To feel a little lost and have no idea what I'm doing!

[Newmummee]

My DD is almost 8 weeks, I started off ebf then now mix fed which is starting to become mite formula as my milk is dropping ( something I wish didn't have to happen) so now I'm feeding baby with bottles during day and I'm not sure if she is windy or has reflux or is tired but she might cry between feeds and I'm not sure why.... I can't tell her cries really well yet and I feel like I'm shit for that. I feel like I'm winging it and have no idea what to do really. I don't have any support from parents in terms of bringing up a baby ( just the way our relationship is, some have interfering parents but mine are the opposite!) when baby was ebf I would give her breast to suckle if she cried and that always did the trick.... Now I'm bottle feeding more and may be exclusive bottle fed I don't now how to soothe her as she won't take dummy. She's a fairly good baby but cries more now and I don't know why.... She doesn't settle well unless soothed by breast or feed but I can't over feed her.... Feel like I've done it all wrong so far :(

If your parents are not getting involved, (which can be a good thing when you read about some families taking over and being bossy), do you have any friends or neighbours with DCs the same age? Nice to swap tips and moans stories. You can get a nice support network going, I found myself able to pluck up courage to talk to strangers when I felt I was doing it for my baby rather than myself. At first it almost felt like playing at beng a parent, neither DH nor I came from a big family and weren't at all used to babies or pre-schoolers.

still winging it and mine are 18,16 and 6!

Have you been to the Postnatal Clubs section on here? There's usually one for each month so just jump in on the relevant one, lots of other parents going through the same shit at the same time!

And yes, many's the time I've wrapped ds while walking up and down the room! He's usually asleep within minutes :o

I remember trying to interpret DS1's cries. I had a book and everything! I never managed it.

There's been loads of good advice already, but take comfort from the fact that we're all winging it, no matter the age of our children. I've been wracking my brains all day trying to think of a solution to DS2's whinging, but I haven't found the answer yet!

I run through a checklist tailtwister - nappy, drink, food, temperature (add/remove clothes), teeth (calpol, teething gel, chamomile powder). At the moment he's just discovered walking so it's mostly cuddles as he realises he can go away if he wants