Dashing through the snow... One escaped early, which December baby is next?

[HoneyMum21]

Getting the thread ready when all the Christmas puddings start making appearances...

Ethan is not happy tonight. He is cluster feeding and not at all happy the rest of the time.

Another sleepless night in the offing I fear!

I wonder if what little C is doing is cluster feeding - feeding, going down for 10 mins max then grizzling until she's picked up again. Whatever it is, it's bloody exhausting and I can't share the load with my husband.

Feeling very sorry for myself, MW came yesterday for his 5day weigh/heal prick. He has lost 12% of his body weight, apparently due to my boobs being over engorged and him not being able to release the milk (cue a lot of crying/bad mother hysterics). He is being weighed again this afternoon and bf nurse coming tomorrow. Until then we are on a 3hr feeding rutien, and I've had to get a pump and top it up. Problem is, I keep running bone dry when he is still hungry. Suspect I will be ff and bf by the end of the week.

Pidj sound like we are having very similar experiences, I am going along to the bf group on Monday, hopefully they will be nice.

Michelle, dump the routine and keep feeding him. If that means constantly, there's a good reason - the more you feed the more you'll produce! Babies are a gazillion times more efficient at getting milk out of boobs than hands and pumps.

Every time he so much as whimpers, shove a nipple in his mouth. If he sleeps for two hours, try and wake him then shove a boob in there

And don't stress, just keep your own energy and fluid levels up.

Woooo I get to join postnatal now to catch up on what I've missed....

Ps my boobs feel like Katie Price's... Not that I've felt her boobs but I'd imagine they feel like this!

Bad night here

Pidj, thanks for advice, just looked at the times he has fed, and he has been demanding every 2hrs. Think I've slept about 3hrs, I'll be spending today in bed. He has just tried boob, but wasn't successful, so got the 25ml I managed to squeeze out earlier. On the plus side, he has been sleeping in his Moses basket for the first time, I'm guessing he isn't hungry all the time so sleeping better!

spotty

Same here spotty. :(

Obviously he's fast asleep now and will probably go four hours…

For you too mama & Michelle

Congratulations brooke

Sorry to those not having good nights, I've yet to have a good one too. He's just so hard to settle, he's got a really rumbly belly and spends most of the evening shrieking or feeding. I've got infacol but it's not the same here as it is in the UK!

I had to go out today because it's DD's birthday on Saturday so I needed to pick up cake things and party bags. What should have been a quick trip took hours, he fed twice and screamed the whole time. I've got no idea how I will cope with him and the older ones when the in-laws leave next week.

Ethan hasn't latched properly for over 12 hours :( ended up expressing and giving him a bottle of ebm. :( feel like I'm failing!

Congratulations brooke!

I think I'm a bad mummy because we resorted to a dummy last night. But the poor little dude wouldn't take any more food, his nappy was fine, he didn't seem hot or cold, he had us right next to him so wasn't lonely, he'd been well winded, and was exhausted as he was yawning and yawning, but just wouldn't settle. As soon as we put it to him he suckled away for a couple of minutes and fell fast asleep.

for Spotty and Mama

Seymore, you'll get there - stay strong

Stacey, your baby is fed and happy. That's a success. Do not beat yourself up about how you got there!

Seconds, I'm counting the days till R is a month and can have a dummy. Still haven't quite got the feeding sorted - he fusses himself off a lot and needs to be relatched - but I'm so there once it's done!

Can't remember if I said congratulations brooke, but congratulations! Hope all is going well.

Well, we had our first proper throw up last night during the night feed. Was really unsure as to whatto do afterwards, i.e. should I feed her again afterwards, but she did seem hungry again so she got some more. She seemed to settle afterwards in her Moses basket again, but I think I listened to her for ages making sure she was okay. We tried a slightly earlier last feed last night, so it was 11pm, 3pm and 7am this morning. She didn't take too much this morning so not sure how long she'll be down for now.

Hope you're okay, Eggs, it is upsetting when they drop some weight. The same happened with C and we had to combine formula and breast milk - I was worried that she wouldn't breastfeed after a few days on formula, but she is still taking it and she has gained weight well which is the most important thing. I found that once she gained the required weight it meant that we could then relax a bit more and concentrate on a routine that suited us. Claudia dropped 9.8% by the Monday (born on the Saturday) and by the Thursday she was up to within 3% of her birth weight again - so they can gain reasonably quickly. Also, once they are gaining again, the MWs, medical people, etc relax about it too. Sorry for the long reply about that.

pidg Z isn't a month yet. He's not even 2 weeks. Is the month thing a proper rule, or is it a suggestion to prevent nipple confusion? I'm hoping Z is beyond nipple confusion now as he has had to get used to bottle, boob and nipple shield so far and still latches on fine (well we still have left boob issues but I think that nipple shape is hard for him - he's fine with a nipple shield on it).

It's a suggestion. In your case irrelevant, I'd have thought!

Ah thanks. The dummy was the only thing that comforted him last night apart from having him sleep on one of our chests, which isn't a solution.

We're still chest sleeping, on the basis he'll grow out of it eventually... Right?!

Pidj we still let him chest-sleep on the basis that he's so new, he needs to find comfort where he can. Hoping he'll grow out of it because otherwise it's a long haul of shift-sleeping between us...

pidj thank you and in pretty sure he will not be still be sleeping on your chest at 19

Sent DH on the school run. I managed to get Ethan to latch and feed a little. Day 4 here though so hormones are probably at play too!

R is 23 days though

Stacey, push through it. The look of shock on R's face when he got a mouthful of milk instead of colostrum was hilarious - and messy where he spat the nipple out

Seconds, C is a week today we have tried dummy twice but I think she's too young - she keeps opening her mouth widely and not sucking, which is right if she's on the breast but not for the dummy. She's had slightly more difficulty latching on but barely, and she's very good anyway so I haven't been too worried. What brand have you used?

Wow - terrible nights sleep. I'm getting to the point that anxiety kicks in about 7pm. :(

Pidj I meant 19 years old!

So much catching up to do after a week in the local MLU without internet access.
Now my boy's a week old thought it time to migrate over here.

is there a stats list from the Dec thread? - i'd be fascinated by the gender balance/busy days/name selections reminders. i know it seemed to be we were producing largely boys - i found the MLU balanced out MN as Claude was the only boy on the ward (of six)

so after never considering it an option i've ended up cosleeping as it's the only way i get any sleep but i keep waking to find him in odd positions/too hot/i'd forgotten he was there, so i need to find a way to persuade him to sleep in his moses basket before the guilt kills me i do him some harm .

also anyone else feel constantly dizzy-ish, wobbly like they're at sea?