Babies Born February 2008 #3

[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..

[*MinKy*]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRAMA!!!! I hope you had a lovely day yesterday!! I cant help you with your first question re going out and full boobies, as I plan my outings so that I am home in time to feed....there isnt a lot to do in this town, so I am normally only out for a couple of hours so it works well! As for your 2nd question, I am still flabby too. With my first baby it took a good year to when I really noticed a tighter tummy. It was only when she was 3 and I had a personal trainer that it was really a lot better....I havent done any excercise this time around, but once the weather gets cooler I hope to get walking!! We have a rowing machine in Perth too which I want to bring up here so hopefully that will help too when it gets here!! Just be patient with your belly, they say to give yoursefl at least 9 months before it all starts to fall back into place again! Just keep up with your good diet and excercise, the gym membership that hubby gave you will be a great help and motivation!!!!

Take Care!!

[prama]

Thanks Minky!! It was a nice day, nothing much really but it was nice. too busy concentrating on bub!
and thanks.. you've made me feel heaps better about my belly. i met 2 ladies at the chemist, one had her bub 2 weeks before me and the other 7 weeks. and they both had flat flat tummies.. i guess some women just naturally go back really quick. i thot bf was supposed to help too... maybe not everyone..

[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!

[Esme]

Happy Easter everyone!

Jacki - We are using a self settling technique with Jasper at 7.30 pm only. We change his nappy and give him his feed. Then we sing a made up sleepy time song and go and kiss daddy goodnight. After that I put him in his bassinet in our dark and quiet bedroom and wrap him tightly. He has a little musical elephant (used to be mine when I was a bubby!) that we wind up, a kiss from mummy and then up to him to fall asleep. The first few times it took about 20 minutes to settle, now only about 10 minutes... If he works himself up too much, I go back in the room and put my hand on his tummy without looking him in the eye and sometimes pat his tummy. As soon as he is quiet I take my hand away and put it back when he starts to cry again. Sometimes when he is overtired; touching him only makes it worse, so it works best for him to let himself cry to sleep. At night we do the nappy change before his feed, so he can go straight back to bed when he is nice and sleepy after the feed. Jasper tend to unwrap himself too, maybe we have to start using bigger wraps? Bassinet sheets might work...

Prama - Happy birthday! What a great present from Laskhman to let you sleep 7 hours! And he is beautiful; love your new photo! Don't worry, my belly is still wobbly too...

Minky - We find that the more horrible the day is, the better Jasper sleeps at night, so hopefully that goes for all babies!

Leebee - Congratulations; sooo nice those smiles, makes your heart melt, doesn't it?

Jasper is going quite well, a bit more challenging in the afternoon. He stays awake from 4 pm til 7.30 pm and gets quite ratty; only a nice cuddle with mum or dad will settle him... ah well, we'll just have to do that then; so nice to have him snuggled up against your shoulder... Yesterday we went to the local Easter parade and he slept right through the noisy truck horns, police sirens and music! Unbelievable how they can sleep once they are asleep!

Ok, going to finish the last bit of chocy before that mysteriously disappears...

[Bun]

prama - happy birthday! My belly is still a little flabby too unfortunately. I can't wait to start some exercise to try and get some tone back! What great pressies from both DS and DH! It sounds to me like DS is sleeping normally for a new baby. Re expressing, my boobs get really fulll too, but i find it helpful if I want to go out and leave her with someone for a bit, and then as soon as I get home I will express again for next time and to relieve the boobs. That way it is still worthwhile, as you get a break longer than three hours to have a bit of a social life, and then can still relieve the boobs, although they can get a little uncomfy for a bit.

Everyones babies seem to be sleeping so well! DD has not been so good the last couple of nights Last night we went out to dinner and left her with my parents with some EBM. She was great and slept the whole time! Then as soon as we got home she was a little nightmare for the rest of the night! Plus, at one stage when DH went to pick her up because she was crying, he forgot we have a new cot mobile and he didn't turn the light on so she got whacked in the head! Poor thing. That really made her cry.

DD has started only pooing about twice a week, and when she does it's a shocker! She did one today when we were out at a picnic with the family, and boy was that difficult to clean up! Usually these poos are so bad that she needs a bath to get cleaned up, I felt like hosing her down! Yuck!

katkins - I hope Bry starts putting on some more weight with the formula. That must be so stressful, you poor thing.

Jacki - how much better is this weather!!

I am off to eat some more choccy!