Postgraduate brookers - Brooking No Argument for happy, healthy and sleeping DCs..

[musicalmrs]

New thread time!

13 weeks now Ninja Sounds like your DD's doing well. Hope the sore nips get better soon.

Anyone else watching Tom Daley? So exciting!

Nuts. Just had the HV on the phone - the jabs were supposed to be this morning. Oops. New appt for Monday.

purple DN was born with his skull plates already fused. He needed 1 planned and 1 emergency op to try and correct it and is still being closely monitored as they are fusing again too early.
Re cc, Hv suggested I put d down and turn the radio up so I couldn't hear him crying! Needless to say, I ignored her!
Thanks for owl links I will go and browse now:)

So sorry to hear about family bereavements, Wants and Hawthers, and I'm sorry about your nephew, Wants. Also :( for A's reflux and Dream's DD, but glad she's improving.

Glad to hear about good sleeping and even some sausage-hiding!

I am also broody and would love another child. I'm hoping if I mention it often enough DH will come round to the idea. Now that DS is laughing away with him, I think he's starting to love him almost as much as I do!

Scream I know nothing about SPD but surely there would be some government help if you were unable to work - disability living allowance or something? Or some help with the older child? It seems so unfair that you would like a second child but the financial implications of needing a nanny due to SPD would make it impossible. Or could A be at nursery during the day (though obviously that's expensive) and you could manage with DH's help in the evening and at weekends?

I'm a bit :( because bfing doesn't seem to be going well. I've been offering DS both sides for a week and he's been fussing and crying during feeds, though I know there's milk there because it squirts out if I squeeze the nipple. So that's been worrying. The HV said to express during the day and use it to top up in the evening, so I tried that yesterday. I expressed straight after a feed (and only got 0.5oz from each breast) and DH gave it to DS before bed VHS glutted it down even though he'd not fed properly from me before. Anyway, this morning I expressed from one side, having fed from the other, and only got 2oz. Then DS woke up and I tried to feed him from both sides but he was crying so I ended up giving him the bottle of expressed milk straight away. Then he cried again so we gave him some formula and he drank 3oz! So it doesn't look like he's getting enough from me. :( It looks like I'll have to introduce a formula feed in the evening and maybe another one during the day. And from what I've read, that spells the end for bfing. I thought I'd be ok with it as I just want to do what's best for DS, but the more I think about it the more sad and guilty I feel - like something I've done has affected my supply, or my body has let me down.

Right. I know I need to snap out of it. Sorry for the mememe but I needed to vent to someone...

On the plus side, if DS has a big ff before bed, maybe he'll then sleep through?

Btw I enjoyed the opening ceremony far more than I expected to, but I fell asleep before the athletes' procession. :)

VHS glutted? That should be DS glugged !

Ninja and Scarlet I'm sending sympathy re the bfing and weight issues.

Ninja great news about the house purchase.

Never mind about the jabs, Too - I'm sure they're used to sleep-deprived parents getting confused!

Pet topping up with formula doesn't have to spell the end of BFing. It's all about the timing. Just make sure you offer the formula at the end of a BF rather than instead of. That way if you want to still do both your supply is maintained. I've been topping DD up with formula for the last 7 weeks and my milk is still there. I have replaced her last feed of the day (around 9pmish) with a 6oz bottle which sees her through til morning. Then she usually will have one top up in the day of about 3oz usually around miday. I'm not encouraging you to do the same, just wanted to point out that it can work if you keep up the BFing at the same time.

Ninja you've really had such a difficult time of it! Sending lots of hugs your way. I hope you're incredibly proud of yourself for coming through so much, well done! I'm glad your DD is happy and healthy, even if you'd like her to be putting on weight a bit faster. Fingers crossed all the hard stuff is behind you now, and without illness slowing you down your DD will start to pile on the ounces!

Hooray for the new house!! So exciting! Our valuations went well, the house appears to be worth far more than I would pay to rent it! DH is balking at all the stress of renting for a year before we buy somewhere new though, so we might go straight into buying/selling without renting first. I don't mind either way, I just want to have enough space to let DD play!

Pet sorry to hear you're having feeding dilemmas. I'm confident whatever you decide will be what's best for your DS. How wonderful that he's laughing with your DH. In the not too distant future all of this stress will be forgotten and he'll be munching the same food as you!

at Too missing the jabs appointment - that is such a me thing to do!

A very dear friend of mine had an elcs this afternoon for her DS2, following a horrendous attempted vb ending in a disastrous emcs with her DS1. Unfortunately she lost huge amounts of blood again this time, even though it was planned, and she's back in the HDU same as last time awaiting another blood transfusion. :( I feel so bad for her, I wish I could help in some way! Fortunately she has family staying with her specifically to look after her DS1 and help her to recover, so I know she'll be well looked after. I was just so hoping this op would go smoothly for her, she had such a hard time with DS1. Her DS2 is healthy and a good weight though, so it was all worth it I'm sure. She's not intending to have any more so at least she won't go through this again!

Just guessing here, Pet, but if you seem to have plenty of milk could there be an issue with DS's latch? Tongue tie? Purple, any ideas? You've tried your very hardest, so even if mixed feeding is the way to go now, don't beat yourself up about it. It's not your fault!

Brooking for all these babies to grow and pile on the ounces!

Expressing isn't a measure of how much milk you're making by the way pet - especially at this stage of established supply.

A still pants but she seems to love her food. have very high hopes for dietician app at hospital on weds hope i'm not disappointed!

Pomme, hope the appt goes well. Will the dietician look at things like allergies/intolerances?

pet I am unable to express anything but I leak a lot. I felt the same as you about formula but I have been mixed feeding for a couple of weeks now and DS is thriving and my supply is not affected. It is also nice for DH to be involved in the feeding, he loves spending that time with DS while I get on with having a bubble bath housework:)

pet, don't panic. If I express straight after a feed that's all I'd get, an oz if i was lucky. If i express between feeds I'd get maximum 5 oz from a boob. Bear in mind I'm feeding two so literally do have double the milk supplies so I'd assume getting 2oz would be plenty! Plus I couldn't express anything with DD. Not a drop, yet ebf no problem. I can now as I'm using £280 worth of hospital grade double pump! S and B both went through phases/ growth spurts of 'needing' top ups. After cluster feeding all evening I remember S downing 5, yes 5 oz of ebm. At about 5 weeks old. I was almost turning to formula, as i was panicky about how I'd manage etc but I kept the faith. Then B started having some top ups but now neither does. Just saying, it could pass more quickly than you think, and just feed more. I sometimes feed the babies hourly. Unless they've been asleep its never them who initiates feeding, its always me putting them to the boob (I'm not totally obsessed, but feeding again before we go out etc helps me manage my three littlies out and about & we normally go out morning and afternoon, even if its just Little White Dog and Travellers Pony visiting in the afternoon). So can be hourly feeds, plus every evening i feed at tea time (5-5:30) then bedtime (7-7:30) regardless of whenever else they've been fed. So that's often 4ish, 5 ish, 7 ish. I'll even have them weighed for info on Wednesday :)

Just to clarify, I'm not saying don't mix feed if you want to, but don't assume a few fretful days is hunger from a supply issue. B is still frequently very, very unhappy after feeding. It's reflux, or wind. Not hunger. But if offered more he'll take it, from boob or bottle, but takes it in an unsettled kind of way, jerking arms etc and frantic sucking iykwim? How is his weight gain? Is he mostly content? I'd go from the baby and your gut instinct, not the hv or numbers in a red book, but that's my opinion. I can't believe how stressful hv's can make feeding :-s

Ninja, congratulations on the house! Hope the next steps go as smoothly as they can. How's it looking chain wise? Hope the feeding picks up soon.

Wants, so sorry to hear the news about your nan, and your DN too :(

Pomme, hope the appointment with the dietitian goes well.

Re broodiness, I definitely want another one but can't say I'm truly broody yet! I think I'm too busy worrying about nurseries, money and my career (career mainly because I need to keep maintaining it in order to be in a position to then go back and earn money - if I knew I could potentially not go back now until Iz and a potential further DC were at school, and that when I went back I would have just as much work (if not more) than before Iz, all would be fine - but it's not that simple).

I also probably feed more often than Iz demands it - mainly because if she's unsettled it's often a go-to. She also likes snacking a lot. She can go longer in between feeds if she truly needs to though - went about 4 hours at the weekend without being bothered, but probably because she ate lots before and was entertained by lots of people in the interim. I'm not bothering with worrying about the red book anymore. I might get her weighed for the next couple of weeks, but only because I can get it done at the end of the baby massage session - very convenient!

Need to get back into expressing - found it too painful with the mastitis. Haven't got a supply at all (was using all I expressed for DH to give Iz bottles every few evenings, to get her used to the idea), and want to build up a collection in the freezer just in case. I've found I only really produce a reasonable amount of milk at certain points of the day - like first thing in the morning.

SFF - foolishly allowed DH and I to indulge in it a couple of days in a row and now he's expecting more . Need to point out that I'm a) shattered, and b) have loads I have to do in my very limited time when Iz is in bed and I'm not (often only an hour; bedtime may start around 7/7.30ish but takes a while to get her down).

Bedtime already, and I've only got a couple of things off of the to do list - argh! Will catch up with everyone else properly soon, sorry :(

too- I hope so! We've both been doing a food diary for them. I think they might tell me to stop soya too... All the other milks are so grim!

DD went to bed at 10pm and didn't get up until 6am last night She woke at 2 but DH managed to get her back to sleep after 10 mins.

9 weeks today and we are off to our first class. The Children's Centre has a sensory session so we are going to give that a go. Got her jabs tomorrow and will get her weighed too.

No SFF here but it rarely happened before TTC too as I just can't imagine being able to do that yet. I'm still patting myself dry down there as too scared to wipe even though the stitches are bound to have dissolved by now

Jen - and great sleeping, little N!

Thank you all for you kind words and encouragement. You've restored my confidence in my own body a bit, I think. I will try to go back to mainly single-sided feeding as DS was happy like that, and it should make it easier to express. I'll also do a formula top-up last thing before bed - DH will enjoy that. After all, if DS had never been weighed, I'm sure nobody would have guessed there was a problem, and he'll catch up once he's on solids anyway. So fingers crossed the bfing gets better again now.

I'm seriously considering pumping as despite numerous visits to the bf clinic and a clued up hv too, my boobs are still sore and cracked and leave little bloody marks on my breast pads and are super sore when the painkillers wear off (and I can't take painkillers forever). Any top tips? Its been so long since I expressed for ds I've kind of forgotten. My pump is sterilised and I just need to buy some new bottles/ teats.
You sound like you are in a better place today pet, good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Got a friend coming this afternoon so that should be nice/ total carnage as she has a ds same age as mine and a 20 month old too.
jen excellent sleeping from dd!

hi pet i've mixed fed since early on (hmm can't remember when sorry but def early maybe 8 weeks....) and i haven't had any problems with bf ing associated with this. can't remember when you came on here so not sure if you were there for the faffing on i did with expressing or taking bf boosting drugs but that was all to do with my supply issues following f's meningitis hospital stay. Anyway i had to mix feed but I've bf'd as long as i've wanted to and am starting to wind down the feeds.

Also someone was saying when does a routine come in re feeds - i've only found it really to have been a semi timetabled feeds in the last 6 weeks and f is 7 months old now. Perhaps i didn't notice before but since then its been pretty regularly wake up feed, 10/11, 15/16, 18 and 20.00 then all bets were off overnight

As far as the bickering goes with DHs its been a lot better over here since we started getting some more sleep but we just need one bad night and sniping tends to increase seeing as DH seems to conveniently forget the impact of getting up in the night when he doesn't have to do it...

oh and forgot to say that the consultant seems to think that f has reflux seeing as he vomits all over the place regularly. but it doesn't seem to bother him at all, he is just sick over me a lot. does this sound right? we haven't had any screaming or discomfort. He isn't on any medication as he seems pretty happy. it has got a bit better since he has been sitting up (fingers crossed pomme that a's reflux will get better soon) but yesterday it was vom and poo city here all day

ninja have you thought about hand expressing? might be easier on the nips than pumping. assume you are slathering on the lansinoh? brooking that your boobs are less sore soon. was it musical who had a tough time on the nip front? perhaps she has some top tips?

hawthers ds was a puker. Didn't bother him but puked all the time, got better once he could sit well and weaning was well underway. Hope its the same for F.

Happy chuckers is what they're known as - ie reflux but no pain .

Hawthers you're right, it was me with super sore nipples :( Ninja, I had the same problems as you - cracked, leaving bloody patches on the breast pads (and often getting stuck so I had to separate them - OUCH!), and lots of blood in the milk - proven when Iz threw up and it was all brown, and when I tried to use nipple shields and the things filled with blood :(

I recently heard from the breastfeeding consultant at the group I go to that they have new recommendations for if you have cracked nipples. While they are actively cracked/bleeding, you should apply milk/lanisoh/similar regularly - every hour or so, more if you need - and leave them uncovered. Moist wound healing - because a lot of the pain comes when the scabs and cracks are reopened. Expressing can help relieve some of the pain (I couldn't crack it though). Once the cracks have healed, the tip is then to use breastmilk, rub it in, let them dry and then cover them - then you don't have the problem with the scabs sticking to the breast pads.

Things I did that I think helped:

• Used milk more than cream. The cream didn't seem to help me as much, not sure why - though it could be because I wasn't applying it anywhere near enough. Applying just once after a feed isn't enough apparently - it has to be very regularly.
• Walked around with my boobs out a lot. And spent time like that in the evening. Obviously not in front of company!

I don't know what made it better in the end. It seemed to be a vicious circle for absolutely ages, then it suddenly got a lot better. I think it may just have been luck, and a bit longer in between a couple of feeds here and there, some terrific latching etc. I still have occasional sore bouts, but nowhere near as bad as they were.

Jen, excellent sleep from N! :) Hope the class goes well. I've been taking Iz to classes/groups since she was about 2 weeks old - really enjoy them socially (and now she loves the other babies too!).

:)at happy chuckers! I think I have one of those,I am constantly having to mop up sick. Hooray for muslin squares!
D is on a bit of a feeding spree. Luckily DH has come home early so he is preparing tea.

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