November 2013-thread 4- nattering our way through the first trimester

[honey86]

pow... here goes another

harverina I'm not sure if the knackering if bf related though. I found newborns knackering by itself! Friends with ff babies have equally bad tales of sleep times.

Yeah onelittle I agree totally. Apparently there is research which says bf mums get more sleep than ff mums having a newborn is the issue as opposed to method of feeding (unless you have someone to do all the night feeds and give you a long lie every day haha!!)

Does anyone know how lon lactulose takes to work, have just taken my first so spoonfuls

snow thanks for that. Have just bought myself a top and some maternity leggings! should really be working

harverina sadly it'd be me doing all the night feeds still, however I'm feeding.

While we're talking about night feeds, my plan is to do all of them (except maybe weekends) while I'm on maternity leave, as DP will be working.

I said this to my friend and she was horrified and thought he should be doing half (I realise he can't BF, but if I can pump....I'm clearly still a novice at this) despite the fact he's back at work.

Any thoughts?

Me too onelittle.

Wish I had some of those hormones just now Suffolk to help me get back to sleep when I waken during the night!

Berry yes you can pump but it is best to wait until bf is properly established before you do that as your breasts work on a demand/supply basis. If you miss a feed regularly your supply would be affected. Plus in the early days if you

My dd got an occasional bottle of expressed

Clearly did not mean to send that I have to run just now will update later sorry

I pumped very successfully at the start when DD had jaundice and was in the hospital for a week. I even caught up with the feeding schedule they have and ended up with EBM to throw away when she was discharged.

Sadly, that is not to be repeated when I got home. I struggled to get like 10-20ml in 15min! DD doesn't even ever feed for 15min. So it's much much faster to actually just feed and go back to sleep.

DH also just take DD out in the weekend for me to catch up on sleep. Also don't forget that while your OH has to stay away and work, you can catch up on sleep during the day. I swear by the nap while the baby nap mantra in the early days.

Thanks guys - my friend isn't the most maternal of people, and has no kids of her own, so it's good to know I'm not planning on letting DP get away with too much!! Besides, he will be very hands on and I know he'll do as much as he can - he's feeling a bit left out and helpless at the moment.

berry we have the same agreement that weekends and during paternity leave, holidays etc we will share the night bits and bobs, although if I breastfeed successfully then I guess we would have to work out how...I also have no idea re expressing, but that when he is back at work I will do the night feeds. It's only fair as he will have a full days work to do, where as at least I can stay in my PJs or nap if I need to.

berry and motherofcleo my DH was the master of nappies from day one, and then baths when we start to bath DD regularly. I did all the night needs even during paternity. He cooked dinners when he got home from work. He also would walk around the house and rock DD when she wouldn't settle even after a feed. A lot of dads do this walk baby around thing. We made a decision to never do the sling around the neighbourhood or drive to sleep. Because we had friends who had to walk their babies in baby bjorn every night, or have to take the car out.

There are lots a dad can do without feeding.

Oh and the funny thing is that dad said he met other dads in his midnight walks every night!

I successfully expressed when DS was born as well, again, it was because we were kept in as DS had jaundice.
For me, I never thought it was fair for DH to do a full days work and then have to do night feeds too. He travels an hour each way to work so I was more concerned that I wanted him to be alert on the drive. The thought of him being too tired to concentrate on driving did it for me. DH would have done it if I'd asked.
Instead, I used to do an express bottle about 8pm and then go to bed for a bit and DH would do a dreamfeed just before he went to bed at 11pm. It worked well for us.
I think the thing is to just do what's best for you as a couple. Take no notice of what other people think as everyone has an opinion on everything where kids are involved!

That sounds like it Fairy I didn't bother doing a test until I was about 4 days late as I thought I had period pains so would come on any minute. It must have been the cyst as it never left & just gradually got worse - not any more though.

Well Berry if DP takes over during the evening & pulls his weight then I will be doing the nights as he often has to be up at 5 so I would worry about him driving to work on such little sleep.

One I think that's so funny, the midnight dads club haha.

My DH is a master of nappies, too, it's great. He has been very hands on from day one - and even before, if you think of it, considering the countless back and foot rubs he had to give me when pg
I'm hoping to bf exclusively this time, so am prepared to do the night feeds - with DS, we had to do mixed bf-ff, as DS didn't seem to be getting enough from me (turned out he had tongue tie), but it meant that DH could get involved with the feeding, too.

But I agree with OneLittle, there is so much that dads can do - if the mums let them, that is. Sadly, I have seen it happen when the mum becomes so involved that she literally pushes the dad to the side... Not good.

All this talk about feeding etc makes me suddenly really want to be on mat leave again... Not having to bother to get dressed and leave the house in the morning and getting lots of newborn cuddles, awwww

Counting down the months/days till November!

Oh I'm so counting down. I worked out this morning I'll be taking leave from mid October!

Me too One!!

took today off work just couldnt face it have felt so sicky and tired the last couple of days and last night i had a bit of a fever too. hubby was very firm and said 'no' to me going to work, hes being very good.
having trouble deciding what to eat every day as i dont fancy anything.
saying that have really enjoyed a really thickly spread peanut butter sandwich and glass of milk

I found a bag of maltesers very helpful atm

I have just made myself the biggest Caesar salad and am eating it out of the salad bowl. Don't see the point in pretending that I am not going to eat it all!

It's divine...hope this craving continues and I won't need to worry too much about weight!!!

Bon appetit harv
Have just finished stuffing my face silly, no doubt will look six months pregnant in about half an hour!
I've got really sore boobs today, anyone else? Feels like they weigh a tonne too!