Babies Born April 2008

[Fire]

MGM, the hugabub is great for littlies and newbies. I use it almost exclusively. I am changing to a mei tai soon and an ergo, but for this early period the HaB has been brilliant (it's a wrap so takes a few minutes to put on which is bothersome at times, but still worth it). Legs hanging down is not comfy for any age bracket. They have to have their knees higher than their hips or they can get back and hip problems later, which makes the bjorn the worst choice of carrier. this is a great article on carriers: Storchenwiege - Your Baby Sling | No need to slow down your active life - just bring baby along!

[alittlegrubi]

Has anyone else experienced a babyblues days around the 2 week mark.
For some reason today I keep bursting out in tears and have no real reason behind them. DH keeps asking if I want to talk about how I'm feeling, but the only thought that comes to mind when he asks is why did i do this again, but I know that isn't the thought that sparked the crying.

[Fire]

Oh, Grubi, hugs for you. Tears come and go around this household. It's overwhelming, whether it's your first or fifth child, and hormones mixed with "will life ever be the same again?" can run me over. Let them spill, is the advice I was given, even if there is no real reason for them. Subconsiously, there will be a reason, and like we hold our crying babes, hold yourself and let it happen.

[Sequoia]

*hugs* to you Grubi, tears come and go in this household too.

PS - I think I saw your birth notice in yesterday's West, now I understand your username! Not sure why I am still trawling the birth notices for names though....!

Well, I think the fenugreek is helping plus not being so worried about Baxter's weight. He is feeding so much better (not so fussy etc) since I decided to put it out of my mind. He will get there, just not as fast as others.

Must go, off to watch DH play footy and possibly BF in public, eek!

SG
xo

[Nettie]

Grubi - YES!!

I had a bit of a melt down on Friday night when DH went out (regular weekly thing). I absolutely lost it when Liam wouldn't settle. Then I was teary for the next 24 hours. Nothing at all would set me off... I kept thinking "shouldn't the baby blues be over by now??"

DH went out again last night and I coped much better. We bought a Baba sling yesterday and it's helping a lot (Liam's in it now as I type this!) as I was getting worked up at having to use both hands to keep Liam quiet and couldn't even scratch my nose... silly, hey?

Janine - with the slippery elm, does it have to be in liquid form and do you feed it direct to bubs or take it yourself? I've only seen it in tablet form...

I also have a BF question - those of you that express, when do you stop? I'm worried I'm not leaving it long enough to get all the stages of milk... I usually stop when the pump takes three 'pumps' to get one drop out. I'm expressing at every feed time (Liam is bottle fed) and my supply goes up and down a lot.. last express only had 60 mls and Liam's taking around 80 each feed. I hope I've got enough! I've started taking fenugreek today... hopefully that helps. Liam also seems to 'spew' a bit of mucus so I'm hoping the fenugreek will help with that too..

to everyone! Anyone else finding the first few weeks going very quickly???

[Fire]

Nettie, you buy the powder from a health food shop and mix a little (less than 1/4 tsp) with breast milk and feed it via a spoon to the baby. (all sterilized stuff of course) it should be semi-liquid enough for the baby to get it down without difficulty. it was trial and error here.

Because of its action, baby has to take it, not the mum. It works to "sop" up acid and kind of thicken the milk in the stomach, also settles things. Babies on formula, who have reflux, can get a "thickened" formula to keep it down. This is the bfing equivalent, I guess.

[Beatrix]

Janine- think i might try that slippery elm stuff cause MJ is a bad chucker and i just cant seem to settle her. She hates lying down flat as well so it might be a bit of reflux.

ANd with the sligs, the ABA simplicity lets bubs legs hang out, i didnt think they would endorse a product that was harmful to a baby. MJ loves the meh tai

Shoe- thats great, you are doing a wonderful job!!! go with your gut instinct, remember Bax hasnt read the manuals!!

Nettie- ot surte about the exoresing, maybe you can try and express more often to encourage a your supply mopre. or try BF with liam on your lap, or even try and let him suckle even if he cant feed cause that encourges supply as well

grubi- being tired makes everything seem en times worse then what it really is, justmake sure you do cry cause if you hold it in its much worse

[mgm]

Hello April mums!

Fire, I hear the HABs are great. my sister has one she was going to pass on to us but I think she must still be using it. I'd intended to use a ring sling for these early months - will try it out again tomorrow because my wrists are getting really sore and after having DS I developed awful prpoblems with them and had to wear a splint. Don't want to do that again!

Beatrix as I understand it the problem with the Baby Bjorn (and presumably other slings of similar design) is if it's used constantly - for short periods they're fine, and they're certainly very quick and easy to throw on.

Grubi hope you're feeling better. Mood swings are very normal - I've had many a teary day.

Shoegal good to hear your boy's feeding well. How did your public BF go? I remember finding that so difficult with DS - at first I could only feed him in the football hold which required lots of support from cushions and was really hard to do anywhere but in my loungeroom!

Nelle you sound like you're managing well. My main concern about taking both kids out together is be that DD takes ages to feed - so if i have to do it while out (which is very likely at this stage) DS will run wild... I'd better stock up on bribes and distractions before I head out!

Last 2 nights DD has had a 3-hour awake period from 3-7am. It's a killer. Anyone else up at this ungodly hour? I'm starting to really dread nighttimes...