This thread is for parents who's baby was born in April 1st - 15th 2008
Your moderators for this forum are as follows- Astrolady ~ Administrator Trillian ~ Senior Moderator Dachlostar ~ Senior Moderator MistyFying
There are many issues that you will encounter as a new parent. We have put together this list of useful articles and threads in order to assist you with some common questions or issues you may have, and to provide you with bit of extra support that we all need as new parents:
Please contact the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) or a Lactation Consultant if you are concerned that you may have breastfeeding and/or supply problems, and before the introduction of solids.
Hi beatrix, i'm so impressed you've managed to do some gardening.
have had some improvements with sleep. Last night DD slept from about 10pm in the loungeroom, coming into bed with me at 11.30 when i went to bed. She then continued to sleep til 3.30, fed, slept again til 6.30. After that it was pretty crappy but I;m so happy i got 5.5 hours, then about 2.5 hours. The last few weeks have been only 2 hour sleeps which has been so exhausting. I know better than to get too excited about improvements though...
wonder who else will join us in this thread? come on girls!!
Hi guys (I'm copying and pasting in both forums cause this is dumb!)
Well done on the gardening Beatrix!!
Im attempting to get motivated enough to fold the washing...I had to re-wash all BJ's stuff as he appears to have had a rashy reaction to the fabric softener I used and I couldn't remember what stuff was washed with it and what was washed without it...so I re-washed EVERYTHING!
MGM its good that you got some decent sleep...
Im going to work towards in the next few weeks just re-settling BJ at 2am when he wakes for a feed rather than feeding him cause he never has much, I think its more just a habit to wake rather than a need!
Put him down for a nap before and after an hour and a half he woke...and I could just TELL he wasn't ready to be awake (he had both arms out at that stage), so I wrapped him (well, shoved him in the kidopotomus someone gave us) with his arms in, put his dummy back in and so far he's been asleep for another hour!!
BW, I lurve my Kiddopotamus wraps! I even bought the bigger ones last week, there is no way Baxter can escape in those things.
I am sorting his clothes this afternoon, there are so many things that have barely been worn that simply don't fit him anymore. He is not big in the chest/tummy area, but is sooo long!
Ness - yay for the swing!
mgm - you poor thing, glad to hear you got a decent block of sleep.
Shoegal: I really only use it if I'm in a hurry and don't want to disturb him too much...I think I've used it about 3 times in total...I have lots of BIG musy wraps and I have quite a good tight wrap (perfected over 7 years of working in childcare....usually good enough that 1year olds cannot escape it.
Though, on occasion, Mr Houdini has managed to get out!
I'm kind of ok with the thread being split. I have so little time to myself, I think I will be better able to post regularly when there's less to keep track of. Probably still pop into the other thread though.
Lila woke up again at 5am despite the grobag and cot bumpers to keep out the drafts. Sigh. When I was pg I thought I'd co-sleep and so far it hasn't worked out (mostly cause DH is still a smoker, but that's another issue) but maybe her waking up and needing to come back to bed with us is her way of asserting what she needs. I'm not upset about it anymore. Did try to re-settle her in her own bed last night but nothing doing. Oh well. I just don't want a toddler in my bed, you know? That's me being selfish. Night time is when I don't have to be a mummy anymore and I get my own cuddles.
Janine- Wow that's so interesting about your cure-all breastmilk. Fantastic. Now I want DH to get some sniffles so I can try to cure him. If he'd try it. My FIL was telling me about an article he read about some sort of primate, I think orangutans, who lick their baby's poo off their fingers when its sick/has diarrhea. Then the next day it's cured. I don't think I'll do that, gross, but its still interesting I think.
Nettie- on bfing for so long. I don't know how you did it. Liam's a lucky boy to have such a devoted mummy.
SG- I know you asked BW but I've perfected wrapping up my wriggly little one. Even her Nan had a hard time figuring out how to unwrap her. I wrap with arms out, but you can do it with arms in. I put the flannel down flat, usually over the bassinet or the cot. Then I lie her down with her armpits lined up along the top of the flannel. She's in the middle top. I take the right side and firmly fold it over her, and then fold over the left side and tuck it underneath. Then I flip up the bottom and tuck one side and then the other firmly underneath her. For extra snugness (like if she's going to be passed around) I pin the corner of the outside flap to the rest of the wrap just under her armpit. If that makes sense. Works a treat. She doesn't let me wrap her arms any more but the method is the same. Hope that helps.
So homesick lately. And kind of unhappy, too. I can take care of the baby and the husband and the house and the cooking now no problem but I don't have any time to write. Not on my novel, not to my mother, not to my best friend, not to bellybelly and its starting to make me unhappy. I feel like my writing is the absolutely lowest priority around here. I beg DH to look after Lila for a few hours sometimes but he acts like he's doing me such a favor and after three hours or so comes to find me because he's so exhausted. Bah. Try doing it 24-7 for months on end, right? Otherwise he's so lovely, he helps out when I ask and everything but still. I give him ample time to paint, to see his friends, to do things he wants to do and I feel like I get so little.. *end vent*
I mean, since when is Lila only MY baby? Doesn't he have a half-share in her too? He works, he works hard and I don't work out of home but I work my ass off keeping the house. And that never ends. Its not like I can knock off after 8 hours or take a weekend or chuck a sickie. So if we're both working hard then why is it the baby is only my responsibility? ok ok, really done venting now. Thank you.
Nettie you have done a fantastic job, I certainly hope you are proud of yourself!!!!
I am going to try and take some photos of how I wrap as its hard to explain...its nothing special really, just a standard method I think, I just do it really tight or something, but I'll pop back in later and 'splain.
Right now, I'm trying not to think, I have an ear infection and I'm in pain!
Liam's been really grizzly today and we're not sure if it's because of wind (he's done some really deep burps) or because it's so cold (only about 10 degrees here today - brrrr!). So we've warmed up his room and made sure he's cozy... tried to get the burps out as much as we can and he's asleep for the moment.
He's due for a feed shortly so we'll see how he is when he wakes up!
Got some soup cooking on the stove, nice crusty bread waiting for me and some leftover curry to put on for tea... nice cold weather food!
Howdy girls,
Just a quickie, no personals tonight, DP wants the puta
Isabell has been an angel of late, we have figured she needs to be rocked to sleep, no self settling for her *sigh* its okay, it doesnt take long to rock her.
She has learnt a new trick which is absolutely adorable, kinda like raspberries, but not against a tum tum or arm or anything, if you know what i mean??
Im logging off now, hope all is well
Isabell is usually in her cot by 9pm at the latest, she starts getting grumpy around 8:15-8:30, so i rock her, then put her in her cot. She will wake at around 4am, rarely at 6am, ill give her a feed, then she will wake up at 8:30amish and ill keep her up thereon after..with a few naps inbetween and one long sleep too. Im really ontop of it now.
Sorry I have been AWOL for ages. Things have been really getting me down to be honest... but more about that later! I've only briefly read through the thread, so apologies for missing anyone in the personals.
Shoegal - Thanks for letting me know about the split sweetie... very kind of you. I have to admit the other thread had grown quite a bit.
Fire - So sorry that things are getting you down. You have been doing such a great job and I know that all your research and advice have been really useful to me and heaps of other mums on here. We are all here for you and hope that things start to improve for you very soon. Have you tried goat soap? I know another mum who's baby had really bad eczema as well and it cleared it up within a few days.
Beatrix - You poor thing! And poor little MJ. I'm so glad that she is on the mend now. I hope that she is back to 100% very soon. Must have given you a fright.
BW - What a good boy you have! I so wish my little one would sleep like that!
Nettie - You have done so well to get so far with the expressing. I take my hat off to you. You have given your little boy a wonderful start at great effort on your part.
Steph -Well done on the flash card things. I am hoping to start on something like that soon. Babies brains are like little sponges at this stage!
Meg - HUGE congratulations on the engagement. How very exciting. Have fun planning the big day!
Sarah - Ooooohhh. Do keep us informed! I'm starting to think another might not be so bad, but financially we just cant do it at the moment.
mgm - hope all is well with you.
Well... the good news is that my boy is doing well and gaining weight as he should. He's been rolling from front to back for about a month now and is starting to do the sit up thing and trying to figure out how to balance to sit. He's giggling and belly laughing and trying to communicate in strange dolphin-like language. I on the other hand have been a little down. I don't think its PND or anything, but I have been feeling really isolated at home and really really tired. So tired I'm having trouble sleeping. Jack is still not sleeping the best at night. A typical routine for night is as follows:
7pm - bath, massage, story, and feed.
8pm - sleep
1230am - feed
2am - feed
4am - feed
6am - feed
7am - feed
8am - feed and up for the day.
Talk about exhausting! And, yes I have tried dummy returns and other settling to get him to sleep, but he makes it fairly clear that he needs a feed. On the odd occasion he sleeps for a 5 or 6 hour stretch but not that often. I'm at my wits end. During the day he'll sleep for 30 to 40 mins about 3 times during the day. Everyone keeps telling me that I need to do controlled crying, but I'm so not comfortable with that. Its really staring to get my down and the sleep deprivation is making everything harder than it should be. Any words of wisdom?
Last edited by Leyla; July 27th, 2008 at 07:25 PM.
Leyla: Will do keep all updated. Am not and was not thinking about another baby until Wyatt was aleast 1. I blame DH he should have gone and gotten snipped like we planned.
Anyway on the CC I was totally against it, but with 2 other children, life has to go on around Wyatt. I was at emotional break down about 4 weeks ago now, which helped me to see it was ok to let him have a little grizzle. So I tried it, I don't let get worked up.
And if turn from grizzling to crying then I will pick him up. But I know he does it to get mummy, I stay in the room, and he grizzles with eyes shuts. I only let him do it for maybe 2-3 mintues then I will pick him up and give him more boobie, and he was fall to sleep within seconds. I had been getting up to 3hrs nap from him during day, then he got cold, and we are down to about 40-60mins so we need to start having a grizzle again now he is all better.
BUT again I blame DH he brought me a lovley rocking chair to feed Wyatt and its just right for a cuddle, and but the time I look down he is asleep.
Give it a try, stay in room out of sight, and if at any point you dont feel compfortable then pick him up. But can it really hurt to try??? I feel better emotional when it only takes me 5 minutes to get Wyatt to settle rather then 30 mins. Anyway just my point and it works for me, but not for you.
To those of you feeling 'blue' - the time of year isn't helping you. It's common for an increase in 'feeling down' at this time as well as more lethargy and feeling isolated. It will get better. Come on spring!
Bedtime routine:
anywhere from 4pm - 7pm: big feed. Fusses for anywhere up to 2 hours then crashes it for about 6 hours.
Early hours (1-3 am) feed
4-6 am - feed
wakes up and plays anytime from 7 am (sometimes a little earlier!). We often hear him on the monitor 'talking' to the mobile that hangs above his cot! He did this for 40 minutes this morning before grizzling. Made it hard to sleep in - but it was very cute!
This afternoon, I put him in his cot as he was grizzling in my arms and he 'played' there for an hour! This gave me the chance to fold all his MC nappies and some other jobs.Then he grizzled, I wrapped him and got him to sleep in 10 mins. I'm probably setting myself up for a bad bedtime with all his playing in the cot - but at least I know he's safe there. He doesn't like it as much on the floor or in the rocker...
I should point out too that DH does all the 'night' feeds. I get up after 6am ish and look after Liam all morning so DH sleeps in until 11-12. I'm a VERY lucky woman!
Leyla - nice to see you back! Those nights are sounding a bit rough! I hope you get some support in the day so you can take a break and a nap. Well done on the rolling & sitting - Liam's trying to sit up all the time, but he's not rolling yet. I think the bulky MCN don't help this though! We often say that Liam's doing a pigeon impersonation with his strange language!!
Sarah - Can't help you with the AF business I'm afraid. Not back on the pill yet (will talk to Dr in Aug about this) and we haven't DTD yet so no risk here!
Ness - Poor MJ. Those coughs suck! I hope it won't bother her (or you) too much and it goes away quite quickly.
Steph - I hear you on the clothes! I ordered a wooly jumper and some tracky daks from Ezibuy and went for the larger sizes just in case! Don't care if they're baggy as long as they fit (most of my pre-preg clothes are a bit tight or short because of more girth iykwim). Am starting a diet tomorrow - meal replacement drink for lunch and just tidy up the other stuff.. I'm sure it won't take me long (lost 18 kgs before falling preg but have it all back now )
Babies Born April 1st - 15th 2008 #1
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