August 2011 - a place to wAit until the rest graduate !

[MrsVidic]

Hi,
Thought I would start us a postnatal thread. Were still in hospital, here till Tuesday monitoring dd (now named Eva) and giving her the anti biotics. Im missing dd1 loads as I only get to see her at visiting and trying to contain a toddler on the ward is tough.

hello everyone. I've been lurking for ages, really good to hear everyone's news and its really comforting to know we're all going through much the same things. I have a question for the more experienced breast feeders. Adelaide will take a bottle of expressed milk, but tends to sick most of it back up so I'm not really expressing much and just sticking to breast feeding her, but I'm absolutely desperate to get my hair cut! How do you manage it - what are hairdressers like about you breast feeding, or should I just chance leaving her with her dad and a bottle? All these dilemmas I just never considered .....

charlottery sounds like the teat your using may be too fast for her so shes getting too fast and then bringing it back up, what bottles are you using? dr browns are brilliant.

sargesaweyes willow is really trumpy and it sounds really explosive but not that huge when u look, she does around 6-8 in 24 hours
sometimes more i think!

willow is every 2 hours too she was doing 1 5-6 hour stretch but thats disappeard:( think its the heat?

Hi everyone, I haven't been on here for ages, just never seem to have the time or the free hands!

Joshua is doing well and I'm completely smitten. He's breastfeeding well but our attempts at giving him expressed milk have not gone well! He refuses the bottle completely and had a tiny bit from a cup but TBH most of it went down his chin. I've ordered a NUK bottle as they seem to have a good success rate. FX!

Charlottery I had my hair done last week (highlights so a long job!) My mum took Joshua round town then brought him to me in the hairdressers for a feed. They were fine about it and cooed over him!

Sleepwise he's fairly rubbish. He'll have 2 3-hour slots roughly 7-10pm then until 1am; after that it can range from 45mins to 2 hrs! I usually bring him in with us at about 5am as he settle better then but not for long. I'm feeling pretty knackered so I'm in awe of those of you who have other children and I'm incredibly jealous of those of you who are getting 4, 5, 6+ hours in a row!

sargesaweyes Joshua has very explosive poos too! He's very windy and probably poos 4-6 times a day. It is completely liquid with a few mustard seeds in it! I've been trying him with gripe water this last couple off weeks as he was having colicky episodes and it does seem to help. I may try Coleif though if I can get him to take expressed milk. Any other tips for colic? I've been doing tummy massage, warm baths, etc. The only thing that really settles him is to suck my finger so we spend many an hour stuck on the sofa! There are worse ways to spend time though than snuggling a baby!

I'll try and check in a bit more frequently. You're all doing so well! xxx

can i just say that if your breastfeeding then the best way to see if your baby is colicy from lactose intolerance is to cut out dairy yourself for a few days rather than use coleif just because using it can have similar side effects of explosive poos and very windy so a bit catch 22. coleif has to be added to the bottle of milk and left for 20 min to break down the lactose, its mainly used in formula as lactose in breastmilk is much more digested so lactose intol in breastfed babies is quite rare.

haha I live of cereal too and did while i was pg! and then when i was thinking of cutting our dairy i craved cheese yogurts etc which i can normally live without!!
HV i think are really wishy washy, the ones ive seen always have been anyway, she told me that i can just stop bf if i want to rather than wean her off but everyone else says to do it slowly so not to get mastitus.

My milk is going down i can tell already and willow is not so satisfied from BF as she feels fuller from a bottle, shes having around 3 bottles of formula a day and the rest still bf.

it could of been because you had pumped first so your flow may of been a bit slower so when he went on he had to work for it where he will be used to it gushing in at first. Its really hard to judge when to express, i think maybe do it shortly after they have fed if you can get anything out! its v confusing!
Im having exactly the same with Willow, i think they have to work harder to get it out breastfeeding so maybe they do prefer bottles as its not so hard? willow has started to get fidgety after a couple of mins bf and in the night i had to get her a bottle as i just couldnt fill her up so she just wouldnt settle.

sarge I agree - after expressing, my flow is a lot slower, so I try to express first thing when she still asleep and I'm leaking, and I only take 6oz. 3 from each (and I freeze it in 3oz bags), just so she doesn't get drowned when she does wake. Otherwise if I express too much or too soon to a feed she gets fidgety because it is not coming quick enough.

I would suggest you just don't give him a bottle for a day or two and just let him feed for you and don't express.

never Did you express in the night when she wouldn't feed? I wold be worried that my night supply would drop if I didn't do a night feed - unless of course she had fed so much there was nothing left :)

I find expressing any other time so frustrating. I am considering expressing later in the day to try and stimulate my supply in the evening (not really to get another bottle) as I feel that my supply dwindles as the day goes on - either that or Grace is jus guzzling it as fast as I make it. Grace usually feeds at least 2 hourly (often every 60-90 minutes) during the day. So I guess no wonder I feel empty by tea time. This afternoon I got a good 2.5hours break while she slept and we went for a walk, when she did feed again - I could feel the let down was strong and it was rushing out - her face was soaking and the other side started leaking.

To help with the constant tea time feeding I quite often give her 3oz in a bottle to give myself a break. Experience has taught me that she will only take from a bottle if she is really hungry and will rarely take more than 3oz. (But will want back on the boob an hour later - but that hour is needed for me to get enough for her post bath feed) The only time she has taken more than 3oz was the day I went out shopping and she was left with DH for 4 hours.

I am pretty much letting her demand feed as much as possible so I make enough milk and because I am paranoid she is not getting enough from me after she only gained 4oz last week. She is still really snotty this week which is affecting her breathing - during night feeds mostly and on Monday I had a tummy ache, then on Tuesday Grace was sick 4 times so what upset me also upset her. So I am paranoid she won't have gained much this week either.

She is really active during the day though, maybe has a 2 hour nap and about 4 x 30 minute naps and a couple of 10 minute ones all day. She sleeps about 4 or 5 hours then 3 or 4 hours at night. Are your babies still day sleeping? (Grace is 6 weeks today).

Oh dear I rambled. Anyway Let me know how you guys are getting on.

xx

hi eviepoo i ended up giving her some formula in the middle of the night as she had drained me, i had fed off both breasts then back to the first but she was getting fustrated poor girl!
Ive stopped expressing and im just mix feeding, i just didnt/cant find the right time to express, but when i did i was doing it whenever i felt she was down for a good sleep and wouldnt be waking for a feed.

My milk is pretty non existant in the late aft/eve thats why ive now started giving her some formula and i am slowly weaning her onto that, but i will carry on with night feeds if it will satisfy her if not im giving up completey as my milk dwindles, i personally just find breastfeeding so irregular and doesnt always fit in with having 2 other kids, i just cope better with a bit more routine and a bit more sleep!!! but i will try to carry on mix feeding, at the mo im alternating it in the day and doing all breast at night.

Hi everyone :)

Glad everyone and their babes are doing so well. I must say that BF sounds a right nightmare, and I'm so glad I never bothered! Leo will be 2 months on Sat, and we are finally settling into a routine...

He wakes at about 6am, and has 5oz and is then sociable til about 8am, then sleeps til 10/10.30.
Another 5oz and a quick snooze to digest til midday, then he is usually awake for about 3 hours and is getting increasingly interactive in this time - gurgling, cooing and starting to try and grab things.
Another 5oz at 3pm, and a good long nap, usually about 2hours.
6oz between 6.30 and 7.30, this feed takes a while as I want to get him as full as poss, and make sure all the niggly little burps are out.
He is now settling in his cot at about 8pm. I give him a dream feed at 11pm of about 3oz. He wakes for a feed at about 3am, usually only 3oz tho, and then we start the day all over again at 6am!

He is now in his "big boy cot" instead of his moses basket, so I am now going to start a proper bath, bottle, book & bed routine. I have waited as I didn't want him to get used to one space, only to have to learn his environment all over again. I am also trying to feed him as much as poss in the day, and slowly give less at night so he realises it is not worth waking up!

Thought I'd share our daily routine incase it helps anyone xx

Hi guys- can't believe how fast it's going- Eva will be 9 weeks on sat!
She's doing well, to be honest I have no idea how often she naps during the day- but she loves her big sister and watches, reaches for her. They love being on the baby gym together- I have to police that very closely as dd1 is only 2 so can be quite clumbsy.

Eva had her injections Tuesday and was fine- dp took her in while I waited with dd1 in the waiting room.
I have noticed more gaps between daytime feeds recently and nights shes constiantky only waking once at 430/5 am for a feed then will sleep till dd1 runs in instructing us it's morning usually about 6/7. Btw our bed routine is bath at 730 (as that gives me 30 mins to chill after dd1's bedtime.) then feed and bed at 8.

Eva is growing lots and is 98th for length and 75 for weight. Dd1 was 50th and 35th so it's weird having such a big baby 12lb odd now!

I have not been on for such a very long time... well, since DC3 was born actually! Hope all you ladies are doing well. I am absolutely loving having a newborn in the house again & really trying to make the most of every minute. I finally got a proper smile last week ... it just melts my heart every time he does it. :)

I would love some advise on nappies please ladies. I used cloth with DD1 & DD2, but it is just not up to the job for DS it would seem. He wees for England & I am yet to find a disposable that can hold more than one of his wees! I have tried several brands now, gone up two sizes & have now resorted to putting a cloth nappy over a disposable at night just to get a little more sleep as he wakes up drenched pretty much every time. Any ideas? Oh and yes, it is pointing down! LOL

Re nappies- The best are tesco or asda own I have found. Last time I stupidly stuck to pampers. This time I tried them all.

Well I think Eva is on a growth spurt, my boobs r like rocks and as we have been up at 2, not usual for her. Shes regularly doing 8pm- 430am Feed then up at 630. Oh well shell settle in a day or so (hopefully)

Eva is so long! Size 6-9 month baby grows etc ! Good job she's my second as I have lots of clothes, going to pack her baby stuff away today, can't believe it's going so
Fast

littlemissw what about the night time baby dry ones wont they even keep him dry? im guessing you must have tried them already?

mrs vidic wow 6-9 already!!! my ds2 was like that moving through the sizes quick but i dont think even he was that quick!

we are moving house again this friday, so i still have no routine or anything leaving it til we've settled in then hopefully will try & get him used to sleeping in our room in early evening rather than living room, probably will sleep better like that.

feeling bit sad though about moving, cos its to a different area this time and far away, even though its for the best especially for the kids but im gonna miss my area & all the people here :(

MrsV - try John Lewis for sleepsuits etc, they are longer than most brands :) in fact the JL up to 3 months are about the same length as most other brands 3-6 months.

I too have a long baby, I've started using vest extenders (genius invention) for Grace, her 0-3 months bodysuits are not long enough otherwise and the 3-6 months are too big on her slim shoulders.

littlemissw - Which cloth ones have you tried? have you tried bamboo boosters in your cloth nappies at night?

Firawla - good luck for the move, I hope you meet new friends there soon

hello all - glad there is some people out there!

I use pampers or Tesco's own brand with Alex and we haven't had any leaks at all. I tried huggies for a day and I cannot stress how shit they were. We had 3 leaked nappies in 24 hrs so the rest went in the bin in disgust.

Alex now weighs 15lb 9oz and is firmly in 3-6 month clothes. He seems a happy little chap for the most part and smiles and gurgles at all and sundry. he had a couple of 'off' days after his jabs where shock horror, he woke up for two nights in a row for a bottle. It was the first time in 5 weeks that he had woken us up in the night so it was a shock to the system. Thankfully normal service was resumed and he now goes to bed at 9pm and his usual waking time is 7.45am.

We have been going to baby massage classes and have discovered that Alex absolutely loves having his face massaged. Each time you rub his face he gurgles and squeals with delight and beams a gummy smile.

I also think that Alex is teething already. He spends most of his waking hrs (which are a lot during the day) with his fist stuffed in his mouth with occasional inconsolable crying. If you put your finger in his mouth he bites now rather than just sucking it. I have given him some dentinox gel and anbesol liquid on occasion which has at least stopped him crying. Anyone else showing teething signs?

Evie we were given a few John Lewis outfits but they are massive (width) Eva is 12lb something ATM, and very long!

Hersetta Eva is trying to chew her hand off ATM, won't take a dummy thou. I can sympathise with the growth spurt - Eva is waking at 2-3 for a feed instead of her usual 4.30-5.30. It's a shock and makes me so thankful she's such a good sleeper in general!

Agree that Huggies are total crap - too many leaks to mention. I like Asda's own the best, never leaked once despite really heavy nappies and massive poos.

hi everyone, i went out for the first time last night for 3 hours for a meal with some friends when i came back poor dp had had a terrible time, ds would not go to sleep till 9.30pm and was screaming for me which is strange as dp usually puts him to bed anyway while i sort the girls out! and baby Willow had cried almost the whole time and had puked up all over him, i came in and gave her a feed and she fell fast asleep and i put her to bed where she only woke once at 3.30 for a feed! He actually admitted that it had been absoloutly awful and he doesnt want me to go out again!! but Willow seems to be really snuffley and snotty so maybe thats why she was so upset, didnt think she was old enough to really miss me yet?

sargesaweyes well done for feeding as long as you have you have done fantastic, im still doing both, ive sort of got stuck half way weaning her off the boob as they keep getting so sore i end up feeding her, but ive got a cracked nipple from expressing and its really sore so im thinking ill just stop as my boobs just dont seem to fill her up she still ends up having a bottle too? so did you just stop how did your boobs react? did it only take a day or two for your milk to go?

im using aptamil comfort at the mo as its 40%less lactose and i started to get worried that willow was intolerant like her big bro was as she was showing some signs, and she seems much better off this.

my hv said just stop if i want but im scared too cos they kill when full as ir is so ill carry on plodding along till god knows when! what a stupid thing to say your not letting anyone down, youve given Bertie the best start possible but now its time to get your boobs back and have a good drink, wear no bra in bed, eat spicy food, get someone else to do night feeds etc, i could go on and on!! ooh i cant wait x