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

Glad to hear Deb is doing well, I've missed you around here Deb if you're reading, but totally understand that it can be hard to find the time to keep up :D

We were just talking about how Ash's wind had disappeared the other day as well Sarah, it's funny how these things that cause you (and bubs) so much grief at the time can just gradually peter out without really being noticed. Hope your parents group goes well this week.

Jasp, good on you for the big excursion! You must be a pro-pumper to make it through Mackers drive through at the same time, definately gave me a giggle reading that! Good luck for the next appt with the LC hope it goes well for you.

Jetta, I also really enjoy the sharing on here, it would be very cool if we could do a meet up one time... who knows maybe when our bubs are a bit bigger...

Storm, Ash loves his play mat too! I hear you on the pram thing, I can't wait for Ash to be able to sit up and look around. When it is overcast I push the sun shade back a bit so he can see out, but that's not very often unfortunately.

Goodluck for next week Preg!

Bekz, glad to hear Eva is doing well, don't those smiles just melt your heart.

Tinsel, sounds like Amelia is growing well - good on you!

AFM Ash pretty much slept through the night last night :dance: He had his last feed at 9pm and then didn't wake up until 5.30am. I of course woke up at 4 wondering if he was okay and had to go in and make sure he was. Anyway, I hope this is the beginning of a new phase. The other day he went 8 hours between feeds, but I decided to wake him up for a feed because he'd had the temperature from his shots that day and I thought he probably shouldn't go too much longer. At the time I thought it was cos of the shots, but maybe not...

yeah ive done my shopping with help from kids dad who came in to help with the kids while shopping have almost done all my washing cleaned what will be the boys bedroom its my 4 year olds sons room at the moment when he stays my house is tidy its now 1am n antons just gone to sleep after being awake for 2 hours

hi everyone
have just skimmed the posts so sorry fo rno personals. thanks so much for the playtime tips - i am out of practice and confidence with what to do to keep them entertained.. might do a bit more nappy free time, esp as the weather is so gorgeous at the moment.
had DS1 bday party yest - it was fabulous! DH is away now, dropped him at the airport this morning - so i am stressed how tonight will go...

Just dropping into to wish Preg's little ds1 Happy Birthday!!!! You'll be fine on your own Preg, I bet you cope really well

Hi All,

Preg - hope all goes well on your own! I hope you have a well behaved child!! It is hard going on your own, even just having someone to help change a nappy so you have 5 minutes to yourself is heaven!!
Sloane - good to hear that the wind problems are going away! Sam was chucking up lots but I realised that I was holding him in more of a horizontal position when feeding and I think things weren't digesting properly. I held him more at an angle and he hardly chucks up at all now! Such a small thing but it feels good when you have small achievements!!
jasp - it is pretty daunting going back to work. MY husband and I run our own business so I will start back a few days and we can bring him in to the office as well. I have been pumping though for days that I may have to leave him with my mum or my husbands mum but I don't quite know how I will cope with that! I can't imagine leaving him at all at this stage!! I have been introducing a bottle a couple of times a week to get him use to feed from that as well. I will keep waking him at 6.30am and hopefully he will get into that routine soon. Difficult when he is waking at 4/4.30am as it is a short sleep for both of us after that!
bekz - sounds like things are going well for you which is great!
Sam is self settling quite well these days - around 8 times out of 10. He is sort of going around 4 hourly for feeds but sometimes only 3 hourly which is fine. I wake him if he goes 4 hours so that I save his long stint for night time. He is loving being on his play mat and looks like he is trying to roll, but he doesn't follow our voices that well yet. Will ask the nurse at his check up next week if this is okay. I know he can see but he does like looking at other things instead of us!! When he does look at us he stares for a while though!
Does anyone ever use formula occasionally with breast feeding?? Sam is b/f but sometimes on Sat night would be great to have a drink! I feed his last feed at 10pm and don't want him getting any alcohol. I have been giving him stored breast milk in the fridge at this feed and dumping my milk, then I feed him around 4 am and figure this milk would be alright. Someone suggest I couold feed formula occasionally at the feed if I didn't have any expressed but wondered if feeding formula with breast feeding is recommend? Anyone else ever crave a wine or is it just me!! I went the whole 9 months without drinking so would like some pleasure sometimes!!!:p

Thnnks Bezk you are such a sweetie (btw i have your meatloaf in the oven right now, it smells yummy so i hope DS1 likes it - ia m thinking I can freeze slices - do you think this would be ok?)
Jetta - i know lots of people comp feed with formula so i am sure a bottle here and there would not do any harm (i havent dont it myself though so i am not an expert). FWIW i do have the odd glass of wine when i am bf, i try to have it straight after a feed... no ill effects here from doing that (i dont hav much though, 1 glass max). if you also pump and dump a load of milk i am SURE there wouldnt be any probs - if you are really worried you can also buy little strips that test levels of alc in bm for peace of mind.
Oh better go - Jacob is awake..

Jetta, good tip re the angle when breastfeeding, Ash throws up heaps so I will have to see if that makes a difference...

I was like you and didn't have a single drink while I was pregnant. Now I allow myself the occasional glass of wine though. If it is close to a feed or I am out I will give him a bottle of EBM, but if I have it right after a feed then I just breast feed him at the next feed. From what I've been told there is no need to pump and dump, alcohol comes out of your breast milk the same as it does your blood, so I work it out on the basis of 2 hours for the first drink and then 1 extra hour for every drink after that. Sometimes if I have given him EBM I will wait out the 2 hours and then express to primarily keep up my supply but also to replace the EBM I gave him.

[QUOTE=Miss excited;1969876]Jetta, good tip re the angle when breastfeeding, Ash throws up heaps so I will have to see if that makes a difference...

Yes! I was really holding him horizontal, but now I have it so his legs are down and he is like a 45 degree angle, feet touching the couch if that makes sense! It has made a huge difference. He would chuck up about 3 or 4 times after each feed and now he has just the occasional dribble!!

I have also heard about milkscreen which are strips that you can test your milk for alcohol? Might be worth giving them a try just for peace of mind!

Jetta, as Miss E said - no need to pump & dump , it does leave your milk as it does your blood. (I wish someone had told me this when I was BFing Ds2! )
If you feed him, then have a drink, you should be ok for the next feed.
Testing strips sound like a good idea... where do you get them from, anyone know?

hey everyone. have had a very crtanky baby today...she was fine this morning but got really cranky about midday and didnt stop until later this afternoon when i think she was so exhausted from crying she passed out into sleep...not literally passed out of course! but it was like a switch had been flipped! hopefully she will be happier when she wakes up, and will go back to sleep tonight! yesterday morning she was up at 6 and wouldn't go back to sleep, then didn't go down for her night sleep until after 10! she had a catnap at 9 when i put her to bed but obviously didnt think it was time to go to sleep yet!
she did roll onto her side again today which was exciting, once again i didnt see her do it, but turned around to see her lying on her side! now she just has to get that little bit further and go over onto her tummy!

the real estate is doing a house inspection tomorrow, was hoping to clean the bathroom and vaccuum/mop today but havent had a chance as hayley has been glued to me pretty much all day...so they will just have to deal with it the way it is. not that it is that grotty, but still i would have liked it to be freshly cleaned!

Jasp - you can probably get testing strips from a chemist, or i think i have seen some on ebay if you use that.

preg hope your littlies behave themselves tonight! Df went to Sydney on Friday and came back Sunday morning. I was stressing out as it was the first time I'd been home alone overnight with Hayley. She was fine though, and really it wasn't different to any other night...I do 99% of the stuff with Hayley anyway...but i think it was just the thought of not having that safety net.

i really feel for you ladies having to go back to work so soon! i dont have to go back until june next year, but i am already dreading it and really hoping that DF's business continues it's upward spiral so i wont need to go back at all. we are thinking of moving when our lease runs out in december so might not even be living here where i have a job to go back to.

anyway better go turn some lights on, its getting rather dark!

Hey girls, I was just wondering about the nappy free time that most of you seem to do with your bubs. I've never actually done it with little Ash. I'd always thought that you did it to help treat/prevent nappy rash but we haven't had any issues there so I haven't bothered. I'm probably really showing how inexperienced I am at this motherhood business, but are there other benefits to nappy free time and should I be doing it? TIA

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Jetta, as Miss E said - no need to pump & dump , it does leave your milk as it does your blood. (I wish someone had told me this when I was BFing Ds2! )
If you feed him, then have a drink, you should be ok for the next feed.
Testing strips sound like a good idea... where do you get them from, anyone know?

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Jasp - you can get them on their website Milkscreen - Home test for alcohol in breastmilk! or I found some on ebay as well. Thanks for your notes, but I guess I was thinking about if I had 2 or 3 wines instead of just 1!!! I think 1 would be okay but 2 or 3 would be a bit different. I worry about his little liver too being so young. I go through stages where I think I am being selfish and I should just wait til he is older but it is hard!!

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Jasp - you can get them on their website Milkscreen - Home test for alcohol in breastmilk! or I found some on ebay as well. Thanks for your notes, but I guess I was thinking about if I had 2 or 3 wines instead of just 1!!! I think 1 would be okay but 2 or 3 would be a bit different. I worry about his little liver too being so young. I go through stages where I think I am being selfish and I should just wait til he is older but it is hard!!

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I might have to try and get me some of them. Don't feel selfish! There's nothing wrong with a letting your hair down every now and then. I did the other week when we went over to some friends house for dinner. I think I had three glasses of wine over the course of the evening so I gave him EBM for his 11pm feed before we left, then when we got home I pumped and dump (to let my bb's down more than anything). When he woke up at 4.30am I figured I was okay and breast fed him then.

jetta thanks for the tip ive just passed it onto to my cousin as her little girl checks on every bf feed.
brought anton a play mat today at the moment the other kids like it more

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Hey girls, I was just wondering about the nappy free time that most of you seem to do with your bubs. I've never actually done it with little Ash. I'd always thought that you did it to help treat/prevent nappy rash but we haven't had any issues there so I haven't bothered. I'm probably really showing how inexperienced I am at this motherhood business, but are there other benefits to nappy free time and should I be doing it? TIA

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I've done it with all 4 kids. I started doing it to prevent nappy rash but they all love it. I am seeing it again with Arlea, even when she is starting to get a bit fidgety putting her down without her nappy guarantees another 5 minutes minimum of happy time.
It's part of her routine now - awake, feed, nappy off & kick around until she starts to let us know she's had enough, then up for cuddles & play with us, then down to sleep.

So in answer to your question - I don't know if there are any other benefits, it might help them to move around a bit more easily? But I do it pretty much becasue she loves it so much :D

i'm the same as jas - no idea if it has any benefits other than the nappy rash prevention but corey loves it. he is happy to kick away for ages & he really seems to be able to stretch better without a nappy, iykwim? it's almost like it's a relief for him to get the nappy off & be able to bring his legs together properly & stretch them up before he starts kicking! if we're doing tummy time as well, i just do it all at once. the MCHN mentioned something about tummy time with a nappy off being esp good for boys to dry everything out - particularly after a bath...no idea if this is true!

hayley loves her nappy off too, i think that is what has made her start rolling as she has the freedom to wriggle around and kick without being restricted by a bulky nappy (we use terry flats 99% of the time). this is when we play too and its good for tiring her out! like jasp taking her nappy off makes her happy, if she is grumpy taking it off will get me at least a few minutes of peace!
i think it also helps them to explore their body, and lets them air out a bit.

interesting re the nappy free time, i didnt really do it with Noah but given how great all your bubs find it i think iw ill give it a go with J.