MSE Parent Club

Becles

Just noticed this thread and thought I'd join in!

Charlotte Jane arrived on the 5th May. She was 4 weeks early, but weighed in at a massive 7lb 3oz! Thank goodness I didn't go to term, otherwise she'd have been over 10lb :eek:

She had her days and nights mixed up at first, so I never got much sleep for the first week. She's been better these last couple of nights though. She wakes for a feed then goes straight back to sleep in her cot, so I'm starting to feel better in myself after getting some zzz's.

She's a good little feeder and usually takes about 30 mins of breast milk at a time. She's feeding every 3 hours during the day, but has started to go up to 5 hours without feeding during the night.

Here she is at 5 days old, looking at a book about Sunderland football club
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v196/becles/DSC00006.jpg

purplepatch

Deleted_User wrote: »

Hi purple patch,

Just wanted to let you know that my son is doing exactly the same thing, i've tried baby rice, apple and carrot and he continues to look at me as if I'm poisoning him. He will be 6 months this week. I'm thinking of leaving it another week or 2 and see if he shows interest then.

I really don't want to be getting into food battles with him at such a young age, so trying to not make a big deal out of it. Just hoping it will click when he's ready. I did try putting a little bit of food onto my finger and he did open up for that a few times, but he absolutely refused a spoon, despite it being a tommy tippee soft tipped one.

Babies, they have their own agenda!!

Mine usually takes between 7-9 oz a feed, but lately its been getting less and less and today he took 5oz at 7am, 3 at 11am and so he's missed out on a bottle. Just hoping he takes theh whole thing later, he is being a right pickle taking his milk too, that is turning into a battle.

What's going on? Is it a phase they hit around 6 months?

Hi bailey, that's good to know, it's not just us! Like you, the milk she's taking seems erratic too. I've found that using too slow a teat can cause a drop in the amount my dd takes, so I've upped her to a level 3 teat and the quantity she's drinking has gone back up to around 6oz, think the slower teat was slowing her down and taking too much effort, just a pain as she dribbles tons of it down her chin now. Could the slow teat be an issue with your ds? Saying that, she varies almost every feed with regard to how much she'll take. One feed she'll drain the bottle, the next time she leaves 2oz. She's always been a bit prone to that though, not a very moneysaving baby I'm afraid - a lot of our formula goes down the kitchen sink!

I just tried her with a tiny piece of extra mature cheddar out of my sandwich and can you believe she ate it and looked for more!? Perhaps bland pureed food is where I'm going wrong and she likes a bit more flavour and something to gum rather than swallow.

Hi Becles, nice to see you over here. Good to hear it is all going well and she's looking very cute

mummyof3_2

Yes my daugter of 3 has finally got these little blighters:eek:
Does anyone have any tips on how best to tackle them?
Her older brothers had them when they were little, the youngest when he was 3 weeks old. Does any one know if he is likely to get them again?
The youngest brother has also got inflamed tonsils and we are supposed to be going to Haven this weekend!
I'm thinking of putting a red cross on the front door!!!
Any help much appriciated:j x

Js_Other_Half

mummyof3 wrote: »

Yes my daugter of 3 has finally got these little blighters:eek:
Does anyone have any tips on how best to tackle them?
Her older brothers had them when they were little, the youngest when he was 3 weeks old. Does any one know if he is likely to get them again?
The youngest brother has also got inflamed tonsils and we are supposed to be going to Haven this weekend!
I'm thinking of putting a red cross on the front door!!!
Any help much appriciated:j x

I believe the younger the child is when they get it, the less likely it is that their immune system will give them full immunity to it - iyswim?
Exposure to chickenpox can cause shingles in people who have already had chickenpox - one of my former flatmates had shingles as a child!
I recommend tea tree oil and bicarbonate of soda in the bath - and some tea tree oil in the shampoo and let it sit.

Good luck!

Becles

mummyof3 wrote: »

Yes my daugter of 3 has finally got these little blighters:eek:
Does anyone have any tips on how best to tackle them?

Calamine in aqueous cream is better than using calamine lotion. It's less messy to apply, and the cream stops the skin drying out so it's less itchy.

Piriton syrup will help with the itching too. It makes some children drowsy, so it may help if she can't settle at night.

Both can be bought over the counter at the chemists.

mummyof3_2

Thanks for the advice, luckily she has not got too many spots and isn't itching- yet!

Lu_T

Hi Becles - welcome to the club! I remember your name from the pregnancy club, hope some more come to join us! Get as much sleep as you can now, she'll soon be awake lots more. If you need to re-set her body clock being outside every day for about 30mins between 12noon and 2pm is meant to help. Something about the sunlight.

Sorry Mummyof3 - I've no experience with lurgies of any type. Won't be long though I'm sure...

Imogen has put on 1lb 2oz in a fortnight! She's taking around 46oz of stage 2 (hungry baby) milk plus 3 meals a day with a dessert at tea time! HV said this is way too much and we need to change how we're doing it so as of Sat (when I'll be with her for 4 days) she'll be on breakfast on waking (mashed banana or fruit puree and baby rice), a bottle mid-morning, lunch and a pudding, a bottle mid-afternoon, tea plus dessert, a bottle before bed and a dreamfeed at 11pm. Hopefully this routine will mean she starts to take less milk - and we won't have to be preparing a feed every 2 hours! Apparently she should only be having around 20oz of milk, half of what she is.

I tried Imogen with soft-tipped spoons but she prefers the hard plastic ones without such a dip in them. Think she can get the food off these more effectively. Perhaps you could give these a try? Got mine from Ethel Austin, 5pack for about 99p :money:

Perhaps you could give Jack some finger food and this will get him more interested in it? If he likes food off you plate this is another tactic you could try to encourage him. He doesn't need to have everything lump-free at his age, so I'd just keep going until he does show an interest and don't make a big thing of it - just like you said.

Don't worry about bumping him - we all have those incidents. Hubby once practically 'dropped' Imogen into her cot. Just from a few inches, but he felt awful. Didn't do her any harm at all in the long-term and she barely cried at the time.

Speaking of crying, she's just waking up from her nap screaming and refusing to go back to sleep, so I'd better go and get her! Oh well, life of a mummy...

Becles

Lu_T wrote: »

Get as much sleep as you can now, she'll soon be awake lots more.

She's already awake more than my other two were at this stage! She's too little to hold or do anything, so I spend my days wandering round looking at things like her reflection in the mirror, the dog, cloth books etc.

She's got her night and day sorted out now, but she'll be going for a walk everyday with me and the dogs, once my legs go back to normal. I had severe oedema and polyhydramnios before she was born, and I'm still suffering with too much fluid in my legs. It's gradually going away though.

Lu_T

Ooh Becles! I have no idea what that is but it sounds v. painful! Glad she's got day & night sorted, it took Imogen ages!

Tonight's feast for her included 3 ice cubes of veggies (swede and parsnip) bulked out with baby rice, a whole Organix fruit rice pudding (about twice the size of a petit filous) and about 2 ice cubes' worth of melon. I was trying to fill her up but ran out of food! That was about 4.45pm. I gave her supper as suggested by HV at 6pm - 3 ice cubes of fruit. Then she had a bath and has just finished 6.5oz of hungry baby milk. Think this kid has hollow legs!

Starting with the new regime on Saturday. Wish there was a book which told you everything. I've got the NCT one and one of Annabel Karmel's but am still baffled! HV was great today tho'. I've put her suggested timetable below in case it helps anyone else.

Imogen is 20 weeks old and has been eating purees for nearly 4 weeks. She should be having 3x 2-course meals and about 20oz of milk each day. My HV suggests:

- On waking 6-7am
Breakfast of fruit/baby cereal plus dessert (yog/fruit rice pudding) N.B. they recommend not giving wheat or oat-based products to babies under 6 months so Imogen will just have fruit bulked out with baby rice.

- 9.30-10am
Mid-morning bottle, as much as she will take. This will later be replaced by a mid-morning snack.

- Lunch 11.30am - 12 noon
Home made puree with some lumps OR jar of baby food (white meats and fish ok at this stage)
Dessert of yogurt or similar (it's okay to mix your own fruit purees into yogurt as long as it isn't live yogurt)

- 2pm
Mid-afternoon bottle, as much as she will take. This will later be replaced by a snack

- Tea 4.30pm
Home made puree with some lumps OR jar of baby food.
Dessert of yogurt or similar

If your baby is a hungry one, give a supper before the bedtime bottle. For us this is supper at 6pm (fruit or veg puree), then a bath, then a bottle in her nursery before bed.

Imogen currently has an 11pm dreamfeed, but we're not going to give her that tonight so we'll see how long she sleeps! I'm hoping I've filled her up enough with other stuff. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm working tomorrow so we're taking a bit of a chance...

Please note, the timetable above was recommended by my HV who knows Imogen well and may not be suitable for all babies. I just wanted to share some kind of timetable for those who are as stumped as me!

Becles

Lu_T wrote: »

Ooh Becles! I have no idea what that is but it sounds v. painful!

Polyhyramnios is far too much amniotic fluid, and oedema is fluid building up in your skin. A lot of people get swollen ankles, but I swelled up all over!

Just before I gave birth, the skin on my tummy and legs was literally stretched so much I felt like it was going to split. As well as the usual purple stretch marks, I also got ones that were fluid filled like lots of spidery blisters. It was so uncomfortable and I was glad she arrived early, as I could hardly move!

They didn't want my waters to break normally as there was so much liquid inside. They said if it rushed out, it could cause a cord prolapse or the placenta to break up and harm the baby.

Sorry if this is graphic, but it was funny at the time! The midwife burst the bag of fluid, then had fingers inside letting it trickle out slowly. I was sat on those big nappy pad things to soak it up. The fluid just came and came and it took about 15 mins before it had all dribbled out. By which time I'd managed to soak about a dozen pads, all the bedding, the floor and the midwifes trousers :rotfl: It was so bad, some other midwives came in just for a look as they'd never seen anything like it

I'm enjoying reading the feeding tips as it's ages since my boys were little (10 and 8 years) and it's been a useful memory jogger reading your stories. James was a really hungry baby, and I was glad when he could eat more bulky foods like bread and cereals as they filled him up!