November 2012 - babies are here at last

[StuntNun]

This is the post-natal club for graduates of the November 2012 intake.

Evil, could you have a blocked duct? Is there a hard area which is more painful? If so try massaging it under the shower. It might help.

Thanks GT that's the company that go into mothercare once a month and do them there so we've booked an appointment and lucky it's this Saturday

horsey glad your getting some support, be easy on yourself and take each feed as it comes and do what's best for you and your son

RE painkillers I take 1 or 2 paracetamol sometimes in the morning but touchwood I haven't really needed anything more

We've had trick or treaters tonight, it's lovely to see all the little kids dressed up on Halloween

Just feeding LO then bedtime for me, the night feeds are so hard to get up out of a warm bed for

Also what's all your views on drinking alchol whilst bf? I don't want to drink yet but would like to be able to have 1 or 2 over Xmas but when I asked the health visitor she saidthat if I decided to have a drink I would need to express enough milk for LO to feed and then express and throw away all my milk for 24hrs after drinking??

My breast is very soft, and not lumpy.
Evil

You have been misinformed Nervous. If you drink alcohol then it does pass in to your breastmilk, however it leaves your milk at the same rate as it leaves your blood i.e. your liver processes each unit of alcohol in 1-2 hours. This only holds true for low levels of consumption, obviously if you go on a bender then it can take longer for the alcohol to leave your system. So if you have a small glass of wine containing two units of alcohol then by three or four hours later there won't be anything left in your milk. If you are concerned, e.g. you had two glasses of wine then you might have to offer a bottle of previously expressed or formula milk but you don't have to do the 'pump and dump' that used to be recommended. Unless you need to express because your breasts are engorged or you are trying to build up your supply then you may decide to express some milk and dump it because it may contain alcohol. Hope this all makes sense!

Thanks stunt it does make sense. I really didn't want to have to throw all that milk away and if I did decide to have a drink it would only be 1 as I would still want/need to do night feeds and pick up DD ect

The guidance changes all the time. My mum is a HV and she reckons some of her colleagues don't always keep up with the latest advice. I was glad to hear about the new guidance for alcohol and breastfeeding though with this baby being so close to Christmas! When I had my last two babies the advice was to throw the milk away which is an awful thing to do when you've gone to all the effort of making and pumping it! So I'll be able to have my traditional Buck's Fizz on Christmas Day.

I live in west London to whoever asked. Very difficult to be at home. DH is a little split in his thoughts about it. He also understands its for my benefit so that I rest. He is super helpful around the house etc. but he kinda gets that I'm going stir crazy. But he doesn't understand my feeling lonely. As there r ppl here n he is here. N my mum comes to visit. Hard for him to understand cos he is a stupid man n they don't get things.

Oh well. I'm gona start blubbing again so let's leave that topic for now. Oh dear to late.

On another note. How can I miss my milk coming in? Is it possible it hasn't come in? LO is now 15days old. I express twice a day. At first it was quite yellow. N now it's whiter. My pre period boob ach can be quite sore. But I've not really felt anything like that . A little .

Can I ask those of you expressing how long do you do it for? Until the breast is empty? In which case how do you know when it's empty?

It's just constantly running out of me? I know it's day one of my milk coming in but I can't stay attached to the pump?!

That's interesting Stunt and good to know!

GT I was wondering the same thing, I thought the milk coming in would be more dramatic with rock hard breasts, despondence and projectile lactating but all I've had is a bit of lumpiness and a few tears during the News. However DS definitely has a milky mouth after feeding and has done a few milky burps so I think mine is more gradual.

horsy i am well jel! lol how much have you expressed today?
maybe freeze some? i think maybe i express for 20 mins? only managed twice today. hoping with my electric pump will be more efficient n need to build a routine to do it more often. again how i managed to do "not a lot" i have no idea!

had a bit of a spat with DH i think me being emotional is getting to him, as he feels he is being really good with helping out. he asks me what is wrong, but i have no answer because i have no idea why i am crying half the time! i have said this to him before n explained sometimes i am just emotional and all i need is a hug. but he just complained saying he couldnt help if he didnt know what was wrong blha blha blha, but i wasnt in a state to explain myself. so have just come down to get away from him. now all i want to do is eat. but there are no nice things in the kitchen fancy a McD cheese burger.

on a brighter note weighed myself today, have lost 7 of the 10 kg i put on since my booking in appointment. so to get back to my ideal weight i need to loose a further 10kg but thinking i might wait 6 weeks to go on a diet/exercise as its a little to soon to be worried about how i look [who am i kidding! yes i am crazy] . think im going to find something to watch in bed on net flicks now.

So far about 120 to 140ml? that's expressing at 12, 5 and 10 about to start again at 1 but each time it's a good hour? Then my breasts are still heavy? I think I could just pump none stop!!

Also he sleeps all day long. Then at 10pm he's wide awake, settles, lies down, frets, screams so I cuddle him, he settles etc. Think he just wants to comfort but why doesn't he do this in the day? Maybe it's not proper sleep when he settles but contentment.

But proper sleep in the day? Who knows? How do alter his night times and day times or will that just come?

horsey babies wake at night due to milk producing hormones being higher then. Once supply is established and he is more interactive, he will wake more in the day and less at night. He is likely to feed most in the evening thus getting food on board for longer sleeps. Sounds to me as if you are msakimg excellent progress.

Oh ok so I'm milking myself like a cow for good reason!!!

He's done it from the start just wondered what the reason was. How long does this period take then?

I don't know exactly but for mine it has been about 7 to 10 days. DS has already changed his pattern. They still feed at night, but not feeding all night.

DS slept 9.30 to 12.30.

The day / night thing does fix itself but I think as to when must depend on the baby. For DS1 it took a bit longer, but DS2 seemed to figure it out by the 4th night.

I have heard that by exposing the baby to daylight as much as possible during the day can help them learn faster also being noisy in the day and quiet at night (with no lights on during the feeds) can help.

GT, I've been thinking of you. I'm not surprised you are emotional - as if having a new baby and a body full of hormones isn't enough, you are having to deal with a very difficult situation with your MIL and her thoughts of what is best for you and now a DH who doesn't understand how best to react to your emotions.

He just screamed from 10 till about 4 every time he was out down.

Eventually swaddled him as they did in the hospital and he slept/is still sleeping so perhaps we should swaddle him after his night feed. He fed loads last night though? So perhaps it's a growth spurt? I'm now up pumping again as boobs are burning hot.

Same as rowing day feeds r interactive, lots of talking and music. Night feeds quiet And dark. I had wide awake time 12 to 3 for quite some time. Cos he is Ff he wasn't constantly feeding but he was wide awake n seeking attention. Since Making an effort to feed regularly during day n stimulation it is slowly getting better.

rowing 4 more days till I'm at my mums! . Nxt 2 days will b hard. No one is coming over. But think ill indulge in some me time in bed catching up on tv. Weekend will b busy. DH bday on Sunday. Then off to my mums. Where I will b pampered, can have hour long baths, have all my fav foods cooked for me, my sister n dad also have time off. My best friend can come over. N when DH comes to visit it will b proper together time. Not just say in the same room kinda thing. Really looking forward to it .

Right. Sleep time.

Mw just called as she has spoken to a colleague and as L has lost more than 10% bodyweight they want me to top up w formula. Said I'd rather wait as milk only just coming in so they are coming back to weigh him again tomorrow.

Looked down and big wet circle on nightie so hoping this bodes well. I'm going to do some expressing today to encourage it and so if they do want me to top up then I can try an extra feed of my own first.

We had quite a good night here last night prays I haven't jinxed it for tonight LO went between 2and a half to 3 hours between each feed

Might try and get some of our photos printed off today but its raining and not ment to be so If it doesn't stop I won't be venturing out

blonder have you got a breast pump? I hope your LO manages to put some weight on soon x

Does anyone know how much you can express without taking all your milk? I worry if I take to much there won't be enough left for LO to feed

I was going to express after a feed so milk has started to flow and then keep going until I get a reasonable amount.

I thought expressing was meant to encourage more to come so it shouldn't be a problem though.

You will in theory produce more milk the more is needed, so the more the baby suckles and the more you express should have a good effect on the amount you produce.

Oh also I've got a TT manual but will invest in a swing or Avent if it looks like I'm going to be expressing a lot.

Luckily he was 8lbs at birth so he's still a reasonable weight and looks very well (in fact perfect and beautiful!)