March 2012 - Brewed to Perfection!

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Hello all, come and add your babies to the list and let's see what adventures they bring!

Wow trouble that's amazing about our breast milk! Our bodies are so clever aren't they?
I'm going to start expressing next week. I have a hospital grade one - medela I think it's called - so hoping it'll be ok. should make it possible for us to be out and about for a bit...I'm not sure I'm one for public bf by choice so expressing gives me a bit of freedom I think. Those of you who are already expressing - do you give it to your babies in bottles or little cups? My only concern about bottles is about the whole teat/nipple sucking confusion debate. Although I wear nipple shields to feed anyway (due to flat nipples) so hopefully poppy wouldn't have such an issue?

Fyfe has been feeding since 6pm! looked it up and this is another growth spurt time (6 weeks) so looks like I'm in for a few tough days again...so tired already, lucky there's wine and chocolate in the house! Art painting or decorating painting punk? I've been painting every spare minute for the last week, getting carpets fitted upstairs on Friday so has to be finished by then though Fyfe has seriously scuppered efforts tonight as I've not been able to do anything! broody the medula pump is one of the best you can get, you'll be fine! I have an Avent Isis IQ Uno which is working very well though need to be very relaxed to start getting the milk out, after that it is fine. Haven't pumped for ages now though, been too busy with the house. I'm fine with bf in public so haven't actually given him any expressed milk yet but will be using a bottle, have read guidelines, his granny or daddy will feed him as if it is a breast feed so he must latch on then lots of breaks to make the bottle last, 10 mins laying on one side then nappy change (like we do for bf) then 10 mins on the other side. Just to make sure it doesn't become a preference through it being easier. Bit nervous about trying it tbh but will be great if it works to be able to go out once in a while!
He's fallen asleep while I've been writing this...phew, a little rest for my poor boobs!

And he's awake again and starving!

Hi ladies! What a few days it has been! So, in the ante natal thread, you know I said Erin has had dreadful colic? Well, followed your advice Trouble and got some gripe water (had already tried her on infacol to no avail), midwife had prescribed baby gaviscon which I got too...anyways, have ended up not using the gaviscon or gripe water because we went to see a cranial osteopath. He was freaking amazing...seriously, a miracle worker! I had thought Erin was just a grumpy baby from the start- you know she had real problems sleeping, cried a lot and then developed awful colic a couple of weeks ago? Well, the cranial osteopath manipulated her pallet which was apparently pushed forward and very flattened, manipulated a couple of her vertebrae and one of her ribs too. She is a different baby now! Last night for the first time we had an amazing night sleep- 10 to 1.15 for a feed and then 2 to 5.20. I feel like a new woman! And the colic has gone

Apparently the shape of her pallet was making my milk really frothy when she swallowed in (I thought I she was just full of milk aft a feed because she would end up with a massive belly...turns out it was distended with gas) and It would cause her loads of pain, poor mite. She is just so muh more settled now and content...absolutely blown away (and I would usually be a sceptic about that sort of treatment). So happy...I feel like I've really started to enjoy her as a baby now rather than feeling gutted at seeing her being distressed all the time.

Oh, and turns out her pallet shape is what did a load of damage to my nipples at the start too, not the latch. So going to start to try weaning her off using the shield now and going straight onto the nipple.

Broody- Erin has the occasional bottle of expressed milk and there's been no confusion for her. We uses thing called a chu chu teat which makes it a bit harder for her tg get the milk, so she doesn't start preferring the bottle. They use these teats in our local SCBU, so that those babies can still breastfeed when they're able. Also, with using the shield and having massive norks since giving birth I feel uncomfortable feeding in public so got a nursing apron and it's really good. You can see the baby but no one else can see.

Trouble - you asked about how I weigh her. The midwife still comes to see us until 6 weeks post partum, so she gets weighed at each of those visits.

So, has anyone got any smiles yet? I think we had one yesterday but not convinced it wasn't a windy one. I can't wait to get a sure smile!

Trouble - meant to say, hope you're getting some sleep by now. Growth spurts are full on, right? I felt attached to the sofa at the 3 week one, surrounded by an island of remotes, bottles of water and snacks!

Thanks bee! Got to sleep just after 12 and up feeding now so feel much better!
That is wonderful news about the cranial osteopathy, you must be so relieved! My sis and her twins had that too as we'd read how brilliant it could be! I'm really pleased for you!

Oh yes, smiles, seen lots of practice ones, started in his sleep, now when he's awake too. There've been a couple of times when he has smiled right at me but then hasn't done it again for ages so I assume not the real thing, can't wait either, I can see how beautiful it is going to be from his practice smiles!
6 weeks old today! How did that happen?!

Glad Fyfe let you get some sleep, Trouble! It's amazing how good you can feel after just a few hours, isn't it?! Would have never expected that before having a baby, having previously felt I needed at least 8 hours a night.

6 weeks as flown, hey? Erin was a calendar month a few days ago and it struck me that 11 more times and she'll be a year. Crazy.

Good to hear re: the cranial osteopath, Bee.

Re: bottles- I feed on average one bottle of formula during the day & one at night to top up my supply- Ivy had to go onto formula at 5 days when my milk hadn't come in, but we've managed to swing it back so that she mainly BFs now. I haven't found any problems doing both, although I brought back some of those special teats from the SCBU, so they may have helped. She much prefers BF over the bottle, given the chance! I've fed in public & it's been fine, I don't think anyone even noticed.

Think we're going through a spurt here, too, Trouble- we spent nearly all yesterday PM & early evening feeding, & she took much longer than usual to fall asleep. Slightly dreading our hospital scan this morning- hope I can keep her fed enough that she doesn't scream the place down!

We've got some great pictures of her smiling, but I don't think she connects it to an emotion yet. Can't wait for that!

Glad you got some sleep trouble hope the wine and chocolate helped pass the time! We're decorating, had hoped for it all to be done before Orla arrived but she was early as I was induced so still painting! Bought a baba sling on eBay which arrived yesterday as thought it would be good to breastfeeding in and still have hands free. Tried to feed and paint at same time yesterday think I need to practise! Are you going somewhere nice for your wedding anniversary?

Hi bee that's great that your little one is more settled that must have been a tough few weeks.

We're also getting smiles, they're very cute but agree they're prob not connected to emotion yet, will be lovely when they ate. Right off to tackle a nappy change!

Ah, same here punk, 3 weeks early when I was banking on at least 1 week late so still decorating! Nearly there with upstairs now, carpets being fitted tomorrow then it's all over upstairs, we'll have a little break before tackling downstairs I think (moved 2 weeks before baby was born so all needs doing) not sure re anniversary yet as ideally we'd like to go camping so will have to see what the weather is doing by the end of the month.
Hope the appointment went well kiki, really looking forward to meeting Ivy next week!
Got lots of smiles this morning but none since...

Have been feeding nearly all day! Hope you got through your appointment kiki without a feed! We had friends round for lunch and she fed the whole time and is going for it again now, don't know how you'd go out when like this as she cries if not feeding. For little people they can eat a lot

Oh blimey think we have a colicky baby she has screamed the house down on a couple of occasions today - about half an hour at 215, then during feeding tonight. She will latch on beautifully and feed v nicely then suddenly it's all he'll breaking loose. I'm hoping the infacol will help ease her obvious discomfort but I've read it doesn't work immediately. I just feel so totally useless not really being able to do anything

Massive respect to you bth, Trouble & Punk; I couldn't imagine decorating with a newborn. In fact, if we manage to both be showered, dressed and out the house before 11 I feel rather proud and together! Managing to have a baby plus wield rollers and brushes is huge!

How did your scan go, Kiki? Hope all is good.

Broody - really hope that was a one off awful day for you. Colic was destroying me...just seeing her in so much pain was awful and being pretty helpless to do anything to ease it. Infacol didn't work for us, sadly. What you described with the evening feed was how Erin was- latching for a minute, obviously hungry, them pulling off and screaming, bending her legs up, thrashing. Awful! If it persists, I really could not recommend enough finding yourself a good cranial osteopath / cranial sacral therapist. Erin has been a different baby since we went- content, chilled, feeding calmly. I'm loving every minute rather than dreading when the next colicky bout was going to make her writhe in pain and scream the place down.

Hello all,

Re: the hospital, it was OK, but a bit disappointing... the brace hasn't yet got her hips into the right position- they're going to give it another 2 weeks & then reassess- hopefully by then things will be looking better, but if not she may have to wear a plaster cast for a while and then go back into the brace for another 12 weeks... so it's all dragging on a lot longer than we had hoped. Just feels a bit of a shame that the last three weeks of the brace have all been a bit wasted, really.

Sorry to hear about the colic, Broody. My friend is also using a CO, but experimenting with Colief tonic, too- a chemist recommended it for giving the baby the enzymes to digest lactose (which many of them have not yet developed and creates the colic) I'll let you know how she gets on with it.

They sure can punk! I had to swap 3 hourly to 2 hourly nappy changes as he was so wet during the drinkathon hours!
Sorry to hear that broody! Maybe try some gripe water whilst you're waiting for the infacol to work? Hope it was just a one off!
bee I have felt like a terrible mummy this last week as have spent the whole time feeding him, settling him to sleep then dashing off to decorate. We haven't left the house since this time last week and I've had no time to appreciate him still, it's over now as carpets are going down today so no rush after this, my step dad will be laying the oak floor downstairs so no deadlines for decorating down here, we can take it a bit easier and I won't have to feel guilty!

X posts kiki, should've refreshed as started that post ages ago. Sorry to hear the brace hasn't worked as hoped, I imagine the plaster cast will be more difficult for bathing/dressing etc? Did you have a brace as a baby or did you discover the problem later in life?

I had a brace, but they were completely different ones back then- a bit brutal 'cos they were huge metal and rubber things, and quite distressing to wear, but probably did a better job, in a way.

What's frustrating having read up a bit more is that when wearing the brace you're recommended to change BF position, not use a sling, and not to hold the feet together when changing a nappy- I wasn't given any of this advice, and feel like if I'd followed those guidelines then she could have progressed a lot more... I'm going to see if we can really improve things over the next couple of weeks.

Morning ladies! Just wanted to ask how many of you are using slings? I'm tempted to get us a babasling.... Any advice/recommendations? Xx

How frustrating kiki, glad you know now I suppose but it makes you wonder!
broody, I have been using two slings from day one, a ring sling for around the house as you can put them on one handed when baby has fallen asleep on you without waking them and a wrap sling for out and about, it is wonderful, really comfy. We don't have a pram so have worn it for 4/5 hour walks etc. love it.
The baba sling is like a ring sling, I wouldn't want to only have the ring sling as they're one shouldered so aren't comfy after hours of wear but it depends what you want it for really?

Just thought I'd chip in re feeding - I've been mixing BFing and expressed BM with the Medela Calma teat, which actually helped Elena to latch to the breast...amazing teat & she's not had any nipple confusion tho generally prefers boob for comfort I think.

Hope you've all had a good weekend! My DH goes back to work tomorrow, I'm dreading it. Sure it will be fine I've tried to plan some stuff to do but like you say bee getting out and dressed is an achievement in itself! we've finally finished the decorating which is a big relief.
broody I got a baba sling recently so have only used it twice. There are lots of different ways to use it some of which are suitable for breastfeeding. I found feeding in it ok but need to practise. Orla seems to like being in it but trouble is right with it being one shouldered you couldn't wear it for hours

Hope it goes well punk, I'll keep checking in today! Well done on feeding in the sling, I need to have a go at that as it was one of the reasons for getting a ring sling and there are days where Fyfe would rather not leave my breast, like yesterday, really happy and lovely all day but either feeding or sleeping on me, every time I tried to put him down or pass him to DH he'd wake up and want to feed again! Very cute and lovely to have cuddles all day but could not get anything done!

Thanks for your advice on the slings - I think we are going for the caboo/close carrier after the DH started investigating them all! Our reasoning for getting one is the same as you guys - poppy loves to be close to me and, when she's in the mood, her daddy but it means we're a bit restricted movement wise when she's got a hold on us. I also want to be able to discreetly bf in public and not have to take ourselves off to our bedroom when she needs feeding but we've got guests. The caboo looks as though it offers quite a bit of support for her as well as me - as I've previously had sciatica and can suffer with back pain (not helped with my horse riding) I think I'd be better off with the support of two straps. We'll see how it goes!! Xx

Looks like a good choice broody!