December 2011: Scratching, squeezing, hatching and latching...

[LittleMissHumbuggery]

...and those of us left are doing a fair bit of bitching:o

I wonder if we could get a [pompoms] going on? Do we have the energy for a campaign?

Right, come on! We're a third of the way through the month and Nickelbabe needs new recruits for her advent thread. Get squeezing:o

Hi mopsy, we used a syringe quite a few times. But Alistair wasn't impressed, and neither was DH. After relenting to pressure from DH, I let him feed from a bottle. Only allowed it 2 times, and not on the same day (fear of disrupting all our good bf work). Ok so far. But we're both doing ok with bf positions and latching. I use a big c shaped cushion at night, and sofa cushionsduring the day , cross tummy, rugby ball, lying down - we do them all, sometimes it works straightaway, other times it takes a good few attempts. I cheat most times and pinch around the areole to make it more "mouthful" size/ manageable, coz my nipples aren't so big/prominent.

When I fed my two I found having an arm of a sofa/chair on the side I was donating from was invaluable as it gave me something solid to rest my elbow on, as opposed to the squishy almost-support of a pillow. Good lumbar support and a cheap v pillow for baby also. Mostly it's just a case of trying everything seventy five million times though.

Good luck!

Mopsy: don't ever sleep with your baby in a sling on you: they can overheat or get squashed without you noticing. Slings are great for when you are walking about, though because baby is warmed by your body you don't need to put them in extra layers/snowsuits etc as well (in the way that you would in a pram/buggy).

Google co-sleeping as there is lots of advice on how you can do it most safely.it may be a phase, but you need to experiment to find the solution that works for you. Do you have any friends/relatives that have used swaddling and can demo it for you? Another thing that can work is using the vibrator unit from a baby bouncer in the moses basket: sounds weird but the vibration seems to act like a car engine effect and can get them to sleep in it!

A radio out of tune on low near the gasket can work sometimes. White noise rules:)

Hope you're all having a good day:)

Gasket = basket for the sleep-deprived typist >_

mopsy our sidecar cot is a lifesaver- it's only an ikea gulliver cot with one side off, but it means Pirran can sleep next to me and I know he can't roll off the side of the bed. Last two nights we have put him down on a pad made of a folded blanket so I can easily slide him to me to feed at 4am (for the first time in my life I appreciate my lack of perky boobs - I can feed lying down pretty easily) and then slide him back across very gently when he falls asleep and off the nipple. And I can't roll on him bc I am longer than the cot.

Thanks for all the advice on going out - we packed the nappy bag as advised, brought the carseat into the rather smart restaurant and DH wore the moby wrap all through dinner just in case he needed to run outside. Pirran was so good though - I breastfed him before the main course and no one even cared!! so now we're through that psychological barrier!

Happy Christmas every one of you - you've been so lovely to all three of us since March, pillars of support and advice and encouragement. I can't believe how happy I am, it is massive and overwhelming - and makes me weep with joy every so often! We offer you all a bouquet of holly and ivy and yuletide cheer - love and best wishes from Eton from our new little family of three. Xxx

Merry Christmas All!

I lost an epic post yesterday after catching up on all your news so annoying! I shall try to remember it all & post again soon.

Hope you're all doing well & enjoying the day.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Sky was discharged from SCBU this morning. Her blood cultures came back negative and they were happywith everything else so cannula came out and we are home.

merry christmas everyone. Hope you've all had a good day. we've had a nice, if a bit chaotic day. we managed to produce the full xmas dinner between dh and i and freya slept through the main course at least. she has been unsettled today though as falling asleep on the breast too quickly and then cant settle for long before she needs another feed, so she is knackered.

reassuring to see I am not the only one who feels like they are feeding all the time and hardly getting sleep at night. freya wont settle well unless being held either and feeds every two hours generally. dh gives her one bottle of formula at ten ish so I can go to bed early and get till 12 ish before she feeds again. doesnt seem to affect bf for us and worked for ds before.

ds is requiring lots of attention as a couple of others with other dcs have mentioned. I too dread to think of how hard it will be when dh is at work in jan.

someone asked re prolapse, cant remember who as brain dead! I thought it was one as could feel a bulge down there protuding more than it should but saw dr and she thought just swollen due to infection so on antibiotics. My pelvic floor is shot though so am trying to remember t o do exercises at every feed.

It's nice to know we're not alone!!! Going to defs introduce a bottle in a few weeks but want to feel more established with bf first if I can. Will see how we progress. Trying to be chilled & just go with the flow. This stage won't last forever. I got some box sets for Christmas and a kindle so will just have to resign myself to little sleep and get on with it! Just can't wait for bf to get a bit easier. I can see why so many women give up so soon, it is majorly tempting as it's so so hard :( still haven't managed to make dinner yet but will do soon. Husband having a sleep first. Then hopefully I can grab an hour. If this one will go down in her cot.

jingle, we're in precisely the same routine and it works for us too. Am expressing a bit as well- on the days I find the time!- but bf with one evening bottle suits.

And am also so glad to see that so many are in the same boat re. the amount the baby wants to feed, and that so few LOs will sleep anywhere but on or with parents! It is a great reassurance. I've been so glad we kept the spare double bed in his room, as it's low, in a corner and perfect for bed sharing. To give the little man his dues he will sleep next to me in the bed- as opposed to on me- and did a whole hour in the basket today.
And the cluster feeding- God! Every evening, all evening. Interspersed only with regular, massive poos.

But does anyone else feel lied to by the NHS purple book? All of the advice and info given seems predicated on some mythical baby who sleeps cheerfully in a moses basket for three hours at a time from birth: do ANY of us have babies like this?! I had expected the NHS stuff to cover the basics of all situations...

tinsel, it's great isn't it when you get your first 'public' feed out of the way?

And so glad you're all heading home darcies.

This is certainly an Xmas like no other, but wouldn't change it for the world. Hope you're all having a lovely time .

I've just hit my bed, but wanted to gingerly wave some pompoms before I black out. Christmas is over, we have all survived and I think we deserve medals:o

Here's to the new year ladies, may it be sparkly and well behaved:)

Fantastic news Darcies!
Merry Christmas everyone, we've been sleeping most of today (he's finally sleeping alone in the moses basket..been there for an HOUR!!) hope everyone is having as good a day as possible!

Chinchilla, I threw out the purple book. LIES!!

Our breast feeding; similar to everyone else, we're having trouble with him latching on but am expressing well (cup feeding, biggest problem is he is taking on alot of air so not pooping too often & v.gassy). Didn't realise how painful/noticable it would be when boobs are full, Oy!

Baby Horse is called Sebastian (we've not settled on middle names yet), has anyone registerted/booked their birth registering appointment yet?

arch our appointment is the 29th, DP (as we are actually married) is going on his own so we don't have to drag the whole gang into town. He is taking her name written down in case of spelling mistakes as he is dyslexic!

Like everyone else, we are bfing constantly, Miri nurses about hourly during the day...but (here is where everyone hates me!) she can now latch herself on at night, so she only wakes me every 4 hours or so to swap sides, she does stay latched on all night though! We are using stuffable cloth nappies filled with two muslins to cope with the volume of wee.

Those who are finding bfing hard work, what seems to happen, is that suddenly one day you realise that it hasn't felt like work for ages...generally somewhere around the month mark. Remember that both you and your babies are learning, perfect latches every time come the more you do it and that your OH's job is 'mothering the mother', which I translate as providing chocolate and the remote control!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas day, I am waiting for the big DDs to go to sleep then will be drooling over Matt Smith and eating a duck and stuffing sandwich!

Had a brilliant day with my girls.

Breast feeding is going well and although I said I didn't want to, I love the bond it's giving me and sky :) Darcie seemed a little upset as I was tending to Sky alot today, but we had a good chat and cuddle and she's fine now.

I managed to express 5oz this morning so Neil & Darcie can feed but I can feed if we are out and about. Milk seems to of come in, & now feeding Sky on demand!

Hi all, we actually managed to have Christmas dinner, sitting at the table! Roast chicken etc. And mimimopsy stayed in her basket long enough for us to eat. Had to rock her as we ate but it was brill. Didn't expect she'd stay down at all. We even had a lovely glass of champagne with dinner. So we got our romantic Christmas dinner after all. Then I'd an hour's sleep & now feeding again. Usual issue of minimopsy falling asleep on the breast. She generally has an ok latch and sucks ok when awake but keeps nodding off and it's really hard to wake her. Even when I change her nappy in between and she properly wakes up (she hates having her nappy changed!) a couple of minutes she just falls back asleep again. Not sure what to do. Anyway, sorry all my posts are very self-centred at the moment. Very glad all seem to be getting on ok and having good days. darcies, great news re: sky coming home and breastfeeding. Everyone sharing my woes, good luck and well done on getting this far- hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll be much better at it! And here's to us all getting some sleep tonight!

Happy Christmas everyone, hope you've all had a good day.

darcies great that you're home and Sky is doing ok.

I'm putting Eva on the breast again as I just don't seem to have time to express much lately. She can latch onto the left one fine but seems to have real trouble latching onto the right one, annoying as I get much more from the right when I express. I'm happy FFing but don't dare stop giving her some BM in case she gets constipated again.

Now about to order a violin as I've always wanted to learn how to play one, I was inspired by the amazing violinist on the Royal Variety Show last week, does anyone know who he was?

Off to my parents tomorrow for boxing day lunch then my brother, SIL and their DC's are coming to visit on Tuesday, which will be great as they haven't met Eva yet.

Evening all,
darcies glad to hear you're home.
Had a lovely Xmas day today, but LO has been v upset all day. Real crying. Lots. Needing to feed all the time. Poor thing. Hope it's not colic or anything like that.
So tired now.
Merry Christmas and goodnight!
X

Hope alistair calms down & feels better soon Oi !

Bf is maddening everytime he cries I rush to offer him boob after checking if he wet he always suckling peoples arms like he's hungry and they just look at me like "your baby is hungry feed your baby" and I know he shouldn't be. Find not knowing what hes taking I really quite stressful.

Last 2 nights I've managed 6-7hrs sleep tonight we got back from inlaws at 8.30 and ever since he's either been feeding or crying, looks like my luck has run out . Milk has come in today I wonder of that's the difference?

My hormones also come in I had a complete meltdown at PIL little niece had her toy guitar on and it was just so loud Got to 8pm when we said we would leave at 6 and just suddenly felt really tired went to the loo burst into tears and when DH found me I couldn't speak through the sobs he immediately collected everything and made our excuses but what a wreck, cried the whole way home in the car curled up on passenger seat unable to express why was such a mess

Saw the HV this morning she checked the latch and said he is feeding SO reassuring he has lost 7% of birth weight but hes just nonstop today so hopefully by time hes checked again Tuesday he'll be putting it back on. She also gave me some lanisoh until can get own supply when shops reopen Agee with you ladies it is amazing stuff .

Question though when I tweak breast milk is produced so I get him latched on but when he comes off the breast is dry. I showed the HV today and she said not to worry but surely that's a sign his efforts are having the desired effect?

Oh also winding do you do it after the night feeds? Won't this wake them up? But surely they need it done after any feed?

Ah finally he gone to sleep now to dry get him in basket without waking him up

figgy I've been bawling crying all week on and off. I couldn't have coped with leaving the house so I'm not surprised you got upset. I came home fr hospital on wed and have not left the house since. I am in my pjs all day and all I do is feed, my husband is doing all food and the majority of nappy changes and I still crying all the time!

I got home Friday night at 8pm PIL sat On the drive, yesterday had visitors today HV then Xmas at inlaws tomorrow supposed to be at SIl then Tuesday receiving more visitors I'm going to have to say no more often.

My stitches hurt tonight have tried everything with him and he won't go to sleep I'm going to have to call HV tomorrow he's Been On and off the breast for the best part of 5 hrs now he's still screaming and his top lip is dry he just can't be getting anything . Can't believe I'm 3 days in and already reaching for the formula

Wow figgy, I think 'no' will indeed have to become a weapon in your arsenal! I would hate to have to leave the house yet. It's taking all my energy to manage breastfeeding to be honest. It's hard! I'd persevere if you can for a bit. I also find it v v stressful not knowing how much she's getting but they have weeny stomachs so a little goes a long way. The constant feeding is so hard though, esp. when they keep crying and you don't know why. All I can say is, you're not alone. There are several of us on here finding it a struggle!

well Done Darcies and Sky for getting home!

figgy, the hormones make everything feel terrible: it will improve hopefully in the next 48 hours so ride it through, its normal and COMPLETELY OK to feel a tearful wreck, stay home, politely decline ALL visitors (apart from Mw/HV) and just do whatever you need to keep going. Live off sarnies/takeaways/frozen reheat meals, watch DvD boxsets or xmas films, munch munchies, let the washing pile up, concentrate on you,beeb and Dh for a bit.

7% weight loss is totally fine at this point as your milk's not properly in yet:keep going, FF is always an option if you're worried but if you do want to BF keep offering the breast frequently as in the early days repeatedly feeding them the same way will get them used to latching quicker. Don't worry about a dry mouth when they cry as all they air going in and out of their mouth during crying evaporates their spit and dries the mouth out! See how things go and post here, there's lots of people in the same boat as you can see, and it DOES get better.

(I'm still waiting, sigh, even got jiggy with DH last night in a vain attempt to get things moving. Felt rather complicated as my bump is huge! -but hopefully will encourage things. Want to meet Widget now-due date tomorrow but we all know that's bobbins!)

Right. Off to assault a severely battered turkey for a boxing day leftovers sarnie! for all ladies still waiting and for all pushy relatives!

figgy from the perspective of 12 days old, except for our Christmas eve dinner outing Pirran and I have spent 11 of those days glued to the sofa or in bed, feeding constantly. It's only now that my breasts feel wet and I see a trickle of milk at the corner of his mouth sometimes! One thing We have discovered is sometimes when Pirran is absolutely bawling and seemingly inconsolable is that he needs to be bounced or cuddled skin to skin by DH because he doesn't smell like milk!! Sometimes just being near the breast - even if he has just fed massively and I have seen milk in his mouth with my own eyes - seems to turn him into a squealing grunty piglet, but then when he latches on he spits it out after 5 min - that's when DH stepping in for a non-milk smelling cuddle has been invaluable.

Re winding - I haven't been winding at all at night - just feeding to sleep and then veeeery carefully sliding him away from me so as not to wake him up! MW told me that breastfed babies don't need to be winded unless they are crying as they don't swallow as much air when latched on compared to a bottle. Is this true mrsb?