November 2017 #5. You wait ages for a baby, then 3 come along at once. Ante/post-natal chat ...

[Zampa]

No specific post-natal category so I've added it to the normal ante-natal category ...

Congratulations Womble! We have a sleepyhead which is brilliant, baby drifts off on my chest and then I pop him in there and he usually settles really quickly at night. In the day he really does like to sleep on me though. We go for lots of walks so he will sleep in the pushchair or sling.

We usually do a nappy change before a feed as he often falls asleep when he's being burped. He does sometimes poo during a feed but if it's not a whopper we do sometimes leave it because he isn't bothered and just sleeps, and it'll only be a few hours until the next feed.

I have a bit of mastitis and a fever and baby F has a cold :( would love to take it easy today but we have to go out to finish some Christmas shopping. Hope everyone is doing OK.

Get well soon @butterybollocks!

Oh god @buttery hope you feel better soon! You’re brave facing the shops!
What sling do you have? we don’t have one yet but I think it would make life much easier when cleaning etc! X

Thanks zampa and haz - it was icy again this morning so the perfect excuse to stay in. Currently cuddled up on the sofa with F fast asleep on me. We'll have to face the shops this afternoon.

Haz I have a close caboo - I love it. It supports his head really well so I can really get on with stuff. Mine is the new Sofia print version so it's really pretty, and I have a waterproof cover for it so I can use it for the school run even if the weather is bad. I also have a babybjorn for when he's a little older.

Any recommendations to get them going longer between Feeds at night? He's in a sleep bag but debating swaddling as we did our daughter and she slept brilliantly.

He wakes up starving but on 5oz and a lot more bottles than recommended.

Thanks @buttery I’m off to google - maybe I can hint to DH for Christmas 😄

@Durez I have no idea but will be following any answers carefully too! She wakes every 3 hours usually, sometimes 2. She’s got such bad wind at the moment too it takes so long to settle her poor thing x

@DuRezidal I got 5 hours once but it was a total fluke and has never happened again Usually 3 hours max here too. Tried swaddling the last couple of nights and both times she managed to fight her arms free, I have no idea how.

@Hazandduck i feel exactly the same and poor DH is hurt when I send him to spare room to sleep at night because it is easier for me

@theotherendofthesockportal I cannot believe how rude people are - it's so sad that women judge other women isn't it!? Please don't forget you're doing your absolute best and that is the main thing.

I had private tongue tie appt on Monday and Liliana seems fine in herself. I was worried she'd be upset but she's ok. Also feeding isn't worse which I was worried about. Equally it's not massively better either! add

@DuRezidal the only way we can get more thAn 4 hrs at 6 week's old is to stuff her up with a bottle before bed

I'm fantasising about sleep and lie ins and big hotel beds with fluffy pillows ...

DD is now swaddled and it made a difference but she still wakes hourly for feeds. Combined with my cough keeping me awake I'm getting zero sleep.

Roll on spring time!

@Zampa I'm with you with the cough too! The entire family have been snot ridden for the past few weeks and mine seems to have turned into the most horrific cough!

I tried the routine we did with my DD tonight of bath at 6pm, bottle at 6.30pm and then in the Moses basket for 7pm. He slept 7.15pm until just now (11.30) and has just had 5oz and is currently back asleep. Let's see for how long!!!

How did you get on @durezidal? We did similar with our DD but at the moment we're keeping F with us in the evening, he fusses and cluster feeds all evening so I do wonder if he would actually prefer to be in bed.

I've just cleaned the whole house with F asleep in his caboo. My dad and stepmum are coming over this afternoon - they are not great guests as they'll expect me to furnish them with coffee and snacks throughout the afternoon.

Everywhere is covered in black ice here today, I'm really missing getting out for long dog walks.

I'm having another express-and-feed day to give my sore nipples a rest. DD seems about as keen on it as I am - she drank an entire bottle & then had a bit more & still kept fussing & trying to latch onto any bit of me she could reach! Took me over an hour & 1 dummy to get her to calm down enough to sleep. Poor thing was obviously over-tired & couldn't settle herself! She's sound asleep on me now & my arm is going numb. I'd really like just 5 minutes to sit by myself but I can't bare to put her down - partly because I feel guilty that I'm refusing to let her suck on my nipples like she wants & partly because I'm scared she'll wake up!

I've got an appt to have her tongue checked on Weds when she'll be 4wo. I'm dreading it - what if she says there's no TT & can't explain why it's painful? I'll end up feeling even more like I'm just failing to feed my baby. I burst into tears when I got off the phone & DH started making noises about how awkward Weds was & it would've been soooo much easier if the appt could've been on Thursday when he's got the day off... He quickly stopped talking when I started sobbing at the thought of going alone! I did it alone with DS2 & it was fine, although it's never fun having someone peering at you & judging your ability to get your baby to latch on! A friend has offered to have the older 2 while we go & DH has decided to split his day off between Weds & Thurs so everything's sorted & I'm free to panic about the outcome of the appt, without any added stress!

I'm thinking of introducing a bed time routine. How are you getting on with yours @DuRezidal ? Has it made a difference? Iris has settled down for a 5 hour sleep every night from 8pm this week so once all the disruption of Christmas is out of the way I think that will be her bed time and we'll do a bottle upstairs in the quiet & put a fresh baby gro on etc. Ideally I'd want to put her down around 7 so she goes up when DS does but I'd also like her to start her long stint later so I only really have one night feed & the second one is 6ish which is much better than the current 4ish. She went down at 9.30 tonight so we'll see how that goes.

I've got the close caboo too & it's great. Really easy to use and comfortable to wear. Iris loves it & falls asleep in it in minutes. She spent 2.5 hours in it on Tuesday while I was at preschool with DS doing lots of crafts etc & she slept through the whole thing! I think I'm going to get the waterproof cover as well @butterybollocks & the fleecy cover as well. At the moment she's getting my big blanket scarf wrapped round her if it's really cold but that really needs a hand to hold which defies the point of the sling. We're planning on doing lots more walking in the new year once I've had my 8 week check & lots of it is off-road or not pram friendly so will be good to make sure she can be warm & dry in the sling.

@AGnu hope the appointment on Wednesday goes well & you get some answers.

@AGnu my nipples are so sore too! Tongue tie was last thing to try and we had it cut on Monday. Was a bit sceptical as midwives and health visitor always said it was minor but private lactation tongue tie specialist said it was major and needed cutting: tried to go to an NHS clinic last week but the specialist wasn't available to talk to so didn't bother going back. I worry we had it done unnecessarily or without second opinion but woman seemed to know her stuff and baby is fine in herself now altho feeding not mega different. It's not worse tho either so I will take that for now!!!

@topsyloulou the caboo waterproof cover is really good, I've done the school run with it on a wet and windy morning and baby stayed dry and snug. I also have a universal fit hoody style cover so I put that inside the waterproof one. If you follow close parent on Facebook, they quite often have offer codes.

Does anyone else have a baby that gets overstimulated really easily? My in laws came over earlier and F found it so exciting, he was really alert looking at everyone, refused to sleep and then was very over tired and was screaming.

Hope your appointment goes OK @AGnu

The bedtime routine went out the window last night because he just wouldn't settle after his bath, and I thought the same would happen tonight but finally at 8.30pm he went to sleep and I have just brought him up to bed now and he has stayed asleep. I haven't bothered with the dream feed as it didn't make any difference at all on Thursday night, so expecting him to wake around 11.30ish for a feed.

Have we heard from @Motherhippy16 ?

@butterybollocks hadn't thought of overstimulation as a reason for lack of sleep but actually that makes sense!

I was thinking the same @sock! Hope she is doing ok xx

I have a very tired, very over stimulated baby today. My in laws arrived this morning from overseas & are staying with us for 3 weeks. Iris has been awake since 7am minus a couple of 10 minute cat naps. She is so so tired but refusing to give in & sleep. She also doesn't want putting down either. I'm currently hiding in our bedroom with just a small lamp on to see if being away from everything does the trick. Keeping everything crossed!

Hi all. Baby Ellis was born on the 12th Dec at 12.31pm via emergency c section. It was a very quick and traumatic birth for us both but we only had to spend a couple of days in hospital as I lost a lot of blood. He was 7lb 8 and is so gorgeous. I have a really big problem though. My milk still hasn't come in even though I'm pumping every 3 hours and trying to feed him as well to keep it up. He s obviously getting hungrier and hungrier and I'm only producing half an ounce of milk at each pump. He s not latching well either that can make me sore. Any help would be greatly appreciated x x x x

Congratulations @motherhippy16. Ellis is a cutie pie.

Keep trying with the feeding and let your midwives know how you're doing when they visit. As long as Ellis is doing ok weight wise, don't worry too much.

Pumping isn't as efficient as suckling so what you get out then isn't an indication of what Ellis is getting. Maybe leave the pumping to one side for a couple of weeks and start again once Ellis is established?

(And latching is sore to start off with. This "if you're doing it right it doesn't hurt" business is nonsense! It will ease up though).

Congratulations @Motherhippy16 he looks like a wise old man, so cute :) I was the first out the group to have our babies which means that Bea is 2 months older than Ellis!

I don't have any advice re: breast feeding as I couldn't do it. I admire those who do. Enjoy your tiny baby x x x