March 2013 - gurgles, giggles and going on holiday (for some of us at least!)

[pudtat]

Will this do? Never started a thread before so hope this works...

previous thread

[vjhist85]

Place marking for 4.30am feed- thanks pud!

[zigwig]

Thanks pud.

I'm wondering if the warm weather accounts for the sleepy babies. I'm always more sleepy if it's hot. Farty pants slept loads more than usual yesterday but unfortunately that seems to have just made him more awake today. He's on the verge of waking up again now and I so wanted to go to sleep. It doesn't help that there's a party down the road and it's too warm to have the windows shut. Bad combination for restless baby. He's kicking about like a looney and I can't figure out if he's trying to kick the cover off because he's too hot or just doing it to aid farting. He doesn't feel hot to the touch but I'm worried he might be too hot, or even too cold! What's everyone done about layers tonight?

[pudtat]

Argh, yes. A problem here too. The bedroom was 21.6 earlier so I'd opened the window wide to cool things down. When I came to bed at 9.30 couldn't work out why still boiling, only to have DH tell me he'd shut it cos it was cooling down in here! Now 21.4 and I'm too hot at any rate... DS is in sleep suit, 1tog sleeping bag with swaddling blanket wrapped just over his arms. This allows kicky legs but controls flaily arms. Feels ok now I've got him up to feed... I may have to open window more though.

[SoYo]

Thanks Pud, love the title.

I've got a really massive day tomorrow, got to appear as a witness for an investigation from work so all a bit stressful and of course that means madam can't possibly sleep as well as she has in previous nights plus I've got a banging head that I'm not enjoying much. All in all, I'd quite like time to roll on 24hrs!

[pudtat]

Anyone see this Finnish babies sleep in boxes

Guide to temp and clothing in the link to their govt guidance is interesting...

[KFFOREVER]

A brand new thread... Exciting.

Its feeding time here. When ds woke once at night on a couple of occassions i thought we had a break through but nah. Its all changed again. MIL comes tomorrow night and dh is excited. You may see me on here more often ranting away. She too is untidy just like dh.

Soyo good luck for tomorrow. Its a shame a work thing is interupting your mat leave.

[KFFOREVER]

And pud thanks for the new thread.

[ecofreckle]

Thanks pud!
Admiring vj for her ability to predict feed times. Our first night feed was at 0030 last night and tonight 0315. Been 0400 in past. I can't see any pattern to it at all. So kf we're with you. And, rant away. I bet we'll all be able to empathize!
zig we abandoned vest couple weeks ago, have sleep suit and one tog bag. Alre windows open all day. It seems ok and so does dd fx.
soyo we'll be thinking of you, that's a horrid thing at the best of times. Hope it goes smoothly. Remember two glasses of wine await!
Lovely day today, sunshine and plenty of time kicking around on blanket in fresh air. The baby has had fun too ;-)
Had comedy capers when we noticed red flashing light on a monitor next to baby crib in holiday cottage. Cue lots of googling as paranoid first time mum convinces self it's a carbon monoxide issue. After texting owner we discovered it's a mouse deterrent machine.
Right, I have successfully achieved snoring baby and husband so it's my turn now. I'm loving listening to sound of lambs through window plonko :-)

[vjhist85]

Yeah she's fairly predictable, seems to find a time and stick to it for a couple of weeks before getting a bit later! The last two weeks have been 4.50 (very specific my little one!) but this morning was 5.30! 7am is so close I can almost taste it! I'm convinced the 10pm dream feed is responsible for the improved sleeping, previously we tried waking her up fully for it, but I figured that would make me grumpy, and not doing it at all, but she's too little to make it past 3am when she's gone down at 7.

It is too hot. Tiddler is in two pj layers (thin sleep suit with pjs over the top) and just a sheet over her- we have to do the two layers thing because she's an awful kicker. I'm desperate to have the window wide open but she's next to it and I'm sure the breeze banging the blinds would keep her up. Can't win, I complained when it was so cold that we had to have the heating on all night!

[pudtat]

Lol at mouse deterrent Eco .

My first kit day today. Nervous for several reasons:
It will be the longest I have left DS by far
I feel woefully out of touch with markets etc as i have deliberately given myself these three months off, today marks beginning of somehow needing to stay better in touch
I am unsure how much use I will be having got to bed after last feed yesterday at gone 11pm, fed 1am to 2:15am and then got up again at 5:15. I will need to feed him once more before I go so expect to only get another 30 mins or so of sleep tonight
I look fat in those of my work clothes I can physically even do up how shallow am I?
In an office of 23 there are 2 new members of staff since I went on mat leave - feels odd to think they have no idea who Ian except in principal...

SoYo, given all my feelings about the above, good luck as should still be much more pleasant experience than your work day.

[worsestershiresauce]

Respect Eig and Rainbow, those are tough careers. Sleep deprivation must be a doddle for you though.... as doesn't that define the day job ?

Pud we're only going as far as Bideford on family duty flying visit, so although a coffee would have been a lot of fun I don't think it's feasible. What's a kit day btw? I have this lovely image of you in army kit yomping across Dartmoor with a baby on your back. Obviously it's not that...

Similarly befuddled over what to do with night layers here. Room was very warm last night so window open and one blanket was about right. However, it quickly cooled down meaning smallest person woke up in a grump, cold, and had to be pacified with a snuggly feed in the big bed, and then was not even slightly amenable to the idea of going back to her own inferior sleeping quarters. Bit tired this morning as a result - yaawwnnn. Another day of the builders in the kitchen as well. Sob. Lovely though there are I can't help but feel they might be lovelier if they left.

Good luck SoYo, hope it goes well.

Enjoy the sunshine everyone. I'm a bit gutted about the weather myself, as it is too warm for the baby carrier (according to mini-worse), so my outings are restricted to pram friendly routes. That eliminates just about every one of my favourite field and forest options

[pudtat]

Kit = KIT= keep in touch days. You're allowed up to 10 days where you go into work (and get paid!) without buggering up your mat leave.

[pudtat]

And think its DH who fancies yomping across the moor with LO on his back. The only purchase he's at all looking forward to is a back carrier once DS is big enough!

[zigwig]

Well I opted for a sleepsuit and cellular blanket in the end. He did kick the blanket off a couple of times but he's been doing that as standard these days so I don't think he was too hot although OH was so kept me awake all night fidgeting. Might go for grobag tonight. I must try to fish the fan out today incase of another boiling bedroom.

Do babies get hayfever? He's really snuffly at the moment and starts sneezing everytime we go into the garden.

Right must see if I can get him to let me have a shower. Have good days all.

[Eigmum]

worse it's true I am used to waking up ( or not even sleeping) before 2am or 3 am conference calls so I find the broken night thing ok.

All, I am having a big stress about the bottle and my return to work and because of the type of person I am ( control freak) I need a plan!

I am mainly worried about too much formula as LO sees to have digestive issues ( lots of cramps and wind) which seem worse after the bottle ( could just be air) and crampy poos.

Ideally I would feed her for another month ( til 4 months) then get her to take more bottles until she is completely bottle fed by 6 months. But I am worried ( mainly by what I goggle) that if I leave it too long she may not take the bottle and then I will have a problem.

I can get her to take a bottle for her split feed at 5.30 pm ( about 3 or 4 ounces) before the bath and then I breast feed her. I have less milk at this time and it works ok if I sit on the swing on the garden and feed her.

How are the rest of you going with combination feeding?

My issue is even though she will be 7 months when I go back I can't guarantee I can be home every night to feed her ( I know bad mummy) so the idea that I feed her am and pm doesn't work. Am I worrying much to early over something? Any ideas? Other than longer mat leave!

[Eigmum]

pud I have no idea how you started the thread but well done.

[StormyBrid]

Eig you find your way to the postnatal clubs section, then find where it says "start new thread". Not too difficult really, once you find the right place!

Sleeping layers here: we've recently been going with vest, swaddle pod, and thin crocheted blanket over the top. the swaddle pod's very thin material so is more like a layer of clothes than a blanket. DD seems fine with it. Last night wasn't so warm though, so we went for a sleepsuit too. I've given up worrying about the temperature in there. It's enough of a victory that I've managed to persuade the man that we don't need the heating on (because I'm sick of waking up drenched in sweat).

Milk-wise, we had the best day ever yesterday. 29.5 ounces! She'd passed twenty by the time she went to bed! That's never happened before. Still woke for a feed at 2am, but then slept through until just before 7, which is an improvement on recent days, when she's had 11pm dream feed, woken at 2, and woken again somewhere between 5 and 6. Hoping this eating lots thing will last, and then sleeping through might start happening again.

Needles today. Not entirely looking forward to that...

[Eigmum]

Ah ok. Great news on the milk intake stormy. Jabs were fine yesterday, much the same!

[Eigmum]

Another weaning tip, Annabel has an iPhone app for 3.99, cheaper than book and has all the same routines for introducing and the recipes!

[vjhist85]

Might be worth checking out this link for guidance on what to wear with gro-bags etc

[KFFOREVER]

Well done mini stormy on the feeding. We had our jabs done this morning. I thought i would get there early so we can leave early. Clinic starts at 9.30am but at 9am there were 5 people already there.

I also like to have a bit of a nosy at the other pushchairs. Saw some nice ones havent a clue what they are called though.

eig if i was in your position i would start to introduce a bottle from now. Ive also heard the longer you leave it the harder it will be for babies to take a bottle.

[worsestershiresauce]

pud - Ah, so that's what kit is all about. Spot the lady with no job hence no maternity leave knowledge.

We've already got the back carrier and are impatiently waiting for dd to be big enough for us to be able to use it! Yomping is what family worse do best

Eig - yup, get her used to a bottle asap as the longer you leave it the harder it will get. Mini-worse was a right little madam about it to start with, although we are 99% there now. Dr Brown's are for some reason preferred by a few babies I've come across who've started late, and medela is also good if you want to switch from boob to bottle and back. The medela calma teat works in the same way as the breast i.e. milk only flows when the baby makes a vacuum with their tongue and sucks.

You can get both from Boots on-line. I don't know about London stores, but out here in the sticks nowhere stocks either of those.

Re switching over to formula I'd recommend you start a couple of months before you go back so that you can do so very gradually. I have dd on two bottles now, started on one, and will put her on three in another week or so.

Have you thought about expressing so that you can give her some bm in a bottle? It would get her used to a bottle more quickly without over doing the formula.

When you start to wind down your milk you will get a little uncomfortable, and it is tempting to put the baby on both boobs to take some of the pressure off. Don't, express off and bin some of the watery fore milk first to make sure your dd has a balanced feed. I didn't do this to start with, and the excess lactose caused some very explosive watery green nappies. Not pleasant for either of us.

I'm wanting to get my body used to making less milk, so often express half a feed, and mix with formula, or give dd half a bottle and then swap her back onto me. That works really well.

Formula is much harder to digest, so there is an adjustment period, and formula nappies are really disgusting if you are used to bm ones.

[plonko]

Eco the lambs are lovely aren't they? Dp found it hilarious that I gave birth in lambing season. Sadly I'm on a crappy housing estate, not the middle of a field, but one of my neighbours is a horse. I love that DS will grow up in the countryside.

Stormy awesome feeding! That's just about four oz shy of what my greedy little boy has, and I believe it's about the right amount for the age (according to silly formula box). How were your jabs?

DS did not take this lot so well. He's sleeping on me now having just had his first ever dose of calpol. He was charming the nurse, smiling and babbling away at her right until she stuck him. Needless to say I went shopping for moussaka and wine afterwards to make myself feel better.

On warm nights we tend to just have a vest and sleep suit on, theni put a knitted blanket over him when I go to bed. Our room was 23 degrees last night so I was loathe to even put the sleep suit on.

[StormyBrid]

Jabs were okay. The nurse recognised me; he did my whooping cough jab. Screaming stopped as soon as the dummy went in. Grumpy as hell when we got home - she threw up the 4.30 feed (all five ounces!) just before we went, and was due a nap at 5. Appointment was at ten past. She's now sleeping on me, and I'm rocking her by way of sitting on the birthing ball. Time for calpol, bath, milk and bed soon.

It's a bugger she threw up the 4.30 feed. Would've been on 20 ounces so far for the day if that one had stayed down. With hindsight, two five ounce bottles two and a half hours apart is probably a bit much for her.

You mentioned Matlock, plonko, is that where you are? If so, we'll have to meet up for tea and cake when we visit the man's mother - she's about ten miles from there.

[plonko]

I'm about 10 miles out of Matlock... Could I be your DP's DM's neighbour?

Our daytime bottles are 3-4 hours apart, otherwise I end up wearing it.