March 2012 - Brewed to Perfection!

[TroubleAndFyfe]

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

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Hi arden, good to hear from you! Bf really should not hurt! Anecdotally a lot of people will tell you it does but they won't realise that there was something 'wrong' which eventually was changed before it got 'better'. I had pain for the first two weeks from a bad latch (he was getting tons of milk and the latch had been checked 2/3 times and been 'perfect') this was corrected (for free) by NCT bf
councillor and I have had no pain since (last 6 weeks) sure, it's a little sore from time to time but it certainly doesn't hurt. I had been at the point before of being in tears at the thought of having to feed him again! Otherwise things would have got better on their own eventually as bf is easier with a bigger baby because of space in their mouths. Hope you can find someone to help you, just keep asking!
Hi flip, nice to hear from you.

[broodylicious]

I agree with trouble re consulting a bfing counsellor. Or your HV. Can't speak for the rest of the uk but certainly here, they are v supportive of BFing mums and would rather you pester the hell out of them than struggle through

[ardenbird]

Thanks for the tale, Flip. So the antibiotics helped it heal? I'm also worried about thrush, as HV says the antibiotics can encourage it. But didn't get it last course (the swabs which showed the Staph would have shown it too, so at least I know we're starting thrush-free), so I hope we don't this time either.

:o at terrier, broody. I've been likening Tessa to some kind of animal - she sorts and grunts and growls. Terrier sounds like a good description.

I've called the BF people again - theyve been out twice and I've gone to the hospital clinic once, so I'm starting to feel like a bother (or incompetent...), but it's probably right it's better to be a bother/look silly than keep not having it work.

I'm starting to wonder if Tessa has tongue issues. I found this online: upper labial tie, which Tessa appears to have, and checking the mirror, so do I! Other places talk about it being connected to posterior tongue tie, but I'm having trouble figuring out just what that is.

On the more positive side, my SPD improved as promised, although I still can't lie on my side without jamming the sacroiliac joints. But I can walk, which is great :). The NHS physio won't see people until at least 6 weeks after birth, so I've been to a private physio twice now who unjammed my pelvis for me. He also confirmed the weirdness with my ribcage - one bone in the sternum was pushed out of place. He put it back, but it keeps popping out so I have exercises to keep returning it. It was amusing how fun the physio seemed to find me, as that is apparently rare and coupled with my prior sternum injury he found me very 'interesting'.

[broodylicious]

yeah poppy does funny noises too and then shakes her head madly (think of teenage boy putting his head between a pair of boobs and slapping his face with them - that's my girl!) She has always got herself into a bit of a state if she doesn't get fed within a few moments of her realising she's hungry - whoever mentioned the blowing on their face when they forget to breathe in their fury, thank you as it works a treat! - and that's when she is most like a terrier. Once she's on though she feeds beautifully and we rarely have issues. Keep at it hun, it'll all fit into place soon xxx

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Keep bugging them arden! That is what they are there for, you shouldn't be suffering. I got the NCT one out to my house pretty quickly by crying on the phone! it is one of those things though that should just work, it is really hard when it doesn't. The tongue tie sounds well worth investigating, I thought Fyfe may have one as his twin cousins did but NCT woman was sure it was just a high palate and receded chin making things difficult and it seems she was right as all is perfect now. I did find out though that you need to contact your HV and ask for a referral to a tongue tie specialist. Keep us posted.

[broodylicious]

I just did my first public breastfeed!!! so proud of myself. Was a bit at first as we were in a v busy m&s cafe but DD was screaming her head off for a feed so just did it and forgot other people were there. Did get a look of disgust from an older couple though

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Well done broody, sorry about the older couple treating you like that. Stick with it, you'll get positive reactions too and people need to see it for things to change!

[ardenbird]

That's brilliant, broody! I'm really impressed. And don't worry about that old couple - you've the right to feed your baby!

I stopped by the hospital breastfeeding centre today, as we were there for a hip scan. They thought Tessa's lip looked normal, but wouldn't recheck her tongue. I'm not sure what to think. She really looked a lot more like the 'problem' photos on the link than 'normal'. I'm also getting confused about the possible connection to 'high arched palate' and too-small upper jaw. I had the latter - as a teenager I had to have a palate spreader which (painfully) cranked my upper from nesting inside my lower jaw to the reverse, which is the normal state of affairs. This made room for all my teeth, one of which was coming in in the gums above another tooth (they had pulled its baby tooth to make room for the earlier adult tooth), and I got braces to pull it down into place.

The breastfeeding lady said that was caused by bottle feeding, not anything to do with the tongue, and that there is a whole generation where it is really common. I'm willing (and would love to!) believe that bottle feeding was the cause and if I BF Tessa she won't suffer this, but I'm a little skeptical as I'm not sure she completely understood me. I wasn't aware that palate spreaders were common, and I think she may have thought I was talking about braces (she talked really fast and it was hard to get a word in - I'm not sure how much she listened to me). I haven't met anyone else who had a spreader and most people I talk to have never heard of them. Are they in fact common? Do you all know people who had them? (it's this thing that goes across the palate and has a little crank that is turned and pushes the jaw apart a fraction of a mm every night for a year or however long is needed - I had to lie on the bed with my head hanging back and my Mum turned the crank, which hurt quite a bit, as it felt like my skull was cracking, which I suppose it was in tiny, tiny movements).

I really want to believe everything is fine and I don't have to pursue anything more, but it may be worth checking a little more in case doing something now could avoid dental problems in the future.

Argh, sorry to go on so long. It's just I find the whole thing so confusing and I want to take the easy way to just believe nothing is wrong, but worry it might be trading a little potentially annoying investigation now against a year of teenage pain.

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Investigate until you are satisfied arden! I've never heard of a palate spreader and it sounds like you weren't being listened to. Can you call the NCT about the pain when feeding? They were brilliant with me, you don't need to be a member, I'm not, hadn't done any of their courses etc. You need to keep pushing, this is way too important for you to be ignored!

[broodylicious]

Echo trouble about continuing to push. Also check out your local sure start centre - in fact, I'd recommend it to everyone! - as they have health visitors, MWs and other professionals dropping in all the time and so would defo be able to offer their advice. They also run free courses which cover loads of topics and BFing circles etc. Hang on in there, don't give up! [hug] xxx

[ardenbird]

Thanks for the validation! I guess I'll feel satisfied once I find someone who knows what I'm talking about rather than dismisses it without understanding.

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Exactly!

[knitterati]

broody apologies for not responding about the calma teat sooner... I used it on Elena from when she was just a couple of days old. No need to worry about the flow because the milk will come at whatever pace baby sucks.

[knitterati]

Oh and we haven't had any nipple confusion!

[ardenbird]

Hey, does anyone have tips for removing poo-stains from clothes? We've had a few leakage incidents, and just throwing them in the wash after a rinse didn't work. I've now got some soaking in detergent which I hope will help...

I've been reading more and took another trip to the mirror - I actually have rather severe tongue tie! Amazing I never knew. I realise now that I don't ever stick out my tongue but just retract my lips instead. I find that encouraging because DD clearly doesn't have it as bad as I do, if she has anything, so the severity of my case may be related to the palate spreader. I'm going to keep investigating until I find someone who can confirm things for me, though. A nurse and a paediatrician today had 'never heard' of posterior tongue tie.

[TroubleAndFyfe]

That's encouraging arden ! Both of Fyfe's cousins had posterior ties, made a huge difference when they were clipped.
We haven't had any poo leakages, one of the advantages of washable nappies! If the stains are on white or light clothes putting them on the line (wet or dry) in the sun gets the yellow stains out like magic (I do this with the nappies)

[broodylicious]

Knitterati - no worries I've bought it but haven't used it yet as I've not started expressing. Looking forward to handing it and baby to DH tbh - she wore me out last night with feeding tons and she's been even worse today, with just an hour and a half off since 2pm!! I'm hoping this means a good long sleep tonight!!

Arden - aaah poo stains! we've also had a few but luckily they've come out with just normal persil and comfort at 30 degrees, no soaking or rinsing beforehand.
Note: I just had to put my phone down at this point and bath a v frantic baby...she was screaming so much we gave her an emergency bath to try and calm her down. She screamed all the way thru, got out just as she started to poo, and then majorly pooed all over my favourite (of hers) towel which was on my knee! There was such a lot of it, we had to bath her again and the towel has gone straight into the washer - with another outfit she territorially marked earlier - in the hope it won't be ruined! Babies eh, donchya love em?!

[KikiRC]

We haven't had any major poo explosions yet, either, but if like me you don't have a garden, I find that soda crystals in the wash gets out most nasty stains. I haven't tried this with Ivy's things yet, but as they're quite 'chemically' would probably wash them in something gentler afterwards before dressing her in them...

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Aw broody, it's exhausting when they feed like that isn't it? Hope you get a good long sleep!

[ardenbird]

broody, I hope it's okay your bath story made me :o. I hope the towel gets clean!

We had new poo adventure yesterday. The leakage had been coming out the sides, so I was careful to make sure I got the nappy on snug. Then she did a big poo and it came out the top behind her back! Poo was getting everywhere, and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. It got all over me, her, and our nursing pillow...

[broodylicious]

Haha, arden no it's fine to have a at our bath story. Poo is providing a lot of amusement for us all, it seems! Poppy likes to wait to do a massive explosive poo until we've got her in a "going out" outfit or one we've purposely chosen as she's seeing the person who bought it. Typical!

[knitterati]

Babies have great timing for poo explosions don't they! Elena's favourite trick is to wait until she's got no nappy on to do a big wee! Must be something about the fresh air! Also, we had to change from huggies to pampers after a number of leakages! I've heard that huggies are better suited to boys and pampers to girls - anyone else heard this?

Am currently trailing reusable nappies, but still not sure which one to go for as there are pros and cons to them all...

On the expressing front, it seems that Elena has forgotten how to drink from a bottle (with the medela teat) after a few weeks exclusively breastfeeding! Not sure if I should carry on trying with both bottle & breast now. Any suggestions?

[TroubleAndFyfe]

I would really recommend prefold nappies with Flip wraps, they are cheap and amazing, no leaks at all as long a I change them every 3 hours during the day (longer at night is okay) I got my prefolds secondhand on eBay (they work better the more they are washed) and the Flip wraps were £11 each - you need 3. I have 30 prefolds so do 1 wash every 3 days. My sister also uses the Flips with the girl twins so good for girls too!

[broodylicious]

We've chosen to stick to pampers as huggies leaked for us too. We bought a small quantity of both at first so we could try them both out. Pampers defo more absorbent and v few leakages.

Not sure if I've said this before or if you all know but worth saying again for disposable users.... We have subscribed to a delivery service from amazon. It works out cheaper and the nappies get delivered at a frequency we set (we have 2 x packet of 108 and they get delivered every four weeks) so we don't need to get them from the supermarket and save money! Check it out on amazon anyway

Have many of you/your friends had issues with BFing? I'm doing well and not finding it sore or stressful but others I know are struggling so much. Out of the four NCT babies born already, one has given up, one is on the verge and the other finds it sore (I'm obvs the other one!) it's so sad and I did have a little tear for the lady who's thrown in the towel as she was so strongly pro BFing and she feels like a failure now she's turned to bottles :'(

[KikiRC]

We're staying with Pampers for now at least, as the sticky fixers seem much longer than other brands we've tried which make them much easy to put on with Ivy's brace. We haven't had any leaks or problems so far.

Re: BFing- I had loads of problems at the beginning- it was over a week before my milk came in properly, and that was a huge struggle and also meant Ivy was hospitalised for five days, so all a bit scary. I've been BF & formula feeding combined since, which seems to work pretty well.

Of friends who have had babies very recently I know a couple who have had no problems at all, one who like me is combining BF & formula, one who was very ill following a C-section & despite all efforts the BFing just didn't work out, and one whose son turned out to be allergic to milk protein, so couldn't drink breast milk & had to be put on a special formula. So quite a mix.