April & May 2008

[Mandy J]

Hi Everyone,

Ellie has settled in well with us, it does feel strange that this little person can totally take over your life, everything seems to take so much longer to do, just going to the shops seems to be a major event.

I had a practice run at getting ready for work, and did quite well this morning, we had fed Ellie, I'd been showered and changed and the house tidy before 9am....but then things went totally downhill....so I figure if I can manage to get to work by 2.30pm and finish by Ellies 4pm feed, we will be doing extremely well!!!!! Luckily I still have another 4-5 weeks off work, so a few more practice runs and we might get our routine sorted.

Ellie hasn't gained any weight this week, so the health visitor is keeping a close eye on her, I get a bit irritated with their conficting advise now, it's just that each one that comes, seems to tell me something different, and I just don't know where I stand anymore!

I was told to supplement her feed with expressed milk, then told not to, now they want me to supplement again, the only thing is that my breasts won't produce the extra for expressing now...so that will probably take a couple of days to come back again...by then the health visitor will change their mind yet again!

Ellie seems to sleep a huge amount, I know thats what babies do, but its as though she just sleeps and eats...is this normal? She only wakes up through the night for one feed, I have to wake her up for all other feeds...is this normal? Is anything normal ever again?????

We've been out and about doing lots of visiting, the amount of gifts we have received, which is great as we didn't have any preemieclothes to fit, andpeople have been so kind, we now have enough for the next month, when hopefully she will catch up to a reasonable weight.

We are going to see DH's children this weekend so they can meet their little half sister, it will be so nice to see them, and they are excited, they are all in their 20's now, so they will probably spoil her rotten!

I am loving being a Mum, sometimes I feel a bit inadequate and unsure of myself, but know realistically that we all have moments when we feel vulnerable.

We are moving house in about 3 weeks, I just can't wait,it is such a pain living on a main road in an upstairs flat, trying to get the pram, car seat, baby etc in the car, before the dreaded parking warden comes along with a ticket!!!! It will be so good to have a garden at long last too!

Love to you all

Mandy
x

[Vlada]

Oh Man,
My baby cries A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sooooo tired. It is almost impossible to put her to bed at night and during the day she only naps about 2 hours. Anyone else here with super screaming baby?

[kipatte]

Hi Everyone:

I haven't posted in awhile.. time just got away from me. Stephanie is doing really good, but we are having a little formula adjustment. We were boiling the water then mixing bottles throughout the day at room temperature.... then someone posted that the water needs to be hot when you mix the formula. We called Aptimil and yes.... it needs to be hot, waiting 30 min after you boil in the kettle. So I am now refridgerating and need to buy bottle warmers.

We were constipated on Farley's so switched to Aptimal but now she is too loose. What to do? She is also fussier now. Any suggestions?

Crying baby.....more later.

[woodcliff]

Oh my god, Mandy, your baby sleeps a lot?
Please, send us all some of that baby dust!!!! Mine fooled me at 7+ weeks on Friday night, when they LOOKED Like they might actually go from 11:00 pm to 4 or 5 am (meaning an 11:00 feed, then down at midnight or whenever to sleep)...but nooooooo, the past 2 nights it's up at 2, then 4, then...

Twins are definitely fun, but twice the work! Someone is always hungry, or crying, or wet, or dirty, or sleeping...or, better yet...SMILING

Or crying.
Crying is so hard to figure out...
Mandy, rent happiest baby on the block...it's a short DVD (20 or 30 min?) that shows ways to calm the baby...swaddling, etc...

OK...babies have colds. As do I. Damn nanny brought them in...I'll never let HER back in my home again...grrrrr

[robinsonpr]

Hi Everyone, hope you are all doing well!

Woodcliff...my little ones are also tempting me with more than 3 hours sleep at a time. They have been fairly good for the past few days, feeding 5oz at 11pm and then the next one at 3am, then 7am. It was looking like they might go slightly longer, because it tends to be one or the other that wakes up for the feed, and the other would still be sound asleep. But when one wakes up I am tending to get the other one to stir too so they can be fed at the same time (I really don't want them to get out of sync with each other). But last night was back to reality...one was really restless after the 11pm feed so I didn't get much sleep. Then the other one was restless after the 3am feed so again I wasn't allowed any sleep. I don't know what I did "wrong", guess it was just one of those things. They are 6 weeks old now, only 3 weeks past their full term due date so I think I'm hoping for too much at this early stage.

Kipatte, I also use Aptamil. I was using Aptamil 1 but Jack has reflux so I tried Easy Digest and it was much better...it's a thicker formula which helped him feed better and he keeps it down more. I've had many a discussion with the Aptamil people about making up feeds! I am not always leaving the water 30 minutes to cool before mixing up...I do when I have time but when they're screaming sometimes I just leave it a few minutes, which Aptamil said this was fine. With regards to making up and refrigerating: During the night making up on demand was killing me. I have a bottle warmer but that was also a pain in the middle of the night as the Dr Browns Natural Flow bottles don't work well with bottle warmers, and leak the formula out when you heat them up unless you dismantle them. So now I do this (JUST for the night feeds).... I boil the kettle and wait for it to cool down a bit. I add enough water for HALF the feed. Eg for a 5oz feed I add approx 2.5oz water to the bottles. I then add ALL the formula - 5 scoops. Mix well, seal, cool, then refrigerate. When I need a feed in the night I boil fresh water, get a bottle from the fridge, and add boiling water to take the feed up to the 5oz. And mix. After this the bottle is at just the right temperature to give to the babies straight away, and it's very little messing about. I've been doing this for a week now and it seems to be working well - the formula mixes in fine.

How about changing nappies in the night feed? I've read quite alot of information about eventually dropping the night feed and the advice is to not change the nappy (diaper!) unless it's really wet or has a number 2 in it. The reasoning behind this being that changing will wake the baby too much and make it difficult to get back to sleep. I tried this last night and at the 3am feed Jack wasn't really dirty, so I left him. He didn't go back to sleep any easier, but then this morning he was all wet up his back. I felt terrible!!!! So I don't think I'll be trying that again.

When do we start thinking about trying to eliminate the pesky night feed? And how to go about doing it???

How does anybody else put their babies down? I read lots about making sure baby is awake when you put him in his crib, rather than letting him fall asleep while feeding or by cuddling him afterwards. I've tried this many times when the babies seem calm and they just go nuts when I put them in the crib. So for the sake of my sanity I am usually letting them fall asleep on me and then putting in the cribs. Again maybe it's too early to be expecting them to go down on their own? I've read that babies don't really learn any bad sleep habits before 3 months, and many books say do whatever you have to in order to get the babies to sleep during these early weeks. What are you thoughts?

Geez I'm tired.......

Hayley xx

[kipatte]

Haley... thanks for the advice on the aptimil and the boiling water. I will try that. Our Fridge is on the first floor and the nursery is on the 3rd floor. Sending hubby out for another kettle and a small fridge to keep on the 3rd floor. This up and down is killing me.

I also read you can't develop bad habits until after 2-3 months because the baby does not have any self soothing skills so do what you have to do. We have some nights where she will sleep in her cot and others where we bring her to bed or we would not get any sleep. We try the cot first of course. I am not going to worry about it until she is 2-3 months and we have established a bedtime. Right now she is eating and sleeping on a 3-4 hours schedule and we never know what feed she will stay awake between. She is sleeping between feeds in the night thank goodness.

Cocoa.... I am in for the parenting thread.

Vlada...... I've heard many stories about babies who cry all the time. I would make sure you rule out acid reflex and colic though because if this is the case there is medicine to help!

I am also tired and brain dead!

Bye for now.

K

[Cocoa]

Hi Ladies!!!

I love all the discussions about nightime feedings and making formula!!! I am in the SAME boat with you all! I am using Enfamil Lipil but have begun using the Gentle formula too because the babies were fussy at night - it has helped a lot! What I do is boil half the water and then measure in enough formula for twice the amount. I mix that and then add the rest of the water so its just the right temp for an immediate feed. If I have to refrigerate the bottles then I to use them I pour the bottle contents into a ceramic mug, heat in the microwave for 25 seconds and which is just enough to take the cold edge off and then pour back into the bottle to feed. There is no microwaving the plastic or any danger of the formula being too hot in the middle. They are doing well...

To answer the concern about changing diapers with each feed... YES, do that! but change them BEFORE you feed them. It helps awaken them just enough to make feeding efficient and more quick than if they are still slightly sleepy. The feeding will help put them to sleep anyway. I have to sometimes allow one or both of them to fall asleep on their bellies in the crib to get them to sleep in the crib but then I turn them over when they are "snoring" Its working. They are still together in the bassinette but I am changing that after this weekend. They will be sleeping in the big baby cribs and I will have the monitor on. It will be up and down the stairs for me (right now we are sleeping downstairs) when they need to eat but the transition will happen soon enough and they will be all grown up soon after that so the exhaustion doesn't bother me...

VLADA!!!! You poor dear! It sounds like your sweet baby has the same difficulty my older son had when he was a baby. Try giving her Mylicon before every feed. It doesn't get absorbed into the system so its quite safe to do before EVERY feed. You give her 0.3ml. Also, you may have to switch formulas and if you're BFing try cutting out all dairy products. I hope she settles in for you. I remember how terrible a cranky baby can make what should be a beautiful experience...

I will start the parent board thread Sunday night!

oxoxCocoa

[robinsonpr]

Hi Cocoa, yes I've gone back to changing just before every feed...I much prefer it and you're right, it wakes them up enough to get them to feed properly.

Last night was better, though I think they are still a bit out of step with day and night... Bathed and fed them at 7pm, didn't seem sleepy at all but tried to put them down anyway. They didn't want to know. DH put one in the sling and managed to get him to doze off, other one was wide awake...so we swapped them. As soon as we put sleepy in the crib he woke up again. And that cycle continued for a couple of hours! They obviously just didn't want to sleep. So we made it to 11pm and they'd had a bit of sleep. Fed them and they went off fine at midnight. Woke again at 3.30am and fed at 4am, and went off again until 6.30am. However they wouldn't take hardly any of their 7am feed and just wanted to sleep. So it's almost like they just need to pull their body clocks back a bit. I think I might be the culprit here. Pretty much every day up until now we've been going back to bed after the 7am feed. Meaning curtains closed, back in crib for "proper" sleep until 10-11am. Meaning they don't see ANY daylight until 11am!! So I'm thinking their day is starting way too late... sound feasible to you? I'm making sure I get them up and open the curtains at 7am from now to see if it helps. It will mean I'll lose a valuable couple of hours sleep, but maybe I can get them back in the early evening if things work out the way I'm hoping!

Now..feeding again. My Aptamil box says that for their weight (one is 7.5lb, one 8.5lb) they should be taking 3oz formula 6 times a day. But my little ones were regularly draining 3oz so we put them on 4oz. They then started regularly draining that so are now on 5oz x 6! They quite frequently drain that too but I'm loath to give them even more as I'm already worried that I'm overfeeding them. I read that they will only take as much as they need, but I don't want to turn my babies into little fatties. Could I be overfeeding them? I think if I stopped them at 4oz they would scream for more!

Bye for now!

Love, Hayley xx

[woodcliff]

Hayley, I don't know if you can overfeed a baby...your babies will let you know when they've had too much...mine are 8 weeks old now and almost 10 pounds each...
LIttle girl eats 3.5 to 4 oz
Boy eats 4 - 5 oz
some feedings, they don't eat as much ...
they eat every 3 hrs, estimated...

best of luck to you all.

[Cocoa]

OMG!!! Girls are you KIDDING!!! My babies are 8 weeks today and they weigh 10 pounds!!! They are eating 6oz+ (little girl) and 5oz (little boy at each feed which are about 3 1/2 hours apart. Baby girl sleeps a whole lot more soundly and WANTS to sleep 4 hours at a time but baby boy screams wake her up Sometimes they are on the same schedule (well, close) and sometimes not which can have me up for 2 1/2 hours in the middle of the night.

We get out of bed by 8 and there's always light coming in but Hayley it DOES sound as if their DAY time starts too late which is why their nighttime does too... My babies do sleep between 8 and 11 or 9 and midnight (depending onw when I get the baths done - they get their bath after their dinner feed and THAT happens when their daily timing calls for it!)

I am telling you... having had a single and now twins I can tell you that twins are geometrically more work! Like having FOUR!!!

screaming baby gotta go...

ox Cocoa

[woodcliff]

Question for you ladies, do you have rules as to who can take your babies out and who can not?
We just started taking the babies out for stroller rides.
OK: re: My nanny...she is really good, I must note, and has taken care of twins before so is not stupid...
she had asked me this morning if she could take the babies out...I said yes, thinking she meant around the block.
She did not say 'good bye' ...
and 1+ hours later, I called her...she'd taken them far, to a part about 3/4 of a mile away, and was walking home...
25 minutes AFTER that she came back coming from a diff. direction...which means she extended her walk
I was so pissed off...I told her she had to tell me when she's leaving, for how long, where she is going...she was so casual about it she did not bring diapers, bottles, etc...and it is hot out!
It is the first time I"ve been seriously pissed off at her, as I noted she is really good and efficient but this is not acceptable.
What do you all think?
I told her no more walks for now. They are only 8 weeks old!
grrrrrrr
thank you

[Cocoa]

Hey WC... 8 weeks is certainly not too young to go for an extended walk. Things to look out for - overhead sun, coverage (hats, long pants or blanket or stroller cover depending on the heat). That said... it is YOU who makes the decision depending on how you FEEL about it! If you are uncomfortable with the long walks then you tell her -you are the one with the last word. If your nanny wants to walk for her own exercise then discuss this is give her an hour to walk if need be - by herself mind you! I am trying to power walk with the babies but mostly I have to go without cause no one really wants to walk with me...

Please let us know if you have discussed this with her and how it went. Her unconcerned attitude I am sure is from her having had experience so not to worry...

Gotta go...oxoxCocoa

[Cocoa]

WE HAVE A PARENT BOARD THREAD NOW LADIES!!!!

SEE YOU THERE!

XXXCOCOA