Babies Born February 2007

Hi girls!

I've been away for a bit - Liebling is still perfect, just I have a houseguest.

Nappy washing - I have fitted cloth nappies and I tend to drypail them until the day before washing, when I put some nappysan in the bucket with warm water to the top of the nappies in the evening as that gets rid of most of the stains overnight. It's too cold to hang nappies out still, although I have been trying (they just don't dry outside). I'm washing every 3-4 days, depending on how full the bucket is and how many covers DS goes through, he does do mammoth poos and then not tell me about them!

Kel, I felt a bit out of sorts when my mother left, but I found that she'd actually been overstimulating both myself and Liebling, so a couple of days after she'd gone we'd settled down nicely and Liebling was sleeping a lot better and not crying so much. Plus I am very,very posessive (as I knew I would be!) and was getting upset that she wanted to calm him down, although I knew I was falling asleep and couldn't walk him up and down for an hour... but I don't need to now as he's calmer and happier!

Huge hugs to all those with BFing pains: DS loves to suck and pull himself off, which I don't appreciate, but luckily he doesn't do that too much. I've found that now my nipples have been pulled out as far as they can go they've been pretty much permanently altered so the pain at the start of the feed is almost gone. Not to brag, but I'm pleased I didn't have to wait the six weeks for it to go OK!

As for routines, well, DS and I have sorted ourselves out. We have one overnight feed andif I do that quickly enough he falls straight back to sleep again, then we're up at about 6.30 (give or take) to feed and say bye bye to Daddy before he goes to work. DS then usually goes back to sleep in his crib (btw, I managed to do that just with keeping on reassuring him I was still there for a few nights, now he's OK with it) and I can do me things for a couple of hours, then he's up for the day. I get him dressed and have a play, then he naps. I try to get out and about at this time to do the shopping or my coffee morning. He wakes again just as I'm about to have lunch for some food and attention, then sometimes sleeps until about half an hour before DH comes home... but then he's usually up until 9.30 after that, so a big long awake time from 3.30-4pm onwards. He's started not to settle until 11pm now, which is fine, just I'm tired by then because he's been awake for over 5 hours at that point (he did 2pm-11pm yesterday and was just sooo overtired but wouldn't sleep when I put him to bed). He has his bath 8.30pm-9pm so that completely cries him out as he hates being naked.

This is so much easier than when my mother stayed, as DS would wake 2-3 times overnight and not settle during the day, but then if he so much as whimpered my mother would play with him, now I can recognise his hungry, bored and tired cries... he never complains about his nappy, which is why I love cloth because I can just check it out as often as I want during the day.

Best be off, he's waking up again for the morning.

Love and hugs to you all, I'll be back properly in a couple of days!

Hey Ryn
that is great that DS is settling so well now! Mothers dont really help do they... they make us second guess our natural instincts i reckon.

thank goodness my mother is not staying she just comes every day... i will try not to greet her in such a b*tchy way in the morning.... yesterday i was over it and seemed to blame everyone including her for everything! and then this morning we had both gotten mixed up about what time she was coming over and i thought she would be there before 9am so i didnt have a nap and i pottered around the house thinking 7.30 or 8 she would be there so i would have to make sure she could get in the house, rushed my shower etc while jemima was sleeping but then she was on her way at 9am so didnt get here until 9.40 so i rang her up and was not very friendly as i really could have had sucha lovely nap.... so we were upset again in the morning....
but then we had a nice day shopping for fabric i am going to make jemima a little dress, a tartan skirt and some 'nickers' to wear over disposable nappies when we go out, i have bought some ruffles for them for when she flashes everyone....
mum keeps saying she is not a doll.... but the amount she doesnt cry makes it seems like she is a doll, doesnt get bothered changing outfits or nappies or anything and sleeps all day, so why not take advantage of having a girl and let he wear all the awesome stuff she has been given before she grows out of it... she is already pushing the boundary on wearing the newborn nappies..
today she is wearing a dress i wore when i came home from hospital... it is very retro cool... she looks like Twiggy.....

benji got a hot dinner and jelly for desert tonight, princess actually waited til we had eaten tea to want her own dinner! not like every other meal i eat!!!

Ryn i know what you mean about everyone else settling DS, i have that problem a little EVERYONE thinks every baby needs to be walked around or pushed in a pram to settle.... Jemima doesnt at all... and i dont want her to start to like it either! i dont really want to have to get up and walk around to 'settle' her she is fine if i just hold her and talk to her or let her fall asleep on my lap.... but i let them do it as it makes them feel better... and know that next week i can do it my way

question for the breastfeeders.... what's the deal with giving babies water??? can we??? i mean if it is heaps hot can i give jem a sip of water?? if she has just been sick and surely that cant taste nice can i give her a sip of water?? mum said it would have to be boiled water, i guess i can do that and have it in the fridge ready for when she "needs" a sip??? i dont want to use bottles mum said i could use a teaspoon???

Hi girls,

Just a quick one to answer Kels question...

Kel,there is no need to give BF babes water on hot days as if they are thirsty they will "ask" for the boob more. Or you could offer it more frequently. Having said thst, there is no reason why you can't give some cooled boiled water (room temp) - I have given it to DD to help with wind. You could try giving it on a teaspoon or from a cup - DD was formula fed from a cup in hospital when we had problems - very cute to see!!! Not all babes will take boiled water though, my DD hates it! HTH

Well girls, DD has now got a cold and all she wants is tobe held... poor little mite. It's not fair having a cold this young!!!!! She is wanting more cuddles so I had better go.

MG

morning ladies my day has started very early to think about i dont think yesterday even finished it kind of rolled into today i think ive had about 2;5 hours sleep Ella has a runny nose and is having trouble sleeping /breathing so thats been fun all i can do is prop her matress up at one end with towels and put vix on her singlet front and back then lots of cuddles its been very trying but shes so cute i cant get grumpy.
kel BF bubs dont need water just more boob but if you wanted to give her cooled boiled water it wont hurt Ella has about 20ml of water a day she is ff feed though and its hot it also keeps the numbers twos from being backed up
Ryn so glad to hear that things are settling down for you i hope things keep going well
hello Wattle and Bollie good to hear things are going well for you guys too
Mg good to hear from you i hope you are well
have a good day ladies i have to go my other rugs rats are up now
kittykat

Howdy doody!

Kel - The others are right on the water thing. Your fore-milk is much more watery than the end fatty milk, so on hot days (like always here at the moment!) Ruby likes to be on the boob a lot but only for a short time - kind of like a quick drink rather than a good fatty meal IYKWIM. If that's what bub is doing though you need to make sure you have heaps more water yourself so you don't get dehydrated as that can slow your milk supply.
MG - not good that your little sweetie has a cold :( Ruby is just getting over one and was really fussy for days! It was scary to hear her snort and cough. Not nice at all, I hope she is better very soon.
Kittykat - I hope Ella gets better soon too. - there seem to be a lot of sniffles going on at the moment!

Have a good day girls!

Kel, my DS hates boiled water - we tried giving him it on Saturday as he was doing a mommoth feed (he throws up if we give him formula now) and he just refused it outright, he knew it wasn't the real thing! But BF babies get all they need from breast milk. As for spoons/cups - the baby should lap the drink like a little kitten, not drink it like a youngtoddler.

MG and kittykat, my DS has a nasty cough too, but sneezing doesn't seemto upset him as much as coughing He needs hugs post-cough.

Well, my DS has decided he hates disposable nappies as well as formula... good thing I was only using 1-2 disposables a day! (Cloth the rest of the time, I'm not lax on changing LOL.)

It would be awful for little bub to have a cold.... Jemima sneezes every so often but is fine with it... like she loves the hiccups.... i guess i'm just not enterntaining enough and she entertains herself.
Do they get a temperature when they have a cold?
The weather here has been so whacko it is hard to tell if she is hot with a temp or just freakin hot! But today seems like a really cold day! I love the cold and love that I will be able keep her warm rather than worry that she is too hot.

all your help with the water thing has been fab! sick of all the experts that dont have babies!!!

Morning lovelies!
Ryn - I didn't know about "lapping it up" - cute!
Kel - The heat sucks huh! Body to body BFing just makes us both sweat! Very icky! We started BFing in a cool bath... mmmm... much nicer! :)

I've just posted my experience with our Doula in the Doula recommendations section if anyone wants a peek at how it went with her...
I'll get to the birth story later...

Hi girls :hello:

I am so sorry... another selfish post from me today... I don't know how you all do it... I hardly seem to find the time these days to get on here to post!! :(

I have been run off my feet with everything with my Mum and with Harrison.
Harry is still not putting on enough weight, he is 60g under his birth weight. He was given the benefit of the doubt because of his TT, and given til Monday to gain 100g, but only gained 40g. So I am now taking Motillium, which is an anti nausea drug which has a side effect of producing more milk... apparently my milk supply is still in Harry TT mode, so it needs to be brought up to speed. So hopefully there will be some improvement in his weight gain this Friday.

I am glad to see everyone and their beautiful bubbas are doing well.
I have no idea when I will post personals... I will do it as soon as I can
Hugs to all :grouphug:

:hug: Lisa thinking of you... it's rough when they are slow to regain their weight. Ruby just regained her's last week after doing 25g, 10g, 50g, 70g, and then all of a sudden she just took off with 250g! He will grow soon. :hug: Is his head circ bigger? Length increased? Awake and playing lots? - these were all reasons my MCHN said why we shouldn't worry ourselves too much... she was growing and developing in other ways and so long as she wasn't losing weight we were ok.
And don't stress about not posting... the only reason I'm on ATM is because she's gone to sleep in my arms and I don't want to move her!

Hi Girls,

I'm Kristy and my bub was due on teh2 28th Feb but ended up having my little girl Erin Kate on the 7th March. As I was in the buddy group with all the other Feb girls I hope nobody minds me squeezing in albeit a little late into your Feburary group.

I was induced at 5pmTuesday the 6th and by 11pm my contractions were 30 second apart and I gave in to saying I wanted a light epidural as I was only 1cm dilated and they were going to put another lot of gels in. The anathesist was on call so tehy said he would be 20 mins so 50mins later there was a clal from him saying he had a flat tyre and was trying to change it by a light of a match !!!!! 20mins after that he called back again saying that he could not get the middle wheel nut off so my Dh who is a cop was explaining where he would find the gizmo that takes the middle wheel nut off. 2 hours later he arrived !!!! I had a 1/4 epidural put in and by then I was dilated to about 6cm so the wait was at least productive. The epidural worked great I could still move around and feel contractions but not as intense. By 7.30am I was fully dilated and ready to push.

Poor Erin had the cord around her neck 3 times and a knot so they had to use a little suction cap to get her out andquickly whisk her away and give her a bit of oxygen but 10 mins later she was fine and has been feeding, sleeping and is over her birth weight so all is going well.

I can hear her stirring so will hopefully come on later and chat some more.

Take Care girls.

Hello all,

Busy busy busy.

Quinn is now weighing in at 5440!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Had my mother's group yesterday again - I love mother's group - it's the best!
Such a big boy - we are calling him little big man now - he used to be little man...

He is starting to laugh and look at lots of different things, we spend lots of time lying on our tummies playing and singing :) Who would have thunk it??

Just got back from walking the dog with Quinn in the pram and it is sooo hot outside! I can't believe it!

We are going on our first big-ish car trip with Quinn tomorrow - going to visit my parents which is about 3 hours drive away. That could be interesting :) I am anticipating quite a few stops on the way.

Anyway I hope you're all well.

Congrats and welcome Kristy!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to see pics of Erin! I love the name! I'm glad she is doing well!

Hugs to all the bubbas with colds.

Lisa - hugs hon, i'm sure Harrison will pick up soon.

Well girls, the MCHN was just here for an extra visit after my horrendous time last week. She was really happy with us which was encouraging. Abbey has put on another 350g in a week and is above average for her age... Hmmmm a little chubby checker!!!!! But being so long she looks normal. Anyway someone wants a feed so ibetter scoot...

Hi all
YAY KRISTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sounds like you did brilliantly in such a situation like that!!!! So glad little Erin is doing so well too :D Another precious pink princess for our belly group hehe.

Well girls,,, I hope you are all travelling well with your little bundles of joy!!
I am a bit too tired today to get to personals, but I promise that I will get to them next time I am on.
I managed to get to my doctors this morning,,, late, but they were very understanding wehn you have a breastfeeding babe not wanting to drink faster lol
After speaking to her about how i feel, she examined me and came to the conclusion that a combination of the caesar, and the infections that i suffered after having the caesar,, all weakened and impaired by intestines functioning,,, so she has out me onto sachets of stuff to get my intestines to move things along again,,,,, a syrup stuff to drink so when i can actually manage to get rid of anything it is not going to be like rocks,,,,,,, not looking foward to it,, but i feel absolutely horrid, and have not been able to "go" for over 2 weeks now,, and have only gone like 3 times since having bubba,, when I am normally regular like clockwork!!.
Also I showed her Griffens blue book and about how the Early Childhood Nurse told me that it was written in there about a heart murmer,,,,,,,, she read it,, and almost started laughing!!. Apparently it was not "dull murmur" like the childhood nurse said,,,, it was "dual HTT" (meaning dual heart sounds,,,,, normal) and "- murmur"
All meaning a normal heart examination!!
I could have kissed her!! So relieved,,, then she made a comment that the health nurse who has been doing that job for 20 years now,, shoudl be able to read doctors notes inthe blue books by now huh. I cant believe ''I have spent a week now worrying about it for nothing!!.
Will catch you all later,,, going to go start on dinner,, making a double batch so I can have a night off some time,,,,,I am so tired I keep falling asleep with Griffen on the boob lately lol

Love Lil

Lisa, I didn't know you could get a drug for increasing milk supply... hmph. So much for "needing" formula top-ups. Although my darling one does better without those, he gained 11oz last week (about 40g a day - he's now a whole pound over his birthweight) so I must be stuffing him. No wonder he went off the formula! 60g (2oz... only translating for me LOL) under birth weight isn't so bad... although I can see why you'd worry. Can you express a bit too and increase your milk that way?

Crikey, I now get one and a half ounces (or 50 of the metric things) just from the let-down... I'm glad I caught it in a bottle yesterday as it usually soaks my breast pad, bra, top and even the top of my jeans! Anyway, hope your supply ups itself this much too, Lisa. As Emily said, weight is a daft way of measuring progress, so long as your baby is fine. I know we were re-hospitalised because of weight, but my DS was also not weeing and pooing enough, sleeping too much and very unsettled when awake, plus refusing food. Doesn't sound like Harry has that problem.

Hi Kristy and welcome to the gang! My DS was late too; he ended up being sucked out and not breathing on his own too and it took 10 mins for the first cry. Very traumatic, no? I agree, epidurals work fantastically, although I still wish I hadn't agreed to one (but then would have gone from nothing to a spinal, very full on!).

Kirsten, I did just over two hours with Liebling in the car yesterday and he was fine - the trick is to give a big feed and nappy change just before you set off. OK, it then takes 15 minutes to settle him, but if someone else can pack the car in that time you're away. I'd suggest expressing a bottle for him to take in the car and sitting in the back, that way you don't have to stop, pick him up, feed on the side of a raod/a supermarket carpark (I had to do that!), settle him again... I'm going to do that when we go visit my mother at the end of the month so we don't have to stop for five hours.

Lil, yay that Griffen is OK, although I can sympathise about Doctors and their handwriting - I worked for a doctor for two years and still had trouble. But then, so did the rest of the hospital, the blood labs and the X-ray department would call and ask me to visit and translate for them!

As for me, doing well. My friend has left now so Liebling is getting back to a normal day again, fewer outings and more entertaining himself as we don't have guests who want to cuddle him instead of letting him sit in his chair. I think it was the nappies causing the problems - last night we used cloth and he was asleep at 10, not 11 (which does wonders for my tiredness and sanity!) but was up twice for about 40 minutes at a time, one (quiet) nappy change the second time. But he slept until 8.45 and is now feeding, so I will see you anon!

Thanks so much to everyone for the reassuring words.
Emily - Harry is developing perfectly. His head circ is bigger, he is longer, and he is very very alert, even smiles at the MHCN. He is full of smiles every time he gets a nappy change or a feed, it is almost like it is his way of thanking us.

Ryn - The drug is Domperidone? Apparently it is anti nausea and works to increase milk supply... my MHCN made the appt for me to go to my Dr to get the prescription. So far, I have noticed that my boobs seem fuller, but it is only day 2. I am expressing too, but I am only really able to express 60ml... though the other night I got 100ml... I need to express around 100ml and feed it to Harry as a comp feed.

I am so stubborn that I am refusing to use Formula (I was asked how I feel about using formula for the comp feed and I said I didn't want to) as both James and Madeleine had to be on formula for reasons that were beyond my control, so I have felt robbed of the chance to breastfeed for longer than a month, which is how long I got to feed Maddy for... So I am determined to stick it out, as Harrison may be the chance I get to breastfeed as he might be my last baby.
I am worried that if I am to use formula for the comp feed, then I would end up giving him 2, then 3, then before I know it, he will be exclusively formula fed.
Though, if he hasn't gained any weight, or has lost some, I will do what is best for Harrison, and if that means formula, then so be it.
I just hope my skinny little man can gain some weight!!!

Hi everyone. I'm very very tired so am doing a quick, selfish post then off to bed. My beautiful bub was weighed on Tuesday and is now 4kg - that's almost 1kg heavier than her birth weight (3065g) and over 1kg over her leaving hospital weight (2900g)! What a piggy! She has also started smiling, although if you blink you'll miss them. She has such a lovely smile!

She has decided over the last few days or so that day time sleeps are a thing of the past. I am now very sleep-deprived, as I am up for 2 and a half hours each night, working on the business. She usually decides to get up for her night feed right after I've gone back to bed! Last night she slept from 6.30pm to 3.48am! I had gone back to bed at 2am, so had to get up again! Oh well. I'm sure this will sort itself out soon.

My breast milk has now completely dried up - while I'm sad it didn't work out (along with feeling guilty that maybe I could have persevered longer?), I'm finding it very convenient to bottle feed. DD #1 feeds Bella with the bottle on the way to school in the car so I don't have to wake her until we're ready to leave. Also, when I pick DD #1 up from school in the afternoons, I take a bottle along just in case. I can then feed Bella while I'm waiting at the gate of the school - no need to sit myself comfortably (and discreetly) or we can go into the nearby shopping centre afterwards for afternoon tea. I just need about a thousand new bottles so I don't have to wash and sterilise all the time!

I'm off to fill some more bottles, so will try to do personals later.

HI Ladies,

Thanks for the welcome.

I'm finding Erin sleeps well until about 9.30pm ish and then is really restless till about 12.00am and is wanting lots of snacks on the boob but once she is asleep after that she is sleeping through to 5am. So at the moment I am getting a good sleep. She sleep between 3 - 4hours during the day so hopefully this isn't too long between feeds.

We gave her, her first bath at home today after a 9.30am feed and kept her awake for about an hour and she is now peacefully sleeping away. My milk seems to be going well and haven't had any pains yet. ( cross fingers).When I left hospital she was above her birth weight so she is a little piggy !!!

Well girls, my kitchen looks like a bomb has hit it so better do a quick tidy up before my little princess wakes up.

take Care girls.

Hi everyone :hello:

Just wanted to let you all know that Harrison is now 10g over his birth weight!!! :confetti:
We are soooooo happy and relieved... and my bb's are ginormus!! This medication certainly does work... so now, Harrison should start to gain more, and be on track... he gets re weighed on Monday.
Fingers crossed

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.
I'm off today to my nephews 4th birthday party... complete with Jumping castle!!! Wooo hooo!!! :)

That is excellent news Lisa! WOOHOO!!!!! :happyforyou: I hope you have a great time at your nephews party!

Kristy - That's wonderful that Erin is such a good sleeper!

Lil - ROFL at the interpretation mishap! So easy to do though - it's not always easy to interpret doctor's hand writing regardless of how long you have been reading doctors writing! But I am over the moon that everything is clear with DS! And I hope the sachets work quickly for you hon, you must be so uncomfortable right now.

Kirstend, how did the car trip go? My DD LOVES the car. We hardly hear a peep out of her once she is settled in to her seat. When we go to take her out she grips on to her harness and you have to pry her little hands off - very cute!

Impatient - I hear you on the sterilising. We have bottles for me to express into and also for comp feeds and I feel like I am constantly washing and sterilising bottles!!! And I have about 6 or 7 of them! I have a new rule though - I don't wash and sterilise until I have 4 bottles needing attention! And I try to soak them first because I'm paranoid about getting them clean enough...

Ryn - Yay for DS having a better sleep! Interesting about the nappies!

Well girls, things here are going well. DD seems to be almost over her cold - just a few stuffiness moments a day now and she handles it wonderfully. Sleeping is still an issue although that is her personality and not cold related. The little miss fights sleep as much as she can and it is so hard to get her to sleep. Plus she has decided against being wrapped... if I wrap her she cries and carries on for AGES trying to get her hands free. After 2 hours of DH trying to settle her the other night (he wanted bed duty) I gave in and went in (and much to his distaste settled her in 5 minutes flat) and unwrapped her, popped her back in the bassinet, covered her with her sheet and a light blanket (cool night) and watched her promptly throw her arms above her head and fall asleep! So, wrapping is a thing of the past here... Now just have to work out how to stop her from kicking her blankets off...

MG - Griffen hates sheets and blankets with a passion and fusses until he has kicked them off,,,,so the other night when it was cool here too, i put him into his sleeping bag suit,, even though it was a size tyoo big, i just rolled up the sleeves. I then gave him his breastfeed so he was asleep when i put him down and he stayed asleep happily in it.
I am going to get another one now, as they are invaluable in winter,, just put them on over their pj's.
HTH hun :)

Time for a new thread everyone!