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[BonzoDoodah]

Hi All
If you're over "that age" and want to chat to similar mums - join us here for gossip, slander, oggling, dieting, cake, chocolate and more ... get on here and join in hte gossip .. we don't hang round ...

Tee hope you got the last minute things you were after. Really exciting that you are well into the countdown now! All the best for Thursday! Lovely nursery too.

JW nice article on Daphne! I love the ending "if you would like to meet Daphne for her open day" I'm not tempted at all

Tee if you haven't gone shopping yet get some facial wipes for after the cs, I remember not being able to get out of bed with a very greasy face which looked awful on the photos

JJ strangley enough we have tigers in the village, no shop ! but a wildlife park ..how useful!

DH is at the school helping do DIY (I hope they are well insured! DIY is not his favorite thing) and B and i are playing Star Wars ganmes ..fun fun fun

Sounds like a nice saturday there, hedgepig

I'm not really tempted by having Daphne over for the local school fete either.

I'm listening to muted sounds of Oasis who are now doing their gig at Heaton Park (in the pouring rain and it's cold too). I went down near to the park where they are this morning and thought it was a bit early for the parking people to be out....but seems they've already started playing! Maybe they have somewhere nicer to go to tonight so they're getting it over and done with early on

Me? I've had a nice journey out to the library for some books on card making. I ordered my lightbox y'day so ready to start

Ah! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nope, it's a screaming child upstairs. Must away

tee hi where is the photo of your nursery? i would love to see it

Tee's Nursery

There ya go, heron!1

morning all

tee I love your nursery! you must be such an organised person. At this stage I was just about getting my head around buying a few vests and the buggy and cot were in boxes at D's grandparents'.

D is much better and we didn't have too much coughing last night. His top teeth are well out now so he will soon have a very toothy grin!

We were planning to have a long walk by the river today and take him to pizza express for his first lunch out -its piddling down of course so not sure what to do yet. Might just go for it anyway!

tee thanks, ah your nursery is lovely all the best on thurs. i had 2 planned sections and it was all peaceful and calm. well, every one else was calm, i was rocking on the inside !

DS1 is all bored cos he has got a bad cough and i did not let him go to a birthday party. do not want bad cough to turn nasty and need anti biotics! also, we are all off to centreparc longleat for a week on fri! YAY! this will be our first hol as family of 4!

OOoh heron let me know how you get on with Cetre Parcs as DH doesn't like my idea of a family villa next year and is firmly sticking with the CP's idea.

mrsb I'd skip the walk and and head straight to PE. Weather not brilliant unless you're a duck. I'm just toying with the idea of an Ikea trip. Don't need much tbh but it's a change of scene. I know I'll end up with stuff I don't need if I go......ah well

jw what do you mean by "CP's idea" ?

I meant Centre Parc's idea heron

I'm in need of a lie down. Just had a full blown row in the Ikea car park with some fat bastard man in his 4x4 who wouldn't give way even though he was in the wrong. His wife sat there cringing in the passenger seat.

DH has had the cricket on all afternoon.

goes off to stick her head in the oven

jw i love cricket! been watching it all afternoon watched it last night as well.

sorry about your run in at the car park. it is horrible isnt it? that is what i hate about driving. other drivers!

i will definitely let you know how our CP trip goes!

heron I really can't abide cricket. Nor snooker...or quite possibly any other sport that DH has on (he'll watch anything that is remotely in the sports genre).

It is other drivers but I didn't handle the situation very well. I should have, on reflection, remained calm. Easy when said after the event.

Really struggling getting K to sleep these days. She's fine once she's off but getting her there is requiring more inventive methods each day.

Anyway, just finished building the storage drawers I bought from Ikea. I got different drawer sizes/colours. I've had to get something for her nappy paraphernalia as I'm going to sell the changing station this week. I dare not put her up there now she can roll.

I'm really looking forward to Michael MacIntyre tonight on Beeb 1. I was going to get a curry for us both too as a treat but I've decided that I need to get my head down and seriously shift the last bits to get to my 'normal' BMI. I've only got another 5lbs to go to reach it. After this I can throw in the odd treat.

jw wow another 5 lbs.! i wish i was that close. i have another 10kg! sob!

jw those drawers look good ! i still got the changing table, as LO is only 4.5 months old. but lately he managed to turn over just once. have not dared leave him on it!

oh i would love a curry!

Hello ladies! Haven't had time to catch up with all your news.
Birth went very well. Baby boy, Benjamin, is adorable. I love him to bits.
Slight problem - he's lost more than the allowed 10% weight since his birth. He's now on formula (very upsetting for me) and if he hasn't gained by tomorrow, it's back to hospital. Has anyone had the problem of just not producing milk? Benjamin appeared to be feeding from me really well, so I'm very confused.

Congratulations tab and welcome Benjamin!

Sorry have no advice on the feeding. I'm sure someone else will come along soon!

hi tab congratulations! sorry no idea what to do.

Good to hear from you Tab and many congratulations on the birth of wee Benjamin - lovely name.

Weight loss and feeding is a v controversial subject. My sister's DD seemed to be feeding OK but still losing weight so there was some pressure to go to hospital/use formula but she had a really good NCT b/feeding counsellor who encouraged her to just relax at home, get a good latch and keep putting baby to the breast. After a fraught week everything clicked and now my neice is one of those really chubby babies with fat wrists .

Same thing happened with a friend who is very tiny and her DH is very lean too, so their baby boy was a skinny baby. Lively, eyes open, vocal, feeding well but just not a chubster. She knew there was nothing wrong with him so just kept on feeding and sure enough, he put the weight on much more slowly than the docs wanted to , but clearly at his own pace.

You could ask which weight charts are being used - sometimes they use formula-fed charts but ff babies are heavier than bf so it gives 'false' results. And apart from weight loss are there any actual health problems/ drowsiness etc? Stopping you b/feeding at this crucial time, against your will, is not to be taken lightly so are the hospital sticking to some policy which doesn't take these things into account?

If you can find a b/f counsellor or someone from La Leche League to give support/advice that would be good - try their help line or NCT's - and they will help ensure you're not browbeaten into agreeing to unnecessary actions. Sometimes b/f takes a bit of perseverance and observation of the individual baby rather than rushing to ff as a result of generalised charts and measures.

Sorry this is long, but if you're feeling upset about it and they can't give you a good reason to ff, they should be explaining themselves a lot better. Good luck and hope little Benjamin chubs up a bit soon - but lots of babies were never meant to be chubsters, or just take a while to start putting weight on.

Would love to see pics if you have a 'spare moment'. ANd congrats again! xx

Tabitha - congratulations on baby Benjamin! Mine both lost weight at first (they weighed 7 lb 12 oz at birth) - ds had lost 14 oz by day twelve (which I think is more than 10%) but by day fifteen had put 5 oz on again. I found bfing difficult for the first few weeks until it settled down. Are you still able to bf some as well as ff to keep your supply going in the meantime until things settle down?

It is really upsetting though - I remember that from when they insisted on giving dd formula the day after she was born because she was too sleepy to feed. Hope you can get some more advice on this, especially as he seems to be bfing well, either from breastfeeding support at the hospital or NCT/LLL as Ermintrude said.

Well done tabitha and welcome to baby Benjamin!!!! Our first baby on here this month and for a while if I recall. So glad that everything went smoothly.

I topped up K's breast milk with formula but my case was slightly different to yours I guess as she needed to put the weight on and fast (but saying that I was very upset that my milk alone wasn't doing the job and I ended up arguing with her consultant about it all). I think the only thing wrong with supplementing breast milk is that it'll affect your supply unless you express it and freeze it.

Fabulous news though that he's here at last, safe and sound

We're back! Had a lovely day. The sun came out most of the day, there were tigers really close up, rhinos, zebras watching us eating our sarnies, baby giraffes.....oh, the list was endless. I can totally recommend Marwell, such good value for what you get (no hard sell of foodstuffs or gifts) and kids under 3 free!

Lovely to see DPs glamorous cousin and her beau - plus FIL behaved himself!

tab HURRAY! Benjamin is a lovely name and he honestly sounds to me like he's doing very well. So long as he's feeding, happy in himself and producing good nappies then I'm sure everything is fine. I second everything ermintrude says....I'd definately check to see if they're using formula-fed charts as there is a BIG difference. Verity is one now and never had formula - on the NHS charts she's on the 2nd centile Yet, on the world health org BF charts she's slap in the middle Verity lost 13% - I think it's very normal. There is sadly a chubby baby obsession and I think it means very little.

My advice would be - just keep sticking him on your breast. TBH they rarely leave the boobs for the first few weeks - it's quite intense. Giving him formula certainly doesn't mean you have to take him off the boob if you don't want to. As for milk supply it really is supply and demand - so the more they feed the more your milk comes in but you can't always feel it. My 'let down' was very weak...never leaked...yet there clearly enough in there! If you're being bullied into bottle-feeding then make sure (even if he's sleepy) to pop him on the breast after a bottle - just a few sucks will tell your body to make more. Good luck with it all and keep us posted on your gorgeous boy x

JW wow - what a day - cricket Love the storage - SNAP! - we bought that on our last IKEA trip and it's been fab.

Wonderwitch good luick with the move - keep us posted x

Right - off to download some ppics of the day and then bed. I've got this blinking mouth infection back again...grrrr

JJ sounds like a fab day out all round y'day Apart from the mouth! What the hell is going on with it? You've only just shifted it. I wonder if the course of anti-biotics wasn't long enough? Get to the GP asap (as I'm sure you will). And NO KISSING!

mrsb how was your foray into pizza express with D yesterday? Did he enjoy throwing food all over the floor? K does. It's a good game. Hope it went well so there's many more to follow.

My let down reflex was good. I'd be walking around a supermarket, hear a baby cry and that was that...sopping wet.

We have the full set here for sunday lunch today; 3 older ones + g/f, K and DSS (and a partridge in a pear tree?) Guess I'll be picking up half a cow later then

tee hows it going knowing that the finishing line is in sight? Excited? Nervous? Both? You'll be fine dear.

Yeah, the storage is good isn't it? However mental note to self; don't go on your own to pick this up with a pushchair. The logistics do not bear talking about

I rearranged K's bedroom yesterday to fit the new storage stuff in, move out the changing station (sob!), and it seems to be much better layout. Not that she's bothered of course. Now have quite a few things to put on Ebay tonight.

Dang. I forgot my (ex boy) friends b'day y'day. No idea how I can forget as he's exactly a month before me (6/6/66 to my 6/7/66). I've got a standby bottle of wine that'll I'll drop off to him tonight. Wine seems to be appearing more and more in my gift bags. Maybe it's a subconscious ploy to get everyone around me sozzled so that I appear quite sane.......

I see the 66 year old gave birth very quietly and is now home with her LO. I have mixed feelings regarding this as she has no family; no father, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles etc so not sure what would happen to her LO should anything happen to her. On the other hand I think she's doing a fab job and really sticking her fingers up to all those in the healthcare profession who say it's wrong.

Apparently Brangelina are now sleeping in seperate houses. I wonder if she'll still manages to get pregnant?

In a completely different universe to the above, Kerry Katona seems to be piling the weight back looking at recent pics of her. I think she lives on chips so it's hardly a huge surprise. Just seems a shame to waste the £15k she spent having her fat sucked out. Does this mean she's get liposuction every 6 months?

I saw this article re antenatal classes and thought it was interesting. I think the vast majority of people who go along to classes will probably take something from them and use it during labour. I know I did.

Oh my word - the thunder and torrential rain has ensured that Verity and me are up and about this morning! It's bonkers out there. glad we went out yesterday and not today!

JW sounds like a nice day ahead and I'm very impressed you're still nice to your ex-boyfriends! Actually I'm great mates with one of mine but he now lives in Thailand!

I didn't get any anti-bs as we were refused the appointment and it was a bank holiday, so by the time I could get to see a DR it was Thursday and it was gone then! Shall go on Monday though.

I think Brad and Jen will be seen back in public....oh I liked her so much more than that fat-lipped mad old witch.

Hope iris had a lovely time last night...must tell us all about it.

Cor tee last Sunday of freedom - sit back and enjoy

Right - coffee is brewed, cheerio

JJ most of my friends are men. Most of them are ex b/f's too! We probably get on better now we're just friends than we did when we were together. Thailand is a very good place to have an ex if you are to be friends with him....mucho distance

The thought of Brad and Jen getting back together crossed my mind too. She's not had any luck since they split has she?

Oh yes, forgot that it was iris' big night on the telly, stuffing her face iris come and tell us how you went on after you've eaten all the Rennies and managed to get your flip flops off!

tee hope you're making the most of yours and DH's last Sunday of peace Are you doing anything special to mark this occasion? I remember going out for a meal the night before I was being induced with my DD#1. We sat there in disbelief that our lives would never be the same again. And our lives never were the same after the following day but it just got better! Hope you and your DH have a lovely day.

mrsb just saw the pics of D on FB. He's gorg. He really is I was going to say that he's the spit of his dad but that would imply that I'm saying your OH is gorg too...........ah well I don't get out much so please forgive.