February 2019 babies. The third trimester: it's all starting to feel very real now!

[maxiflump1]

Here we are again ladies with another new thread..... maybe some of these babies may make an appearance on this one!

I breastfed exclusively for 6 months until I went back to work, then for the more months morning and night until she self weaned. I loved it and was sad when she'd had enough. The beginning was tough but once we got the hang of it, it was so easy.

One tip that I was given which was amazingly helpful was to get some sterilised syringes to take to hospital, I hand expressed colostrum and fed her with the syringes to start with, or helped to make sure she was getting it and my milk came in on day three.

The only thing I'd do differently is to introduce a bottle of expressed milk earlier. When my daughter started nursery at 6 months she wouldn't take a bottle and it was mega stressful!!

I BF exclusively for 15 months. Ie. No formula (weaned at 6 months). As DD was born by EMCS and in NICU it was v tough to establish bf. My milk came in on day 3. I hand expressed into syringes days 1-3 and pumped till we established feeding.

Aside from the beginning bit I can safely say I enjoyed it overall, until I was ready to stop and she wasn’t (different discussion!!) but she was a V efficient feeder - drained a boob in ten mins, settled into 2 hourly feeds v quickly. I had no issues with supply and although I did get thrush I never got mastitis. For me it was 150% worth the effort at the beginning. I would echo trying a bottle if expressed earlier though.

It really shouldn’t be painful for v long if the latch is good and there’s no tongue tie. I intend to BF for at least a year again.

Just to add, my son had tension in his tongue - this is why I struggled x

@lanalawr good to know this is a reasonable plan. Think it will be really helpful to go through stuff as a couple so I can zone out during the birth and he can answer questions.

I definitely want to arrange a massage, asked for a voucher for Christmas so probably going to wait for mat leave. I'm so glad I'm stopping work at 36 weeks, had originally planned to continue until 38 weeks but I'm so knackered I would be really worried about making mistakes or crying at work, not ideal.

yakadee one of the midwives who saw us post birth at home was so lovely about my decision to BF or not and I'll never forget it. She said it's not worth compromising my happiness, and that when all the kids go to school, no one can tell who was BF and who wasn't. I think she said along the lines of "happy mum, happy baby" too. It really helped, it was almost as if I was given permission to stop if I wanted to.

I've always been a bit weird about the idea of breastfeeding, I don't know why. I know it is meant to be the most natural thing in the world... I'm still planning to try and do it, but all the talk of syringes etc is a bit scary - how are you meant to know this stuff if you don't have a mumsnet group?!

It's sometimes feel like there's some Matrix-style information download that I should have automatically been given at some point during the pregnancy, and yet somehow I've missed! Instead of "I know.... Jujitsu?", it's "I know... how to effectively start breastfeeding and all the various ways you can do it?!"

Apologies for super old film reference for people who aren't ancient.

Feeling better after this morning's meltdown. Got my hair done and went into town and did my secret santa shopping and stocked up on an absolute tonne of indigestion/heartburn products (and maybe a few things for myself...).

@Lookingforadvice123 - I know exactly what you mean. It was almost like I needed someone to tell me that it was my choice, even though of course it always was. She was so nice. She also came to tell me to give, looking 'down below' a miss for a while lol x

I BF my first for three months... it was agony throughout, made me bleed a lot (freaked me out when my son was throwing up blood after a feed!), and I got mastitis. It never got easier and I had PND, so it definitely wasn’t a bonding experience!

My second son I managed 36 hours, he was an angry baby and my milk wasn’t in... switching to FF was the best option all round.

I shall try again this time... breast IS best, but the nutritional value isn’t the only factor in the equation. You need to do what works 🤷🏻‍♀️

Be totally honest but has anyone elses lady parts sort of changed? Iv noticed trying to shave in the mirror as i cannot see past this belly and it looks a bit different? A bit puffy sorry for this message maybe its just because i havent seen it in a while but defo dont think it looked like this before 😂

@powkin not syringes with needles!!! I promise it's not scary!! Xx

@Lulabell1 yes mine is the same 😳 pretty normal I think!

@Lookingforadvice123 yes stitches were in the same place with second and also 3rd birth. I've had no problems at all with them if that's any reassurance and it doesn't look awful either. Healed well each time. I had never thought of having the episiotomy again and it was never mentioned either.

@Lulabell1 to be honest I’ve not looked... I’ve found sex uncomfortable the few times we’ve tried but that’s much more the insides shifting about!

I was a bit horrified when I caught a glimpse at my bikini line at the pool at the weekend! Probably should have attempted to do something about that, but hard to give any fucks.

I’m wondering how the hell you are meant to do perineal massage if you don’t have freakishly long arms, I can barely reach round the bump to get down there! There must be some sort of optimal arrangement!

@Lulabell1 mine is definitely firmer and last time I saw it, it was a lot darker down there. Can’t see it at all now! Last time I had a tidy a got it down to the wire. That’ll have to do til the end!

The breastfeeding part of my NCT course was really helpful, in particular because actually they stressed that formula and mixed feeding was a totally valid option and that the most important thing was that mum’s made a choice for themselves and weren’t guilted into anything and didn’t feel guilty for the choice they did make regarding feeding.
My local NCT also have breastfeeding councillors as well as trained breastfeeding supporters who attend the coffee mornings, so I felt much more happy after the class about who to ask for help if I don’t find breast feeding is going well.
I’m not sure how many of you have looked at that aspect, but if you find out that there’s a breast feeding expert/councillor at your local NCT then I would really recommend jotting down their number. That way you can give them a call if you are struggling to breastfeed after baby is born but want to continue trying it.

I am definitely feeling the pressure down there now, and although I’ve not looked... I’m sure it must look different, it feels it 😬

I can’t do body hair.. I usually epilate everything myself (hate shaving), but I can’t bring myself to inflict any pain on myself 🙈🙈 went for a wax last weekend and feel much better! 😂

I’d second the NCT bf support - our session was the most useful out of the course for me.

Re information - @powkin I honestly knew nothing. I learnt pretty much everything through my nct antenatal course which was great as I didn’t have the head space or time at that point to do it myself (v stressful job) but you can find everything else out through reading / research. Re colostrum and expressing - would never have occurred to me other than DD in NICU and they specifically asked me to do it. Obv for NICU babies they encourage BF especially so I did get a lot of support I probably wouldn’t have otherwise had on the ward

I have my heart set on breast feeding. I really hope I can do it.

Planning to harvest colostrum too. But my mw said really important not to start trying before you're term. As it can triger labour.

I have been reading the positive breast feeding book which I throughly reccomend. It is from the postive birth people. Who have local meets with their local chapter. I havent quite made it a meeting yet though.

Around here we also have laleche league and surestart bf support places and people you can call out.

I also have a 4 hour bf class at the hospital in the new year.

So I feel I will have good support around me. Which hopefully helps my confidence.

Also been looking ahead just incase I needit for craniel osteopaths, tounge tie specialists and lactation consultants. So that I am not worrying about reading reviews hunting for numbers etc with a newborn.

Also bought a milk catcher stuck on cup for the other breast whilst feeding. And looked into hiring a pump from medela.

I am probally obsessively preparing🙈

Those that have done it before anything else you would reccomend?

@Lulabell1 - me! Quite puffy and feeling pressure (although I have a lovely scar from my son so it's a little different anyway). Sex was really uncomfortable last time so think that's going to have to wait!

I'm totally shattered this morning - kept having crazy dreams last night!! X

@Notquiteagandt you sound much more prepared than I was and I managed it for 18 months. I was very much following the idea of try it and see how it goes. Other than thrush, we had no major issues despite DD being in SCBU 3 days. My experience sounds very similar to @Since2016.

My advice to anyone would be that it makes you thirsty- 4litres a day thirsty in my experience. Have drinks everywhere as you don't know how long you'll be stuck under a feeding/sleeping by baby.

Also, have snacks close to hand too. Oats are really good for supply so flap jacks or oat cakes are really good to have nearby - I kept some in my bedside table and I hate eating in bed but sometimes it was necessary.

I think being prepared for bf is the best plan if that's what you choose (and this is coming from someone who didn't manage to for long). You'll probably hear that if you're doing it right it won't hurt. That's true for some but not all initially. Also be prepared to ask for advice from different sources if you're struggling. Don't just assume that the nhs resources are best (I think this is where I went wrong - I could see their methods weren't working but assumed that they were the best place for advice but in my situation they weren't).
Those of you with older children/nieces/nephews - are baby annabel or baby born worth the money and if they are which one is better? I want to get a present for dd when the baby arrives and was planning on a doll with all the right 'bits' to match her little brother or sister. I'm hoping it'll help her feel more involved in some of the things she won't be able to do directly with her sibling but she absolutely loves babies (a bit too much sometimes). She'll be 2.5 when the baby arrives.

I also did a bit of reading on the colostrum harvesting and saw that it could bring on labour. Definitely something I want to try as it seems like a good idea.

Any idea on the best way to store it though and how long it keeps?

I definitely want to express as I don't want the pressure of just having the boob but not sure when to start or how to store properly.

I expressed with syringes and a hospital pump for colostrum - I could have fed the ward - the benefits of a massive baby! I refrigerated it and used the syringes to encourage DD to feed at the beginning - that worked v well and was v helpful so will repeat if there’s any delay in my milk coming in.

re advice on prep - id second the thirst thing. Don’t underestimate it! And lots of lansinoh! I wouldn’t bother with bf specific tops though.

@lanalawr I’m also planning the same! I have an almost 3 year old who is baby obsessed. I know she’s going to want to ‘help’ do everything.... despite knowing a doll probably won’t cut it it may help! She is going to be my little fetch and carrier!

@since2016 what did you store the colostrum in?

You can get milk pots that attach to pumps so i sterilised them and then kept milk in them i freezed some up to 3months it keeps but ovbiously do not try to express before 37 weeks x