. She didn't cry the whole time, bless her - just seemed a bit dazed.

After that, I managed to get her to take a wee bit of milk from me, whereupon she slept for half an hour then woke and took some more milk and as I type is in a fidgety sleep beside me. She's still a bit hotter than usual, but cooler than she was so I think the fever's easing off now. Poor little thing. I'm hoping she'll just be a bit sleepy from now on and allow her tiny body to rest and recover from it all.

Meanwhile, every time I feel a cough coming on, I retreat into another room.

bethylou I feel even more sympathetic towards you (and all those with refluxy babies) - dealing with the vomit scenario is no fun, is it?

Meanwhile, if DD's sleepy through today, or DH sufficiently recovers from his lack of sleep to keep watch before he goes to work, I may be able to grab an hour's kip at some point. (more sympathy directed outwards considering this scenario with another LO to look after as well....)

Sorry, very long, just needed to share.

IC Poor you and poor little Rosie. It's such a shock when they do those enormous projectile vomits. I hope her temperature comes down and stays down.

mamaloco How lucky you are to have a baby that sleeps so well.

GF Good luck with the jabs, hope is ok afterwards.

I had to take A to have blood taken yesterday morning because he's been on the iron about a month and we want to see if his Hb levels have risen. It wasn't too bad, he cried while the needle was in but calmed down remarkably quickly. The phlebotomist was great but she had really long, chipped, dirty nails - and that's a real infection risk.

The last 3 nights have been crap sleep-wise. I couldn't get him off to sleep until gone 10, then he woke at midnight, 3.30 and 5. After feeding at 5 I kept him in bed with me and we slept until 8.

I don't get it because he slept so well on Saturday - from 9 until 5am.

I usually have fairly long walks most days and that's when he sleeps during the day - in the pram for an hour or so.

No rolling over in either direction here. He is trying really hard to speak though - we are sure he tries to say "hello". He likes shaking his rattle but tends to bash himself in the face with it! Lots of smiling and laughing out loud.

He's definately a morning person. Much happier earlier in the day. And much happier after a better night's sleep, so I hope these last 3 nights have been an aberration as he was doing so well with either one or two wakings before this.

Oohh - this may be way too much info here but I went for my first session of 'perineal re-education' yesterday. I had so been dreading it and was chattering away to the mid wife like a loon as she snapped on her gloves(she is so lovely). And - ahem - [smug emoticon] - my perineum does not need re-educating, it is as good as before.

Sorry that really was tmi! However she suggest I used my prescription (and therefore the state should pay towards it) to have some abdominal re-education! - is that telling my tummy over and over again that the quantities I ate during pregnancy are not acceptable and that at 15 weeks post birth it is not acceptable to be quite so wobbly?

Can someone return my baby please. I know one of you must have the real her, come on, who is it, own up?

CC you got a mini monster instead of your lovely DD?

DS just had his jabs and he did not like it but now seems to be fine lying on the floor sucking his thumb.

DS is getting some odd eating pattern as he sometimes wants to feed after 2.5 hours!!!

IC hope your DD is better today

IC, my DD2 (and DD1, come to that) hates paracetamol. She is sick everytime so much as a drop goes in her mouth. And there was me thinking that it would be a taste sensation after formula milk! I can't believe that I have two DDs that won't take paracetamol, but at least there is ibuprofen.

Hope she's better today.

Congrats DrC, you are an inspiration to us all (for the going out as well as the doctorate!).

Mamaloco, your LO sounds the same as mine, though mine is on the 9th centile. Am convinced I'm going to have to wean her before six months as she seems to be rapidly going off milk. Anyone else thinking about it yet?

Thanks for your good wishes, Everyone!

Well, DD's temperature went back up to 39 and she vomited again (a bit) so I sent DH to the pediatrican with her. The prescription? More paracetamol. I administered it very warily and although she obviously hates the taste (can't say I blame her), she swallowed a fair bit and there was no more vomiting, thankfully. Her temperature has come back down again and I'm keeping my fingers crossed we'll have no more repeats of this morning's drama. Shame I'm not allowed cough mixture while breastfeeding!

watercress, I think it must have been the paracetamol that caused the vomiting, although she's had it before with no ill-effects. I assume that means your DDs don't do Calpol, then? (main ingredient is paracetamol I think?)

DD has been remarkably cheerful today, I guess feeling feverish agrees with her (!) She's been feeding quite well and is now asleep, so fingers crossed for a calm night...

Hah, DrCC - she's getting her own back on you for daring to go out and have fun without her(!)

Rolling - well, DD managed to get over on her side twice the other night and looked very pleased with herself. Hasn't done it since, though - I'm keeping watch for when she remembers how to do it again.

at flyingcloud's educated perineum and (presumably) ill-educated abdomen!!Yours and mine can go in the dunce's corner together.

Great I got a chest infection again! So back on antibiotics.

I just need to remember that the contraceptive pill doesn't work with antibio; I don't want an accident to happen (or do I?)

DS had a good night after the jabs.

This afternoon we are going to the nursery to start the settling in sessions, actually this one is more paperwork orientated but it shows that back to work time is coming soon

watercress I have been advise by both 2 pead. and the midwife to start DD on veg (only) this week, because she does so well on milk (if she goes on like that she will be 2 m and 200 kg by 18 she was just above the charts last month, she is just completely off now) I will probably wait next week or 2 so she will be 18/19 weeks, since she was born at 37 weeks. but she did try to bite a banana I was passing to her sister, so she is interested. Also she is FF so the 6 months doesn't apply, If she was EBF they would have recommended to wait 6 months. they don't want her to fatten up too much on increasing quantities of milk. check with yours if your DS is on 9 th, they might recommend something else. a freind of mine have been recommended to start on non gluten cereals as her DD was so tall and skinny.
Gerneseyfrench the pead. seems to think that a 4 months old should not take more than 750 ml and my midwife think that after 6 kg they take 1/7th of their weight in milk. so very different advices. mine is somewhere in the middle (780 to 870 ml).
IC hope your DD is better.
DD had her 2 last jabs today. she did talk a lot to the doc afterward and complain, really cute. you could almost hear the words in the line "you shouldn't treat people like that." a bitgrumpy now, ans want to be in my harms, but with 29C in the shade it is not very confortable!

Gerneseyfrench hope you get better soon. and good luck for the settling at nursery

All fine again today, thanks! DD woke every couple of hours last night for a feed [knackered emoticon], but went straight back down again each time, so it felt like a better night, despite the frequent wakings.

And so, another week has gone by. Blimey.

IC Glad she is ok today, sorry about all the wakings though.

GF Get well soon, and hope the nursery settling in goes as well as possible. It must be such a wrench going back so soon.

Yesterday started feeding on a schedule rather than on demand now he is past 11 lb. Doing every 3 hours (sometimes slightly less if he is making it really obvious he is hungry) during the day and just whenever he wakes up at night. Had the first good night (good for us - no sleeping through yet) after 3 bad ones last night but I feel more tired today than I did after the crappy nights so I don't know how that works out. He slept 7 til midnight, half twelve til 3.45 then 4-6 and then I took him into bed with me and we dozed on and off until gone 8.

Visited my friend with 9 month old twins yesterday (one of each) - so cool seeing all the things they can do at that age - sitting up straight and crawling all over the place (also grabbing things and smashing them though!).

Poor you GF - I got a chest infection when I went back to work but didn't take anti-biotics as I was still bf. God I felt rough - you have my sympathies.

mamaloco - your DD sounds like mine, who is just 15 weeks. She was 6.5kg two weeks ago! She is on 530 ml a day at the moment and could easily take more, but she's not crying for it, so we're going to give her about ten more days/two weeks on 180ml per feed (except for the last one when she inhales 210ml in about five minutes).

I am starting to read up on weaning, but I want to hold off as long as possible. Over here (mama? GF?) they don't do baby rice but do ground cereals in the bottles instead. I have been told that she may need to start early on the cereals as she is such a petite gourmande but I would like to avoid wheat until at least 6 months. I have very mild IBS and it is definitely made worse with wheat so I don't want to expose her to cereals until absolutely necessary. I think weaning is very much under the guidance of the paed here and mine is great, so I will follow her advice, but I have bought the Gill Rapley BLW book so that at least I can go in a bit educated. I also have Annabel Karmel which was loaned to me by a friend.

That's what I really like about these threads - we're all at roughly the same stage of development give or take a few weeks - and some of us are doing the same things, some of us are doing different things, but we all have real-life experiences to share. I think the one thing I have learned so far about parenting, is that (and I speak for me here) I love learning about it all - I can read anything from GF (gasp!) to books on attachment parenting (don't have any but have read lots online). For me I don't really subscribe to one prescriptive method of parenting whether it's routine or completely au naturel back to basics, but I can learn lots of things about all those methods and ultimately use them to back up what I feel on instinct. The hardest thing about parenting is learning to trust your instincts - but if you love your baby and keep them warm, fed, dry and well-cuddled, then you'll do a good job.

Rather silly of me to post that, may come back to bite me on the (well-padded, equally un-educated) bottom...

Am starting to feel human again, amazing what sleep can do. LO decided she didn't want to sleep and was waking up every hour. I've had a poorly tummy since tuesday so don't know if its related (I had assumed at first it was nerves and then hangover related, but guessing not, almost feels like morning sickness, which it bloddy well better not) be. She's sleeping better at nite (not hard) but still waking frequently in the day. She also now seems to need a big fat cry before sleeping as well. Just trying to not get in the habbit of letting her sleep on me, which is hard as I feel she's a bit young for CC.

I know she's due for the 12 growth spurt, but atm she's not feeding when she wakes, just crying for 10mins before going back off. I've been bringing her into my bed after 4 just to get some more sleep.

I'm also pretty sure she has eczema, which is a bit of a blow but not entirely unexpected. In fact it was my main reason for breastfeeding as I had horrific eczema as a kid. Fingers crossed that she ends up with the normal mild infant kind. Currently trying aq. cream (had been using sudacream). Will see how we get on with that for a few days. Also since I'm a vegan, then I know it can't be a dairy thing.

Hello mamaloco glad your LO is doing so well, mines dropped to the 2nd but hopefully she'll stay there.

CC let's hope you jut have a bug. My DS was waking up in the middle of the night (from 2am til 4.30am) at least once and cried without eating, the only things which was settling him down was the dummy. This was from week 12 ish. The good news is that he now sleeps from 7pm til 4.30 when he crie, gets the dummy and sleeps again til 6 or 7am. Hopefully it may just be a phase.

mamaloco DS could for sure not take less but could take more than his 840ml/day.

FC As I live in the UK, I can get the baby cereals but I have seen the vegetable mix to be put into the night bottles while we were in France. Those are apparently a reason why French kids (including myself) sleep through quite early in life.

I also like this thread as it permits to see that I am not alone with the feeding/sleeping/behaviour problems...

I'm thinking of weaning soon (DS will be 17 weeks next Friday) as he doesn't consider himself to be full after his bottles. Will start with baby cereal and pureed veg until big enough to do finger food. I'm probably going to start a fight between early and later age weaning people...

Still here and completely exhausted after our recent stresses with DS2 (and now DS1 who seems to have unhelpfully picked up a tummy bug).

I have had DS1 at home all week for the first time as the child minder is away. I have had some help from my mum and SIL for a few hours but feel quite proud of the fact that I have at least survived!

IC Sounds like a scary intro to poorly kids - there's nothing like it for tugging on your heart [andpanic] strings! Glad to hear she is on the mend.

Despite our traumas recently, DS2 is also a podgy one (7.5kg and counting at 14 weeks..) and very smiley and chatty. One wonders what he would be like if he wasn't puking 15 times a day.

Saw a baby chiropractor again today and she felt that the paediatrician was wrong and that DS2 may well have sleep apnoea from her findings (although i'm obviously paying her to say what I think). Monitor is on at all times while he is asleep.

Welcome to new peeps and welcome back to those of you returning to us (yippee!) I'm so tired, I haven't got the energy to flick back and say it all individually - sorry.

Realised I always sound miserable, I'm not really

Being a mother def. brings you joys like no other. I find it amazing that you'll be near the end of/stepping slightly over the line of what you think you can handle and then BAM, they smile at you and it's alright again.

Made it to 12 weeks EBF today, feels nice when you have a achievement, new target 4months (first target 3days, then 2 weeks followed by 6 weeks). I naively thought pre-baby that you'd start to get things at some point, but you don't do you. Still woke up yesterday convinced I'd run out of milk (still kinda do, despite the rational part of my brain telling me to get a hold of myself/slap myself around the face)

Also its only three weeks until we fly, guess I should get round to starting to pack up the house.

Oh and IC how the hell do you do the arms half swaddled thing. I looked at the youtube clip and just don'tget it. And GF wean when you want to, I'm sure no-one here will have a go at you. If they do, I'll sort them out I've got four brothers and can fight dirty. Oh and Bethylou, 7.5kgs wow, we're still in 0-1month stuff and she wasn't even prem (though some of the 0-3 doesn't look too bad now). I personally think all her weight is in her clever head or not, you know, whatever.

CC She's still in 0-1 month, waou, I'm amazed! My DS is now in 3-6 month clothes but he eats like a little ogre!

Weather here is like winter, wind and rain.

Have a good Saturday

flyingcloud you are right, we all do our best anyway, and it might not be the same. It depends of culture, climate and mums and babies.
DD2 is 8.5 kg at 17 weeks a bit of a monster really, her "curve" is still going straight up, a bit worrying but far less that if she wasn't eating and was on a low %. It must be very hard to have to force food down your kids/baby on a long time basis. I had to do it for a short time with DD1, because she lost more than her 10% allowance after birth. it does passa fter a while (could be years though) so good luck.
For those who have troubles with naps, have you try putting them on their belly or side. DD1 couldn't nap or fall asleep at all, and it took me several months to realise that she was a belly sleeper. At 5 she is still sleeping with her bum in the air. I know it is not recommended, but we used to flip her once she was in deep sleep, untill she turn by herself.
DrCC well done for BF so long, I gave up entirely at 10/11 weeks. it was so nice to have a cuddle without any pain.
GF flyingcloud, I am in romania, not france but I am french and had my first baby in the UK, so I am mixing a lot of advices and make my mix. with the hindsight, some HV in the UK are really clueless and follow guidance too strightly. they made me feel very inadequate first time when things didn't work properly. but DD1 is fine and healthy. so I a much more relax with this one.
No baby rice here but same as france. The baby rice is vile anyway DD1 could never swallow it, even if she has been a great eater, which make me tasted it. Better start with carrots, or courgettes they are in season, and taste of something.
bethylou hope you can solve the apnea or not soon, and that you find help.

Poor ladies with chest infections, I feel for you. This cold has made me realise how much tougher mothering is if you're ill AND sleep deprived at the same time.

Oh, bethylou! I'm continually amazed at how you cope!

Awful night here last night - think I got maybe 2 hours sleep. She woke a lot, but didn't resettle easily a couple of times and then I had a tickly throat which kept me up. DD's having a lie-in now - which is great, because it's enabled me to have breakfast and stuff - but can I get back to sleep? Trouble is, I was a light and anxious sleeper before I became a Mum and now I'm ten times worse.
Anyway, enough grumbling. A week of worse sleep than usual tends to make things look a bit grim, even though they aren't really.

CC, your mother definition actually brought me to tears. Totally hit the nail on the head.

I love these threads too, GF and FC - so lovely to have an online support squad going through similar experiences as you!

CC arms up swaddle - yes, I haven't really done it successfully myself! I usually pass each side of the swaddle over DD's arms then under her back, then fold up the bottom, perhaps lightly folding it over her arms - that way her legs are fairly free and she isn't wrapped in too much fabric. She doesn't get her arms out as easily as the classic Dr Karp method (which also seems to make her a bit too hot now the weather's warmed up). I use the large Aden & Anais swaddle, which is a muslin sheet, but she still gets pretty sweaty in it.

CC I'm feeling particular fellow feeling with you, with our small, wakeful, doubtful feeding babies! Your approach to breastfeeding mirrors mine exactly.

Hi everyone waves I'm changing my name as my bump is finally reducing!

Sorry to hear about your LO's breathing problems Bethylou, what a worry (hug).

DS is rolling onto his left side all the time and wants to go onto his tummy himself but can't quite make it - cue frustrated crying! He'll get the hang of it soon I'm sure. He has also developed a love of 'London Bridge' so now I have looked up loads more verses and he joins in a bit, so cute! Plus the other day he let me cut his nails while he was awake while I sang to him, well sang is probably a generous description, lol.

Thank heavens it's a bank holiday weekend and I'll have some help. Me & DH have both been hit by a nasty cold bug thing. Lots of night sweats, shivers, snot and now lungsfull of phlegm. Yuck. It's so hard when you're ill to be a Mum as well, but I have managed. I think it reduced my milk as I was so run down, I'm glad I have some frozen BM for backup...

DS had the bug before us but amazingly didn't seem too badly affected. He woke a lot and fed every hour for a while but if you have a sore throat/cough that's exactly what you want to do. I ended up taking him to the docs (I thought he might be a bit wheezy) and the doc said he is the picture of health. The snotsucker got used a lot though!

He is the same size as some of the 6 week olds at the baby group, I worried about it for a bit but he's healthy and happy so not worth the effort fretting. I can't believe he'll 16 weeks on monday!

Not really thinking about solids here yet. It's so easy to BF now we've got that sorted that we'll just do that for a bit longer. Looking forward to hearing what everyone else does though!

Sunny x

OOps forgot to say, very impressed with the Viva and becoming a Doc CC, but most impressed at the vodka shots, good on ya!