September babies!

[Bekki]

Hes soooooo gorgeous and hes all mine! I'm on such a high right now, don't know how long it'll last though.

I didn't have to be induced, I didn't even have to wait till my due date a healthy baby and no stitches! I'm ecstatic! The relief of it all being over is wonderful. Now I'm going to concentrate on remembering every last detail of his face before this stage passes away too.

Come on Cha and Ailsa!

Congratulations and welcome to the thread Emma and welcome to little James

PPH - sounds like Miles is doing well now - almost back up to birth weight.

Do you think my little man is going to be a big porker gaining weight at this alarming rate - if he is gaining it so well and Im feeding him then why havent I lost a proportionate amount of weight ?!!? I want him to eat me alive back to a size 10 hehe

Pupuce - I do appreciate many of the conveniences of breast feeding (particularly in the middle of the night - latch on and zzzzzzzzz). I bottlefed my daughter which brought with it the benefit of portability! This may sound awful but Ive got a huge group of family and friends just itching to take little Harvey off my hands for a few hours/afternoon/night and it annoys me to turn down their much appreciated and longed for offers of help because he cant be away from my side much longer than half an hour because of constant feedathons!

Bekki - my sleeping and feeding routine doesnt exist! He feeds ALL THE TIME, sleeps ocassionally, uses me as a human dummy and has now decided he will only sleep at night if latched onto or cuddled in with Mummy!! EEEEEKKK He is very mild mannered, content and gorgeous though so I cant bring myself to try to change anything!

Becca
xxx

Congrats to Emmatmg! The afterpains are awful aren't they, especially if you are breastfeeding, but it is good sign it means everything is going back to normal. Its all boys so far, is Angelmother expecting a girl?

Beccaroll you should appreciate every clingy moment you have with him because boys aren't like that for long. Be proud that he depends entirely on you and of course because of his fantastic weight gain! Lots of people give up on breastfeeding if they have hungry babies so well done, you must be really happy for it all to be going so well.

Alex still hasn't been weighed but from the feel of him I would say that hes probably 8 and a half pounds now, although hes still very skinny looking. All his weight is on his face now which is a blessing because when he was born he was way too skinny and his face looked gaunt. Perfect of course but a little alien like for the first two weeks.

I think breastfeeding is very convenient if you are confident enough to feed anywhere, but yesterday I was a little bit stuck - I was in town rushing to Boots changing rooms. If I was bottlefeeding I could have fed him on a bench. But I would never give up this bond with my baby, and all that sterilizing its bad enough sterilizing his dummies and breastpump.

Has anyone tried to get their baby in a routine yet? My mum thinks that by 3 weeks we should have started to put him to sleep upstairs at night time and to give him a regular bath time. We don't have any routine like this yet, bath time gets done when ever I have a spare minute.

Alex has has put a holt on our social life for the time being. I went to a wedding on Thursday and my mil phoned us after an hour to say that he was refusing the bottle of expressed milk. I have tried twice since but he won't take it. We are using Maws bottles does anyone know if there are teats that are more "nipple like" that I can use with those bottles?

Lets hope Wiltshire joins us soon!

Hi Bekki

Nope - not in a routine yet but I might starting thinking of one.

Im going to start trying not to feed Harvey unless its been at least 2 hours since last one as I have a feeling he is just "topping up" all day long and using me as a human dummy! I may also think about doing a regular bath and bed routine but it never seems to work out.

Bottles - Harvey is successfully taking one - wasnt enthusiastic at all at first but now takes 3oz from the bottle pretty well. Im using the Tommee Tippee comfort nuby teats (they have little dimples) I got them in variflow as apparently breast fed babies prefer that. I have heard lots of people say that their babies took very well to the NUK orthodontic style teats and also that babies prefer latex to silicone. I bought some medium flow latex teats the other day to try and he did seem to take to them really well. I even popped out for a couple of hours yesterday and left him with Daddy and he took the bottle no problem PHEW - Im so relieved and really hope you manage to get Alex to take one too, it does help. He definitely DIDNT take to avent teats.

EEeeeeeeeee I go on a bit dont I!

Ill be off now

Becca
xxx

Thanks Becca. I'll have a look for those nuby ones today.

I know what you mean about the human dummy situation. Alex just latches on sometimes and licks the milk off my nipple it makes me itch like mad! He dosen't want to feed most of the time its just comfort. I'm glad we brought some dummies as they've been quite useful on a couple of occasions.

Health visitors/midwifes encourage everyone to feed on demand but does that still apply if your baby is comfort feeding and putting on tons of weight? I had that problem with my first baby and now I have an overweight 3 year old to show for all my feeding efforts. I think you should cut back on feeds if you think that they are just comfort feeding. Good luck Becca!

Beccaroll - when your little one will be a few weeks older (not months) he will feed LESS often and you can express some time.
I know I am a BF fan but I can't find anything easier.... if I wanted to "leave" my baby for 4 hours NO problem... either he had to wait for a feed or had a bottle of express milk... or worst case (but it never came to that) he could have had a bottle of formula. But he would still be BF 99% of the time... I mean it is SO portable that way.
Bekki - I hope that soon you'll feel able to BF on a bench

Thanks Pupuce - Im really loving breastfeeding now. He is doing so well on it and gives me a very proud feeling that its all down to me! My midwife has asked me if I will go along to a breastfeeding workshop to answer questions of pregnant prospective breastfeeders on my experience of breastfeeding

He does take a bottle of my milk but Im trying to be careful not to do this too often just yet.

When expressing when is the best time to fit it in? Im never sure when you should do it so as not to interfere with feeds.

Thanks
Becca
xxx

I'm starting to become very agitated when I'm breastfeeding. It has been going so well but now its becoming quite uncomfortable. Baby seems to be getting lazy and wants to suck just on the nipple. I'm constantly having to re-latch him and I don't think that he is having enough milk as he is waking every 45 mins for a feed. He does seem to be comfort feeding which I wouldn't mind but it makes my breast and nipple itch like crazy. When he does have a good feed he bites instead of sucking. Can anyone give me advice about how to latch a baby on successfully and how to keep those gums away from my poor nipples?

Angelmother I want all the details. Did your waters break at the hairdressers?

Hi Bekki

First of all - is he near the 3 weeks old mark ? Sounds like a growth spurt to me... constnat feeding for 2 or 3 days... the idea is that he increases your milk supply by demanding more for a few days... BEAR with him

As for latch - you are right to worry about this... let me see if I can help virtually

1. Is he well tummy to mummy ???
2. Can you shape your breast : i.e. with your hand from same side as breast take you breast with thumb at 9 or 3 o'clock - depends on side) and the rest of your hand at 3 or 9... IYKWIM. Hold your breast in that shape and get HIS nose on your nipple..... the smell should make him open his mouth... but WAIT until he has opened it wide. If he doesn't open wide maybe ensure you have a drop of milk on nipple. Once he opens wide, "rotate" him so that his nose is now pass nipple and his bigh mouth getting a mouthful of nipple/breast..... KEEP HOLDING your breast until he sucks efficiently. Do NOT let go too quickly.

I was doing this with 4 mums on Friday at a BNF clinic and all got it an dfound it a msaaive improvement. Do not let him take trhe breast without a full mouth ! You should see him suck and hear him swallow.

What you can do is print this and get DH to read it with you as I can't do diagrammes !

Becca - expressing is easiest in the morning just after his first feed as you have more milk and it will flow the fastest... you sound quite positive.... NICE

APOLOGIES for the massive amount of typos..... typing way too fast

BNF = BF for example !.... silly me

Thanks pupuce I will give it a go and I'll get back to you.

Hi Beccaroll - I was just reading this thread which I thought might sound quite similar to some of your concerns/issues....

Well hello ladies I've made it here at last. The angel is being angellic and though she fed non-stop the first day now at day 2 she's slept all day, and all last night. I'm beginning to wonder if it's meant to be this easy or if somethings wrong.
My milk should be in soon though and the boobs are starting to ache, I sent my Mum for white cabbage today.
Don't we forget how small, perfect, and beautiful they are. I keep being reminded of Aloha's post on the "Idiots guide to babies" thread.....how you find yourself just watching when you should be sleeping. I'm drinking her in and loving it

Angelmother - i think it is supposed to be savoy cabbage !
Glad you are enjoying your angel..... that's sounds fab.... do make sure she feeds often enough in the day (max every 3 hours!) -

awwww congratulations Angel She sounds divine.

I hope she remains as peaceful and easy for you - Harvey was very much like this in the first few days and although he is a lot more awake and alert now (3 weeks) he is still peaceful and content LONG MAY IT LAST!!

How is everyone else?

This thread isnt very active! We are in October now too - so no hope of many more September babies.

Harvey was weighed yesterday - 11lbs!! A pound in 6 days - I know this is a very silly worry but can I be over feeding him~? He definitely has had a growth spurt which SEEMS to be settling now (yesterday day time went consistently about 3 hours between feeds instead of about 45 minutes!!)

How are your litteluns doing at night? Harvey, after a good start has decided to be a night waker from hell!! With at least 3 or 4 wakings - anyone with any tips on how to minimise this? He is having last feed about 10.30 - 11pm then is getting up at about 1am, 3.30 am, 5.30am then finally about 7-8am.

Hope everyone is well

Becca
xxx

I hope to get back on here a bit more after the weekend. My Mum goes home on Saturday and dh will be starting to resume his work schedule about then too and I'm trying not to panic about coping when I'm on my own with the girls
I can't complain though as I have the most beautiful perfect baby who's feeding approx every 2-3 hours and seems so content otherwise. My boobs ache soo much though and I think I definitely underestimated the size I'd be when I bought these c**p mothercare nursing bras. Am going to treat myself to some of those delicious Elle Intimates when this milksupply has settled down and I know what size I'll be.
The most horrid confession I have to make is sometimes I want everyone to go away (incl dd1 eek ! ) and leave me with Elycia all to myself, isn't that horrible...
I'm ashamed to admit it........I think I'm a little blue so won't beat myself up.
Sorry I'm rambling aren't I....

Angelmother - Im so pleased you have "confessed" that!! I thought it was just me, in the first couple of weeks since Harvey was born I used to just want to wrap myself up in and him and felt slightly resentful towards DD when she infringed on this - I got panicked by this and thought it meant something terrible like I didnt love her enough anymore!!! Anyway....happy to say 3.5 weeks down the line Im loving them both to bits - now I have a bit more of a routine I can have time to spend with both of them.

Dont worry!! Your not alone

Becca
xxx

Evening Ladies, Just checking in to say hello as I haven't had time to fart in the last 8 days let alone post on here.
I have to just say I admire ANY woman who can breastfeed through the milk 'coming in' stage. I didn't expect I'd be able to do it as I tried and failed with DS1+2 but I expressed some this time, well I say some, that's probably being abit generous in the description. It was a tiny amount as my boobies just wouldn't let it go and when the milk did come in I would have killed anyone who came near me with a breastpump. I actually felt worse at that stage than I did during labour/birth, the pain was unbearable. DS3(ohhh that seems weird posting that)/James is guzzling down his bottles so quick and well that I'm not sure I could have kept up with him anyway.
I'm feeling pretty much back to normal now, about 90% there anyway which is good. Just need 8-9 hours solid sleep to make up the other 10%..........no much chance of that is there though.
AngelM, I also know exactly what you mean by your 'confession'. I felt the same when DS2 was born and again now with DS3. They're soooo lovely and soft, I can't help myself gazing at him all day, it's mothernature doing her work to make us good Mums.

Morning Ladies Oh what a night, Emma I know what you mean about this feeding lark. I've been singing dd2 (it does feel strange saying that) praises and of course sods law she then goes and becomes a restless hungry thing. Yesterday evening she started at 5pm wanting feeds every 20 mins and this continued till 11:30, she kept falling asleep then waking up screaming for more, except I think I've worked out that she only wanted to suckle, so I'm trying a dummy, not much luck but we did get some sleep.
My dh and my mum kept saying we could give her some formula but this really annoyed me as this was the mistake I made with dd1 and I don't think it's the problem now........I think
My boobs ache like hell and these bras are HORRIBLE, what nursing bras is everyone else using, and when can we expect to know what size we're likely to end up, I seem to be growing dinosaur mammaries.
Oh why didn't they come with an instuction book

Hi, thought i might join in on this thread (if I ever get time to post). Update - my babe is now steadily gaining weight and is now only 1/2 oz below her birth weight. Poor love has a cold though, I felt so upset to find out that she was ill - protective feelings incredibly strong. Because of her weight loss, have been 'topping up' with formula at every feed, and am really keen to stop that asap. Have managed to drop the bottle at one feed a day, but sometimes I despair of ever being able to meet her needs without it, because sometimes she'll feed for well over an hour solid and then still want the bottle, and even though she's feeding rreally nicely, my boobs are so sore! Mind you, the dr says she's probably feeding more at the moment because her throat's sore, poor love, so I guess this isn't a good time to try to change her too much. Love our time alone together too - but maybe wish a bit less of it was spent feeding!

Hi everyone. Theres a bit of a concern over Alexs cold taking a nasty turn but I thought I would post to get it off my chest- I hated everyone dh and especially ds1 for the first two weeks too! I'm so glad someone said it I've been feeling awful about it. Anyway back to my poorly screaming baby.

Oh no Bekki

Hope the little man is ok and your not too shattered looking after him

(HUGS)

Becca
xxx