Babies Born November 2007

[Willow]

Morning girls.

Wow, this thread is so slow compared to the other baby buddies threads. We're probably all too busy to post yet I guess - although boy can those October girls talk!! I don't know how they find the time.

Anyway, we're doing pretty well. Took DS to the CHN to have him weighed yesterday - the little pork chop has put on another 580g in the last fortnight! So he's up to 5.2kg already. I'm very pleased that the booby juice is obviously doing the job but I hope he doesn't get too big!! LOL. DD took forever to gain weight and was a very lean, petite little baby, I think DS is going to be the opposite.

Sleeping is still going OK, much improved on last week anyway. He has 4 day sleeps, usually about 2.5-3 hours, although his first and last sleeps are a bit unsettled and sometimes he'll only sleep for about 1-1.5 hours. Settling still takes some effort though, took me about 40 mins on and off to get him to sleep this morning *sigh*

I have noticed that since he's been sleeping better during the day he is waking more frequently at night. He used to do a long stretch of 4 hours, then 3, then 3. The last two nights he's woken every 2.5 -3 hours. Hoping it might be a little growth spurt and it won't last, but what can you do? You can't have everything. He is very easy to settle at night too, basically wrap him and he's asleep, so I don't mind too much.



Off to the chiro this afternoon and then again on Saturday. It's sending us broke (our PHI doesn't cover chiro, I didn't think we'd use it ) so I hope we don't have to go much more.

Hope all are well and coping as best we can!

[Hoody]

Willow i am here every chance i get but dont post too often cos otherwise it would all be about me, lol. In other words i agree it can be a little on the slow side but as you said everyone is busy with new babies
I envy you knowing what sort of routine you have regarding your DS's sleeps with Molly i have no real idea and am yet to work out a pattern. The last couple of days have been a little easier as she has settled back into 3-4 hrly feeds. She appears to have 2 unsettled periods. The 1st is from her early morning feed which can be anywhere from 5-8am till her next feed and then another in the evenings. (i just think she knows when i want b/fast or dinner) I have given her a Dummy this morning so i really am hoping that its not going to interfere with our BF'ing but i think she really needs to suck. We had lots of probs over the weekend with her been very unsettled as you may have read and Barb told me that as she is putting on lots of weight (495g in jsut under 2wks) we shouldnt have a prob. Is your DS on a dummy? Your little man sound like he is doing well in the weight area too. Isnt it funny how 2 of your kids can be so different. My DD1 was also very slow to gain weight and has only just hit 10kg at 20months. I remember that at 4weeks she had only put 160g on from her birth weight. Molly still weighs less than DD1 did at birth but is stacking it on so i'm sure she will be my chubby bubby last fri she weighed in at 3.32kg. Well i best be off both girls are finally asleep and i only get this time to myself and i need to dry my hair, make the bed, put some washing on...........oh its never ending

[Dragonbub]

Def quiet in here but I think it is better. The October thread goes too fast, and by the time I have had a chance to comment, there are already 6 other posts! At least in here I can keep up

Better week this week. Caden is still very restless, similar to yours Hoody, a bad morning period, and a bad afternoon period. Once I get him down to sleep he is fine, the risk is overtiredness I think. This morning he just yelped every time I tried to change him (he had thrown up all over his clothes and it is cold today). At least he is asleep now though.

Oh, he is 5.3 kg as well. He has put on about 300g a week average I think. He had two weeks there were he was putting on almost half a kilo each week! Now I think things have slowed down a little and he seems much happier.

Am trying out a new routine with him. Nights seem pretty good so far, just the days are all over the place.

Anyways, have a good week *hugs*

[june78]

Hi Ladies
Thought I would join in the fun. My little boy Jacob iwas born on the 4/11/07. I have just been so caught up with him that I had forgotten to post. I can't actually believe how far we have come. He was born by emergency c-section after 6 hours of labour. He ended up having the cord wrapped around his neck three times so his heartbeat was getting dangerously low, but he recovered pretty quickly.

He is being pretty good with feeding and sleeping. He was having a really unsettled period from 4:30am for a few hours, which really threw out the whole day, but now he seems to have moved this to around 6pm and he really throws a tantrum. Once he is asleep though the nights are pretty good with him feeding every 3-4hourly. The problem at the moment is that the days are so hot up here that unless I aircon the whole house to keep him cool he wants to feed every 1-2 hours, which is more just to keep his fluids up than to actually feed. Plus because he is awake more than he normally would be he is pretty overtired by the end of the day.

I am enjoying the whole mother thing, just pretty tired by the end of the day as we all are.

[Hoody]

Dragonbub- I agree about some of the other threads around here moving too fast i too have trouble keeping up with some of them. At least in here with it been a bit on the slower side it gives you a chance to get to know the other posters etc and keep up to date. Glad to hear you are having a better week this week. Your little man sounds like he is doing so well 5.3kg already you must be pleased. With DD1 it was the opposite for us it took her ages to gain weight a worry i hope we dont have with Molly- so far so good. Hows the new routine?

june78- Welcome to the thread How are you recovering from your CS? I had an emergency with one with my first DD and it was awful i had 15 hrs of labour b4 hand and i took the full 6 weeks to feel decent. This time i had an elective for various reasons and have felt fantastic since day 2-3. It is definately a scary experience to have to go through an emergency one esp with your first bub. Are you BFing? i had lots of problems BFing DD1 and believe it was a result of my traumatic labour/birth and the separation we faced immediately after delivery. This time was a wonderful exp and bub and DH came into recovery with me where we met a LC and bub had a BF. No separation at all.

Everyone else- How are you all coping?

Well we are doing quite well still but very tired. I love both my girls to pieces and wouldnt change either of them for the world but i really am missing my days with just DD1 and even my days b4 children. Everything just feels like hard work at the moment. Simple tasks like going to the toilet, showering and nipping to the shop for bread etc are just so difficult. It literally takes me an hr and half to get the three of us up, dressed, fed and ready for the day.
Molly is still feeding anywhere between 2-4hrly but since i have given her the dummy she is alot more settled in between feeds. I am pleased to say that it has not affected our Bfing yet so i dont think it will . Poor little thing has been prodded and poked so much this week by DD1 she will be one tough bub very shortly Well i am exhausted (aren't we all) and Molly is hungry again so i best be off. Takecare.

[wardygirl]

Just another quickie from me. It's been so busy with 3 kids. Tyler's been a bit of a velcro baby - not wanting to be put down so tends to have one good sleep a day in the HAB. Not ideal but it works and it means I can still get stuff done. Blake (Mr 2.5yrs) is being a bit challenging. Not sure if it's due to Tyler being on the scene or just being at toddler. We're working thru it.

Ty's putting on good weight - I think it was 670g in the last fortnight. I must be a good cow! His night sleeps are pretty good - anywhere between 4 and 6 hours.

Can't remember who asked (Willow?) but I have no idea when their sleep patterns at night extend. My other two were terrible sleepers, and Blake's only been sleeping thru the night since I was 32wks pg, so what's that 11wks ago?

Hoody, I so agree with you about how much harder it is to get things done with another baby in the house. Just to get in and out of the car is a trial. I tend to allow myself 10 minute to do that alone as Blake can be quite defiant and difficult. And then of course when Ty's screaming cause hes' got wind and needs to get out of the capsule! Fortunately my big girl is 10.5yo and not only independant, but also a great help with Blake.

OK, off to bed for me before Tyler wakes for his next feed and I only have 15 mins sleep!

Hope all the babies sleep well tonight!

[Dragonbub]

Well, it sounds as though everyone is as tired as I am DS is on 3 hourly feeds at night, fairly routine, 9.30, then around 1, then 4 then I get him up at 7-7.30 for a change into day clothes and a feed and play. The night routine is pretty good, he usually has an unsettled period around 4 ish in between feeds, so I am getting about 5 hours average sleep each night, but it is not so bad. At least it is predictable so I can get a kip in during the day (some days).

Hoody - I have read so much on dummies being bad, but you know what? Whatever works! It shuts Caden up when he is getting changed as sometimes he is a grump. It also lulls him off to sleep sometimes, and gives my nips a break when he just wants to suck. I am glad it hasn't affected BFing, which really, I think must be fairly rare, as no milk comes out of a dummy, IYKWIM? A friend recommended getting a bigger dummy, as he just spits the newborn ones out. I gave it a go and presto! He seems to like it heaps more and it actually gets the back of his mouth where he really wants to suck. If I don't give him a dummy he just sucks anything, his arm, blanket, me, various strangers if they are passing by. I figure if he wants to suck, may as well give him something clean...

June78 - Welcome! Apparently all babies have an unsettled period during the day (mine has about 10) which is usually in the afternoon when your milk supply is at its lowest. I found that once I accepted this, it was so much easier to just get on with it. I read somewhere that babies have at least 1 hour of unsettled during the day, and one unsettled day during the week. I guess all up this is true.

Wardygirl - LOL about you being a good cow! I love the idea that all that growth is due to your body feeding them, it is so lovely. I guess DHs miss out on that experience, but they do look so cute together when DH gives him his expressed milk at night time (they get the 9pm feed together).

Well, as for us, things are def improving. I am much more used to Caden's cries and routine now. I know if he is fed, changed, warm and has been a wake for an hour or so, his cries mean that he is tired. He fights so hard to stay awake, and if I keep him up for at least 10 minutes too long, he will really scream (but keep fighting to stay awake anyway). I feel alot more confident in being able to decipher his cries, so I just rock him and cuddle him until he finally gives in to sleep.

Anyhoo, enough about me, have a great weekend!

[Willow]

Hi girls, good to see some more posts in here.

We are doing pretty well at the moment. DS's sleeps have definitely improved out of sight during the day, but he still has his rough days like today. It's taken a mighty effort to get him to have just a few hours of solid sleep this morning, maybe he is hungry and wants to feed more often? Not sure.

He generally has 4 sleeps a day, first and last are usually unsettled so he only sleeps for about 1.5-2hours at these times, but his middle two sleeps are really good and he usually does about 2.5-3hours.

Nights are developing a pattern too - usually bath him and put him down at about 6pm (sometimes he goes down easily, other times it can take 30 mins!) then he'll wake between 11pm-12am, again at 3am and then we get up at 6am.

I've worked out that if I get up at 6am (I fought it for 3 weeks, that is an early start for me! Before DS was born DD and I would sleep till 7/8am) feed him, take him into the bathroom with me and have a shower before DD wakes up, our mornings are a lot easier to handle.

I know what you girls mean about having toddlers and babies. It is really hard work trying to juggle the two. I really look forward to weekends when DH is home and he can help out with DD a lot which leaves me more time to relax, get some house work done etc etc.

We took DS back to the chiro yesterday. He is happy with his progress and we only need to take him weekly for a few weeks then monthly if we want to continue. It's hard to say whether it has helped or whether it was moving him into his cot in his room for day sleeps that was responsible for the improvement. I have noticed that the day after we take him (that is today) he is usually pretty unsettled. Not sure if that's just coincidence.

Unsettled periods - I've always been told it's normal for babies up till about 6 months to have one unsettled period every day (usually from one feed until the next) and one unsettled day a week. Fun and games hey??!!

Have my 6 week check up with my ob tomorrow and my appt with the counsellor. I am feeling heaps better these days but still think it's worth going to talk to her because I definitely still have days or moments where I feel like I'm not coping.

Have a terrible head cold at the moment and terrified i'm going to pass it to DS, that's the last thing we need, a sick bub.

Anyway, better go, the little man has just woken up and needs to be fed. Going to attempt to go down and do some xmas shopping this afternoon while DD is sleeping, will take bub with me. It's always good to get out of the house, even for a few hours.

Rachel - just wanted to say that DS was a velcro baby too for the first 2-3 weeks. It was such hard work but he has really settled down now and it makes it so much easier. I'm sure Tyler will too. Also, DD was initially great but I have noticed that she's started acting out a bit in the last week. i'm sure it's just an adjustment period and they will be back to normal once they get used to having a new bub around and the new routine of things. Hang in there!!

Hope all are well and happy.

[ajw0108]

Hi Ladies & November Bubs

It's taken me a while, but here I am! Thought I would join you all & introduce our little sweetpea.

Our beautiful girl, Ellis Ava was born at 00.43am on 17/11/07 at 42weeks after a bit of coaxing & help from medical technology (in the form of an induction - single dose of prostin gel after which my waters broke of their own accord, and venteuse delivery) at RWH Melbourne. We'd been booked into the birth centre but the induction meant our birth had to take place in the labour wards...something I was dreading! In the end though, we made it with a few stitches following an episiotomy but without any other pain relief and couldn't be happier with the staff & management of the entire process. In fact, I am totally in love with the wonderful midwife who helped us all though And afterwards we were able to spend our post-birth time back in the private roomed, double-bedded serenity of the birth centre.

We are having a great time getting to know each other and both DP and I are feeling pretty lucky to have such a relaxed & easy (so far) cutie take up residence with us.

Hopefully, I'll be dropping in an out a little more frequently & although I've crossed paths with some of you in other threads, I'm hoping I can get to know you all a little better here

Hope you're all well & happy.

x
AJ

[Dragonbub]

Hello All,
Some quick questions on routines:
Do you have a strict routine, or have you tried setting a routine, or do you mainly go with the flow?
There is so much info, for and against this, that I thought I would get the "real" opinions. The SOS book is all about routines, and I am not sure if these work. The author proclaims to solve most problems, such as colic and reflux, through routines.
Also, where do your babies sleep? If they sleep in your room, when did you move them to their own room?
At the moment, DS sleeps in his bassinet during the day, and his cradle at night. He is a great sleeper, but just takes ages to get down. And even then, he fights it so much by the time he is actually asleep, he really is over tired! I am getting a bit sad with my grumpy-all-the-time baby, I think perhaps he is not getting enough sleep, so that even when he is awake he is grumpy and showing tired signs. I am thinking a move to his own cot might give clearer sleep signals, and give him less distractions. Also, with him in my room, it means I pretty much get him up when he wakes up in the morning, even though if I sleep in (when does that happen?) he usually sleeps right beside me until 9.30 am or so.

Anyways, just a bit lost as to what to try to ensure he is not grumpy during the day.

Have a great week ladies, hope you catch some zzzzzs

[june78]

Hi everyone
Have finally got Jacob to sleep after 3 hours of cranky baby. There didn't seem to be anything wrong, he just decided to have a good cry. Luckily DH is great at calmly pacing the floor with him. I think we may have worn him out a little today as I had my brother over to take some photos. Jacob was really well behaved but was awake longer than he normally would be.

Hoody - recovering pretty well from the c-section. Still occasionally get a twinge here and there, but the last week or so I have felt pretty good. Having to go through the few hours of labour certainly knocked me around a lot and I wasn't prepared mentally for it either. But I am just happy we ended up with a healthy baby at the end (it doesn't matter how he came out). BF is going really well, but I was worried. I didn't get that first hour with Jacob afterwards as my blood pressure was low they kept me in recovery longer than normal. DH got to hold him for that first hour, but by the time I was there he was asleep. For the first 24hours he wasn't at all interested in feeding from me. But now everything seems to be good. Glad to hear the dummy is working for you. Jacob isn't all that interested in sucking other things so I haven't worried about one for him.

Dragonbub - I know what you are going through with the over-tiredness. There are times when Jacob fights sleep so much. But eventually his little body has to give in. I am getting alot better are reading him though, so I am really trying to get him moving towards sleep before he is too tired.

Willow - good luck with your appointments tomorrow.

AJ - Welcome to the November babies. Looking forward to hearing more about your baby. Try and rest as much as you can now!

Dragonbub - just read your latest post. I am pretty much going with whatever routine Jacob wants at the moment, although there does seem to be a bit of a pattern developing. I just think trying to dictate to a crying baby who quite obviously wants a feed, that "its not time yet" won't really work. However I do try and have a bit of difference between night and day so that he knows night is for sleeping and day he can nap or play. So at night I feed him in his room with the room fairly dark. I don't talk to him too much, feed him, change him, feed him some more, then wrap him and try and get him to sleep. During the day I feed him in the lounge and if he seems to be dropping off to sleep then I put him on a rug in the lounge. Sometimes though he is quite obviously wanting to be awake after the feed so we have a bit of playtime. I find longer than about 1/2 hour and he will start getting tired and grumpy so I work to getting him to sleep. If he stops the eye contact and gets a little grump then I know its time to start the sleep routine. Its not easy and every few days the "routine" changes and I have to alter things a bit, but it does mean he is getting very good at just feeding and sleeping at night.

Hope everyone has a good nights sleep tonight.

[Willow]

Dragonbub - we don't have a 'routine' as such. I found the SOS routines to be a bit ridiculous to be honest. That's only my opinion, but I ordered the 1-2 week routine on line and when I got it and it said "Feed baby. Allow baby to self settle to sleep. Express from right breast" etc etc I've just gone "HUH??" what if my baby can't self settle to sleep - that's the whole problem!!" so I promptly deleted it from my computer!

We follow more of a structure - feed, play, sleep. I find it easier to have this general guideline/pattern of how our days go and if it all goes pear shaped somewhere along the lines because DS won't sleep, then it's just so easy to pick it up again. I try to stick to my feed times as much as I can, but even these can be adjusted.

For example, DS woke at 5.30am this morning. I fed him, he stayed awake for about 40 mins (this is his 'play' time, obviously they don't do much playing at this age), then started to settle him to sleep. He will wake up, I'll feed him, he'll have his play time and then I'll put him down again for a sleep and so the day will continue.

With his sleep, I try to let him settle in his cot on his own, but this doesn't happen all that often. So I'll give him a cuddle till he relaxes, then put him in his cot again and stroke his face, pat him etc till he settles off to sleep. Sometimes i have to repeat this process a million times before he dozes off. He does wake after one sleep cycle sometimes (not sure if you know about sleep cycles, but babies sleep in cycles of about 35-45mins) so then I have to resettle him. Most of the time this is easy, but sometimes I can't get him back to sleep so I'll get him up in the end.

It can be an exhausting process (especially this time for me with a toddler too - I'm constantly running between the two some days) but I know from experience with DD that eventually it does work. DD was a fantastic sleeper by about 6-8 months, slept through every night, all night and only very rarely woke.

Nights are different obviously, he wakes, I feed him, he goes straight back to sleep. DS sleeps in his cot in his own room during the day (and I've already posted about what a huge difference that made for us) and in his bassinet next to me at night.

By the time DD was about 4 months we started following the tresillian routines, they are really flexible and I found that DD was pretty much following it already, just as her own patterns had emerged.

I have electronic copies of the tresillian guidelines and routines that we follow (had to type them up for a friend, we don't have a scanner), if your interested, I can email them to you.

Anyway, hope all that helps in some way!

[Hoody]

Hello All,

YAY Molly slept for 5 solid hours last night- thats our biggest stretch so far. DD1 went for another sleepover at Nanna's so i didnt have to get up at the crack of dawn either so today i am feeling quite bright and cheery. I have even managed to go food shopping and cook tea and its only 12pm.

With regards to a routine i tend to go with the flow iykwim although i do the feed, play, sleep pattern like Willow. During the day Molly will sleep in her basinette or her swing if i cant get her to settle and at night her basinette is beside my bed though normally at some stage through the night we end up co sleeping.
Well someone has woken and is hungry so best be off

[Joy]

Hi all, sorry for being awol. Didn't have access to a puta. I can't comment too much as DS2 is sleeping 7-9hours at night and often self settles during the day, big change from, DS1 who was a fighter at every sleep time excepting nights!
We sleep DS2 in his own room with both doors shut, this helps means that when I hear him crying he is ready for a feed rather thean just stirring. Has made a huge difference to his nighttime feeds, stretched them out a bit and when he does feed he is awake enough to feed properly. Only discovered this while away at my parents house but has made life much easier.
He is generally up til 10pm then awake again between 5 and 7am for a feed then back to sleep for 3-4 hours then awake and asleep for the rest of the day until the next night.
We have chosen to use a dummy as we'd had enough of the uncontrolled screaming in the evenings that was wearing us all out and with a constant weight gain of minimum 250gms a week we're not worried about the breastfeeding interference. He only has it in the evenings or when he is really unsettled during the day and needs to sleep. I am finding that I am feeding between 1-2 hourly in the evenings which I don't mind as he sleeps so well through the night. If he won't settle at sleep time I just keep feeding him until he does, I won't put him to bed at night with a dummy as if he needs to suck at that time then i figure he is still a bit peckish and so feed it is. Works for us.
Just heard that my sister is in labour with her 3rd bub which is 10 days overdue.
Will check in sooner this time bubs needs more feeding,
bye,

[misty]

just a quick hi. i am being kept so busy with the kids, christmas stuff, etc. and i now find myself having to organise work stuff even though i don't technically go back until february - oh well, such is life. Nate is such a big boofy baby he is the size of a two month old (he is only five weeks).

sorry got to go, he is screaming to be changed and fed (again).

[misty]

hi again, i am sitting here feeding Nate and typing with my left hand, so this might takeawhile, i'll keep it short.

we don't really follow much of routine here (i'm too dsorganised). but basically he wakes up, i change nappy, feed, and then he will either sleep again, or he will play, then have another nappy change, feed and sleep.he tends to go down at 9.30pm and sleep for6 hours straight, but then will only go back down for another two hours at most - or will only stay asleep when someone is holding him. we are slowly working it out (sort of). luckily, jelly is 'mostly' a help. she absolutely dotes on her brother (i have to keep a close eye on her, she has already tried to pick him up a few times, and i have once caught her trying to feed him cheese).

can i ask whether everyone here is or has bought their bubs chrissy prezzies either from themselves or santa - and if so what? DH and I are still undecided about what to do.

[Hoody]

Have to be quick kids are on the loose

Misty- with regards to Xmas presents my girls are getting a swing set and cubby house to share (be a while b4 Molly can play but what do you buy a nb for xmas?) I also have molly a few small toys etc and an outfit or 2. In comparison to my DD1 she has next to nothing which i feel guilty about but she has everything she needs etc and i dont want to just buy for the sake of buying iykwim.

Well we had another 5 hr stretch of sleep last night. It seems that from her 10ish feed Molly is very settled and will sleep quite well. She will then feed at about 3 and then between 6 and 7 so its not too bad. I hope it stays this way and doesnt go back to the feeding 2 hrly. DD1 even slept in til 8 today so i have been spoilt. Molly is starting to look really big so i am hanging out to get her weighed. Our mchn has an open clinic on thurs mornings so we will pop down and see her.

Would you all believe that since coming home from hosy i have put weight on Bfing makes me eat all day long and i'm always starving. Anyone else have this prob. I try to eat well most of the time but i must be having too many biscuits still. Once i have my 6 week check i hope to start back with some excersise. I feel i could start now but as i had the CS i want to make sure i'm all healed etc.

Hope you are all well

[Willow]

Sounds like most of these bubs are sleeping pretty well - not us! DS has gone backwards a bit in the last few days. Has stopped doing a long stretch at night of 4-4.5 hours and is back to 3 hourly feeds He's also been really hard to settle during the day for most of his sleeps.

I have to keep reminding myself that this gets easier....

Hoody - re weight I've gone the opposite way actually. I don't find much time to eat these days. Breakfast is a rarity, I try to at least have a big milo every morning and sometimes i have some toast too, always eat lunch when both of the munchins are asleep and eat dinner too but don't eat anything in between. I have to remind myself to keep drinking throughout the day because I don't want my supply affected. So far, so good. I'm actually back to my pre pregnancy weight and back in my jeans and most of my clothes (some tops are a problem because i'm still walking around looking like Jordan!). I would like to lose a few more kilos though because I put on a few when I was taking clomid/doing IVF. I'm sure you'll find that once things at home settle into more of a routine your eating habits and your weight will return to normal.