April 2013 Babies

Mrs JCD - nice to hear from you. You sound busy!

Ashley loves a decent play time. She really thrives when she is on her play mat/gym thing or bouncer. Even just on my knee sitting up or having cuddles with someone. She doesn't go on her mat or bouncer every awake time, but always has a sit on someone's knee, watching the world or whatever.

Good question re the Pamol. I was wondering that too. Plunket rec I get some just incase so may do that.

Do your wee ones get the hiccups? Ashley gets them at least twice a day and they really bug her! She gets so frustrated! It sometimes. Delays her going downs few mins til they go, as she would never settle with them.

Cool you have started a coffee group JCD. I have got one lined up for next month so looking forward to that. I am going to a sleep/massage thing run by Plunket next week so that's something to look forward to.

Last night was such a good night. Ashley was down by7pm. Woke at 12am for quick feed. Straight back down, no noise from her at all. The awake again at 5amfor another quick feed. Straight back down and up again at 8.15am. So I'm feeling good today. Decent sleeps and no issues whatsoever about going back down. Yay. I've even been out doing gardening and washing windows lol.

It is such a nice day here today...the calm before the storm I think. Heard we are getting sleety showers early this week. Yay for being a stay at home mum :) best job in the world.

Also, I ordered a miracle blanket. Will see how that goes...although I'm not bad at wrapping her in now. She doesn't escape often!

Sorry about my terrible grammar...the iPad auto corrects and i don't always proof read!

Our play time is the same as Specks. Depends but usually after a feed, unless she only had short sleep.

Lucky you with the nice weather! It's meant to be snow weather here tomorrow!

Edited by emma_3335 - 27 May 2013 at 8:20am

Aw Bobsta. I don't have any advice but seek help if you don't think something is right?
We had a rough patch last night, I'm sure Ashley had a sore tummy and wind. It was horrible. I can't imagine what bubbas with reflux go through.

Fingers crossed you get through the rough patch. Your very lucky getting 8hours a night so a least that's something. Maybe phone Plunket? Or your midwife if she is still on board?

Hugs :)

Speaking of feeding and reflux etc...questions....

Do you ladies eat anything special for breastfeeding, avoid foods etc? Assuming you are still bf

Have you expressed or fed from bottle etc?

Do you burp your wee one? Do they get wind? Have you used gripe water or anything else if bad?

Rachie... Sorry to hear you are having troubles. Good luck with your wee one

Edited by emma_3335 - 27 May 2013 at 12:30pm

Awwww Bobsta - huge hugs! Don't worry at all about ranting, this is what this forum is for! You're so right that the only constant with babies is change. They're like a Rubiks Cube, you're constantly trying to figure them out but then when you do they go changing on you - argh! Fingers crossed she's just going through an unsettled couple of days and will come right in the end. Just play around with a few things - keep her up for longer/shorter, burp more/less, leave her to self settle in between cycles for longer if you can etc etc. And yes Plunketline are an amazing support. My DS1 had silent reflux but he screamed pretty much non-stop for the first 6 weeks and woke 4 times a night so totally different from little Lili. I have been playing around with stretching Josh out longer during his awake time. It used to be that at the first grizzle I'd put him down but now I'm like well maybe he just needs a change of scene or a change in position. He is absolutely loving nappy free time at the moment and can do that for maybe 10 or 15mins so that has been good.

Emma - I too have been avoiding caffeine but that's it. I eat everything else. On no wait, I'm not eating eggs or peanuts because DS1 is allergic to them so I'm hoping Josh won't be.

We introduced a bottle at 3 weeks as a top up before the evening sleep and have kept it up every night. I was really keen for Josh to take a bottle early as a lot of babies don't take it if you don't introduce it until later down the track. Initially it was expressed milk but I just don't have time to express with DS1 needing my attention so we just do formula now. The first couple of times took a little persuasion (rocking him in my arms as I gave him the bottle) but he has the hang of it now.

And yes I burp after every feed. He usually brings a good one up but if he doesn't and doesn't seem bothered I don't worry about it. I use Infacol occasionally if he's going through a windy patch and it works pretty good.

Well I took both boys out today for a semi-successful outing to the library and park. But gosh there's so much more to take when there's two of them. I had Josh in the frontpack and DS1 in the buggy plus a large bag of books to return and then the nappy bag filled with nappies for both and snacks for DS1 on my back - sure is a workout. Josh was fantastic and even slept a little in the frontpack but DS1 is hard work! He can just be so naughty sometimes. I think DH and I have been too soft on him so I got out Nigel Latta's book from the library and I think we need to introduce some firm rules - argh!

*Lurker*
Hey Bobsta! Haven't been around for awhile, but just wanted to pop in and say a huge CONGRATULATIONS!!

Also, Holly was a super windy baby (although I wasn't very good at winding her), and I tried both infacol and gripe water (the Woodwards one). It was a total lifesaver!! Also someone recommended lifting her legs up and pushing into her tummy and moving them like she was riding a bicycle, and that seemed to help get out some of the wind.
Hope you can find something that helps, and hopefully she grows out of it before too long!

Congratulations to everyone else as well, and big hugs! You guys are doing awesomely. It is definitely the hardest job in the world being a mummy but it is the best as well

Yeah she sort of said they only need proper winding if they have had a good cry or been on a bottle. Silly really.

Last night Ashley wouldn't go back down after her feeds. She slept the usual amount of time, but once she was fed, she wouldn't go back down for a good hour or two. Is usually only 15 mins or so and back to bed, no dramas. Sigh. I'm knackered today. She has been napping all morning now as a result. I should be napping too but I'm not a huge napper.

My partner has tomorrow, fri, mon and tues off so that might be good. Although I getting very frustrated with him as he is so reluctant to help. He uses the excuse that she only wants me (kind of true) but he's not trying either. I fed up and it's making me more resentful. He still goes out, does what he wants and doesn't think its an issue. Will see how the next few days with him go.

Had a Plunket group massage thing yesterday. Was nice to get out and about and meet some other mums. Although all the bubs were much older...around 4 months. So hopefully the actual coffee group has some smaller bubs. It made me feel good though, they were majorly impressed I was out and about and how good and content Ashley was. Some of their wee ones had never gone to bed on their own so we are all doing so well :)

Emma I'm shocked your m/w said you don't need to wind her! All babies take in air when they feed, regardless if it's breast or bottle. Bottle fed babies can take in MORE wind but they ALL need burping to avoid the screaming pain that can happen if the air gets trapped. Grrrrrr, it's things like that that can make it so hard for first time mums! Glad you realised and have ignored her advice! Glad the expressing went well. Did you get an electric one? I almost got a manual one as I don't do it often but I'm so glad I ended up getting an electric one as although my supply is good, I can't imagine doing that pumping by hand!!

Hello from San Francisco! I'm sitting here typing while breastpumping - isn't motherhood glam?!

We had a really good plane trip - Lara only woke once outside her normal sleep times and even managed the crazy 1 hour passport queue coming in. She had a big meltdown in the car coming to our new apartment so had to feed her in the backseat while we were on the move - thankfully no traffic cops were around!

How is everyone doing? Speck - that's an amazing sleep by Josh, well done!! And great to hear that they will be down to two day naps in a few months. Of course, that probably means we will be spending a lot more time entertaining them! And aren't MILs amazing for entertaining them!

Lara is really starting to interact now and loves playtime. She definitely needs more time up for activity than most babies (well, from what I hear anyway!) and is normally up for at least 1.5 hours at a time.

Our new apartment is super central - so lots of traffic noise. No need to play white noise during her sleeps - just open the window! It's also very compact with 2 bedrooms, so unfortunately more difficult for me to get an early night when DH settles her to bed. I must admit that I'm missing home already, but off to do a little bit of exploring today, so hopefully that will help.

Have a wonderful day ladies - hope you get some wonderful naptimes today :)

Hi all

Quick update, sorry been a weekend that's for sure. My partner has been off work since thurs so that has been good. Especially as we had six week check and vaccinations on Friday (which Ashley hated!). She did well, but needed some Pamol after about 5 hours. She spat most of it out but it seemed to help.
On Saturday it was a different story. I think that was the real six week growth spurt. She was horrible, fed all day, only had wee naps and we were both buggered. It was hard work and we struggled.
She is now back to normal but honestly seems to have shot up overnight. She looks huge today! I must try and measure her and weigh her. They didn't measure her on Friday so will be interesting.

Mrs JCD...woohoo your in the States, hope all is going well. You a very brave.
Speck...well done on your massive 11 hour sleep. We are only getting 5hr stretches but happy with that as she is fully bf. hopefully the six week mark improves that. I have heard after six weeks, they usually sleep better and settle down ...fingers crossed.
Bobsta...thank you so much for the advice. I did read it the other day, just couldn't reply. My partner does go and do his thing. It's when he is home and reluctant that bugs me. He has really been a good help over the last week during his time off, think he is itching to go back to work though!

Tried the expressed bottle again today, as I had to go to the dentist. Yay...she took it :)

Ashley is also super active and tiring! She is so nosey, always wanting to know what's going on