Babies Born April 16th - 30th 2008 #1

[Nettie]

Hi everyone!

I'm copying & posting in both threads, so sorry if you read it twice!

Sarah - saw the photo of the hearing test. Liam's was much like this (except our pads kept falling off because of his hair!!) - you're lucky bubs stayed asleep!

Am sad to announce that I am stopping the expressing as of Tuesday when I return the pump... I'm getting less than one feed a day now and it's time.

Liam did an 8 hour sleep last night - from 5pm - 1am. Kept waiting for him to wake up! We're hoping for another one tonight, but won't hold our breath. Someone said to me today about babies 'patterns'. I said that 'babies' and 'patterns' shouldn't be in the same sentence! Everytime I think I know what to expect, he changes it again!

I'm about to head to bed. Changed the sheets yesterday and they're nice fluffy flannelette ones... mmmm cosy!

[shellbell]

Sharon You wont be talking to yourself - I will be here!!! Probably not as frequently as I would like, but I will.

Nettie Yay for the big sleep. Luke started to do that and then we were able to move it back a tad and get him sleeping for longer at the right time. well done on the expressing for this long.

Have a toothache - it hurts - and panadol really isn't cutting it anymore. Worst is that I am in sydney for work from Tues to Fri so need to get into Dentist on MOnday - which is probably next to impossible. So on top of the ache I am stressing out. May have to cut the trip short or delay going, Will see.

[Clueless]

I will be here too! I am just starting to try and transition Daphne out of being wrapped in bed. The maternal health nurse told us it was a risk for SIDs when they can start to roll. Shes doing well during the day but the nights are a bit crap. We've started putting her in a Grobag and wrapping just her arms. In a few days we'll start just wrapping one arm in and go from there. What are you guys all doing?
Also, Any special tricks for sleeping through? Daphne has gone from sleeping at about 8.30pm - dreamfeed at 11.15 (70-110mls depending on what she takes) then waking anywhere from 3-4.30am to now waking at 2.30am for the last week or so. Should I drop the dream feed? Opinions please!!

[Nettie]

Sarah - (I assume you'll be posting here). Liam's cot mirror is called: 1-2-3 Baby Mirror by Taf Toys. I got mine off Ebay. He really likes it!

[shellbell]

Clueless Luke has never really liked being wrappped, but I have persisted in wrapping his arms - leaving legs free to kick. I only wrap him loosely though which seems to send the message it is time for sleep. Luke isn't showing any signs of wanting to roll so haven't worried about dropping it yet. As for sleeping through tips, I would drop the dream feed and just make sure she is good and full at 8.30pm when you put her down. I would also try to resettle if she woke any earlier than 5am. We use dummies here and Luke gets one of those if he wakes up early. I am lucky though he is so huge that I don't have to worry about him eating enough! The other thing that I did was close his bedroom door making his room really dark - thsi seemed to help him not wake fully and gave me a better chance of resettling. I also leave a radio on really low so he has some noise. Not sure if any of this will help but Good Luck!

[BabyWrangler]

Hi clueless,
we have never had any luck with a dream feed anyway really!
BJ has also gone from sleeping 7 (or 7:30) till about 2:30....to 7ish til 11ish, then through til 3ish then up at 7.
Last night I just put my foot down and kept going in to put his dummy in between 11 and 1:30..then fed him, then he went through til 6, I re-settled him and we got up at 7:40.
I just dig my heals in..I imagine I'll have lack of sleep for a few nights while I do it, but he will eventually learn (its what basically happens at sleep school too I think...)...still I don't know how long it will last as I have an ear infection and feel crap!

[Sharon19270]

Nettie you have done a wonderful expressing for so long, congratulations. I love getting into a bed with fresh sheets.
shellbell YAY that I won't be on my own in here. I hate toothache's, I hope you manage to get into a dentist tomorrow so that it can be all fixed for your Sydney trip.
Clueless well it looks like there will at least be 3 regulars so far LOL. As for wrapping, Jordan was wrapped (tightly) up until he was 12 months old, we then started to loosen the wrap slightly over a couple of days until he didn't need wrapping anymore, none of the mchn's ever said there was a problem with it, and he didn't actually start to get wrapped until he was 6 months old, with all his moving around in his sleep, the wrap always ended up loose by morning time anyway. Oliver is wrapped the same way Jordan was but will probably start loosening it up in a month or so. I also try and re-settle oliver if he wakes before 5am so if the 'dream' feed doesn't seem to be working you could try and see how things go without it.
BabyWrangler I have been really lucky and have found that the dream feed has worked with both Jordan and Oliver.

OK, I have decided to start Oliver onto Farex tomorrow morning, mainly because he will only have around 50-70ml of his bottle and I think that if we don't start giving him more he may start to lose weight. they say that babies should have around 150ml per KG of body weight, which would mean that he should be having 900ml per day, we are lucky to get to 600ml the way he is going. Also, have given him back his dummy, he was screaming yesterday morning when I put him down for a sleep and he wanted to suck but not on his fist, so I gave it back, he must have realised how much he really wanted his dummy once it had been taken away.

[sarah_dobbo2]

Sarah - (I assume you'll be posting here). Liam's cot mirror is called: 1-2-3 Baby Mirror by Taf Toys. I got mine off Ebay. He really likes it!

Morning all,

Seem Wyatt was born on the 23 April I will in this group. If I get the chance I will swap, but I don't enough time to get in my own group let alone too.

Nettie: Yeah I am in still in here. Just busy. Thanks I will have a look to see what they have got anymore.

Oh, last night Wyatt slept for 9hr before he woke up for his boobie... SSWWWEEEEEETTTTT Will ring this morning an book him in for clinic visit.

Cheers all
Sarah

[alittlegrubi]

Re the split:
Firstly Nettie the magic number of 140 came from Trillian's post advising of the split in the old thread. Somehow it went to 150.
Secondly I look at the split as this is how the bellybuddies was and how you'd expect it to have continued, why was April overlooked in the first place since March was split before us? SharonI agree with wanting to see how long the doubling up lasts.
BW happy for you to join in here even if you're not supposed to be as you were in the latter April belly buddies.
Clueless I chose not to use a dummy, but Greer has become a thumb sucker now. She sleeps 6ish to 8or 9 the until around midnight and then can wake anywhere between 2 and 5am - I don't keep a clock in the room to know exactly when she wakes. I'd say Daphne's sleep pattern is normal and they do tend to change just when you think that it has settled into a routine . You will find that the lack of sleep gets you snapping at each other. My MCHN said between 3 and 4 months make sure that your sleep routine is what you want to be doing for the next 3 years - so if you don't want to be putting a dummy in her mouth to resettle - ditch it. I however still use my finger for her to suck on to resettle for the peace and sanity. Have you tried keeping a sleep diary to work out when Daphne would normally sleep during the day and see if you can find another way of settling her? Fire has previously suggested bouncing on a fit ball, I think MGM does that too. I just go with the feeding off to sleep - bit harder with bottles. We stopped wrapping early as she would just wriggle out of it even the snug as a bugs didn't keep her wrapped, so I just put on an extra layer of clothing.

Fire Thanks for the info re turkey and plastics. When I said ploy - I was meaning it in relation to the cashing in as opposed to the truth behind it. I mean really $16 for a BPA free bottle and only $2-$10 for one that is going to cause problems. If they really wanted us to do the right thing shouldn't they make them cheaper??? I'm actually suprised that DD doesn't seem to have too many digestive issues/allergens at all considering being a c-section bub.

Shellbell - hope you got to the dentist today. I'm going through my treatment for my bite and am getting scared as I have to have every tooth crowned .
Sharon - you won't be alone in here. Yes I found your ebay listings. I'm not hesitating listing my maternity clothes due to thinking I might have another one, it's more that I seem to have an attachment to them despite not really fitting them any longer - only have 4kgs to go to being back at prepregnancy weight and I haven't even been trying to loose it, in fact the chocolate and flavoured milk isn't helping at all.
Sarah I'm finding less and less time now that DD is more alert and active, it seems that I just get started doing something and she wakes. I'm hoping to get into a routine soon.
Nettie Considering you have been expressing without any attachment I think you have done marvellously to get this far with expressing. Someone suggested to me that it might be worth keeping a some EBM in the freezer for months down the track to help with sickness - I think Fire is right about the breastmilk helping with sickness. If you can manually express a little each day for that reason, it might be worth doing. though as I know you were wanting to get to 6 months.

Sorry if I missed anyone.

Well I'm looking forward to tomorrow MIL is having DS for the day and then on Saturday my Mum is having him overnight. He needs to get some attention which he is missing out on with me as I am always doing something with the baby. I am suprised he doesn't get jealous at all, but then again DH really makes an effort with him.
Gotta dash - DH needs to go to the gym and I need to get DS ready for bed, DD is already there.

[Sharon19270]

sarah I just can't see me having enough time to keep posting in both, it was hard enough keeping up in one group, oh well.
alittlegrubi I feel the same way about the split, it's how we where in our bellybuddy groups. I don't thin the words babies and routine should be in the same sentence together either, it very rarely happens, or when it does it changes. It will be nice for DS to get some special attention, my DH makes sure he does something with Jordan most weekends, it's their special father and son time.

Today was Jordan's last day of school holidays and we have been meaning to go to the dentist for the last 3 weeks because he has a front tooth that is dead (it is black) it died about 4 years ago when he fell over and landed on his tooth, a few days later it started going grey, well over the last few months he has been losing teeth on the top and I honestly thought it would have been the first one to fall out, but no 6 months after the first one went it was still hanging in there, and his adult tooth was growing out through his gum about 5mm behind it, so we walk into dentist and the receptionist said they where early for once did we want to see him now, we went in, and Jordan was given 'happy gas' 5 mins later, he had a needle to numb the gum and 30 seconds after it had been numbed the tooth was out, Jordan was so wobbly he looked drunk, it was quite funny, he was such a brave boy, i'm glad his first experience at the dentist was a good one.

[mum to Jack]

Hi Nettie....have found this site you suggested....looks pretty good. So as i said earlier my little man was born on the 19 April & is now on some sort of routine....adjusting to it nicely although the nights are still up in the air, he has his dream feed around 10pm then wakes again around 3thirty- 4am then is stirring from 6thirty onwards. So hopefully soon enough he will surely sleep through.....!

[Nettie]

Beck!

Glad you found us! We're a nice little group - I'm sure everyone will be very happy to see you here.

If you get a chance - read through the posts above so you can see the sorts of issues we're facing at the moment (some are probably quite similar to what you're facing!) and so you can 'get to know' the other members. Feel free to post frequently - we love reading everyone's 'rants'!

Hope to see you soon,

Nettie (Toni)

[Sharon19270]

Danielle welcome back, sorry to hear you have been unwell, but hope you get better soon. People don't believe me when I tell them Oliver is only 3.5 months, how long is Ryley? Oliver is 63cm as of Friday. Oliver is a really fussy feeder, some days he is a real piggy, but other days he hardly has much at all, he will have a bottle at 6.30am, 10am, 2pm, 5.30pm and then around 9.30-10.00pm for his sneaky feed and only has around 600ml - 700ml per day.
alittlegrubi yes your link worked, I had a go at some of Sarah's tips too yesterday, got some nice ones of Oliver on his tummy.
sarah it's good that you got the DVD on how to deal with tantrums for you DH to watch, discipline works much better when both parents follow the same 'rules'.
Nettie i'm NOT a morning person either, especially in the winter, I would much prefer to be snuggled up in my nice warm bed.
BabyWrangler that is great that you have a really decent routine happening, and if you are happy for him to have his bottles in 2 shifts that's great, at least you know he is getting plenty of 'food'. I try and do housework while Oliver is awake too, so that way he gets used to mummy going from room to room and not always be sitting on the floor playing with him, if he gets grizzly I try moving him to the room that I am cleaning so that he can see me.
Zennie I am pretty sure that the only time you aren't supposed to use tampons is in that first 6 weeks following birth, so you should be good to go
mum to Jack welcome to our little group, we are a friendly bunch, just jump on in and post away, some of us just ramble (i'm one of them ) especially when we don't have much else to say.

Had a good day today, my uncle and aunt came down from the coast to visit, and they have just recently got back from vising relatives in England, they bought Oliver this gorgeous football (soccer to you aussies) outfit, a matching cap, and my aunt from england sent over some little football shoes, don't think he will fit into the shoes for long as they are for 3-6 months, and his outfit is for summer and is 6-12 months. I will try and get a pic of him in all his gear anyway over the next few days when the air con is on nice and toastie warm.

TTFN

Oh, forgot to have my brag, last Tuesday Jordan had to read a poem (one from a book, not one that he wrote) to his class, he was really nervous, and didn't really want to do it, anyway, they all got a merit certificate, and 3 of them got picked to read their poem to the principal and a couple of other 'guests' and Jordan was one of them, the only thing he has to do now is memorise the poem instead of reading it from a piece of paper, I know he will get really nervous and probably forget the words, but that doesn't matter, it will be BIG confidence booster for him and I am so proud