October 2012 babies - we meet them at last!

[YompingJo]

Getting thread in place in readiness!

Help! 11 day old DD2 has a cold! I feel so bad as I've been so careful about picking up DD1's germs. She's coughing and sneezing and had a watery eye. I don't know what to do for such a little one, except bathe the eye in cooled boiled water and ensure she's feeding regularly?

Lizzie breast milk in the eye will work wonders. Kids olbas oil , and elevated mattress at one end. DD1 had a sinker just a few days old and they all helped. And keep an eye on temperature. Nurse Midge

Finally got a chance to get on here, so nice to hear everyone's news!

We're 6 days in and am loving it. Amelie is pretty chilled, just working on the latch. Last night was a bit tough, she was feeding every hour or so, then at 5 she was hungry but would suck a few times and then fall asleep. If you put her down she would cry again. This went on till 6.30 when she finally fed. Really hope it's not the same tonight.

Will namecheck next time but just wanted to say hi!

Hi honey lovely to have you here and congratulations on your baby, hope not in scbu for too long. How are you feeling?
Ok day for us so far today, went out into town today with baby in sling and dd1 on my own - very exciting. Baby slept all the time and dd1 behaved beautifully - a success! Am finding that baby still sleeps pretty much all the time if she idnt feeding - she's 3 weeks now... Are others still finding this? Tried to wake her up earlier as I wondered if that was why she wasn't settling at night but she just screamed and fed until finally going back to sleep.

Hi honey congratulations and you are very welcome! I hope your baby comes out of scbu soon, it must be a tough time for you at the moment.

shell glad you've got a chilled one! Hope tonight is better.

squid how frustrating to have help and not feel able to use it! Poor you, hope you manage to get some relaxation in.

midget hope master m gets his days and nights sorted soon!

We've had babypaving asleep all afternoon, which is very uncharacteristic at the mo, but he woke up about 45mins ago and the narkathon has commenced. We also have a poorly DS1 who was up in the night several times - only when DS2 was sleeping, natch, and was unable to nap today because he's so bunged up and coughing so much. So 2 overtired wailing children currently. It's fecking fab here. Absolutely DREADING tonight, was up every hour last night and fear tonight may be worse. DS1 exhausted and unable to sleep, crying as I type....better go....

Thanks midget and smiley. Certainly was a shock him coming so early. He's doing well considering everything but I'd on phototherapy today for jaundice. Will be in scbu at least a couple of weeks. Have managed to express for him for everything he's had so far bit it's only day 3 and my boobs are now really sore! He had a bit of a nuzzle and tried to suck earlier but hadn't got the reflex quite sorted yet!

That's impressive honey! My DC1 had to be tube fed but no way I could have kept up with what she needed. Power to the boobs!

Thinking of you Crazy, hope last night wasn't too bad. It will get better, and when it does it'll feel all the more better [terrible English emoticon], for being so bad now. IYSWIM? I think you're amazing, doing this with a toddler too

Welcome honey congratulations and hope your little one gets out of scbu soon.

crazy hope last night was a bit better?

Thanks so much for your support yesterday. I felt like such s loser having a meltdown on only day 3 when things really aren't that bad. Think it coincided with my milk coming in so maybe that's why. Anyway, have had much better night thanks to a magical magical dummy and some swaddling. Think I was also feeling a bit homesick for the uk and nervous of going home when I've been so well looked after here. They really have been amazing. Should be going home today... Deep breath! The responsibility is a bit overwhelming sometimes isn't it?

crazy hope you got a better night than you were anticipating?

Smorgs day 3 is over, well done on surviving it.

Hope you had a good night Crazy. She latched on loads better last night. Was just saying to DP 'That was a good night' and then realised I never thought waking every 2 hours and being awake for an hour would be a good night!

How did everyone cope with clocks going back?

Smorgs glad you're feeling better. I found getting home much nicer, all your things are there and you feel more in control.

Cherry how long do you have to stay in.

Honey you sound like you're doing a brilliant job.

Hi all, I hope you're doing well and I look forward to catching up with all your news. A gorgeous babyLondon arrived on Friday 26th, her due date, at 11.15pm. The labour was more than 3 days and has left me feeling traumatised, but before I deal with that I have more pressing matters. She STILL won't feed. She just shows absolutely no interest. She'll suckle her fingers, my husband's nipples... anything except my nipples. I've expressed some colostrum and given her that in a bottle, but I'm offering the breast every couple of hours and nothing. Have tried after expressing when my nips are huge and also with a nipple shield. Still no.
Does anyone have any ideas? I don't want to give up but I'm just feeling like such a failure already.
Sorry for the distressed post- she is absolutely beautiful, and we're totally in love with her. I just desperately want her to feed.

londonmrss How frustrating - it's awful when people say they'll feed instinctively but they don't. Newborns' moods and behaviour change so fast, though - don't give up yet! This link www.llli.org/faq/back.html has some good advice and generally I think the best approach would be to hold baby close almost all the time with as much skin-to-skin contact as possible - not just trying every couple of hours. It's a bit limiting but it sounds as though you need a rest after that long labour. [hug]

Hi London and congrats on your little lady. I cannot give u any practical advice, my feeding probs r totally opposite. But u do need help. Hav you a midwife contact u can call? Or one of the national helplines? NCT or similar? I know there's lots of helplines, think all I hav are for NI but I can look for you. Hav u tried a syringe of expressed stuff?? We had one top up of 100ml formula via syringe when I was so poorly. He took well.

Wel done expressing btw, I'm unable to this far

Xx

www.breastfeedingbasics.com/articles/sore-nipples

Just found this article which is very reassuring for sore nipples!!!!

Lizzietow Poor thing with a cold. My DD had one at about two weeks and we took her to A&E because she was so little. But she was fine. As well as suggestions below you can buy a device in pharmacies that sucks out snot from a baby's blocked nose. It really helps if they can't feed because the nose is too stuffed up. Good luck. x

Hi All, been very absent

LondonMrss I completely sympathise & also interested if anyone has advice for you. Baby Loopy was a touch jaundiced & my milk wasn?t in on day 4 so I had to use formula to avoid him getting dehydrated & back in hospital. Then when my milk came in, he got stressed out at the breast and I couldn?t find any advice anywhere on how best to breastfeed baby ? not just latch, position etc but the situation itself. It?s all very well advising you change your baby?s nappy pre-feed but then they are so stressed out, they won?t eat anything. Which then makes the bottle an ?easy? solution. So now I feel a failure for relying on the easier solution, not what actually is best for Baby Loopy

Anyway, in addition to LondonMrss question, has anyone got any thoughts on re-establishing my breast milk supply?

Apologies for not name-checking or looking back on what?s been happening with everyone else. But congrats to LondonMrss, CherryChopsticks, Kyrria and anyone else who?s had their wee bubs!!

Londonmrs are you covered by Tower Hamlets? They have a good breastfeeding counselling service where someone comes to your home to help. Or I would call the MW to come and check on you.

Agree with skin to skin, maybe squeeze some colustrum on your nipple so she can smell and taste it, might get some interest.

Sorry it's all been so stressful for you. Think they do a breastfeeding drop in at the Barkantine on a Sunday so could also give them a call.

Oh and Loopy I had same problem when milk came in. They suggested expressing out some milk for about a minute beforehand to release pressure and soften up nipples and also try different bf positions to release the milk.

Congratulations new mummies, cherry and honey, hope your baby can come home fairly soon. Is he tiny?

London My DS was too sleepy to feed when he was first born, so I expressed and a midwife fed him with a syringe. That woke him and got him interested. Are you still in hospital?

smorgs everyone has a meltdown on day 3! Bloody hormones. I cried on day 3 because DH had moved the paracetamol.

We tried a different bottle today but she still refused. It makes her really upset for hours after, I feel so guilty.

DS's behaviour has become more and more challenging since DD was born. We went for a lovely walk and to feed the ducks but he made it so stressful. Its half term, just to top it off.

Congrats to the new mummies! I'm afraid no advice on BF, completely sympathise thou. My health visitor came this week and said she gets cross that women get told it's all easy and natural and doesn't hurt when in reality it can be very difficult to get going and your nipples do need to toughen up so are likely to be sore at first but will get better and once it is established is much easier than bottles, esp at night.
Have started expressing a bit but only able to get 1-2 oz with my hand pump so my friend is sending me her electric one. However last couple of days have got DH to give her that little bit in the evenings so gives me confidence that she will take a bottle.
Things generally going well but still find I am teary most days. My FIL is 60 on 22nd Dec and wants a family meal in Croyden - a 5 hour car drive for us (I should point out that he actually lives in Birmingham which is only an hour and a half from us) The thought of the journey and staying in a hotel with an 11 week old fills me with dread. Any of you second timers done anything like this? Any tips? I know they're only supposed to have a couple of hours at a time in a car seat but how much of a break do they need before going back in it? I think I might go mad overthinking this if not careful!
On a more positive note DD has settled at midnight last two nights so hoping clock change will mean sleep from 11 tonight, fingers crossed

welcome new mums and babies.

Sympathies for the breastfeeding problems... I am having the opposite problem and have been continually painfully engorged all weekend. This has really taken me aback after 4 weeks of fairly easy breastfeeding... I think I am going to go to the breastfeeding drop in session tomorrow and see if they have any advice. Am currently having to express 3-4 times a day just to not be in pain, have been having twice daily baths and ibuprofen. At least the fridge is stocked...

Weekedn with my parents was really really lovely once I got it through my head I wasn't going to be able to take a break from breastfeeding. So I haven't had more than 2 hrs sleep in a row and the breasts have been painful but I feel so rested and relaxed. I've spent quality time with the boyfriend, nearly had sex, been out for walks and coffee with boyfriend (on our own), had plenty of time away from baby just relaxing in my room, my mum took baby for the majority of both nights just waking me for feeds, went for lovely lunch in a restaurant today (all of us)... lovely stuff like that. Had my first post-pregnancy pint, me and boyfriend drove to a pub in the peak district that made me ache to start hiking again... a pint is now far too much for me and I was very foolish and tipsy afterwards.

Am madly in love with adorable Jess again, so it was obviously helpful and healthy to have a little break from her. She is 4 weeks old today!!

Went swimming this week and it was fine (lovely in fact) - think I'm going to pick up exercise again properly in the next week or two. We'll see. Maybe I'm overly ambitious.

Have bought tickets for a Pulp gig in December, mum says she'll babysit :) :) :)

baby squid - 4 weeks today
The miracle sling - fuck it, I'm going to buy it

Squid she's adorable!

I think so too but I'm biased