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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

exhausted - is this a growth spurt?

11 replies

kateyp · 19/04/2007 08:06

DS2 aged 5 weeks today is feeding every hour and a half - throught the night too. I was hoping this week to persuade him to sleep in his crib more often rather than with me (I sleep badly as I don't really get to sleep as too paranoid I will squish him or other disaster).
I suspect it is a growth spurt but I am sooooo tired. And a 2.5 yr old up first thing in the morning doesn't help.
I am also getting various "suggestions" from (older) members of the family that I would be better bottle feeding - (mainly as I am meant to be at my sil's hen do in July and gran keeps saying "I won't be able to look after him if he is still breast fed..." - so not actually saying "what don't you ff him?" but as good as). Plus all the 'usual' comments "he feeding AGAIN?" kind of thing.
I want to keep going, I know it is best for him, I just need some encouragement! (and some sleep...)

I do try to express some milk but I have never been terribly good at it - can get about an ounce from each side (which I gather is 'normal') but not really enough to provide a feed for Daddy to give later on. Plus because DS2 is feeding so often at the moment, I don't really seem to have a drop (or time!) to spare.

Katey x

OP posts:

colditz · 19/04/2007 08:19

growth spurt, definately, he won't be like this in 2 weeks, IMO.

BandofMothers · 19/04/2007 08:24

Fuck your sil's hen do, isn't your baby more important???
Not meant to sound really horrible to you, but tell your gran that you can't go then. Or see if he will take the odd bottle by then, not yet tho.
I left dd2 with my mum when she was a couple mths old, with ff in bottle. She didn't like it and only drank a little bit, but she didn't starve either.
I would just rather bf my baby thango out for a while at least. She is 8.5 mths now so can be left with food and water, but for 6 mths, I just didn't leave her for long enough for it to matter.

Prioritise, and don't be bullied into ff your baby for a hen night.

If you want him to sleep in his crib, put him in it. He'll be ok. Esp if right next to your bed so he knows you're there. Might take some time to settle, but he will if you give him the chance to.

harpsichordcarrier · 19/04/2007 08:33

very normal! and tbh 5 weeks is very early to be expressing successfully.
try and REST and eat properly. ignore the comments from those who would pressurise you to ff. it really isn't their business. there are really many real and important benefits for your baby's health to exclusively bf for as long as you can and you want to, and so you can be certain you are doing the right thing.
re expressing - could you try expressing from the other side while ds is feeding from the other? have you tried breast compression? can you try expressing a little at a time so you can build up four ounces over the day?
best of luck, and THIS WILL PASS

Original poster

kateyp · 19/04/2007 08:50

Thank you!
I do express when he is feeding from the other side as I can produce more. Glad that it is still early days for expressing. I think i have been mentally scarred since DS1 - he was on special care for a few days and I was advised to try and express some colostrum for him as best I could - I presented my 3 drops of colostrum at the same time another new mum presented 2 (TWO!) full bottles of expressed milk...I felt a total twonk as the midwives carried my 3 drops like it was golddust...(which for me - it was!!)

I think (similar to DS1 acutally) that DS2 would be happiest if I could just leave him on the breast the whole time. Makes for tricky living however!!

Thanks again. Must keep going. Must keep practising one handed typing...just think I occasionally need people to say "yes you are doing a good thing". Whereas DH is great but is trying to be supportive on all fronts - you know "I will support you whatever you want to do, breast or bottle" whereas I want him to be saying "you are doing great with the bfing - carry on!" Which I guess to a man sounds one and the same thing!

Sorry - waffling a bit now.

Katey
x

OP posts:

harpsichordcarrier · 19/04/2007 09:56

kateyp, have you thought about a sling? that might help to ease the strain a bit, and let you carry on once he is latched on?
you are doing a good thing and you will always find support on here

Original poster

kateyp · 19/04/2007 10:31

Yes - have a rather lovely sling that DS2 HATES! I suspect I am not using it right/he is not positioned right but am planning on going to a local sling meet next weekend to get some advice about it! He always looks a bit like a crumpled gnome when I pop him in it. Either that or he wants to poke his head out, and whilst he has great head control for a 5 weeker it isn't consistent...so not an ideal position for him to be in!

Kate

PS yes he is feeding again...

OP posts:

harpsichordcarrier · 19/04/2007 10:35

I have a couple of slings you are welcome to borrow.
I have a wilkinet, if he likes to be upright?
I will get a link for the other one hold on

harpsichordcarrier · 19/04/2007 10:37

here - a premaxx babybag
it is in orange and burgundy (there is one pictured top left) - it has been through the wash a few times so a little faded but very funky and dd2 loved it

shonaspurtle · 19/04/2007 10:53

Hi Katey - I know what you mean about the "I'll support you breast or bottle" thing. I got that a lot when I was having trouble bf in the early days. Lots of people saying well if you switch to bottles it's not the end of the world, happy mummy happy baby etc...

Actually that wasn't helpful and I just wanted to be supported and told I was doing well - if I'd wanted to ff then I could have made that decision for myself and in my paranoid, exhausted state I just took comments like that as people thinking I was wasting my time trying to bf and that it would never work out.

Sorry, little rant there!

Just to say that it's worth keeping trying the crib. Ds would only sleep with me (on me actually) for the first few weeks but then became happy to sleep on his own quite suddenly.

shonaspurtle · 19/04/2007 10:53

Oh, and you're doing really well!

Original poster

kateyp · 19/04/2007 14:22

harpsichordcarrier - thank you - very kind offer. I had wondered about a wilkinet before buying my current one but thought it looked a bit complicated! And the other one I actually tried to buy but no one had any in stock and I had one of those "well I need it NOW!" moments (because of course, you NEEEEEED a sling before the baby is born don't you?! - hormones are funny things!)
What I'll do is go to this sling meet and see what they say about mine and they tend to have others to try too so will try a few out with DS2.

And Shona - will indeed continue trying the crib. At the moment he is snoozing in a swing (tut tut, I know!) but this weekend me and DH are having a "sleep crackdown" and tackling both Ds1 and Ds2. Needs to be done though. Particularly Ds1 - and I guess Ds2 so that we don't end up doing it all over again for DS2 in 2 years time!

Also spoke to a friend this am who is training as bfing counsellor - she agreed that it sounded like a growth spurt and to keep going!

He has been asleep for nearly 2 hours now - which is astounding for him (having said that he looks exhausted after the marathon feeding sessions he has done)

Katey
x

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