MSE Parent Club

SusanC_2

Ruth.77 wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice, luckly I asked all friends and family who were thinking of buy any clothes to buy the larger sizes so Catrin could wearing them longer.

Sounds like you had sensible friends and family. We were even sent a newborn outfit when she was over a month old. I don't think anybody (apart from our parents who each paid for a big thing) asked us what we would want or find useful.

purplepatch

dougggie wrote: »

thanks for the comments everyone. Have had loads of support from m/ws both in hosp and at home to try to continue b/f but he just doesn't want to do anything involving him working hard! He'll get the right latch and suck for a few mouthfuls then move and lose it (along with his patience). He likes the nipple shields but tends to bite me more when i wear them hence the damage to the nips, but has absolutely no probs feeding from either bottle or a little medicine cup (syringe involved too much work on his behalf as well!).

Have been in floods of tears again with m/w today over it and have decided to express as long as possible, supplementing with formula so that at least he'll get some "true" food, but i suspect i'll switch totally to ff sooner rather than later once i reconcile my guilty conscience to it.

You've done well to last this long! With my first (having had emerg cs) I managed about 5 days before giving up with bleeding and infected nips. Beat myself up over it bigtime and had lots of tearful discussions with DH, MW and my mum before decided to call it a day. With DD2 (elective cs) I gave it another go to see if she could latch on any better... and that time I lasted 6 hours! As soon as I saw the blood blisters forming I rang that buzzer and got the FF underway pronto. I was happier, DDs were happier, we never looked back and as izoomzoom says, you look around the playground when they are 5 and they all look the same bright eyed healthy little monsters :rotfl:

3KIDSNOMONEY

a couple of months ago i purchased graco mosaic travel system. it has remained unused until my baby was born 3 weeks ago. I find it really rickety and squeaky and i am not sure what to do about it. Thought about oiling it but not sure where to start. Are mothercare any good at resolving these issues or would they just tell me 'you get what you pay me' and this type squeaks. Really wish i had invested in a better system now, but too late. Any advice?

Becles

I would go in and ask Mothercare for their advice. They've been very helpful with my Mam. She's been trying to get hold of a catch to keep her cot side up, but it's a cot from the 70's that she bought when she was having me! They've managed to track down a supplier and ordered her a catch.

What a busy weekend I've had! As I've said before I've been a bit down and I've got confidence issues at the moment.

I went to a uni day school on Saturday which I was nervous about. I went in and had a bit of a panic attack at the beginning but I managed to stay in the room and get over it without anyone noticing. Then the tutor gave us activities to do. The first was an individual one, and you had to stand up and present your answer to rest of the group. The rest were group activities, but you had to work with different people each time and again present your answer to everyone else at the end. I found it really hard getting up and saying my answer, but I managed it. I felt quite pleased with myself for speaking in front of them.

Then on Saturday evening, I attended a charity memorial night for a friend who died from cancer earlier this year. The friend posted on another message board I knew and kept a very entertaining blog detailing his illness. He had lots of people on that site who he talked to and who read his blogs, so his family organised the night for everyone on the board. My husband offered his DJ services and I went along but I was really nervous about meeting people. We were already in the room before it started, so I found that easier than walking into a room full of people. I had a little panic at one point but managed it again till it passed. Overall I managed to speak to lots of people and I had a really good time. It was strange with people introducing themselves by the board names, but that was a good ice breaker really. Felt pleased with myself for getting over my nerves and going and proud that I managed it and enjoyed myself.

Some people have said on the site today that I was lovely so that's given me a boost too

Quite an empowering weekend, and I feel more confident about things now.

Snaggles

3kidsnomoney - does it just squeak in a couple of places? If you can work out where the squeak is coming from, furniture polish is a good...er...anti-squeak (lol). It's less messy than oiling, and it smells better too.

Becles - glad you had a good weekend, and why are you surprised that people thought you were lovely? I wouldn't expect, from the small amount I know about you, that you would be anything but lovely. It's hard getting over panic attacks, but you sound as though you are doing really well.

Completely agree about not feeling guilty about giving formula too - the MOST important thing is that you and your baby are happy and healthy.

I am having a dilemma about feeding - I really wanted to breastfeed Natasha until she was 12 months old, and despite a few hiccups, we are almost there. But she's started biting, and without wanting to sound like a complete wuss, it really hurts.

I'm trying to keep going, but I feel scared whenever she's feeding now, so I'm struggling to get my milk to let down.....which just makes her bite even more. I just don't see the point of buying formula and getting her used to that when she can have full fat cows milk in a few weeks anyway.

Not sure whether to introduce cows milk a little bit early or not - the health visitor said it would be okay if she had a vitamin supplement too, but I'm trying to hold off. I'm thinking of just doing it at her bedtime feed, because for some reason that's when most of the biting takes place. I'm sure it would be okay, but it just doesn't feel right somehow.

Becles

Snaggles wrote: »

Becles - glad you had a good weekend, and why are you surprised that people thought you were lovely? I wouldn't expect, from the small amount I know about you, that you would be anything but lovely. It's hard getting over panic attacks, but you sound as though you are doing really well.

Just some people been saying some nasty stuff about me which I know I should have ignored but I didn't. That added to the panic attack and confidence problems. Some days it's been hard forcing myself out the door just to walk the dog, never mind anything else

SusanC_2

Snaggles wrote: »

I am having a dilemma about feeding - I really wanted to breastfeed Natasha until she was 12 months old, and despite a few hiccups, we are almost there. But she's started biting, and without wanting to sound like a complete wuss, it really hurts.

I'm trying to keep going, but I feel scared whenever she's feeding now, so I'm struggling to get my milk to let down.....which just makes her bite even more. I just don't see the point of buying formula and getting her used to that when she can have full fat cows milk in a few weeks anyway.

Not sure whether to introduce cows milk a little bit early or not - the health visitor said it would be okay if she had a vitamin supplement too, but I'm trying to hold off. I'm thinking of just doing it at her bedtime feed, because for some reason that's when most of the biting takes place. I'm sure it would be okay, but it just doesn't feel right somehow.

Alice went through a little phase of biting about a month ago and generally it was either because she wasn't hungry or else there wasn't enough milk for her. I started offering her a cup of EBM after the bedtime feed for a few days (which she took a couple of times but generally didn't want) and we put her 10 o'clock feed back up to 6oz (we had been reducing it) and that seemed to help. I would have thought if you're only replacing one feed with cow's milk then that wouldn't be a problem as she would still mainly be having breastmilk and like you say she's nearly 12 months anyway. (Incidentally the WHO recommends cow's milk from 9 months in the Central Asian Region because most people would not be able to afford the formula so would water it down too much.) If you're able to express at all you could always do a mixed feed of EBM and cow's milk depending on how much you get out (I'm guessing that might help with the transition to a different flavour of milk).

Becles - you've always seemed like a nice person to me.

izoomzoom

Becles, I think that you are a lovely person too. You have 'stood' out from another thread I followed, and was glad to find you here too.:cool:

I know another mum who is donating all her stuff, and her DD is 13 months older than Sam, so all the clothes are exactly the right size and season. Anyhow, we put Samantha into the next size gro-bag last night. I was concerned about how much thinner it was, because it is 0.5 tog, whilst she was using a 2.5 tog 0-6m one, but I slipped a little sheet on top of her, and she slept like a dream.

I did have a rude awakening as to how un-baby-friendly my house is. Had a 11 month old come to visit the other day, and I was up and down like a yo-yo removing hazards. Considering I have two children already, I was rather surprised. I think what makes it worse now too, is that I also have all the hazards from my older children to consider too - small bits of lego / knex. So my plan is to ensure that at least the bottom half of the house is baby-friendly by the end of April - as she will no doubt be on her way to some mobility by then.

dougggie

Becles, I think there's nothing harder than having to present/speak in front of people so well done you for achieving that! And with the other function, sometimes it's so much nicer meeting people you've chatted to online because there are no preconceptions and you also get to know people a bit better than you might do without that internet anonymity to hide behind if you need to. I've made some really good friends online and would rather meet up with them than some of the more superficial friendships formed through work/friends of friends etc as you always have more in common that way. Not that that's much help to you, but just to say I know where you're coming from and I'd agree with the others here that you've always seemed like a warm friendly person from your posts here!

Claire_Jones_3

Lidl are having some baby bits on their special offers from Monday 7th April (thats next week, it can't be nearly april already!!!)