Baby January 2023... follow on thread

[TokenGinger]

I know some of our babies arrived in December and some in February, but thought I'd keep the thread title as January 2023 so we know it's our follow on thread. I thought it might be helpful to have this as we tackle the newborn stage ❤️ I'll link this on our old thread now xx

@Jusmakingit How did your little one get on with the gripe water? That's a genius idea to put into a bottle teat. I've been lax with it the last few days as she dislikes it so much but her farts smell like broccoli, they're really, really foul and I'm wondering if there's a little more going on. Did you try the comfort formula or just the Colief? Now I think of it, she hasn't done a poo for nearly 24 hours so maybe I need to try some Colief in just one bottle to see if it gives her some relief.

It's so bloody difficult not knowing what to do. She's so fussy in the night and just doesn't settle, but it's clearly because she's so uncomfortable the poor little thing.

@TokenGinger our daughters are exactly the same lol so she had colief Friday and then Saturday morning around 3am she did the funniest wettest poo and then nothing since so midwife said if she doesn’t poo at all then to ring but they are seeing me again Tuesday and if no poo by Tuesday to see the peadeatrian (can’t spell to tired lol) however she has done another runny wet poo about an hour ago. I did see online a few people from reviews had said it caused diarrhea in their babies the colief so I’m not giving it anymore just in case.

so my little girl has gained exactly what she should since her last weigh in so that’s good. Just frustrating the colicky baby stuff :( I feel like it’s more mentally draining cause there’s nothing we can do to help them and it’s horrible watching them so uncomfortable.

@H44123

new thread on here now :)

yes it’s hard with the boobs to know what’s best . I guess if it becomes really painful to express a little to take the pressure of and just reduce the amount of touchy feelly with them

and yes the aftermath of birth , I feel people don’t talk about enough. All the focus is on pregnancy and birth stories not how it literally changes our entire bodies forever. I’m looking forward to getting rid of this kangaroo pouch lol 😂

@Jusmakingit As much as I don't want your poor DD to be suffering with constipation, it does give me some comfort to hear that both my DD and yours are the same as it makes me think maybe it's a common symptom of colic/trapped wind rather than something being really wrong with them. My DS was exactly the same with the Coljef, his nappies were explosive when he had it as a baby. I really hope DD manages a poo soon! She smells so bad, her tummy must be in so much discomfort 🥺

@H44123 For the stitches, have you tried the Spritz for Bits spray? It's such a relief. I had it with DS and soaked my maternity pad with it and it helped with soothing the discomfort down there. If you don't have one, and if you're comfortable private messaging me your address, I'm happy to post you the bottle I bought for this most recent birth. I used it once to spray on to a pad but I didn't need it really as I didn't have any stitches or anything.

Re: the feeding, it definitely will go down in a few days. With my DS, I just strapped my boobs up tight in my tightest sports bra with some cabbage leaves in and after maybe 4 days, they went down. I remember one day, my boobs were practically square. It was the weirdest thing. It must have been the way the bra compressed them but they were rock solid and such an odd shape 😂 But then they went down in a couple of days. The cabbage leaves fresh out of the fridge helped cook them down when they felt like they were on fire.

@TokenGinger aw thank you so much for the offer. I would have definitely said yes but I already have some although I haven’t used them yet. I did use the frida mom wit hazel spray on a pad which was soothing. I guess I just don’t want to intefer with it too much. My boobs are literally bursting.. if they were a spot they would explode! Midwife said not to express as only encourages more milk so I have tried not to. I have some of the lanisoh Breast pad gel things I put in the freezer and you insert into your bra in a pouch which has been nice. I literally soaked through 2 breast pads doubled up within 3 hours soaking my top!

@Jusmakingit @TokenGinger hopefully you can shed some light. George is perfect during the day.. rarely cries and always naps and goes to sleep after a feed then come night time nothing gets him to sleep. And I think part of it is gas/wind/constipation. During the day he poos fine but night time it’s like he is in so much pain and discomfort which is stopping him from settling. I know as soon as the explosive poo comes he will settle but it means waiting from 10pm - 6am and no sleep. Is this colic?! I read online colic wouldn’t affect a baby at 5 days old?

thanks for all your support and info ladies.. it’s lovely having advice from people going through it and sharing their tips especially as we have no clue! Hoping you don’t read this message til 9am after both having a lovely sleep 🤞🙏❤️ xxx

@H44123 So I learnt from my midwife anything the baby does that is classed as unsettled is wrote of as colic. Iv gone backwards and not given our baby anything now cause she started day 2 like this but not as bad and she’s has some explosions so now I feel bad if I’m making it worst . She slept really well last night on her cosymoov support and so far this morning she hasn’t woken up screaming in pain. I would give it a couple of days before trying anything. Their little insides are brand new so will take them some time to get settled.

it’s frustrating and exhausting but I really feel bad for trying all sorts to help her when actually it might just be me making it worst.

many crying or unsettled behaviour my midwife said they call (society etc) call it colic cause there’s no rhyme or reason for it and no cure. :( but it’s horrible watching them so uncomfortable

@Jusmakingit we have had another sleepless night. Literally been up since 2am and only just been able to put him down in a swing after he finally had a poo and wind at 6am. It just seems that through the night he is so uncomfy, stretching, curling etc. We are waiting for him to go because then he would sleep! I even put the Moses basket in our room and used that to see if it was better than the next to me and it didn’t make a difference.

I have one of those cosymoov things but again midwife said can’t sleep in it?! I know it’s still early days but we want to help but we can’t. No amount of winding, belly rubs, moving legs etc helps. I was going to look at getting something for colic but still wait a few days yet as he is so young. I have seen the Infacol one and the colief I think?

oh and to add to this… my boobs are so sore they are going to burst. Burning hot to touch and now all red and inflamed. No even skin colour anymore just angry red and burning. This is never ending 🤣🤣🤣 sorry for all the moaning/complaining… I’m hoping I cheer up when I can actually sleep haha! Xx

@H44123 I’ve just stumbled on this thread, congratulations!!

What you’re describing is engorgement that has turned into mastitis. Mastitis is a serious illness that can quickly become sepsis.

Please get seen by a doctor today. If your GP doesn’t have space to see you, go to A&E. You urgently need antibiotics.

@CheekyHusky I did think that, I called the doctors this morning but couldn’t get through so rang my community midwife who luckily came out to me at 9am. She said it looks like mastitis so managed to get me an appointment at the GP today at 4pm for it.

Thank you for taking the time to message and care xxx

@H44123 i was going to say mastitis ! I’m on flucuxillian or something for mine which has helped. Saw a difference within 48 hours . I’m so fed up of breast milk as well . Mine has started to stop and I don’t think I’m leaking as much at all now.

you can use the babymoov in the night. We got one when she was 48 hours old lol 😂 and she sleeps so well on it. We only used it in the day and it works so tried it last night and she almost slept through ! But she did before then do the whole waking up not settling for like 6 hours in the night usually from 10/11 until 5am then was like unconsciously asleep. Currently fast asleep on me from a feed lol 😂 I love the baby cuddles though 🥰🥰

so colief I’m certain have her a bad stomach, two very wet running poos so I stop after 24 hours . Also a pain to make up, you have to make the bottle in warm hot hot, put the drops in and wait 30 MINUTES ! Or you can pre make the bottles before hand and warm up.

infacol is ok , bitter orange citrus flavour . Says to give before a feed but the taste is so strong our baby just spat it back out. Infacol is usually the one the midwife’s recommend . Or at 1 month old there’s gripe water. We haven’t used anything in two days and she’s actually better (for now) famous last words

Warm not hot ** stupid auto correct

@H44123 also another note I’m sure I ruined my bum muscles cause I don’t have the sensation to poo anymore . I only know I need to poo when I start getting stomach ache which is really painful 😣 or I’m bunged up to much. I sympathise :(

easy to forget we made a entire human being and our bodies need to recover . It was a long 9 months so time will heal us

@Jusmakingit we have given the first Infacol so we shall see!

im really worried about mastitis as reading it can turn to sepsis and I’m worried with all the other things going on too. My stitches if they get infected, my shaking which did improve after taking iron tablets but seem to have returned which is a sign of potential sepsis. I’m also very hot too and just generally feel crap so now I’m terrified that because of all of it I’m going to get sepsis. I’m scared all together makes me highly likely to get it. They did question sepsis in labour too but I’m sure on my many blood tests after birth they would have picked up on that?!

did you have all those symptoms for mastitis or was it just like the swollen hard boobs?

fingers crossed I get some antibiotics and they work asap. Xxx

@H44123 my symptoms for mastitis was similair. I felt crap, shakey, drained , tired, rock hard boobs with a big lump in each boob which was the actual mastitis lumps, also yes had hot sweats on a night and then in the day had random times of feeling freezing cold. I literally had the fire lit, got into a scolding hot bath and still I was shivering. It passed after an hour or so but yeah , it’s shit. Did you see the doctor and get some antibiotics ? Don’t be surprised if they trot you up to the hospital as the consultant who saw me in hospital wanted to keep me in on a IV for 48 hours so they may recommend that. Please ring the midwife’s if you feel any worst or if you are worried. Now your bottle feeding you could stay in hospital without baby on a IV and get rest, it was a tempting offer for me just the thought of some sleep and rest but felt weird being away from the baby so soon. However, IV is the quickest way to get it down and reduce potential sepsis . A lady on the other chat thread got mastitis and got sepsis. I’m sure it was @TokenGinger ? Correct me if I’m wrong my brain is fried 🫠

@Jusmakingit just got back from doctors. I have got the flucloxacillin too. I broke down with my panic and worries to the doctor with all my worries. She took my temp and blood pressure etc and all ok. My boobs feel better compared to this morning and I have a gap between them again. She also checked my stitches and I showed her my pad to check colour of discharge from stitches and she said it’s normal too. No dignity/shyness left here haha I don’t care anymore.

she said she doesn’t think sepsis but obviously if I get worse to let them know. I do actually feel a bit better so maybe it was a bad morning but will keep monitoring. She didn’t offer or mention the hospital either xx

@H44123 phew! Glad everything is a bit better. I have to take mine every three hours which means remembering in the middle of the night lol. And good everything else is at it should be ! Just get lots of rest and don’t over do it. I noticed I felt like crap if I had been for a walk or been up and down a lot x

@Jusmakingit mine are one every 4 hours so next one is 11pm tonight.

Also how do you go with bottles? I have the tommee tippe anti colic ones but I feel like they leak or George leaks from his mouth? I don’t think it’s the bottle that leaks. I just don’t think I like the bottles so I have just ordered some MAM ones. Also got the tommee tippee prep machine but haven’t use that yet, currently using pre-made formula which I’m hoping to use perfect prep tomorrow. Xx

@H44123 so weirdly enough I have so many Tommee tippee ones as my first DD used them and were great for her. Sadly , my baby doesn’t , the midwife said her mouth is too small for them still but will be fine in a few weeks. We ordered the MAM ones and she is fine with them so no worries there. We have a TT prep machine as well, one upstairs one downstairs however the beep it does is very loud which I really don’t understand the reason for a beep noise but it’s a lifesaver during the nights and when she wakes randomly demanding more milk lol . I just wish I got the night prep for upstairs in the bedroom lol assuming it doesn’t make the beep noise lol.

Evening ladies.

Yep that's right, @Jusmakingit, it was me who ended up incredibly poorly in hospital with the mastitis and was on an IV drip of antibiotics for four days. I was sent straight from the GP as my heart rate and blood pressure were both too high. @H44123 If your heart rate was okay at the doctors, then that's a good sign. Thankfully you've got the antibiotics now and hopefully they'll take effect quickly.

@H44123 We have the MAM bottles and they're so much better. We had the Tommee Tippee to begin with but DD wasn't latching on properly and was leaking a lot out of her mouth and that's stopped now with the MAM ones.

We've got the TT prep machine, too. I've got mine upstairs, though I had no idea they have a night one! I need to look into that. I've been debating whether I get a second for downstairs or whether I just eventually move the machine downstairs once her night feeds reduce and keep ready made upstairs for night feeds. That's what we did with DS eventually, but she's feeding a lot more than DS did so have the machine upstairs for now. I agree though, the beep is so bloody loud.

I'm annoyed tonight. DP has been off with me all day. I thought maybe I've done something and keep asking what's wrong. He did the night feed last night (only the second time in almost 5 weeks). He made a comment that he'd rather be tired and do the night feeds than be around me tired because I'm a better person when I've slept. The irony was completely lost on him that he's been an absolute miserable shite today because he's not slept, which is what he's saying he'd like to avoid with me. He's kept DD with him downstairs for now and told me to sleep, but it annoys me that it isn't said in a caring way, like he wants me to rest, it's almost in an annoyed way because he resents me being tired. I just wish he could say, do you know what, I'm knackered today, it's hard going doing the night shifts and I appreciate you having done them all for the past month, and now I see how tough it is, I'll take on more of them. With DS, I did all of the night feeds as he was working and had a long commute and I was worried about him driving, but this time around, I'm very much of the opinion that looking after a baby all day and a toddler on non-nursery days is very much as tiring, if not more so, than working full time so not all night feeds should fall to me.

@Jusmakingit @TokenGinger yesh i have the TT prep machine day and night one, haven’t opened it yet but my friend said it lowers the sounds for a night mode.

currently at the moment we have been using the pre-made formulas with tests but I opened the TT anti colic set I have and added the Same cow and gate formula but I don’t think I’m a fan. I used the smallest bottle which I find an odd shape and there was so much leakage from George’s mouth at the side. I’m guessing because it’s a new teat to get used to. Anyway I ordered the MAM set off Amazon hopefully here today to see if better.

I was happy with the pre-made as easy but not cost effective or big enough bottles so going to try formula. George has only ever had room temp formula not warm. But as you have to wait for the prep machine to make the bottle, during the day/especially night/ do you just have the babies crying waiting for the food? That’s what I’m worried about as I don’t have that at the minute with the pre-made ones. I know it says 2 minutes to make the bottle but 2 minutes screaming especially during the night would be awful!

@TokenGinger men just don’t understand/think like us. Sometimes a bit of understanding from them means more than they realise. I have been getting annoyed with my DP too. He is scared/nervous which I get, scared of doing a nappy because of the cord and also winding the baby so was waking me up to do them not realising that it’s breaking my sleep. Yet when I took over around 2am he wasn’t woken up by me, maybe by baby crying etc but that’s it and he got maybe 6/7 hours. Yesterday because I was poorly was the first time I went for a daytime nap and he thought he had done me a favour saying he tried to let me sleep and didn’t wake me up saying we are both tired but at least I am getting a nap and he is tired too! first night I had 4 hours broken about 3 times to feed/nappy/wind as he was scared. Second night probably the same. Tonight we came to bed quite late so I slept from 10.30 - 1am woken up 3 times eith baby crying. He doesn’t want to stay downstairs while I sleep but thankfully today he has done the nappy/wind/feed when he has had baby! Men eh?! Xxx

@H44123 I think our DPs have been reading from the same manual 😂 My DP thinks he's doing me a huge favour, too. When it's me doing the feeds, it's just a given that it's me doing it. When it's him doing it, it's "for me" to give me a break... Does that mean when we're doing it for the other several nights a week and through the day time, we do it as a favour for them? 😂

The the TT machine, I think 2 minutes is the maximum time it takes to make the largest sized bottle. The bugger the bottle, the longer it takes. At the moment, we're doing 5oz bottles and it takes under 1 minute to do I'd say. What I do to make it quicker, is I have the TT milk dispenser pots (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tommee-Tippee-Milk-Powder-Dispensers/dp/B000UUO61Y/ref=mpssa112?crid=N2G7LJGT20KU&keywords=tommee+tippee+milk+storage+pots&qid=1676344577&rdc=1&sprefix=tommee+tippee+milk%2Caps%2C393&sr=8-2) and fill them up before bed with the 5 scoops of formula, and have my bottles ready put together - the MAM ones are a bit of a faff as they have a few different parts to them that need to be reassembled to use so I quickly realised not to reassemble for each feed and to reassemble them all after sterilising. Then in the night when making a feed, it's a quick job of emptying the formula pot, and TT doing its magic. It's really quick so I just shush and rock baby for the time it takes to make. I think she's beginning to realise that the sound of the machine means milk (either that or she likes the white noise element of it) as she's started to settle when she hears the machine now xx

@TokenGinger that sounds doable. I had a cry yesterday in front of my mum and partner and again at the doctors. A mixture of annoyance and pain and frustration with my body and getting mastitis along with everything else then stressing about getting to grips with the formula. Definitely going to give the machine a try today! Hopefully he likes either the TT ones more than MAM as I bought a lot or TT ones before he was here but it will just take time to adjust to a new bottle/teat I think. I feel in a better frame of mind today to tackle and get my head around it.

Ha yes I had that line a few times yesterday… I wanted to give you a break and let you sleep or at least you got a 2 hour nap I’m trying to help (bearing in mind I took over about 2am, he slept til 9AM!!!!) but yet he’s doing me a favour! In an ideal world I’d love to come to bed at 8 and he stays downstairs with baby. Then he Comes to bed at 2 and I take over and we don’t wake each other. Obviously if baby cries etc it can’t be helped. I think he thinks it’s like before we had baby but we’re not helping or doing each other favours as we are now.

My parents are great and have offered on weds during the day to have baby for a few hours so we can sleep. We’re both not ready for him to stay overnight but a few hours sounds good to me but he is reluctant. He’s very over protective of baby and doesn’t trust anyone but us with him. Im hoping he agrees to it though!!

Hey everyone, hope you are all well?!

Sorry I’ve been so quiet, feel like I fell off a newborn cliff slightly the past month, just been in a total bubble 😂 it’s definitely been a bit of a challenge though. I had mastitis too which was awful, not hospitalised though (that sounds so rough @TokenGinger glad to see you are better now!, sorry to see you are now suffering too @H44123 it really is an awful thing I felt like I had flu, high temp, burning up but shivering uncontrollably all the time. Feel better soon)

Then I got a milk bleb which was excruciating, Evan also had a tongue tie so we got that snipped and I’ve been dealing with awful nipple pain for weeks and an oversupply so constant engorgement in one boob but we’re now at almost 6 weeks and I’m so happy that BF is starting to get sooo much easier now! Totally underestimated how hard it would be. The one saving grace is that he’s a brilliant sleeper at night, I suffered from insomnia throughout pregnancy so I’ve actually been getting waay more sleep now!

C-section recovery was really straightforward, I’m so glad I opted for the elective in the end. Looking forward to starting some gentle exercise soon now that I’m 6 weeks post, have just been doing daily walks so far. Has anyone started anything to help recovery?

@LA9610 glad to hear you both doing well! I had the same symptoms as you so reassuring to hear you got better, I’m hoping mine done soon too. I underestimated breastfeeding too but wow after everything you persevered and are still BF that’s amazing!!! Go you!!! I wasn’t much of an exerciser before pregnancy haha so doubt that will change but I do plan on starting going for small walks soon. I had to walk through Tesco yesterday to the pharmacy and that was a workout!