Feb/March 2023 Birth Club

Hi just popping over here from the other thread!
so far i’ve been breastfeeding and toping up with formula sometimes during the night but really considering going to formula as it’s making me miserable. Im not sleeping and it makes it that much harder because I'm barely sleeping and baby constantly has hunger cues which i know cluster feeding is normal but he's on me 24/7 and i feel like moving to formula will be better for my mental health

@Rainbowbaby23 I felt the same with Dc 2&3, Esp dc2, he slept so so much and whenever he did feed, my milk would flood him as I was so full. I stopped at 6 weeks as I was so miserable and in pain with engorged breasts.
The relief when I moved to formula was amazing ( My Hv at the time was really horrible to me about it but still- happy Mum , happy baby!!!!

@Rainbowbaby23 I’m in a similar boat. I really really wanted to breastfeed but am finding it so demanding on me and the lack of sleep is killing me. Baby just slept for 4 hours in hubby’s arms and when I went to feed him my milk was literally pouring out!

@Rainbowbaby23 I started exclusively breastfeeding in hospital however baby fed so much that first night that my nipples ended up cracked and bleeding. I took a couple of days off to let them heal - I hand expressed during this however didn’t seem to be producing much so ended up giving formula meanwhile. I then decided after a couple of days that for my own sanity, I needed to stop breastfeeding all together as it was putting too much pressure on me during an already tough time as I’ve been struggling with what I’m hoping is/was severe baby blues. You will likely hear some negative opinions however you also need to look after yourself! If formula is going to be better for both you and baby, please don’t feel bad about making the switch.

For anyone who is formula feeding, I cannot recommend the Nuby Tapid Cool enough! We have a perfect prep but have been too nervous to use it as it was second hand and it seems to have calcium flakes in it no matter how often it's cleaned and descaled!

Tonight we've used the Newby flask like this:
Pour 3 ounces of boiling water from a thermos flask into bottle to measure.
Pour 2 ounces into Nuby flask and shake to cool. Add 3 scoops of formula to the remaining "hot shot" ounce in the bottle.
Pour the cooled water back into the bottle and shake. The bottle is the perfect temperature in 2 mins from start to finish so baby can have it as soon as her nappy is changed 🥰

This method also means that the Nuby doesn't need cleaning between every feed as you're only putting water in rather than the formula

Rapid* cool 🙄

Baby girl slept for a solid 3 hours tonight in her next to me! Feel like that's pretty good going for approaching 4 days old. We are doing shifts currently, I go to bed 8pm-2am and then swap with my partner and he gets up at 8am to help get the older 2 ready for school. We're going to wing it a bit but next week sometime he will probably start bringing her up to bed about midnight and see how we get on through the night.
It's definitely been nice sharing the feeding and I feel like it's made a big difference to my recovery.

I still can't believe I have 3 children 🤯

My baby will refuse to sleep anywhere but in someones arms, we took it in shifts lastnight then eventually put him down in his moses basket at 8am and he’s been sleeping since🤞🏻

@Dreamingof3 no socks, but the elevation at night helps. I've also cut our salt and coffee to try and reduce water retention.

Question about C-section recovery :

Does anyone else have numbness on their lower tummy above the scar?
It's not totally numb but feels less sensitive than the rest of my stomach and body.

Also the skin/fat tissue just above the scar feels a bit lumpy. 😕

I've got our final midwife appointment in a week, so will ask her and then the GP at the 6 week check up too.

Yeah I have quite a bit of numbness - like you can feel you are touching it but it's got numbing cream or something on it. The doctor's told me to anticipate this and it will just take some time to come back it's very rare for it to stay this way.

Although the hospital did tell me that I had dissolving stitches so nothing to be removed .....but I can feel some stitches at either end of the scar but I'm guessing that they are disolving ones? Bit confused and I called my gp only to be told they couldn't see me for a few weeks 🤦🏻‍♀️

I had quite a lot of numbness and it improved but never fully got all the feeling back after my first section almost 7 years ago! Interesting to see what happens this time...makes the blood thinners easier to inject though 🤣

Thank you @Perexi @Dreamingof3 ! Makes me relax, I was not told about this, so was getting worried.
Still not sure about the lumps, maybe it's swelling or just scar tissue from stretch marks, or just fat lol will see what the midwife says.

Can't believe our baby is 1 week old today! Time absolutely flies!
Last 2 nights we have got 7h of sleep (3h, then 1h awake for change and feed, and then 4h sleep) which has been amazing.
Learning the cues every day.

@havananana this is amazing! Did baby sleep for those stints in the crib? We’re only managing about 2.5 hours at a time, 30 mins of which is upright on one of us to try and help with his reflux 😴

How is my little Lennox 1 month today I feel so sad!

I also have a baby who doesn't sleep anywhere but on me. He's not even a fan of daddy holding him I swear it's because he can smell my milk. I can't get anything done in the house and barely even shower it's hard to think life will be normal again.

Our bubs has slept well in a moses basket and next to me from day one, we're on roughly 3 hourly feeds but I am seriously struggling to wind down after feeding her and also wake up when DH is taking a turn so I'm trying to nap in the day too. DH is taking care of the house for now as I'm knackered and still recovering from the section.

Can someone with more knowledge of car seats please tell me if her position is okay here? The straps are nice and tight but I feel they dig into her and her head is slumped onto her shoulders despite this being a joie i-level which reclines back. I'm a nervous wreck in the car 😢 really not happy with the seat at all but I know it's probably something I'm doing

Yes!
We found that she falls asleep in it if we speak at a normal volume voice and potter around.

I’d move the head hugger down quite a bit. And the padded bits on the straps need to be either side of her head on her shoulders.
This page seems very helpful for advice, they can be a little ott but helpful too.

@ChristmasJumpers sorry posted before I added the picture 🤦‍♀️

@ChristmasJumpers have a look at the manual - the headrest needs to move down and be above her shoulders and the pads on the straps need to be on her shoulders.

https://id.joiebaby.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/63/2017/08/P-IM0323G_1_i-Level_Instruction-Manual_20170726.pdf

Oh now I feel dreadful 😢 we have been given the car seat as a hand me down from family so didn't get a manual. The midwife put her in for the journey home and reassured me that everything was fine as it was toland that they were chest pads rather than shoulder. I've been putting her at risk for every car journey 😞😞😞

@ChristmasJumpers she looks too high in the seat also. She needs to be lower to the bottom red buckle in a seated position.

@GreenIsle I think that must just be the photo looks, her bum is definitely down at the buckle

Don’t feel bad, especially when the midwife helped you!!