New mummies - August 2013

[jjbump]

I know it's not technically the way you are supposed to but I sterilise bottles, put boiled water in the bottles and leave on the side til we need them and just add the powder.

Naughty mummy.

Actually that's a pretty good idea! Can you mix the powder with cold boiled water? I always thought it had to be with warm/hot water... If not, this could be a great solution.

 

[aimee-lou]

I know it's not technically the way you are supposed to but I sterilise bottles, put boiled water in the bottles and leave on the side til we need them and just add the powder.

Naughty mummy.

Actually that's a pretty good idea! Can you mix the powder with cold boiled water? I always thought it had to be with warm/hot water... If not, this could be a great solution.

You're supposed to use hot water as there is a risk of bacteria in the formula making baby poorly, but it's a very small risk and a lot of people do the same as beccy. I use freshly boiled water, add powder, quick cool and store in the fridge. Goes completely against guidelines but I have 3 strapping boys whom I did this for from day 1 and you know what, I'm not standing there making up bottles with a screaming infant and 2 fractious toddlers at my feet. My HV didn't pry, I didn't say...they know lol.

jjbump - pre-mix is what they give babies in hospitals when they get a bit bunged up. It's got more sugars in it, so goes through them quicker than the powdered stuff and works a treat in helping with a blockage lol.

 

[CordeliaJ]

Tried the infacol again yesterday, more screaming and he refused to swallow it, just spat it all out. I think I have to give up trying it.

I can't imagine waiting for boiled water to cool down :S
I find it hard enough when I express and use a bottle warmer to heat it back up - feels like the longest 4 minutes in the world when you have a screaming hungry baby!

He's started feeding every 1/2 hour to an hour now. Tried pacifiers but he seems genuinely hungry that often, must be having a growth spurt. It's awful, DH and I have barely slept. He went back to work today and Ollie has spent most of the morning crying as have I. This is hard work and I only have the one!

Another thing that's worrying me, he's not sleeping more than 1/2 an hour at a time. On off sleeping, crying, fussing, feeding. Haven't been able to calm him down or get him settled for 2 days!

 

[jjbump]

Tried the infacol again yesterday, more screaming and he refused to swallow it, just spat it all out. I think I have to give up trying it.

I can't imagine waiting for boiled water to cool down :S
I find it hard enough when I express and use a bottle warmer to heat it back up - feels like the longest 4 minutes in the world when you have a screaming hungry baby!

He's started feeding every 1/2 hour to an hour now. Tried pacifiers but he seems genuinely hungry that often, must be having a growth spurt. It's awful, DH and I have barely slept. He went back to work today and Ollie has spent most of the morning crying as have I. This is hard work and I only have the one!

Another thing that's worrying me, he's not sleeping more than 1/2 an hour at a time. On off sleeping, crying, fussing, feeding. Haven't been able to calm him down or get him settled for 2 days!

I really feel for you, Cordelia. We also had a bad night where the only solution was for OH to sleep in the spare room and me to co-sleep with LO (something I swore I wouldn't do). Within minutes, LO was fast asleep! LO is also having more milk than usual, so it may be a growth spurt. Have you tried swaddling Ollie? Even though it's fairly warm today, I've swaddled my LO and she's been asleep for a few hours.

Aimee-Lou, agreed - I have to make up the bottles in advance as faffing around making up feeds when my LO is screaming is not ideal!

 

[aimee-lou]

I really feel for you, Cordelia. We also had a bad night where the only solution was for OH to sleep in the spare room and me to co-sleep with LO (something I swore I wouldn't do). Within minutes, LO was fast asleep! LO is also having more milk than usual, so it may be a growth spurt. Have you tried swaddling Ollie? Even though it's fairly warm today, I've swaddled my LO and she's been asleep for a few hours.

Aimee-Lou, agreed - I have to make up the bottles in advance as faffing around making up feeds when my LO is screaming is not ideal!

I swaddle Charlie at night and sometimes in the day if he's particularly upset/tired and can't get himself settled. Works an absolute treat.

Starting bedtimes tonight. He's been passing out at about 9pm most nights this week, so will be starting bedtime at 8.30 tonight. Hoping that he'll be tucked up in bed by 9 and then we'll do a feed when we go up to bed at about 11ish (when he's been naturally waking for a feed anyway). Worth a shot lol.

 

[jjbump]

How's everyone been these last few days? I can't believe 3 weeks have passed!

 

[jjbump]

I swaddle Charlie at night and sometimes in the day if he's particularly upset/tired and can't get himself settled. Works an absolute treat.

Starting bedtimes tonight. He's been passing out at about 9pm most nights this week, so will be starting bedtime at 8.30 tonight. Hoping that he'll be tucked up in bed by 9 and then we'll do a feed when we go up to bed at about 11ish (when he's been naturally waking for a feed anyway). Worth a shot lol.

HOw has the bedtime routine gone? My LO seems to be awake at completely different times of the day and night!

 

[CordeliaJ]

Ollie still seems to feed whenever the hell he wants, no chance of a routine here! I'm finding it hard to get anything done, he needs constant attention & I need sleep!
How's it going with you jjbump?

 

[aimee-lou]

It's going ok- thanks for asking. Worked well for 2 nights, last night was far too hot for him so he was totally unsettled but managed to get him off after his 11pm feed fine as normal. He spent the evening plastered to Daddy which is fine as hubby is away until Monday now lol. Hoping as it's cooler today we'll all have a bath tonight and the kids will all be down by 9.30, then I'll be asleep by 9.45! lol

I too can't believe that 3 weeks have passed. It's my 30th tomorrow (not doing anything as hubby is away) and it really feels like 5 minutes since he arrived, but he's settled in so well and has started to 'wake up' now so is enjoying a bit of playtime on his mat at times, or just pulling faces at me lol. He's even started smiling which is bizarre (started 2-3 days ago) as he's so little. Earl and Eddy were both 4-6weeks before that started!

 

[aimee-lou]

Piccies
1st - Charlie at 10 days
2nd - all 3 boys actually sat still!
3rd - Earl 'playing' with Charlie

 

[jjbump]

Ollie still seems to feed whenever the hell he wants, no chance of a routine here! I'm finding it hard to get anything done, he needs constant attention & I need sleep!
How's it going with you jjbump?

It's going ok, thanks, but I'm dreading Monday when my OH goes back to work. I'm trying to think of a daily routine that will work with my 2 year old. Because my baby is crying a lot with wind, it means I have to ignore my 2 year old's pleas to play with her. When baby is sleeping, I try to spend as much time with her as possible. The feeds at night make me really sleepy during the day, so it's going to be some weeks before things start to improve.

Aimee-Lou, is your baby feeding through the night? How have you managed to teach your baby night from day? I didn't start a bed time routine with my 2 year old until she was around 4 - 6 months, which is when she naturally discerned night from day.

 

[aimee-lou]

Ollie still seems to feed whenever the hell he wants, no chance of a routine here! I'm finding it hard to get anything done, he needs constant attention & I need sleep!
How's it going with you jjbump?

It's going ok, thanks, but I'm dreading Monday when my OH goes back to work. I'm trying to think of a daily routine that will work with my 2 year old. Because my baby is crying a lot with wind, it means I have to ignore my 2 year old's pleas to play with her. When baby is sleeping, I try to spend as much time with her as possible. The feeds at night make me really sleepy during the day, so it's going to be some weeks before things start to improve.

Aimee-Lou, is your baby feeding through the night? How have you managed to teach your baby night from day? I didn't start a bed time routine with my 2 year old until she was around 4 - 6 months, which is when she naturally discerned night from day.

He wakes once, maybe twice in the night. Normal routine is he feeds at about 7 (which is slightly annoying as that's boys bedtime but I try to pre-empt by feeding him if he starts to stir once Eddy has gone to bed at about 6.30 ish, and watching some old bear on you tube with Earl lol).
He'll then wake about 8.30 for some awake time. I've taken this as bath time and play time for roughly 30 minutes, then at 9pm we have always turned all lights down, turned volume down, spoken in more hushed tones etc. I have a warm bottle ready for him, put him in PJs and give him a very quick massage with some lotion. I'll feed him until he's flaked out and then swaddle him. I leave a lamp on and the door open so I can hear him and also so that he can hear the noise from downstairs. If the bedtime routine doesn't work or he's unsettled then I'll take him downstairs until we go up to bed at 10.30/11 and we'll do a quick change and feed and pop him down which 9 times out of 10 works. He'll wake anytime between 1 and 3 depending on how much he has that 11pm feed, and then he'll wake about 4 hours after that feed so if it's 1am, he'll be up again at 5ish. If it's a 3am though he's awake at 7am and we're all up for the day then anyway.
Day and night wise there's distinct differences that we've had since the day he came home. Like I say we always dim lights etc. Bedtime is the only time of the day where he gets a warm bottle - all others are room temp. Night time is really the only time I swaddle (will do it in the day but I try not to to avoid confusion) and he sleeps in his own cot at night, but elsewhere in the day.
I did this with Earl from about 2 weeks and he was in a routine by 6 weeks, Eddy took longer and wasn't in a proper routine until about 14 weeks, but I started to do all the steps with him from about 2 weeks also.

Sorry for the waffle.

 

[CordeliaJ]

jjbump is it getting any easier for you yet?
I've noticed that in the last few days since the weather has been colder, LO has been sleeping slightly longer and seems very comfortable in his onsies (as opposed to the vests he was wearing before). Not sure if that has anything to do with it, having said that he was fussing all last night (up every 1.5 hours), but during the day he was an absolute angel, barely any crying and sleeping lots - probably won't last though, and might have been why the night was so bad.

Aimee-lou you are so organised! That routine is very good for such a young baby. We also try to make an obvious difference with night & day, dim lights, hushed voices, but with the feeding on demand it's hard to set anything by time. Plus I find it hard to do bathtime on my own without DH to help, so we've only been doing that once a week so far.
May I ask what your playtime with Charlie consists of? I would like to do a playtime with Ollie but I don't really know what to do with him at this young age :S

 

[jjbump]

jjbump is it getting any easier for you yet?
I've noticed that in the last few days since the weather has been colder, LO has been sleeping slightly longer and seems very comfortable in his onsies (as opposed to the vests he was wearing before). Not sure if that has anything to do with it, having said that he was fussing all last night (up every 1.5 hours), but during the day he was an absolute angel, barely any crying and sleeping lots - probably won't last though, and might have been why the night was so bad.

Hi Cordelia, things have improved slightly for us regarding feeding times. We decided to increase the amounts of milk, contradicting what the midwife had previously told us. Our baby now has 120ml every 3 - 4 hours. Previously we were feeding around 80 mls every 2 hours. We are managing to feed just once or twice during the night - we usually go to bed around midnight so aim to feed around then. The next feed is usually around 3 - 4am, then 7am. We're usually up by 6am anyway.

All in all things are ok, but I've been feeling a little overwhelmed again, especially as I'm going to be on my own from tomorrow. My 2 year old has started saying she's sad and unhappy all the time, which is making matters worse. My OH and I have spent lots of time with her over the last week, but she just isn't herself. I'm assuming it's just down to the change of having a sibling.

 

[CordeliaJ]

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply! Things got so crazy and bad with Oliver, he has been getting such bad reflux that he was screaming after every feed and only feeding for 5 minutes at a time. Yesterday was possibly the worst day ever and he screamed almost the entire day. Eventually we had to take him to hospital (when DH got home), and they said that it was reflux and wind combined, but because he's gaining weight and well otherwise, they didn't want to give him any meds for it.

jjbump, I'm so sorry that your LO is feeling unhappy, I am sure she will settle down soon - getting a new sibling that takes up a lot of her parents attention is a hard adjustment, but I'm sure she will adjust. Just carry on reminding her how important she is to the family and she will understand eventually. Don't feel down, you are doing everything right, and you sound like a great parent, so just remember it's not your fault that she feels that way.

I think it's best to do the feeding in whatever way works best for you, so ignore what the midwife said. Today I have been giving Ollie short but regular feeds which seems to have helped his reflux (smaller amounts for his body to digest at a time), as opposed to the long feeds the midwife kept suggesting to me.
It's also mine and DH's wedding anniversary on saturday, and I'm worried about leaving him with the in laws, especially with this reflux problem. We haven't left him with anyone yet, so I'm not sure how it's going to be. I'm sure I will struggle as well, but I know we've got to leave him at some point!

 

[jjbump]

Hi ladies,

Hope you're all ok. We've had colds in our family and general fatigue, so been lying low for a few days. Amelia has been feeding well and has put on lots of weight, as noted during our health visitor appointment this week.

The wind still continues to be a problem, but we're hoping it won't be much longer before her digestive system matures.

How is everyone else?
xx

 

[aimee-lou]

Not been around much either - had a bad time at home with illness and being generally too busy to function much beyond fire-fighting. Earl was acting up, Eddy was teething, Charlie had the growth spurt to end all growth spurts and we all came down with a lurgy - plus hubby went away for a 4 day stint and we bought a new car.

Back to some semblence of normality now. Earl is at pre-school 3 mornings a week and hubby starts back at Uni this week so we can start to get into a proper daytime routine very soon

Charlie is doing well...weighed him at 1 month and he was 13lb1oz! That's a crazy weight gain of circa 1lb a week which isn't surprising given his eating habits of 6oz every 3-4 hours lol. I've had to pack away all of his 0-3m clothes which was hard and brought up a lot of broody feelings but they seem to have gone now and I'm actually really thrilled to be back on the pill and thinking about the future (pre-school got the waiting list out and put Charlie on it...he'll start in September 2015!! ). Holiday for next year is booked and everything!!

Hope we're all doing ok. I'll try to check in more often lol.

 

[CordeliaJ]

Still trying to get myself out of the house, I haven't managed to brave it with the pushchair and the train by myself though. Have only done local walking trips to the park or village etc. When DH is with me at the weekend we go places in the car, but I don't drive which is pretty useless!

We had a peak of some seriously bad crying with Ollie, it was 3 hours almost every evening. Not sure if it was just a phase, or if I've managed to weed it out with my tactics. 1. I started a routine, and he gets more naps during the day (and on a fairly regular schedule) than he used to, and 2. I give him one formula feed of the cow & gate comfort formula at around 4-5pm right before his worst crying time used to start. We have had 5 cry-free days (cry-free in that he doesn't cry for longer than about 20 mins at a time, and usually for a reason), so I have my fingers crossed that it sticks. He still gets wind, but it passes, and we usually only have about 5-10 mins of crying with the wind.

Sorry to hear about the colds! I'm dreading Ollie's first cold, and me and DH looking after him if we've got colds as well, something to look forward to! Haha.

Aimee-Lou you still sound so organised even with everything that's going on, wow!

 

[aimee-lou]

Cordelia - the first cold is an eye-opener but I'm so used to it now....you learn to function on double doses of cold remedy and tea lol. Going to bed as soon as you physically can as well....dash the housework, it'll still be there when you're well (unfortunately) and rest will help you get better quicker. It's worse for the littlies though as they don't get much respite and I had to put Charlie in the bathroom with the shower running to clear his chest one time which wasn't fun for anyone. All better now though (except Eddy but he's in the endless snots stage which is wonderful...not. It lasted for nearly a year with Earl! )

I wouldn't go as far as to say organised. although I have got Charlie into a pretty regular routine now, and his nap is now timed with Eddy's (hence why I'm able to come on here at this time of day ! lol) and I've now got the school run mornings down to an art....which is handy as hubby has been a bit run down and needed extra sleep so couldn't help with them at all last week. I'm also losing weight thanks to a 3mile round trip twice a day, with the double pushchair fully laden! lol I was sat at 10st8.5 for ages which is about 8lb higher than my normal weight and a full stone above my pre-pregnancy weight. Now gone down to 10st6 without really trying.....walking lots and swapped snacks to healthier options (yoghurts and fruit, not biscuits! lol). Hoping to be down to 10st by the end of October as that's Earl's birthday (can't believe he will be 4! ) and we'll be seeing all the family then and hubby's family especially are all size 8 and skinny rakes! lol

Anyway, Charlie needs his feed and I need to crack on with the washing. Glad to hear things are improving on the wind front. Routine helps you to relax which Ollie may be picking up on Hope it continues!

 

[Trishg21]

Hi ladies! Mind if I join you all?

My little lady was born 8/30/13 and placed with us through the miracle of adoption. This is our first child and we are trying to navigate these tricky waters! I hope to get to know all of you as well