***December Snowflakes 2012 Parenting***

[Beanonorder]

Wow, it sounds like some of you have a really nice 'routine' going on! I'm a little jealous at how much your LOs are sleeping at night! Basically I'm at the point of 'doing whatever is necessary so everyone gets some sleep'. Which translates to feeding Amber and then letting her sleep on me! I don't want to develop a bad habit with her but I'm told that before six weeks I don't have to worry too much.

My cats aren't put out as much as I thought they'd be. They'll come check her out when I'm feeding her or if she's in the bassinet. And they don't run away when she cries, which surprised me. But mostly they just ignore the fact that there's now a little person around!

Good going to you guys for the weight loss! I thought I wasn't doing too badly. I was a uk 10/12 when I fell pregnant and I managed to keep my weight gain to 10kgs (22 pounds.) Its only been two weeks for me but I'm already down 6kgs (13 pounds). So I've got 4kgs (9 pounds) to go to get to my pre-pregnancy weight, which I'm hoping to achieve by March when we go back to South Africa for a holiday (and my mother in laws wedding!!!). And then another 4kgs to get to my goal weight, which is what I was trying to do when I fell pregnant. I did get to it in the first trimester!!! I go back to gym when we get back to China so I'm hoping to achieve my goal weight by my summer holidays in July. Think my expectations may be a bit high?

 

[Bay]

I'm sorry to hear all te mums with health issues, hope you all get well soon.

Bean - i have complete faith you can lose the last 4 kg. bf should help you with tht too.

Wellit seems my scale is stuck. I've lost 10kg out of the 20kg i gained and the last 10kg just isn't budging. I can't even get a leg through my old jeans haha. I'm going to have to start working out soon. Does anyone know if and how exercise affcs your milk supply?

 

[ocean_pearl]

No routine here as baby is only 2 weeks. He eats usually 1am,3am then 6.30am so not too bad. Falls asleep on boob then transferred to Moses.

Those with Moses baskets, when will you get a cot?

Lolly - I think we've decided on Oliver James x

 

[ttc_lolly]

Bean, you can do it! As Bay said BF will definitely help too and don't worry or envy anyone's LO's sleep pattern just yet, Amber's only 2 weeks old

Bay I already looked up exercising whilst bf'ing and according to Kellysmom it doesn't affect your supply at all. Some babies may fuss on the breast after you've exercised but this is more than likely down to any taste of salt left on your skin from sweat. They just suggest waiting at least half an hour after exercising to feed and washing (obviously!).

Lovely name Ocean I shall add him to the list now. Re cots, we already had ours from DD1 but I will be looking to use it when Millie's around 3/4months. She's quite big though so may be earlier depending on how long I can keep her in her basket before the size starts to annoy her.

 

[Chloe597]

sorry for those who are ill! Something is definitely going around where I live, so I'm glad I'm not back at work yet. Both of my parents have the flu, as do so many others that i know!

Does anyone know when baby should start settling into a routine? DD went to sleep on me at 9 last night and I expected her to wake around 11, but 11 came and she was still crashed, so I put her in her crib, and she was out until 4am! This is a first for us. It is probably the growth spurt at work. she got much more sleep in general yesterday so she wasn't nearly as cranky when she was awake. I am looking forward to the grunting subsiding.

 

[Bay]

Lolly thanks for sharing your vast knowledge! I'll be sure to wash as i imagine sweaty boobs wouldn't taste so good

We had such a rough time at bed time tonight! Very cranky baby which is so unusual. He was fussing at the breast like fighting it but would latch then fight some more but yet still roots for my nipple. This happened before letdown and during. so messy!

Even cuddling didn't really help. I hope it was a one off and he was just uncomfortable from the hot weather. He still wants to be held constantly during the day and starting to be more and more like his big bro ... And here i thought i had a chilled out baby haha.

Chloe - i'm not sure when to expect a routine with los, but going off my first child, i know that routines can change very quickly once they hit new milestones so expect them to chop and change often after they've settled into a routine.

 

[Fifipots]

Teddie sleeps quite well in the night but no 2 nights are ever the same at the mo!! She def has her body clock the right way round tho

Thought I'd share a pic with you as had a photo session today, I know I'm biased but I think my baby looks like an Anne geddes baby portrait pic!!

 

[LillyLee]

Fifi that's adorable!!!

Rant: I've been explosive pooped on while changing a diaper. Projectile vomited on. Fed multiple times. Changed countless diapers. Ran a load of laundry. Started dinner so it would be ready when DH gets home. He calls to tell me he's on the way and I'm trying to discuss the apartment situation because we will be moving in a few months. I found a place that's 2 bedrooms (we're in 1 now) and its $200 a month cheaper than what we've got but it adds $100 a month in toll costs for driving but cuts his commute in half. He's in a shitty mood because of traffic and basically says, "there's no point in a 2 bedroom if the baby is still sleeping in our room. Are we ever going to get our room back?" Seriously?!? Are you flipping kidding me right now?!? Are we ever going to get our room back?!? We have a two week old. I'm doing all the night feeds and diaper changes and pumping which means double the work. And my days are filled with nothing but baby and I'm on bedrest for stitches and you want our room back? You've got to be shitting me right now. I want a full nights sleep and to not have to go back to work in four weeks and still be doing all the things I'm doing. I feel like crying. Why don't men understand? Thanks for listening ladies, I know these problems are minuscule compared to what some people are going through but I'm so frustrated right now.

 

[Beanonorder]

Ah, hugs Lily! I'd want to kick my dh in the butt if he said that to me! But I will admit I have had my moments of getting frustrated with him because in my eyes 'he's being a dumbass'!

Fifi your picture is adorable!

Amber definitely has her days and nights mixed up! She sleeps so well during the day - usually for four hour stretches. And she goes down so well and is perfectly happy in her bassinet. But as soon as it gets after about 9pm that completely changes. She doesn't cry or anything but she just won't go down! The recent pattern is she'll doze for a little while if she's on someone but if you try and put her down she is wide awake. And she stays that way until about 3am. Then she'll go to sleep on me. By that stage I'm so tired I just end up leaving her there and falling asleep myself. And we stay that way til about 7:30/8am. I usually give her to my mom then and get a couple more hours of sleep. Sadly I only have 4 mornings left of that

 

[toothfairy29]

Fifi gorgeous photo!!! So sweet!!!

Lily. Probably nothing any of us can say to help apart from we are here to rant to. You've had a hard week and hubby should be considerate of that. Men just don't seem to get it do they? They just think all we do is sit cuddling the baby......... She says as she types this sat Erm..... Cuddling the baby!!! Hmmm!!!

 

[ImSoTired]

Fifi, adorable pic!

Lilly, men can suck. So sorry. You can rant here whenever! I'm sure my hubby thinks I do nothing all day when I have a very needy baby who cries each time I put her down so even showering is difficult. Hope he comes to his senses and apologizes at least!

Bean, Caitlyn is the same way. Still mixing up nights and days. Hope it gets better when we can get a routine in place. We haven't been successful at doing so thus far though. I hope that once she can eat a little more at a time and is awake for longer stretches I can slowly shift her schedule.

I'm so jealous of all of you with routines and great weight loss! Congrats on everyone who does! That's fantastic! I hope I can join you all shortly in having success in those areas also. I gained 37 lbs with this pregnancy (I lost 30 lbs pre pregnancy though)and I think I've lost about 20 some lbs so far. My belly is so flabby now and I hate it!

So Caitlyn is eating a lot lately and I've had to start making bigger bottles in order to get her to go as long as 2-3 hours before needing to eat during the day. I think it's ok though, as she'll be 5 wks tomorrow. If I could only get her to go to bed early instead of between 1 and 3 am it'd be great! Also she is a very lazy nurser. I usually end up pumping and giving her a bottle instead because she falls asleep on the boob all of the time. I'm just happy to still be nursing somewhat and producing milk! Baby seems healthy (besides her bad hip) and i think she's gaining weight because she looks a little bigger to me everyday, so overall we are well.

Hope everyone is doing great!

 

[Saradavies89]

Hiya so it's half 2 in the morning here and am sit writing in this cz Amaleigh has now decided as if yesterday that she now like to fight her tiredness even tho she is exhausted she has been wide awake since half 9 this morning, I rly love it when she is awake but she needs to sort her timing out lol, just fed her and thought she would fall asleep and she did to then wake up again about 5 mins later don't get why babies like to fight it really don't xxxx

 

[Saradavies89]

Imsotierd I'm not losing weight either I've gained weight n still got 2 stone to get back to y pre pregnacy weight, how many oz are eveyones babies taking Amaleigh is on 4 oz but is still hungry after that n then 5oz is just too much for her sometimes so I give her 4 in the day and the on her last feed before bed she has 5 and she usually lasts a good 4-5 hours between Feds n the very odd occasion it may b 3 hours xxxx

 

[Chloe597]

Lilly, rant away! That's what we are here for. DH is probably jealous of all the attention being focused on the baby, and has no idea what we go through during the day/night to keep our LO's happy! I hope he is more understanding soon!

Fifi, cute pic!!

Gabby has been up since about 12:30, and its 10:45 now...ugh. She took a few tiny naps here and there while in her car seat or in my arms, but really nothing substatial I thought i had put her down for the night at 10, and then she decided that wasn't good enough and woke up. She is fighting sleep tho, so hopefully she will go back to sleep soon!

Sara, when I feed Gabby the bottle, i can give her around 5-5.5 oz if she is really hungry, but its breast milk, not formula. She only take one boob at a time, but when i pump i never get more than 4 oz, so i've always been confused as to what to give her. Maybe she has better suction than my breast pump

I'm moving in 2 days! and we have no internet set up, and packing with a newborn is impossible. Thankfully my mom came over today to watch her while DH and I packed. We will do the same tomorrow with MIL babysitting instead. I think i will try to get some sleep while DH is keeping the baby quiet!

 

[toothfairy29]

My Joseph is in his 1st 0-3 month babygrow!!! I had to admit I can't squash him into his newborn ones anymore!! It makes me sad!!!! He's not newborn anymore!!! Little chunky monkey!!

 

[cookielucylou]

Currently waiting for bubba to have a nap so i can do some stuff while my big boy is asleep but at this rate i'm not going to get a chance to do anything. Its 2pm now and i feel like half the day has been wasted waiting for them both to nap.

 

[Beanonorder]

Does anyone have any experience with carpel tunnel syndrome? My mom is starting to think that is what I have. When they have me a drip during labour they struggled to find a vein and when they got the needle in it hurt. Afterwards my hand started to tingle and my hand was so bruised. Since then I've had constant pins and needles in three fingers and my thumb, sometimes more intense than other times. I also sometimes have a pain going from my thumb down towards my wrist. Its getting really annoying now.

 

[verona]

Imsotierd I'm not losing weight either I've gained weight n still got 2 stone to get back to y pre pregnacy weight, how many oz are eveyones babies taking Amaleigh is on 4 oz but is still hungry after that n then 5oz is just too much for her sometimes so I give her 4 in the day and the on her last feed before bed she has 5 and she usually lasts a good 4-5 hours between Feds n the very odd occasion it may b 3 hours xxxx

Amelia is on 5oz every 3-4 hours. Sometimes she'll have a top up after an hour or two though xx

 

[LillyLee]

Bean I had pregnancy induced carpal tunnel but since the birth I've only had the tingling once and it was in my left hand three fingers and thumb. I don't know what can be done for it though as mine usually went away after an hour or so. But I know what you're feeling.

 

[toothfairy29]

Having a little melt down ladies. Does anyone ever feel like their baby doesn't care much for them? Sometimes I just feel like I can't do anything to make him happy or comfort him. I feed him and he fights with me, I cuddle him and he fights with me, I put him down and he cries, I pick him up and expect him to be comforted by my presence and he isn't! Sometimes I feel like I'm hardly sleeping and going through these hard hard early weeks and I mean nothing to him?! Apart from providing his milk I kinda get the feeling I could be anyone picking him up? I actually feel quite guilty writing this but I hope you ladies might understand even if no body has felt the same?

He also seems to be spitting up a lot more over this last week or 2. Doesn't seem to upset him at all, he just has a feed then shortly after will be sick. Some times just a spit and sometimes more. Is this normal? He doesn't seem colicky and isn't crying for hours or seeming in pain. He is quite windy!!