April 2018 babies

[Aspenn17]

Hi!

Any mums out there with April newborns? If there is already a group going please point me in the right direction!

I’m a first time mum with a 2 week old little girl looking for some people to chat to with similar aged babies!

[Lambly]

Hi!

My DS is just about to turn 4 weeks old. How are you finding things? Today has been a bad day tbh! He's quiet now but my goodness the screaming. It's so incredibly draining.

[Aspenn17]

Hi Lambly!

Im finding things ok, but DH goes back to work tomorrow after 3 weeks off and I’m feeling pretty nervous and overwhelmed at the thought of being on my own with DD all day. Still don’t feel 100% recovered from the birth either tbh so having DH around 24/7 has been such a help.

I also don’t have any mum friends locally either which I think makes me a bit anxious. How have your nights been so far? Are you breast or bottle feeding? Hope you manage to get some rest this evening!

[Lambly]

My OH went back after only 2 weeks and it was definitely too soon, but we didn't have much choice! Last week was my first week flying solo and we managed ok, but the countdown to Daddy coming home from work started earlier and earlier!

Nights are pretty brutal. He won't sleep for longer than 30-40 minutes, unless he's on me. So I have to decide whether I want a little bit of sleep and then shush him back to sleep every hour, or have no sleep at all myself, but get some quiet and let him sleep. Of course he wins pretty much every time so he's currently fast asleep on my chest where he has been for the last 2 hours whilst I scroll through my phone. I'm hoping I'm not making too much of a rod for my own back doing this!

I don't have any mummy friends locally either. Well, I did NCT and there are a couple of ladies I went to some baby classes with last week, but we're still 'new' friends. Plus their babies are so much sleepier than mine, who screamed all the way through Music Tots! I keep telling myself it won't always be this way and I will sleep again which will make everything more manageable but that seems very far away right now!

I'm also struggling with my DSD (OH daughter from a previous relationship) and the impact that is having. It's so selfish of me, but I feel like everyone else got that lovely first few weeks/months of enjoying their new family with their newborn and concentrating just on themselves and their baby. However it feels like the focus of my last few weeks of pregnancy and the first few weeks of DS's life have been more about how DSD is impacted as little as possible and reassured as much as possible. Plus there's been some hardcore pandering to the ex, which drives me bananas and the hormones haven't helped me deal with that as well as I could have done!

It's hard isn't it? He's gorgeous and wonderful but also a lot more work than I could possibly have imagined and I thought I'd deal with things much better than I am doing.

[Sam91TRS15]

Hi
My little man is almost 5 weeks now! Can't believe how quickly time is passing compared to the last month (+8 gruelling days overdue) of pregnancy!
I understand the step situation, this is my second but I also have a 6yo dss so never has the "just the 3 of us" situation. I hope things settle down for you with her soon, but I'm sure she will dote after your little one soon enough!

[LivLemler]

It's so fucking hard! DD is 3 weeks and pretty easy as newborns go, but it's still so fucking hard. She's been very fussy this evening, hate it when we can't figure out what she needs.

[Aspenn17]

Hi Liv and Sam,

My DD has started to be so fussy in the afternoon and evenings, I think she has colic as she has all the signs. I’m also fairly convinced she has hayfever, she is constantly rubbing her face and eyes and sneezing :( I’m going to call the health visitor today and ask if there is anything I can do. The first 2 weeks of her life she just constantly slept and it was much easier!

Well done for getting to a baby class already though Lambly! We made it to the post office yday (about a 1 mile walk) but my stitches were killing me so we got the bus home. Think I might stay in today and take it easy. Sorry to hear about the step situation being tough, how old is DSD?

[amysaurus87]

Can I join in? Baby boy was 3 weeks old yesterday. I'm breastfeeding at the moment, and it's so bloody hard. I've been in hospital since Sunday morning with mastitis and it seems he's going through a growth spurt as he is feeding every couple of hours.

I'm so worried he's not getting enough milk from me as my boobs never seem full, I'm getting him weighed this afternoon so hopefully things are actually going well for us.

Sleep is a distant memory, he just cries all night and will settle for a couple of hours before starting up again.

I've got no mum friends in the area as all my antenatal classes got cancelled due to the bad weather we had in March.

[Cloudwalk]

Hi, would love to join

DS is 3.5weeks old and we are just about coping

Husband went back to work after 2 weeks, the first week alone was a nightmare but we are getting there day by day.

I don't think DS is that bad in terms of sleeping but he has wind issues and my GOD did we know about it. Ended up using Infacol and it seems to be working this week but we all know how much babies change so who knows if it will continue working

Sadly we have also had to use a dummy as he is a very sucky baby, fingers crossed it's a phase too

[Sam91TRS15]

My wee man seems to have his fussy spell 4-6am in the morning and nothing settles him! I just keep attempting to give him boob but he just scratches them!
Breastfeeding I found tough this time the first couple of weeks, really bad bleeding! Do you have a pump for letting out some milk every now and again? I don't know if it helps with mastitis but it helped me when I was really engorged and he couldn't attach. I hope they can resolve the mastitis for you! Is your wee one putting on weight?

[yustynne]

Hello, I'd like to join in as well! My DD is one month old and I'm finding motherhood extremely hard. The same like some of you guys, I don't have any mum or friends locally so it makes the whole situation even harder.
My DD is very fussy and nothing will make her settle. I believe it has sth to do with her stomach as she keeps bringing up food, farting and exploding with poo. Infacol did not seem to help at all. She cries all day long if she is not on a breast. She used to sleep at night but the last couple of nights she started getting episodes 4am - 6.30am when she would not settle and I'd have just to keep putting her on my breast.
My DH went back to work after 2 weeks and I find really hard staying at home with a baby on my own.

[Lambly]

I'm glad to hear it isn't just me that's finding it all a bit overwhelming! I keep telling myself it won't always be like this and I will sleep again at some point in the future! I already feel like I know what I'm doing just a smidge more than this time a week ago. We will all get there and we're all doing a fab job, however brutal it seems right now. I shall cling to that at 3.30am when he's wide awake!

DS hates the baby classes - they're purely for my benefit. In fact he hates leaving the house and is so much happier when we spend the day on the sofa watching crap. He gets a bit flustered with too much going on.

It will soon be Friday night, which for some of us means more help and more sleep. Focus on the positives!

[amysaurus87]

My poor boy has diareah, likely caused by the antibiotics I was on over the weekend (Got admitted to hospital with mastitis!) And it's given him the most horrific nappy rash, it looks like it's burning his skin. He screams when we have to change him as he is in so much pain. My heart aches for him.

On the sleeping front, I think last night was better, he likes snuggles with me after a feed and then will let us put him in the cot, so I think I managed about 4 hours of sleep, not in a block but over the course of the night! Feel great for that!

Finally admitted to my health visitor that I'm really struggling with everything so she has made a referral to my local perinatal team for me to talk to someone.

The good news is my little one is gaining weight, he was 3.37kg at birth and is now 3.68kg and he's following his line which is a huge relief for me as I was convinced he wasn't getting enough milk from me!

[ClareB83]

Hi everyone! Can I join please?

My babies had a June due date, but because they're identical twins they had a scheduled elcs for 10 May. Then I got severe pre eclampsia and they came out by emcs two weeks ago in April.

They were tiny at birth: 2.155kg and 1.795kg but have both gained about 300g since then, which I'm really pleased about.

They were in special care for a week and have been home a week. We had to put them on a schedule as I couldn't cope with having two babies totally on demand and they were used to this from hospital. This has let us sleep a lot better, although Joe (my little one) was quite fussy last night.

I feel a bit sad about not breastfeeding more but they had to have formula in hospital and it was more important to me that they put on weight, being so tiny, especially as my supply has been abysmal. I'm still expressing some for them. Quite frustrating having huge boobs and no milk!

[Sam91TRS15]

I'm so sorry so many are struggling, It's a tough time just now. But it'll definitely get easier. My wee one has been relatively easy compared to my first who suffered badly from eczema at this age (and has had a flare up since her brother got here..) so I'm hoping he doesn't get it. I hope you manage to keep up the baby classes lambly - it's good to have some sanity saving time for you and baby will start to enjoy it soon enough!
Are you feeling better now Amy? Hope the wee one gets better soon and I'm glad he is putting in weight!
Congrats Clare on the twins, they must be so tiny! Have you had a look at lactation recipes? Brewers yeast in muffins and cookies etc really help my supply so might be worth having someone bake you some if you have some help?

[El1995]

Going to join if you don't mind! Little man is just over two weeks old now, just got out of hospital after 2 and a half weeks indue to feeding problems eugh 😣 does anyone have any tips on how to get things done? Hubby went back to work last week and it's just a nightmare to get anything done! I feel like I'm either feeding or doing housework all the time, getting out of the house seems non existent at the mo!

[Sam91TRS15]

My best tip @El1995 would be to shower and change before your husband goes to work. And if you want to go out then you are ready. The house can't get messy if you are out😁

[LivLemler]

Hope everyone's getting on well. DD has had a few tough days. Today was better but DH is currently walking the floors with her as she's been screaming. Sigh. We'll get there!

[Fieau]

Can I join in? My DS will be three weeks old on Monday, when my DH goes back to work....which i am absolutely dreading! He does so much and is so much better at settling DS than I am. Very worried about how I will cope without him!!

[LivLemler]

Fieau I felt the same before DH went back. He's definitely better at soothing than me, and he has more patience. I've found it ok though, easier than I'd thought. It helps that DD does tend to sleep well in the afternoons so I do get a decent break. But it's not as hard as I'd feared. Hopefully you'll find the same.

[ClareB83]

Thanks @Sam91TRS15 any excuse for cookies and muffins sounds like a winner! Although I need to stop eating like I'm pregnant with twins!

Our HV recommended Infacol for Joe too. Seems to bring up a lot more wind which is good but he was still harder to settle last night than Max.

DH goes back to work end of this week but my mum is going to come up a lot for a week or so after that, so I won't be totally on my own until June.

[Aspenn17]

Hope everyone has had a good weekend!

We’ve been giving our little one infacol for the past few days and it’s really helped her.
I was really nervous to be alone with the baby when my husband went back last week but it was actually fine, the first two days were tough but Thurs and Friday were nice, we went to a breastfeeding support group and I felt so good for getting out with her. Can see a little routine starting to form which is reassuring. My little one is good at night but doesn’t seem to nap much at all during the day.

[Sam91TRS15]

To be fair I haven't done anything to lose weight and snacking pretty badly but I have lost a little bit of weight and my belly is going back to normal a little bit a day at a time. I think we should get a few months of eating what we want while we get used to breastfeeding!
We've been lucky so far with no colicky fussy night tome sessions (he likes a good burp) but he is wide awake at 4am every morning and takes a minimum of an hour to get him back to sleep. Also worried he might be getting eczema 😩 I don't want to go through that again...

[PossibiliTea]

Hi! I’m a bit late to the game here but dd is 5 weeks old today and would be great to have some support! Had a bit of a traumatic birth and still back and forth to the docs with LO (potential reflux etc) so great to talk to other mums!

[PossibiliTea]

Can I ask a stupid question..is it normal that her eyes roll backwards/upwards loads?

[ClareB83]

I think so, I assume it's just fighting sleep a little bit.