November 2019 babies

[PyjamasForever]

A place to catch up on what's happening with our November 2019 babies.

[smartcarnotsosmartdriver]

Joining in as I'm technically post natal now, although only just! So far, breastfeeding, much harder than it looks.

[Unsureursula]

Thanks @PyjamasForever for setting this up! I was to have a November baby but she arrived on 29/10 but I’ll stick here if that’s ok!
We’re FF...it’s going well. We had a little challenge in the beginning with the newborn teats being too fast so had to get online and find ‘extra slow’ ones! Our LG is now 3 weeks and is already outsmarting her parents!
How’s everyone getting on?

[PrayingandHoping]

Hi everyone.

My LO was a month old yesterday (she was 3 weeks early, I was on the due nov threads!)

Had health visitor today and she's put on over a lb in a month and they are so pleased with her! She was born 4lb9 (that's why we were induced) and now she's 5lb10! Not surprised, she loves her food 😂

[Kaff83]

Hi, found you! Great gain @PrayingandHoping!

My little one is 12 days now - 9lb when she was born and back there now.

Yes @smartcarnotsosmartdriver, it takes some work for both of you. While you're still in hospital, use the midwives as much as possible for support with it. Even third time round my nipples have struggled and getting a good latch has taken some work. Good luck! x

[Kaff83]

My 5 yo is at home off school with a high temp (39.2) so am stressing about the little one catching whatever he has

[ruralcat]

I was due in November but also had an October baby, 29/10. She has tongue tie but as she's feeding well I'm unsure whether to have it cut or not.
@Kaff83 my older two are full of snot, I think it was inevitable this time of year but I hope baby doesn't catch catch it.

[PyjamasForever]

@Kaff83 my 3yr old has been coughing all over the baby all day. Just crossing my fingers she doesn't get too poorly.

@prayingandhoping that is great weight gain, you must be so pleased! We have regained birth weight from day 14, which I can't quite believe as it took my son 6 weeks to get back to birthweight.

I've been waiting 10 days for a lactation consultant appointment to look at my baby's tongue tie and just had a text now to ask me to come to an appointment almost an hour's drive away tomorrow morning. I still can't drive after my section and my husband has a job interview in the morning. They're not answering the phone, so I've text them back asking for a different appointment, but that means at least a whole weekend more of painful feeding.

@ruralcat if you have no pain on feeding and weight gain is okay I probably wouldn't get a TT snipped, most will just stretch with age and id be worried about disturbing feeding with a sore tongue after the snip, but everyone has different opinions on what they would or wouldn't do. I don't think there is a clear cut right or wrong decision.

[PrayingandHoping]

Little pickle never lost any weight after birth! Her day 5 weigh in she was exactly the same weight she was when she was born! Lol

[Weathergirl1]

@smartcarnotsosmartdriver ooh I missed that - they took you in early? Hope you're ok. We found some midwives better than others for breastfeeding support - my tip would be if you aren't sure about something, trust your instincts.

[ruralcat]

@smartcarnotsosmartdriver congratulations on your little boy, just seen him on the other thread!
@PyjamasForever weight gain was a little slower than my other babies but no further loss beyond day 10 so not terrible. Visually she scored very low but the functionality score was okay. It would be easier if they said she definitely needed it doing instead of leaving it up to us to decide.
@Weathergirl1 how are you getting on now? I know on the other thread you said you had loads of milk, did you do anything to up supply? I'm starting to think about expressing a bottle for DH to give in the evening.

[Weathergirl1]

@ruralcat nope haven't done anything - I just appear to have a good supply and it's really freaking me out a bit - I'm having to use shells on the other side as it leaks when I pump or feed. We're still mostly bottle feeding EBM though I've been trying to get him to feed from me with shields since we had the tongue tie sorted. I had a bad 24 hours on Monday/Tuesday with a headache caused by neck/shoulder tension so pumping was the limit of what I could manage at that point. He's still rather bitey although his mouth is definitely much less restricted (and he's a lot louder now he can open it more). We've just tried him on me with out a shield and he seems to have fed for about 10 minutes or so. We have another postnatal session with our doula tomorrow so hopefully we can make some more inroads then. DH has been doing most of the bottle feeds overnight which has really helped me so I would say that of you can it will give you a bit more time to sleep 👍

[Zarara]

Hi everyone, baby girl is 2 weeks old tomorrow. I was discharged from the midwife today which seems daunting especially as we’re still having some feeding issues. Baby has regained birth weight and has put weight on but breastfeeding is still painful. I saw an infant feeding specialist who checked for tongue tie and baby has one but as she’s gaining weight she thinks the pain can be improved through better attachment, she told me that they don’t like to promote tongue tie procedures anymore.

@smartcarnotsosmartdriver
I would recommend asking for help or seeing your midwife sooner rather than later if you start to experience pain, I left it a little too late with a bad latch and had really bad nipple damage which is now healing but could have been possibly avoided if someone could have helped with getting a better latch earlier.

[smartcarnotsosmartdriver]

Thanks everyone, they don't like my latch so at the last minute decided I couldn't get home tonight. I know it's best for him but I'm really upset at not getting home because of my latch. Feels like I'm messing things up already.

[Zarara]

@smartcarnotsosmartdriver oh don’t feel like that you’re doing a fab job! it will help in the long run if you can sort out the latch with the help of midwives, it won’t be long until you are home.

[smartcarnotsosmartdriver]

Well @Zarara we have now had plenty of practice as he's fed pretty much all night! I've managed a rugby hold which seems to suit us quite well but it's been relentless.

[ruralcat]

@Weathergirl1 I think I'm going to focus on pumping this weekend. I have expressed small amounts last week and given it to DD so at least I know she'll accept a bottle. It's the absolute worst to feel ill on top of all the tiredness etc. I feel like I'v picked up a cold and that's why I was so keen to breastfeed at least over winter to offer DD some protection. How did you find the tongue tie procedure? I'v been told I can go back to the hospital and have it done anytime if I want.
@smartcarnotsosmartdriver it's very difficult at the beginning and I think DD was feeding for most of the time we were in hospital. I'm 3 weeks in we still have cluster feeding in the evening but things are so much easier than those first few days. The majority of midwives are very keen to help you to breastfeed so don't hesitate to ask for their help once you're home too if you feel you need it.

[smartcarnotsosmartdriver]

We've fed like a champ overnight he had some urates in his nappy but the nappy was very wet so they aren't concerned. He seems to have a decent latch and he's not causing me pain or anything like that so they're happy for us to go home. Mums going to give us a lift so it'll be this evening that we're off.

[Weathergirl1]

@ruralcat procedure was fine. He cried a little afterwards but that was likely to be a combination of the taste of blood and a newly free tongue! We have him a bottle straight away and that calmed him right down again and he's not complained since. Really lucky they'll do it straight away for you (3 week wait here on NHS!). The lactation consultant we saw explained that it's not just latch that it can affect, but also cause speech impediment and dental issues. She also does the procedure on adults!

Regarding bottle feeding, have you seen about paced feeding? That's how we've been giving him the EBM - it's supposed to mimic the fact that they have to work for breastfeeding, compared to pouring it down their throats with traditional bottle feeding technique, so should in theory compliment breastfeeding.

@smartcarnotsosmartdriver hope you escaped hospital this afternoon!

[Unsureursula]

Hello all!
I’m writing this whilst sat in triage. What can I say except it’s all my own fault! 3 weeks post CS and I lifted bugaboo chassis up w flight of stairs because I couldn’t get it into car boot and we live on 2nd floor and didn’t want to leave it in the communal areas. Anyway that was wed and since then I’ve been in such pain and today noticed a lump under the skin near my scar. Called triage and together with a high temp they advised me to come in. I’m so annoyed at myself :(

[Kaff83]

@unsureursula - poor you. A bugaboo chassis is pretty light too. Makes me think I should go very careful with my five and three year old for some weeks yet.

@ruralcat I had my second's tongue tie done at a few days old and again a few weeks later and it was very quick - she cried but then latched on and all was fine. No more than they cry for heel prick

[Zarara]

@Unsureursula oh no hope it’s nothing serious, hope you got seen quickly and are feeling ok.

[Weathergirl1]

Oh no @Unsureursula ! Like the others have said, hope it's all ok and they get you sorted ASAP.

[smartcarnotsosmartdriver]

We got home last night but the wee one has lost quite a bit of weight since birth and he's jaundiced. They're going to do a test to see how jaundiced when the midwife visits again. I'm so worried he's not feeding well enough and there's no sign of my milk coming in yet.

[Weathergirl1]

@smartcarnotsosmartdriver what are his nappies like? Is he pooping? Are they wet? Weight loss is to be expected - we were down by nearly 10% on day 3 (I think - days are a blur). We were on jaundice watch for 24 hours and were advised we just needed to get as much milk as possible into him to flush it out. However there is some research to suggest that a certain level of jaundice is normal 🤷

I can't really help with milk coming in as mine just did, but what did the midwives say regarding stimulating milk? Have they shown you how to hand express? If you do end up giving him top ups, then paced bottle feeding helps them not get too used to easy milk from a bottle - we're still mostly bottle feeding because of latch issues ☹️

[smartcarnotsosmartdriver]

@Weathergirl1 his wet and dirty nappies have picked up today which is a relief as he didn't have many yesterday. We also had a giant pee fountain while he was being changed tonight which was surprisingly reassuring but he's had urates in his nappy which isn't the best, they've said as long as they continue to be wet then they're not too concerned at the moment as they might have just needed flushed out.
His weight loss was just over the 10% but the midwife said that might be partly because he was so big that he would need a lot more to maintain his weight. They did suggest that we might need to express but as they thought his latch this afternoon was good they've said not to just now. He only likes to latch on one side so when the midwife is back tomorrow I'm going to ask for help with the other side.