Babies Born September 2007 #5

[AnyDream]

Good freak-out activities - journalling your fears and then writing a list of why you're not *really* scared at all, lying down (in the bath with sea salt can help) and breathing deeply and letting all the feelings wash through you and flow away, eating a really really big piece of chocolate cake, thinking up a power affirmation to repeat to yourself in moments of panic, spending time thinking about what you *are* looking forwards to. These freak-out activities apply to any upcoming things (not just babies) that freak you out! Can you tell I've been there done that...? Oh, and I'm not sure about not birthing until you're ready, I think sometimes the baby decides that (there are two ppl's karma working here, maybe they have a karma-off in the main street at midday...LOL)!

[Cally]

MD - I've been concentrating on the sucking and we have cut about 10 minutes off the feeding which is good. Although last night she went a full half hour on each side, seemed to be doing solid sucks for most of it and was so wide awake too! I didn't want to pull her off too early because it was the last feed before bed, so I figured some extra time of sucking to make her fall asleep was easiest. Hope E doesn't get sick.

We just have the bjorn. It has good days and bad days, I think she will like it more when she can face forward and check out the world. The only hard part is getting her out when she's asleep and keeping her asleep, but I think there would be that problem with any sling.

She did an impressive spew this morning. Was lying in her rocker and had hiccups and one of them must have coincided with the spew because it went the full length of her plus another 10 cms which I thought was pretty good from her reclined position. The hiccups stopped straight away too.

[AnyDream]

Cally - wow that could practically be a new event at the Beijing Baby Olympics, competitive distance spewing! LOL! Like you I tend to let my babies suck longer before bed/at night - if they're in a deeper sleep it's easier to move them without them waking up too - also any sucking late at night boosts your supply more than daytime sucking because of a certain hormone peaking around midnight - so it's a good investment in your supply too! Kinda neat the way it works

[Ozstar]

Good afternoon everyone,

Well I have almost completed my Christmas shopping. I only have a few people left to buy for and some things I need to buy online. Woo Hoo. DH and I bought a videao camera today, I cant wait to use it.Its going to come in handy at Christmas.

Cally that is an impressive spew, Logan has only spewed a couple of times and they are only little- I have probably just jinxed myself and will be back on later informing you all that I have been spewed on big time lol.

MD I hope E doesnt get sick, what a filthy rude old man coughing all over a baby.

Fianne I hope it isnt the choc making bubs upset. I know a few woman have said it is the reason there bubs get upset, I think I am lucky though as it doesnt seem to bother Logan (touch wood).

Queenie not long to go. I dont have a ny freak out suggestions butu MD's sounded really good. Perhaps just relaxing in the bath reminding yourself that you can do this and you are ready, think about all the positives.

Hope everyone has had a great weekend.

[Trillian]

Hello!

Cally, that is one almighty spew LOL. I hate it when they do that and you have to not only clean them, but the floor, the lounge, yourself etc. Glad you've got her feeds a bit shorter too. I know you shouldn't clock watch, but it's so hard when its 3am and all you want to do is finish and get back to bed.

Marydean, I thought about getting a sling, but I'm happy with the pouch. I would be too worried that Alister would fall out of it. How is the sore throat? I had one last week and it hurt like the blazes.

Fianne, great to see you pop in! How is little Max going (aside from discovering she doesn't like chocolate? )

Katie, my goodness you are organised! usually I do most of the shopping for Christmas before Dh even starts thinking about it as he is a real Scrooge (I'm not kidding - he hates Christmas and reckons Tiny Tim should have just toughened up) but I can't get into the spirit this year.

Queenie, I found that as soon as you stop thinking about it - all the niggles, twinges, bodily fluids etc, then you can just 'let go' and it happens. Thing is it's so hard to stop thinking about it all LOL.

Alister had a good night and was a nice sleepy boy for his Mum. He woke at 5am as usual, but because it was daylight savings it was 6am. The kids even slept later too. Not sure how much it will affect Alister tonight and tomorrow though.

[Patooties]

Hi everyone
I haven't had time to read through the last thread, so i hope i haven't missed out on anything too important or exciting.
Katie - i wish i was like you and had the christmas shopping organised. I'm still searching for unique online shops to buy mine. Anyone got any ideas for me?
MD - shame you can't get the HaB working for you yet. Hannah just loves hers - she gets excited when she watches me putting it on. (she's having a little snooze against my chest now actually) It does take a couple of goes to get it right, but i have found if you try to make it look perfect then you'll never get it to work.
sherie - i wish we had daylight savings up here in qld. It would be great for my dh to get home from work and still be able to take the girls for a bike ride or swim etc. Alister is doing very well with sleeping through the night isn't he! Hannah is still waking once through the night, but goes back to sleep straight after her feed.
I think i'll have to move her to her cot very soon. She starts down the bottom of the bassinette, but if she has some wind she ends up moving to the top and almost bumping her little head!
hope you all have a good night tonight.

[AnyDream]

Sherie, what sort of baby carrying pouch do you have? Did you tell us already? Sore throat getting worse and now I'm coughing as well which only shortens the odds for E to get it too.

Katie, that's amazing, I have 3 days before Nov starts so 3 days to get my A into G for Christmas shopping. What's Father Christmas bringing Logan this year?

Jazmum, part of the prob with the HAB is I ordered the larger (not largest size) and there are metres and metres of fabric LOL I stand there sort of overwhelmed by it all! But I will keep trying. That's so cute that Hannah is doing laps of the bassinette! Oh, and my online shopping tip: eBay! LOL you can find nearly everything you've ever wanted on there

[*noni*e*]

christmas shopping ahhhhh scary thought lol i cant start till late nov early dec you see my grandmas bday is the 9th nov i am the 11th my cousin is the 15th my mums bf is the 23rd dads g/f is the 25th and my uncle is the 27th so theres all those occasions to shop for first damn it!!!
carriers - we have the baby bjorn it was given to us by my aunt because she used it for her youngest and didnt need it anymore... i looked at buying a sling but we didn't end up having the money turns out she really loves the baby bjorn anyway...
lol projectile spewing a baby olympics event lol... Asha could compete in that its kinda excorsisty when they do that huh?? we havnt had one for a while though thankfully (touch wood)...
md - hope E dosn't get sick and hope u get better asap.. Ash wakes herself up with that startle reaction a bit (if you mean the one where they throw their arms out all of a sudden?) but if you wrap her she grunts and groans until you unwrap her arms or she gets them out herself lol apparantly i was the same as a baby.. my mum was telling me the midwives used to get annoyed because they would wrap me and put me on my side (the prefered position back then) and i would wriggle and squirm until my arms were out and i was on my back sleeping with my arms above my head lol...
jazmum - we are transitioning Ash to her cot but still in the tetra, she is getting bigger though idk how long it will be until she dosn't sleep in that either... dnt know much about online shopping but it does seem you can get anything and everything on ebay, sometimes for a great price too..
sherie - good to hear Alister was a good sleepy boy for you daylight savings is so confusing!! does it affect new bubbies?i didn't think about it much until u mentioned it...
ozstar - wow a new bub and christmas shopping done u are an inspiration!!! well done!!!
cally - sometimes if Asha has been unsettled and has fallen asleep in the bjorn and i want to get her out without waking her i just unclip it so shes still kinda in it but not strapped to me (arms still in the little holes laying in it) i keep an eye on here coz i am sure its not recommended for her to stay like that but it does help with not waking her up...
queenie - its interesting the whole being ready for it i agree with md though i think its more when the baby is ready coz i was still in that oh hurry up ohhh no stay in there stage lol but i suppose being booked in for induction pushed it over more to the hurry up side.. i did have a little freak out when my waters broke of well theres no stopping it now lol... took lots of deep breaths and reminded myself that i could do it and it was natural lol... i am so excited for u!!!

[Isadora]

Hello, I hope you dont mind me 'dropping' into your discussion...i've just recently had my baby girl, Madeline, on the 27th Sept. I used to frequent this forum earlier in the yr, but we had issues with our internet connection for awhile there and I couldnt get on. Its all fixed now..touch wood! Maddie is my first, so i'm still getting the hang of things. While in hospital the midwives had me waking her every 3 hrs for a feed, but since i've had her home i let her wake on her own. I found that when i was waking her, often she wouldnt be that hungry. Whereas now when she wakes (which is more like every 4 hrs during the night), she has a good decent feed. She's been such a good baby (so far hehe) and i'm just loving being a mother! I was breastfeeding, but she's solely on formula now. Feeling a bit alone when it comes to formula feeding. I breast fed Maddie for the first two weeks, but I could not handle the pain. We saw a lactation specialist a couple of times, but we could just not get the hang of it. Anyway, looking forward to getting to know you all and sharing tips and stories with one another!

[fianne]

wrote this yesterday and thought i'd sent it....
hi ladies! yup! twice in one day. how long for now, i don't know. have got max in a sling and she's fidgety so don't think i'll be on long.
md, have got a bubba moe. i like it well enough but i really don't know how comfortable she is coz' weather's pretty hot here in brisbane. have got the air conditioner on most afternoons the past week. will definitely get one of those baby bjorn type ones later on when her necks firmer/stronger.
katie, i envy you're organization....christmas seems a lifetime away.
phew! just put her down. don't think max liked the sound of me typing on the keyboard. happy enough to be in the sling until i start typing. or maybe it's just that she doesn't like the hand/arm movements bother her.
queenie, sorry, not suggestion here to make it go faster. all i know is that IF (and i doubt if it will ever happen) we have another one, i'm not going to worry about all that and go straight to an elective c/s procedure. BUT, in saying that, i don't know how well i'd have accepted going c/s if i hadn't even tried to go the natural way first.
since i had c/s, am supposedly not supposed to do anything around the house (including driving a car) for 4-6 weeks and it's been really good coz' my MIL flew in from perth. she's been such a big help around the house. my problem is, i grew up where kids (that would be me) would do things for the parents and not the other way around and find it hard to ask her to do stuff for me. learning to bend a bit and just saying "yes please" when she offers to do stuff like vacuum, clean, iron, laundry, etc. she's more or less ideal that she doesn't impose her ideas on us and just makes "on the side" suggestions and tries not to intrude on our parenting.
cally, have you been to a lactation consultant? don't know how well they'd help or whatever but i've got an appt with one tomorrow. was going to a book with a private one closer to home but have decided to make use of the one at royal brisbane and deliver a basket of fruits as thank you to the nurses/midwives/etc. am worried about max's attachment and supply and my feeding "routine".
because max doesn't seem to get satisfied after the bbs (even after 30 mins on each side), i tend to top up with 50ml of formula. and because i'm lazy (and because it settles her better and keeps her asleep) in the middle of the night, i've been having dp give her formula for the 2-3:00am feed. worries me that all this would deplete my supply of milk. figured if i saw this consultant, she might have suggestions on how to "satisfy" and do's and don'ts.
cally, sounds like a really impressive spew. max has only had one real spew...i think. she often has little ones after a feed (and after us trying to burp her) and she's been put down. nothing dramatic. just little dribbles onto the cot. but the real spew was when i had her upright and it sort of just "big dribbled" down. and not just the usual runny stuff but real spew that's been down and come back up. oops! sorry, might be tmi.
sherry, max has been ok. didn't really have much expectations on what she was going to be like so can't "rate" her. a friend had asked if she was a "good baby" and i didn't know how to answer coz' how would you classify a baby as good or bad? gets lots of gas (doesn't burp enough i think) and this makes her very fussy. or at least i think it's gas. have just recently succumbed to using the dummy. but am only doing this coz' read somewhere that crying gives them more gas and so i do what would make her stop crying to avoid this. i didn't want to resort to using the dummy but...it's a godsend.
as for dp and i, we would LOVE to get a good night's sleep. can't wait til she sleeps through the night. (at the same time, don't want her to grow too fast). otherwise, all great on the first time parenthood front.
ok, gotta go see why it's so quiet.

[Cally]

Welcome back Hayley - a few of the girls here are using formula too due to breastfeeding issues, so you won't find any judgement or anything here.

I am planning on doing heaps of Christmas shopping when I head up to Canberra in 3 weeks (DH has to study for exams so we are going to visit my parents and let him have the place to himself for a few days). Have been asking family what they want, but they're not being too helpful so far.

Katie - the video camera will be great. We don't have one, but our camera takes little movies so we have done a few of them.

Have my 6wk check up today.

Gotta go, the playgym has lost interest.

[reneenay]

Gooooooood Morning everyone! I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Fianne - Sounds like your doing really well with little Max How are you healing after your c/s? The one thing I have found is that it gets a little more easier to say 'yes please' when you become a mum LOL!

Welcome Hayley! Madeline looks like a little angel I am FF too.

Noni - Im so excited about Christmas Shopping LOL! I am going to start buying something every week. Oh oh I bought Rory one of those 'baby's first christmas' stockings from Target. They have them in pink too *wink* *wink*. So cute! How are you going with Asha's night feeds now that your dp is back at work?? It felt so lonely for me when Dwayne went back to work and I was feeding during the night

JazMum - Lol Rory is climbing his way to the top of the bassinette as I speak. Hmm looks like its almost time for him to go in his cot fulltime!

Sherie - Rory woke at 5:00am again too but its really '6:00am" because of day light savings. Boy its going to take a while to get use to. Im looking forward to those warm late afternoon walks with our little man

Ozstar - How much did you buy you video camera for? If you don’t mind me being a sticky beak

Cally - Lol that sounds like a record breaking spew!!!

Marydean - I hope you feel better soon. I hope Elisabeth doesn’t get sick either. I have become so much more aware of germs now. Im always on the look out for sick people haha.

I had a fantastic weekend. Dwayne looked after Rory on Saturday afternoon while I went and had my 2 hour facial which included head, foot, hand massage, steaming, exfoliating, cleansing etc! Then Dh and I went to the movies that evening while my mum & dad looked after our little man. We were meant to go out to dinner after but we ended up just getting nando's because we wanted to get home to Rory straight away LOL!

My brother and I are going to get Rory's hand & feet casted today. Im very excited about that. Then we are going to the shops to get him a few summer outfits.

He has started sleeping through the night now which is VERY exciting. Hopefully it sticks. He goes down at 8:00pm/9:00pm and sleeps through to 5:00am and then after his feeds usually goes down until 8/9:00am. He is laughing all the time now and starting to make gurgling giggling noises haha. Aww gawd I love him!

[Artechim]

Fianne - I am with you on the desire for a whole nights sleep. The last three nights Will has been sleeping for 3-4 hours when he first goes to bed then he only sleeps for one hour blocks. Not much sleep for me. The midwife in hospital told me that babies that suck dummies are 5 times less likely to have SIDS.

MD - Thanks for the info sheet, he does have most of those symptoms. It seems to have become worse over the last week but the gaviscon seems to help. I tried raising his bed a bit, but he wriggled sideways and munched his little face against the bars.

Haley - Welcome. There are a few formula bubs in here, breastfeeding doesn't work for everyone and a happy mum and bub is all that matters.

Will has gone to sleep, might see if I can have a nap too.

[reneenay]

oops delete

[*noni*e*]

can anyone tell me what milk rash looks like?? Asha has a bad rash on her chest and at the top of her back.. yesterday she had it all over her face too but that seems to have backed off.. we took her to the dr when she just had a few spots and he said it was normal do u think i should take her back now theres heaps of it???
Asha got given a small soft toy bunny yesterday and i gave it to her in aresenic hour yesterday and she just lay there holding it against her face lol sooo cute... she is sleeping cuddling it as i type this lol could be in trouble here i can see it becoming her comfort toy that she needs all the time but i dnt wanna take it away from her coz she hasnt slept much and shes sleeping now lol... She was up and down all night last night i am soooo tired and just because i cant go back to sleep dp thinks that means its fine and dandy for him to sleep (hes had tonnes of sleep compared to me) i am sooo mad!!! the other day because we couldnt find the keys (pram locked in the boot as well as we needed the car) we ended up paying for a locksmith to come and cut a key to the car.. $175 later ughhh if he had of got a key cut when he was down to the spare we wouldnt have had that problem.... but wait theres more.. so we go to the shopping centre and what does he do?? locks the key in the car with the engine running.. a few different ppl tried to help us but with no luck it cost us another $100 to get a locksmith to come and unlock the car grrrr.. so hes not in the good books atm...
renee - dp is not back at work yet he went back for one day and then found out they were going to fire him for having too much time off (even though he told them in advance he needed the time and they approved it) so he quit.. the other day he had an interview thats why i had to do all the feeds and Asha was more well behaved then she normally is lol but i was sooo tired.. dp dosn't usually get up with me when i feed he just does some of the late night ones so i can sleep till the 3-4am one...
arte - enjoy your nap
cally - gl with ur check up
fianne - glad things are going well hope the lactation consultant has some helpful advice
welcome haley- we are ff too breastfeeding didn't work for us either...

[Trillian]

Hello!

Noni, what a chain of events you've had. I would be a bit cranky about all money for the locksmith too. Milk rash looks like small red, raised pimples, some will look like they have a head on them - but don't ever squeeze them. Alister has it all over his face, scalp and down the back of his neck. It looks terrible, but you just have to wait it out as there isn't anything I've come across yet that will clear it quicker. It should only last 2-3weeks.

Artechim, I hope you can control the reflux before it becomes really bad for him. Do you have one of those support things to stop them wriggling? If not you can get some rolled up terry flat nappys or muslins and put on either side of him.

Renee, It's great when they go for that long isn't it? Alister is back to normal now with his sleep, but is now having more in his bottles instead. I'm used to doing the night feeds now while DH is on nights. I dont mind it actually because I don't have to worry about waking him up.

Cally, I am very tempted to have a pre Christmas trip to Canberra too for shopping We are 3hrs away. I usually only go in as far as Belconnen though.

Fianne, That's great that Max is doing so well. With your supply, have you tried some of the recipes for building your supply in the breastfeeding forums? Maybe its not her attachement and you might just need a help along? Don't worry about not having the natural birth - we do what we have to do to make sure that our babies arrive here safe and sound.

Hi Hayley and welcome!!! I'm another FF mum too (I fed my first three but my milk didn't come in this time). If you ever have any questions about it or anything else for that matter, just ask away! Breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world, but it sure doesn't come naturally, at the end of the day you are being the best mum you can be because you are making sure that she is well fed and happy, and that's all anyone can ever ask of you.

last night we had some spectacular storms here - we even had hail as big as golfballs, which was a bit worrying. We have a tin roof and it was so loud we could hardly hear one another talk. There is no damage done though, but the IL's lost their phones, TV, austar dish and a few other small appliances as their house copped a direct lightening strike. And the new car arrives tomorrow now. Apparently they were innundated overnight with hail damage claims and they have to make sure that all the paper work is done right to cover hail damage etc.

Alister is a very cheeky monkey ATM. I can't get him to crack a smile at all, and all DH has to do is look at him and he gets the full 100watt smile! so annoyed LOL.

[reneenay]

oh crumbs! Work offered me to work one day a week and I accepted. They then decided that they could only take me on if I come in twice a week which I didnt want to do so I told them no. This morning work called me up and agreed to me working one day a week. But now I am chickening out, I dont want to leave Rory!

[Trillian]

Wow Renee, I would have been a bit cranky at the two day bit. What sort of care do you think you'll use for him? Is it for a full day or are your hours negotiable?