The brookers post graduate thread

[hawthers]

We've got so good at brooking no argument for no pregnancy complications and sneeze births, we're going for our Phds in big fat babies

Twins free to a good home. Excel in windiness and gurning and did not let their mother sleep at all last night, bar one hour when dh walked them. Boob monsters.

Scream my boobs haven't leaked at all (and I'm now afraid of blocked ducts - thanks, Biscuits !) but one of my NCT friends is leaking a lot and the midwife suggested she expressed and froze lots of milk now before her supply settled down. Not sure that will help with the leaking, but it does suggest that it won't go on for ages.

Hawthers am loving F's abilities at 18 weeks. Hoping DS will vacuum the house for me in a few months' time then...

Dream what about co-sleeping? DS tends to wake up when put down, (though not to the extent of your boys, you poor love) and I'm breaking all the rules by snoozing with him while sitting on the sofa. At least that way I get some sleep. (I'd rather co-sleep but haven't got a suitable bed.) You can't go on without sleep - either the twins will sleep, or a temporary solution must be found, and we'll brook no argument on that!

Small wobble: not only have I not got leaking breasts, but I can't feel a let-down, and they never feel particularly full before a feed or empty after (in fact DS has just come off the boob after 35 minutes and I just squirted some milk out so it's obviously not empty). Have I got defective boobs?!

Pet didn't mean to panic you . Fear not! With ds1 I never really felt 'let down', but I can feel it this time as a tingly feeling a few seconds in. So I wouldn't worry about that. I can also express a few drops at the end of a feed (which i sometimes do to rub into my nipples if they are sore) so it might not be drained dry, but I don't think it matters.

Now blocked ducts wise, I think I am prone to them, but there are normally external factors that 'cause' it. With DS1 he had a tongue tie and therefore a v v poor latch for the first 8 weeks until it was snipped. Ds2 doesn't always have a great latch either (I think he has a slight tongue tie too as his tongue is slightly heart shaped) but overall his latch is much better.

So I think that was the main reason I got (/ get) blocked ducts. Also because of my ridiculous enormo-boobs (K cup ) I often have to support them with my hands when I'm feeding out and about and that often makes them sore / blocked after.

So I don't think not leaking necessarily results in blocked ducts but it may make it easier to get them with certain external factors.

Now, what I've learnt this time around is to do something if they start to ache. I think last time I thought 'oh my boob is getting sore' but didn't know what to do about it so did nothing. Next day = completely floored by mastitis!

This time if I get the sore feeling I try to do the following:

• sleep with a hot water bottle held against it, preferably immediately before DS is going to feed off that side (makes it easier to clear the blockage when he feeds)

• massage the sore area before the feed with my hand.

• massage that side in the shower, sometimes with a wide toothed comb

• feed DS in a rugby ball hold for a feed - a different position can help them to clear different ducts.

Other people find a warm bath helps but I can't get the enormo-boobs under the water so it doesn't do anything!

Hope that helps?

By the way, when I see your name I always think of a bit on the Chris Moyles show where they take the mickey out of do an impression of Geordies or Ant and Dec and say 'man pet woman' when referring to people.

I also don't leak and only sometimes feel a let diwn but like biscuits I didn't feel it with DS1. Also prone to blocked ducts but mainly occurs when I had to express. I think because its not as efpfective at draining the boob as a baby so blockages occurred. Only happened once when just fully bf. When I start feeling sore I do what biscuits does and also hand express. I can usually tell which duct it is so I concentrate on that area.

As ever best way to see how you are doing is minipet's weight gain

I don't get a chance to get full or leak normally as usually I am either feeding or expressing. If, if they ever go three hours I do though. last time I could only go out with no breast pad from very late on and be confident there'd be no leakage. Think it was more my fear of leaking though, and I used to leak from the side I wasn't feeding from when feeding.

I leak, especially when I get a few hours between feeds. I have to wear a bra and pads to bed and even so I'll wake up with a wet bra and bed frequently. During the day she feeds more often but if I walk around for more than 5 mins bra/padless then I'm risking milk running down my front. The let-down tingles when she latches - can be v sore but usually not. Milk doesn't spurt across M's face unless she comes off almost immediately after latching.

Pomme, I never did phone the consultant. I'm burying my head in the sand a bit and hoping it will all go away . I'm scared she'll make me feel stupid. Maybe I can get DH to phone instead.

Pet, I could have written your post a few weeks ago! Probably did, in fact, if you read back a bit. When babies are feeding so often then your boobs don't really get a chance to feel full or to leak. Mine only really started to leak after she'd spent ages clusterfeeding. It hasn't stopped, though.

Yy, if I didn't wear a pad I'd soak M from the unused side during a feed too.

Too - if the consultant makes you feel silly for asking a reasonable question, that says more about them than you!

I think it's a perfectly reasonable question and if they are arsey about answering it then they just have a crap bedside manner (or telephone manner )

And in our hosp the cons. doesn't seem to be involved in booking the scans so it could even be news to the cons. that M is booked for both scans?

Dream - I just read a thread about colief in the bf section, and someone there suggested that they just used to give colief directly to the baby when they were ebf rather than in a bottle? Is that true that you can do it that way?

Oooh, must find out. Hv said in ebm 20 min before a feed (err, how do you know that exactly?!) . Our pharmacy hadn't got any so currently still on the infacol/ gaviscon and today no-one was functioning. I actually think I'm too tired to drive safely today.... Tomorrow I will get some and get it down his neck come what may.

Please, please let me have some sleep tonight...

I'd ring the consultant too . I bet they'd rather the parents who are concerned (though maybe nor if you badgered them daily!!) than those who don't give a monkeys

Love the idea of '20 mins before'. Should be easy to work out by looking at each baby's fuel gauge display, no?

of course if my mother ruled the world everyone would know that 20 mins before a feed would be at precisely 5:40am, 9:40am, 1:40pm, 5:40pm and possibly 9:40pm if your baby is v small. Other night feeds are for losers and weaklings

Heehee biscuits. Spoke to my mil today who asked if a was sleeping through... I told her I wouldn't expect her to this young and got a surprised silence!

Yep, E sleeps right through from one feed to the next, except for the times he wakes up inbetween....

Loser and weakling checking in. F just woke for his first feed of the night at a record early time. Does not bode well.

Same here! Something in the water........

No long stretches over here either!

we've had feed poo feed poo feed poo for what feels like about 4 hours here.

DH just helpfully suggested that i put him in his crib soon. yes dear, I'm just feeding him and changing his nappy for a lark, i really just got him up for a cuddle.

DS2's eyes are closing a bit, fx we may get some sleep soon. till DS1 wakes up

so, those on second dc, it's normal for dc1 to go a bit nuts and not want to do anything, ever right?

DH is getting v frustrated with DS1, doing everything he's asked not to and nothing he is supposed to do. the word no is featuring a lot... I'm a big softie and i just want to be nice to him as I'm sure he doesn't mean it. I'm not going to let him run riot, just seem to want to be gentle with him!

at your MIL being speechless pomme! i couldn't be bothered with her 'where's my sandwich mummy?' guff last time so i told her he'd be waiting about 6 months for one, seeing as he was only 3 days old! she did it with DS1 for every meal from about 3 months onwards...

at Jaggy keeping DS2 up all night just so you could keep changing and feeding him . Poor DS2 being kept up just for Mummy's entertainment . I think my DH might have earned a clonk on the head for that sort of 'helpful' suggestion .

Ds1 here does nothing he's asked too, and plenty he's asked not to. Although to be honest that had started before ds2's arrival a bit). DH here also gets super frustrated by it. It's hard isn't it because you don't want to be a tough nut with them, but then you can't let them just run riot. It makes me sad that I'm always having to get on at DS1 to get him to do anything. It feels as though he'll never do anything just when I ask, I have to repeatedly ask and then either make it into a competition, a game, or a threat of something else being taken away or whatever if he doesn't do what I've asked (depending on the request). I'm sure he does do things that I've asked but I notice the times he doesn't iyswim, and there are plenty of them. And he's started saying 'No!' quite stroppily .

I said to DH yesterday that ds1 would never have had to hear so much 'negative' conversation when he was a baby - it makes me a bit for DS2 that he has to witness my nagging

Honestly what is it with all these brooking babies tonight?

Oh, and at your MIL and sandwich-gate Jaggy! There must be some great retorts we could come up with for that.....

Great, I think I've got a sore boob / blocked duct situation arising. Just what I need to deal with on top of a milk monster baby and a cabin-fevered-chicken-poxified 3yo

Oh dear, I've just worked out that, because of the bank holiday, I've got another 5 and a half days straight of looking after ds1 before he can go to preschool or nursery or owt. I'm am so running out of ideas after 6 days done). Still at least after today I don't think he'll be contagious anymore so we can maybe start to go places

MIL obviously thinks that the sandwich thing was funny, but it just touched a nerve about the way she constantly nipped my head about DS1.

i was quite happy not having to worry about any effort food for as long as possible, but the PIL were always on about how big he was so would need food. we did point out he'd got that big on just milk so would probably manage...she'd have DS on her knee and go 'oh i wish you could have some steak pie' or whatever. my mum wasn't quite so bad, but every phone conversation ended with her reminding me how much better DS1 would sleep once he was on solids!

at least I'll be happy to just get on with it this time...

DS2 slept till 6.45 so nearly 2 hours more sleep. woo. he was doing a funny not wanting to latch on thing during the night and this morning so it was a bit harder work to settle him.
it was odd doing DS1's nappy this morning with his giant toddler bum hehe!

it must be driving you nuts cooped up with the boys biscuits. it seems to make a difference to get small people out for a run about sometimes!

hope your blocked duct can be successfully massaged away :(

God I am literally pinned down by a feeding baby! Poor ds1 hasn't even had any breakfast yet (neither have I). Still in my pjs, washing not out on the line yet...... Blimey!

Still today's pressing task is to walk to the co-op to get some chocolate to melt on top of my crispy cake and caramel creation that I made last night (think millionaires shortbread with a rice crispy cake base instead of shortbread)

Wish me luck, Brookers, am off to parent-land for the weekend. Will M deign to sleep in a strange house? Will the pram, car seat, dog and suitcase fit into a small Citroen? Will a) stepmother, b)Granny, c)auntie or d)8 yo sister drive me demented with well-meant advice? Will I ever manage to pack, shower and load car (by 11.30) around a baby who won't stop pooping? Will a 3.5 hr car journey go ok? We're stopping at Mum's halfway to drop off the dog, because Dad has a cat and I can't be doing with the hassle of making sure cat and dog are separated, so M wil get a break from the car seat. Maia is going to meet her great-grandparents, 3 great-uncles and 3 great-aunties and possibly a cousin or step-great-grandmother as well. What relation is she to my cousins? Second cousin or first cousin once removed? Oh, and I only seem to have 3 clean vests because of the washing machine being broken. Must stop at Tesco and buy more.