April 2011-kicking back drinking lactulose cocktails and riding the maternity surfboards

[Petalouda]

Post-natal thread for all the antenatal April 2011 Family!

Share the birth stories, the baby blues and everything else.

Ecuse - sympathies on the thrush, i'm still trying to get rid of it here. You must look at the BreastFeeding Network leaflet, you need to have Fluconazole. ANd yes you must use the cream, a smear after every feed is ideal (though i often forget!) you can wipe off any visible cream before feeding again - though if there's loads left it probably means you put too much on, or so i read somewhere.

I have also been reading Dr Newman's Candida Protocol. There's a lot of work involved & i'm not sure i'm ready for it, but if this second round of fluc. doesn't work i am going to have to get serious as i am NOT giving up bf (being a bf supporter i kind of think it would look bad, lol!!) but i cannot tolerate the pain indefinitely either.

ecuse so sorry to hear about the thrush. Seems like you have had way more than your fair share of problems over the past few weeks. JKS recommended I get onto fluconazole when I had thrush last week and I started looking into what I could do to get rid quickly as it was wreaking havoc with S's latch, which was having an effect on her sleep and general happiness.

For you and anyone else who is unlucky enough to get breast thrush (and it seems so common) here's what I'm throwing at it: I had a 300mg fluconazole loading dose followed by 50mg x2 daily for 10 days. Nystatin for baby S 1ml 4xdaily. Probiotics. 1% canestan cream rubbed on nipples 3x day. Grapefruit seed extract. I washed everything that comes into contact with boobs or baby's mouth on a 90 degree wash. Change bra daily. Air dry nipples and throw breastpads (if you're using them) after each feed. Diluted white vinegar solution to dab clean nipples before I feed. Diet (this is the worst part): no sugar, no yeast, low dairy. Good info online from BFN here and Dr Jack here.

With all this within 2 days S started feeding better so I'm assuming her mouth stopped being so sore. The weird rashiness on my nipples doesn't really look any better but the LLC told me it would probably look worse before it looked better so not too worried, especially as the pain has mainly gone now, thank god!

x-posts JKS thanks for telling me not to put up with the crap care my first GP appt gave me or I never would have even looked further and would probably either still be in agony or have given up the bfing altogether!

Ecuse sorry to hear you've got thrush. It's horrible but the good news is that the meds kick in pretty quickly and although it could take a couple of weeks to shift the thrush itself you'll be pain-free after a day or two. I was pain-free in one nipple after one day and in the other after two days.

JKS & Caramel have covered everything you need to know on it really - I'll just second them on being scrupulous with the bra/pad/top changing. I changed breastpads after every feed and also put the Daktarin cream on my nipples after every feed also. I put a good smear on and found it had soaked in always before the next feed. It's perfectly safe to use whilst breastfeeding. As for the Nystatin gel my prescription said four times daily in the baby's mouth but I read all the bumph on the various breastfeeding/thrush websites and they advocate using it after every feed as thrush grows back very quickly and this way you can hit it more effectively. I slung a probiotic in my yoghurt every day and also washed my bras and tops on a hot wash and ironed them as this kills the thrush/candida.

Got to dash and wash my hair. The girls are watching 'Tangled' (Rapunzel dvd) and the baby is asleep so I have a half an hour window. What did I DO with my life before children....??!!

Breastfeeding is quite perilous isn't it! finished my ABs yesterday for the mastitis and so far no sign of thrush here .

Can anyone advise on baby constipation. I know its unusualy for BF babies to get constipated, but B is having to put a lot of effort into doing his poos. Grunting and a very concentrated face. He also gets quite upset. What can I do??

cookie as ali says, the only thing I can think of is if it's a slightly different position on that side.. so your nipple is having to stretch or something? Is there any mark on your nipple (i.e. have you developed a blister there or anything?) I have something similar, it's really comfy on my left but I don't think we position as well on my right as it can be really painful. The longer it's gone on the worse it's got so I'm trying to make sure we get it perfect on that side otherwise it's agony! I can't work out what I'm doing differently but it definitely has a different effect. I think you said you're going to the bfeeding clinic to hopefully they will be more helpful - sorry I haven't been much help!

We've had a good weekend her, George took his expressed bottle without batting an eye (yippee!) it means I can go out and get my hair done, which takes about 3 hrs so couldn't have done it if DP can't feed him. He also has suddenly seen the light about dummies after refusing to take one up till now. We took him out in his pushchair yesterday which usually results in complete meltdown after 5 minutes but he was happy in it all afternoon sucking away on his dummy. It's so liberating to be able to take him out in the pushchair! He also slept for 6 hours on Saturday which is amazing. He doesn't seem to have any problems sleeping for long stretches it's just that he won't go to sleep until about 2.00am and he will only sleep lying on either DP or I.. still he's six weeks old today so very little still, and we seem to come on leaps and bounds on a daily basis. This time last week I couldn't imagine being able to take him in the puschair for longer than 10 minutes so who knows what the next few weeks will bring.

Despite his long stretches of sleep this weekend I am really starting to feel the tiredness, I think it must be the accumulation, and also the adrenalin winding down.. as we're getting in the swing of things I'm more relaxed and now just want to sleeeeeep!

Lis re constipation, have you tried lying baby on his back and doing a bicycle motion with his legs? Rubbing his tummy in a clockwise direction is supposed to help.

Also, if George doesn't seem to be going, or his having a day of having trouble I drink a load of orange juice/eat oranges (which makes me go) the idea being that he gets it through the breast milk and it helps him go. I made that one up myself though so it may be utter rubbish.. seems to help here but to be fair he doesn't really get constipated.

Yep do the cycle legs and walking with him in a bouncy fashion (brilliant in the middle of the night ). Eventually took him downstairs and put him in his bouncy chair and put it on vibrate. Took 10 mins before the poonami arrived.

Was just thinking I've started taking beroca again in the mornings instead of my pregnancy vits, could that cause it?

For those of you on a thrush diet I can recommend using tortilla wraps as an alternative to bread when having a sandwich. It's also v easy to make your own soda bread. there;s no yeast in it so there's no fannying around waiting for it to prove, and there's no kneading either.

lis - not sure there is much you can do. The majority of babies have trouble pooing. They have to learn to relax the sphincter rather than tense it.

I has had a v sleepy day today, I hope it means we wont cop it tonight. I also have tits like rocks due to him sleeping so much - ouch.

have, not has. I sound like Ali G or some such!

Hope everyone had a good-ish night? T wouldn't settle until gone midnight, but then went 12.30am-4.30am and 5am-8.15am. Not too bad!
This week is half-term, so no preschool or other activities for DS1 - eek!!

Morning all! I still can't get G to settle at a reasonable time either Ali goes down at 2.00am like clockwork but no matter what time I start trying don't seem to be able to get him to sleep before then. He went down briefly at 12.30 but woke up after about 20 minutes for another feed, fed till two and then zzzzzzzz. Once he's asleep he'll sleep for 4-6 hours though which is good. Just had the HV round to weigh him and he's 11lbs 5oz at 6 weeks up from birth weight of 7lb 11ozs at birth.. she's noted it down as 'tremendous weight gain'.. he's gone from 50th percentile to 75th percentile in 3 weeks! He's grown a lot in length though, although it's not been measured I can tell by his clothes. It's good to know the endless bfeeding is doing something!

and I've namechanged... formerly lucielooo!

Spoke to soon. I have down below thrush :(. Dr said I won't necessarily get it in my nipples and prescribed a pessary. Anyone have any experience?

Sorry posting ont he run, friend is visiting and house is like a hurricane has run through it!

moley - wow that is amazing weight gain! I have no advice about settling earlier - we started at 9pm the other night and still it was past midnight. One night last week we were all in bed and asleep by just before 11pm, DH and I were stunned but it was a one off unfortunately! He will get there eventually

H is also having poo and farting issues

He's so noisy after his 3am feed I can't sleep, he kicks, strains, grunts, cries in his sleep, the works.

On settling, I have found a late bath effective. H loves it and he kicks and gurgles in the bath itself then for ages once we get him out, I think it tires him out.

Poor you Lis :( it's one thing after another! While I was expressing over the weekend I was thinking about you mums who have expressed while establishing breast feeding for one reason or another. Now I've had a go at it myself, I have even more respect for how committed to breastfeeding you must be to stick with it - I'm very impressed. I get various well dones for bfeeding but really it's been very straightforward for me and so it's been the easiest option, but all that time expressing, sterilising then feeding must be very very hard when you are getting to grips with a newborn so I think you should be very proud :)

Ali I'm not stressing about it too much, it was much more stressful when i was trying to get him settled at a decent time as I would be pacing the house for hours rocking him with no joy and getting really wound up about it, now I accept that it probably won't happen I'm more chilled (if tired!) and I'm sure he'll grow out of it, so much changes every week that something which was a total non-starter one week, we try and again the next week and he's quite happy with it so fingers crossed!

cycle I might as well give it a go.. he quite likes a bath so if nothing else it'll be fun!

Very impressive weight gain there moley, you must have excellent milk!

Lis if the pessary does nothing ask for the one-off tablet, I found it got rid of thrush faster than the pessary. Oh and same as for the boob thrush, wash all your underpants on high heat and iron the gussets so you don't reinfect.

Is it a build up of wind that makes for the post 3/4am squirming? S doesn't seem to be woken by it, she just stirs and grunts and kicks her legs up for ages. It's me that's kept awake constantly checking if she is actually awake or not. Would winding after the 3/4am feed help do you think? Do you wind after this one cycle? I'm loathe to wind S when she's all sleepy and goes back down so quickly as I know I'll spend the next 2hrs trying to get her back to sleep.

Iron my pants!! I don't have time to even iron my normal clothes!!!

I always wind B after the 3am feed, it actually puts him to sleep. He goes all floppy. He doesn't always burp though and I'm damned if im sitting up for an hour patting his back while he dozes peacefully!

Friend has been and gone. She brought lunch and cakes. Has anyone has the Gu naughties millionaire flapjacks? OMG they are amazing! And oats so good for BFing! She had one with a and said to leave the ret for DH. I don't think there will be any left in the next hour never mind when he gets in from work!!

We get the 4am grunts here too. I put my head under the pillow I am always acutely aware that DS1 could be awake any time from about 6.30am, so I am always desperate to get back to sleep asap!!!!

Hello all, we've had the PIL visiting over the weekend so I'm now enjoying having my house back, finding where everything is (they 'helpfully' tidy) and some quiet (MIL is lovely but very loud!). At least I'm now Mastitis free and almost over the sore throat lurgy DH and I both came down with. (Sore throats when all you can have are Soothers are rubbish, Boots' pharmacist's advice was "well can't you just stop breastfeeding and then take something?" DH all bar dragged me out of the shop after that !)

MrsW I've just seen your lovely offer of milk freezer bags, I actually got some over the weekend but thank you anyway!

Moley Wow on the weight gain

Lis I've never ironed my knickers due to thrush but did used to iron them on school day mornings in the winter, there is something very comforting about warm pants!

In terms of bed times S usually goes down for (the first part of) the night around 9/10pm usually waking around 2/3am ish then sleeping through till 6.30/7am which is working very well in terms of making me feel human at the moment. S is a grunter too, but then he's a very loud sleeper at any time! snores like his mummy

He has been getting very overtired the last week or so though as he isn't (often) napping more than 20mins at a time till DH gets home when he has Daddy time and a snooze about 6ish. Today I got him down after swaddling him as even the sling didn't work . Maybe he's preparing me for tomorrow when he has his injections?!

Moley - L doesn't settle till between midnight and 2am. On very good nights I can sometimes get her down for 11.45pm but more often than not it's after 1am! On the positive she usually sleeps till about 7 or 8 then, however not last night when she went to sleep at about 2am and was awake for a feed at 5am - she obviously knew Mummy was very tired after driving to and from Sunderland to see Take That!!!

Oooh Sassy you just reminded me, my friend just offered me a ticket for take that in glasgow!! A whole load of my old colleagues from Aberdeen are going, soit'll be like a reunion! They ar also staying overnight. i could get the train home after but I'd be by myself and I'm a scaredy cat! Oooh I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!

Lis definitely go, you won't regret it!