September 2020 7 - babies are arriving!

[sianyflewog]

Just making this ready xx

@MooseWL I had one like a haaka but a cheaper one from Amazon that already came with a stopper and lid. I mainly used it to go on the other side whilst I was breastfeeding and it would suction out up to about 30-40ml a time! I've stopped using it now though as I no longer have to do extra top up feeds as baby has finally started putting on weight.

Ah @hugeagegap did you have problems with weight gain too. Really hoping he's put on tomorrow 😔
With the stuff you were getting did you then store the little bits in the fridge and then make them into a bottle when there was enough for a feed? What's a good amount to give for an expressed feed. I haven't a clue what I'm doing 🤣 but I suspect if there's still no weight gain tomorrow they'll ask me to do top up feeds.

@ShiningStarz when we’re having a “must be touching mummy day” I can sometimes get around pumping at the same time by propping him Next to me with head on a pillow in my lap so he’s still touching me and can see me but I’m also Hands and chest free for pumping. Doesn’t always work but it might be worth a try for you to get an extra couple of sessions in if you do decide you want to stick with it. Don’t beat yourself up if not though. The nurse told me that the benefits of any BM you have managed to give baby last for 3months after you’ve stopped BF which is actually quite impressive and comforting to know if you need to stop sooner than you planned (I thought anyway)

Baby boy shot into this world at 11am this morning. A respectable 7lb1oz. I had such a positive birth experience. Feeling very lucky. Laboured quietly at home until this morning. Got to the the hospital at 10am, felt the infamous need to poop start walking from the carpark 😲, a rapid check in and crossing my legs haha, then 6 contractions later he came flying out. A little shell shocked but very smitten 🥰

@NeuroMama congratulations. Glad your both doing well

@NeuroMama congratulations! So glad you had a positive experience!

Congrats @pangolin84 and @NeuroMama!

We've had an absolute whirlwind over the last 36hrs. Little lady was under 2 hourly obs for her meconium waters, obs took a dip and meant she was put on antibiotics and taken for chest x-ray which revealed damage to her little lung from inhaling meconium waters in utero causing breathing difficulties so she was whisked away to NICU. She's been such a trooper today though and is recovering well which is more than can be said for mummy 😢

So hard not being with her and also being without my partner because of the covid rules!

Congratulations @pangolin84 and @NeuroMama!

Oh bless you @Margo34 that must be so tough! Thinking of you both and hope you’ll be back together soon and on the mend

Thanks @Sara7455 will give that a go, sounds like a fab idea xx

Wow that's great @NeuroMama congrats 💙

@Margo34 I hope your little girl is doing ok, hugs 🤗💕

Congratulations to all the new mamas 🥳

Thinking of you @Margo34 and hope you'll soon be reunited 💘

Congrats @pangolin84 and @NeuroMama - welcome to the world babies!

Thinking of you @Margo34 and your little girl. The nicu teams are incredible, I’m sure she’ll be back with you really soon!

Congratulations @NeuroMama 😊

@MooseWL yes we also had weight issues. Lost over 10% by the 10 day check so we started on 20ml top ups then went up to 25ml top ups. Just shy of 4 weeks old she finally made it over her birth weight so we've now stopped doing too ups because I was also using a electric pump and that wrecked my breast tissue (sores and blisters) so for the week before the last weigh in I was to sore to pump but we managed the weight gain on direct breast feeds only. We had weigh ins from 10 days every 48hours and now we've made birth weight we are weekly with the HV, our first weekly weigh in is today, fingers crossed weight still going up!

Yes if I was either breast feeding one side or electric pumping one side I'd put the haaka on the other and sometimes I'd get more on the haaka than I would the electric pump!! It worked really well. You can store breast milk at room temp for 6 hours, so depending on how much you got if it was just enough for 2 feeds just keep at room temp then pour into a bottle for the feed itself. We initially used syringes but to get 20ml down her would be 6 separate ones so we got a little bottle to speed things up! Luckily doing that didn't effect her latch on me at all. If you get loads of it, more than the feeds you'd do in 6 hours just pop the haaka in the fridge or the spare bottle in the fridge. I ended up getting two bottles as otherwise it's difficult negotiating fridge milk with haaka milk then a bottle to feed them the 20ml with! Especially if your like me and wanted to build up a little fridge supply! This was handy for times when I just couldn't express enough for a top up feed, I'd use my little fridge stash! xx

Anybody heard or has a rockit?

www.amazon.co.uk/Rockit-portable-rocker-stroller-pushchair/dp/B076KP7HKW/ref=asc_df_B076KP7HKW/?hvlocphy=1007243&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=310816634831&hvpone&hvlocint&th=1&hvpos&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-467371557111&hvrand=3899590233119489674

Im tempted to get one but the price puts me off, i feel like all i do is spend money at moment 🙄

@hugeagegap sounds the same here we've lost a bit again today so she wants me to express 30ml and top up after every feed but said feed both boobs then pump. I've only got a haaka and ordered a manual pump to come tomorrow it's not going well so far but she stressed me out a bit which obviously didn't help and spent the morning crying.
She's reweighing again tomorrow and said if he's lost again will need him reviewed by the GP to see why he isn't gaining. He seems well though.
I'm don't know whether to just start combi feeding to take the pressure off as I feel like crap and just want him to gain now and the stress obviously won't help with my milk supply. I feel like all I'm doing is feeding which would be fine if he was gaining weight but he's not. 😔

@MooseWL @HugeAgeGap I hope your little ones regain weight soon. It's fab you are BF!!

Wev stopped aptamil powder as we felt the foam from it was increasing air in little ones tummy but also maybe leaving her constipated.

She's been on 1 or 2 expressed BFeeds a day and the rest ready made aptamil. I feel super guilty though, I should be doing more to give her expressed BM at least during daytime hrs and topping up with aptamil. My supply is crap but I know I need to express 8 times in 24hrs. I can barely get myself a coffee & banana lol let alone hold her & express. Tomorrow is another day and I will do better 🤞

@MooseWL my baby lost weight twice, well over the 10% threshold. We had to have GP agreement and infant feeding team agreement with the top up plan but didn't need to see GP as she did gain a tiny bit at the following weigh in.

To get the extra milk it was so stressful expressing, in the end the electric pump caused such bad sores around the areola I had to stop and hope that just breast was enough, luckily she continued to gain so I didn't need to find a plan B.

If your getting stressed/upset then that's rubbish, you can't carry on like that, the manual pump might make things easier once it arrives. But Don't beat yourself up if you can't feed then express, it's such hard work, you have the formula option to top up if u need too, and once gained weight u could go back to exclusively breast feeding again, I managed to do that so it's deffo possible.

Just make sure you get the help from the experts and don't bear yourself up and make yourself exhausted and miserable. You need to be able to enjoy this stage so do what is best for you and baby will be fine with formula or your breast top ups xxx

Ladies, we are all doing great! Just remember that! I'm struggling with BF...my little one will only take on one side so one side is sore from overuse and the other so hard and tender where there is too much milk! Seriously considering expressing and then bottle feeding the breast milk instead but I feel like if I did that I've failed but I know I haven't! As long as baby is fed and loved then you can't ask more than that. Sending you all love and here's to a good night (being wildly optimistic there 🤣)

@ShiningStarz don’t beat yourself up and make sure to look after yourself as well as much as it’s hard. It’s torture to put them down for 5mins while they’re crying to go fetch a drink or pee etc but you do need to take care of your own basic needs too.
So much love, I know it’s really hard.

@WillowT don’t beat yourself up either! You say it yourself - fed and loved is best!

Thanks ladies

@hugeagegap we were at day 9 today and lost 9.6%. I think I was upset because the midwife basically implied there was something wrong with him, when in reality we probably just need more breastfeeding support. He's alert and happy and also only lost 10g since Monday which if you think about it is 10ml of milk, if she'd turned up half an hour later he'd probably be 10g heavier!

Didn't help that as she left and I was sat crying my SIL turned up. (She did bring cake at least!) I know using formula is fine but I'd rather give expressed top up feeds a chance first and I don't think giving us a day to get that under our belt (when i don't even have a pump until tomorrow!) is really giving us a chance. She essentially just said if it goes down tomorrow you'll have to add formula.

It's funny how different all the midwives are. We've had 5 different ones come out in the last 9 days. The one on Monday was really supportive and said he potentially could have not been putting on weight because of his unbilical infection and now he's on antibiotics that's clearing up.
Anyway he's been attached to the boob most of the evening plus had a couple of expressed 30ml feeds so 🤞🏻 for gain tomorrow.

@shiningstarz it's so hard to find time to do anything isn't it I don't know where the days go. My partner has been great at feeding me when the baby is attached to my boob, I love cooking usually but have barely been in the kitchen never mind made a meal, I don't know what I'm going to do when he's back at work next week!

@willowT it's so funny how if it's anyone else saying it we don't judge and all agree fed is best, but when it's ourselves we put huge pressure on! We all probably need to be a little kinder to ourselves!

Apologies for the 1am super long mid feed rant whilst my partner is snoring away next to me 🙄😂

@MooseWL don't apologise about middle of night rants! If you can't rant now, when can you!!

I had a massive meltdown earlier about the feeding. I even started to sterilise bottles ready for emergency formula. However, focusing on something else helped me calm down and refocus. My DH is so supportive and reminds me that a) little one is gaining weight so I'm doing something right and b) there are other options!

Thank you so much @Sara7455 I used to drink 2 litres at least of water when I was pregnant. Now id be lucky if i got 1 glass!! Need to get back to filling.the water bottle.

I know now isn't the time to be weight conscious but I stepped on the scales and I am 11.5 stone! Up 2.5 stone!! Having had gestational diabetes I am at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. I'm looking forward to getting back to jogging, my gym closed down and with virus I doubt I'd join another!

@MooseWL fingers crossed for you. In the hospital they gave me 48hours for him to go from losing to gaining weight by doing expressed milk top ups and he gained like 200g in that 48hours - hopefully it’ll go the same for you- I was shocked how much of a difference it made! At home when his weight gain slowed down (attempting to BF again) the nurse gave me a week to sort it out with expressing before I’d have to add formula which seems a lot more reasonable than your midwife. In my case I just wasn’t getting the volumes to keep up with how much he’s eating and ended up combi feeding with formula anyway but at least I was given the chance to try.

@ShiningStarz definitely go back to filling up a bottle. You can have it within reach then when you’re holding her. Dehydration won’t help milk supply or how you’re feeling - I definitely feel better for making an effort to drink more water!
Have you got any buggyfit type classes near you? Worth keeping an eye out for. I love ours and it’s run Covid safe (often outside) with appropriate distancing and they get baby involved in or out of buggy depending on baby mood so it’s something you can do together while getting in a bit of exercise for yourself. There’s also a couple of baby carrying workouts on insta/YouTube that could also be worth looking at when you’re ready postnatally. I’m in the same boat as you with a bit to shift (dropped two stone before I got pregnant and it’s all back now). Obviously I’m a lot further post section now but walking, then some gentle postnatal specific core activation stuff and now Buggyfit and baby wearing exercise are all making me feel a lot better.

Another 4am essay - sorry everyone!

to the other night feeders 😴

I think I've had about 2 hours sleep so far. I've just made asked DP to do the nappy change while I get ready to dispense the next boob.

My section wound is still sore so moving around to get comfortable is a nightmare!

Hey @Sara7455 yep I found a buggy club near me that's outdoor too. I messaged thEm and starting once baby is 8 weeks and I get signed off post c section. It'll be mid Nov so hopefully not too wet and miserable 🙈 thank u xx
I will defo fill the water bottle! Xx