Babies Born May 1-15 2008

[Visitor7]

laranna - Before trying medication to boost your supply, try Aktivite. It's a chocolate drink you buy from the supermarket, which is fantatsic for boosting your supply. It's a bit like milo. You find it next to the Milo, Nesquik etc. But like the others have said, try not to emphasise too much on weight gain. Head circumferance increase, plenty of wet nappies etc are a better indication that bub is getting enough.

I'll be back soon for more personals, dinner is ready and I'm starving.

[Laranna]

thanks Jodi, I will have to check the activite out...in the meantime I am taking the fenugreek tablets. We got the tape measure out last night and Joshua has gotten longer and his head circumference has also increased so hopefully it is all good.

Sometimes though I think about giving up the breastfeeding but I won't. The expressing is tiring me out and at night by the time I feed him, change him, burp him and settle him and finally express some, there's not much time left for sleep or anything else for that matter. He seems to get a lot of wind pains and wont settle in the evenings either. Feeling quite drained.

[Visitor7]

Night time restless is very normal. Or witching hour as it's also called. He'll grow out of it. That's great that his head circumference and length measurements have increased. Expressing is very draining. Will you need to continue to express for much longer?

blanche - Emily is a tummy sleeper. Not much I can do about it, she screams the house down otherwise. Hope the move went ok.

lulu - congrats on the 6 hour break the other night! You would have woken feeling like a new woman. Sorry to hear about your grandmother. I hope it was a lovely service.

Everything going well here. Emily was awake for over 4 hours today, just happy looking around, feeding, pooing. Doing what babies do best! She's now having a bath with her big sister.

[Laranna]

Jodi - not sure how long I will continue to express, so far at least until his next check up in a couple of weeks and see how much weight he's put on.

At times it is hard to ever imagine that these stages will pass! My poor boobs needed a break so I have caved and introduced a dummy. I have mixed feelings about it because I feel like I am just giving it to him to keep him quiet where I should just let him satisfy his sucking need on my boob. I am paranoid a dummy will affect his suck and our breastfeeding. At the same time, I feel relieved to be able to put him down for 5 minutes and for him not to cry.

[Visitor7]

aawwwww, try and give yourself a break honey. You went this long without a dummy, you should be proud of yourself. They do say that dummy's can affect their sucking etc etc when breastfeeding. But my personal opinion, I think it's ok. Nina had one from about day 3, and she never had problems. I wish Emily would take one at times too. If he is hungry, he will not suck on that dummy, he will continue to scream until he gets fed. If he's happy to suck on it, and is content, then let him be. He might just be a baby who needs to suck.
Just remember you're doing a great job, and the best job you can possibly do. Don't put too much pressure on yourself.

[beckstar]

Laranna, I totally agree with jodi's comments too on the dummy thing. Both my babies have had dummies for day 3 as they loved sucking and comforts them when sleeping. It also helps to relax them when trying to geta burp up as the more hey scream the more air thry take in which then makes the wind pains worse.
don't be so hard on yourself, you're doing just as god a job as the rest of us so be proud of your good work so far.
at the inlaws for the weekend so have had no sleep as have had 16mo DS and Macey both sleepingin same room as us so have to get up to every sqeak to keep them quiet so we don't wake the rest of the house.
Can't wait to get back home tomorrow and back into normal routine.
Hope everyones weekends are going well.

[Katstribe]

everyone

I know its been ages since i was in here, i just dont seem to find the time to get in as much as i used to!

Beckstar That is the one thing i hate about staying at other peoples places when you have bubs or small kids, you can almost guaruntee that if they are gonna have a bad night it will be while you are at someone elses house. I am the same as you jump up at the slightest noise in the hope that no one else gets woken up. Only problem with that is by the time we get home we are teh ones who are completely knackered! Ihope you have recovered from your weekend at the inlaws.


Laranna concerning the dummy iagree with what the others have said, dont beat yourself up about it. My little girl Molly wouldnt take a dummy when she wa first born, she would just gag no matter what type we tried (we spent a bit of money trying to find one she would suck). Anyway she just wasn't a sucker other than on my boob. Then jsut as of this weekend she had started sucking on her hand so we tried the dummy again and now she will take it! Which i much prefer because i can throw her dummy away, i can't throw her fist or thumb away!.
So if he is happy to suck o n a dummy then i would let him cause like they said if he is hungry he wont be satisfied with that dummy!

Hi to Jodi,Lulu, Blanche,Kristale,Klee, Beth, Shezabelle, Chrissy, Shaza, Mummamel and Mumofsix.
Hope you are all well, and Blanche I hope you are settling into your new house.

As for us, Molly has been a really good bub. She was a bit unsettled for a bit there and they thought she might have reflux but i we have no signs of that now (tahnkfully)! She is sleeping fairly well now most nights we get a min of 6hrs and a max of 8hrs, i am hoping that we willstart to increase now. We are off to CHN tomorrow jsut togt weighed, my CHN didnt want to see me for a month as she had put on just over 1lb in two weeks last visit, but i insisted that i get her weighed again in 2 weeks just for my own records! Although i have no doubt she is doing well, my Gf's all say that my BM has an extra dollop of cream in it as ll my bubbies thrive (get fat) on it! Two of my GF's reckon that they produce skimmilk as their little ones are really little with no fat..
Sometimes i wish i produced skim milk so that my babies stayed little for a longer period of time, but i guess i should just be happy that they are healthy!
ANyway i shall let you all know how she goes tomorrow. I finally started back doing newsletters for the primary school today, so i guess i must be getting some routine somewhere.
Ok chat soon

[LuluHB]

Hi everyone. I've been MIA lately too but hope everyone is well.

Elena has been quite unsettled for the past few days so I'm a bit worried she is starting to show signs of the troubles I had with Isabelle - 5 - 6 weeks is when it really jumps up so the timing is spot on. Sooooo hoping that its not. Sleeping for me isn't going as well as I would have liked - back to mainly 4 hour feeds at night so by the time I've fed her, changed her, fed the other side and then settled her I'm not getting much sleep. I'm getting very short tempered and a bit teary over silly things and unfortunately can't catch up during the day because El and Izzy never seem to co-ordinate their sleep times! Hanging out for that magic 3 month period when they all supposedly turn into sleeping angels!!

[beckstar]

HI everyone, just popping in quickly again tonight.
Lulu: totally understand about the getting tired business with 2 littlies. My 16mo DS is still not a good sleeper and with DH having been on night shift the last few nights, I am starting to wonder if theres any point trying to get some sleep at night at all. I seem to be up more times than I'm actually asleep. I remember with DS that it was around this 6 week mark that the results of limited sleep over a long period start to creep in (eg; teary, trouble concentrating, general foginess over everything i try to do really!)

I do remember though from last time that somehow it does manage to get better so I'm trrying to stay with it and ride it out as long as I can. Hope you can too.

Quick bub question for the BF babies pls; is your bubs poos regularity slowing right down yet? I don't think that Macey has done any considerable No 2's for at least 4 days now. She doesn't seem to be constipated or suffering from it anyway and still has the ocaasional skiddy in the nappy. Is this too early for them to be slowing down?? Can't remember when this happened with DS. Still having plenty of wet nappies though. Bit scared of how big the next explosion will be when it finally comes!

[Visitor7]

Now that BB is working better, I can post.

kat - that's great news about Molly's weight gain. I haven't had Emily weighed since she was 11 days old, I really should go and weigh her.

lulu - it's hard isn't it. What sort of troubles did you go through with Isabella?

beck - Emily poos roughly every 2nd - 3rd day, has since day one. I can't remember when things in that department start slowing down.

As for us, we're going quite well. Except for one small problem ... Emily seems to hate being awake! She is really unsettled while awake, but is still a good sleeper and feeder. I seemed to have tried everything under the sun to comfort her, but nothing is working. How is everyone else's bub, are they like this?

[Kristale]

Lulu- Amelie had just started to become unsettled in the last few days aswell. Which was a big shock for us considering how settled she has been. So we havnt had much sleep for the last few nights so hoping it doesnt last. Amelie is close in age to Elena (5 weeks and 1 day) is there something about this age?
I cant really complain though can I when most of you girls have another child to look after aswell atleast I can sleep when she sleeps.
We are going out to show Amelie off to my work mates today having lunch with them all so that should be good except the fact it is freezing.
Jodi- I cant relate to the problem your having with Emily at all Amelie is happy when awake. Hope someone else can be of some help.

[Laranna]

Thanks for all the encouraging comments girls. I feel more comfortable about the dummy now and DS isn't even really hooked on it. So I have just been using it as a last resort. Sometimes he seems to have trouble keeping it in his mouth.

He slept for 4 hours straight last night which was nice, went down at 10 and woke up at 2am for a feed, then slept again from 3:30 to 5:30.

Lately he has been a bit fussy during feeds and will wriggle and squirm lots and detach himself but try and latch on frantically again...not sure why this is happening...

must go and feed now...will try for personals next time...hope you are all well

[Visitor7]

laranna - that's good to hear that things are going well. Are you still expressing, and how is that going?

kristale - around the 6 week mark (give or take a week) they have their first growth spurt. Which what I think Emily is going through, as my Mum reminded me yesterday Nina was exactly the same at this age.

The last couple of nights have been really good. She's been sleeping 8-9 hours straight overnight. Daytime she's still unsettled, but she likes going outside, so I just take her outside if she gets too cranky. I might get her weighed today.

[Kristale]

Jodi- Wow to Emily sleeping 8-9hrs overnight that must be great! Amelie can only go a max of 4hrs atm.
Yay for the weekend DH gets up to Amelie during the night for me on Friday and Saturday nights nice to have some extra sleep.

[Visitor7]

Well we've been out almost all morning, and Emily has been a gem! (and so was Nina), so I treated Nina to Maccas. Now both girls are sound asleep in bed.
Forgot to get Emily weighed, so will do it sometime next week. I know she's gaining weight nicely though as she's really filled out, fitting in 00-000 clothes, and people are commenting on her weight gain.
Just out of curiosity, any using MCN? How are you going with it? I'm now using MCN on both girls, and must say it's certainly not as hard as I imagined it would be. Both girls are big wetters, so I've had to increase my stash though. (any excuse to buy more MCN's, hehehe)

kristale - yeah, pretty lucky so far with night time. Thank goodness though, because Nina was an awful sleeper until she was 6 months old, so I reckon I deserve to have a baby who actually sleeps when they're a newborn

How is everyone else doing?

[*EmJa*]

hey everyone ive been mia again had some real sleepless nights and unsettled days here with Jack he was a velcro baby and with a 19 month old to add to that i was one very tired cranky mummy!think he was having a growth spurt, but seems to be going better today and we are having decent nights but longest he ever sleeps is 4 hours, which is better than 2!!

Jodi - i want to use MCN Emelia has 1 lol (i know sad) but maybe once Jack is abit older and sleeping longer i will use them full time, but atm im having trouble getting the normal washing done!!!

had Jack weighed last week he was 5.07kgs 55.5cms in length and 38cm hc so growing well very chubby now!! he is in 000 now and 00 in bonds wondersuits

[Katstribe]

Well i was hoping to start getting in here more now, but i cant say i will be able to now! Not only do i have 5 school aged children ( one working part time) one toddler 17mths and Molly, who is feeding every 4hrs during day and anything from 5hrs up to 8hrs (on a really good night) at night but i now have two kids (baby goats) that need bottles every 4hrs plus one needs physio as much as possible over the next few days to see if his legs come good otherwise he has to be put to sleep! DH is on shift work and so wont be around to help over the next 4dys so its just me! I think i will be insane by the end of this 4dys! The first kid we ended up down at the housse with us on Wednesday ashis mum is a first timer and she just headbutts him and sends him flying, so we had to foster him or she would kill him. He is a good kid and already knows to wait for me to take him out before he does poos but not so successful with wees as yet, thank god he has a pen! The other little one was only born yesterday and has a great mum but his back legs aretoo weak to use at the mo! So after the vet checking him out he is now on our back deck too! Hes not to good at feeding from bottle yet so its very time consuming!

On top of all the i have had DD 6yrs at home all week with conjuctivitis and even after being meticulous with her washing her hands and no one using anything she has, my DS 17mts (mitchie) now has it so i feel like all i do is clean and bathe eyes and feed babys and goats!!!!!! Someone is always crying for saomething atm! Somehow i have to find time to clean house and cook shephards pie for dinner! I think i need more hands
This is the only break i have had so far today and its not really a break as i am feeding Molly!!!!

OK sorry for whinge fest but just needed to get it out!

Jodi yay to getting 8 and 9 hrs at night that must be bliss! Wish it was me (of course dont think goats would sleep through for me)! Woohoo to both Nina and Emily being such good girls while out today! Wow to Emily being in 000 & 00 clothes, Molly is still in 0000, she can wear some bonds one piece in a 000 but she still fits in the 0000's so i am getting as much wear out of them first. I assume that MCN are some form of nappy ( to me) i have both Mitchie and Molly in disposables as we live out of town and cant afford the extra water. I was a cloth freak before we moved out here though, and much prefer cloth nappies to disposables.

laranna don't worry Molly is a bit hte same with her dummy, she only uses it as a last resort and thats if we can gt her to take it as she still gags from time to time. Yay to your 4hrs straight, its huge when they are not big sleepers, my first born would feed every 2hrs so i know how exhausting it can be. I hope your little one doesn't go as long as my first bron did, he was like that for a good 4mths!
With the fussing at the boob it could be that your flow is a bit too quick to start with and he can't keep up or he might jsut have a pain in his belly and has to move and squirm to releave it, hence the hurry to get back on as he is still huingry! I dont know just a couple of ideas there.

Kristale like Jodi said its genereally just a growth spurt so they feed more and are more unsettled, 9 times out of 10 they go back to their usual pattern within a week. Hopefully this happens fo ryou.

Beckstar regarding poos whilst BF, yep they can be different for every baby, my first born went 7 dys with out pooing so took him to docs and they said yep thats fine jsut take note of when he goes next, but they werent concerned at all, he ended up foing on day 9 and was it a ripper!!! So beware when the bomb explodes its generally big if theres a bit of storage!!! Molly is going every day at the moment and still a few nappies a day. But Mitchie (17mths) was only every few days by this stage so i guess over time you will get to know her pattern.

Ok well hi to everyone else and i am off to put Molly back to bed and start some dinner before the next round of bottles for goats!

[LuluHB]

Beckstar - Elena is still doing HEAPS of poos - 2, maybe 3 per day. Its crazy. Can't wait for it to slow down. I know what you mean about just hanging in there - I keep telling myself it won't be too much longer before things really turn around and this mummy gig gets to be fun again. Extra tough for you with your DH working nights.

Jodi - Isabelle had silent reflux and is lactose and gluten intolerant so just about everything I ate was exacerbating the reflux. Poor little thing screamed literally 20 hours a day until I finally found an amazing witch doctor person who told me to put her on soy formula. Bingo - new baby. I'm using MCNs on Elena (have done with Izzy since I discovdered them when she was a few months old). They're seriously addictive aren't they (although I tell my DH that I don't buy them because they're so cute!). What are you using on your girls? I am very jealous of your 8 hour nights. Can't wait for that to happen to us. Elena teased me with a 5 hour sleep after feeding for almost an hour but hasn't done it since.

Kristale - I agree with Jodi that its probably a growth spurt. I remember thinking with Izzy that we'd just manage to get through the unsettledness that comes with one growth spurt when she would have another! How did your visit to work go? It was blo*dy freezing here wasn't it.

Laranna - does Joshua have a bit of reflux or colic? It could be why he's going on and off the breast - he's feeding and its upsetting his tummy almost immediately. Definitely just do whatever works with the dummy too - having read all the books and had a definite plan about how I was going to raise my child before DD#1 was born I've now realised that just doing what works is the best way to go - whatever the book says you should or shouldn't do!

Blanche - sounds like we're all suffering at the moment with the two baby syndrome. Hope it gets better for you. Jack is growing beautifully.

Kat - OMG. What are you doing you crazy woman taking on more responsibility???? I told you you were nuts didn't I ;-) I really hope you get some well deserved rest soon

Had the night from hell last night. Elena didn't settle until 1.30 am and work at 3am for a feed. Isabelle ended up in our bed at 2am but was still screaming and at 5.30 am I finally got to bed for some sleep, only to get woken by Elena at 7am for another feed. Had her 6 week check up this morning though and she's doing beautifully. 51 cm length, 35 cm h/c and 3.63kgs at birth. At 6 weeks she is now 57 cm long, 40 cm h/c and 4.4 kgs. She is growing so much more quickly than Izzy did. Went and bought some of the miracle colic mix today too so hopefully that will give her some relief and DH and I some much needed sleep.