***April Sweet Peas*** 204 Babies

[Minstermind]

So many updates on here, I just wanted to say I love reading them all whether or not I reply specifically to them. Think we can all relate to time being a precious commodity at the moment.

Mommyof3girls, it's good to vent and get a bit of support. These weight issues can be a real downer at times alright. We just gotta do the best we can do with the information and resources, and support, that we have. I do believe it'll all work out in the end but it can be difficult in the moment and day-to-day basis. One day we'll look back and chuckle at these worries, lol

Kittenkat, we too are dealing with feeding issues and trying to sort, so I can sympathize with that. Great news on everything else

Bobobaby, I remember my son was like that too...really annoying at times, lol..but nice on one level that they love being close and cuddled so much...but makes doing stuff impossible and I relate about going pee. I remember I used to go while I was holding my son which was complicated as you can imagine, hehe..for a finish I just ended up bringing him in with me but setting him down on the ground, on a blanket, while I went. Sometimes things just gotta be done, lol

MrsGlitz, congrats to your hubby on his pay rise, that must be such a relief! We too are co-sleeping and I totally never planned on that and really was nervous about that for various reasons. I also can't put him in the middle as I just wouldn't want to mess with that as we have a big duvet on our bed etc..so instead he's on the outside of the bed but we've secured it by putting the cot right up next to the bed and all, so he can't get stuck or fall off the bed or anything. But it means I'm always sleeping on my left side.

Chele, aw that's rotten. So sorry you're having such a rough time with it. I have no thoughts on it as I know every baby is different, but I would guess this phase will pass and baby will become happier and more at peace with time. I know it's of no consolation in the moment as each day can drag on, but have faith it will pass.

Sabriena, it is great to see people make it back here for an update now and then, eh? I'd like to more often than I can, but it's just sometimes hard to even get five minutes on here in a day, lol

 

[bobobaby]

Chele- Sorry your babe is giving you a rough time right now. But as Minstermind said, I'm sure it will pass. At the hospital they told me crying all the time peaks at 2 mths and begins to disappear around 3-4 months.


Does anyone have any tips or suggestions on how I can get my baby to take a bottle??? She's exclusively breastfed, but I want to pump so my husband can give her a bottle once a day. But we've been trying for nearly a week and a half now to give her a bottle, and she just won't really take it! We try when she's not very hungry, but she still gets frustrated and starts crying. My husband has tried without me in the room and I have tried as well. She actually takes it better from me, but she still won't really suck on it. It kind of just drips in her mouth. Sorry this is so long, but I really want her to learn in case I have to be gone for longer then an hour or if I get sick and need antibiotics. Any tips??

 

[Minstermind]

Mmmm....I had the same issue with my son 7 years ago. I never did succeed at it and once when he was being watched for several hours on a particular day, he still didn't take it from the minder and went the whole time without eating instead! Ugh...

Anyway, on a more positive note, I have heard people mention trying a different teat on the bottle as apparently they've had more luck with one type versus another? Also, would she be more willing to take it if you give it to her when she is really hungry or is that a no go?

 

[mrsraggle]

Kinleigh is gorgeous mommyof3girls!

Sounds like you're doing well kimmyjane84 - especially with the sleeping!

Hi KittenKat!

Duncan sounds like he's doing really well sabriena.

bobobaby - Eloïse is the same with sleeping, she sleeps best on me! Have you tried Leilaina with different types of bottles? Apparently that can make a difference..?

Fab news about hubby's payrise MrsGlitz! And you sound like you've got the sleeping cracked. I might try bringing the cot into our room actually..

I'm sorry Max is whinging at you chele - I have heard that boys are harder as newborns than girls, certainly my brothers and my husband were anyway!

We're doing really well. Eloïse gave me a really good night's sleep last night so I'm buzzing today. Unusually for her, she's now having a nice long nap on the sofa (hence me being able to do such a long response today!!).

 

[Birmz85]

I found the thread whoohoo lol!!!
Glad to read some updates on everyone... Hope all and their April sweet peas are doing well...

JJ is doing well he's 7wks 1day and he's 11lbs and 9ozs well that was a week ago so I think he's a lil more lol!!! He's got his shots next wk which I'm not looking forward too I just hope he sleeps it off and doesn't cry!! Got him sleeping through the night sleeping on his tummy now which is good for me and he's now cooing like a lol trooper and holding his head up whilst on his tummy which is nervy coz it just shows how quickly he's growing up Its weird to think that 8 wkd ago I was pregnant... I can't imagine life without him now

I'm gonna try read back as far as I can whilst he naps now but I doubt I'll get far lol to you all xxxxx

 

[poppy666]

Hey ladies i know Korben was born March 26th, but originally he was an April sweet pea, but arrived early am i still ok to join this one as the names of new mummies are more familiar to me here

Anyone having problems trying to get their LO to wait longer for a bottle? Korben is taking 5oz at the moment but wanting it every 3hrs is this ok or should i hold off? x

 

[Freyasmum]

Of course you belong with us, Poppy666!
How gorgeous is your wee man? Love that pic in your siggy.

I'm mostly BFing Ollie, so it could be a bit different, but he is still feeding every 3 - 4 hours during the day. I'm working on the 'If he seems hungry, I'm going to feed him' theory. Ollie's been gaining over 250g a week, which I was a bit worried about, but apparently it is great if they gain more than average at this stage.

 

[poppy666]

Aww thanks just admiring Ollie so cute and love his name

Korben last time health visitor weighed him 2wks ago he was 10lb 14 ( 7lb 4oz when born) but he's always sick when he has his bottle so not sure if thats why he wants more earlier or im just getting him into a habit every 3hrs?? but when he wakes he dont stop for air and drinks the 5oz straight away lol.... just not sure if to hold off or just feed him x

 

[Minstermind]

Yeah, I'm a feed on demand mom too...I reckon if their little bellies are empty, then they need filling! LOL... I think it's pretty normal and good to eat every 2-4 hours depending on whether bottle or breastfeeding, and also relative to whether or not they're having a growth spurt, when of course they would need more then.

I'm doing triple time on feedings right now. Putting Tiernan to the breast, then having to top up with formula as I'm still building my supply, then having to pump afterwards. So feedings are tricky at best sometimes, especially when I'm alone during the day and can't hand him over to someone while I pump, and sometimes he doesn't want to sit in his seat for the full time I need to pump. So it's pretty difficult right now, and today, he was fussy when I put him to my breast, so I think I need to do that more often to get him to eat. But he's just not eating well from the breast at all, though has no qualms drinking expressed breast milk from the bottle. I have very low moments with it, thinking it's not working well, and other times when I feel good and optimistic. Just taking it day by day, but overall, I'm just happy he's eating and thriving anyhow. That's the most important thing. I just really wanted to be an exclusive breastfeeder as I was with my son 7 years ago, and sometimes it seems like a faraway dream right now.

 

[poppy666]

Tiernan another lovely but unsual name, you must be exhausted especially when your on your own, i nearly breastfed Korben, but didnt follow through when i had him, you wouldnt think i already had 3 other children asking questions, but they're 17,18 and 19 so to be honest feel like im starting all over again with my 4th boy as ive forgotten everything with the other 3 lol.

Since he was born he's only twice had a bottle at midnight and not woken till 6am, dont think im going to get Korben to sleep right through the night anytime soon to be honest with him wanting feeding every 3hrs x

 

[mrsraggle]

Minstermind you're doing so well to persevere for Tiernan, you should be very proud of yourself.

Last night Ellie only woke up once! I'm so grateful for a nice sleep Sure it won't be a permanent thing though.

 

[KittenKat]

Had a very pleasant surprise at 6.30am this morning, Rosa had managed to sleep herself all night from 10.30pm. Lets hope that is a sign for the future

Also thought I would add an updated piccy of the not so little madam taken just a few minutes ago happily napping in her bassinet not that she will likely be able to sleep in there much longer due to her lacking space as she like to wriggle herself up

 

[kimmyjane84]

HUGE congrats to all the lovely April Sweet Peas, it's lovely to read all of your updates Would be nice to hear from some of the others who were on the original ASP list, as I'm sure there was once loads more of us on the list...

Was going to give a quick update on Jess, but she's decided to go on a feeding mission so will have to update later xx

Think this post may take a while to finish Jess is manic with the feeding tonight and I'm trying to type one-handed now... Oh and laptop is due to run out of battery too, so if I've not finished in 50 mins I'll lose the lot!!

Sod it... Hubby wants to go to bed now and I still need to express milk (another thing I was going to update you all on...), so I think I'd best dash or he'll get stroppy

Will make my third attempt to update you all tomorrow xx

Hmmm, let's see how many times I have to quote my own post in order to get an update sorted that actually makes sense... Bearing in mind that at some point I need to put some tea on! LOL

Well Jessica is now 4 weeks and 4 days old. With regards to weight, her birth weight was 9lbs 6.5oz, which dropped to 8lbs 15oz and took the full 2 weeks to get back to 9lbs 6.5oz. Then in the week leading up to her being 3 weeks she only went up to 9lbs 8.5oz as she was being VERY sick after each feed. As she is breastfed the MW/HV couldn't understand why she was being so sick At times it felt as if she was bringing up her whole feed each time.

After not getting a lot of help from the HV, I decided to take her to the doctor, who told us she has Acid Reflux She now has Gaviscon Infant with nearly every feed - Which means I'm expressing enough milk for her Gaviscon to be mixed and then breastfeeding the rest of the feed, but her last feed before bedtime is completely expressed milk and then I just breastfeed if she wakes in the night. This seems to be working well, but is making feed times a little more lengthy. She was weighed on Wednesday and is now 10lbs 4.5oz - She will be weighed again on Wednesday of this week before seeing the doctor to assess what to do next.

She is otherwise doing well - She's very alert, follows you with her eyes and has started to get a little unsettled each time we leave the room. She is quite happy to lay in her moses basket or sit in her bouncy chair while we are busy and isn't a clingy baby like Harry was!

Sleep-wise she is doing really well Most nights she will give us 5-7 hours between her 11pm-1am feed and waking us for breakfast. Which is like a small miracle compared to Harry waking every 1-2 hours for feeds when he was this age.

As for me... I'm recovering well from the C-Sec, much like last time, BUT I'm a lot more emotional than I remember from last time! I'm very tired, constantly falling out with hubby, and have no appetite at all

How is everyone else doing?

I'm going through the same thing with the weight gain right now. Kinleigh had her 2 month appointment today and she weights 7lbs 10 oz. I have seen her puke up 3/4 of a bottle and it fly 3 feet out of her mouth. My 3rd child had really bad reflux and was on zantac for the first year. So I know what it is. The doctor to day told me that I didn't know what I was talking about and her lack of weight gain was because I wasn't feeding her enough. She was 5lbs 14.1 oz at birth drop to 5lbs 9 oz two days later, she was 6lbs 2 oz at two weeks. When she left the hospital at 25 days old she was 7lbs. She has only gained 10 oz since then. However she is throwing up most of her feedings. Ihave even been giving her formula to see if that helps and it isn't. That is a lot of the reason why I started feeding her rice cereal.Yesterday and today have been the only days since she has been up that she hasn't thrown up.

Sorry about the long reply I guess I needed to vent.

Thanks for the reply - Jess has to have the Gaviscon for another 3 weeks, but has now started to be a little more sick (even after feeding with the Gaviscon) so may have another trip back to the doctors next week

Do you think maybe she has a little bit of Reflux as well?

 

[555ann555]

Chele- Sorry your babe is giving you a rough time right now. But as Minstermind said, I'm sure it will pass. At the hospital they told me crying all the time peaks at 2 mths and begins to disappear around 3-4 months.


Does anyone have any tips or suggestions on how I can get my baby to take a bottle??? She's exclusively breastfed, but I want to pump so my husband can give her a bottle once a day. But we've been trying for nearly a week and a half now to give her a bottle, and she just won't really take it! We try when she's not very hungry, but she still gets frustrated and starts crying. My husband has tried without me in the room and I have tried as well. She actually takes it better from me, but she still won't really suck on it. It kind of just drips in her mouth. Sorry this is so long, but I really want her to learn in case I have to be gone for longer then an hour or if I get sick and need antibiotics. Any tips??

I've not tried it as Gabriella is quite happy to switch between the breast & bottle, but I'm told that if they won't drink from a bottle they'll quite often lap milk from a wee cup. You can use either an egg cup, or the lid from the bottle. Apparently they lap it up just like a kitten I've also heard of them taking milk from a teaspoon and from a syringe. I wouldn't worry, where there's a will there's a way, and when she needs to drink from something other than you you'll find a way.

I've even heard at my breastfeeding support group of really young babies being willing to take expressed milk from a sippy cup when they've refused a bottle!

Although I said Gabriella drinks from the bottle, she won't drink properly at the breast if she gets the bottle first as the bottled milk flows by itself and she doesn't have to work for it. The first time I did them in the wrong order she sat there with her mouth open around my nipple and a puzzled look on her face like she couldn't understand why there was no dripping milk yet!

She doesn't attach perfectly to the bottle, so she does get a fair amount down her chin, but I'd say she drinks at least 2/3 of the bottle... (BTW we're supplementing formula after every breastfeed as I wasn't making enough milk due to having Crohn's Disease, she only put on 3oz in 3 weeks but she's doing fine now)

 

[555ann555]

Had a very pleasant surprise at 6.30am this morning, Rosa had managed to sleep herself all night from 10.30pm. Lets hope that is a sign for the future

Also thought I would add an updated piccy of the not so little madam taken just a few minutes ago happily napping in her bassinet not that she will likely be able to sleep in there much longer due to her lacking space as she like to wriggle herself up

That's so cute! How big is Rosa Kittenkat?

 

[KittenKat]

She was weighed last week at clinic and was 11lb 6 and I did a very rough length measure of her and was around 58cm long, her hand-me-down babygrows from her sister are almost too small for her.

When I compared her current weight with my other two on their red books I can hardly believe that they didn't reach this weight until around 3 months, but they were quite a bit smaller at birth than Rosa, but she almost looks just as scrawny as they did

 

[mommyof3girls]

KittenKat- She is beautiful.

kimmyjane84- I do think she has reflux. I also hope Jess feels better soon.

bobobaby- I wish I had advice for you. Kinleigh had to use a bottle while in the hospital so that helped with her. I hope everything works out for you.

KittenKat & 555ann555- I'm glad to see you back I hope every thing is going well with you & your little ones.

 

[mommyof3girls]

Kinleigh is still spitting up a lot and I'm pretty sure the dr is going to try and find a way to make it like I did something wrong. She sleeps every night from 11-6. Then we nurse and go back until 830am.

I started working out yesterday. After two days of working out my legs are killing me. Has anyone got their since giving birth. I had a day of spotting and it happened the day we were moving and going to closing on the house so I'm thinking it was stress related.

I woke up this morning and decided to do Kinleigh's 2 month pictures.

 

[KittenKat]

Yep had mine (or should I say having) certainly havent missed them at all, felt so crappy right at the beginning of it that dear OH joked that if I wanted he could always knock me up again, but bless him he came back from work one day with a double pack of Galaxy choccy, not because he was asked but because he wanted to make me feel better

 

[555ann555]

KittenKat & 555ann555- I'm glad to see you back I hope every thing is going well with you & your little ones.

Thanks We're doing ok, much better now Gabriella's getting supplimented with formula after every breastfeed. It broke my heart the first time I had to give her some formula, more because I finally saw what my darling girl was like with a full tummy than anything else!

I felt like a complete failure though. My body was so messed up with having Crohn's Disease that I couldn't give birth, or even make enough milk to let my baby grow Gabriella only put on 3.5oz in the first 3 weeks home.

She's gaining now though, on Friday she was up to 9.5lbs, which isn't much for being nearly 7 weeks old, but it is heading in the right direction! She's finally outgrown her early baby clothes and is up to new born She is in 0-3 month babygrows though!

I didn't do very well with my depression assessment on Friday, but I'm going to be careful to be kind to myself and hopefully that'll sort it out. It gets repeated in 2 weeks time. I was really bad towards the end of exclusively breastfeeding, to the point that anytime Moreno took her for me I'd just hide in the bathroom crying, but I was feeding every 1.5 hours round the clock for 4 solid weeks, I just had nothing left to give.

At least now I'm enjoying her more

Her she is snuggling with mummy yesterday:
https://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a354/555ann555/6weekoldmeitaicloseup-450.jpg