September 2012 babies - warmest welcome!

[Macaroons]

Here's the new thread for September babies fresh from the oven!

I'm a first time mum and I'm struggling with breast feeding at the moment, my 6-day old DS always seems to be hungry (a feed every 2-3 hours, each lasting roughly an hour), and when he's hungry he's very aggressive towards my nipple it really hurts! Any tips out there? And how often do you feed your baby and for how long? how do you teach your baby to be gentle on the nipples?

Good luck to those still waiting for their babies to come out! Will be watching out for more baby news!

Hi macaroons I'm a first time mum too but I think every 2/3 hours is normal for newborns unfortunately! My DS is coming up for 3 weeks and feeding every 3 hours still although sometimes will go longer.
Not sure how you teach nipple manners either but we could do with some here too!
Hopefully someone who's done it all before can offer a bit more advice.
X

Hi ladies. I'm still waiting for my baby to arrive (2 days overdue) but have bf experience from 2yo DS. It took me a good couple of weeks to get the hang of feeding and was only when I got the position of baby right that it all became so easy.
I was taught all the usual positions like lying him on a pillow in front of me and the rugby hold etc.
It was only when a midwife said to stop sitting up so straight and relax into the sofa and let baby sit more upright that it started working properly.
So I would hold him with the arm on the side he was feeding and let his body rest between my legs. So he was kind of upright.
Anyway, once I had our perfect position it stopped hurting and he fed brilliantly.

Hope everyone is ok, now please excuse me while I go and strangle my neighbours for constantly coughing all frigging night for the last two weeks. My goodness, I hate stupid thin cardboard walls. Grrrr.

So good news people. My baby boy arrived tonight at 10.03 pm weighing 7lb 7oz and he's gorgeous. I think we are calling him Herbie Edward but not 100% sure.

Went in yesterday morning 6am to be induced, had pessary at 7ish, had a sweep about 2pm and another pessary last night at 8.20 pm, didn't sleep great but managed a few hours. Was told I'd have my waters broken today and drip but they were busy with c-sections so wasn't told when. Had waters broken at 12.40 and had few pains, Sri started an hour later, no gas and air at this point. I managed to 3.30 before looking g&a, pains got worse and requested diamorphine about 4.15pm, when mw went to get doc to sign it off things got crazy contractions got worse and ended up calling mw back they thought I was fully dialated at this point but was 4-5 cms, doctor came in and they had to turn drip off and doctor preformed some procedure where they take blood from baby's scalp to make sure they okay. Everything came back normal.
I then got my diamorphine after 5 when they seen everything was okay. Things progressed along was in and out of bed whilst being monitored, was told about 9ish I was fully dialated and needed to push. Started by sitting up but then ended up lying down, then baby was pen at 10.03 pm, kicking me in the way out very strange feeling.

He's now out for the count lying on me cause he refuses to lie in own bed. Managed to be induced and everything without an epidural which I'm so happy about. He's gorgeous but heavy

Just so happy but I am exhausted and need my sleep :(

Congratulations Rachel!

Woke at 2am this morning with period type pains every 20 mins or so and was thinking 'this is it' but I managed to get to sleep at 5am and this morning there's nothing. Hmmmm, hoped I might have a baby by now!

Morning ladies, nice shiny new thread here!

DD feeds in a weird pattern - feeds almost constantly for 2 - 3 hours then conks out for what seems like a random amount of time. She's a little dim when she's hungry, latches on then flails her fists around and punches so hard she falls off the boob and cries. I think there might be a market for baby straitjackets.

We had a panic in the week when the midwife decided DD had lost too much weight and sent us to A & E at the children's hospital but she was fine on their scales and the paeds ran blood tests etc so she is 'offically' fine. I'll be happier when she chubs out a little more though - she's still so tiny (6lb 9 at birth). She's definitely getting enough milk though judging by the nappies, and it's great for weight loss too - I've been back in pre pregnancy jeans and now need new clothes as I'm now 1 st 2lb lighter than I was when I got knocked up. Always nice to have an excuse to eat chocolate muffins for breakfast though!

We finally have a name here (only took 5 days) - the catalyst was finding ourselves calling DD by the cats name through sleep deprivation! So she is Kerenza Astrid Patricia, Kezia for short.

Oops - mammoth post, sorry

hi all, just a quickie as got a bit of spare time for once, as DS1 is at swimming with his Dad, and DS2 currently fast asleep in his crib.

Re feeding, every 2-3 hours is normal. I feed on demand, and DS had tongue tie so was feeding more frequently. It has been snipped now and he seems to be going around 3 1/2 hours between feeds. I'm a believer in not waking a baby to follow a feeding routine, i just feed him when he chooses to wake. Re breastfeeding hurting nipples, the best thing i can recommend is to apply lansinoh to your nipples after every single feed, and remember to apply it to them both each day after you shower. It really helps. I also found with DS1 that as he grew and his mouth got bigger, the breastfeeding became a lot easier and the pain disappeared altogether, i only stopped breastfeeding him completely at around 15 months because i was a couple of months pregnant with DS2 and it was getting very uncomfortable to feed him.

Had DS2 weighed on day 9, and he's put on 7 oz on top of his birthweight, midwives very pleased, especially given that he was tongue tied until it was snipped on the evening of day 8, so we've been discharged from their care and are now under the care of the health visitors, with first visit next Friday. DP can't wait to find out how tall DS2 is, i'm confident he will be tall like his brother (and like his Dad :) )

Wound is healing ok from CS, still covered in bruises from the forceps, but i'm getting a lot of lower back pain which i never had with first CS. Anyone else having back pain? Thankfully DS2 is very happy to sleep in his crib day and night, so i'm not having to sit with him on me for hours on end like i did with DS1, i think i'd be crippled if i had to do that this time round!

Trying to just survive on ibuprofen from today, as having difficulty swallowing paracetamol quickly enough before the nasty flavour happens, and have been suffering with constipation from the codeine tablets. Hoping that this isn't a stupid idea, what pain relief are other CS people taking now? (i'm on day 10 if your hospitals also start on day 0 being the day of the CS).

Thanks for the new thread macaroons!

Lots of contractions here (41+1) and hoping this is it! Just slowed down a bit tho but hopefully that is normal. Have had a show so must be for real! Hopefully be back soon on the other side! X

Ps. What did u all eat when in labour? I need to keep my blood sugar up (but not on sugar/sweets/junk). Any advice?

Thali - to start with I had Dextrose Energy tablets and lots and lotsof water. Couldn't face anything later on although DH found the rest of the tablets helped him!

Congratulations rachel!!
loopy I am 3 weeks post CS and have had no pain relief at all for this last week. It gets loads better once you get over that 2 week hurdle. I got awful constipation too from the codeine- nasty stuff. Did they give you some lactulose?
thali sorry can't help with what to eat. I was induced at 36+6 and think they were wary that I might need a CS so they wouldn't let me eat a thing :-(

I think DS is having some form of growth spurt as his feeding has gone up- is that normal for 3 weeks? Also he has terrible wind, any tips on helping him with it? His little face screws up like he's in lots of pain.

thali sorry can't help you either. As I was induced they fast you during incase you need a cs, so I had no food either,

I'm shattered today, got very little sleep last night :( couldn't stop staring at the wee man :) I'm very achy all over today.. But is def worth it. :)

Having trouble feeding my wee man, he's full of my as and therefore won't drink milk, so I try my best then mw takes over and he drinks for her. Am just glad he's getting summit.

Anyone any advice re clots after a vb?

Congrats to all the new mums. I'm a week post cs and now only taking paracetamol because as much as the codine was helpful, I think it was keeping me awake and I wasn't able to sleep in those precious hours between feeds. I am having back ache to especially if it's getting near time for pain killers. My scar is healing really well, so much better than before. Dd is struggling to adjust to the new baby and is relentless in her fight for my attention but as I feel stronger each day, I am able to begin to play with her the way I did before and that's helping. Its hard though as I don't feel I can cuddle the baby too much in the day and end up awake with him too long in the night for cuddles.
Good luck to those of you still waiting to deliver.

Hi. Just had 4 hours sleep, most I've had in days, yippee! (Still need at least another 5 days though. Lol! )
macaroons I'm in agony breastfeeding, nipples r cracked and bleeding, milk has come in and cannot believe the size of them, so painful! She's got no pattern to feeds (is only day 4) but last night fed constantly between 6pm and 1.30am, between 11and 1.30 it was only 2 mins a time but then cried when went down and only thing to stop her was feeding. but then has just gone 4 hours. Hoping things settle down soon. X

moogs - much sympathy about the cracked nipples, I had them last time so I know how painful they are. Watch out for signs of mastitis. Have you had a mw or someone check out your latch etc? Didn't help me as my prob was a very vigorously sucking baby and my fair skin, but worth checking out. Hope it improves soon. I found calendula cream the only thing that got them healing last time, but you have to wash it off before breastfeeding (I'd switched to formula by them for a number of reasons so it wasn't a problem for me).

smallgreenone - regarding wind, have you tried Infacol? It's great at getting burps up. Winding can take ages, try to keep him upright as much as you can after a feed until he's done some really good burps.

HI ladies! Thanks Macaroons for setting up this thread. It will be lovely to stay in touch and share tips/ stories as we go along our journey. Well, it has been our first week at home and it is proving very hard work with a newborn and a very stroppy 2 year old. Oliver is 10 days old and is a proper booby monster. I forgot how exhausting BFing, particularly when he sleeps wonderfully between feeds during the day, but only in the bed at nightime. He feeds, he falls asleep, I put him in the cot, he complains, I pick him up etc etc. Thomas was exactly the same and i never was able to crack that nut, so any hints and tips gratefully received. Thomas seems to sleep through the hulabaloo at night, so that's one good thing. Even my partner seems to be able to sleep through it, so it is just me propping my eyes open with matchsticks!

Don't know about you ladies, but I'm looking forward to making some non- maternity clothing purchases. Particularly now that we are approaching Autumn, and it is my favourite season of the year. I have been doing lots of window shopping on the internet whilst BFing.

Thomas seems to have accepted Oliver, but I guess Oliver isn't interfering with his toys at the moment. It will probably be a lot different once Oliver is mobile. s suplph

I have eased up on the painkillers after my CS (and thank goodness that I have stopped the Clexane injection, as they were really not nice). They didn't seem too bad in the beginning... I'm on ferrous sulphate for low Hb, so i had to buy some prune juice today due to very painful toliet visits (apologies for TMI). I overexerted myself at the supermarket today, but trying to maneouvre a heavy trolley and felt my abdomen pull a little. I need to ease up, as I start feeling ok and think that I can go back to lifting and shifting as normal.

Hope you are all enjoying your newborns and sorry for the long post. Just wanted to check in and update.

Shoeprincess, I totally know where you are coming from. Euan feeds and sleeps perfectly all day and just as I'm ready to sleep he starts fussing. He doesn't cry too much but just sleeps more soundly in the day than the night, it's v annoying.

Thanks madmonkeys I now have a bottle of infacol so hopefully we'll see some results soon.......
Know what you mean about clothes shopping shoeprincess I have bought some clothes already! To be honest I bought some in the summer sales to wear next summer when I should be totally normal
sized again. Breast feeding is a bit limiting with tips you can wear though isn't it- need easy access at all times! And none of my normal tops fit anyway as boobs are massive! I can fit back into one pair of jeans though so am pleased about that, still got about a stone to shift though. Desperate to have the all clear from the doctor after CS so I can get back to doing some excercise.
X

Also I'm glad other people's babies have day and night mixed up too- makes me feel less alone in the wee small hours with a wide awake baby!

Thank goodness for Five Live. It keeps me sane during those lonely wee small hours. Smallgreenone- my jeans fit now too, but tops are too tight across the boobage area. leeteloo- it is very annoying, isn't it? Visitors say "oh, what a perfect little baby. Fast asleep". Yes, I shall remind you of that at 2.30am!!!

Hi ladies, have been in labour for 43 hours!! Contractions can be pretty intense but won't settle into a regular pattern! Have varied from 10mins apart to 2 mins but then go back to 5 or 6!! Hospital are adamant it's too early (I phoned them at 4 mins apart and 2 mins apart) and I suppose they were right as it tails off, quite often a lull during the day. I think my body prefers labouring at night! Got very demoralised last might, losing stamina and panicking about how I will cope with next stage! Went to hosp early this morning for a check. Baby was fine but I was only 2 cm dilated!!!!! V disappointing but helps to kno how things stand. It is preferable to be at home, more comfortable and much better for DH (who is being amazing and waiting on me hand and foot)

Today a real drop off in contractions so have taken the chance to get some rest and some sleep, in between the odd contraction!!

Dreading the rest of it but hoping will somehow get thru! Hope something will finally develop tonight.

You're all having your own issues and crises with sleep and BF but thanks for reading! In time we'll all be doing just fine!! Xx

Gosh thali 43 hours! That is a marathon! Hope you get your little one in your arms soon.
Yes to radio 5 as company for this time of night! Although I am very happy tonight Rafe has been asleep since 9 and I went to bed when he did so I've had 5 hours sleep and feel fabulous! Just got to catch up with downtown abbey tomorrow though!

Do you think the babies had a chat amongst themselves last night? Oliver slept from 10om-1am and then another couple of hours later on, so I'm feeling more human today as well! I'm just worrying about his weight gain- we are BFing, but I don't think we ever get to the hindmilk. I keep putting him on the same boob to try and get there, but I'm dreading the midwife visit today in case he hasn't put on enough weight. He has definitely had a growth spurt as he is longer than when he was born, but isn't chunking out. I know that breast fed babies tend to be leaner than formula fed ones- maybe I need to stop worrying...That's the other thing about having newborns- you become a slave to those blooming red books and their weight charts

i am so of all these lovely babies!
I am 41+1 today, and getting really fed up! I know it's going to be soon, but i just feel in limbo!
Seeing mw tomorrow for sweep number 2, after one last week which she said was favourable and I was 1-2cm then, so what the heck is going on?

Hope everyone else is ok.
thali Hope you have your baby by now! x

Hola here you all are! Not much longer now flip hang in there! Congratulations to all the new Mamas and breast feeders hang in there - these first few weeks are brutal, it took us 6 weeks to crack it - then it was the easiest thing in the world.

9 days til due date - I'm going to be the last one to pop aren't I?