May Babies

[GeorginaA]

Have we got enough that I can officially open this thread yet?

How are your little ones doing prufrock, twiglett, snowbird?

I think mine is going down with jaundice. Dh isn't convinced, but it's either that or he's got a lovely tan sigh. I remember all the stress associated with that last time with ds1... hoping ds2 doesn't get it as badly.

He's still being a very sicky baby, about a couple of teaspoons a few hours after each feed (which is odd - I'd have thought if it was a reflux type thing it would happen immediately after the feed?) Midwife seems to think it'll settle after the milk comes in but if not then we'll look at some sort of baby gaviscon. Poor little mite, can't be comfortable for him... and we're sure getting through a lot of laundry!

Feel so bloody knackered at the moment, fed up of bits leaking and being sore, and it's only day 2! How long is it before you start feeling human again? Please tell me that it's sooner than the 2 week paternity leave dh gets!!

GF mum here - and ds2 has 5 different beds at the moment

Cot in his own room for daytime sleeps when we're not going anywhere and he's settling well (it's kinder on ds1 not to have his brother underfoot so he can do lots of noisy rough play without an uptight mother).

Moses basket for 10pm - 7am in our room (i.e. at night he sleeps in the same room as us).

Pram for when we have to go out during his nap time (to take ds1 to nursery for instance).

Carseat for when we have to go in the car during his nap time (e.g. tumbletots)

Rocking seat for if he's not settling well and I want to keep an eye on him which stays in the living room (ds2 tends to sleep better in it at the moment, because it's more "cuddly".

So yes, you can follow GF and completely ignore the darkened room bit if it doesn't suit

On the plus side, I'm hoping all these beds means I'll get a kid who can sleep anywhere...

Well I think I'm the worst on the weight front. I put on 3 1/2 stone, lost 1 stone giving birth and 2lb this week. So am still 2 1/2 stone ish above pre-pregnancy weight...

Also was doing really well with no stitches and small tear. Until Weds when I finally "opened my bowels" as the midwife puts it and got really bad piles - much more uncomfortable than the tear - Weds to Friday. But much better now.

DD was sleeping really well - only waking up 2/3 times in the night. Until last night when she went manic in a feeding/wind/overtired viscious circle and was awake and crying from 7.30 until 1.30 am apart from 1/2 hour at 11 pm. Have to confess that in the end I took her out in the car at 1.30 and then she slept for 5 hours thankfully.

Have an expressing query if anyone can help. Want to go out a week on Saturday when DD will be exactly 3 weeks old from about 6 pm to 9 pm. Have arranged for some help for DH because of DS's bedtime etc but may need to give DD a bottle of expressed milk. How much will she need? Have started expressing but not got much yet.

Weight wise... and please don't hate me when I type this

My pre-pregnancy weight is 7.5 stone but when I conceived I'd actually dropped to 7 stone due to moving house/being apart from dh stress. My peak pregnancy weight was 11 stone (what can I say, I got addicted to cornettos ). Currently 9.5 stone.

I'd like to stop shrinking at 8 stone, but if it's anything like last time I won't get to. Then again, it would mean having to buy a whole new wardrobe of clothes, so maybe best not!

Expressing - Bozza, ds2 is not 2 weeks yet, but he's been taking in around 2-2.5 oz at the 10pm feed out a bottle. I try and make sure he has 3 oz expressed for then. That said, don't they go through a small growth spurt at 3 weeks - try and get 3.5-4oz to be on the safe side?

Oh thats not too bad then Georgina - I've got that already. I planned to keep going with the expressing and then introduce a bottle about the Wednesday before and give her one a day to get her used to it before the Saturday.

Bozza, sounds like your darling and mine had the same kind of night! He decided to go silly with the feeding (had approx. 3-4 "breasts" worth) and then decided to spend the rest of the night fretting. He hasn't had much today and the midwife just put it down to one of those things . . . if only she'd seen me when I was sat bawling my eyes out in frustration.

It didn't help that DP was out celebrating with all our friends whilst I sat home alone. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all at times, but will keep trying.

The whole expressing thing confuses me, can someone explain it in idiot terms? I have plenty of milk and wouldn't mind getting DP to serve dinner sometimes!

Bozza - ds is 4 weeks tomorrow and I am expressing 31/2 to 4 oz bottles. 3 1/2 is max he has ever taken.

Libb
Buy a pump. I like the avent isis, which comes with a couple of bottles as well.
Sterilise the pump (I use the avent microwave steriliser becasue it was cheap and has all the right holes to put the pump bits in)
Put it together -this can be very difficult the first time, but you will soon be able to do it with eyes closed.
Undo bra, push big hole of pump onto breast and squeeze handle (quickly for 5-10 squeezes, then squeeze and hold as milk starts to come)
Watch precious breast milk dribble into the bottle. And realise that it doesn't just come out of one hole in the middle of your nipple.
Store for up to 48 hours in fridge, or freeze
Go to bed early and sleep whilst dh feeds.

can i just butt in and ask prufrock - do you keep the silicone soft part on the pump all the time? (the bit that covers the trumpet shaped bit that sit over your breast?) if so, does it get milk underneath it?

Yes and Yes, but not a lot

I like the mini-Medela myself, but otherwise, what prufrock said I also find a 3mins pumping on one breast then 3mins on the other, then 2-2, then 1-1 gets me the biggest yield for shortest amount of time feeling like a dairy cow.

HV came round today. Ds2 is putting on 1oz a day roughly - yay! She told me off for expressing early though - apparently it's "bad" to express this early (funny, I thought it was saving my sanity). She also said on the way out "have you heard about that Contented Baby Book? It's evil, it should be burned"... I just said I'd heard of it and left it at that Better not tape up the feeding routines for next time she visits then, eh...

To warm the milk up do you just sit it in a bowl of hot water?

I have the Avent Isis and the microwave steriliser (so far so good . . . ) so have sterilised some bottles. Have expressed approx. 2 ozs into one and its in the fridge. Is this enough for a feed? it doesn't look much.

When he feeds he only likes the left breast, so the midwife recommended expressing the right for obvious reasons. I wish I felt more confident! He weighed in at approx. 8lbs yesterday (he was 7lb 11 ozs when born) so I must be doing something right - I think . . .

I apologise for the silly questions . . . .

One other thing, it is definitely okay to wake him for feeds every 3 - 4 hours? I feel guilty for enjoying him more when he's flat out!

It's definitely okay to wake them. Ideally you want them to do no longer than 3 hour stretches in the day, so they do their longer stretch at night! Also a very sleepy newborn baby might not get enough feeds in if you don't wake them which can increase their chances of becoming jaundiced and even sleepier. Plus, to get a good supply you want them feeding that frequently.

It's a pain, I know - I hate waking ds2 up.

By the time I eventually have this baby i'll have to read the whole of this thread again before I go asking you the same questions that you've all covered.
Im bored of being pregnant now. I want my baby..

message withdrawn

twiglett - maybe I've been unlucky and had two very sleepy babies, but ds1 ended up with jaundice and I had to wake him (and spend lots of effort trying to keep him awake to get a decent feed down him) - ds2 got jaundice very mildly but I knew about the waking thing so it got flushed out fairly quick.

Wasn't there a discussion on another thread recently about someone who was saying that their supply never got properly established because no-one told them to wake the baby and they had a sleepy one? (fuzzy memory, think it was the thread about what information to give about breastfeeding in antenatal classes)

I think, in general, demand feeding works very well if you have a baby who actually demands. Never having had one, it was simply a case of which routine I imposed on them. I'm not going to be too apologetic - they both certainly fed and slept much better on one!

Twiglett, that is great advice about the temperature - it was one of me next questions! Thank you. He seems to be feeding well enough at the moment - if only he would take my other side though . . . don't want to be lopsided!

It seems to be a mixture of on demand and me waking him at the moment, depending on his mood. Sometimes he goes for the full monty and other times he will only sleep for an hour and a half before wanting more.

My mood still swings from quietly chuffed to bewildered, hopefully this will pass though. Still don't want DP going back to work. This is such a strange experience . . . . and I really appreciate all your help, thank you.

Well Libb my DD was back on track last night so hopefully it'll stay that way. You're brave to let your DP go out if you're having trouble.

DH is going back to work tomorrow so I'm hoping we have a reasonable night. He took today off because DS doesn't have nursery on Monday but does Tues- Thurs so I'm let into it gently... won't have a full day with the two of them until Friday.

Kbaby I hope you have some action soon. Must be very frustrating.

Oh what a shite day.

And it's not even over yet.

First day "flying solo" as it were, with dh back at work.

Ds2 refusing point blank to sleep this morning. Aided and abetted by ds1 who would sabotage (can't decide whether deliberately or not... giving him the benefit of the doubt for the time being) it just as ds2 was nodding off by either tickling him, shouting loudly, finding a loud toy or something. Which would get ds2 hysterical and I'd have to start all over again.

Nothing worked - not feeding to sleep, rocking, letting him cry a bit, patting on the back, going out for a walk... ARGH. I have the incredible non-sleeping baby AGAIN! I thought I deserved an angel this time around, not a clone of his elder brother... Either that or I am a crap mother at getting small babies to sleep.

Ds1 in the meantime is getting more and more narked that I have no time for him because I'm trying to get the baby to sleep. He was miserable about going to nursery this afternoon. Ds2 has STILL been awake all the while ds1 has been at nursery, so have had no break (but I did get the hoovering done in the vague hope that the sound of the hoover would make the babe drop off... it didn't) - he's just dropped off to sleep now ... and I have to pick up ds1 in 5 minutes.

CRY

Someone please tell me that I've just had an off day and that it's not going to be like this every day I have them both on my own?!

Oh and ds2 has done so much loud wailing today, I swear he's going hoarse. And I'm sure all the neighbours are phoning the NSPCC as I type...

WHY am I so INCAPABLE of soothing a crying baby?!

You are not incapable. It will get better - my first day flying solo was awful - well you've seen my threads
DD now knows that she is not allowed to shout in ds's room (she hasn't quite got the hang of shushing though- she puts her finger on the end of her nose and says "sus" in a normal voice) If she's in a boisterous mood though I leave her downstairs in front of cBeebies whilst I take ds upstairs to settle.
Have you tried wearing ds2 in the sling to get him to sleep? Or if you think he is abnormally unsettled, have you considered cranial osteopathy - I have friends who swear it saved their sanity.

Ds was up at 1:30 and 4am for feeds. Which would have been brilliant, if he hadn't decided o have the most amazing wind at 4am (his farts were making my hand on his bum physically move!) which kept him awake until 5.45, ad then dd woke at 6:45. I am so not a moring person. And I'm on my 3rd outfit today cos ds keeps throwing up on me It'snot projectile anymore - I think he's just overfeeding, but he always manages to catch me out when I don't have a muslin to hand.

Hang on in there Georgina - it does get better- dd went to nurset with only a little whimper this am, and you saw how concerned I was 2 weeks ago

Haven't tried the sling - maybe because he seems to only want to sleep in my arms at the moment, ds1 is getting whiny and clingy, and I really want him to be able to see me without a baby attached 24/7. I think the sling would just perpetuate that at the moment.

Thing is, I can do the settling thing if dh is there to give me the space so I can take 15-20 minutes to settle the baby. Obviously on my own, that just isn't practical Cbeebies or no Cbeebies. Hard to know if he's abnormally unsettled or not... only have ds1 to compare him to - and he was crap at settling as a baby too. One of the reasons we did GF in the first place. Is cranial osteopathy very expensive?

I suppose I shouldn't complain - he slept well last night. In fact I panicked at 4am and woke him up for a feed because he hadn't woken since 11pm feed and my boobs were about to burst. But I need this baby to sleep in the day so I can spend some time with ds1. I feel completely emotionally burned out and it's only been day 1 on my own!

Hi - do you mind if I poke my head on this thread to ask a question about the GF routine as I notice a couple of you are following it?? I have an april baby (1 week older than your ds prufrock). Why does GF recommend expressing so many times during the day - and do you do all the expressing she recommends ? Also what does "settling baby" entail ? The only way i can settle my ds is my cuddling him to sleep. If I try and put him down when he is drowsy, he wakes up more or less immediately and yells. I'm a bit reluctant to leave him to yell for too long as he then gets windy and then I spend the rest of the time trying to get it back up again.

GeorginaA -FWIW I have every sympathy with you. When I have my dd with me I find it impossible to do the daytime naps. Today ds ended having his naps either in the car or his bouncy chair - with us. ATM I know I can get away with it as he is still quite young and sleepy - but I know this won't last forever. I also find it really hard trying to fit in feeding ds, preparing meals for dd, entertaining them both, and getting ds to sleep.

Sorry to barge in btw.

Metrobaby can't really answer your question about the expressing because I haven't done GF. As for the settling - I think that is the chief secret of motherhood. And I'm not much help on that one although I can understand the idea behind it. With DS we totally failed and used to do the feed/rock him to sleep and then gingerly lay him in his cot. This continued until he went to nursery at 15 weeks and they got him to settle and we took their cues and used to pat him on the back and sing Twinkle, twinkle until he went to sleep. Fortunately DD seems reasonably happy to settle herself aat least sometimes on her own. We've tried to set up certain "sleep cues" such as a musical Pooh Bear.

Georgina sorry you've had such a hard day. I think it will come together for you soon but in the mean time it sounds very difficult. Hang in there. It was my first day with DH back at work but don't have DS until Friday which will be the real test.

Hello all you other May Mummies.

Well this is the first of me getting onto the computer since annoucing Dd2's arrival.

How are you all doing? We're slowly getting used to our new arrival. Yesterday, day 3, was particularly horrendous, milk coming in baby wanting to feed every hour on the hour screamed most of the afternoon, upset her big sister who has now put a note on her door saying that dd2 is not allowed in her room! she's 4 days old! lol Today was a whole lot better but she has spent much of it asleep so will probably be up all night, oh well.

Has anyone else who's breastfeeding found that their nipples have been bleeding while feeding and the baby has been swallowing the blood? I'm sure I have a vague recollection of this happening with dd1 but I'm not certain but there was something familar about it. Anyway today dd2 had a nice long feed then brought up her milk and some blood. My nipples have been very tender and looking at them I'm sure that's where the blood has come from. Keeping a close eye on her and will ask midwife in the morning.

went out today for the first time to Asda to get some shopping was only out for half and hour but I was really tired when we got home and it's only across the road from our house. Got to go out with my new pram, very exciting, lol

well, I think that's enough for now and dd2 will be needing her feed soon. Will pop back when I can bye for now

love
linnet

Hello everyone - it's the first time I've made it onto this thread too and Polly was born on 18th May! Seem to be spending time previously spent on Mumsnet, cooing at her on the sofa! Breast feeding going well, and managed to express yesterday, although nipples not quite tough enough yet! How is everyone else?