Babies Born in June 2006 #10

[#karen#]

Sorry haven't been in for a while, feel like crap. 2 weeks ago got mastitis, now have sinusitis. Now the breast that was affected is peeling like I was sunburnt and I keep getting these sharp shooting pains in breast and nipple and nipple is grazed, attachment hurts, I am so fed up with it all. Back to dr on Monday i guess.

[*Ang*]

Saturday night and the kids are in bed and here I am online....amazing how your social life disappears with kids! In Perth, when we had 1 kid and a large social group we were out most weekends and Gaby just adjusted to it all. But here it is completely different and we dont know as many people. Oh well such is life. Off to perth again on Tuesday anyway for Alex's christening next weekend.

Meant to say that last Friday 8th Sept was a great day, both my sil and one of best friends gave birth on same day. 1 was overdue and the other early, fancy the chances of that! So we had Connor Aidan born to sil and Sashana Grace to friend. Cannot wait to meet them all next week!

Dee am crossing my fingers for you that this Calm stuff continues to work and that Lachy is lactose intolerant, at least that would explain a few things. Good on you for getting this far with the b/f and I really hope that Lachy settles soon so that you can get some sleep!

Karen am cringing as I reread your post. You must be in agony you poor thing, hope the dr can prescribe something to help.

Ceecee sounds like you had a lovely time at the beach with your little family. Isnt it amazing how much fun simple things like that are especially when you have a family unit?

Ali lucky you for having that break, your DH sounds wonderful. Hope you enjoy your lunch, always nice when people get to meet your bubs for the first time.

About the whole "comments on babies weight/looks" issue. We constantly get comments on Alex, latest one being that he looks like a 9 month old or that he is a little monster (hehe have to agree with that one). I mean we cant deny it, he IS a HUGE boy - 7 kilos and 68 cms, but I just take them all with a pinch of salt and smile and agree with them. And usually respond by saying something like "yes we think hes gorgeous".

And as for "partners sleeping and helping out habits", I guess I am lucky. DH by nature is an early riser and the weekend is no exception - mind you he works Saturdays anyway. When he is home he tends to get up with the kids and he does help out, although alot of the time I do have to remind/ask him. Cant complain too much especially with the hours he works. Afterall him working and bringing in the money he does allows me to stay at home quite comfortably, can't complain about that.

Well this has turned out to be a long post, amazing what you can do when you have some "quiet time" to yourself!!

[Roryrory]

Gabysmum, two new bubas on the same day - how lovely! Goof friends of ours had their twin boys a week or so ago and I am hanging out to visit them - makes me kinda wish Flynn was a little bubba again....

Karen I feel for you so much! I live in daily dread of mastitis - you poor thing

Dee I do hope Lochie settles down. Not sure if you can use it on small bubs but "Rescue Remedy" spray apparently works well for some kids also.

Ceecee, forgot to say - Flynn slept til 1am the other night (instead of 11pm) but the bonus was he woke in the morning at 7am instead of 5am. He sort of phase shifted forward by 2 hours...

Ali, hope your girly catch up goes well - its always nice to introduce your bub to new people!

Bath, we had our first BBQ of the season the other day too. On the spur of the moment we rang up mates with a 10 month old girl and had a BBQ at the valley park at the bottom of our street. Only bummer was the nice warm afternoon got very cold as soon as dusk hit, so we had to hightail outa there real quick. The Emmaljunga pram came in so handy - I used Flynn's toy basket (kinda like a cane washing basket with two handles) to carry all the BBQ stuff and it fit perfectly on the shopping rack under the pram.

My day is turning out pretty well so far. After a broken sleep (Flynn was up every couple of hours *****in' about something or the other) DH took Flynn downstairs and amused him until 10am when he brought him in for a feed. So I feel really rested now, and Flynn has now been asleep for 1 and a half hours so it looks like it will be a good qaulity nap. DH is busy building the FINAL cabinet in my kitchen (yay!) and I am going to try and get some gardening done this arvo (green waste collection is tomorrow morning). Unfortunately, though, I have to do about 2 hours works also, but you gotta have some sour in life to enjoy the sweet!

ciao bellas

[nickers]

Karen- oh you poor thing, i hop doc can give u something and fix u up and bf can get back to normal.
bbqs- DH bought a new one yesterday (last time we went to use ours the plate had all rusted) and he was putting it togther last night we were all ready to have our first barby on it, but he put the legs on wrong so we ditched that idea! he is out fixing it now and we will try for a bbq again tonight!!
Rory- glad u got some well deserved rest good on your DH for taking Flynn for a few hours!
so warm in Melb today, the family (dh,me,Nix dogs) went on a big walk thismorning.

well Nixon has just made the room stink i think its time for a change!!

[Cee_Cee99]

Dee - I'm so happy to see you on line, we were all wondering how lochlan was going...although he is still not settled, you at least sound better, which was so good to see... How can they test for lactose intollerance? I live in Newtown, but would be happy to meet up in Bundeena one weekend for a swim...where do you live?

Karen - huge hugs honey...hope u feel better soon.

Gabymum- how nice that your friend and SIL will have a bubba close in age to Alex... that is great, i'm so jealous..

Rory -

makes me kinda wish Flynn was a little bubba again

- i bet you are the first one of the June mummies to fall again. that sounds like baby making talk to me!!!!!!!!! The sleep thing, very interesting as I often wonder what time they will wake if you put them down at different times.. seemed to have worked out well for you!

BBQ - I bought one last year for DH's birthday it was from BBQ's Galore, and I bought it from the seconds store, for half price, and it was already assembled, I put it in the back yard and invited all his friends for a surprise party /BBQ... It was a great night...he was so surprised, by the party and then by the BBQ, he loves it, cooks on it at least twice a week...

Me: we were suppose to show Ally off to some of DH's friends in the Eastern Suburbs, but the city was closed due to a marathon, so we drove around for 2 hours, (should have taken 20 mins) we just got stuck in traffic, and kept getting diverted in the wrong direction... after an hour, Ally was of course screaming... so had to pull over and feed, we had to ring them and cancel. Waste of a morning....but one of the couples came to our house in the afternoon, they have 3 kids, 5,3,1 and they gave me a huge bag of clothes, yeah, there is no need to buy anything for another six months now... truthfully, I have not bought Ally a single item of clothing yet!

[AmandaJ]

Well it's been raining here all weekend so not alot could be done, the kids were going insane been stuck inside. My mum came over today and had a big breakfast and spent the day together which was nice.

Cody rolled over to his tummy this morning my clever little man and when he's in his pram I have it slightly elevated and he is trying to sit up, boy is he growing fast now.

Karen sorry to hear that your having a bad run, hope it gets better soon.

Gonna go for now got a really bad headache.

hugs xoxo

[Smoke Jaguar]

Back tonight. Too tired to reply to the two pages of posts I've missed, and probably won't get round to, either!
Bittersweet weekend - the house was LOVELY, the weather was perfect, the treatments fabulous, my swim with Oscar really nice, the company awesome...Oscar has his first cold and screamed half the way up there (with me in tears cos there was nothing I could do after I'd fed him, given him Brauer's Colic Relief (bought on the Friday so that I could ditch the Infacol) and held him. Poor little bugger broke my heart, but the HAB was a real life saver and Oscar spent most of the weekend in it. Saturday I timed everything really well - I fed him half an hour before my treatments were due to start, put him in the HAB, got him to close his eyes, lay on the hammock in the waiting area (on the deck under the sail shades at Hepburn Springs), let him fall asleep then transferred him ever so gently into the portable carrier and he slept for the whole time I was in (about 2 hours) and only properly waking when I came out to meet the girls and he heard my voice (they'd been minding him). Ahhhh! At least he slept for most of the journey back and is asleep now. I'll try to see a doctor tomorrow, even though he seems to be recovering now.
I'm so tired from a combination of being so relaxed yesterday afternoon and from being fully awake at 3am both mornings when Oscar was feeling particularly unwell and needed extra comforting (neither of us are used to being fully awake for night feeds, so I suspect we're both feeling wrecked!).
Dee - I rarely get a 4 hour stretch of sleep, but with the co-sleeping it doesn't seem to matter, normally, cos even if Oscar feeds every 2 hours I feel quite rested from not having to fully wake.
OK, eyes are dropping, gonna head off again!

[Roryrory]

IK that sounds like a lovely weekend - where in Hepburn Springs/Daylesford did you stay? I used to visit there with my mum when I was a kid - we stayed at a cottage up the hill from the Springs. So nice, and such great weather for it. Poor little Oscar - Flynn has a cold too at the moment - I am using FESS little noses saline drops up is nose, and it seems to relieve congestion.

C'mon Amanda, isn't a rainy day when a "good mummy" is supposed to get out her goodies box and entertain her "leave it to beaver" children with paper crafts? Yeah right, while she bakes her own bread, boils up soap, darns socks and massages her husband's feet - NOT! I tell you, I am not looking forward to the "I'm bored, mum" that I know is coming. At least Flynn is easily entranced by a boob - LOL!

Ceecee, I reckon if it wasn't for all the horrible stories about women having children 9 months apart and how hard it is I reckon we'd be trying now!! Since the moment Flynn was born (well, maybe not exactly THE moment!) I have wanted his brother or sister. I look at him and feel the love for him and just can't wait for it to be DOUBLED or TRIPLED with the next one or two.

Nickers, must have been something about BBQs last night - we were at a mate's place in Hurstbridge, settling down to a pork loin done on the BBQ rotisserie, when the power cut out and we realised our mates BBQ was on fire - the burnt rotisserie motor had tripped the safety switch on the house.

Had a great afternoon - got a few hours work done, played with Flynn, and had a nice rack of lamb dinner. Now I just have to get organised - ahhh, the holy grail of the housewife.....

Before I go, I thought I'd reinstate the "question for the day" - at what age are you going to introduce solids? Official guidelines now say 6 months, but many "oldschool" MCHNs will say its ok to start at 4 months. Are you worried about allergies if you introduce food before 6 months? Are you going to make your own, or try out some of the supermarket varieties?

Personally, I was hanging out to introduce solids at 4 months, but now that is only a few weeks away I don't know. I don't reckon I can give up the (to me) odourless nappies just yet!! Also, I had my first hayfever reaction at about 4 months, and I am hoping Flynn doesn't and so hope that exclusive breastmilk might stave off a reaction in him (vain hope?) I have Grand Plans of only ever giving Flynn homemade stuff (I think it will be easily to achieve when all he eats is mashed fruit and veg) but completely accept the fact that I may succumb to the siren song of "Heartly Veg and Couscous Casserole" from the babyfood aisle.

ciao bellas

[RacOOooOOoon]

Just a quickie - Happy 5 Months Nixon & 6 Months Ronan!

Also we are starting to try again in Feb/March next year as Ronan will be 1 by that time, so it will be interesting to see who is pregnant first!

I hope you are all well..

[nickers]

Hey Racs!! Love to c you back in here!!

Yep Happy 6 months Mr Ronan!!! hope he had a good day. Nixon is fast asleep, he was so zonked he didnt even wake up when i put him to bed! How fast has it gone... well its been a long journey for Ronan already and at the time seemed to go every so slowly but now look he is half a year old already wow!!
I've been thinking that i'd like to TTC Feb/March next yr to so wouldnt it be funny if half of us end up going through out No:2 journey together again!

Question for the day- well i have just started trying Nixon with some rice cerial as of yesterday.(still have feeding issues and he doesnt seem to be satisfied after some feeds. He is 5months (but only really 3 1/2) so not really pushing the issue, he didnt know what to do with it and sat it in his mouth and cried! I think i'll wait another week or few days or so b4 trying again.
Good Night everyone, off to bed for me watch some more friends! ( i have every series on dvd and watch a few episodes every few nights in bed lol!)
xoxo

[*Kristee*]

Hey girls,
Back from my weekend away to my future FIL and DD'a uncles who had never met her. I can't believe my little princess will be 3 mnths on thursday. Well Tee behaved herself real well when we were away, probably because there was so much new things/people to take in. She slept in her porta cot for the first time, she looked so tiny but she settled okay because we put the snuggle bed in it and put her in that. The trip home was a bit slow as Tee decided that she can't handle heat and was vomiting everywhere, so i stripped all her clothes off her till she was in her nappy and singlet and tried to get her to drink some cool boiled water to keep her hydrated....doesn't like water to much but managed to get some into her.
I hae been so clucky lately its not funny!!! I feel bad for feeling like this already as Tee isn't 3 mnths yet. As of Jan next year we will be using no protection and just let nature take its course so will be interesting to see who will be pregnant again first!!! Prob not me as it took 7 mnths to concieve Tarleha so will probably take that long if not longer next time round. I am starting Tee onsolids next week so will see how she goes, she already likes sweet potato, KFC potato and gravy and ice cream OOPS
HAPPY 5 MONTHS NIXON
Well i better go sorry no time for personals tonight. So tired from the long trip today.
Lots of love and hugs to all of you my only friends.

Kristee-Lea - 21
Tarleha Maye - 29/06/06
Tying the knot 7th April (Easter Sat)
TTC March/April (unofficially anytime from Jan)

[AmandaJ]

Just a quick one for now Happy 5 & 6 Months Nixon and Ronan, boy how time flies you guys.

Question of the day I've had the three older boys starting soilds around 4 mths but I'm not sure this time with Cody, I'll see how he is in a few weeks to see if he is making chewing motions when someone eats like the others did.

Better go make brekkie for the boys will be back later on.

hugs xoxo

[Cee_Cee99]

IK - sorry Oscar has a cold...poor little tike.

Amanda - wow, i was so surprised to read that Cody has learnt to roll, what a clever little boy!Ally is no were near that stage...mostly i can't beleive she is no longer a new born!

Rac's - I can't belive Rona is 6 months, I remember you giving birth as if it was yesterday, our first June Mummie... it was such a reality check for me that this was actually happening..

Nic - Congrats to you and Nixon too, 5 months - yeah!Regarding solids...

it sat in his mouth and he cried

- I felt bad but this made me laugh....I could just visualise him so well..

Next baby???? - I want to B/F for at least a year, so I guess we won't start till July next year, I don't think I would like to be B/F and pg. I'm not even sure it is possible? With this pg I had a horrible heat rash, so I may wait till even later so I'm not heavly pg in the heat of summer (the rash was that horrible).

Feeding update: as some of you may remember I was concerned that Ally was not getting enough milk as she had only put on 300 grams is 3 weeks and my boobs were empty each night, so I started to wake her for an additional feed at 10pm... well, the 10pm feed is probably the best feed she gets as I'm "full" (4 hours since last feed) and she is tired and not distracted by what is going on..she also seems fatter? However.... I'm exaushted, as it means I don't get to bed till 10.30pm, then she wakes at 1.30 or 2am for her next feed, then this morning she woke again at 4am... Yawn... I'm soooo tired and, she seems to feed less in the day now... Am I being an idiot for changing a good system?

Starting solids: ummmm.. I'm not sure, maybe six months? As this is my first it will be organic home made vegies first off... I'm sure by number 2 or 3 it will be ready made, shelf bought, and given asap - he hee

[jaspen]

morning all - a lots been happening in here!!!1

IK - hope Oscar is feeling better soon although it sounds like you had a relatively good weekend considering.

Solids - 1st one I started around 4 months and he used to eat tonnes - cereal initially with bananas and mashed peas and potato as first real foods then into some homecooked others tinned (cause we were travelling a lot) although even as he grew older I stuck with a lot of the then 4 month old tinned food as the veges for the younger ones had a higher proportion of real food like 90% then some of the meal formulas made for the older kids so tended to stick with the younger kids tins for fruit and veges when I didn't have my own and mix it in with homecooked meats and cereals when I didn't have any of my own veges - generally though tried to belnd up our veges or our meals(once past the single spoon of veges stage). Mine was a guts though and would eat almost anything at any consistency (except for the Heinz lamb and veges tinned food - would never eat that one for some reason). Anyway with Samuel I'll be trying to hold out until the six months - a)his skin etc is much more like mine and hypersensitive so I'm working on the theory this could also mean he's a bit more sensitive to foods so the longer I hold out the better b) also with our trip at the end of the year if he's not really advance on solids (my first would have been on three full meals a day with the euqivalent quantity of 2 tins per meal by 6 mths) thats one less thing I need to worry about him having to have. Now in saying all this for those of you feeling pressured by others (cause that's what they did) I found that although DS ate solids from 4mths quite happily - in fact loved eating them and would eat as much as I would give him and keep asking for more I don't know that too much of it was actually being digested as it did not make him gain weight very much at all (if any).

Go Cody - Samuel's not even interested in rolling over yet either - he's still fascinated with his fists and anything in them but who gives two hoots if its not within reach it can just stay there is his theory.

Anyway I hear a squak from upstairs so had better go check what the problem is.
BL

[Smoke Jaguar]

Cee Cee - definitely possible to BF and be pg at the same time Some women do have a diminished supply, though, though some even go on to tandem feed, although this is not possible for many women because of lifestyle, or even milk production issues. But definitely possible. Also, not putting on 'enough' weight does not necessarily mean your baby isn't getting enough milk, it may just mean she doesn't need much milk and that she's thumbing her nose at the charts that say she should be putting on more! Oscar's cousin is a whole month older than he is and he is streets ahead of her in weight gain, but she is being exclusively BF, like her siblings, and her mum isn't concerned about how it measures up to any damn charts. She's still healthy, still feeding well, just not in the Oscar range of things, and that's ok, cos the maternal nurse tried to tell me on Friday that, according to the freaking charts, he is overweight for his height...my eyes glazed over as she showed me charts and where Oscar sits on them. I don't even really care what weight he is, to be frank, as long as he's not constantly hungry, sick and/or sad! SO, please don't fret about not having enough milk. I trust that Oscar is telling me the when he needs to feed, so I dont' wake him from sleep (I can deal with inflated boobs when he's asleep, like I did yesterday when I put him back in the car and he stayed sleeping - I had to lean out of the back of the car and leak onto the carpark grass!). His own body knows what it needs and it makes him ask for it when he's ready.
Speaking of baby sleep, Oscar has been doing a lot in the last few days, but I think it's been good for his recovery because his wheezing is dissipating and the nights are getting better for him. His cousin had a cold from 4 weeks and it lasted ages, so hopefully this cold doesn't hang around for too long.
Solids - haven't given this more than a fleeting thought, but I think I plan to exclusively BF until 6 months at least before I think about comp feeding. My dietitian cousin (who mainly does a lot of boasting, but sometimes has a nugget of useful information!) recommends mushed up apple to begin with, as it's easy to digest. I'm not sure how comfortable I feel about the idea of weaning, so I think I'm leaning towards child-led weaning. We have such an active lifestyle that I don't think this will be an issue in 4 years' time!
TTC again - thinking that in two years from now would be a good time, uni plans-wise. we'll see. As much as I, too, was thinking of siblings for Oscar shortly after the birth (as in, I was still at the birth centre!), I am also very caught up with him and his personality and I want to enjoy that for a bit before the next one comes.
My snuffly baby is asleep in the HAB, he wouldn't go to sleep after his last feed, so I took the opportunity to feed myself breakfast (left over choco pops from teh weekend! SOMEONE's got to finish them...), catch up on BB, have some flaxseed oil (dry scalp is driving me nuts!) and then go back to bed to await the arrival of these thunder storms - getting very blowy out my way and even though it's predicted to be warm, I'll leave my horse's rugs on. I would like to keep things quiet for Oscar today, to give him half a chance to recover, and a trip out to windy paddocks just doesn't make it that high on the priority list - sorry, pony! Dante will survive, Oscar is too little to realise that it's a cold that is making him miserable. He's such a trooper, though - he's been in quite a bit of discomfort, but has only cried when it's really, really getting too much. I don't want him to feel he has to subscribe to his father's 'stoicism', though, so if he's not a trooper, then that's fine too - that's what I'm here for! It was such a relief, though, when he fell asleep just out of Gisborne on the way home.
I'm so tired, still, so I'm going back to bed. His being sick has had me feeling the most tired I've been since he was born - waking up and not feeling rested at all. Not even during our tongue tie issues did I feel so unrested!
Catch you all later after a snooze!

[Cee_Cee99]

IK - thanks for your words, Ally is 'average' according to the charts, so I think I will just tell people that when they say "do you have enough milk?" and I start to doubt myslef...RE: Oscar's overweight... how can a B/F baby be overweight...I think it is very inspirational that you led Oscar decide his needs...PS..I loved your inflated boob story in the car park, LOL!!!!!!!

I also wanted to mention what I use for a dry scalp, it is an 'all natural' product, made in Australia called "moo goo". I used to use Head & Shoulders, since using Moo Goo I no longer need to use any anti-dandruit shampoo... according to their web site, one drop of a product like Head & Shoulders in a fish tank would kill all the fish, however a whole litre of Moo Goo in the tank would not even harm them, that is how environmentally friendly it is, and we have to love that... It is also what I use on Ally as she also has dry skin..you need to buy it on line, also try their goats milk soap - it is amazingly soft and my DH even uses it to shave with! Also smells divine!

Jaspen - "he's not really advance on solids thats one less thing I need to worry about him having to have to worry about".. I think the real reason I want to delay solids so I don't have to make extra meals - he hee - it is all about us / our lifestyle! But I think that is good, a happy family works together!

[jaspen]

Ceecee - i know what you mean re the extra meals although to a point from day dot I tried to give DS a version of whatever we were having (once past the cereal stage) or do some extra veges when cooking for one meal and freeze them then so I wasn't having to do separate stuff cause the minute I've got to do to much mucking around I get frustrated and look to cut corners (eg tins etc). eg if something with an unsuitable sauce (took meat and veges out and mushed before adding sauce ingredients etc). If we were having meat and veges - he'd have potato or corn or peas or one of the veges. Of course I'm really talking after the initial introduction of cereal etc. Would you be able to email me the site for moogoo as I have really bad icthiosis so not really dandruff and it looks like Sam's got it too so am looking for something a bit softer for him than the supermarket antidandruff stuff - if he's like me I have to rotate my shampoos no matter what they are so always good to have a new option.

IK - I'm a bit with you IK I haven't really given much thought to solids up until this point yet with DS#1 I had - maybe it was because the starting time was four months then and now its six plus DS#1 fed a lot less than Samuel does.

Nic - I'd say by the sounds of it Nixons really not interested in solids yet (only my opinion so please ignore as appropriate) alhtough I can certainly understand you wanting to give it a go if he doesn't seem satisfied after a feed but personally I think its good you are relaxed about it and not in a hurry to push him - with respect to premmies is solids one of the things that fits into their actual age bracket or their corrected age bracket???

[Bathsheba]

Well it's not getting any easier juggling the needs of Wade and Niall... sorry I still can't do personals although I ROFL at CeeCee's comment at my "Clean" house I've taken a photo looking the other direction... will post it when Wade goes down for a nap... he's been playing outside all morning and is filthy so I need to give him a bath before I put him in bed with the fresh linen I put on this morning.

Solids: easy, delaying as long as possible. Probably will introduce soon after 6 months like I did with the others but if he shows no interest I won't complain! The novelty of hand feeding a baby has worn off with me... unless they are a good eater it's one of the most frustrating tasks of baby-care. Also it was the opposite with me and convenience baby food: verity had more because I was so frustrated at her refusing foods I had made myself that I stayed with jar food.... until i realised how expensive it was getting! (because i only bought her good quality organic stuff). With Wade, luckily he was a better eater and ate my prepared meals so I made the effort more often to make my own... also because I was motivated to save money. If a child is on formula and bought baby jar food it can cost an extra $30 a week compared to if you BF and made your own from pure fresh foods.... add that to disposable nappies and you can understand how expensive babies can be. Anyhow... I agree, pureed apple is good to give as one of the first foods... and rice cereal as opposed to wheat based ones... much easier on their delicate digestive systems.

I thought Wade was peacefully having a bath but when I checked on him I found him pouring the bathwater out of the bath with a jug I used to wash his hair last night... it's run onto the carpet... once again i am grateful we are renting!

gotta go...