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]

I found the first two weeks very sore but since then have found it very easy and rewarding. managed to feed him whilst walking the dog in the woods today, just getting easier and easier.

[broodylicious]

Oh wow, trouble! Although that's just showing off

[TroubleAndFyfe]

[broodylicious]

Another question for you ladies.... Do your LOs go to sleep by themselves? In the last week or so, I have had to start to force poppy to go to sleep with lots of rocking and jigging about, even though it's obvious she is shattered. Previously she would feed then fall asleep quite happily by herself. Just wondered if it's Poppy character quirk coming out or if it's a five week thing or if this is actually what I'm supposed to be doing anyway?

[Punk80]

Hi ladies all your poo talk is funny we're having some funny poo incidents and lots of wees when naked on her play gym! trouble that is so impressive feeding in the woods is that using a sling?
broody Orla is 7 weeks on Monday and this week we have tried to introduce a bit of a routine as she wasn't sleeping that much! We are leaving her to cry a little as she is not the kind of baby who always goes down straight away but she does stop although I can't listen to her she is now sleeping in the evenings and she had a nap this morning.
arden hope you get things sorted you're right to be pushy.
Hope you all enjoy the long weekend

[FlipFantasia]

Evening ladies

A lovely hectic week here - PIL visiting from the US and we've been having a great time around London . Got DD some cute little knitted cardies in Greenwich market (I've accepted that my own knitting is on the back burner for the time being!).

Broody I'm not stressing out about self-settling. DD is 6 weeks on Sun, and still being fed to sleep or carried in the sling or rocked in arms. I think the 4th trimester idea is v sensible, so just treat the first few months as basically just an extension of the womb. Sounds like it could be a growth spurt - DD tends to get v grumpy and need lots of feeding (I think we just had one - had a couple of days/nights of constant feeding!).

On the nappy front, I agree with Trouble that prefolds and wraps are great. I have Flips too (which I bought when DS was 9 months for a month-long holiday visiting overseas family) and they're good, but I think the motherease and bummis wraps are better. But the prefold/wrap combo is totally bomb proof - no leaks at all. With DS, we used disposables for the first 5 or 6 weeks while I recovered from the EMCS (had loads of leaks) and then switched to Bumgenius all-in-ones, which were grand but still a bit leaky til he was bigger. We bought the prefolds this time as they're cheaper than buying more BG and I was a bit skeptical but I love them! I'm also going to apply for my Real Nappies for London voucher at some point and stock up on more nappies then.

I also use washable wipes for both DC, so much nicer than disposable ones (though we do use disposable wipes on DS when out and about). Also use washable breast pads.

It's such a shame when BFing doesn't work out. I struggled so much with DS then I can totally see why women would pack it in but I'm really glad I persevered with it as once it's easy it's so easy...and have had no problems this time around.

Hope all of you and your littlies are doing great. Happy bank holiday to all

[ardenbird]

We found Huggies too big for now - we're saving the bag for when she ges a little bigger. Tesco is what we're using at the moment, although somewhere in the house is a pack of Pampers. Unless they're way better, we'll probably stick with Tesco, for price. We are interestied in reuasables, but not nearly organised enough yet! I can barely keep up with the washing as it is.

Re BF: well, obviously I'm still having problems. Not quite 5 weeks yet, though. I really want to make this work, so I'm determined to persevere. Of my friends who've had kids recently, and I called in tears a few weeks ago, all reported struggles for the first 2-3 weeks, but okay after that. I know my Mum gave up after 3 weeks, but now seeing the extent of my tonge tie, I'm not surprised - back then I'm not sure they knew anything about such things.

Re sleeping: it's gotten a lot better. First few weeks she'd often cry at the end of the day for no discernible reason - nappy changed, no more gas, and too upset to eat - and we'd have to settle her for an hour or more. Now she tends to fall asleep at the breast. It takes a little rocking to keep her asleep - otherwise she wakes, eats for about 1 min and crashes again. We've got a bedside crib, so I often reach out and put my hand on her chest for a while, which seems to help. If I take it away too soon, she starts wiggling. She's also recently gotten better at sucking her own thumb, which seems to calm her.

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Up feeding DS after a lovely 4.5 stretch of sleep! he has very consistently been sleeping for 3 hours at a time recently which is fine but this is a bit of a treat! Fyfe falls asleep whilst he is feeding/in my arms cuddling broody, we're still co sleeping at the moment, I have a bedside cot which will be going up very soon, just need the chance to paint it!
punk this feed was whilst carrying him in my arms as had my wrap sling tied quite high but fed him in the wrap sling whilst on a walk earlier in the week.i still need to practice feeding in the ring sling at home but find it tricky to adjust once on...you tube feeding videos may be needed!
Nice to hear more support for prefolds flip! Sounds like wraps may be down to personal preference as I have a few bummis whispers that i got with ebay prefold lots but rarely use them as have had a few wet patches from them. Never tried motherease. I managed to get my real nappies for London voucher before Fyfe was born whilst we still lived in London and bought a load of next size up prefolds, happily a load more came up on freecycle here (with loads more bummis wraps and some swim wraps) so we're sorted until potty training time (though I assume the flips may need renewing at some stage).
Have any of you been swimming yet? I meant to go way before this stage but haven't got around to it for one reason or another. We'll definitely be going next week though, I've decided! Can't wait to see him, he's doing lots of swimming moves in the bath these days!
Good to hear you're sticking with the bf arden, well done! Have you managed to get hold of a counsellor or someone to help you?

[knitterati]

When you say Flips, do you mean the Bum Genius Flip, or something else? Sorry for the dumb question...

[KikiRC]

Hello all, hope you're having a good weekend. This is a question unrelated to those above, but something we've been pondering- have your babies changed their eye colour, yet? Ivy was born with very dark grey/ blue eyes and we spend an awful amount of time speculating as to whether they'll end up blue like me, or brown like DP. (Or indeed stay as they are). Mine were a much lighter blue when I was a baby, & her cousin who has 2 parents with brown eyes has a similar colour to her at the moment. We don't have any preference at all, it's just something that fascinates us in that probably-dull-as-shit-to-anyone-else kind of way. I think their eyes can change colour at several weeks or months, or in some cases even years. Just wondered if any of you have had this yet?

On a completely different note, I've discovered the series of 'Five Minute With' interviews on the BBC website.. perfect little bites to watch when BFing if you don't want to sit down to a whole programme/ film etc...

Anyway, happy Bank holiday- it's very wet here (South Coast). X

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Yes knitterati, sorry, bumGenius Flip wraps, I got mine here www.babipur.co.uk/shop/p3088/Flip_One_Size_Cover_/_Wrap/product_info.html
kiki, Fyfe had 100% guarantee of blue eyes so we're no help there! Happy bank holiday to you too, may bump in to you tomorrow, if not then see you soon!

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Hi all, how were your bh weekends?
Fyfe has turned a corner with feeding I think, he appears to be much more efficient, we got up at 11.30 () he had a little feed for 5 mins and two more 5 min feeds between 12 and 3 but was awake and content the whole time. Just need to work up to him being able to sleep alone now so I can put him down for a nap and get on with things. not in too much of a hurry though, prefer hugging my son to cleaning

[Punk80]

Well done Fyfe gorgeous pictures by the way trouble and bee
We had a lively weekend we had friends to stay with two children under two plus Orla so pretty noisy but good fun! Orla was really good but think she is going through a spurt have been feeding a lot yesterday and today and she woke up at 2.30am which she hasn't done for weeks. She was also getting really upset but only seemed to settle if she was feeding but then woild come off and start crying again poor thing Meant we had lots of cuddles in bed today to make up for it though
I know trouble it's really nice to have cuddles and keep them close. They're only little. Just wary as my friends who stayed at the weekend are having a nightmare with their 11 month old who is still in their bed it's tough but 7 weeks is still early days for a routine and afraid I can't stick to any kind of routine as enjoying getting out and about!
Btw we are using one life reusable nappies which are working out pretty well doing a wash every 2 or 3 days.
Hope you all had a good weekend x

[broodylicious]

punk - that's what poppy is like occasionally, crying then feeding then breaking off for a scream. It's horrid isn't it? It's trapped wind with her and tends to be ok if we wind her as soon as she starts doing it. Although the other night she was totally inconsolable and so we ended up bathing her at 130am!!

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Nappies look good punk!
Fyfe does what you're describing broody and it is wind with him too. If he's inconsolable though we give him gripe water which sorts it out within a couple of minutes! I eventually managed to get hold of some at a normal price (had been selling for £15 a bottle on eBay as was hard to get hold of!) and have a few extras; if anyone here wants one let me know, they are £2.77 a bottle plus what it costs for the postage!
We took Fyfe swimming for the first time last night, it was brilliant, he loved it! I'd been meaning to go for weeks but hadn't got around to it. We stayed in the pool for just under 15 mins and did a mixture of bouncing and supporting him under his neck on his back do he can kick his legs, we do this in the bath too but it was amazing to see his swimming moves in the pool! I gave him the world's quickest feed in the changing room before getting him dressed and after the 5 min drive home he slept in his car seat for 2 hours which is totally unheard of so I think it wore him out! have any of you been going swimming?

[Punk80]

That's good to know about the gripe water, a friend has given me some so I might try that next time. At this exact moment she is feeding better than last night so fingers crossed. trouble did you use the normal leisure centre pool? I'd love to take Orla swimming just wasn't sure about the heat of the water as our local leisure centre is renowned for being cold. Fyfe sounds like he enjoyed himself!

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Yes punk, normal leisure centre. The actual centre is very hot do the water was a bit of a shock, he cried for a couple of minutes but soon forgot about it once we got moving! It was good that the centre was so hot as great for getting changed but I also prepared so ha his towel by the side of the pool brought a baby grow so easy to dress him, and a big blanket to wrap him up in once dressed.
Glad to hear Orla is feeding better.

[broodylicious]

I really want to take poppy swimming but am quite nervous about it. I'm a v strong swimmer, was school captain, so it's important to me to get her started early. But it's the absolute blind worry of getting out, dry and dressed that is stopping me - although you just made it sound quite easy, Trouble, by getting everything ready for her at the side of the pool so she'd be done before even getting back into the changing rooms. We'll see....

Off to docs for my postnatal check. And maybe her jabs, I can't remember if I booked that for today as well

[ardenbird]

Wow, I'm in awe of the swimming! We just had the first bath without screaming today. It's been hard to find time for baths, as they say don't do it right after feeding, and since she takes 1.5 - 2 hrs to eat, eating every 2 hrs doesn't leave much time between!

I'm also in awe of the 5 minute feed... We're just constantly loosing the latch and starting over and spend so much time not eating. It's really frustrating. I've now got a GP appt Thu of next week and an orthodontist that Fri to look at her, but I still don't know if either of them have any idea about lip-tie or posterior tongue-tie. I'm not sure what to do - I'm wondering if it is worth it to explore private options. I'm pretty sure the lip-tie is real, and it will be really annoying to wait 1.5 weeks to just get blown off again, and struggling with feeding the whole while. I feel like things have actually gotten worse - she really doesn't like holding a good latch and slips to what I call a 'medium' one, then eats vigourosly. I've been letting her go some as she just gets really upset if I stop the eating and won't relatch for 15-20 minutes; but I'm also getting more sore and so am pulling her off more often when she slows down. Thus, the long feedings!

Or - are such long feeds normal? It just feels like we're spending much more time trying to get a latch than actually eating, but maybe this is typical of 5 weeks still?

Re eyes: DD also has grey-blue eyes. I've got blue and DH has hazel, so we expect either I guess. I don't know hazel works with genetics! I feel like they've gotten a bit darker blue over the last weeks, but it could be my imagination.

[KikiRC]

Do you think she finds a good latch uncomfortable, Arden? My MW told me if Ivy didn't have a good latch to take her off straight away & start again, but it sounds like you have already tried that. A bad latch can make you so sore though- I do empathise- when my milk didn't come through at the beginning there was a problem with the latch, too, and it was very painful.. I hope you manage to sort it soon- have you exhausted all available help through MWs & HVs? I think that problems related to feeding you do need to be a bit pushy- I can imagine a whole week sounds like a lifetime away. Could you speak to a GP on the phone before then?

When I had the problems with Ivy's feeding early on I spoke to a number of MWs etc on the phone who all said they thought it would be fine, & when she was eventually seen she was really quite poorly & the doctors were furious I hadn't been told to bring her in sooner. I know your situation is different, but it did teach me that you sometimes have to be a bit more forceful.

I'm BFing & topping up with formula & do find them both completely different- it's almost like the breast milk contains a drug that knocks Ivy out after a few minutes. She does the dozing off at the breast thing, then wants a bit more a few minutes later and it all takes much longer than the bottle.

Really hope you get some good advice & help soon. X

[ardenbird]

Yss, that's my best guess kiki. She seems to be getting less patient, too. She used to take the first let-down in the 'good' latch, but now barely stays there 10-15 seconds before blowing air out or wiggling around to get to the 'medium' latch. It's also hard for me to tell, as even the good latch doesn't feel great, which is part of what makes me wonder if she has some posterior tongue-tie issues. I've been letting her eat unless it gets to be hurting too much, then wait for a break and take her off. I remember way back in the first weeks, they said it would be easier when her mouth was bigger because she could get more breast in it, but I'm wondering if now that her mouth is larger, she doesn't have to gape as wide to make the milk come down, so doesn't bother.

And I remember your first weeks -- that was scary!

I've talked to the GP on the phone, and I don't think she knew much, but she might be willing to look at the papers I bring in from Dr Kotlow's site. But that was the soonest possible appointment. And she said referrals to consultants could take 'weeks'. I don't want to wait weeks! It was the HV who gave me the orthodontists' number, and so I made the soonest appointment with him too. I hope the GP isn't annoyed that I'm following two paths, but I'm not sure the ortho will know things, so don't want to cancel the GP appointment, as at least she is reasonably open. (She helped me get off-license medication for my heart, for example -- oh, BTW, that didn't cause any problems during labour other than my HR was nearly the same as DD's, so they had to have a trace on me to make sure they were measuring her and not me :) )

At least DD is eating, and gaining weight. She's tracking the 25th centile now, after starting out on 75+, but as long as she's following a line the HV is happy.

[TroubleAndFyfe]

How did it go at the GP broody? Do you have any family changing rooms at your pool? DH, Fyfe and I were all in one so I only had his towel by the side of the pool, he brought the clothes from the locker whilst I fed Fyfe etc. would make the first time much less daunting? We've decided to go every Tuesday night so that DH can be a part of it rather than me going in the day, we'll start taking it in turns going in the pool though as was £8.60 for the three of us for 13 mins in the pool wouldn't want to pay that every week!
Think we may have just been having an easy few days as Fyfe is back to feeding lots this evening, has barely stopped since we got home at 5.
arden great you have appointments booked, see as many people as you can! I know exactly what you mean with the medium latch, Fyfe does that too, luckily for me it got much more comfortable as his mouth got bigger, can't remember when that was though! It does sound like there's something more to it for you. You should be immensely proud of yourself for persevering through all the pain, I really hope you get help and answers soon! Agree with kiki re being as pushy as needed! long feeds are definitely normal but not spending most of them latching.

[KikiRC]

Ooh, Trouble before I forget- there's a special 'Disco hour' in the pool at Summerfields on Saturday afternoons that's apparently £1 per person all over the summer from now. Don't know if that includes the baby pool, too.

Arden- sorry, I can't remember if you have said already if you've thought about or tried expressing? Might this give you a bit of a break if you did it for a couple of feeds a day? I've not had any trouble with Ivy BFing & using the bottle in tandem- I've used the special little teats. It might just quicken things up a bit and make things less sore for you? x

[TroubleAndFyfe]

Sounds good kiki, I'll look it up! Which teats do you use? I bought Fyfe a dippy cup today on HV advice so will see if it's any more successful next week or so.

[KikiRC]

I still have the teats I was given at hospital- they don't have a name on them, so I'm not sure, but the 'nipple' end is slightly tilted and they're quite small. They came in little sterile packs- I only have three (I hadn't realised at first that at the hospital they're not allowed to reuse them, so they threw loads away- what a waste!) But I've been sterilising them and using them daily since then, and they're still fine... They also fit on other bottles (the hospital bottles are only 100ml..)