Babies Born March 2008 #2

[danniellabella]

Took Jazz to visit everyone at work today. She got passed around and almost spewed on the HR manager.

Also handed in my resignation so apart from being a mum, I'm officially unemployed and it feels nice actually! Matt has decided I can look for work when I'm ready but reminded me that the longer I leave it the longer it will take to pay off some debts. Also he's happy for me to start off working 3 days a week if I want. I'm happy he's so supportive. Gotta go, Jazz just woke up. Matt's trying to sooth her but she may want mumma.

[teachmum]

Welcome Andie. My best tip for increasing your milk supply is feed, feed, feed and get enough rest. There are some great tips on the BF forum regarding this. I also found that I could never express much but always had plenty of milk because unlike the bottle their never empty

SJ regarding the older kids I just have to be organised and wake Patrick if it's close to feeding time when we are going out. Patrick is still getting used to going out. I find he gets unsettled and tends to sleep while he's out and then he's cranky that night. Thank God my kids can get themselves to and from the bus most days. Though I have sat in the school carpark and fed Patrick coz no amount of driving will settle him .

Reenie the joys of family ... not. Vent anytime you need to.

[marknjo]

Hi Everyone,

Haven't been able to get on for a bit as have been flat out while my parents have been here. I have spent the last 3 days on and off reading all of the posts that I have missed and now can finally post!

Mum flies back to the USA on Sunday so next week will be the first week since Caitlin has been home where I will be on my own which will be interesting. Also Mark has to go to Syndey for Business Tuesday & Wednesday so I will have no time off, fingers crossed that our little miss will behave!

SJ - I went to that class today, it was quite interesting but again it is still someones opinion and not the law! There are a couple of things that I will put into practice (like bathing with bub's facing face down which they apparently find comforting - so long as you don't submerge their face!) but there are also a couple of things that we are currently doing that we will continue to do even though they recommended against them (such as wrapping her when she goes to bed - she sleeps better wrapped so I am going to continue to do it).

Sorry to hear about your DH's uncle and ignore your MIL - geez they can come out with some stupid thoughtless comments sometimes.

Welcome to everyone new - I am sure I will get to know your names soon - FYI - Caitlin was born on Jan 27, 6 weeks early but I was due in March so I am staying in this group as I know the girls and feel more comfy!

Bron - Good to see you are home and able to get back online. William is sooo cute!

Trina - Sorry to hear that DH is going away again - you are amazing, I don't know how you cope so well.

RE - Expressing quantity. I express and bottle feed for all feeds (Caitlin takes 80ml every 4'ish hrs with the occasional 20ml top up in between feeds) and some days I get more milk than others. It all depends on how hydrated and well fed I am so don't get stressed if your milk drops off for a couple of days, just keep drinking lot's of water and eat well and it will pick up again.

Caitlin is due for her 8 week needles tomorrow morning, not really looking forward to it especially when the MHN said that Panadol will be required for the fever that she will most likely get - apparently the 24 hours after the needle could be horrendous!

Mothers group hasn't started for me yet. Apparently it start next Wednesday and I should receive a letter in the mail about it (nothing yet!). I hope it is in the morning as Caitlin has her Paed appt for her 6 week post release from hospital check up on the same day in the afternoon and appt's are hard to get so I can't change it. I am looking forward to seeing what the girls in the group are like.

Still not missing work!

Looking forward to our Cairns holiday at the end of April, I am not planning on taking Caitlin in the sun/water but I want to still dress her for the part but I have not been able to find any rash vests under a size 1. Has anyone ever seen rashies for babies?

Had a hair cut on Tuesday and Caitlin and I had a great time! She slept while the foils were being put in and then woke for a feed while they were processing and then went back to sleep while my hair was being cut and dried! We then drove into the city and met Mark for lunch at Crown. His new job is in the Rialto building so he just had to cross the river to meet us and we didn't have to go right into the city which worked well and it was a nice little excursion.

At the moment Caitlin is really good at being transferred from home - car - pram so long as we don't try to move her too many times close together so I am able to get out and about with her without too much angst which is great for me and for her also.

I think this essay is a bit long now, so will sign off and express before she is due for her next feed - speak to you all soon!

Jo.

P.S. For those of you with an abundent supply of breast milk, I recommend freezing some as when you do have days where your supply drops off a bit, it is a relief to be able to defrost some to tide you over. Medela makes zip lock bags for freezing the milk in and they are really handy and the milk thaws well when needed.

[slimjadey]

Reenie, oh the joys of family.... never a dull moment eh?

Danniella, haha take that manager!

well things appear to be beginning to settle somewhat with Ryan at least for now... he slept from midnight last night to 5:30 which was just incredible hehe. He now awake and full of smiles and enjoying a rock in the rocker watching the bar of toys jiggle around.
We're getting our new bedroom suite delivered tomorrow! I can't remember if i told you guys about that before, but its a really nice Baltic Pine bed, dresser and bedside tables. I can't wait, we so need a new bed and i've never had a really nice one before...
anyways, i'd better go talk to Ryan before he starts getting bored

[Sammiejane]

Woo Hoo Jade on the bedroom suite!

Jo - i thought that the class was today :lol lucky i had decided that i couldnt go... thought about it, was going to go, and then reaslised that i wouldnt be able to put the pram back in the car...

Re Cot sleeping, Molly goes down in her cot, sometimes awake (usually the day sleeps) and sometimes asleep. When she is awake, i sometimes have to go back and settle her a few times, its usually wind, so i pick her up, burp her and then put her straight back down... then i stroke her forehead (i dont think that there is a person alive that doesnt like this!!!) or gently tap or rock her tummy. I have to wrap her though, otherwise she only sleeps a little while.

Does anyone else have a noisy baby when sleeping - Molly Jane makes loads of noises and at nght i get up sometimes as i think that she is awake and she is fast asleep.
Is it the wind making her uncomfortable?

Trina how did the water go? when did you give it to her? when she was grizzly or after a feed?

Reenie - that sucks, everyone is under pressure at this time and the last thing you need is people niggling at each other. Luckliy i hve never had to have this happen to me, but both your DH and Mum need to put their differences aside as it will not make it any easier for you or Bubs. i hope it improves for you :hugs:

[slimjadey]

wow.. and i thought getting 2 kids ready to go out on my own was hard work....
Today was the first day i took all 3 out so that Dylan could go to Kindy for 2 hours haha, was very interesting... pretty tired now but the worst part of the day is over, only got play group now which will be nice because i haven't been in about a month for various reasons and the kids will entertain themselves, also the fact that its not 2 trips hehe

Ryan can be a bit noisy over night too but i think its just him digesting and moving whatever wind he has through. He doesn't seem to have a problem with wind, thankgod, though he does pass quite a bit of wind it doesn't actually seem to bother him. My other two were the same.

I was gonna wait til our new bedroom furniture arrives and is all set up before we try Ryan in the cot as its likely it will be moved and i'd rather not get him settled in the cot only to move it to a different spot in the room which might upset him. On the other hand, its much easier to have him in the pram because with the other kids i can't have the bedroom door open during the day or they'll go in and terrorise him whereas the pram is nice and portable.

He sure seems to be settling better now, i'm actually having more opportunities to put him down for a little while so that i can do things like post on te forums hehe. Bah, i really need a shower but i'm just so tired, physically mostly....

[shell_120308]

Wow I am soo behind in posting...... I was really stressed the other day and so much so that my milk supply was dropping and it was affecting my milk to DJ. I think he also sensed that I was stressed and was really unsettled. I was starting to feel like a bad mother, because lately I have enjoyed it when my mum or hubby hold him and cuddle him because I felt so exhausted and stressed..... I caught up on some sleep and felt so much better today and more relieved and it has helped. I love him to bits and just enjoy nappy changes and giving him lots of kisses. After his 1am feed this morning I just brought him to bed with me for cuddles and he fell asleep. I just feel so much better. Mum said I will have good and bad days. I think once hubby and my mum go back to work i can get myself into a routine.

Noticing from your posts a lot of you have more awake times with bubs and I don?t have that with DJ. Routine at the moment is to sleep, change nappy, cuddles, feed??. Hubby took him into the shower yesterday and DJ loved it. Doni said that he closed his eyes when the water fell on his face?.. How cute!!!!

I am using a new laptop that hubby bought, very cheap but works ok, just a few frustrating things about it which is making my post take a long time to type?. Argghh

How many of you are expressing milk only bottle feeds? I have been mixing up breastfeeding and also expressed breast milk but find breastfeeding so uncomfortable. He just grizzles for a good 5 mins and then finally I hear the sucking?. I am so tempted to just move to expressed bottled milk and no longer breastfeeding him?.. Just wanted to find out if anyone else is doing this and if it works well for them? The expressed milk I give him is between 80-100ml, I mostly make up 90ml feeds though and not too worried if he doesn?t have it all, as long as he has a good 70ml then I am happy J

Re: cot sleeping - DJ still sleeps in his bassinette/pram in our bedroom but we have also used the cot in some cases but with the snuggle bed which works well. My mum bought us a baby monitor so we can still listen in on him but hubby and I prefer having him close to us so we are keeping him in our room for a while.

Those using Baby Beehind Nappies - started using these on Wednesday night, and they are sooooo much better than disposables!!! DJ seems to like them. Just need hubby to use the liners to make it easier on the cleaning J The magic alls aren?t as good as the fitted nappies, so might end up getting more of these soon. What does everyone else think who have the BBH nappies?? Would like to know other opinions?

Sorry I haven?t time to post today, gotta get dinner started J

I will post personals maybe later tonight

Shell xxx

[Sammiejane]

shell, been using cloth nappies the whole time, moving towards using bbh more now that she is bigger... (werent so good in the first couple og weeks)
yep you need liners, i have flushable ones
magic alls are a good one to have in the nappy bag or for other people to use, i hardly use mine as i have to change way more frequenly.
i am getting another 6 nappies, on order and more covers as sometimes the poo leaks though or they smell so i will have 9 sm covers all up... i wash every second day,i have a good routine now.
sorry bout the rubbish typing, molly is sitting on th desk in front of me with her head resting on my chest!!!

did the bab bonus claim thing online today... my god it took ages!!!

[prama]

re - wind in tummy and diet - paed said just continue w normal diet, dont worry about certain foods. as for different products like infacol, infants friends, brauer's, there's no one prod that works for all babies, some work better than others so it's a bit of trial and error.

[danniellabella]

Think I'd better get some sort of wind treatment thing for Jazz, she has a very musical bum!

I'm gonna get some formula when I'm out shopping. I really don't like breastfeeding in public at all. It's fine if there is a proper parents room with a private area for feeding, but otherwise I just don't feel comfortable.

Last night we were over the other side of town, an hour away from home, picking up our new car (woohoo!). We stopped at a KFC near where we got the car, for dinner. Jazz wanted a feed. It was 7pm and I sat in the car feeding her after we had dinner. I didn't get to leave the car park until about 8pm! She was unsettled the whole way home and crying hysterically so I pulled over on the side of the road to settle her 3 times. What should have taken me an hour to get home took me over 3 hours!

So that's it, going to take a bottle with me with either EBM if I have any or just formula so she can have food when she wants it, and I don't have to feel uncomfortable feeding in public!

[india44]

Will had really bad wind pains all day yesterday and I am putting it down to the cabbage and onion aisan salad I ate as it gave me wind too *L* THe water did the trick nicely and although he hasnt pooed for 3 days ( I paniced but apparenlty it can be very normal) he has farted for England and it smells the same as me.( sorry tmi) I really do feel that what you eat can make adifference to the baby.

I have been overdoing it a little and got a itny ter in my cease scar so have to have more antibiotics to prevent infection. Poor Wil lthe daktarin was jsut starting to clear up his thrush and now I am on the stuff again.

I have been topping Will up with 60 ml formula after feeds a smy supply was low..am excited to say he is now down to every 3rd feed neding a top up and taking more booby. I also found that feeding more often helped with his wind too.

danni I hope you can find a way to fel more comefortable feeding jazz when you are out whatever makes it less stressfull for you both.

HIya to all the new faces on here :-)

sammie I am just about to tackle the online thing..god as if there isnt neough stuff to remember this baby paperwork is over the top.

Got to say I am not fusse don the new hard over baby books. THey are so big and bulky to put in the nappy bag.
SHell hope you are feelingless stressed and more rested. Will loves awake time and often likes ot play and chat for an hour o more after a mornign and night feed I thinki each baby is just different is all am sure DJ will beup for more play soon.

pram hun hop eyou are doing well and Lakshman is feeding better.

My hats off to you girls with other kids at home I dont knwo how you do it..I have trouble getting myself dressed to go out let along Will as well *L*.

Hope its agood weekend for you all I am hoping to get WIll outside for some fresh air today as its alovley day.

Bron xx

[shell_120308]

We had another unsettled night with DJ arghhhh he has hardly slept all day as well, just been really unsettled and bad case of wind..... We have tried all colicky type holds etc arghhhh I feel like I could just sleep standing up..... My hubby and I have had headaches all day arghhh my mum is due home soon, so she will take over for us, and even offered for Doni to take me out for dinner and she will look after DJ for us, so maybe that is the way to go, but I think I am just way too tired to even get ready to go out..... arghhh hubby suggested getting a hotel room for the night which sounds all too appealing but I don't want to leave mum with DJ when he has been so unsettled......

I have thrush again!!!! Got some canestan yesterday (once daily thingy) and I still have it. I think it is just caused from the stress of settling DJ........ arghhh might have to find some time tomorrow to head out for a bit. It sucks not being able to drive anywhere.....

SJ - thanks for the tip on the nappies, will look at getting more.

Better go
Shell xxx

[LMS]

Just wanted to mention that for Lila, she loves white noise. I used to think it was a bit strange when i went over to my sister in-laws place and heard loud white noise coming from the nursery, but the 1st day we bought Lila home and she started to cry when we were changing her nappy, we turned on the white noise CD and instantly she stopped crying and stared into space!. Yesterday afternoon we had the track on repeat and she slept for 5 hours straight. Coming home from the shops the other day she needed a feed but we were 20 mins from home, she started crying and we put on the cd and she slept all the way home. Really a god send if you need it.

[slimjadey]

The other day Ryan was unsettled and DH started vaccuming and he fell asleep in about 2 minutes, so yeah i can see how white noise would do it!

[danniellabella]

Took Jazz grocery shopping for the first time (last time we did the shopping she was still in hospital). I fed and changed her before we left and then put her in the baby carrier strapped to my front while we shopped. She went off to sleep!

I forgot to get some of that stuff for wind though. I remembered after I'd put everything on the belt at the checkout so I thought stuff it, I'll pick some up another day.

[Sammiejane]

Am i really dense. What is white noise?

[danniellabella]

Am i really dense. What is white noise?

I was thinking the same thing but was too afraid to ask. I'm guessing just from skim reading that maybe it has something to do with continuous noises of household items??????

If that's the case then our laundry is right next to Jazz's bedroom. Even though currently she sleeps in our room, I do change her nappies in her room. When the washing machine is on she is usually heaps calmer while changing her now that I think of it.
The washing machine is on the wall right next to the change table.

[Sammiejane]

haha glad i am not the only one danni