Babies Born ~ November 1st -15th 2011 #4

Ck and lolpigs, thanks for the advice. The gradual arms out of the wrap isn't something I'd thought of but makes a lot of sense. And I've had a look at woombies, they seem like a great investment. She's a very active arms baby, and constantly knocks herself in the head while she sleeps, so I'm endlessly going in to give her the dummy if her arms arrnt held down. Someone needs to invent a way for dummies to stay stuck in their mouths!! It would save so many mums lots of time spent resettling!

Lolpigs goodluck at the paeditrician today. Hope he gives u something else u can try... Poor Lilly :( I take my hat off to you. And that's awesome about TTC soon :) I miss being pregnant sometimes (as much as I complained about how uncomfortable I was, lol). It'll be nice for Lilly to have a close sibling, I'd like the same for Emilia but think I'll be going back to work for a while first. Ohhh and not to mention I STILL haven't got my period since birth (sorry if TMI). not sure if 14 weeks later that's normal? (I haven't breastfed since she was 3 weeks old). Has everyone else's cycles returned?


Amanda, you seem to be doing everything right by violet, I do exactly the same things during playtimes. I'm no expert but she sounds like a bit of a snack feeder? Is she bottle or boob? Emilias on formula, and before we got her sleep sorted we had to sort out her feeding. She would only drink small bits at a time so I was constantly feeding her, which never allowed her to stay full enough to want to sleep for big chunks of time. Even throughout the night, exactly how u described violet waking every couple of hours. At sleep school they gradually stretched her feeds to 4 hourly, eventually she started finishing the entire bottle (something she'd never get close to doing at home) and that naturally allowed her to sleep better. And because she was having adequate intake during the day she pretty much stop needing to wake up at night for feeds. So yeh, try resettling violet if she wakes before 4 hours over night, coz age wise they should be able to go for 4 hour stretches O/N. But I'd start implementing the longer stretches of feeding during the day first. Also as u said she's probably associating sleep with the bottle (which again is what Emilia did) so maybe try to get her to learn to associate other things with sleep like the dummy/being wrapped/patting or sshhing her? But like I said I'm no expert these are just things I learnt at sleep school.

Nikki- hi! Emilia sounds like she has exactly the same routine and timing as little Zoe does. It's good that she co sleeps well with you. I tried it with Emilia when she was younger but it was just as bad. I wouldn't be able to sleep coz I was scared I'd roll over and squash her, and she would wake up everytime I moved even an inch. I must admit it was lovely cuddle time though. Goodluck and welldone to ur husband for giving up smoking/sugar. I've tried the sugar thing multiple times but it always gets the better of me pretty quickly :s Never easy!

Thanks Seppy ;) Yeah its been a hard road for me and her. The reflux is why I had to give up on BF amongst low supply issues and other things.

Yeah thats why I say give one arm a try first, you will know if she is ready after a few days becuase it will stop bothering her, or it will keep waking her and you know she isnt ready yet and can get a wombie or whatever. Lilly is the same with the arms but they stopped waking her now she is used to it.

Pead is pleased she is growing 7kgs now and 65cms! Tall girl :) Shes going to be on Zantac now until she is 6mths old, then we are going back for a check up at 6mths and trialling her off the Zantac.
Otherwise she is well and pead is pleased. He is pleased she is sleeping from 11 - 5am and here I was complaining LOL

Lilly so did that too associating sleep with bottle, as well as comfort feeding due to reflux. We had to push her out to 4 hourly, and now I have ot make sure she eats that often because she can get distracted and not eat till 6 hours and then is so upset and dosent eat enough. Funny chicken.

Cigs and Sugar at the same time! Wow your brave living with him while he was doing that haha!

Seppy - Shes a snack feeder for sure! If it were up to her she would feed every hour i reckon! Normally its around every 2.5 hours during the day, unless i really persist and try to distract her / give her her dummy etc... so thats really good to know that it made such a difference with Emilia, ill absolutely try to stretch the feeds out to 4 hourly! How did you do it, was it mainly through rying to distract / give dummy? Violet is breastfed, which makes it a little difficult to know exactly how much she is drinking! But i do notice on the on the times where she has managed to last longer between feeds, she drinks for a lot longer (boobs feel fuller etc too) so yeah, but it totally makes sense what you say in that if they get decent long feeds during the day then they will not need to wake as much at night - awesome! i feel optimistic now about that! Also, hehehe nothing is really off limits here, we are all very much fine with the TMIs after all the pregnancy TMIs! And i havent got my period back, might be due to exclusively breastfeeding though, and the fact that she feeds to often, ha! How was her birth by the way? Hope it all went very well for you! And, i SO know what you mean about someone needing to invent a way of keeping dummies in their mouths! hahah. violet is a really active sleeper too, swats her dummy out, smacks herself in the face, scratches her face etc.. so that worried me about the one arm out of the wrap too, but ill give it a go!

Lolpigs, good plan, ill try to start wrapping her with one arm out! Good idea... as long as she doesnt keep smacking her face etc! also for some reason i worry about her little hands getting cold, haha.. maybe ill dress her in a onesie that has those little fold over mittens! Just cos DH is a hot sleeper so keeps the aircon on overnight most nights!

Nikky LOL yes i often feel the need to smack the DH too... heheh. OOh also we got a few photos taken by a photographer friend, ill try to upload..

Edit, here is the pic, sorry its HUGE!

https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...1smaller-file/

Yay for Lilly growing well, hopefully her reflux will settle down on the Zantac.

Amanda, just keep in mind that you may not be able to get Violet out to 4hrs between feeds - breastfed babies do feed a bit more frequently, but there's no reason why she shouldn't be able to go a bit more than 2.5hrs. How many times is she waking overnight? Alex feeds roughly every 2-3hrs during the day, but he does do reasonably long stretches overnight with usually just the one wakeup overnight, sometimes two. When he's not in the middle of a growth spurt that is.

As for TMI, ha ha what's that? Share and share alike I guess. I'm on depo currently, have had one period then nothing bar a little bit of spotting. But then, after DD my period returned pretty well straight away as well - felt a bit ripped off to be honest, most of my cousins didn't have theirs while bf-ing.

I'm toying with taking the plunge and resigning from my job. I haven't been unemployed for about 7 years. Maybe longer...it's a scary proposition, but I have no real intentions of returning, especially if we're going to TTC again in a few months time. Said to DH I'd wait till I fell pregnant again so we could use my long service payout to pay the ob fees :lol:

Thats a good idea CK. I'm the same been at my job for about 7 years. Not intending to return tbh. Hopefully wont take long and I can do the same. I have long service leave too hehe. I am not due back at work until October, SO hopefully TTC will be successful by then! How much LSL do you get if you resign?

I am getting the paid maternity leave till May so at minimum I can't resign till then.

I think I've got about 6 weeks worth - been there 5 years so just long enough for them to have to pay it out if I leave. Plus a little annual leave that I had left over. And I'm also booked off till October, hoping I fall before then!

Alex seems to have settled into pooing every 3-4 days now, rather than several times a day. Makes my life easier having him in cloth, but I do worry occasionally about him doing one while we're out - they tend to be a bit explosive :)

Finally on the main computer lol. Here is the baby list....

Babies List

:babygirl: :cheer:
Nikky ~ 31 October ~ Zoe Olivia
Sweetpeajan ~ 1 November ~ Jessica Sophia
Lolpigs ~ 7 November ~ Lilly Annabelle
Alz ~ 8 November ~ Mikaela
Mollie89 ~ 12 November ~ Aubree-Rose
Danniim ~ 13 November ~ Abigail Violet
Amanda ~ 17 November ~ Violet Lilly

:babyboy: :bluecheer:
Cranky Kitten ~ 10 November ~ Alexander Gabriel
A Mumma ~ 16 November ~ Levi Daniel

:nappy: :baby:
Untold Angel ~ 5 November

Wow so many girls :lol:

I've started to try the one arm out at a time thing but she doesn't want a bar of it. Her free arm continues to fling around so back to tight wrapping it is. Like u guys said, she'll be ok with it when she's ready. And she's not really rolling yet so I guess complete swaddling is still ok.

So good that the paed was happy with Lilly :) Bummer that shes had to go back on medication but at least both you and her should get some relief now. Hope it's working for her already! I guess once you start to introduce solids the reflux will settle down a bit on it's own yeh? (hopefully)

Amanda I was told the way to stretch Emilias feeds is to do it gradually. So you slowly stretch the feeds by half an hour at time. So if violet normally feeds every 2.5 hours, try to get her to wait till 3 hours for a couple of feeds, then when she's ok with that try to stretch her till every 3.5 hours and so on. Obviously if she gets really distressed then feed her earlier but she should gradually get the hang of feeding at least 3-4 hourly during the day and less frequently at night. The nurses at the sleep school told me that the idea is your gradually stretching their stomachs to hold q bit more milk each time. It should slowly fall into place, and maybe allow her to sleep for longer periods of time.
Haha my birth- one word, awful!!! It was 33 hours from the first contraction. Emilia was posterior so facing the wrong way, making me have severe back contractions too. I tried every ****tail of drug out there and finally got an epidural when I was 6cm dilated. Then when it came to pushing her heart rate kept going down to 50-60's so they were planning on doing and emergency caesar coz it seemed she was getting distressed. I really wanted to avoid a caesar so they did an episiotomy and forceps delivery. And I had 3rd degree tearing too :s So not fun. She was perfect and healthy so thats all that mattered really. And we didn't find out what we were having but were sure it was a boy (based on how I was carrying) so it was a big surprise to have a baby girl, but so happy! I will never go back to the hospital I was at tho. They asked me if I wanted to leave at 6pm that night (6hours after id given birth!!!) of course I said no, so I was discharged the next morning anyway- not even 24hours post delivery! My milk hadn't come in yet, and I had no idea what I was doing re breastfeeding so it felt like a disaster! Argh!! How about yours?

Yeh I think it's kinda weird I haven't had a period at all since birth. I only breastfed for 3 weeks so you'd think it would've come back already, and I don't want to start of birth control till I have a proper cycle first.

I'm in the same position as all you ladies. I thought I'd go back to work when she was 6months but now I'm thinking of pushing it to at least a year. These past 3.5 months have flown and u never get this chance to spend so much quality time with ur baby than now. And the change and grow so quickly! Plus I'm a nurse so I'd have to go back to shift work, so irregular hours, night shifts and weekends :( not good with a young family!

My period didn't return for nearly 6 months after Harriett was born!

Zoe, it came back about 2 months after she was born. (both C sections tho, so not sure if that is any different)

As for the work situation... Um, I had to quit when I was 5 weeks pregnant with Harriett as I was so sick with her! and I haven't been back to work since! (woooooooot)

Hubby and I agreed that once we had kids I would be a SAHM ! yehawwwwwwwww

I am thinking of studying something and go back to work when Zoe starts school :) So I have another 4 years till I think bout work!

Wow Seppy, discharging you that early was rough! Especially after a difficult birth like that - thoroughly understand not wanting to go back to that hospital. Both times for me I've been the one clawing the walls to go home, the midwives were all quite happy for me to stay a bit longer

Hi Ladies i haven't been in for while but there's been a lot going on.

Welcome Seppy!! My daughter was born the 13th November as well :)

Lolpigs sorry to hear Lilly's reflux has returned but good to hear she is growing so well, Abby is only just tipped the scales last week at 6.055kg but she is chubby though.

Abby generally sleeps all night for me but will occasionally have a 3 or 4 wake up time but thats if i have put her to bed a bit early. She's a good lil sleeper during the day too, probably not as good as Nikky's Zoe but she will sleep pretty much anywhere except at one friends place.. dunno whats with that!! Finally got my computer back hooray and we just bought a block of land back in QLD.. about 200m from the waters edge and i'm just sorting out building plans atm. Can't wait till we are back in QLD, nice big house that i can swing cats/kids or anything in really hahaha. It's all down to what work/job DH gets now to when we leave but we are hoping by the end of this school year we will be ready.
I'm totally unemployeed and i'm hoping to start some study next year too but we'll have to see what stage we are up too and how busy i will be too.

CK, oh thats good to know, thank you! Yeah she will sometimes go 3 hours but generally wants to feed every 2.5... and overnight it ranges from 2 to 4 or 5 wake-ups...! With your job, it might feel a bit dautning, but if your financially able to survive on the one income, then do it! How totally exciting! And you wont be unemployed, youll just be employed by your new little boss, Alex :) heehe. If we could afford it, id be a stay at home mum also, but we have quite a big mortgage and not huge incomes... makes me feel sick thinking of going back to work, which will probably be July or something though hopefully longer if we can afford it.. WIsh i could work out some way of earning money without having to go to work! Also, WOW re the numper of poos - massive contrast to violet, she does maybe 8 poos a day! every single time i feed her, within a few minutes she goes!

Seppy, thank you, ill gradually start lenthening the time between feeds slowly, so she gets the hang of it! I spose its just a gradual adjustment! Good to know that the nurses at the sleep school seem pretty switched on!! Its so frustrating in the meantime, it just feels like she sleeps hardly ever!!!!!! I might start trying to put her to bed at more like 7pm or so and see how that goes too.. oh WOW your birth sounded rather traumatic! 33 hours is a really, really long time too, especially with Emilia being prosterior! OUCH at the episiotomy and 3rd degree tears - can i ask, did they give you a local anaesthetic before giving you the episiotomy? Also, can i ask, how have your stitches healed? (ou dont have to answer if you dont like!) - its just (sorry TMI) mine have healed on the surface, but still feel sore in one of the areas when i press, and also, feels WAY too tight, like theyve stitched me up way tighter than i should be, and it feels like there is a lot of scar tissue that wont stretch like normal skin does meaning (again sorry for the TMI) im too scared to DTD cos i feel like its too tight and will tear again - GAAH! i intended to leave it till i get Violet's next check up and ask my dr about it, but yeah NOT COOL! As for my birth, it was a bit traumatic as well, nowhere near as traumatic as yours though by the sounds of it! With mine, i was scheduled for an induction, 8 days overdue, then they called that morning to say they were too FULL therefore had to cancel my induction to the next day - but i had an incling i was in early labour anyway! I laboured at home since about 9am (had contractions the previous night but they were very mild and thought they were just painful braxton hicks) and then went to the hospital around 6pm and went to the hospital anyway (er sorry, i dont care if your "too full" i cant exactly stop this!) and had Violet by 9.41pm - i didnt use any drugs, though by the pushing stage i was begging for an epidural cos it was agony, (9pds1ounce!) and i tore quite badly, apparently it was lots of 2nd degree tears and bad grazing, so i was being stitched up for over 1.5 hours and the dr said she lost count of how many stitches - also her heart rate was dropping too, which i reckon was the reason for the whole experience being quite scary, as i imagine it was for you also... its a heaps distressing feeling when they say the baby is stressed. Er, your hospital sounds like they were terrible with discharging you so early?! especially after such a long labour, episiotomy and a 3rd degree tear! far out.. My hospital was similar, discharged us very early too, although not as early as yours - but yeah, milk hadnt come in yet or anything either which means you basically just have to make it up as you go at home, which isnt easy!

Danni, congratulations on buying the block of land! Any idea yet on timeframes for getting the house built, or is it a bit early yet? How super exciting!!!

Lolpigs, did you manage to get Lilly to sleep in the sleeping bag successfully yet?

Question for everyone, Violet had a massive tantrum this afternoon cos she was overtired, and she got herself SO worked up crying that she was choking, it was horrible... the only thing that worked was feeding her, which got me to worrying, what if she ever has a tantrum like that when im not there, if DH or my mum or someone is watching her? Cos they wouldnt be able to feed her? Has anyone had anything similar, and found any ways to calm them down? She was crying like she was devestated, like really wailing.. it was very upsetting! She wouldnt take the dummy or anything!

Seppy, I'll add you next time I'm on the big computer :) Also (completely random) but my hubby plays pc games with a guy they nicknamed Seppy.

Levi and I have our good and bad days but I'm loving being home with him.

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Question for everyone, Violet had a massive tantrum this afternoon cos she was overtired, and she got herself SO worked up crying that she was choking, it was horrible... the only thing that worked was feeding her, which got me to worrying, what if she ever has a tantrum like that when im not there, if DH or my mum or someone is watching her? Cos they wouldnt be able to feed her? Has anyone had anything similar, and found any ways to calm them down? She was crying like she was devestated, like really wailing.. it was very upsetting! She wouldnt take the dummy or anything!

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Alex has had a couple of those. The most recent one was because he was overtired and overheated after a week of 40+ temps. He was at the point where he wouldn't even feed, just kept on screaming. They're really heartbreaking and stressful, but you get through them - just keep trying different things. I find a warm shower or bath often settles Alex down if he's in the middle of a meltdown, especially the shower as he stops crying and snuggles in skin to skin. Otherwise wrapping him has worked on occasion (he's normally not wrapped) or putting him in the car and taking him for a drive. I've also laid him on my chest in a dark room and slowly stroked his back, letting him listen to my heartbeat - sometimes they get over-stimulated as well and don't know how to calm down. So removing all outside stimuli in favour of familiar sounds works as well.

Levi had a tantrum the other day, I just walked around re house shooshing at him until he calmed down enough to heard me then started bouncing as I walked to calm him more. Once he had stopped screaming and wailing (just sobbing) I sat down with him (still rocking) and waited for him to go to sleep. We regularly have crying over not wanting to sleep but already at the point of tiredness, the carry on is normally enough to tip him over the edge to sleep.

Abby is so easy going the only time she has a good ole wail is very occasionally when in the car seat. Normally it's when the car is stopped or i've just put her in and the car is still hot.

Amanda around 5 ish months for the build but we won't sign the building contract till end of April, we are trying to tie it all in to move over the school holidays at the end of the year.

Yep I did get her to sleep in the sleeping bag :) The arms flail for a bit longer and it takes her a bit longer to wind down but she she is much happier. The last 2 nights she has slept from 8pm - 7am! Heres hoping that conitunes, although I still get up at 5am to check on her haha :)

Day sleeps she still mostly does 45mins and I have to resettle, although when I resettle I often get longer from her sometimes an hour and a half. So I think its just her and her development. She may just be like me and cant sleep during daylight hours or has trouble.

How exciting Abby! Good luck with it all ;) I would love to do that.

Yeah Lilly chucks those paddy's too sometimes, but I dont feed her to calm her down I do what Amumma does, dummy, change of scenery, bath and generally she has calmed down by then. Due to her reflux we had lots of issues with sleep associations with the bottle and boob, so now we have worked those out I dont want to go back to them.

Hope everyone is having a good day! Going shopping today for Lilly, shes now in a 00 and she has no clothes! Growing so fast!

Edit: Blegh my mum has made me feel guilty about TTC so soon. Oh she has to have all the attention for awhile, you dont want another one so soon etc.
:( Feel super guilty now