Due August 2021 - Welcome to the World!

[PurplePansy05]

Welcome to the chattiest birth club on MN! Newcomers always welcome 💐

14 gorgeous new babies have joined us already, welcome to the world 💖💙🥳

@Smurf123 - Welcome to the world, baby Sophia 💖
@wimbler - Welcome to the world, baby boy 💙
@Jessicapebbles - Welcome to the world, baby Ebony💖
@Inmypjsagain - Welcome to the world, baby boy💙
@PurplePansy05 - Welcome to the world, baby Leo Alexander 💙
@WinterBabyof89 - Welcome to the world, baby Rosie 💖
@Winecoffeeteamum - Welcome to the world, baby Emily 💖
@Ready2020 - Welcome to the world, baby Rowan 💖
@Magik01 - Welcome to the world, baby Isaac 💙
@Hoares3 - Welcome to the world, baby Ellis 💙
@Daffodil21 - Welcome to the world, baby Elliot James 💙
@sarah13xx - Welcome to the world, baby Freddie 💙
@Biscuitcat - Welcome to the world, baby Rowan 💙
@Whatshouldbemyusername - Welcome to the world, baby Arya-Nyah 💖

Counting down until we welcome 20+ new arrivals:

@MrsB2019x - Induction w/c 9 August, Girl 💖
@Dia12 - EDD 8 August, Girl 💖
@Aaaaa1519 - EDD 13 August, Girl 💖
@Angelesque - C-section 16 August, surprise 💛
@lucyrp - EDD 16 August, surprise 💛
@livingwithbees - EDD 16 August, surprise 💛
@BertieBotts - EDD 16 August, Boy 💙
@WolfMother - EDD 17 August, Boy 💙
@Caz1226 - EDD 17 August, Boy 💙
@Millymay13 - C-section 17 August, surprise 💛
@RandomCatGenerator - C-section 19 August, surprise 💛
@Smallbean27 - EDD 19 August, surprise 💛
@Sheisfee - EDD 19 August, Girl 💖
@Alittlexmasmagic - EDD 22 August, surprise 💛
@LottSE20 - EDD 22 August, surprise 💛 @notinthestarsigns - EDD 23 August (but likely to be brought forward induction/C-section), surprise 💛
@Fran919 - EDD 25 August, surprise💛
@Ava50x - EDD 25 August, Boy 💙
@ame88 - EDD 28 August, Girl 💖
@HopefulB - EDD 29 August, surprise 💛

It's officially THE month! Watch this space! xx

That sounds like a good idea @Daffodil21
Unfortunately our spare bed is in our garage conversion but it's separate from the house.. If I send dh to sleep there he'll use the "but I can't hear you guys from out there I thought they both slept all night!"
I'm not ready to let him away with that! Hope you manage to get some sleep!

Currently trying to eat a bowl of cruncynut cornflakes in bed as DD does her usual noisy half sleeping in her cot. I tried again tonight to settle her into a deeper sleep but she even didn't want the second boob. So I guess she's happy enough. I need to pump out some milk too so that's me until 6am!

@Smurf123 I would be leaving spider to my OH. Can't deal with them myself.

@Smurf123 I’d be leaving a tarantula too! The other night the cat brought in a dead mouse and I chose to ignore it so that DH could find it when he got up.
He fell asleep sometime between 4 and 4.30 so got a little rest before he just woke again for a bit of milk. It’s either that he’s growing, or he needs a poo, or both. It’s just so hard when you don’t know exactly what the problem is, or even if you did you wouldn’t be able to fix it for the little one xx

He's awake! Perfect timing for DH! Just hope he manages to settle him back down before work

@Ava50x your having a really rough time I’m so sorry. I really hope baby makes their appearance soon so you can be a little more comfortable.

@dirtyfries congrats on little baby Frankie, I love the name, so cute!

@Ready2020 Isaac grunts ALL THE TIME. And he’s so so loud when he does. I’ve always taken it as he’s either uncomfortable or trying to work out a poop/fart. Hopeing he gets quieter when he gets the hang of it 🤣

We ended up going hospital in an ambulance last night. Noticed when bathing him his ribs were sucking on when breathing and a quick google said to 999 it with babies under two months. Everything is okay luckily, but it was better to get checked because apparently newborns can go downhill quickly with respiratory problems. Tired now though!

Evie was fussy last night too and I spent more of the night awake than asleep. She didn't seem to know what she wanted really and kept fussing no matter what I tried. It could have been worse but I still feel absolutely knackered. Just grateful OH wakes most times with me and I do the feeding and he does the winding

@Smurf123 oh no! Your husband has really drawn the good straw here hasn't he! Can you go in and take the baby to him or is that just too much hassle/going to wake you up to the point you may as well just deal with the baby?!

@Magik01 how scary for you!!!! Glad all is ok. Has it settled down now?

Elliot was actually really good last night. He was really unsettled in the evening so I thought I'd be in for a long disturbed night but he settled down really quickly after a feed, I just hope it lasts! He's back asleep now but I've got the health visitor coming soon so can't have a cheeky morning nap! Might try and hold out on the napping until DH is home and have a cheeky half hour nap at 6:30 to keep me going through the evening. I definitely need to get more used to this lack of sleep business!

@lucyrp that sounds exhausting! Have you tried one of those sleep aid toy things that have heartbeat sounds/white noise etc?

@Millymay13 I just came here to complain about the same thing, it's so exhausting. It's like as soon as he falls asleep he just wakes up again. I end up feeding him over and over to settle him and then he throws it up. 🙁

@Millymay13 @afictionado same here. She's fighting sleep.

Can I ask - baby girl is three weeks old tomorrow and I feel like her appetite has increased. I would express 60 mls and DH would give her this when he would be doing his shift. I would BF every 2.5 hours or so. We haven't given her a pacifier so she would suck for comfort till she falls asleep.

However yesterday with 60 mls she was still fussy and uneasy and only when we topped up with 30 mls she got sleep. Now just wondering and concerned as if I get 5-6 hours of sleep when DH feeds her - he gives her 2-3 feeds. That would now equate to 270mls. Plus breastfeeding. Don't think I have all that milk for her 😔

@Whatshouldbemyusername your girl is about the same age as mine (3 weeks Saturday past). I also express 60ml per feed but usually only manage 1 express a day. I think as they get bigger they do feed for longer but the feeds should be more spaced out.

I do find I'm feeding more just now on the boob but I think they go through a growth spurt at 3 weeks so I'm hoping it calms down as my nips can't take it!

@Whatshouldbemyusername ours is 3 weeks today and has also had a sudden increase in appetite. We looked it up and apparently that's normal for 3 weeks as they have a growth spurt?

@Daffodil21 yeah I've been using pink and white noise throughout the night, my one nipple started bleeding in the middle of a feed and poor Evie got a mouthful of blood🥺

@Ready2020 and @Daffodil21 thanks girls. I think you're right. I also read it's a growth spurt. She's not even 3 weeks and it's started. lol. Good luck. @Ready2020 I agree. My nips will not be able to take it too!

I also only manage one session of expressing. Currently expressing and in 40 min have got about 120ml. I did the night shift so I need to sleep. Am doing power pumping today though. So 14 min on each breast and then swap. Will do that till I get to 1 hour and get some sleep. Really hoping I can manage to somehow squeeze in another session. I feel like I need to express twice a day now to make sure I'm making Enough milk and with breastfeeding I think it's possible to get the milk. It's just time is such an issue.

She's still struggling to sleep in her basinet. Only manages 20-30 min at a go so she's on our laps etc a lot of the time!

That's great expressing @Whatshouldbemyusername I'm always worried that if I express too much during the day I won't have enough left to feed her. I only got 60ml at about 5am this morning. Could maybe have gotten more but I was tired and I find expressing is so boring and as you say it takes ages. Might try for another 60 ml before my nap though.

@Whatshouldbemyusername I just asked the HV about feeding and she said you can't really over feed a baby, so just check they're winded/nappy changed etc and if they're still giving feeding cues then give the food they want/need x

m.youtube.com/watch?v=64gjikFbgOU&noapp=1

I’ve been using this to settle Ebony and my god it’s a life saver!!

Did someone say they need size 0 MAM teats? Ebony has outgrown hers now and I have 4 free to gift. They’re a fortune if you buy them and they don’t have them for long xx

Morning all.

@Ava50x, really hope bubba makes an appearance soon for you. May be worth a chat to pharmacist about different options for you to get some relief. Preparations should be available in either cream/ointment or suppository. Ointment will stay in place longer than a cream. Suppository works higher up, so not so useful when popped out. Products usually have a local anaesthetic and/or a steroid. If safe you could try and get one with both, or see if you could alternate?

We’ve got a referral to infant feeding team for tomorrow, so hopeful that will help. In the meantime time I’ve come to terms with the fact we had a sit start, and my body cannot just catch it up instantly, so we’ve bought a few bottles of formula to take the pressure off until we’re back on track. @PurplePansy05* we’re doing exactly the same as you, detailed list of volumes expressed, volume fed (EBM/FF), time latched, and nappies…

@HopefulB thanks for your message. They've given me ointment with lidocaine but it barely takes the edge off the pain. The only place I get some relief is in the bath but I can't spend all day in the bath!! Hoping baby makes an appearance soon, I am really struggling.

Thanks for all the encouraging messages, I am very grateful for all the support!

I had the problem last time with DS2 that we had a bit of a delayed/bumpy start to BF and it took a while for my supply to catch up, but I did get there and was probably fine to feed exclusively by around 8 weeks, however we kept the bottle until 4 months as it was a nice bedtime routine and DH enjoyed it. Then I had to fight to get him off the boob when I was pregnant!

Re foremilk/hindmilk and fat content, I'm not sure expressing and letting the milk separate to look at it will be helpful or tell you much of use - it might just fuel more anxiety. However on the topic of foremilk/hindmilk, these two articles are really excellent and may be helpful?
www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2010/07/foremilkhindmilk-and-lot-of-confusion.html
thefunnyshapedwoman.blogspot.com/2011/05/foremilk-and-hindmilk-in-quest-of.html

I know they are a bit old now but the info in them is still good.

Alex possets a lot in the night and I don't always notice. I keep a muslin under his head and just move it to a dry patch if it gets wet. Had to swap it out for a second one last night. I think it's OK. Also when they ingest blood it's not very nice to see but it won't hurt them. Be aware it might come through in the poo and make it a funny colour, so don't worry if that happens. However the more common scenario is they vomit a bit and the blood is still fresh/visible - that's even more alarming but if you have bleeding nipples it's probably from that so not a concern for the baby.

Mam compresses, silver nipple shields, lansinoh/kamillosan, putting breast milk on the cracks and opening them to the air are all good to aid healing. And if you're getting cracks it's definitely worth having the latch looked at by someone experienced - if anyone says "Well it looks fine" that's not especially helpful, because if it was fine it wouldn't be causing cracks and bleeding. So you need someone who can help you troubleshoot.

The baby is always more efficient at getting milk than a pump so don't worry about pumping all the milk away - that's not how it works :) Your body will make more on demand although the flow may be slower. Pumping really only gets the "excess" milk, so unless you have trained your body to produce extra in response to the pump you won't necessarily get much from pumping but that doesn't mean you're not producing much milk. Pumping is not a reliable indicator of supply.

Missed a couple of posts as it tools so long to write mine between baby tasks!

@Magik01, that sounds really stressful, glad all is ok. I think I would be an emotional wreck at the mo if I thought little one was ill!

@lucyrp OMG to car! Also massively frustrating!! It was bad enough that we got in the car yesterday for first trip out only to have the indication say 10miles to empty!!

Just had my COVID vaccination

Rowan had a massive bottle of expressed milk then was clamouring for more boob half hour later so its definitely a super feeding few days here too.

Hey ladies, not sure if this is allowed so please let me know if not. I’ve read some of you talking about expressing etc and wanted to let you know I’m selling a bundle of Medela bits including an electric swing pump.

Medela swing Electric single pump
Haaka silicone pump (godsend!!)
Breast pads
2 collection bottles with lids and teats
1 bottle stand
Grey Carry bag
3 x Medela feeding cups

I’m asking for £30 for everything just incase anyone is looking for a pump. It’s served me very well!

How is everyone doing? Isaac has a right sniffle at the moment and I can hear the mucas on his chest the poor mite.

While being awake for night feeds I was reading a thread on mumsnet about “game changers” and so many people said a robot vacuum so I may have made an impulse buy 🤣 hoping it’s life changing with two kids now!

40+3 today snd trying not to overthink every twinge I have!
Struggling with the boredom tbh as I am usually a mile a minute!