Babies Born~July 1st-15th 2009 #1

[Miss E]

I wouldn't worry too much LF, we were also asked to come in at 3 months, I think it's pretty standard even though it doesn't get recorded in the blue and book. And by the sound of things your nurse isn't very concerned.

Sounds like you might have a jealous boy on your hands jess... I'm sure it will only be a temporary thing though. I remember when my sister had her youngest, I actually heard her eldest (who was about 3 at the time) whisper to her that she hated her, but now they are the best of friends!

Sarah I hear you, it is so frustrating when they won't sleep and you know they'll get over tired

Glad to hear the shots went well Jetta. I'm having Ash's doe next Tuesday and hoping they go as well as Sam's.

AFM Ash went 7.5 hours between feeds last night which was fantastic, I got a good 6 hours straight sleep which I don't think I've had since before I got pregnant! We had his 8 week check up today. He's just under 5kg, 4.935kg actually, funny I had been sure he would be there by now, but at least he is pretty close and it's a 1.1kg gain from his 4 week checkup. He's also grown another 5cm and is now 58cm. Everything else was good, so I'm a happy mummy! We also started mothers group yesterday which was really good. I enjoyed meeting some other mums with babies around the same age.

[jetta2022]

Congrats to everyone who is reporting great things about their check ups! Everyone seems to be gaining weight well and growing well too! Great jobs ladies!
Miss excited - so great you had a good nights sleep! Last night I fed at 10pm, he normally then wakes around 3.30pm so I stayed up watching the late night movie, of course he then woke at 2pm!!! That will teach me! But great stats on how well he is growing.
Lotus flower- your stats looking great too. Hope all is fine with his skull. ALways best to mention things in case they are over looked and get that extra check but hopefully everything is fine. It sounds like all his other skills are developing well!!
jess - it does sound like jealousy at the moment. I don't have any other children so I have no advice, but hopefully he will adjust soon!
sloane - i can totally relate to you. Sam is perfect at night but during the day is a nightmare. Today he was waking every 15 minutes and I think I have driven myself in sane as all I have done today is feed and try to get him to sleep. He goes into his cot very upset and throws his legs around a lot or seems settled and then 10 minutes later is howling. I am trying to eliminate things, he was spitting and chucking up alot today so maybe something I ate last night or something, I have no idea. It can be really frustrating as you can't get anything done.
So apart from that, Sam is starting to lift his head and strengthen his neck well. He is kicking his back legs out alot and smiling at me and starting to make some lovely noises. He does spit up alot and goes through a fair few clothes!! But day sleeps have tormented me this weekend and my husband was away so I had to do every sleep all by myself. When I wrap him and then pick him up, he starts arching his back and whinging and then he settles a bit, I put him in the cot and he starts howling. I thought it might have been some reflux but I really have no idea. The waking and crying at every 15 minute intervals today has really done my head in...

[jetta2022]

Congrats to everyone who is reporting great things about their check ups! Everyone seems to be gaining weight well and growing well too! Great jobs ladies!
Miss excited - so great you had a good nights sleep! Last night I fed at 10pm, he normally then wakes around 3.30pm so I stayed up watching the late night movie, of course he then woke at 2pm!!! That will teach me! But great stats on how well he is growing.
Lotus flower- your stats looking great too. Hope all is fine with his skull. ALways best to mention things in case they are over looked and get that extra check but hopefully everything is fine. It sounds like all his other skills are developing well!!
jess - it does sound like jealousy at the moment. I don't have any other children so I have no advice, but hopefully he will adjust soon!
sloane - i can totally relate to you. Sam is perfect at night but during the day is a nightmare. Today he was waking every 15 minutes and I think I have driven myself in sane as all I have done today is feed and try to get him to sleep. He goes into his cot very upset and throws his legs around a lot or seems settled and then 10 minutes later is howling. I am trying to eliminate things, he was spitting and chucking up alot today so maybe something I ate last night or something, I have no idea. It can be really frustrating as you can't get anything done.
So apart from that, Sam is starting to lift his head and strengthen his neck well. He is kicking his back legs out alot and smiling at me and starting to make some lovely noises. He does spit up alot and goes through a fair few clothes!! But day sleeps have tormented me this weekend and my husband was away so I had to do every sleep all by myself. When I wrap him and then pick him up, he starts arching his back and whinging and then he settles a bit, I put him in the cot and he starts howling. I thought it might have been some reflux but I really have no idea. The waking and crying at every 15 minute intervals today has really done my head in...

[Ryatha]

It's great to hear that everyone is doing well.

Grace had her check up and is now 5.1kg and 55cm long. She's not growing as quick as her sister and we think she's going to be very petite. She is really taking an interest in the world around us and chatting to people who hold her. The nice thing is she is going to bed at 6.30pm, waking for a feed around 1.30am then feeding again at about 6am - it means DH and I have time together in the evenings and time to sleep! I had a bath with her tonight and it was soo nice to cuddle her in a warm bath feeding and playing. Dh took some photos but I don't think we can really show them around ;-)

[jesscook08]

happy fathers day to all the dads out there hope u had a great day. my older son is doing better only attacking anton once or twice a day now. he is back with his dad tonight. lastnight i had all 4 kids at home it was the 1st time ive been alone with all 4 overnight cant believe i remained saine.

[jetta2022]

Can I ask everyone roughly how long their little ones are staying awake for during the day? Everyone says that Sam should be starting to stretch to more 1 1/2 hours but I find that he is really only going around 45 minutes and then starts getting fussy and kicking his legs and being unhappy...is that alright??

[sloane]

hi jetta
i was trying to get corey back to sleep within an hour of waking up but am just going with the flow now & relying more on tired signs than times, iykwim? my main aim is to try and make sure he's getting sleep during the day & i've found that if i go too long then he is incredibly hard to settle once he's overtired. that said, he only had a couple of catnaps yesterday & was soooo tired & cranky that we bathed him a bit early & put him to bed at 6.00, he was asleep by 6.30 & had his best sleep yet! he only woke up at 10.40, 2.00 & 5.30 for feeds which is one less than usual!

re-your other post, i have found in the last couple of weeks that corey has started to fight sleep & where he went down easily during the day before, he suddenly stopped & started causing a fuss whenever i tried. i'm not sure whether it was just being overtired or whether a stage but last week i perservered in holding & rocking him & then putting him down to sleep & he seems to be getting a bit better (fingers crossed!). i also did some reading on babies sleep cycles & found that they often stir after a short amount of time & if you can catch them & settle them before they wake properly, then it's easier to get them back off to sleep & into the next, deeper sleep cycle.

does he seem to be in any pain when he spits up or is he what they call a happy chucker?

[jetta2022]

does he seem to be in any pain when he spits up or is he what they call a happy chucker?

He seems to be fine when he chucks up! But sometimes he is throwing up in bed a good hour after eating. Sometimes his hair is all wet and I have to put a flannel behind his head as the sheets are all wet. I just wondered if it was normal to still be spitting up that amount so long after a feed. The chucking bit doesn't bother him.
I was also confused as after waking we feed, have some play time and 45 minutes later or so he starts getting very squrimy. At this stage I thought it was tiredness but now I don't know if he us uncomfortable. Today I cuddle him till he was calm and put him down to wrap him and he started up again - squirming and crying. Wrapped him and picked him up in the burp position and nothing came out. After the last few days when he seemd to be in pain, I have no idea what his crys are!! I feel so confused and feel like I should really know what he is crying about now. After squriming and back arching in my arms for about 10 minutes, he was getting sleepy so I put him down. This time he didn't cry and he has gone to sleep - yay! I have no idea whether I am overanalysing (which I have a terrible habit of doing) or not. Very frustrating!!

What you said about catching them before they wake themselves. that is hard too!! You think oh I won't disturb him - see if it is just sleep noises and he goes back on his own or whether you intervene!!

[Miss E]

Jess I seriously think you must be super mum, I don't think I could manage four kids at once!

Wow Ryatha you're getting great night sleeps! It must be so nice to have the time for you and DH.

Sarah, glad to hear you were able to drop a night feed last night, must be nice to get the extra rest. It's so hard to know what they're going to do, just when you think you're going to be in for a horror night they do the opposite!

Our fathers day was much the same as yours by the sounds of things Jetta. I actually read DH your post because it was something I could have written right then and there, he laughed but then did suggest that maybe it could have something to do with the full moon... I would've thought if it was the full moon it would have been a night thing (and we had a good night,hope you did too) rather than a day thing, but then who knows...

Like you Ash just wanted to feed all day and barely got any sleep because by the time he got to sleep he was hungry ten minutes later! My nipples are really sore today he gave them such a work out. I've just about finished weaning him from the nipple shield (which has been a slow process over a couple of weeks) and the last couple of days we hadn't used it at all, but I did this morning because I just felt like my nipples needed a break and I'm terrified of ending up with the cracked butchered nipples I had in the beginning. Anyway, I'm hoping today will be a bit better. We did have a time like this when he was four or five weeks but managed to get things back on track, so I'm hoping it was just him having a growth spurt or trying to increase my supply so he can start sleeping through the night (very wishful thinking me thinks!).

The amount of time Ash is up during the day varies. After his 7ish feed in the morning he is generally up for an hour and half before I get him ready to get back to bed. I think this is because he's had a lot of sleep over night and has a bit of energy to burn. However I do find this is the nap that he has the most trouble with as well, it's usually quite broken and takes him awhile to get back to sleep. Then I find that he's not up for much after the next feed, but the one after that he usually has a bit more stamina and might go an hour and half again. Then he has bath and massage after his 6pm feed so is often up for close to a couple of hours. But it does vary a bit, this morning he went straight back to bed after his feed because he was really tired (probably a result of yesterdays antics). He generally starts to get creases under his eyes which show me that he is getting tired, as soon as I see them I start getting him ready for bed and usually get a yawn just as I'm putting him down. I find if I can prempt his tiredness and get him to bed early then he sleeps a lot better... But of course there are still days like yesterday where nothing you do seems to work too! I wouldn't worry too much about how long Sam is awake during the day though, all babies are different and do different things at different times.

Ash is also a really spewy baby. I couldn't believe how little the other bubs at my mothers group spewed compared to him! I've asked the paed and the mchn about it a number of times and they continue to tell me it is nothing to worry about because he doesn't exhibit any signs of discomfort when he is doing it and he is growing and gaining weight well. Like Sam he will still be throwing up two or three hours after his feed, not as much but there still is a little bit. And sometimes I find that if he feeds really fast he will burp while on the breast and do a massive projectile vomit that soaks us both, not much fun! Anyway the mchn has said that most babies grow out of it between three and six months so fingers crossed Ash does!

We had a really nice weekend (aside from Sunday during the day). We went over to some friends place on Saturday night for dinner and drinks like we used to do before I got pregnant. Ash was a little angel and slept really well in their room until I woke him up at 11pm to give him some EBM. When we got home he also slept really well during the night and woke up at 5am and then let us sleep until 8.30am - woo hoo! I was worried that I would pay for the disruption to the routine, but then I guess I did the next day rather than that night. Anyway, it was great to be able to go out and let my hair down, have a few drinks and just socialise with friends like we did before this adventure started.

[MamaPan]

we also had a really unsettled day yesterday!! maybe they all wanted to be up for father's day???
I am finding the Jacob is starting to be up a little more - he used to pretty much be up for maybe 20 mins and then sleep again a lot of the time. now he does a few longer stints. he is up from about 7.30/8 til 9 or 9.30 i the morning and then has a good sleep. he seems to be in a similar pattern to Ashley, though I hadnt thoughtof it like that yet... I agree though all the bubs are diff, Noah (my DS1) would never have slept this much during the day. Miss E your night out sounds fabulous! i think even if yest was paying for it, it is worth it! keeps you sane...
Jess - dont know how you manage 4 kids on your own! well done!
Ryatha - the bath sounds lovely, i should do that with J... i find i get so much less time to do those special things this time around.. i need to make the time!
we had a good weekend here - though i think yes unsetteldness was J suffering from being woken and taken out sooo much.. it is so diff when everyone is here to in the week.. i guess thats the curse of not being a 1st child! has fathers day in the park yest, DS1 got to have a pony ride and a ride on the toy train - he loved it!!! i find the toddler stage so gorgeous as they discover new things like that. We made DH a gorgeous FD card - with pics of the family and srickers and DS1 did some drawings on it - so special. I cooked a yummy bfast (well 1st bfast with the 'morning shift' - then we went out for brunch!) from bill grangers cook books (such a fan of his and the bfast stuff is AMAZING!) and we gave him a couple of small presents.. it was great. usually dont make much of mothers'fathers day but this time i decided to as DS1 gets so excited and also I was pretty slack with his bday last yr as i had bad morning sickness and a stomach ulcer all at once.. anyway, he felt v special. i am in the midst of planning DS1 bday party for next sunday now... exciting times!

[Fleur]

It's time for me to go pump... but I just had to post... yesterday Arlea was sooo unsettled, we spent all day trying to get her to sleep & stay asleep...
so funny to read that the other babies were the same! Maybe it was the full moon

Have been feeling a bit teary this evening. I am feeling guilty because I'm still not trying very often to BF, it's just so stressful. And the pumping is so hard I'm wondering how long I can keep it up, and yet I can't stand the thought of stopping

what a waste of all that milk if I did... and speaking of which, I have been told I have an oversupply & need to wean it down... & here I thought I was doing good!

Sorry for lack of personals, will try & get back when I have a bit more time....

[lovelycate]

Jasp - you've got to do whatever is right for you because if you're happy and content then so is bubs! Besides, haven't you got enough frozen EBM to feed her for the next six months or something? ;-)

to everyone who's getting lovely night sleeps - much as I love co-sleeping with my little darling, I do feel envious of those 3+ hour stretches that some of you are getting!! One of the drawbacks I suppose of co-sleeping is that the 'milk bar' is always open...

Big news for us - Zac slept almost three hours this morning - with a bit of help. I was beginning to get worried as he's never done more than two sleep cycles in a row before!!

We had our first parents' group today which was fun, although I realised half way through that I have got a cold so started feeling a bit miserable plus guilty for exposing everyone else to my bugs :-(

Does anyone know if there is anything I can take for it? I'm taking some paracetamol for the aches, but would love to take something to dry up the constantly running nose I think I will ring the Royal Melbourne drug help line tomorrow - hopefully tonight won't be too sniffly...

[LotusFlower]

Add us to the “Unsettled on Sunday” list! How weird!!!

Miss E – Sounds like Ash is growing great guns! WTG on the 7.5hours between feeds! Jealous of you getting a Mother’s Group. I still think it stinks that we 2nd timers don’t get one. Saturday night sounds like it was great!

Jetta – I hope you had a much better day today! I know what you mean about it being frustrating to not be able to get anything done. AS for the “Resettling them before they wake”, our MCHN said that most babies wake up between 35mins and 55mins after they go down. She suggested going into his room after about 30mins and sitting there until he looks like he’s going to wake, then poking the dummy back in, patting him etc. She seemed to think after doing that for a few sleeps, you’d know roughly what time he’s about to wake, so you might only have to sit there for 10mins total. I guess the idea is that after a few days, the stop waking at that time and sleep for a longer total period. I haben’t done it as it’s just completely impossible with Noah hanging off the cot to see what I’m doing etc. etc.

Ryatha – Sounds like Grace is growing great! Her sleep schedule sounds divine! Your bath sounds lovely! I haven’t take Ollie in the bath, but did shower with him the other day which was nice (though I like the water HOT, so was freezing by the time I gave him to DP to get him dressed)

Jess – I can barely manage the 2, I think it’s amazing, you’ve got the 4 of them on your own and everyone survives!

Sarah – Hope that Corey has permanently dropped that feed for you!

Pre – I definitely know what you mean about less time for the lovely, special things the 2nd time around! Your Father’s day sounds delightful! I agree, the toddler stage is so cute, watching them learn new things and discover the world.

Jasp – You’re doing a fantastic job! I don’t think many people would persevere with the bf’ing if they’d been through as much as you have. But if you decide that enough’s enough, that’s ok. You’ve given your gorgeous girl a fantastic start and have worked bloody hard to do so!

Cate - Hope you start feeling better soon you poor thing. Look up www. kellymom . com (without the spaces obviously). It's a great source for all things breastfeeding realted. You should be able to find out which drugs are ok and which ones aren't on there. I'm 99% sure Sudafed's ok, it is when you're preg anyway (normal Sudafed, not Sudafed PE).

AFM – Not too much new here. Was my birthday on Saturday, yet somehow I wound up doing all the cooking/ cleaning anyway. How does that happen? Had a bit of a family do here yesterday for my bday/ father’s day. Was fun, but I’m a bit of a stress head and hate the preparation of it all.
Have booked Oliver in for his needles tomorrow, which I am most definitely not looking forward to. I have to take Noah with me and I’m a bit worried he’ll freak out. DP is away all next week for work, I’m trying not to even think about that yet. Eeeek! Also thinking it may be time I got my license, I really hate relying on other people and though it was easy enough to get around with one, two’s a different story however.

[ss_storm]

LF - we are going for our needles tomorrow too. DF and I are getting whooping cough boosters too so all three of us can whinge about our sore arms together
Jasp - do what is best for you and what makes you happy. You have done so well for your little girl so far, you should be so proud of what you have achieved. I got sick of pumping after a few weeks, so you my dear are a champion! If you think it is time to stop then do, and don't feel guilty! You have a big supply of EBM already you can use up?

Jess- I agree you must be super mum! Remember to take some time (if you can!) to chill out...How are Anton's teeth going?

Cate hope you are feeling better soon..I can imagine it is no fun being sick with a little bub so reliant on you! Thankfully we all escaped without a cold this winter, but I guess spring is the time when they really hit don't they. changing of the seasons and all that.

Our father's day was pretty crap...I wanted to make it special for DF seeing as it is first one, but he slept until about 2pm...gave him his presents and he didn't seem overly impressed. I did a photobook of Hayley for him and bought a book called "Kisses for Daddy" which ithought was really cute and he could read to her when she is a bit older (he isn't a fan of reading...). I think he considered the book more a present for her than for him. But I thought that he would appreciate personal presents, rather than the big money "impersonal" presents the shops try to sell. He told me it's just like a birthday to him - "just another day" then wondered why I hadn't made a special roast dinner! Far out make up your mind! Tell you what he better do something good for me for mother's day!

Not much else happening here, she still isn't sleeping much during the day - 3 or 4 hours in total and she will only sleep for halfa an hour to an hour at a time. I did lay down with her on our bed this afternoon because I was so tired and we slept from about 4.30 to just after 5 then she woke me up but we lay there for a bit longer and we both drifted back off to sleep until nearly 7! I think she likes being snuggled up next to me and I love it too, but DF doesn't want to co-sleep and I would be worried about it too (we do it on the odd occasion, or I will chuck her into bed in the morning if I want a bit more sleep - we had a sleep in from 7 until 10 this morning!) as DF is quite a heavy sleeper. But I'm not going to stress about her day sleeps, she seems happy enough.

We have been having lots of nappy free time lately (even though I pay for it when she pees all over her sheepskin mat and go through heaps of nappies! Lol) and she is starting to roll her bottom half a bit. She can squiggle her whole body around 90 degrees, and would probably go further still, and when she is on her back she is starting to roll her bottom over like she is going onto her side. She can go from her side onto her tummy or back as well, although I think that has more to do with her wriggling and going over than her making a conscious effort to do it. Still it's something though!

[ss_storm]

Woohoo Hayley almost slept through the night! 9pm to 5am! She stirred a few times in between but must have put herself back to sleep. She is hungry now though, think I might have to give her another 60ml of formula. Too bad I didn't go to bed until midnight thinking she would wake up soon!

[jetta2022]

SS Storm - congrats on the big sleep!!! That is so great, annoying you didn't get sleep waiting for her to wake up though!! I fed Sam at 10pm last night and this morning he went til 4.30am so I thought that was pretty good!! Sorry to hear about your efforts on fathers day, my husband was away but he was like ah, its just another day. So I didn't do anything, now I think I should have at least got him a card! That book sounds really cute though!
Lotus Flower - I can't believe how many babies were unsettled on Sunday!! My friend who has a 7 month said something about her baby too!! Amazing!! Thanks for the tip in regards to the resettling, that is a pretty good idea. I will certainly give that a go.
Ryatha - absolutely gorgeous about the bath! I am thinking that it would be lovely to do. I have had him in the shower with me, but am petrified when I soap him up that I will drop him! The bath sounds much better!

Well Sam self settled himself to sleep twice today!! So happy! He has actually just woke up after 35 minutes so Lotus Flower I have just tried your tip!! I am happy he is able to settle in his cot, lets hope I get a few more like that and we could be on a roll!!
We have just sold our house so organising to move in 4 weeks!! Hectic!!!

[jesscook08]

hi all im not a super mum im not coping ive even told the kids dad lastnight n today that he could have all 4 kids n that i didnt want to see them. he isnt accepting my choice n has come back to my place to help out a bit more its a good thing he did as his car is in getting repaired n he has just had to shoot to creswick to be with his mum as his grandmother passed away. ever since sunday anton hasnt setted until 1am sometimescose to 2am n been waking up more often so he has been sleeping in bed with me . i can just feel his top 2 front teeth

[Ryatha]

jess - you poor thing, it sounds like you are a bit overwhelmed. Is there anyone else that you can ask to help out? lots of and I wish I could help out... but we're a bit far away. Can you speak to a mother care nurse or something like that to get extra help? thinking of you xxx