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 ...

Ah @DuRezidal I feel for you it must be hard :-/ hopefully you will all find your rhythm and work out how to maximise your free time to spend it with him xx

I'm in bits got a blocked nipple duct in credibly painful and not sure I can nurse through it :-/

Ouch lydia! I had mastitis a little while ago and had to pump through it - whilst crying and taking a lot of deep breaths. Hope you feel better soon.

It must be really hard to be away from him @durezidal. Is there anything you can afford to drop/cut down on work-wise in the short term? If I could I'd come and muck out for you to give you a break!

@zampa our dogs cry if DD cries, and they're really loud. So we have had baby F crying, DD crying and both dogs howling all at once in the same room.

@butterybollocks I hope that you have ear defenders!

Trying to write DD2's thank you cards in Booths' café whilst I wait for DSD's ballet class to finish but still have 10 to go and have to leave now. They'll never get done!

Lydia ouchy- hoping you get over the blocked ducts soon- good excuse for a long hot bath before you pump though.

Accrual- happy 2 months. We were 2 months on Wednesday- I think it's starting to get fun with all the smiles and chatter.

Bea is 3 months today and it is also makes it 1 year since my miscarriage. I'm so glad to have Bea although I feel sad about the baby I never got to hold 😭 I'm going to stay positive though. I'm meeting a friend at the park with her kids and we are going to do some work towards our 10000 steps, although my Fitbit thinks I'm riding a bike when I push the buggy lol.

Thanks @butterybollocks @izzibee29 it is better today but feeding is still so sore on both sides in general. She's 11 weeks now so I have kinda given up hope of it getting better and just seeing how much longer I can keep it going :-/

@lydiangel83 You've had no luck with breast feeding, have you?! Well done for lasting three months - Liliana will have benefitted greatly from everything you've given her. I don't think there's any shame in stopping if that's what works for you.

@butterybollocks unfortunately not at the moment. It's even worse as I have three young horses who need to start competing which takes up so much time! It's a good job I have some very special horses coming through the ranks!

This morning I got up at 6.30am just so I could lie and cuddle him for an hour before he woke up.

Thanks @Zampa I think the next major issue will be what stops me and she will have had nearly 3 months by then. We never really cracked the latch so I've been super sore since the start and always just strip off in to dressing gown when at home as it is least painful thing to wear :-/ I think it just comes easier to some people but I am stubborn and wanted to keep going until I break, which some days feels close! How are you getting on?

Aww @theotherendofthesockportal hold Bea extra tight tonight xx

We seem to be coping ok @lydiangel83. A bit gutted that she's stopped accepting a bottle but we'll work on that!

You've done amazingly @lydiangel83 getting to 3 months is fab. Be kind to yourself if you need to stop (I say this from experience as I was too stubborn to stop when I should have with DD!).

Anyone else struggle with sleep in the early hours of the morning? Freddie does one long stretch of sleep but then wakes every 40 mins ish. I don't really sleep at all in between those wakings so I've pretty much been up since 2.15am. DD will be up soon and then we're up doing the school run. I'm just hoping the long stretch of sleep gets longer - he managed 7 hours a few nights ago!

@butterybollocks DD2 is similar to Freddie. She'll do her longest stretch of sleep first and then each tranche after that becomes shorter.

We had a fairly successful night last night and I got 6 hours and 40 minutes of sleep (in three sessions). DD2 did spend 90 minutes smiling and chatting at one point but it was so lovely, I could hardly complain!

J is a bit like that, he does an 8 hour stint from 8pm to 4am then will do about 2 hours and want another feed, then another hour if I'm lucky. I looked back at my diary I kept with my daughter and she was sleeping 9pm to 8am by this age, I am just not sure how I got her to do it!

Thanks @lydiangel83

We don't seem to have issues sleeping at night. It's the day time that causes us problems, Bea is awake far too much in the day and only naps around 30mins at a time. I go on walks to encourage her day time naps but her eyes ping open the second we get home.

@theotherendofthesockportal that sounds just like what we're experiencing. The issue with the tiny naps is that come bed time Frederick really first going down for those first 4hrs as though he's over tired.

Thanks @butterybollocks I don't know how much longer I will go on but glad I have got this far

@Zampa our little pudding went off bottle after tongue tie cut and I wanted to just breast feed to avoid nipple confusion, but then wouldn't take bottle afterwards. In the last week or so she has suddenly accepted dummy (at night) and bottle. We are not complaining!

@theotherendofthesockportal we have the same thing, almost no daytime sleeping unless in car/ sling/ pram ie you don't get to rest during day or do anything much at all! Sleep at night is better tho.

We have no problems with naps in the day - Freddie loves his naps and usually has 3 during the day which includes a 3-4 hour one. The past few days he's done the long nap in the pram after the school run. I've got loads done! Generally he's a really good sleeper, it's just the early hours of the morning when he wakes every 45 mins. I've no idea why he's waking so frequently then!

LO refused to sleep anywhere but on me last night. I'm exhausted! She's like that during the day too. I can't put her down.

I like cuddles but not this much!

Just catching up, @Lydia how are you feeling now? I found massaging my boobs in a warm bath helped unblock ducts when I’ve had them, I know it’s probably gross but I just squeezed it out under water because it just hurt too much any other way! I’m so sorry you are still getting this, how have you kept BF for 3 months in this pain?! So much respect! I nearly gave up and I only struggled for the first 17 days when the tongue tie was cut!
Tilly had her first jabs on Friday 😢 The nurse was great and could tell me and DH were really anxious, she was very quick! Tilly has never really cried like that before, it was horrible, and for the next few days she would just randomly burst out crying and was pretty inconsolable. She’s never been like that and I didn’t know what to do with her half the time poor thing! She had been sleeping from half 11 until 6-6.30, but since her jabs she has gone back to waking up at 3-4 and again at 6, grr! Really hoped we’d got rid of that middle of the night feed. Is it bad I don’t really know when she naps in the day? I need to start keeping track but I tend to just feed her when she wants it and then she falls asleep after.
Hope everyone is well and enjoying all the new smiles and chuckles that are emerging now! X

@Zampa have you just had the 8 week jabs? It made Tilly so clingy x

@Hazandduck We were supposed to have her jabs on Monday but they've been postponed until next week. Not looking forward to it at all!

Another nightmare evening - lo comfort suckled for 2 hours and kicked off every time I tried to take her off and settle her down. Tried to get OH to help but he wasn't very helpful at all!

@zampa sorry to hear you've had a tough evening, have you been able to put her down overnight? Velcro babies are,hard work. I'm sure they have good survival instincts though!

@hazandduck I don't think it matters if there's no real routine at this stage. I've been using an app to track naps and feeds but there's so definite pattern. I just feed when he's hungry and let him nap when he's tired. He still can't stay awake for much more than an hour at a time.

Slightly better early hours of the morning stint today. Slept for 6 hours then another hour and a half which is better than the 40 min sleeps we have been getting - I've put an extra blanket on him. He's currently asleep on me though and protesting if I try to put him down.

Might try out mum and baby yoga today!

@Zampa I feel your pain and am hoping it is because we are going through a Leap according to Wonder weeks.

I've also got in to ridiculous cycle the last few nights of lying awake when baby is asleep! I used to sleep badly before baby was born and before pregnancy but recently I guess slightly longer stretches of sleep mean I am awake again :( so frustrating!

Thanks @Hazandduck I took her to osteopath the other day who said feeding issues related to her neck and face muscles being all tight. Due to be very speedy forceps delivery she didn't have time / opportunity to unfurl properly in birth canal then got yanked out. Forceps really is a brutal delivery method!

Hope others are doing well x