April 2011; springtime arrivals - blackbird, song thrush, mistle thrush, nipple thrush, nappy thrush...

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Here we are, our new thread and this time we all have our babies !

I thought we were getting thrush again, but then realised I had let ds's latch get sloppy. He was constantly clicking and tutting at the breast but I was too distracted to notice.

Ds and I made butterfly cakes together this morning, ds got to choose the colour of the buttercream icing ..... It is a very lurid shade of pink and they are covered in sugar strands. You can never have enough sugar!

B is napping, so I'm listening to music! iPod is on shuffle and seems to be playing the best of Stock Aitken and Waterman!!! Brilliant!!

We have just had the most awful thunder storm! We were at Asda so got soaked loading the car, then soaked again unloading the car. B was a bit bemused by the thunder.

ecuse how is the Bfing going after the TT snip?

B has started taking an extra ounce per feed and I'm struggling to get my supply to increase. I'm goign to have to start pumping more aren't I :(. So far I've not had to break into my frozen stash, but I think it's only a matter of time. Is this my boobs way of saying enough?? I will carry on as I am just now as I am getting enough, but as he gets bigger and needs more milk I don't know...... I'm having another of my negative days regarding the expressing. Might post on the feeding board.

I feel ur pain lis I'm only getting about 2oz when I express. I need three times that per bottle in case he goes for a long feed when he's with daddy.

Lis if B is taking more then you have to mimic growth spurt behaviour with your pumping, so for a couple of days express much more frequently and then you should be able reduce frequency of pumps again but be getting more, that is if course if you decide to carry on.

Thats what I was thinking Ali, as it's the weekend it's the perfect time to do that with DH home to entertain B. Finding the time to pump is only half the battle!!

Yeah that is good timing! T normally decides to have a growth spurt in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon or something

Well after our first 12hour stretch on Tuesday which my DP is convinced DI gave to him as his birthday present ! We have also here had sleep regression & I was up at 4.30am. Was really hoping this was the beginning of her all nighters ! I'd be happy to go back to her 7.30hours stretch now !

I've also started expressing basically anytime im not feeding, changing, eating myself or cleaning. I only get about 1.5oz from both boobs each pump accept for morning where I get 2oz. So getting about 6/7oz a day so about 2 bottles only. Hoping my supply will start increasing !

DI takes the bottle fine, so super happy about that and am now giving her a 3oz bottle every night for her last feed but then end her on boob were she normally falls asleep after 5 mins.

I have started moving her bedtime forward by 10minutes everyday, we are now at 11pm which I love as I get a little time to myself each evening. I'm also hoping using the bottle as last feed will be a good association of bedtime so I can keep moving bedtime earlier.

I'm using this time to use my electronic pelvic floor excersiser, don't know if it's doing anything yet as I still can't stop mid-pee but gotta get it back in good condition where a cough doesn't mean I pee myself !!

Anyway, enjoy the weekend all I'm off cot shopping today !!

We had growth spurt cluster feeding last weekend Lis, S was fed from 4pm - 8.30pm Fri, Sat and Sun which meant I had no choice but to sit and watch all the Wimbledon finals! [hgrin]

He hasn't grown in length so much this time it's all gone into a good layer of baby chub! This week he's developed an extra roll on each leg, a proper tummy and has the start of some baby jowls by the looks of things, is it wrong that adore all his little bits of chubbiness?!

Yesterday I went to see the physio as I've still got a lot of lower back pain, I've now got lots of exercises to do, have to ice swollen bits 3 times a day and have to take regular anti-inflammatories. Oh, and I had my pelvis re-aligned. Didn't hurt at the time but flippin' heck it hurts today! I have regained a good inch of right leg though, which when you only just reach 5ft is an important inch! and probably explains why I thought the pushchair was wonky!

S went with DH into work while I was at physio, didn't result in any sippy cup/bottle joy [hsad] but he did manage to charm the entire dept from all accounts [hgrin]

Right, F1 qualification time, Silverstone is only up the road from us really and I so wish I was there, maybe next year!

Ooooh I just picked up a vintage Silver Cross coach built pram for a bargainous £30! Needs a bit of work and I don't get to play until December but I am SO excited

I should be helping build the cotbed but instead have been calming M down after she woke a bit early from her nap.

And I'm lying on the sofa watching Holes trying to get F to nap some more after MIL woke us him up earlier

I'm watching Holes too!! funnily B isn't napping well today either! Must be in the air!

I missed the first 10 mins, I'm a bit confused cos I'm browsing mn at the same time, but it's not bad.

No way F's sleeping now. He's lying on my front waving his legs around & farting. And trying to eat his whole hand.

Well Jo and I have just come back from a little trip to the park with my sister, who hasn't seen her for five weeks and is very impressed with how much she's grown. So the formula's definitely doing something!

BF not going so great at the moment. Seems to be a few days of going well, and then a few days not so good. I know what you mean about having negative days, lis. The last few days have been not so good for me. Her latch still seems worse than before she had the TT snipped.

I did a little experiment yesterday where I didn't BF at all, just expressed and bottle fed her to track how much she drinks versus how much I produce. Turns out she drank about 950ml over 24 hours, and I pumped about 375ml over 7 pumping sessions (as part of the experiment, I pumped whenever she fed). which is a bit pathetic really . I'm planning to do as much as I reasonably can this week to increase my supply and do the same experiment again this time next week to see whether I'm producing more as a proportion of her intake.

Also going to go to BF support group on Monday to see if they can help with ways to improve her latch. Part of the problem is she just won't open her mouth wide any more. I think it's because she doesn't have to for the bottle. God it's hard work this feeding lark. I feel like I've thought of nothing else for 10 weeks.

ecuse I'm sure the amount you get when pumping is no indication of how much she gets direct from the breast. I know F is way more efficient than my pump!

Also, F doesn't do the wide mouth thing any more. Just lazily slurps my nip in. I do sometimes have to manually adjust him - he's always been a clicky sucker, but sometimes he just gulps air. But even then, he'll often readjust back again.

I've got the opposite problem. F won't take the bottle reliably and I'm back to work in about 9 weeks (full time). I've started reading about weaning, but it's going to be too soon. I don't want to give him formula either (history of cows milk induced eczema here). So, I need to express enough breast milk (but how much is enough?!), and find a way to get it into him.

I might be a little premature in this panic!

ecuse she will definitely be getting more from the breast than you can pump, so it is not an exact science but pumping regularly (8 times per 24 hours) will certainly increase your supply.

Petal - don't panic, 9 weeks is a long time. I need to try and get T to take a bottle ready for my friend's wedding in September but I am putting it off as long as possible because I hate pumping and faffing with bottles!!

I agree with petal that pumping is no indication of how much milk you're producing. I rarely got more than an oz or two when expressing for DS, it was the same with P this time too. I found it quite stressful as I was trying to find the time to express for top-ups as DD wasn't gaining much weight and feed/lookafter/spend time with the DC. The amount of milk I produced expressing was just depressing, so I gave up the expressing and feel much happier now.
P is doing well on BF directly from the source with 2 additional FF a day.

Despite the fact that my breastpump is now gathering dust my milk supply is fine. I've just been BF whilst catching up with the thread but forgot to put a breastpad in so now have a big wet patch over leftie

Sleepwise, P sleeps through and I'm going to try and put her to bed earlier as she has been sleeping downstairs until we go to bed. She usually transfers from crib to basket without waking but I want to start getting her used to a bedtime, she's been dozing on me since her BF and i've just taken her upstairs. She opened her eyes a couple of times, looked at me and went back to sleep so fingers crossed. Hopefully we're both get a good night as I'm taking P with me on the Race for Life tomorrow morning, although I have a stinking cold so will be waddling more than racing. I'm doing it with the girls from work. We'll be wearing our "Library Girls" T-shirts and they've made P a "Little Library Girl" sign to stick on her buggy

No sign of AF here either, although I think it was a good 6 months last time before they returned, saying that I was cleaning my kitchen bin today which is normally a pretty good sign that i'm premenstrual

Jen I'm so pleased that DS preschool has an optional uniform policy. It only becomes compulsory if they stay on for prep (it's a montessori school so they can stay on until age 7 but unless we win the lottery in the next year we'll be transfering to state school for reception).

Lis Remind us what day the cake sale is and be sure to post as soon as you get back from your "cake off" with AM [hwink]

I hate pumping too, with a firey passion! I know that most babies will get more out than a pump. but I'm not convinced that she will. She was always an inefficient feeder and at the moment she latches badly, bounces on and off, does more 'nibbling' at the breast than actual sucking/drinking and usually drops the nipple in frustration well before the breast is empty

Well, pumping has been ok this weekend. Supply seem to be on the up again. I've done lots of research this weekend and my worries about him needing more and more bm seem unfounded. Between 1-6 months they should just need the same amount of bm as the fat contemt increases naturally Between 23-27 ozs a day. And true to form the extra ounce b was taking last week each feed he's dropped so I'm thinking last weekwas a growth spurt! So my hvs advice to follow the formula volumes was a complete load of tosh! I'll keep giving him 5 ozs a feed. If I think he needs more I'll give him it. So ladies who are pumping for feeds have a look at the kellymom website. Sorry can't link I'm on iPod.

Agree on the fat thing Lis. On the very rare occasions that I express I've noticed more and more cream on the top once the milk's been in the fridge a while.

I pump very very rarely, I really don't think it's essential to supply, or else no one's milk would have been enough in the days before pumps.

Dentist tomorrow, I've decided to ask him to pull the tooth out, which he suggested as an option last week. The pain and stiffness is now radiating down my neck to my glands and I've had enough. My teeth have always been abysmal so it's not the first adult tooth I've lost by a long shot

Oh and whoever suggested propping H on his side deserves a or , 11-5.50 last night! Too bad my tooth woke me at 3

Lis glad to hear things are better. So, if the fat content of our milk increases (when?!) is that where my belly & arse is going to go? For a minute I thought I might actually have to give in and do exercise (not eat less chocolate, obviously).

cycle your tooth sounds awful . Hope the dentist sorts you out. Glad to hear about the sleep though. Is H in his cot yet? I think it might work for F, but he's got a really springy mattress. Not sure I could wedge him. But he napped for nearly 2 hours on me earlier, and thought occurred to me that it could be because he's on his side/front. Although he hates tummy time still.

F's had a bit of a screamfest earlier. I can see a little white spec on his front lower gum, so I think it could be teething. He's such a puker, though, I don't think any of the calpol stayed in him.

It was indeed in his cot Petal. I fed him lying down in our bed so he was already on his side. I then used a rolled up big muslin to support his back so he could fall asleep on the boob without rolling onto his back. Once he'd been asleep for about 10 mins I scooped him and the muslin up and transferred him to the cot. Et voilà!

Oh and H also hates tummy time, Dp lies him on his lap face down with my Widgey pillow propping him up, it's a bit like a shooting position but it works.

You know I said F had got better at sleeping again. Well he was up every 2 hours last night, and won't go to sleep tonight.

Into my 3rd hour of trying to settle him. Feeding to sleep isn't working. It stops him screaming, he looks a bit snoozy, then he starts grinning, waving and looking around the.room. I've had it. Left him upstairs waiting for him to star screaming again so we can do it all again.

grr

Oh Petal, that's pants. We don't even attempt to get H down before 10 nowadays, there's just no point.

Thanks cycle. Glad there's someone there to hear me rant! makes all the difference. He's really screaming now, which is actually less annoying than the inane grinning. DH is trying to settle him, but I've got a feeling it'll be boob time again soon.

So infuriating when he's been going down so well for so long.