Babies Born February 2008 #3

[The[cookie]Doctor]

This group is so large it really is tough keeping up with everyone!!!
Like Bun, i'm watching, reading, trying to keep up, but by the time i get to posting Alexander decides it's his turn for mummy time!

Sue - Alex is still sleeping pretty well during the day, but i expect as we further approach six weeks that it will change. He'll often wake after an hour or so, but generally with wind pain, and he can, mostly, self settle, so i don't usually go to him.

Esther - Woohooo on the first smiles!!!! Alex is sorta smiling but they tend to coincide with wind or when he's tired, still waiting for the intentional kind!!!

Bun - Yipppeeeeee on the good weight gain and sleeping!!! Hope it's making things a little easier for you and hope your DH gets a bit more used to Catherine soon.

Well, Alexander i think is having a bit of a growth spurt. He's been feeding for fifteen-twenty minutes on one side and then he wants the other!! Little guts. It may just be because of his cold that his feeds are taking longer though.
We have also discovered that he has reserved his loudest, most ear piercing scream for when he wants to be put to bed PMSL. I thought that was pretty awesome, lol.
We have his christening on the weekend, apparently as it's the Easter Mass it will be a full immersion ceremony, which is fabulously exciting as normally only adults are baptised that way.
Fed twice out in parents rooms yesterday. I don't think i'll ever manage the public breastfeed because my boobs are just too difficult to manage. I'm proud of the parents rooms achievements alone.

Umm not much else to tell, Alexander did sleep through the other night but seems it was a one off. Getting there slowly though...

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter holiday and/or long weekend.
Many sleep vibes to you all.

[*MinKy*]

Just wanted to quickly pop in and wish you all a very HAPPY EASTER !!

Everything is good here *touch wood* we are learning Noahs tired signs so he is going down a lot better now and sleeping quite well. He is also feeding a lot better which is nice! We still give him the occasional formula bottle, which he wolfs down!!

Ash, I hope that the christening goes beautifully!!

Bun, so sorry to hear that DH still isnt being too helpful, hopefully he will be soon!! Take care!

Esme, oooohhh first smiles!!!!! How gorgeous!! Enjoy! I cant wait until they happen here!!

Sue, DS sleeps for about an hour at one go most days, but that was a long time happening lol...no doubt he will be back to his 30min sleeps soon

Prama, how are you??

Okay better scoot, am meant to be cooking dinner!!

[Jacki]

Hi all
Happy Easter.

Think we are definately having a growth spurt. Bubs has gone from feeding every 4 hours during the day and sleeping really well at night to feeding every 2. - 3 hourly - my poor nipples !!

How do you all put your bubs to sleep. Do you just wrap them and put them in cot to "self settle" when you know they are tired or do you nurse, hold, rock etc until they are just about to nod off before putting in cot ??? I am currently rocking to sleep and if he stirs picking him back up to settle before putting in cot. Not too sure if I should be starting to let him try and self settle - even though this will mean a lot of crying which breaks my heart. Also he sleeps wrapped so if he cries and thrashes aroudn he will unwrap himself then I am not sure if he will then put himself to sleep.

Thoughts ??? Advice !!!

Also night feeds - do you change nappy before, during or after the night feed or just leave until morning ???

Thanks buddies.

[Bun]

Hi guys

Jacki - I settle DD before putting her down to sleep but before she goes down I wrap her really tightly so she can't unwrap herself in her sleep. If she does manage to unwrap herself, she always wakes herself up. I am starting to try and leave her if she wakes up to see if she will put herself back to sleep and not having much luck yet, but we are getting there.

In terms of changing, before I would change half way through the feed as she would start to fall asleep, but now that she is much more alert, I tend to wait til morning to change her if she is pretty sleepy, otherwise she wakes right up and wants play time! That seems to be working well and we are now getting a pretty good sleep pattern happening.

Have a great easter everyone! I hope the easter bunny brings you heaps of yummy chocolate!

[*MinKy*]

Hi Jacki, I have started to put Noah down once he starts to yawn and nod off, once he hits the sheets he is normally has his eyes wide open again, but I just wrap him up and put him on his side and he falls asleep (most times anyways..lol) If he sooks for a bit I have started to just ignore him and he normally settles, if he gets too histerical then I do go in and resettle him . As for his nappy change, I do it before a feed.

[Sueby]

Hi Jacki,

I have been trying to put Sophie to bed as soon as she looks tired so after about an hour and a half awake sometimes less. She is only having one sleep cycle in bed during the day and then she is up in the rocker or wherever for 40 mins and has another nap. But she is in bed by 7.00 7.30 and then just wakes for feeds until morning.
She takes a little while to self settle but not too long. I avoid rocking as then they can expect to be rocked to sleep. I am not sure why she is only sleeping one sleep cycle though.LOL
I tend to change her nappy before the feed and then only if she does a poo!!

Happy Easter Everyone.

Sue

[prama]

hi girls.
i didnt realise there was a new thread and didnt get any update.. i been missing all your posts.

bun - thanks hun. I'm doing well. still on going w bf. he seems to feed for more than an hr. he go on and on... i then give him some formula.
esme/Sue -
Lakshman seems to sleep a lot, sometimes im worried it's too much. he has a feed and then falls asleep and doesnt wake up till his next feed. i hope ths is ok. i'll ask his paed when we see him next friday. sometimes he's awake for an hr between feeds sometimes more. sometimes he gets cranly and restless and doesnt sleep between feeds. it's a bit hard to tell whats his pattern is like. if he has a feed and sleeps at 10ish (sometimes it's a bit of a struggle to get him to sleep) then he wakes up abt 4ish which is great. anything earler than 10, he wakes up at 2ish.

minky - lakshman is the same, he seems to fall asleep and as soon as you put him down, his eyes are wide open and he cries. you have to pick him up and he falls asleep again. its like a switch.. he's very cheeky!

i have a couple of Questions
question 1
When you're out and giving bub EBM, if it's already like 3 hrs since the last booby feed, do your boobs feel really full and feel they need to be emptied. What do you do when you;re out and dont want to bf. i find it hard when we go out and altho i have his EBM, my boobs are so heavy and uncomfy. then i just want to go home and express. so wahts the point of going out...

Question 2 -
what are your bellies like? is it still wobbly? mine's still wobbly and saggy.. how long does it take till it gets flat. i know we need to do exercies as well..
It was birthday yesterday, all of 35! and Steve is giving me a 3 mth gym membership at the leagues club as a birth present. they have a free creche so i can leave bub there during the day and get some exercise. i cant wait to go back to swim class as well!!!

have a great weekend..

[leebee81]

Hi all, Happy Easter.

Jacki, I don't believe in CIO (and even if I did, my husband wouldn't let me do it) and I think 5 weeks is to young to expect Oliver to realise he is tired and should just go to sleep. He generally falls asleep on the boob or when I'm burping him. I do wrap him as he startles awake otherwise. He does stir during the day and need resettling and this week he has been having episode of full on crying in his sleep which I think may be wind, so a cuddle helps with that.

At night I change Oliver's bum before a feed as he tends to only have a quick (20min) feed without a break before falling back asleep. During the day I change mid-feed. I only feed from one side per feed generally, with the exception of the first feed of the day (about 7am) and the last feed before bed (about 10pm) as he is starving in the mornings and I want him to sleep at night.

Ashnat: Good luck with Alexander's Christening, let us know how it goes. We were going to have Oliver's baptism in June but SIL who lives in England is saying she might be back home for a visit in September so we may put it back until she is here, since she missed his birth etc.

Sueby: Oliver resists day sleeps as well but this has improved this week - he had started to fall into a pattern of a morning sleep for 2 or so hours, an afternoon sleep of 3 - 4 hours, and maybe a short nap in the evening if he isn't totally unsettled. Having said that, yesterday he didn't sleep hardly at all in the day. I'm not too concerned as long as he does sleep at night so well.

Esme: Yay on the smiles! Oliver smiled for the first time at hubby on Friday, and I got a big gummy one yesterday. So cute.

[prama]

Thanks Jacki - i dont feel so bad about my belly now. you're right, i savour the moment when he's so tiny and cute.
in our settling class, they said if bub is unsettled, hold him tight against your chest, no rocking, no eye contact, no talking and jsut hold him close. that should settle him. it worked a few times, but not always.
I dont know how to self settle, tho....

Minky - thanks! his cheeks are so round now, i cant help kissing them!
re choccies - the nurse at the ECC said choc have caffiene and not to have too much. same with having coffee/tea/hot choc.
i did finally have some smoked salmon the other day.. it was so yum.

leebee - congrats on the smiles!!!lakshman smiles for no reason, lots in his sleep. the other he p!ssed on me and gave a big smile. cheeky bugger.

lakshman gave me my birthday present.. he was grizzly all evening, then went to sleep at midnight. i had wanted 8 hrs sleep. well we went to bed at midnite and lakshman woke up at 7.30 for his feed! of cos, i kept waking up wondering if he's ok and when he was going to wake up. and my boobs were getting heavy and painful and leaky. but still it was 7hrs of sleep! i havent slept so long for ages, esp in the last trimester with insomnia. i dont think it will be a repeat performance tho, just grateful this one night!!

[all girls]

I bought one of those kidopottamus wraps and because it has been so hot i only used it for the first time last night, it is really good as they can't wriggle out of them, it has velcro on it and is stretchy material so they can still move around and when she woke up she was nice and snuggly warm.

I have been changing Summers nappy between sides when i feed her during the night so hopefully she waits longer for the next feed.

[katkins]

hi girls,
well Dh is back and things are getting back to normal. I had a baaaad week last week. Midwife came and Bry had only put on 20gms. So big stress about that. DH and I got carried away and well, the next day and day after I got O signs so off to get MAP. Yay. Had to stop BF'ing for 3 days from last tab because it affects BM. So am expressing and tossing it and then giving Bry formula. I'm hopinh yo get back to BF'ing in a day or two. Am not looking forward to this next weight in on tues as the head midwife is coming out too. She's worried he's failing to thrive. He's fine besides weight. Formula should help him pack it on tho.
Who asked about change in sleep patterns? Now Bry is over 6wks, he's changed patterns. He sleeps very little during the day, but nights, two lots of 4-6hrs and no playing up anymore. He's more settled overnight, but he's still getting used to formula, so he's getting bad wind at night between 5-11. But he settles then and sleeps thru a good 5 hrs. I think they do change at this point.
Prama, the flabby belly sticks arouns for a while hon. But working out will help get rid of it. When I had Kat, a girl from my AN classes lost her belly within weeks. I was soooo shocked! it seems so unnatural. But I guess different strokes.... Hey?!
anyway, I have to go tell my girls to go to sleep so I'd best go. Love and hugs to all!