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 Emmie,
I think I've got my 1st period! Really weird, didn't think it would happen so soon. Guess its about right though as Euan was born 4 and half weeks ago and I'm not bf.
I always wanted 3 too and as I'm getting on a bit, we'll need to crack on with ttc again pretty quick. But maybe we will stop at two as well: it's really hard with a new born and other small ones and I don't know how thin I can stretch myself. Already feel my dd is getting a rough deal having such a tired and grumpy mummy. Time will tell I guess.
Wishing you all a few long stretches of sleep tonight.

Hi mummies,

My LO has had baby acne on her face for a few days, it looked better today but now tonight I've discovered it on her neck and chest! Is this normal or could it be something more serious... Have any if yours had spots on the body as well as the face?

Hi emmie
He's done a poo now so feeling much better! I'll google poo regularity though as didn't realise they could go days at a time I thought they were meant to do lots especially if breast fed

Welcome emmie and congratulations on your new baby :)

thali I don't know about the spots, have they appeared very suddenly? Does he have a temperature? It could be a hundred harmless things but its only natural to worry. If your ever really concerned what about giving NHS direct a call for advice?

smallgreenone yep totally normal to miss a day or two but just be prepared when it does come often its 3 days worth in one humongous explosion!

leelteloo when did your post birth bleeding stop? Herbie will be 4 weeks old on Friday and I'm still bleeding. Did you get usual period cramps? Could it just be your bleeding starting again?

thali my Lo has this too but I haven't noticed any on his body, but his face is pretty bad with it. Sometimes it doesn't look so bad then a while later it will look about 3x worse. Anything I can do to help it?

Hello ladies

Thanks funchum and heff. I'm feeling a bit better now. I think it is just the hormone fluctuations getting the better of me!

smallgreenone, glad that your ds has done a poo! I have read that it's normal for bf babies to go several days once a couple of weeks old or so. DD is the opposite though, she has some pretty explosive poos on a regular basis, she managed to poo all over me the other day, even hit my shoulder with it!

Thali, it's probably nothing to worry about, but I would get her checked out to be on the safe side.

Welcome emmie, and congratulations. I did read a few of your pregnancy posts- hope the delivery all went ok. Your little one is a day older than mine.

Hi Rachel, I'm not sure if it period or not really? Bleeding hadn't really stopped and was on and off but this was bit different (tmi) redder blood and period cramps but today it's stopped. So who knows?

smallgreenone infrequent poos v normal for breastfed babies, DS1 would do 1 poo a week until he started weaning, conveniently at weekends when it was daddy duty for nappies :) DS2 not got to that stage yet, still pooing lots every day...

Thanks for all the poo advice ladies! He's actually just done a real exploder which has soaked through his vest, body suit and dungarees! Yuk!!

Thanks for all the welcomes :-)
It is nice to have you all on hand for reassurance!

Health visitor came today for the first time. Tbh she was absolute rubbish. Couldn't be more disinterested/unfriendly.

Please tell me I don't have the same one until he's 18!!!

Anyone else tried expressing and having difficulty? I have two pumps, one bloody expensive electric one, and an advent manual. I can hardly get anything- the most, which was first thing this morning, was 20 Mls. Electric one seems to be the biggest fail.

Hi Emmie I have the Avent manual pump, I've only used it once so far but used it often with DS and found I got loads out in the evenings and not so much during the day. It may be worth you trying at different times to get more out.

Also, here we have a team of health visitors and they have different roles. For example the lady that came today did DDs first check and there's a different one who'll do DSs 2 year health review later this month. So hopefully you'll get someone useful at some point!

Emmie hopefully you'll have a nicer Hv next time :) what did you call you little one?

I had my health visitor out today, Herbie is 9lb 6oz. He's such a mushroom. Can see the weight going on. And can feel it when your bouncing him about. I'm running out of clothes to fit him, and the 0-3 is still too big. But I may put him in them anyway.

How is everyone else getting on today?

emmie when did your milk come in? I found when my milk first came in there actually wasn't loads of it and when I expressed both sides all I got was about 30ml but a few days later supply increased and can now easily fill a bottle with just one side . Maybe it's the same for you? I've got an avent electric one and find it perfectly good.

Interesting...

My milk came in about ten days ago. The bubba seems to be getting plenty - maybe I'll try different times of the day as my next plan of attack!

My little one is called Freddie and he was 5lbs 13.

I've not successfully expressed yet, haven't tried recently but when I did try in the first week or 10 days, could only get about a teaspoonful! But I've been told to get the electric one working it's good to hand express a few drops first just to get things going...?

Hi all, hope things r going well.
emmie I've always found hv to be pretty useless if I'm honest but hopefully you'll get a better one next time!

With expressing I use avent electric and this time round can get about 2oz from one side quite quickly but with dd1 struggled to got hardly anything?!

My little one refuses to be put down when awake, just cries! Tried swing, bouncy chair, V pillow but won't have any of it! Any tips?

Hi moogs have you tried a sling? DS likes to be held a lot and have found a sling really useful so you can have them held and happy but your arms free to do stuff. We've got the Kari me one but there are loads of different makes.

emmie I've found similar with hvs, not met any yet with DD2 but the ones I had with DD1 were pretty rubbish. Luckily they were friendly enough but I never felt they had much of a clue what they were talking about so wasn't very reassured by them. Hope you get a better one for your next visit.

I found expressing so difficult with DD1. I'd pump away for ages and only end up with 1 or 2 oz (not sure what that is in mls). Tips I've heard but not tried yet are to try and build it into your routine as a regular 'feed' eg 7pm each evening, then your body will increase supply to cope with the extra being demanded. Also to make sure you are somewhere quiet & relaxed when you try it.

moogs I second the sling advice, I've got a moby wrap and after a bit of practice I've found it fantastic. Baby quietens down as soon as she's in it and I've then got free hands to get on with things.

I am going to start practising expressing soon emmy and like you I have two pumps - the electric was bloody expensive so had better work! I would be keen to hear how you get on if that's ok.

Just had the first night that allowed me a vaguely reasonable amount of sleep between feeds, hurray!

We are still under the midwives as babyfunch is only 7 days old so not yet met our hv, but the Mw who came on day 5 got our backs up. She kept making comments about how crap dads are - what she doesn't know is that DH is the housekeeper around here and we ate very much equal parents. He is taking the same amount of parental leave as me this year (5 months) and will be the one to go part time in the end, whereas I will stay full time at work. DH was most unimpressed with her saying things like "look, daddy brought you COLD water, it's because daddies don't understand"...Er, if asked for a bowl of water mummy would have brought cold as well! Yes we should have realised warm is better when bathing the cord stump, but we would both be EQUALLY clueless!

Sorry for the rant there! Hope everyone else has had a good night.

Hello all and congrats to all new mums!!

I was hoping I could join you all on this thread - I did post (on and off) on the antenatal September 2012 thread and now have a perfect bundle of joy, a son born on 17th September weighing (a smaller than I thought he would be!) 6lb 3oz!!

Have been reading through the latest posts trying to catch up with everyone -
Emmie - I havent tried expressing yet though have bought the Avent manual breast pump and will give it a go at some point. Breastfeeding is generally going well though, DS seems constantly ravenous!! Finally the nips seem to have toughened up (big thumbs up for Lansinoh!!)

funch - gosh, your HV sounds rubbish!! Ours is lovely, shes only been round once so far but seemed very interested in us, asked loads of questions, offered advice and was really friendly. Sounds like your was pretty ignorant and unhelpful!!

thali - not sure about the acne, maybe ask your MW / HV? Our LO has milk spots (little white ones) on his face but not his body and apparently this is very normal and they will disappear of their own accord soon.

moogs - I have a similar problem - DS loves being held and will happily sleep on me or DH, though when we try to put him down in his moses basket he cries!! He'll happily sleep in our bed too (know we shouldnt really do this but if he wont go in his moses basket what else can we do??! We all need sleep!!). I know we really need to get him sleeping somewhere other than on us or in our bed though so any tips would be appreciated!! Thanks!!

hi Littlecherublegs of coz you are welcome to join! late welcome to you too, Emmie!

I'm knackered. DS is just over one month old now, have been on a feeding marathron today, apart from a brief lunch break! I don't know if this is another growth spurt but it feels as if he's constantly on my breast, apart from my brief lunch break / toilet break / nappy changing. And despite the constant feeding, he doesn't seem happy. I think it's like that yesterday too... and possibly the day before. I'm knackered and very tempted to give him a bottle of formula. It's driving me mental...

hope you all are doing better with your babies.

I've had my first down day today.

Think it is lack of sleep mixed with hormones mixed with being really unhappy with my post baby body.

Just wondering if anyone else is alone with their new baba's?

Hope everyone had a good day x

actually I lied. he wasnt constantly on the breast yesterday, but he was the day before. is this because he's hungry, or just fussy? or lack of sleep? (i tried to put him down for 5 minutes just now so I could get a drink and he was crying for the solid 5 minutes

thali - MW suggested moisturiser on baby spots, eg olive oil. you could try

Emmie I'm alone most of the day with the baby, a friend visited this afternoon, and she's amazed by the feeding marathron (she's not a mum herself)

Hope you'll feel better soon. I hate my stretch marks too... hope they will go away soon!

I'm on my own all day too. I try and get out at least once a day and I meet up with friends etc but am mostly on my own. It's hard work some days and I hate my post baby body too! I've started a Pilates DVD and we have gym equipment in the cellar which I use when DS naps (not often as he likes to be held but sometimes I can trick him into sleeping in his basket!) also going to a buggyfit class next week now I've had my post natal check up. I have a c section scar too which I am frantically rubbing oil into to try and make it less hideous. My goal is to be relatively normal by Xmas!!!
macaroons I think I remember a grumpy feeding frenzy at 4 weeks. I'm on the 6 week one now!!!