Charters Anonymous Graduates Volume 2! – No more temping!

[Iwish]

A nice cosy place to accommodate our growing bumps and little wrigglers.

Poor you iwish I think you've got the worst of both worlds at the moment, because you have the faff of expressing, plus all the extra work of sterilising bottles etc. I think breastfeeding is easier once you've got the hang of it - in the early weeks it is flippin painful (IMO) and I found I got terrible neck / backache from all the awkward leaning over and craning my neck. But it's starting to get much easier. I think the baby gets stronger and more efficient at getting the milk so feeds become shorter, and also the bonus is that it's ready to go, pre-sterilised and warm! However I did find bottle feeding easier in some ways such as it's easier to get into a routine with bottles, and it's easier out and about in some ways too.

I hope his tongue tie gets sorted soon and that he takes to the breastfeeding afterwards. Is there some kind of delay? I would have thought it was something they should prioritise, especially as you are keen to get on with breastfeeding and are up in the night expressing. I remember middle of the night expressing with DD and I found it lonely and miserable, you have my sympathy.

I know what you mean about the not being put down thing too. DS is a bit like that too. He is especially bad between about 9pm and 11pm, when I am so tired and really just want to go to bed! I find that sometimes one thing works, and sometimes it doesn't, it's just all trial and error. Sometimes if I put him in his Moses basket awake he will go off if I pat him gently, but it does take ages! Sometimes just gentle rocking in my arms works, but other times he just screams and screams and nothing will work! In these times we just have to repeat "this too shall pass"

Waves to nix. How are you lovely?

Just seen your pics Iwish - gorgeous

Thanks getdown I just look at him and think he is the most gorgeous little boy I have ever seen.
He seems to be very clingy all day and night recently. Last night he just didn't want to go down and I had to drag the Moses basket right up to the bed and stroke his head until he fell asleep. Every time he woke up I had to do it again
aparently that is just the waiting time for Tongue tie . The hospital did send me home with an electric breast pump so I could express tho, otherwise I would have had to buy or rent one. It's tomorrow anyway so fingers crossed.
You should put some piccies up of your DS. Xx

Aw Iwish he is gorgeous - such big eyes! DD is also v clingy at the mo - she sleeps fine on my or DH's chest but doesn't want to sleep in the Moses basket at all. Makes night time a bit traumatic at the mo!

Am inspired - going to try and figure out how to put a pic of her on my profile.

Well that was easier than I thought it would be! Pic of my beautiful Eloise is now up

Awww pippa she is beautiful!! Such a perfect little face.

Our night times are a bit traumatic at the moment too! Do you struggle to get her to sleep after a feed or is that only of she is in the Moses basket? Joshua will go strait to sleep if he stays with me - not good when I want to go to sleep tho lol.

Hey ladies.... ;) ds2 is a tummy sleeper and is properly going for it during the night now huzzah

Huge congrats to iWish and pips on the v safe arrival of your beans xxx and what beauties they are too;)

Pips.. My two births were like that... Thank god for forceps xx my friend lost her baby at delivery last week due to heart stopping during labour, same happened in my case but he must have been stronger) gutted for her. They arrived safely that's what matters, and mummies heal..;)

IWish.. Gripe water is good for trapped wind. Jiggle him whilst winding see if that helps, lay him on a flat surface before rewinding.. Can often help ;)

Mrsa 33 weeks yay !! Bet you are glad it's cool now huh?!
Jaggy hope things are going well x
Lady how are you?

Well ds2 is just a dream.. Chunky monkey.,, beautiful boy. So mellow and relaxed( unlike ds1) bug hungry boy!! Thirteen pound turkey now ;) after a few weeks of two hourly night waking and unsettled on his back, saxked off Moses basket, he's in his cot on his belly ;) and went 11 hours with only one feed the last two nights;) bring. It. On.

Ds1 however is being a real demon ;( lady any tips? Praising the hood would be ok if there was any good Ti start with lol

Hope you are all ok massive love from us xx

Joshua has had his op on his tongue tie today. He was v brave and only cried a little bit. He wouldn't BF tho so gave him his bottle and have got to keep trying. Just tried him again when we got home and he still wouldn't do it so I just cried :(
I really hope he takes to it.

Wow nix your ds2 sleeping 11 hours with 1 feed is fab! Bet you are so happy lol.

Ah poor Ds I wish x
C has a Tongue tie but they have said they won't treat it as is putting on so much weight. Glad hrs ok. Hope his latch improves. Have you thought about seeing a lactation consultant?

I saw a lady in the hospital who specialises in breastfeeding and Tongue tie. She was really helpful and helped me get his appt for it to be clipped. When I went today they said to keep trying him and if he's still struggling to call the lady I saw in hospital and I can go and see her. It's so frustrating as it should be the most natural thing in the world. I just want to feed my sin myself :(

That was supposed to say 'my son' not 'my sin'

Have you tried nipple shields?

also recommend posting on the Bf/ff board here, i got some really great help there.

i had always been told nipple shields were bad, but my friend wouldn't have been able to feed without them. she was able to get her DD to latch on after a while of feeding with them too.

good luck iwish, it may be natural but it's something you both have to learn. not sure what i am quoting there, but I've heard it a lot of times!

also also... www.kellymom.com is great for advice too.

No I havnt tried them nix maybe it is a good idea to get some and try it.

I have tried him again this morning and he actually sucked. It was only a couple of times but at least it's progress.

jaggy how do I fing the bf board? I've searched for breastfeeding and it brings up 500 threads.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/breast_and_bottle_feeding :) here you go!

There's a wee link at the bottom of the page in the list of popular topics though.

Hope he gets the hang of it soon.

Awww thanks jaggy thats fab!

Hope you are ok today x

Hello ladies

Long time, no speak! I have been so busy with last few days at work but now all finished, phew. My brain is having trouble with switching off from thinking all the time so this means that I have been getting starting to worry about birth, what to do with a baby etc but hopefully this is calming down now.

Lovely to read all your posts about how your LOs are getting on.

I'm 37 + 1 today so fully cooked!

Hi all. 34 weeks here and all looks set for my HB! Baby is head down, pressing on rim of pelvis and quite low now. he is also not back to back nor seems big for dates. Yay for IMs!! BP and urine all fine.

Iwish and pippa I totally sympathise with the bf/bottle thing. DD would simply not latch on and we got very little useful support in hospital. She was so sleepy after the section and i was crap. It broke my heart to ff her but it was not the end of the world. We did baby led weaning at 6 months, which really helped (never mashed or pureed anything and I have a photo of DD at 6 months chomping on a green bean).

This time, I am more hopeful as IM and doula will give 1 2 1 care for the weeks after birth. I would really want to feed this baby and am encouraged by getdown's experience.

The only hugely sad note today is one of my Nov ante natal thread had her baby girl at 24 weeks and finally got to bring her home last week and she sadly died out of the blue yesterday. So devastated for her :(

Hello everybody, finally got free fingers to type!

iwish and pippa I just want to give you both a big hug. Sounds like you've both had/are having a rough time with feeding. Bollocks to the "most natural thing in the world", breastfeeding is actually hard work to get started on. Some mother/baby pairings are very fortunate and take to the whole thing like ducks to water, but for the majority it's a big learning curve, and it won't always work out as you hope.
I know I wouldn't still be bfeeding if it wasn't for the amazing support there is in my area - I am really lucky. We have a small MW maternity unit (where I delivered) but where people can transfer to after births in the city hospitals for postnatal care and bfeeding help. You have to push to be discharged, they are forever saying "are you sure you don't want to stay another night? Would you like another hot chocolate?" Then when I was home the community MWs spent a long time helping us with feeding over the next few days, and there is a fantastic bfeeding group in town with a BF counsellor who has helped me improve things so much more again. But it wouldn't have happened without them all - Freya had no wish to latch or suck and lost quite a bit of weight. Horrible because you fret so much about them getting dehydrated etc.

iwish another option for help is phoning any of these folk:
0300 100 0212 National Breastfeeding helpline.
0300 330 0771 NCT breastfeeding helpline
0845 120 2918 La Leche League

A tip we had with the feeding (by way of educating ourselves really) was to put your little finger upside down into the baby's mouth, and touch it to the roof of their mouth. Move it back until you find the soft palate, and they should suddenly start sucking (a reflex). But that is where your nipple is supposed to go. Knowing that helped me a bit with the latch - made me realise how much boob she needed in her mouth!

(Both of your babies are gorgeous by the way )

We had the first laugh on Monday! So cute

MrsA and nix that is just awful about your friends' babies

MrsP congrats on reaching 37 weeks! Fab feeling isn't it Your little one will be here before you know it.

Thoroughly agree with spilt, breastfeeding is a skill that has to be learnt, and that's by the baby as well as mum. Sometimes baby will just not want to do it, it is very hard in this case. It happened with my DD, she wouldn't latch and she wouldn't suck. After 3 weeks we were exhausted and desperate and gave up. DS couldn't be more different. His suck is so strong!! He is already 9lbs 5, and was only 7lbs 10 at birth!!

I agree, get all the support you can with breastfeeding, give it your best shot iwish but don't beat yourself up if it doesn't work out. Your DS will do perfectly fine on formula. My DD is proof enough that formula is fine It's very hard that they didn't sort the tongue tie sooner though. My friend just paid privately to have an IM snip her little one's tongue tie, as the wait around here for NHS to do it was too long. Very bad IMO when they push breastfeeding so strongly.

So sorry for your friend on the Nov thread MrsA how utterly awful. Hope you are ok? Glad to hear that things are still all on for the home birth! Yay! Have you got a pool? Or are you not going to bother with one? My friend had the most wonderful home birth 2 weeks ago. She had a pool and stayed in it the whole time. Her little boy was born just 5mins after the MW arrived, and she had no pain relief at all because she was so relaxed and comfortable Wow. I bet if you have your lovely calm birth, and skin to skin straight away, plus with the doula support you will have a great start to breastfeeding. I found that skin to skin was lovely with DS, and still when I do it now, it is always followed by a really good long feed, much better feed than in the day if I feel rushed or distracted.

spilt that's so lovely your DD did a laugh How gorgeous! Can't wait for the first smiles

nix I LOVE YOU! I have just purchased some nipple shields and my little man has just had his first feed!!!

I am so happy

Yey mrsp being fully cooked!! Joshua arrived at 37+6 so could be any time for you.

mrsa that's awful about your friends baby :( glad everything is going well with you. Fab that you can have the birth you want too.

split thanks so much for those numbers. I would be interested to see if there is a bf group round here I can attend. You have done fab with your bf and I bet you feel so happy knowing that you have all the support you need around you. Bless your DD and her first giggles!! Can't wait for Joshua to do his first proper smiles that aren't wind related lol.

Thanks getdown. Im keeping my fingers crossed that I can keep up the feeding with him, even if it's with nipple shields. So glad your DS has taken to feeding, it is fab that he's putting on the weight.

Waves to everyone else xx

IWish.. Yey!! A few days or so with them he may very well feed without them. Spikt is right about the roof of their mouth ;) fab honey
Never used them myself but have geard v g things anout them ;)

Back later xx

Oooh I hope so nix. We are just attempting feed number 2. He has done 10 mins on 1 side and fallen asleep. Poor little think never normally has to work to get food when he has a bottle lol.

Fantastic iwish V pleased for you.

DD is now porking up nicely, she's 6.5 weeks and now weighs 10lb4oz

We've just got started with the reusuable nappies now which is making me feel more like I am coping (as in, able to use the nappies I wanted to use, rather than just fire fighting and trying to do what I think is least hassle for everything). And they really aren't a hassle which is a nice surprise.

As I type I've just heard her crap in one so better attend. We've had a couple of leaks when she has just overfilled the nappy. I reckon she's a heavy wetter. 2-3 hours tops and then she has widdled through anything And I am cramming inserts into these nappies so her backside is about 2 inches up in the air !

Pmsl spilt bum genius leak with us so am continuing with n b disposables x they do look cute tho..

Yey for the porker. C has baby man-boobs!!
Love it... Super milch x

How you getting on iWish?