August 2021 Babies - Final evictions and the fourth trimester

[BertieBotts]

Time for a new thread! :)

29 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 💙
@MrsB2019x - Welcome to the world, baby Ella💖
@Biscuitcat - Welcome to the world, baby Rowan 💙
@Whatshouldbemyusername - Welcome to the world, baby Arya-Nyah 💖
@notinthestarsigns - Welcome to the world, baby Erin 💖
@Aaaaa1519 - Welcome to the world, baby Anum 💖
@Angelesque - Welcome to the world, baby Isaac 💙
@Millymay13 - Welcome to the world, baby Ethan Benjamin 💙
@WolfMother326 - Welcome to the world, baby Alasdair William 💙
@BertieBotts - Welcome to the world, baby Alexander 💙
@RandomCatGenerator - Welcome to the world, baby Solomon 💙
@lucyrp - Welcome to the world, baby Evelyn Rose 💖
@HopefulB - Welcome to the world, baby Chloé 💖
@Mmr224 - Welcome to the world, baby Alasdair 💙
@Smallbean27 - Welcome to the world, baby boy 💙
@Fran919 - Welcome to the world, baby girl 💖
@Caz1226 - Welcome to the world, baby Dougie 💙
@Ava50x - Welcome to the world, baby boy 💙
@dirtyfries - Welcome to the world, baby Frankie! 💖

Counting down until till they welcome their munchkins:

@Dia12 - EDD 8 August, Girl 💖
@livingwithbees - EDD 16 August, surprise 💛
@Sheisfee - EDD 19 August, Girl 💖
@Alittlexmasmagic - EDD 22 August, surprise 💛
@LottSE20 - EDD 22 August, surprise 💛
@ame88 - EDD 28 August, Girl 💖

@wimbler yeah it's a snuz pod 2 so doesn't have the tilt. OH as always doesn't want to spend money so we're going to experiment with putting towels under the mattress to create a wedge shape.

So bloody tired today. Rowan just didn't sleep and only settled on me which isn't like her. She's not feeding for as long as usual either which is odd. OH is taking her now but I've not the energy to express any milk so I'll sleep as long as she can go without a feed.

Thanks for new thread @BertieBotts

Thanks for the thread, Bertie!

@wimbler This sounds really hard. Your DS is probably adjusting his own technique now. How did you feed him at 3.30, in bed? My lactation consultant advised to start off with mastering the cross-cradle hold for a good latch, exactly for the reason you've mentioned - to feed with confidence when you're out. Apparently it's also the best one to see the latch. Of course we and our babies will all have our preferred holds, I'm just saying CC might be a useful first step. She said to position the baby always with open arms and their body facing you, nose to nipple, big mouth opening and bring baby in to you. I have big breasts and used to automatically lift one up to see the latch after they got really big and full of milk. That's where I was going wrong cause it was reducing the flow and making it uncomfortable for me and for him eventually, I ended up thinking he'd suffocate. Now I've stopped and the flow is nice and steady, no overflow either and I don't even always need support when I hold him. He's the extension of my body and I can move easily and sit back & enjoy. It was such a small change, but it helped so much! I'd really recommend looking up good bf positioning, maybe it's just a matter of making a minor adjustment like it was for me? Don't give up just yet. I know it can be so hard, but you're doing a brilliant job xx

I feel like I've been posting loads on here so sorry about that!

I was just wondering if those who are breast feeding if you find certain foods that you eat have any effect on baby? My sister said she stopped any fizzy or sparkling water and spicy foods as they made baby have a bad belly.

@Ready2020 Too much fizzy drink or fruit juice can cause diarrhoea in bf baby. But my HV said you'd need to drink a lot, a glass per day is unlikely to have an impact. Particularly spicy foods can affect the flavour apparently too and baby poo might look a different colour. I personally avoid alcohol too apart from an occasional beer which I strangely fancy post partum. In small amounts it's fine. xx

@PurplePansy05 thanks for the support. I do the cross cradle hold, I find it hard to feed any other way. It’s so frustrating as I bf my dd for 7 months so know what I “need” to do but for whatever reason it’s not translating to ds. Going to go to the bf cafe on Monday. The support for feeding round here is actually great and it’s all free which given the past 18 months is great.

@Ready2020 I think any foods that cause wind etc in adults can have the same effect on bf babies. I try to avoid excess spice and garlic but other than that I haven’t noticed anything causing anything unusual

Also @BertieBotts I was scrolling the internet last night for stuff about bf and latch and I came across a post form 2010. Was reading it and one of the posts was yours!!

@wimbler I thought you'd already know/done all that. So good that you can go to a local bf cafe in my area they're yet to reopen 😔 I think I'll go with DS too when we can. Are you feeling any better now? I'm sure you're doing everything right, but he's just a different baby. I hope they give you that one magic tip that will resolve the current issues quickly xx

How soon can babies smile? My mum is convinced he's smiling properly but I'm sure it's too soon and it's just wind/a poo?! (So much poo here btw - I can't imagine him not pooing for days! But he's not ebf).

What a cutie @Daffodil21! I’m convinced DD has smiled at least twice - she had just turned 4 weeks. Everywhere says from 6 weeks but I’d take that as a smile from your DS.

Won’t let me tag but @lucyrp - I’d love to have a poop free day but it hasn’t happened yet for us, and she poops rather a lot. I’ve read that it’s normal though for them to go without as you have.

@Daffodil21 what a cutie 😍 hopefully it's a real smile - but gorgeous either way. Can I ask, where's his little sleep suit from?

I have a bad mum confession today - I keep calling poor DS by the dog's name 😬 he doesn't seem to mind luckily!

Thanks @WinterBabyof89 @biscuitcat - I think it does look like he's smiling in his eyes too. I was sleeping at the time so I wasn't actually there. But my mum was chatting away to him at the time (I must do this more!)

The sleep suit is Tesco!

@biscuitcat we call ours all sorts 😂😂

So its happened before today but it's happened 2/3 times already today... DD is sleeping on her back and then all of a sudden makes gagging/choking noises so pick her up and tap her on the back for a few seconds when she seems fine again and goes straight back to sleep. She's never really sick either but don't know if this is because she's BF or she's swallowing it as we have noticed when burping her she makes the sick noise but nothing comes up. Wondering if this could be to do with tongue tie or OH asthma ?

@Daffodil21 my health visitor said 6 weeks too but I felt like he was about to smile at me this morning. He has become a lot more reactive to what I’m doing and will look for me instead of just facing a set direction the whole time. That definitely looks like a smile because of the eyes too! Can’t wait til he properly smiles 😊

@lucyrp has she got any mucus on her chest? DS gags when he’s on his back at the moment because he’s struggling with mucus.

@Daffodil21 I would say that’s a smile!! I’m convinced DS has smiled a few times at me and not just wind and he was 4 weeks yesterday. DH disagrees though, but I think he’s jealous becUse he hasn’t had a smile yet. 😂

I don’t know whether to do night shifts tonight with DH, if he does 7-1 and I do 1 till DS1 wakes up because DS2 isn’t sleeping lying down at the minute, but sleeps in his rockers okay as it’s obviously got an incline to it. But worried I will really struggle tomorrow. DH has also brought some premade formula just incase on my say and I’m not sure how I feel about it as BF is going fine 🥺 but the two hours feeds are relentless, paired with sleepless nights at the minute.

Hi everyone! Thanks for the new thread. Such a lovely and amazing way to put it, that we’ve created 30 new humans - wow 🥰

On foods, I was told by the hospital dietician to avoid spicy foods (gas), dishes made primarily of chickpeas or kidney beans (heavy and hard for the baby to digest), fizzy drinks (gas). No idea if any make a difference - no matter what I eat or what medicines we give him, Solomon struggles with such bad gas :(

Can I ask how people are splitting time with their partners? Looking for ideas. My husband and I are trying 9pm-3am and 3am-9am foe a few days, but as DH can’t really nap in the daytime (he just can’t sleep when there’s daylight) either is quite brutal.

Interesting regarding fizzy drinks as I've drank quite a lot of Coca Cola and it doesn't seem to have made a difference gassy wise to DD? Unsure tho!

@RandomCatGenerator my husband puts him to bed in our room after we go up (he usually feeds him or has cuddles before), so around 10:30-11 then he usually has a feed at 2/3ish and then 5/6ish which I do when DH is working. We did say he would do the 6am feed but it doesn't usually work because sometimes it's earlier which feels a bit mean for him to do on a work day, so I've ended up doing both and then napping during the day. Elliot does sleep for a couple of hours at a time though so I am lucky I can do this (just not always when I want to!)

HOWEVER, DH is not working tomorrow, and my mum is here until Wednesday. So DH is going to do the 2/3am feed and I'm going to take him in for my mum to do at 5/6am so other than getting up to move him to mum's room i'm off duty all night tonight!!!!!! I bet he will want 3 feeds tonight though for the first time ever 😂

Thanks for all the comments about smiling - I don't mind if it is just wind at this stage but it would be a shame to be dismissing it for wind if it's actually a smile!

There's no way biologically that fizzy drinks could have an effect so don't worry :)

Strong flavours like spices and onions and garlic could theoretically come through into milk (think things that make your sweat smell different) but would probably just mildly flavour it, not enough to upset the baby.

Brassicas (cabbage etc) again no way of going through. Breastmilk is a blood and fat product so if it can't get into your blood/fat then it can't get into breastmilk. Alcohol goes through but in very tiny amounts, not enough to worry about. Same with caffeine. Something like THC (weed) which is fat-soluble will be present in much higher doses.

If the baby has an allergy then they may be sensitive to foods like dairy, eggs, soya, gluten in mum's milk but most people can eat what they like when BF.

Dieticians don't necessarily have any BF specific training, and HVs get very little, so both could just be repeating myths they have heard somewhere. These are very common misconceptions. It's a bit poor they are presenting it as fact!

I think that photo is defo a real smile! You can see it in the eyes. I don't think we are getting smiles yet but maybe soon :o

lucy we get that choking kind of noise but A is sick quite a bit so I think he's bringing milk up. I've heard they can't choke if they're lying on their back but do tend to roll him to the side or sit him up when he does it.

@lucyrp Sophia makes the choking noise and gagging all the time and always has. It grants my mum out. I mentioned it to hv and a gp when we were getting her belly button checked out and he said it's reflux but that reflux is normal in babies and that as long as she isn't being sick a lot and being really uncomfortable and sore they prefer not to do anything about it and as she gets bigger it will reduce and stop.
Unless she is upset by it I tend to just watch her and wait, 99% of the time she doesn't bring anything up, occasionally a little liquid comes up and just drools out the side of her mouth.
Gp did say about keeping her upright after a feed to help so we do that during the day usually putting her in her bouncy chair not so much at night as otherwise we would never sleep

@Daffodil21 that’s definitely a smile! We’ve been getting them since 4 weeks but they’re consistent now and he’s 6 weeks on Monday. He smiles in reaction to us which is so lovely.

@biscuitcat for the first few weeks we all kept calling ds the dogs name and a name that just wasn’t his but we’ve no idea why!

@PurplePansy05 feeling a bit better thanks. I took a bottle of expressed milk out with us earlier and fed him that while we were having lunch at the pub. It was far less stressful so think I just needed a breather. I think I’m a bit burnt out. We have been living with my parents for 10 weeks now and they’ve gone on holiday for 2 weeks. We have their 2 dogs to look after, walk twice a day and tend to the large garden and house. Then we have to keep going to check on our building work which is a 50 minute round trip plus the time spent at the house. It’s exhausting with a newborn and a toddler. Thankfully dh is taking some time off work next week to help out when dd isn’t in nursery. I love my children but my god 2 kids is such hard Work!

Toddler has just gone to bed so I’m feeding ds with a glass of wine!

@wimbler I definitely read that as 'I'm feeding DS a glass of wine' 😂😂 are you enjoying the wine?? I had a glass the other day and it just smelt and tasted so strong!! I used to love wine (a bit too much!)

So I'm a bit pissed with OH as he's gone out for a drink with his brother but he's meant to be on night shift tonight. He says he'll only have 1 or 2 but I know he'll take this opportunity to cut loose. He only told me as we were going home from dinner with them today. It does mean I've got the TV to myself and can just feed rowan into submission all night but I don't think he should be doing the night shift after a drink and I was looking forward to my 6 hours sleep.

@lucyrp DS2 has been doing that gagging thing too, a couple of times he threw up a bit of milk but otherwise it's just been gagging. My midwife said as long as they don't go purple or blue it's totally fine, it's just due to their active gag reflex. I hate hearing it though, it sounds very alarming!

@Daffodil21 That's totally a real smile! DS1 started smiling around 4 weeks as well. Can't wait for DS2 to start but he's still under 3 weeks old so not for a while yet probably.

@Daffodil21 what date was your baby born? I yearn for the days when Solomon might fairly reliably have ‘only’ three feeds a night. He has a habit of snacking unfortunately, and is still doing 10+ feeds a day. Three weeks old tomorrow.