MSE Newborn to 1 year (& beyond!) baby club 3

BeNiceToMySelf

big hugs Claret, so good to see you can see the positives in your life now.

LO has napped since 1:30pm and is still asleep!!! I think swimming lesson this morning really tired him out. Cue much dashing around by me. I have managed to put several laundry loads in, loaded dishwasher, cleaned bathroom, sorted through the Bounty family pack (load of adverts)....

I'm not doing well with trying to get him to go to sleep at 7 but he seems to be sleeping from 11/12 til 5 which is fine by me. He just comes into our bed at 5 for sleepy breastfeeding.

I went to see my parents this weeekend. For some reason my mum thinks loud clapping and making noises more suitable to horses than babies. After scaring LO with these sounds and making him cry, she said that he was hungry!!!

LO has dropped more than 2 percentiles from birth weight. I've decided that if he doesn't have a good weight gain for the next weigh in, I'm taking him to the GP and considering EBF with one bottle of formula per day. He does sleep for a 5/6 hour stretch at night but I don't want to take that away from him - he used to sleep 7/8 hours before I started waking him earlier. I'd rather do expressing if that's needed.

onetreehillgrrl

Thank you for your kind words abis, cake and lao_cat - I really appreciate it.
I ordered a sling at the weekend, so it should be here soon! I contacted the local sling library but never received a reply, so I am just going to try this one and see what happens. She does like to be walked around on our shoulder (the shoulder is definitely her favourite place) so it could be wind. Since being back, she has been in a better mood (after her nap, a feed - warning for tmi! - and a giant poo!) which is nice, I even got some smiles from her and some excited screams in her play gym. After me playing with her legs she has dozed off in her gym (hence why I have been able to return!).
I don't know if this morning she may have been missing her daddy. He is very hands on when he is home - I am very lucky for this, I know - and during the Christmas holidays we didn't go to any baby groups and she spent a lot of time at home with daddy. Today is the first day that she has been with just me again. Maybe we both need time to adapt to that again.
We have our first round of injections tomorrow, in addition to our postnatal checks, so I suppose I have that on my mind too.
Thank you all so much for listening / reading - it is comforting to know that other babies cry too.
xxx

lobey

Onetree girl I do feel for you. The grumpy evening baby is enough for me though I feel it slightly washes over me now! If she seems uncomfortable it could be reflux so a sling would be good to calm her down or a bouncy chair if she likes being upright and then she gets to have a look around plus you get your hands free!

Baba I'm sad for you but glad in a way it's not just us having to hear the overtired screams - just normal baby behaviour! Re naps have you tried walking around with him in a sling for a bit then putting him down? Bar about 2 days since A was born I've taken her out at lunch for about 2 hours so she can have a good 2 hour nap, but today just popped out for 10 mins and she went down semi peacefully in her cot when we got back. Could also try swapping feeding until he's just woken up from a nap to break the sleep association? I'm just winging this parenting lark all the way tbh!

Be nice I seem to be in the same situation as you albeit a few weeks behind. Is the idea behind expressing to do it so you can see how much LO is taking or because he gets more distracted bf ing than bottle feeding? We have only been doing about 4 expressed bottles a week here and if she has already got herself in to a state she won't take it for up to 30 mins after she has calmed down so I hope we don't have to go down that route!

Cake I can picture the scene with your girls and their reins, you are a brave mummy just getting out of the house with two!

BeNiceToMySelf

onetreehillgirl I heard someone say 'babies cry, that's what they do!' and it's so true. Even now I have no idea why my baby cries, I just try and follow logic and if I've met all his needs I just figure that he's in a grump. Also google 'fourth trimester', it's about how babies find being out of the womb a shock and can be a cause of crying. I had a colicy baby that cried 12/14 hours per day so now I'm a bit desensitised to his crying. My mate recommended using a bouncer to soothe him and it's been a lifesaver - I found a fisher price bouncer soothes him best. Also the 'tiger in the tree' position is great for wind. Colic does get better - today LO started burping while he was breastfeeding! It's evening time and LO is settled in his bouncer watching telly - it's a million miles away from the screaming baby that I'd have in the evening.

lobey I was going to use expressing to increase my milk supply and the expressed milk would be given to my baby ASAP. Also cos LO misses a feed by sleeping for a 5/6 hour chunk, instead of waking LO after 3 hours I'm considering expressing after 3 hours. Also I've heard that another way of increasing milk supply is to express for a few mins after baby has fed. At baby cafe, the lactation consultant lent me a book called 'making more milk' which has lots of hints. I take fenugreek too.

amus

I'm considering substituting a formula a day but I just can't make my mind up whether she needs it or whether I'm just paranoid that she's not getting enough. I do express a 3-4oz bottle in the morning to give to her about 5/6pm as I know my milk production is rubbish in the evening (found a bottle she will take - the MAM self sterilising ones). She also sleeps now from 10-9 (going to have to try to make it 9-8 to get up for the school run ) so I'm a bit worried my milk will dry up as the early hours are when it's stimulated. I took her to be weighed a couple of weeks ago and she is still on the centile she was at birth, will probably take her again next week.

TBH the main reason I'm reluctant to start with any formula is the price, can't believe how expensive it is now!!

continualdiamond

Weirdly enough I have come on here to ask about weaning.

Thought it was from 6 mths until yesterday when got chatting to an ex colleague who was at the same bday party as me and she mentioned introducing baby rice from 4 mths of age.

Have just had a look on the asda website and in fact seen baby rice suitable from this age.

Did people use this? The person I was chatting with mentioned she just gave her son baby rice, no other weaning products and then obviously his milk as well.

So he had 2 mths of having baby rice before being introduced to other foods. Just after thoughts really if people did this or would consider doing it. Scarlett is 3 mths old today so got time to think about it.

Mrshaworth2b

Cake - good luck on taking two out on reins on your own, I can only imagine the havoc

Onetree - my mil was convinced that all my lo ever did was cry because he was when we went round. Ha! It can be very emotionally draining to constantly hear a baby crying but I think the ladies have suggested some good ideas there and all I will add to it is that it does def get better and easier. Trust me!

Regarding weaning - we started on baby rice, after his bottle (generally dinner time) then went on to veg pur!es then fruit, then quickly went on to meal times to set a routine. Then after a few weeks started giving finger foods. Now at nearly 10 months he's on 3 meals a day and 3 bottles.

Afm, my lo's head has improved by 6mm, which is great. Hopefully in next few weeks it'll do the same again then we won't have much more to go. Consultant said you see the best results at the beginning so I'm willing his head to grow fast lol!

delain

Cake I have twins (bit older now though!) And I remember the reins chaos with no nostalgia at all. I feel your pain!

We are now reaching the stage where little miss wants to walk and I have to say it doesnt happen often!

lazywife

Wow, MrsH that's a really fast change.
Tiger in the tree worked well for us, seemed to instantly soothe him.
We did BLW introduced at 6 months, up until then EBF. Started with cooked brocolli, carrot etc as finger food. He took to it really well and at 8 months he eats pretty well, still bf 4-5 times per day (depending if he has a night feed).
Cake, I know it does make us sound like we can't be bothered to get off our a**e, but you've got 2 to try and keep happy.... I'm only working on 1! I'm in awe of how you can do it.
I'd recommend it, but only because it worked so well for us.
Hopefully no more night feed ramblings from me tonight!
L.xxx

lobey

Ahh I see Benice! I actually still seem to have oversupply issues so I'm wondering if it's more that she's a bit of a fusser and gets distracted easily. She also sleeps 10 or 11-7 and has done since week 6 so I guess she's missing a feed there but I don't know if waking her updating the night is the answer for us.

Amus I am going to start expressing a bottle in the morning for the 6pm feed, that's a great idea! Will also mean her dad can give her bottle and he likes to feel involved

Mrs Haworth that's fab news about LO's progress! I'm sure the time will go really fast.