*~*~* The Decemberists! *~*~*

[smawfl]

We felt the same Gaia!

A wasn't windy either at the start. Then after a couple if weeks I think once my milk supply had increased she started needing to wind,perhaps as she was struggling yo keep up and taking air in. We need to burp her after every feed now,it's nit true that breastfed babies don't need winding!

 

[Pusscat]

Happy December decemberists! Can you believe it's come around again? It was such an exciting time. And now most of us are sat here with our babies What a crazy and amazing year. 17 days until Emilia's conception birthday! Not long until she has existed in some form for a whole year.

Gaia - from my experience Emilia's night sleep is totally unaffected by her day sleep, contrary to MIL's warnings that if she sleeps too much in the day she won't sleep at night. It doesn't work like that. Let him enjoy his daytime snoozes And as for the gas, yep, Emilia has struggled with that. It went away for a couple of weeks. She seemed to get a lot better at burping and would usually let one out as soon as I sat her up. However, it has returned with a vengence the past couple of days. Maybe it's something I ate? Feels different now I know she is able to get it out sometimes though, not so worried about it. Have faith that he will learn how to get the burps out soon

 

[smawfl]

Happy December Decemberists! Hehe!

Where has the year gone?!

How is everyone doing? We went to a Baby Sensory class today and A giggles for the first time! So cute,she loved it! We will start the course in January so looking forward to it!

Baby massage also starts in January.

I'm currently busy trying to plan her christening in February. Then we also have the in laws over for Christmas dinner then DH's bro and sis and their families over for boxing day so I'm going to be busy!

Hope everyone is well!

 

[gaiagirl]

How's everyone doing?! We are well on this end...can't believe he is 4 weeks! Seems like we have had him MUCH longer! He's getting big and still waking up twice a night, no big changes there. Still really gassy between 4-7am which can make for fussy early mornings.

We survived our outings (one all day and one just me alone) but going anywhere is SO much more difficult with a baby! Wow!

Everyone ready for the holidays?! I did some shopping and it wiped me out so we aren't doing much for gifts this year, it's just too much!

ALL of my friends are sick or have sick kids so I haven't gotten much social time lately. I am still paranoid about keeping him away from germs!

 

[smawfl]

My baby girl has a cold booo. She did so well not to catch it when DH and i had one earlier in the week. I thought she may have had my antibodies to protect her but i guess she caught a different cokd virus.
She still seems perky with no temperature which is good,but she hates when we use the snot sucker to clear her little nose!

 

[minimoocow]

Hello ladies

Just catching up with your baby news.

I have some non-baby news of my own. I've got a new job! Which means we are taking a couple of months break ttc while I work my notice and settle into the new post. It feels like I'm back in wtt again with is strangely ok with me as I was starting to find trying stressful.

I've also made us a docs appointment for the week after next so hopefully well get some answers soon . . .

Mini

 

[smawfl]

Congratulations on the job Mini!! So pleased for you!
Keep us updated on the docs xxx

 

[seaweed eater]

Happy December everyone! I can't believe it is almost 2013!!

Mini, congratulations on your new job I hope the transition is going well. Glad it feels good to take a break.

Smawfl, I'm sorry A is sick (and that you and DH were too!) and Gaia, I'm sorry that germs are preventing you from having social time! I am totally still paranoid about Munchkin getting sick, too. I guess I will have to let it go once he starts daycare (not sure when that will be, possibly sometime in the spring)...but I claim the right to be neurotic until then.

Happy 4 weeks, Fin! I can't believe he is 4 weeks, either! Are you planning to start expressing milk?

Things are good here. In-laws are leaving Wednesday. I was anxious about having them here, but it turned out to be really great! I love seeing how well Munchkin gets along with them. And I will miss my MIL's cooking. DH will have some time off starting soon though, so at least I will have more of his help at home.

I know not everyone is still spending much time on BnB, but for those who are, I started a journal -- take a look if you are interested.

 

[gaiagirl]

Mini - Congrats on the job! New start for a new year

Smawfl - That sucks! I am glad shes handling it well though...really a cold is not that bad. It is the FLU that I am paranoid about...

He will be just over 6 weeks at xmas time when we are visiting family. I am kind of wondering how I can say NO to passing him around without pissing people off...but I am really not comfortable with it! Ugh. Maybe we should just stay home, lol.

I would like to start pumping but I dont really know where to start and how to go about it without messing with supply...what do you ladies do?

 

[seaweed eater]

I added a regular daily pumping session...actually two at first since I wasn't getting much, but my output has increased a lot so I dropped the second one a few weeks ago (without any issues as far as I can tell). The way I understand it, I did increase my supply, but I am always removing the extra milk at the same time every day so it does not cause problems for Munchkin. I also try to replace any bottles we give him by pumping as much as he eats (or as close as possible) as soon as possible afterward, but I don't always get to it and the LC i spoke to said it shouldn't be a big deal at this point. I think your supply is a bit more sensitive until about 6 weeks though.

It kind of depends on how much you get out of your pump, I think...and whether you want to build a freezer supply. In the most straightforward scenario, you are not trying to build a stash, and you can pump enough in one session for one bottle. Then you can just pump once to replace each bottle. It also depends on your supply in general. If you have enough that you generally do one boob per feed (I don't), you can pump the other side during each feed (as many as you need), or give one side throughout the night and pump the other side in the morning. Or, something else you can do is pump for five minutes after each feed...I never got much that way, but it seems to work for a lot of people. In general pumping in the morning (or middle of the night) is good since your supply is highest then.

 

[Pusscat]

Mini - congratulations on the new job. Hope you settle in quickly and enjoy the break from the stresses of TTC

Gaia - have you had the flu vaccination? You can get them free on the NHS if you've just had a baby in the UK. I know that won't be the case where you are but shouldn't cost too much if you have to pay. I've had a cold the past week and I think the only way it affected Emilia was she had a gunky eye for one day. I got some drops for it but it was better the next day.

Seaweed - I shall have a look at your journal once I've finished here!

I haven't got into any routine with my pumping and I'm not planning to at the moment. Emilia is enough of a handful without having to think about pumping - she doesn't really sleep in the day. So I'm just pumping when I need to eg when I'm going out for the night (which I've only done once) I have to pump at least twice to get 1 feed's worth of milk.

Gaia - will you be joining the Facebook group? I'd love to see a photo of your LO

Smawfl - aww, so lovely to hear you got your first giggle What kind of things do you do in baby sensory? I've just signed up for baby signing starting next year. Think she'll really enjoy all the singing. She does excited squeals but no giggles yet. She's also started doing the high pitched squeals when she cries sometimes. It's like she has discovered this amazing new thing her voice can do so wants to do it at every opportunity!

 

[gaiagirl]

Pusscat - we do get the vaccine free for having a small child and DH and I got it, but it's still only 50% effective...

I just don't like people handling my baby! Lol Also we haven't been in any large groups yet and I wonder about him getting overstimulated?

Oh well guess we will have to suck it up, and nag everyone about washing their hands!

 

[seaweed eater]

Gaia, Munchkin definitely tends to get overstimulated when there are lots of people around, and I have found it is essential to have the carrier with me in all such situations. When he gets really overstimulated sometimes the only way he can fall asleep is if I wear him.

Pusscat, I have heard from mothers of older babies in baby group that they go through a phase around 3-4 months where they like to make loud, high-pitched happy squeals, just to hear themselves do it. The group facilitator calls it the "pterodactyl phase"!

 

[Pusscat]

Pusscat - we do get the vaccine free for having a small child and DH and I got it, but it's still only 50% effective...

I just don't like people handling my baby! Lol Also we haven't been in any large groups yet and I wonder about him getting overstimulated?

Oh well guess we will have to suck it up, and nag everyone about washing their hands!

I didn't realise it's not 100%

I also agree Emilia can get overstimulated when there's lots of other babies around and it can be difficult to feed her in those situations. Definitely agree with using a sling to calm things down. It's so lovely seeing her with other babies though, I love it when they look at each other and smile Have you got some groups in mind that you want to go to?

Seaweed - the pterodactyl phase sounds about right. That's exactly what she does. You can see her listening as she squeals and then repeats it It is funny.

 

[gaiagirl]

Ladies, what would you do:
My best friend came down with the flu last Tuesday (Dec 4). She was supposed to come over yesterday (Dec 10) but I cancelled because I thought it was too close to when she got sick...now she wants us to come to her house this weekend (Dec 15) for dinner. It will have been 11 days after her first symptoms, and everything I have read says you are only contagious 5-7 days after symptoms...

If it were a cold I would think nothing after 11 days, but the flu terrifies me...

Thoughts?

 

[Pusscat]

Can you rearrange for the weekend after? Not worth going if you're not going to be relaxed because you're stressing about if she's getting germs on your baby! I think you'd be safe to go this weekend though. Just ask her to wash her hands before she holds baby.

 

[smawfl]

I agree, as he's so small I'd rearrange. I'm sure she will understand and if it was the otherway round I'm sure she'd do the same x

 

[gaiagirl]

We can't do the weekend after as we are all leaving town for the holidays

I think she will think I'm insane...her doctor told her shes only contagious if she has a fever?! Ugh I don't want to say no...maybe I'll ask Friday if she is coughing or congested at all still?

 

[seaweed eater]

If you don't want to rearrange, I would say go and just wash your hands a lot, and ask her not to hold him or perhaps even get close to him. I don't think she'll think you're insane, though. And even if she does think so...you're not.

Edited to add: I definitely would not go if she is still having symptoms.

 

[Pusscat]

Emilia has just confirmed she is entering the 12 week growth spurt week. We went to school and she had the biggest meltdown ever! I was sitting in the staff room with her and she was fine when there were just 3 other people in there with us, chatting and smiling away. But then everyone else came in and she suddenly let out the biggest wail Her bottom lip dropped and she cried lots and lots of real tears. Nothing would calm her down and she was so distressed. She was even too upset to feed. Proper stranger fear. It's the first time it's happened - usually she's very smiley and interested in new faces. We just had to come home because northing was working. Even when I did her calm, the moment she caught sight of someone she didn't know she started wailing again. It really effected me and I cried on the drive home. But I know it's a developmental stage they go through. It was really stressful though. We're going back next week for the nativity and trying to think how I can keep her happy. Think I might try the sling.