9-12 weeks

Baby #1 was still 'very good' at 9 weeks and I noted in my diary that he was baptised at 9 1/2 weeks and was perfectly behaved. There was a definite pattern to his days:

6- 7am Wakes, fed and changed

7-8am sleeps in pram until next feed at 11 or 12

After lunch we go out for a walk. We lived by a park so pushing the pram around there was easy.

Wakeful time from 4pm-5.30pm when he lies on the rug, smiles, 'talks' and sucks his fingers

5.30pm Bath, feed, sleep till about 10pm. Fed and changed then back to sleep.

I don't mention any night-time feeds which seems a little incredible.

At 11 weeks though I have him weighed and he's only gained 3ozs in 2 weeks. The clinic nurse makes me feel worried and anxious and advises giving him a 2oz. bottle after the evening feed. I notedin my diary that, in retrospect , this was 'fatal' as it undermined my confidence in breast-feeding. I should have persevered. Baby was clearly healthy and contented even though his weight gain was slow. I bought Mothercare's steriliser (a large plastic container to which I added boiled water and a sterilizing tablet and immersed bottles and teats in it.)

At 12 weeks I noted that he suddenly developed a big appetite. Awake hours before the next feed was due, screaming and sucking his fists frantically. The Health Visitor suggested introducing him to 'solids'. I'm sure modern paediatric nurses would be horrified at the thought of such a young baby being fed solid food. I bought Robinson's packet foods that needed to be mixed with water as bottled food (Heinz etc) did not keep well. I tried 'Tomato and Cheese Savoury' and 'Liver and Bacon with vegetables' both of which went down well. I also gave him several spoonfuls of baby Rice before his 10am feed.

Baby #2 at nine weeks suddenly changed her nature completely. When she was awake she seemed to be 'struggling against some hidden force' and never seemed to be contented. None of the usual remedies (nursing, walking the room, dummy, gripe water) seemed to work. (Note on gripe water... I used Woodward's Gripe Water' which I have read used to contain 3.6% alcohol until, due to public pressure, the alcohol content was taken out in 1992).

She did not sleep at regular times and some days she slept very little. Her feeding was also erratic. She 'will suck strongly for a couple of minutes, then thrash about and will not continue sucking'. Then 'she cries, presumably because she's still hungry'. 'Sometimes if she has really screamed for 5-10 minutes then she will feed properly and then fall asleep'. I was getting quite desperate ; I note that I was beginning to feel 'quite worn out and rather depressed.' Remember I also had a toddler demanding my attention so I probably was pretty exhausted.

I noted one day's behaviour, saying it was not typical as every day was different.

2am Cried, Fed her gave her dummy and she went back to sleep

5.am Cried again so fed her. Slept till about 6am

Then she became restless so walked about with her, sat downstairs with her, tried to put her back in her cot and had to stay until she dozed off.

8am We all got up

9am Fed baby #2 not a calm feed

Awake and very fretful till about 11am

Pushed her up & down in pram. She dozed off but was awake again half an hour later.

I attempted to feed her again Would only feed for 2-3 minutes on each side. Back in pram.

Another feed at 1pm then slept for most of afternoon

4.15 pm feed then went out for a walk so she was lulled to sleep in the pram

6pm woke up very miserable Couldn't settle her. No smiles. Fed her again at 7pm. Again she was restless and would hardly suck. She screamed and screamed. I fed her again in sheer desperation at about 8.15 and then she fell asleep. Me, I was totally exhausted. In between all the above, I noted that I washed 15 nappies (more about nappies below) & lots of baby clothes. I am sometimes changing the baby 4-5 times a day. Cooked lunch - I even noted what we ate!! Steak and onions (obviously in my pre-vegetarian days!) followed by steamed pudding and custard. Crazy---- I wouldn't go to that trouble now! Also I note that toddler (Baby#1) had a major tantrum over a banana :))

Note: breastfeeding advice was confusing as everyone I consulted had different advice to give. I was told to allow 10 minutes on each breast which I carefully timed. I used this method for both babies.

Nappies Both children were still in nappies at this stage. They were terry squares which had to have a paper liner inside and then wrapped around the child and secured with large nappy pin, taking care not to pierce baby's tummy. The nappy was kept in place by plastic pants.

The 'dirty' nappies had to be sluiced off down the toilet, then immersed in nappy solution in a 'nappy bucket'. After a few hours of immersion the nappies were rung out and washed in the machine. In those days I only had a twin tub washing machine which had to be dragged out into the middle of the kitchen and filled from the kitchen tap. The water had to be heated before adding clothes. When wash cycle had finished, the sopping nappies had to be lifted from rinsing water with wooden tongs and placed in next tub which was a spin dryer. Once nappies had much of water removed by spin process you could then hang them out to dry! But there was still the washing machine to empty by hooking tube over the kitchen sink and activating 'emptying' mode. I changed both children on a purpose built shelf upstairs so, every nappy change, I would lug two kids (baby and toddler) up open-tread stairs. Talk about hard work :)