New baby..your wisdom please ladies.

[nananaps]

Musings last night while laying awake trying to get comfy:

1. At what age can they have calpol/brufen nowadays?

2. What do you do about the torture that is colic these days?

3. When do you ween to solids?

4. Are babywipes ok on bums? If not why not?

5. Do they still sleep for about a nanosecond every 24 hours?

6. What immunisations do they get and when?

7. Does HV still dot he heal prick thingy?

8. How often do MWs/HVs visit you these days?

9)Have any of you half and half fed (breast/bottle) and how did that go for you? or is that a whole new thread?

Thanks everyone, its been a looong time since i had a baby.

Calpol from 2 months. Not sure on nurofen.

Infacol for colic but only if you are sure its not reflux!

Dont wean until 6 months.

I use baby wipes but not all agree that they are ok.

Not sure what you mean by this. DD2 sleeps most of the time.

They get immunisations starting at 8 weeks and there are loads. I will have a check and let you know later unless someone beats me too it!

The MW do the heel prick on day 5!

MWs come out the first day home, day 5 and day 10 in NI. Not sure if everywhere is the same. HV comes out day 14 and then once a fortnight until 8 week check.

I eff so I cant help you there! Loads of support in Breast and Bottle feeding though!

:)

congratulations napanaps!

1. 3 months

2. Suffer through it

3. They recommend 6 months these days

4. I hope so, I use them.

5. Mine sleeps a ridiculous large amount, just not all in one go IYSWIM

6. these ones

7. yes

8. I got them once a week for the first few weeks, then the option of attending the baby clinic after that.

9. Yes, when baby was brand new and in SCBU: I expressed what I could and the nurses topped it up with formula.
   Later on, I got DH to give formula at night sometimes to give me a rest and babysitters give formula. (after all that expressing at the start- i just decided life's too short!)
   If you want to do this, they recommend breast milk only for at least 6 weeks to establish supply. After that, you should be able to give the occasional bottle without endangering your ability to produce milk.

Enjoy your baby :)

1. Three months, if needed.

2. There tends to be a reason for colicky babies. Sometimes this can be a food intolerance, sometimes it can be a latch issue, sometimes the bottle teat flow. Its also key to remember that babies cluster feed in the evenings, and sometimes this can be mistaken for 'colic'.

3. Six months.

4. Cotton wool and water is better, because their skin is so sensitive, especially whilst tiny. Wipes are okay once they're not so 'new'.

5. No two babies will ever sleep in the same way :)

6. Your HV will go over the schedule with you - it should be in the red book you were given before baby was born.

7. MW will do heel prick test on day five.

8. Mandatory visits from MW are the day after you get home, day five for heel prick, and day ten for weighing. If you need any extra support during this time, you can call and ask them to visit you.

9. I exclusively breastfed, but am a peer supporter, and know several people who have combination fed. Its better to EBF for the first few days / weeks to get your supply up for the long term. If you choose to introduce a bottle within the early weeks, then do it at different times during the day to begin with, and preferably not at night until your supply is fully established. If you have questions about combination feeding, check out the feeding section on here.

Congratulations.

Sirboob can i ask a few more feeding questions please???

My Experience:
I EBF ds till he was 7 months, but it almost made me throw myself under a bus!
Colic came swiftly and like a tonne of bricks.

He latched fine, fed fine, no problems at all with nipples, i knew supply was good as milk gushed and squirted!!

He gained weight but at 5lbs 4oz at birth he needed to feed allot to catch up and maintain his bm.

Cluster feeding varied, yet he still had this vile awful terrible painful colic.

I found expressing impossible, i would gain maybe 10mls at best even with large engorged breasts. He fed every 1.5 - 3 hours at best day and night for months.
The one night he slept for 4 solid hours (he as about 5 months) i woke up in agony with engorged breasts, sat sobbing my heart out while getting a grand total of 20mls and wanting to die from bone drenching exhaustion.

This contributed without doubt to my pnd.

I DONT want to go back there if i can avoid it, hence the musings about mixed feeding.

I have borrowed an electric breast pump this time (last one was a hand pump)
Are electric ones better?
How often and when to start expressing?
If DH ff in the evening, i presume my breasts will become engorged and i will still get no rest as i will need to express?
How does ff affect babies bowels?
Will it suffer constipation and pain?
Will i increase the chances of colic (given that there was no reason for it in ds)
How do babies adjust latching on and bottle sucking?
Which formula is best for mixed feeding?

Sorry, i have loads of questions all clouded terribly by my experience with my ds.

I'm sorry you had such a rough time with your first child. You're being very proactive to avoid things this time :)

The first thing to remember is that no two babies are ever the same. No two breastfeeding experiences will ever be the same. So whilst its good to being thinking to avoid PND, also try not to scare yourself too much over it.

Different breast pumps work better for different people. If you struggled with a hand pump last time, hopefully you should have better luck with an electric one.

If you are thinking of expressing, then you need to judge it carefully in the early days or you will end up with over supply. How old is your new little one?

FF babies have a higher rate of constipation and colic, yes.

The adjusting between bottle and breast is an interesting one. Introducing a bottle early can increase risk of nipple confusion and breast rejection. A lot of babies successfully mix feed, but it is preferable to not introduce a bottle until baby is around six weeks old, as by that point breastfeeding tends to be reasonably established - remember that baby has to learn to breastfeed as much as mum does. Obviously it is down to you if you choose to introduce a bottle earlier than that.

There is no preferable formula. They are all the same, really, just with different brand names. That said, it can take a bit of faffing around trying to find one that baby agrees with.

Can I also suggest you firstly post in the feeding section, and also try to get down to your local breastfeeding group? They will be just as happy to go over mixed feeding with you, and will also be able to help check latch and positioning, to reduce risk of any colic like symptoms.

My son is nearly 10 years old, healthy as a horse..preeeeeen

I am 31 weeks pregnant BUT i need a plan becasue as you can tell, my experience with my son has affected me even 10 years on and i am dreading the whole thing happening again.

It was undoubtably THE best thing for my son, but for my mental health it was horrific.

I will be visiting the feeding section allot, but will read all that i can before posting for advice. I want as much information as possible.

Thanks for your help x

1. Minimum 2 months

2. Feed through evening cluster feedings

3. 6m months

4. Yes

5. They'll sleep better in a sling on you and it will improve night time sleep too.

6. 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 16 weeks then not till over 1 year

7. At first visit

8. IME - a couple of visits in the first two weeks

9. No, breast all the way, none of that faffing with sterilisers.

nana I empathise with your need to pre-empt colic and pnd. My 1st had colic from hell - we eventually worked out she had several intolerances to things I was eating and silent reflux to boot. It wasn't until I had my 2nd that I realised I had had pnd with the 1st as the experience was night and day. And #2 had colic and intolerances too! I think the feeling of control helped a lot for me, which came from the experiences with my 1st. I took more control over the birth, I took more control over feeding and what advice I chose to listen to. I read less and listened to instincts more. I have no idea if any of this would help someone else but it helped me a lot. I suspect your forward planning in this thread might be part of that?

As for colic, I am on dc3 now and we are still dealing with it (and reflux). My survival strategies are (and I can't say if they are right or wrong - they just help me in my situation):
my mantra is 'if in doubt, feed' At least baby is comforted that way.
Constant burping when baby is awake. I have found the burping technique changes with age. Holding baby upright and moving them up and down seemed to be the favourite with this one
Co-sleeping has been our saviour. Although sleep is broken, I don't have to haul myself out of bed and feel resentful about it to feed. I still end up pacing the floors to console dc3 sometimes when DH needs his sleep but feeding can be done in bed. And on good nights I cannot tell how many feeds there were because I didn't register . I haven't had any of that bone crunching exhaustion you describe this time. And I've found there's more chance of them settling after feeds in bed too. I got a sidecar crib this time around but ds prefers not to use it (and I'm so asleep I rarely remember to put him in it ).

In fact, I think I'm a bit of a hv's nightmare. Co-sleeping, putting baby to sleep on its side or tummy (helps them sleep longer IME), no feeding routine...all in the name of survival

Nana I think reading the feeding page threads will help a lot. The more information you are armed with the stronger you will feel to battle whatever problems you may face.

I read those pages constantly when pg with DD (DC3) and felt much more able to cope. Also there are some great experts over there who will help you and answer what might seem like the stupidest question ever, very kindly.

Congrats on your pg

OP I'm sorry you had such a hard time. Hopefully this time will be completely different.

I found with both dcs them being colicky was related directly to me drinking milk. When I cut out milk temporarily both were fine. After 6 months when they started on solids I gradually started drinking milk again and they were both fine. I continued BF with both til 18 months.

With dc1 the same reaction happened when I ate strawberries or grapes. With dc2 it was coca cola :)

If you BF and have a colicky baby it is worth looking at what you're eating / drinking to see if there could be a link. With dc1 it took me ages to work it out, with dc2 I was much more prepared.

Hope things go well

Just a couple of things:
4) babywipes are generally OK - best to avoid anything fancy or perfumed. We use damp cloths at home (we're washing nappies anyway) which work very well.
9)I landed up bottle feeding by the time I fought my way out of left hospital but kept expressing and managed to combo feed for about 4 months. I never had a good supply to BF though; it may be 'cos I never BF the night feed - DH did practically all of them, bless him. After 4 months DD stopped being interested in BF and we went to formula only.

You've had great answers but our DD was also nicu and I had to combine feed for five weeks. However we found that by me cutting out dairy it highly reduced the colic.