alieh

Is this on tonight? What time if so? Thanks Jamma!

Hi Jamma, Have PMed you on behalf of my sig other. Alie

That's wonderful. I think when it gets to the phase of just hurting for the first 30 sec or so, you are on the up. It is when it gets worse as the feed goes on, and you are dreading every single feed, that there is a major problem. Forgot to also say that paracetamol 30 mins before a feed also helped in the really dark days. Hope it gets better. Oooohhh I feel sick thinking about that pain. Much worse than the pain of c-section recovery for me.

I had this. In my case it was because of a tongue tie (baby not feeding properly so shredding my poor nips!) and was easily resolved after a visit from a lactation consultant. If yours doesn't improve quickly, you might want to either pay to have someone visit privately (I can recommend my lactation consultant, or there are others recommended on here) or get to see one of the infant feeding specialists at Kings. To deal with the pain in the meantime, these were the things that helped me: -Jelonet (sp?) dressings - literally round dressings they make for open wounds. My lactation consultant gave me a note to give to the GP so I could get these on prescription. Keeps the area moist and so soothing. The old advice about letting them dry out does not apply for severely cracked nipples. You need to keep them moist until they heal to a certain extent, otherwise they crack again every feed. -Nipple shields. Couldn't have kept up breastfeeding without these. I tried to use them sparingly (like maybe start a feed without them, but put them on if pain was bad). It was easy to wean him off these once we got the tongue tie sorted. -Silverette nipple cups. These are little silver cups that keep your nipple protected in between feeds and supposedly the silver has healing properties. These really made a difference for me. http://www.breastfeedingheaven.co.uk/breastfeeding-products/silverette-healing-cups/prod_138.html -A dummy. We introduced a dummy at 3 weeks to give my nipples a bit more time to heal between feeds. Not sure if any of that will help, but I hope something does because remembering the pain of this brings tears to my eyes nearly 18 months later! I ended up with severely lacerated nipples because I waited to long to get help. Hope yours aren't this bad!

We also went to Shot by the Sheriff in the ED Warehouse and were very happy with them. We bought a package that included the studio session plus a number of high quality prints and I think it was good value.

They are very popular in Canada, where (I think) birth is more medicalised than here (i.e. most people don't have the option of midwife-led care, if I understand correctly from my friends) so people hire their own doulas. I think of them more as support during the birth process, but interesting to hear about the postnatal aspect. I hadn't realised this was a part of what a doula does. I would definitely consider this for my next baby. I imagine lots of people in London would, as many people are without extended family nearby.

I feel for you! I was going demented with lack of sleep at that stage. If it makes you feel better, my son was sleeping 10 hours, quick feed at 4 am, and back to sleep for a few hours at 7 weeks old. I thought we had CRACKED it! But guess what...at about exactly 12 weeks he went haywire and ummmm he's 15 months old and still a teeny bit haywire?? (exaggerating...he's much better now. But I still feel excited on the nights he sleeps right through). So those smug mummies with sleeping-through 12 week olds, may be eating their words in a few weeks! They change so, so quickly at that young age that there is really no point in worrying about weaning from the dummy, or doing controlled crying because they are just too little to be "trained". It really is only about survival from day to day, as best you can. I survived only by sleeping during that 5 hour stretch some days (which for us was from 7 pm - not ideal) and by my husband taking the baby for an hour or so in the morning so I could get a bit more kip. I sometimes (went through phases where it worked well, and phases where I couldn't be bothered) had good luck with a very loose version of the Baby Whisperer routine - seemed to help regulate the feeding and sleeping during the days a bit, which helped the nights a bit too. Vent on here all you like and just try to find a way to survive the fog because it WILL lift.

Very true nunheadmum! Snowboarder, if you give it a good go for a week or so, and he still short naps and it doesn't affect his nights then maybe that is just his thing. Hopefully we can manage to get him onto one nap in his cot though, just to give you a break.

Was also going to suggest - if you can face it without wanting to jab a pen in your eye - keeping a log of sleep timings for the next couple of weeks. You can get an idea of what nap timings got you better naps, and better nights too. Also good to know how many hours sleep on average he needs in 24 hours. Whenever things go really wonky with us, I try to do this and I often notice things that help get us back on track.

11 months is a wonky time for naps. At this age if they get too much sleep in the morning, they often refuse to nap or short nap in the afternoon. But they're often not ready for just one nap. So you do have to manage things a bit for them! Try tomorrow AM for Nap 1 about 3.5 hours after waking, and I would wake him after say 45 mins (though sounds like maybe you won't have to worry about this part with his short-napping!), then try for PM nap anywhere from 2.5-3.5 hours later (if today went well at 3.5 hours gap, then try this again) - keep an eagle out for any tired signs and whisk him away, very short nap routine, into bed. If no tired signs (often aren't at this age), then watch the clock and do your nap routine even if he doesn't look tired. You may have to stay a bit close to home for a few days or a week, just while you're trying to judge the best timings. I honestly had the worst napper and now he is actually quite a good napper - I'm sitting here waiting to go out and he is still sleeping at nearly 2 hours! I am highly anal retentive about keeping an eye on nap timing, and also about having the longer nap of the day in the cot. It took a while, and we have periods of bad naps when I need to tweak the routine a bit, but overall naps are not an issue for us anymore (now 5 am wake ups, that's another story).

No, haven't tried with either of those, sorry. Only with the long haul flights where the stakes are high - i.e. 8 hours with baby on lap is not fun!

Definitely try it. And worst case, if you bring the car seat to the plane door and they won't let you bring it on they can just check it under the plane with the buggies, etc.

I would also ask at the airport when you check in if there are any open seats on the plane and if it would be possible to have an empty seat beside you. Most airlines we have flown have let us bring the car seat on the plane if we know we have an empty seat beside us. Amazing to have somewhere for baby to sleep/hang out other than your lap!

Okay, based on my "nap science" (ha ha ha) I would say that at 9:00 he wasn't tired enough so fought the nap, but by 10:20 he was too tired. It sounds like his "sweet spot" for a morning nap is somewhere around 3.5 hours after waking up. I would aim for this tomorrow for the first nap, and see how you go. Also the 30 minute nap thing is a resettling issue, like Fushchia says. My DS still often peeps at 30 mins, but has figured out how to go back to sleep. But the key is that if the timing of the nap is off, the resettling will be even more difficult. So, re: the rest of the day....he's had one nap 10:20-10:50 ish. I would be ready to try for nap 2 around 1:00. Do you do a nap routine, similar to your bedtime routine? I.e. start winding down 15 or 20 mins before you want him asleep? I.e. nappy change, grobag, stories, etc.? So if you want him to be asleep at 1:00 or 1:15, then you start with this before 1:00. I usually do stories until I get the first eye rub, then it is pop him in the cot straight away. Re: resettling at 30 mins. I found that once he was peeping, it was too late. What I did at the beginning when he was a bad napper is I would either stay in the room for the first 30 mins or else creep in around 20 mins. I would sit where he couldn't really see me and at the first sign of snuffling/stirring I would pat or rub his back or whatever to try to get him over the sleep cycle. Sometimes if that didn't work, I could manage to extend by rocking or even nursing back to sleep. Have you got darkish room and white noise going too? We can crack this and it is soooo worth it!

Yes, I wake him up in the morning. What time did he wake up and what time did you try for naps when you only got 2 X 30 mins? Seems like there are three possible reasons for his napping woes: 1. he doesn't know how to transition into a second sleep cycle during the day or 2. he isn't tired enough when he goes down or 3. he is TOO tired when he goes down. Clear as mud then, hey?! Has he ever taken a nap longer than 30 mins in the cot?

snowboarder, I think he is still a bit young for just the one nap. I think most babies switch over sometime between 12 and 18 months, and 15 months is average. What works for alot of people is to ensure the morning nap is a short one, and then a longer nap in the cot in the afternoon. For most babies it is better to have the longer nap in the PM so that they aren't overtired by bedtime. You have to experiment with the "sweet spot" for that morning nap, but we found that 35 mins (ummm, yes...35 not 40 not 30!) worked really well. So we would do nap 1 in the buggy from say 9:30 - 10:05 (ha ha ha) en route to an activity/the park/whatver, wake him when we got there, do activity, etc. Home for lunch by 12:00, nap 2 around 1:00. After about a week of this schedule, my son was usually sleeping 1 hr 20 mins in the afternoon. When that afternoon nap started getting shorter and/or he fought going down in the PM for a couple of days in a row, we shortened the AM nap down to 30 mins, then 20 mins. It sounds crazy being this precise, but for bad nappers it seems like the timing of the morning nap is key!

We've used Sitters too, and liked them. But I would recommend *Anna* on the EDForum for someone local, if she is available on Friday.

Hi Pickle! Glad to hear the bug seems to be on the wane. We all had it too, and I NEVER get stomach flu. Terrible. I know that I live right around the corner from you (from borrowing the travel cot - thanks again!) and am very happy to swing by and provide some progress reports, in all seriousness. Let me know if that would help! Alie

Hi Darlin. Sorry you're having this worry. I posted on Heidi's thread, so will be brief here. I think that the success rates for ECV are much higher for second babies than first? And also the likelihood that baby will turn on its own closer to due date. Something to do with there being more space in the uterus or something, so they're more likely to spin later in the pregnancy. I have the book on Breech Birth by Benna Waites that is by far the best research I came across - you are welcome to borrow it if you want to read up? In the meantime, moxibustion/acupunture is worthwhile and maybe reading up on the best timing of the ECV so that you can have it as late as possible, giving baby time to turn on his/her own?

I've never tried having him sleep whilst on the back, but he sleeps very, very well on the front. I just put the hood up once he's asleep, but more to cover him than to provide support.

I was going to say Festival Hall too. Perfect.

I have the Ergo, which can be used as a back carrier. It is a royal pain to get on, and I find it impossible to do alone, but once he's on it is very comfortable. Probably not as good as those structured back carriers for long hikes though.

Hi newcomer! Lots of advice here already, but I'll add a few things. We booked a ticket for our baby before he was born. The airline didn't seem bothered by it. When you aren't booking a separate seat, I don't think it matters as much. I don't think there is any rule about waiting until the 6 week jabs. Some airlines seem to say that they won't take them until 2 weeks old, but some don't even seem to mention that much. We flew to Canada with our 8 week old and it was BY FAR the easiest and best trip we have taken with him. He had had no jabs at that point as we were delayed with the 6 week ones. We took our Bugaboo Frog on that trip and it was fine. I highly recommend, though, that you either buy or borrow one of the car seats (infant bucket style, like the Maxi Cosi) that clip onto the Bugaboo frame and bring this instead of your bassinet attachment. If you can borrow the infant bucket from someone, you are welcome to our adater clips (we already lent our Maxi Cosi bucket to someone else). If you end up with a free seat beside you on the flight (you won't know this until the airport when you check in, but if you ask if there are any empty seats they will normally try to arrange that you have one beside you) they will probably let you bring the infant seat onto the plane so that you can easily transfer bubs from Bugaboo to plane without moving him/her (great if they are sleeping). Then you just fold up the Bugaboo frame and they check it right at the gate/plane door. I don't think I would want to travel with the bassinet, unless you dismantle it and put it in your checked luggage to have upon arrival. A sling is an absolute must. Since that first trip when we brought the Bugaboo and car seat attachment, I have only travelled with the sling and my baby is now a BIG 14 month old. It is just so, so much easier. For a teeny newborn, I would recommend an easy sling like this type: http://www.littlepossums.co.uk/slings/pouch-slings.htm#coorie. I have a Coorie fleece pouch sling that I'm not using right now, and you would be welcome to borrow it. I had a big wraparound sling (basically a long piece of fabric) and it was a real pain to try to tie on a crowded plane. Agree that the registration and the passport will be the hardest part for a very quick turnaround. Your husband can go to register the birth without dragging you and the baby along.

A Canadian author that probably isn't well known here is Gordon Korman. These are perfect for boys or girls in this age group. The ones that I remember off the top of my head are: This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall Go Jump In The Pool Beware The Fish No Coins Please Don't Care High The Twinkie Squad I have such vivid memories of these books. He has continued publishing loads since these, but I haven't read them since growing out of the demographic myself!

In part because of reading Molly's post on here, I looked into the toddler rear facing issue and was quickly convinced! We bought our seat in Canada - I know it is probably not approved to take car seats back and forth between countries, but we need one in Canada and here and I am not buying two identical seats (we don't even drive here, so only use it very occasionally). We bought the Graco MyRide which is approved for up to 45 pounds rear-facing. My son is big, but even if he stays on the 90th plus centile he will be able to be rear facing in this seat until age 3 based on weight. The Graco is well priced - I think ?140. It is also very easy to take in and out of the car (and fit with a seatbelt, though it has isofix too) and fairly light. It is probably lighter and smaller than the forward facing Maxi Cosi Priori (?) we had before. May be one to look into for anyone who does a lot of travelling to the US or Canada and could buy one there.