Babies born ~July 1st-15th 2010 #2

[Dr. Tal]

Jessey -

Sounds pretty normal to me. That's what I do when I make spag bol or a stir fry, or something I am going to make particularly spicy that I don't think B would handle.

[owens5]

Heellooo!!

Hi, yes, its been a while - again I too, have no idea when I last posted,, just busy and forgetful!

Hope everyone is well...

Jessey, just read back over the posts about your Mum. I hope you can work it out. I can't understand ppl like that, especially mothers. My Mum was my best friend and biggest supporter in every decision I made, so I just can't comprehend why a mother would be like that. I really feel for you .

Dr Tal, your genetics lesson was very interesting, ty for sharing that info

AFU ... A is crawling like crazy, pulling herself up and walking around the furniture. She's really little so just doesn't look like she should be doing it, it's very funny. She just makes me smile every time I look at her, she's such a happy baby. She still isn't sleeping through, but either are the twins (and they're 3.5) so i'm resigned to the fact that my children just aren't great sleepers!

[delphmoon]

HI all

Gosh, it has been months hasnt it?? I just don't get the chance to come online anymore

Between working fulltime and study along with DD and being pg I am exhausted....Overstreched maybe?

DD is going brilliantly...she is such a happy lovely little girl...she is amazing!

DH is still being SAHD and still going along excellently...I am so proud of him- it seems to come naturally to him.

And I am going well. 11 weeks pg- Ultrasound in 2 weeks then will announce it to the world...The pg has one well so far...no MS thank goodness but god I am tired!...When I was pg with DD is was constantly tired for the first 15 weeks or so, so hopefully this will pass...

Hope you are all doing well...and the babies are growing stronger and more wonderful by the day!

xx

[EmmaJane]

Nice to hear from you Owens and Delph!

Owens - A sounds just beautiful! Just wondering if you are still BF?

Delph - You have a huge load! I am so impressed and amazed that you can work full time AND study while tired from being pregnant.

You girls make me feel like a total hopeless case! Struggling with just the one bub!

AFU - since that trip to the doctor last week where he told us T is in the bottom 3% weight-wise for his age, we've been very careful to make sure he's getting at least 3 good-sized servings of solids every day. It hasn't been helping at all with sleeping! In fact it's made it harder to get him to sleep at night to start with. Plus he's taking even less milk during the day. BUT tonight when he woke up for the second time at 11.30pm and he wasn't interested in boob or being rocked, I made DH get his bottle of water and see if he'd take any of that. He gulped down a bit but then started crying again. So I made him up a 120ml bottle of formula and OMG, he downed about 80ml so quickly. He's never taken that much during the day! But then I've never fed him from the bottle myself I don't think. At least not since I've figured out the variable flow teat thing (yes I am seriously clueless!!)!

He might have had more than he did but he was slowing down a little and I took the bottle out of his mouth to see how much he'd drunk and decided to make him another 120ml. But by the time I'd prepared it he wasn't interested and was happy just to be held and quickly went to sleep, staying asleep even after I put him in the cot.

So I don't know what to think. Is my milk not good enough somehow? Is it just easier to drink out of a bottle?

It's probably premature to speculate anyway. I'm hoping it will be a magic fix and we'll start getting more sleep but it's only been an hour and a half since I put him down. I haven't been able to sleep since! Just from thinking about it.

Anyway ladies, hope everyone is well and getting a better night's sleep than I am!

xo

[owens5]

Hi Emma Jane,yes I am still bf!!

How much does T weigh? "A" has been under the line since birth. She is in the 50th percentile for height, but not for weight or head circ. She's now 6.7kg. My doc kept telling me to put her on formula, but she's a really happy baby, she's met all her milestones and I think she's just little.
I hope sleeping improves for you both

[Dr. Tal]

Emma - Unfortunately I can't give you any advice regarding BF vs bottle feed, but I really hope you are able to get things figured out so you can get a couple good nights sleep. I also hope that his weight isn't an issue either. I have a friend who's little girl is in the botton 5 percentile but she's healthy as, she's just small, but both her mum and dad are small too.

Delph - So good to hear from you. Glad to hear that your pregnancy is going well apart from the being tired. that the tiredness goes away soon. And I also take my hat off to you being pregnant, looking after a little one, working full time AND studying where to you find the time/energy!!

Owens - So good to hear from you. Sounds like little A is growing like a weed and motoring around nicely. I know what you mean aboutthem looking too small to be walking. I think that about B constantly.

AFU - B has started a new 'game' which isn't fun for me AT ALL. When he's feeding and it makes me VERY VERY VERY happy he's still a gummy without any teeth. He's taken to biting my nipple...and hard, then he tugs on it and OMG HURT!!! And I nothing I seem to do is stopping it. I started by ignoring it, in case he was looking for a reaction, I didn't want to make any noise or anything he could take as being funny so he'd continue on. I have firmly told him NO. I've told him no then taken him off the boob and set him on the floor for a couple of minutes, and I just don't know what to do as he still does it. I had someone tell me to slap his leg when he does it, but I just can't bring myself to do that. Any of you have any suggestions? I'm really worried that he's going to get teeth soon and if he does it when he has teeth I can see carnage as I reckon he's biting hard enought o draw blood if he had teeth

[EmmaJane]

Owens - Well done on getting this far with BF A! I hope T gets back into it. T is about 7.7kg, I think. So a bit bigger than A but boys are supposed to be bigger than girls anyway. The doc refused to measure his length because it's too hard so I don't know how he's going height-wise, but the head circumference he said was on track,whatever that means! I think it was all in the shape of the curves he was looking at.

Dr T - I had a bit of biting from T while his front teeth were moving around and coming through. He still does really tiny little nips from time to time but he doesn't really clamp down so it doesn't hurt. Or maybe I've figured out how he looks or behaves just before it happens and know when to pull away. Either way, he doesn't do it very often any more, and I'm not sure whether he just got over it himself, or whether my approach to yell really loudly and give him a fright paid off. Actually I don't think I did that deliberately, it just hurt and I couldn't help myself!!

Can you remind me how I get an avatar?

Hi to everyone else!

[Salad]

Hi everyone
Hi em, hi owens Hi delph my god I am tired reading your posts Delph you are superwoman.

Hi DrTal - my DD used to play that came with me too it was a terrible time and very frustrating, i did end up finding out that if you have the attachment correct its impossible for them to bite you so I made sure I concentrated on attaching properly and made sure if she had finished drinking that I took her off straight away if she was finished and looked like she wanted to just suck. Not saying your attachment is wrong please dont take that the wrong way its just a tip that worked for me so thought I would pass it on.

Em - I could only feed my DS up until 4.5 months (I had fed my DD for 13months beforehand) I was shattered, beforehand though he started not sleeping very well, screaming everytime I put him on the boob and he dropped stacks of weight, nearly a kg. Now I am a big pro breastfeeding person but when I gave DS his first bottle of formula he sucked it dry in seconds he was starving, I WAS STARVING HIM because I was trying so hard to breastfeed him. He has thrived ever since I put him on formula he is huge now lol people are always calling him chubby etc. I hope it all works out for your soon.

AFU - The year seems to be flying by, my baby is dissapearing before my eyes before we know it we will be planning their 1st birthdays E is soooo chubby now lol he has really fat legs and gets stuck in the bumbo lol. Speaking of bumbo I had him sitting in it on the floor in the bathroom and he tipped himself out of it the little bugger. Thank god it wasnt on the bathroom bench.
He is an eating machine, doesnt care if its pureed or chunk he will eat anything. My DD used to gag on lumps at his age but not E he eats it all.
Are you girls still wrapping your little ones, my dilema is that e will go to sleep in a sleeping bag but if he wakes for a feed during the night or early morning he wont settle again in it so I have to wrap him, so I have been wrapping him instead of putting him in the sleeping bag and then using one of those safe t sleep wraps on his mattress so that he cant roll over onto his tummy. Well I have given birth to houdini the second because he gets out of everything. This is how I HAVE to wrap him, I lay him on a cot sheet, then I take one side of the wrap and go over his arm on the same side then under his back then I repeat it on the other side so his arms are locked down (hope that makes sense) then I put him onto a muslin wrap and wrap him again just the normal way then I put him into his bed and velcro him into the safe t sleep wrap. well the other morning I heard him playing and moving around in the cot soI went in to see him and he had gotten himself completely out of it all and was playing but get this both wraps we still inside the safe t sleep wrap neat and tidy like there was still a baby in there no joke he is houdini. Grrrr i just dont know what to do, I have even wrapped him then put him wrapped into a woombie and he can still get out of it all.

wow thats long I better go to bed, hope you are all going great.

sal

[Dr. Tal]

Sal - No offense taken at all. I have been wondering if I've gotten lazy with attachment. I've started to have a really long let down, sometimes it takes nearly two minutes and this is whan B bites me the most, maybe getting frustrated it's taking so long?? I guess that could have something to do with attachment, maybe if I was making sure he was on properly it wouldn't take that long. Will have to make sure I pay more attention to that.

Glad to hear E is doing so well. Sounds like he's put on heaps of weight and is growing like a weed! They definitely are growing up to fast though. I was talking to a friend the other day and she asked how old B was and I was going to say just over 6 months, then I realised he was nearly 8 1/2 I can't believe how quickly the time has gone!

Emma - With T's weight gain have you seen a pediatrician about it? Does he look skinny? Lethargic? I find it odd that the doctor didnt' measure his height because it 'was too hard' he could have at least got a guesstimate.

Avatar...You go into the platinum and life subscriber forums. Then there is a section in there called set up information and there is a sticky 'all you need to know about avatars' and that tells you all the information you need to give and who to send it to.

Also, there is a professional support panel that you have access to in the platinum section as well and there is a breastfeeding expert and I'm pretty sure there is a baby development person as well, you might be able to ask one of them about T...just a thought

AFU - Can't remember who asked if I was at work much lately. I had been for two weeks straight, but I've been off all this week. Both B and I have had horrible colds. I feel like I've been run over by a truck and poor B is just miserable. He sleeps ALL THE TIME (except at night...he's been waking every 45 min to 1 hour as he gets really snotty atnight and can't breathe properly ) and when he's not sleeping he's Mr. Velcro child. If I try to put him down without sitting on the floor with him myself so he can sit on my lap he just screams until he nearly chokes on his phlem...poor baby. I feel really horrible because there is nothing I can do for him and I just have no energy at all myself either

On a completely different and happy note. Don't think I really mentioned much about my pregnancy weight gain. Hardly gained anything at all till about week 32 then put on over 20kg nearly overnight. Well I've lost it all...plus some, and I am SO PROUD of myself. I've lost 32kg since B was born. Before I got UTD I weighed 77(ish) kg and just before he was born I weighed 102 So I weigh even less now then I did before I got pregnant. I'm only 70kg I am stoked as I've not weighted that since i was about 20 I'm kinda hoping that it might make TTC #2 a bit easier cause I'm now no longer classed as overweight...one can hope

[Salad]

woohoo go Dr Tal thats awesome I bet you are proud and so you should be great effort.
Do you have a vapouriser?? Also I find vicks baby balsam helps too on chest back and feet, plus they like the massage and it relaxes them. My two have woken with colds today too so I will be cracking out all this stuff tonight. DH is looking after the kids tomorrow morniing for me so I can have a sleep in a much neeeeeeeeded sleep in.

oh and E pulled himself up to stand today he was so proud of himself so its a whole new world for him now. I am hoping that now he has reached this milestone he might sleep, oh I hope so.

Hope your feeling better soon Dr Tal xo

[EmmaJane]

Hi Sal! Nice to hear from you. What you were saying about attachment and biting makes perfect sense, now that I think about it that is how I anticipate that Travis might be thinking of biting.

I've been worried for a while that I've been starving T too, but it's confusing because there are times when my boobs get really full but he just isn't interested. Surely if he was starving because of my milk supply they'd never get that full?? Anyway, I am trying to supplement with formula but he's only interested in feeding from the bottle (or the boob) some times. I went to the child health nurse this morning and she has given me a feeding plan to aspire to, which is helpful because one of my problems has been figuring out what an ideal routine would be in the first place.

OMG, that E sure sounds like a houdini incarnate! The image of him happily playing in his cot like that made me truly laugh out loud! T was always able to get out of his wrap but I never tried the wombie or safeTsleep or anything like that.

Thanks for reminding me about the existence of vicks vapour rub! T has been getting snuffly overnight, which could be contributing to his waking up all the time. I might see if that helps.

Dr Tal - I remember when you were pregnant you were telling us your boobs were really lop-sided. Did they ever even up? I ask because ever since my milk came in, my right side has always been bigger than my left and I've never been able to even them up despite trying by expressing extra on the left etc.

Thanks for pointing me to the right place in the forums for info on avitars and expert advice - I'll have to explore them again with my new platinum membership! In the meantime it's helpful to know where to go because time is of the essence.

Congrats on your weight loss, that's a great effort! I hope you do find it helps with conceiving #2! Sorry to hear you and poor little B are sick again. That really sucks.

AFU - went to child health nurse as mentioned above. She could see another tooth was on the move through from half a metre away. I thought I felt something a couple of days ago! But again I asked DH if he could and he said no so I doubted myself again. I need to get more confidence in my own judgement!!

OP - haven't heard from you for a while. Settling in okay I hope?

Question for everyone: what type of appliance do you use to blend up your baby food? I bought a stick mixer the other day but I think it's crap - was only 200W and less than $30. Can only use it for something like 20 seconds at a time and wait several minutes between cycles. Is that standard, or did I just get what I paid for? Would you recommend I invest in a food processor or just a more powerful stick mixer? Or something else I haven't thought of???

Happy weekends all round!

[Salad]

Em - I just brought a cheap mixer thing from big w for $26 bucks like a magic bullet not a stick mixer and its great minces chicken and all. I also saw something very similiar at kmart maybe give that a go. I always found the stick blender took ages and still didnt do the job but mine is cheap also.

[Dr. Tal]

Sal - No we don't have a vapouriser, but I've been thinking about getting one. I use to get chest colds all the time when I was little and mum had one for me and it really helped, so I've been thinking about getting one for B since he's been getting sick so much.

I'll also look into that baby balsam. DO you just get it at the chemist?

E's pulling himself up now huh? So cute. I can just picture the I'm so smart and clever look that he's giving every time he does it. B still does the I'm so smart and clever look as he's motoring around. Cracks me up.

Also I forgot to answer your wrapping question last time. No I've not wrapped B since he was about 8 weeks. He just didn't seem to want to be wrapped anymore. Would wiggle and squirm and fuss, so I stopped. Certainly sounds like E is a bit of a Houdini. Can't give you any advice there. It certainly would have been baffling to see him playing in his cot with his wraps laying there like he was still inside

Emma - Yeah, my boobs are still REALLY lop sided. Althought I think it's different sides to when I was pregnant Which is a bit odd. From memory is was my left boob that was really big when I was pregnant. But now it's my right one. And it's easily twice the size of my left one (when empty it only gets worse lopsidedness-wise when it's full). It looks really odd...well it does to me anyway. DH assures me it's not as noticable as I think it is. I still think he's just saying that so I;m not so self concious about it.

Another tooth huh? That's five now isn't it? I really do hope you get some answers about T's weight soon.

AFU - B seems to be getting better....slowly. He's still really snotty but he doesn't have a fever anymore which is a bonus. And I seem to be over it as well, thankfully. Saturday I just had no energy at all, it was really hard to just move. Thankfully DH was home and could look after B for me...

Speaking of B...someone wants a feed..

[Salad]

Hi, E had his 8 mth check today he weighs 9.97kg he is chubby lol my DD is just over 2 and she weighs 12kg. He has a top tooth now giving him a grand total of 3, he is pulling himself up and on saturday started pushing DD's ride on toy around, and guess what followed that........2 almost full nights sleep with only one wake up woohoo seems reaching milestones makes all the difference.

And he is not wrapped anymore I thought oh well I will give it a go with no wrap but just the safe t sleep wrap and all is good. So much easier not wrapping, just a nice fleecy sleeping bag. Speaking of easy DD is toilet trained now, I still put her in nappies at night but she woke up last night and asked to go to the toilet and has been waking up with dry nappies, I am so proud of her. Toilet training was the most frustrating thing but some tips and strategies from a friend who has three kids helped so much.

[EmmaJane]

Damn, just lost my post. Grr. I went to get something behind the keyboard and somehow bumped the mouse!! I didn't even hear it click but somehow it loaded up something from the bookmark menu over the bellybelly page. Let's see if I can remember what I wrote...

Sal - am amazed at how much E has grown since you put him on formula! I can't imagine T weighing that much anytime soon! Hooray for your toilet training success with DD. It must be a relief to not have to worry about that too much. And I was just wondering, is there any chance E's sleeping better just because you're not wrapping him?

Dr Tal - hope B recovers fully soon, poor little mite. How strange that your boobs swapped in relative size! I have been putting T on the left side and not swapping at all after midnight when he wakes up for the last few nights, and today both boobs needed to be expressed by midday with T in day care. So milk supply in left boob restored! Woohoo!

[Salad]

Sal - am amazed at how much E has grown since you put him on formula! I can't imagine T weighing that much anytime soon! Hooray for your toilet training success with DD. It must be a relief to not have to worry about that too much. And I was just wondering, is there any chance E's sleeping better just because you're not wrapping him?

Hey Em could be that too, whatever it is I am just glad he is sleeping better lol

[Dr. Tal]

Emma – No matter how much I offer B my left boob it doesn’t match the right one. When I pump I’m lucky if I can get 60ml out of the left one and I average about 200ml from the right one So a HUGE difference. And that is with me ALWAYS offering the left one first. So he always completely drains that one, then I guess because it doesn’t give him enough he always wants number 2. He doesn’t always drain the right one, but most of the time he does. I’ve tried to only offer the left one only but he fusses so much and carries on that I usually give in and give him the left one again before then giving him the right one. Guess I’m just destined to be lopsided boob wise

Sal – So glad to hear that E has finally started to sleep for you. I was going to say the same thing Emma did about the wrapping. I was thinking maybe he was getting too hot in the wrap and because he couldn’t just throw it off and he had to wriggle out that it would wake him up. Could also be the motoring around though.

AFU – B seems to be fully recovered…thankfully (I think). He still has a bit of snot, but it’s just clear, not yellow anymore like it was and his cough is completely gone. And his energy has come back with a vengeance! Yesterday he ran amok at daycare ALL DAY. When I went to feed him at lunch he was just bouncing around crawling everywhere, pulling toys off the shelf to play with pushing anything and everything he could get his hands on here and there and the carers said he was like that for the entire day…..no nap he just wouldn’t go down for them. Then when I got home he was bouncing off the walls so I took him outside to play with the two girls ( as in the dogs, they bounce around him like idiots, running here and there and back and forth around the yards and B just laughs and laughs at them and tries to crawl after them) So he played with them outside for well over an hour while DH cooked dinner. And he just woulnd’t shut off. After dinner he got down and pushed chairs around and the table!! Yes the big 6 seater dining room table we have he got on one leg and started pushing it. He went like that until nearly 10 o’clock, every time I tried to put him in bed he would just stand up and call and call for the dogs and giggle and laugh and pull the sheet off and throw it out of the cot and he rattled the drop side and he’d bounce, blow raspberries, and try to climb up the sides (thankfully he didn’t succeed at that one) I had to make DH turn off the light and TV in the living room and put the dogs outside (they NEVER get put outside but everytime he’d call for them they’d go to them and he’d play with them through the cot slats just giggling), then I sat in complete darkness with him in the bedroom and practically restrained him in my arms until he finally fell asleep! On the bonus side he then slept through until I woke him up at 6:30 this morning. But talk about a ball of energy, I am SO SO SO glad that we have a big fully high fenced in yard because I think I’m going to be using it A LOT to use some of his energy!

[Salad]

hehehe I couldnt help but giggle at B how cute such a character. I am positive boys are more full on than girls. E is flat out too way more than DD was.

MOTHER OF THE YEAR ALERT********* I am the mother of the year girls, I took Evan to get his immunisations today yep thats right his immunisations, here is me thinking they were supposed to be at 8months I forgot they were meant to be at 6 months, I felt like such an idiot, I was horrified that I had missed them. I even have the immunisation schedule on my fridge. With everything that happened with DH I just didnt think about it. I felt like such a terrible mum.