Bumpkins & Babies Chat Thread

[aimee-lou]

Is it me or are the days just so much shorter nowadays?! I mean, I'm up at 5am with Earl, I sometimes manage a couple of hours more then leave hubby in bed to get some housework done. He then goes to work at 12noon. I take the tribe out for a walk, have lunch, pootle on here, more housework, deal with Earl, and before I know it it's 6pm and I have to stick the hot water on, remember to have some food and think about bedtimes!! Hubby then gets home at 9pm and I then cook us a quick tea (mmmm fresh pasta!! lol) and then off to bed at about 10.30.........It goes so quickly and I seem to have nothing to show for it apart from a few loads of washing that have moved from one side of the house to the other!

You DO have something to show for it - a healthy happy baby Read the book "what mothers do, especially when it looks like nothing". You will feel that you have most definitely done stuff then. I know what you mean though!

Gotta go and tell OH about Tremors, ha ha

Thanks hun - I know I do a very important job, I was just having a whinge - btw do you know the poem that's along a similar lines. I've been trying to find it everywhere. I will keep trying as I want to put it up on the wall somewhere to remind myself!

It's only like the post when hubby is on lates - on earlies he goes to work at 6 and is back by 3 so we get more time and he helps out more.

Littlekitten - giving Earl a bath has now become the key to peaceful evenings. The first time I gave him one you'd have thought I'd have murdered him...now it chills him right out and he loves the sound of the water all around him. You did well to get him in bed for 6.30 though....I am gradually bringing Earl's bedtime forward to 7pm as he has started to get really cranky at this time now and wont wait til 8 to go to bed.....excellent progress!

 

[florabean1981]

sam, george is so cute!!!!!

got harry weighed today... 9lbs 2oz at 8weeks 1 day, he's in the 0.4th centile... bit disappointed tbh, but they said he looks healthy & was all smiley n stuff... they want me to get him weighed every 2 weeks until he's back up to the 2nd centile but preferably the 9th... he feeds so well, so i dont get why he's gaining slowly???? he's averaging 6oz a week & the hv says he should really be gaining 8oz a week instead. what am i doing wrong???

 

[jlosomerset]

Hi girls and bubbas

I am around, flitting in and out of here catching up on everything just never seem to get the time to post, my day seems to go by in a whirlwind

I can't quite believe how much more washing a baby creates, it was bad enough with us and the boys but now my mahine is on twice a day everyday aswell as the tumble dryer, dread to think what my electric bill will be!!

Aidyn was 6 weeks old yesterday, we had our postnatal check and passed with flying colours, just need to make an appointment for my smear test, lovely, and at the family planning clinic for my coil to be fitted - no more babies in this house, lol!!!

Maffie, hope your feeling a bit more like yourself soon

I too 'wear' my baby, I have 2 slings a Liftt sling and a Babasling, I really love the Liftt sling and get lots of really positive comments when I wear either, they are so easy, especially when I do the school run and Aidyn loves it in there and always falls asleep

Glad to hear everyone is doing well, we are all such fantastic mummies

Quick piccie of Aidyn for you

 

[Maffie]

Flora I wouldn't worry about the percentiles. I was told today noah was down a percentile but they weighed him in clothes last time Noah has gained 11oz apparently in 2 weeks although a naked weigh in today. The nursery nurse that came out said BF babies do gain slower and as long as they are producing 6-8 wet nappies, having poos and seem healthy then they dont worry.

 

[eswift]

Morning Ladies...

I'm sorry to say I've not got the time to read all I've missed; I hope you're all well...

MIL is here as SIL is ill in hospital, so I'm busy trying to be Super Mum!?! But I agree these LO create so much extra work... My washer doesn't stop... I'm shattered but hey, no rest for the wicked... And I know I can be such a naughty girl... nudge nudge wink wink...

I'm not sure when I sleep at the mo, I'm sure I must as I go to bed and wake up... CC is still waking 2/3 time a night for feeds; She's now weighing 9lb 14.5oz (guess that 10lb) Her belly button is all healed now... What a difference a week can make.

Now just need to make sure she's definately feeding for long enough, with all that's been happening here I'm sure she's had her feeds messed about... She's still gained weight and is happy enough... She's still zzzing away at the moment, will not entertain a dummy still; we end up with a funny evening when she wanting comfort (she falls asleep on the boob, you put her down, she wakes, and the cycle repeats it's self...) She's not feeding though... Just after abit of nipple...

Hope you're all well, time for me to wake DS... Catch you all again hopefully sooner xxxx

 

[littlekitten8]

Well after a good start to the night it all went downhill. He started crying straight after I posted that he was asleep and didn't stop until 10.30. Gave him a feed which he fought against for an hour before giving in and taking 3oz...still screamed so I gave him some gripe water...which he took 4mls of before vomiting everywhere. Cleaned him up and he took another ounce of milk before getting all sleepy so put him to bed where he went sound asleep woohoo. Slept til 3am and got up to feed him. Was going really well....took a 5oz bottle without even opening his eyes, did a lovely big burp...lay him back in my arms to stand up and put him in his basket...and he promptly puked up about 2oz of his bottle all over both of us. So had to call OH to get him to come help me! Cue a full change for James (and lots of screaming) and then cuddles with daddy while I went and changed everything and I mean everything lol. Put him into bed and he was whinging a bit so I sat in our room watching Lee Evans cos guaranteed if I lay down he starts screaming as soon as my head hits the pillow. He fell asleep at about 4.30am which was pretty good considering we had to have a wet wipe bath lol. Woke up at 8.30am again and took 2oz of milk, burped and brought up a little bit of milk...and decided he didn't want anymore so he is now sat in his bouncer talking to the christmas tree lol.

 

[Maffie]

Noah was like a different baby last night. My right nipple bleeds when he sucks so that boob is relagated to expressing for now. Since stopping feeding on that side the vomiting has stopped. He settled all evening, then fed at 12 was niggly and wanted another feed at 1.30, next feed at 3 he burbed and went to sleep pretty fast and woke at 6 for his next feed. Thankfully he seems to be able to go from boob to bottle quite well, i'm alternating one bf one ebm so nipples have a chance to recover.

 

[florabean1981]

Flora I wouldn't worry about the percentiles. I was told today noah was down a percentile but they weighed him in clothes last time Noah has gained 11oz apparently in 2 weeks although a naked weigh in today. The nursery nurse that came out said BF babies do gain slower and as long as they are producing 6-8 wet nappies, having poos and seem healthy then they dont worry.

thanks sam, yeah he has at least 10-12 wet nappies a day & averages 2-4 'nice' yellow poos a day aswell. He always appears alert, following movement & sounds, reaching out to hold stuff, kicking about etc, and has turned into a little ladies man with his smiles; he only cries when he's hungry, needs changing or has tummy ache... He feeds every 2 hours (less when he's cluster feeding in the evenings) during the day, then at night he usually wakes for feeds at 8pm, 11pm, 4/5am & 7:30ish when OH goes to work & is a noisy git, waking everyone up, lol. As far as I can tell, I'm doing everything right, but the way the HV talks 'at me' rather than too me about how he should be gaining faster, should be heavier for his age & all that stuff, and how I should start supplementing with formula (which I kinda have plans to do after xmas anyway due to moving house, starting back at work etc)... it's like all doom & gloom from their POV, but then in the other breath, they're all saying how lovely & cute he is & how alert & smiley & nosy he is etc...


Harry had his injections thismorning- what a heartbreak that was- he had tears for the first time ever & I was like OMG!!! He bled loads too, which i wasn't expecting... Also, I didnt know you had to stay for 10mins after, just in case they have a reaction or anything, & they said to go to the waiting room & give him a bottle... I said I dint have one coz of BFing, so they let me use one of the doctor's rooms to BF Harry, which I thought was kind of them. Gave him a lil bit of Calpol, then went for a walk around the harbour for an hour so he fell asleep. He woke up about 10mins ago & is just laying on the playmat maiking noises, so I assume he's doing ok 4 weeks now till his next lot & 2 1/2 weeks till our postnatal check.

Q: what do they actually do at the postnatal check-ups? They dont do 6week checkups here- it's done between the 2 lots of jabs between 8 & 12 weeks, for some reason. The letter says it's for both of us, but I have no idea what to expect, iykwim?

Also, how many of you have started some form of contraception yet? I haven't, but if any of you have any recommendations or no-no's, I'm interested in hearing them...

Hope you're all well despite this crappy weather.

 

[special_kala]

Hey everyone,

my little girl River is 8 weeks old now, been meaning to pop into this group for ages, and has just had her injections. Have any of your LO's had theres? i was soo nervous but they went ok (she did scream for a few miuntes though).

Had her weighed last week and she is 12lb 12! was 8lb 14 at birth so a pretty big baby anyway but my god shes growing soo fast

 

[florabean1981]

Hey everyone,

my little girl River is 8 weeks old now, been meaning to pop into this group for ages, and has just had her injections. Have any of your LO's had theres? i was soo nervous but they went ok (she did scream for a few miuntes though).

Had her weighed last week and she is 12lb 12! was 8lb 14 at birth so a pretty big baby anyway but my god shes growing soo fast

yeah, harry had his today, he cried too, but seems fine now, thankgod. i think it bothered me more than it did him tbh, lol.

 

[colsy]

Quiet on here today. Where are y'all?

 

[Maffie]

Evening all

Noah has been feeding hourly this afternoon, he's finally settled down for a few hours, OH has gone to get dinner and a dvd.

Does anyone else forget food? I seem so busy with Noah I seem to get to about now and realize ive not eaten anything all day.

 

[aimee-lou]

Evening all

Noah has been feeding hourly this afternoon, he's finally settled down for a few hours, OH has gone to get dinner and a dvd.

Does anyone else forget food? I seem so busy with Noah I seem to get to about now and realize ive not eaten anything all day.

Yep I do that all the time! I really shouldn't though as I get falre ups of my stomach lining if I don't eat!

Just popping on quickly to make an announcement! We have finished our christmas shopping! Earl has got some wrist rattles and foot finders from ELC!

We weighed Earl today (just on the scales at home) and he would appear to weigh 12lb 7oz - so has put on about 1lb since last wednesday! Give or take a few oz's but still....that's impressive weight gain. Then again he is eating 5-6oz every 3-4 hours now! - no wonder he's shooting out in every direction!!

have a nice evening ladies....chocolate eclair to eat!

 

[Kte]

Evening

Well the bus journey went well, an old lady even let me on the bus first bless her! I was a little worried on the way home as it was college leaving time and a little busy, some people were stood up and then another lady with a pram got on but we managed even tho there was a bar that seemed to be in the most stupid place! It took me ages to get out and about today, I arranged to meet my friend at 2.30. The plan was to set off and post a letter to somewhere, go to tesco get some change for bus, get on bus, mooche round town and try and find OH a christmas present even tho I have no clue what to get him (well I do but everything I want to get him is either too expensive or needed to be ordered ages ago!), got to work and pay christmas lunch money, visit a few colleagues and meet my friend . . . in reality I went to tesco, got to town, got to work at 2.15 and met my friend at 3 (thankfully she was running late!). Lol. I did find myself a nice new bag tho even tho I wasnt looking for me and OH said I could buy it, reduced from 35 to 20! bargain!

Maffie ~ I dont know with the sling, it doesnt say anything on it and it was one of the items given to me. Its so much easier using it and Chloe seems happy in it, it has especially been usful in shops especially now people are christmas shopping! Its nice having her that close too Hope you heal soon too I forget food too, its only that OH sorts it out when he comes home that I get to eat. I have thought aboiut the mancherster meets, maybe i will ge to see you at one?

Flora ~ Don't worry too much with what the HV say especially if Harry looks well and is active and responding etc well too. I was upset when they told me Chloe was gaining weight too quickly and to space her feeds. I felt like I had been over feeding her and was realy guilty. You can see from her pictuers she isn't fat / over weight and I know babies in my family generally are hungrier babies. I try to settle her other ways but sometimes she just wants food so then I will give it too her.

Aimee ~ I totally agree on feeling like the days fly by! That book colsy mentioned sounds interesting! I was going to say we close and ahould meet up. I only just found my car keys after loosing them for a month and now there is the matter of fixing the passenger side mirror before i can drive again, wonder if i will remember how, its been a while!!

Eswift ~ sorry to hear about your SIL. Sounds you like have a lot on your hands at the mo.

LK ~ I joined you on puke patrol yesterday, Chloe was sick so much. All over my bed too! She had a full change of clothes and an emergency bath! It's always when you too tired to have to run around doing extra hard work!

Chloe just wont sleep today, how can she not just go to sleep from being awake all day. The pram journey hardly kept her asleep, she has just wanted to eat eat eat! I at least got a few moments to sterilise her bottles a moment ago but she awake again. I'm soooooooo tired and OH has been asleep for ages I am thinking maybe she needs to go on hungry baby food. She is on 150ml at the moment and today has just been so hungry but I don't think upping her mls will help as I have topped up some feeds she has drained and then she is sick. Other times she only takes about 90 or 120 ml. Something to discuss with tomorrows HV I guess. She really is a unhappy baby tonight

Plans for tomorrow; 1) blitz front room for HV visit at 10:30 tomorrow, 2) christmas decorations, 3) visit OH dad in hospital, 4) food shop ~ only possible as OH off.

Feel like its going to be a loooooooooooooooong night butI just woke up OH and gave her to him and (after 30ml I add) she has settled a bit more! Typical, I been sat there for horse with her ~ feed, wind, hug; feed, wind, hug; feed, wind, hug etc lol

 

[aimee-lou]

Kte - I was talking to hubby last night about a possible meet up for the Yorkshire girls and he suggested Meadowhall as it's pretty 'central' lol....I love my hubby sometimes lol :-D

I feel for you with Chloe eating all the time....Earl is eating between 4oz & 6oz (180ml) every 3-4 hours now, including at night. I'm thinking that a BIG growth spurt is on the way though as while he woke up every 3.5hours last night on the dot, he has slept no problem and is now back asleep and I'm expecting him to stay that way probably until about 8-9am after a feed of 4.5oz at 5.30 lol (I'm up as my monitor has gone flat and I'm sat upstairs so I can hear him, but can't sleep! ) I'm going to try to keep him on normal formula for as long as possible though as it seems to agree with him and while he may be eating it like it's going out of fashion, he's doing so well I'd hate to do anything to upset that. Hungry baby may well become an option later on though....I've heard of some people just giving it at night to try to get them to sleep through, so tempting but I'd be worried if it upset his little tummy.

I'm actually feeling a bit sorry for myself today ladies. Last night was not nice....not because of Earl. As long as I know that Earl will be awake around a certain time, I can cope (I like to be prepared) but the rest of the evening just was awful. Hubby did Earl's bedtime routine which was a godsend at about 7pm, then we went to bed at 9pm after River cottage (love that show!! and HFW!!) Hubby had to be up at 4.30 today so we had planned to get some decent sleep. I was knackered so I settled down to sleep a bit before I had to be up to do Earl's dream feed at 11pm..... Hubby had got MI:III on the TV at FULL VOLUME and I could hear every word in the nursery. I then went back to bed and tried to sleep.....with the film still at full volume. I got a bad headache. Hubby had got toothache so was tetchy, I was in pain too and just wanted to sleep. The film finished at about 12.30 and hubby put on Futurama!!!!! I fell asleep while that was on only to wake up at 1.30 to find hubby asleep with the TV still blaring out. I got up and switched it all off...then Earl woke up at 2 Got back to bed at 2.45, couldn't sleep for ages then drifted off only for Hubby's alarm to go off at 4am - the alarm is on the other side of the room and he didn't get up to switch it off for what seemed like an eternity!! Hubby then got up at 4.30 and said goodbye at about 4.50....then Earl woke up at 5.30.....and here we are. I'm shattered, I've had all of about 2 hour's sleep in total, and hubby will be shattered too so he wont want to help me this afternoon God Dammit!!!! I don't see the point in getting mad with anyone about a night like this....it was just a bit of a nightmare and I'm too tired to not moan lol.

Still....not too much todo today, and certainly nothing that can't wait until hibby gets home at 2ish so we can tackle it together (he can at least put the vacuum around for me as we have MIL and SIL visiting tomorrow and they're bringing all the christmas presents....hence yesterday's shopping trip. At least I got it all wrapped yesterday too which I am impressed with to say the very least! lol.

Right, I'm off to put something on the tv to keep me awake....I can see today being a very long day indeed. I took some really nice piccy's of Earl yesterday so I will be on later to post those up I think. Sorry for the essay girls.....be on later xx

 

[aimee-lou]

Btw - How on earth can a baby 'gain weight too quickly'?

Every child is different! God if the HV says anything like that to me, especially about me needing to space his feeds I'd be tempted to show him/her the door! Earl is a big boy, and he needs his food! I'll agree he has a big appetite but surely it's better to let him eat as he obviously needs the energy. He eats every 3-4 hours but before I upped his food he was at every 2-3 hours. I've probably been over-feeding him too but do you know what.......he's happy! Isn't that what's important?!

Sorry - these magic 'guidelines' are doing my head in at the moment. I haven't heard from our HV yet. She did say we may not get a follow up unless it's 'deemed necessary' as they were changing policy. I have my 6 week check on the 15th December (technically he's 7 weeks but the HV sais as long as it's before 8 weeks we're ok lol) so we will see what's said there. TBH...I really hate the 'interference' factor that you have with children and having babies. Babies and children have been successfully raised for thousands of years....why ar we suddenly incapable without being told by the effing nanny state?! (I know that the service serves the many for benefits the few and I know it's valuable to some people so I'm not saying that it shouldn't be there, it shouldn't be so flippin' pedantic!!)

I'll get off my soap box now lol

 

[Maffie]

Morning all, well fell asleep watching the new star trek movie and oh did a feed during it (ebm always in fridge now) so i got a few hours sleep. OH bought me an electric pump last night as manual expressing was doing my wrists in. It works a treat!

Aimee if you arrange a meet at Meadowhall i'd be there, not been there for a while even though family live so close to it.

I asked a community nursery nurse who came to visit me how often i'd see the HV and she said unless needed they only come out once as they are so short staffed. She told me to go to clinic in a week or two as they want to weigh Noah.

Just had to tell oh to get a taxi to work as is alarm didnt go off and little greedy Noah fed at 3 and didnt wake for his 5/5.30 feed he slept till 7 oppps!

OH children are coming to stay tomorrow, oh asked if I wanted it putting off as both have colds but Noah seems healthy and it's only me who seemed to struggle with colds/bad chests. I cant keep him away from germs can I?

They haven't met Noah yet so i'm feeling nervous. Just hope their mum doesn't mess us and them about again.

 

[aimee-lou]

Mornin'!!

I feel a bit better now! Earl stayed asleep til 9am so I got 2 hours extra sleep....amazing how just that bit can make you feel a lot more human!

Meadowhall does seem like a good plan...will have to see what the other girls think

Here's some piccy's of Earl. And...........I think we got a smile We were playing the copying game....he's everso good at sticking his tongue out, lifting up arms, blinking etc to copy what you're doing, but today I thought I would try a smile and we got it on more than one occasion. I got a tear in my eye but he wouldn't do it for the camera - going to get hubby to have a go this afternoon.


Have a good afternoon ladies...I'm off to go fold washing....joy of joys!

 

[eswift]

Morning All (ok so it's afternoon already!)

Where does the time go???

MIL has gone home this morning SIL is due home today...

CC has been good too, we've been and done the shopping, OH is working tomorrow. 1 job less for the weekend...

My sister is on her way home, so she'll get to see CC and DS, gosh can you believe it's been 7 months since she went away! It's nearly christmas!!!

Maffie ~ Try some bepanthan on you nipple might help... Cabbage leafs work wonders too... Touch wood I've had no problem yet with cracked bleeding nipples... Mantra "it's breast feeding not nipple feeding!" Hope all heals soon....

Florabean ~ Try not to worry about LO, we all grow at different rates; as long as he's in proportion... Keep up the good work... BF babe's take longer to gain fat than bottle fed babes... they swap later on though...

CC has started to give us proper smiles now, they're beatiful as her whole face lights up...

Off to do the laundry... Catch you later xxxx

Right off to sort the laundry...

 

[Chaos]

Mornin' Girls,

Just sticking my head in before I pop to the Chiro for him to snap my shoulder back in place!

Am way behind on posts to catch up so I'm start fresh today lol.

Can I just say, that the ceiling fan is the BEST baby sitter in the world. Little Miss is sitting babbling away to it as we speak!

So I'm EBM/FF Autumn. We've been giving her Simalac lactose free formula. Now this stuff is 24 bucks for a box, each box gives 28, 6 oz bottles. She's on 5 oz so this lasts less than a week. That's even with 2 bottles of EBM a day. This is getting SO expensive.
When I was at the pediatricians I asked her about the supermarket generic brand. This is only like 12 bucks for a massive tin. I asked if it was ok because I was reading the ingredients and they were almost exactly the same and I was researching reviews and stuff ... She said it's like Coke and Pepsi, they are basically the same, just one costs less. You're paying for the name, so its what ever you prefer the taste of. So today I'm going to get a tin of the generic and see how it goes. I will save us about 80 bucks a month.
I'm also going to try the generic nappies, cause as much as Huggies rock they are 20 bucks for a pack of 74!!

Need all we can get with Christmas coming!

Ok chickadees, have a fab day!