March 2013- here we go....

[Oodsigma]

Welcome old & new to the other side!

I'll start with a stats list!

Ood -ds 7/3/13, dc4! Elcs

If anyone wants to add any more details feel free!

The bugger with swaddling in a blanket is it's only as snug as the width of baby's shoulders. If they get their arms up that far, then it's straight out through the neck. We got a swaddle pod the other day. Fairly easy to use, just pop her in, and zip her up (can be a struggle if she's wriggling her arms though). It's contoured and stretchy but not at the neck, so there's no escaping.

We had another stressful bedtime. Woke up screaming after the last nap, and wouldn't stop (except the usual brief lull while in the bath). Ended up throwing up during the last feed, after which she seemed to feel much better, drank a couple more ounces, and went straight to sleep. She doesn't often scream like that, but when she does it always ends in sick, so that particular cry has been mentally filed under "digestive distress". Any suggestions for alleviating it? I already try burping again and bicycling legs, which seems to help a bit.

Wing, if you have no real routine, then pumping the last 'unfinished' side immediately is prob best as you have done. If you know you have a decent nap coming up, then pump both - this will increase your supply if you keep doing it though which may or may not be a good thing? It is fine to combine milk from both sides and indeed from multiple pumping sessions as long as stored in the right way. Check out Kellymom or LLL for details of how best to do this.

Oh no, sorry to all of those who've had rough nights. SoYo even dreaming of sleep eh? That must be so frustrating.

Stormy that little girl of yours likes to keep you on your toes eh? I've never heard that kind of cry during a bottle, so not a great help here. My instinct is to suggest it's reflux but I seem to remember you mentioning that before? Hope someone else can be more helpful!

As for poo stains, I've also found a bit of fairy at 40 degrees and some direct sunlight works even on our cloth nappies. On clothes we also use a bit of vanish spray - leave for 10 mins then pop in the wash and on the line to dry (if friggin possible weather-wise).

I haven't attempted to swaddle for about a month now. Even in hospital he was breaking free and protesting if his arms were pinned down, so I just gave up trying and put him in a sleeping bag as soon as he was big enough. The downside to this is if he's being particularly sleep resistant I have to pop the dummy in and gently hold both his hands so he doesn't flail about too much. Can't really say I'm up for that at 6am, so he generally comes into our bed for an hour or two each morning before waking up for a bottle.

We had a strange night. He fell asleep around 7 after a bottle, I panicked that he wouldn't sleep well in the night, he woke at 10, went down at midnight, up at 3.30 for a bottle then we didn't hear a peep out of him til 8am. It's nothing like sleeping through but it's manageable. He's laid on the bed making cute noises at me and flapping his arms and legs everywhere. I've become quite taken with him in the last week

Morning all. Seems like there were some sleepless nights last night. Hope everyone gets a lie in.

Well monkey stayed asleep until OH got home then I woke him for bath and a feed. Perhaps should have let him sleep as then he wouldn't go back to sleep. I was exhausted by 8.30 so left him with OH trying to settle him and went up to bed. He brought him up at 12 which was later than usual but after a feed burp and cuddle he went to sleep about 1 and slept well, only one feed about 3 and then started grumbling at 6. I managed to sneak an extra hour in bed by taking him in with me until 7.

He seems more settled so far today and I've had a good sleep so hoping for a good day. He's had his bottle with minimum puking and screaming. Small nap and now having a kick and play.

We had an alright night in the end. It's just 6pm aka demon banshee o'clock. Slept through the dream feed, settled alright after the 1.30 feed. Heard her muttering in her sleep about 4.30 so I stuck another bottle in her mouth and she slept through until 7.45. Just wish she'd stay asleep so well for her naps! Thinking of investing in a blackout blind.

I ordered a mei tai yesterday lunchtime, it arrived this morning. Didn't realise the postal service could be that fast. Looking forward to trying it out after naptime.

Zigwig that sounds like a definite improvement, that's great! Get out and enjoy the sunshine!

Stormy 6ish is the witching hour in our house too! Have found dunking them in the bath then is a good distraction. Sounds like your LO sleeps incredibly lightly, hope she improves.

I'm going to hang some washing out then pop George in the sling and go for a wander. Seems a shame not to on a day like this!

I almost wrote a message at midnight to say DS was sound asleep and having a settled night... Then at 2.44am he became a screaming mess and was still doing that at 6am when I handed him over to OH

My left nipple has open cracks in it now, and I've only fed direct from the boob a few times since the thrush started so I don't know why that's happened - sharp pains for me have been happening since the very beginning

Managed a ten minute stint shield-free earlier but now it's all so sore I think we'll be back to bottles for the night.

As far as pumping I've been using the same bottle for both sides and even tipping new milk in with stuff in the fridge, working on the assumption it's only ever kept for that day anyway. Worked so far but nobody's told me any different...

DS's belly is expanding widthways so he looks like a barrel - is that normal?

I have lost it today, had to come up to the attic in floods of tears. Seems little one and me have thrush so now I am on tablets and she is supposed to that this nystan stuff but I can't bear to give it too her. What if she has some awful reaction too it. I was supposed to be breastfeeding her to stop her getting sick. Have tried all day to introduce a bottle and she is on hunger strike, could the thrush be making taking a bitter harder. Dh had a hysterical me on the doorstep when he got home, I held it together til he got here and now he has a three year old to get t bed and a baby n his shoulder but. Jus feel I need to have 20 mind to cry it out. I saw a trainee doctor which didn't help as the pharmacist was worried about litte nes dose.

Of course whenever I breastfed her she was fine but I am in pain. Please someone tell me it will be ok. I never felt like this with number 1. It must be the feeding hormones.

Leni, the milk belly is very normal! Don't lose it til they are 2 is they are greedy like mine was!

Oh ladies I wish we could do something more to help you through the pain :( I've not felt much pain since last night but I'm keeping an eye on things still as what you are describing sounds atrocious :(

I agree with the comments about swaddling with a blanket but sometimes I've got it spot on and other nights it just fails

Thanks pud for the pumping advice. I'll pump again then in the morning.
I went out for a half hour walk this afternoon while DH gave DD the bottle that had that single ounce of my milk in it. He said he'd call if he couldn't get her to take it and would then bring her out in the baby bjorn to meet me as she always seems fairly calm in it and that would probably settle her if she was upset with it.

So I'd been out for 20 mins when he called and said he was on his way to meet me. I thought the worst but she'd taken the milk fine in a few goes with burping in-between as she was guzzling it but then she'd still been hungry afterwards and a bit upset so he'd brought her out which did the trick.

She's slept a lot today though so I hope this won't mean she's wide awake tonight...

So apart from actually having some real, proper 'me' time when I had my short walk, my other fun activity today was to tie-dye some plain white muslins. DS and I scrunched and bound and wrapped bits of them with string etc and I dyed them red this morning. They look fab, even if I do say so myself. I did the same with DS's muslins when he was born but with purple dye so that when I was at baby groups and at other mums' houses I'd always know which was mine :)

Right, DD is cluster feeding as usual at the moment. I'm not going to leave that last feed as late as last night (which was 11) as previous nights was 9:30-45ish.

Take care all.

Oh Eig! I think you need a cuppa and feet up this evening. It sounds like thrush is certainly doing the rounds. I'm sure the nystan will only help, your baby is not really poorly and thrush is completely normal. You're doing a grand job, and we all have a wobble from time to time.

Leni I had the cracked nipples too, it's sooo painful! I tried air drying them and Lansinoh but they kept opening every time I pumped. Good luck, I hope you can get through this hurdle seeing as you've done really well so far.

I may be jinxing it but I think we've had a textbook bedtime. Spent lots of time outside today and DS only had very short naps so I'm crossing everything that he sleeps well tonight!

Oh Eig! Can you express without pain? No reason not to give her the milk, they just recommend you don't freeze it to give in the future. Perhaps you could get a telephone consult tomorrow to check the dose for DD? Hugs in the meantime.

Also, we have introduced the Medela Calma bottle well - it requires them to form a vacuum etc just like bfing. They are quite pricey though... Best to try introducing when all is calm, for both of you.

In the meantime could you try cup feeding if she won't take a bottle and you can't feed her comfortably? Does get a bit messy, but might give you a break.

She is with other half now happily taking a bottle, ( I can see on the spy monitor)! just won't take it for me! Had a cuppa and a lovely chat on the phonr with my best friend from school who also has a three year old boy ( and has had two miscarriages so I had been worried about phoning to complain etc) . I think its time for me to slow down or even if it comes to it stop the boob juice. Miserable mum does not make for happy baby and she'll learn to love the bottle I hope. I've given it a good go but I can't take it any more. It's painful even to express and 7 weeks of it with no formula yet gives her a good start. must try and get some sleep before 2 am feed... Going to give her one dose overnight then see. It does seem to be right given my Internet goggle but I'll check. Whoever said focus on Christmas with a smiley 9 month old was right! All this feeding drama will seem a long way off then and I want to enjoy some of this stage!

Well I didn't get out but I did get some housework done. Screaming fit was from 9 til 1 when he finally slept enough in the cot for me to eat. He woke up soon after though so spent the afternoon trying to calm and/or entertain him. He seems to be a big music fan and enjoyed dancing around the living room with me.

Stormy I've also just got a mei tai and it's been really good today so I'm very pleased with it. I have a stretchy wrap but can't get on with it as by the time I get him into it properly his very limited patience has run out and we're both fraught.

BLah had written more but phone has eaten it. Summary was I hope everyone having breastfeeding trouble starts to feel better soon. It is nowhere near as easy as we're led to believe and you should all be proud you got this far. I haven't any useful advice as I failed completely at it although I did read somewhere that air drying nipples can help when they're cracked. Of course it means wandering around semi naked a fair bit which isn't ideal.

Night for now. Wishing for peaceful sleep filled nights all round!

Hello petals. Rough time for some of us at present. Let's hope the forecast sunshine helps lift our spirits and that our boobs/babies start getting along better too.

Thanks for all the washing advice. Will send dh out to get fairy and napisan/vanish. Had today's load out on the line :-)

Our witching (two) hour starts at six too. To coincide with when daddy gets home. Last few days we've all gone out for walk as that distracts or calms her. Today we walked to library as it's their late night. Had frosty reception from librarian tho when I asked if I could feed in children's library. Bugger that. We went and fed in park with asbo kids instead.

Had two feeds today where dd got really flustered and screamy in frustration. Supply issues? Dodgy tasting milk? Thrush? Reflux? Seeing hv today so will ask.

Sending lots of love and light out to all of you this evening. I try and remember the mantra 'it's only temporary madness' when I feel like I'm going insane.

Morning all!

Put DD down at 9:50, me to bed too and she went til just before 1:30. She only had a quick (8 mins is quick for her) feed then back down 1;50 till about ten mins ago. So not brilliant as I hate feeling like I've got up twice as opposed to when she's woken between 2/3 once and then she'll wake between 6-7 which feels like a 'normal' morning time iykwim?

Yawn. Hope the rest of you haven't had bad nights and the pain hasn't been too awful. eig, if you need to stop bfing then just remember why you're doing it when you look back - there's no shame in it and although it may make you feel The Guilt now, when you look back you'll realise you did the best by your baby and by you. You are a person too!

Having said all that balanced opinion alert, I'm sure there are ways if bfing through this and if you call a bfing counsellor (la leche league have free volunteer phone counsellors i think?), you can probably get through it and continue to bf. but it may take some gritting of teeth before you get out the other side

Take care all x

Hi Wing and Eig and others still bfing for now. MiniPud now 5.5 weeks and really got the hang of it. I know they say they get much more efficient at it and hence quicker but can I just ask what your average feed time is now? Still nervous about supply given his weight gain issues and told cannot stop top ups or even look to try yet til he's on a better track.

He used to feed for 40 or even 50 mins a side, now more like 10-20 max. Does this sound about right?

Hi pud. Dd feeds for ten mins on one boob only. Evil baby whisperer tells me this means she's smacking and not getting to the vintage hind milk. However! Dd goes three hours on this happily and is gaining weight beautifully. Even when she sicks up seemingly most of what she's taken on (as just happened: it's all very well getting woken for the third time but slightly frustrating when then take it then puke!).
So, I'd suggest your 10 to 20 mins sounds fine. And the evil baby whisperer suggests at this age more than ten mins is fine too.
Right, time to swaddle this baby elephant.

Snacking. Obviously! She's not smacking.

Thanks wingd. Going to persevere with getting her to take a bottle today. If we can mix it up a bit so I can give my boobs a chance to heal then great. If we can't then that's ok too. I think having a good cry helped too. Even though I was up at 1.30 and again just now at 5.30 feeding I feel a bit better. We can't really see white bits on dd tongue anymore so hopefully thrush is mild for her. We used the nystan and no bad reaction so far. Going to try and be more positive today.

DD slept 7 straight hours last night from 8:30pm to 3:30am! No idea why and hoping so so much it wasn't a one off. Mind you after her feed she wasn't as easy to settle as usual and didn't drift off properly again till 5am. Still feels like we are heading in the right direction. She will be 7 weeks on Thursday so maybe an additional hour added for each week!? Wishful thinking!

We are now on ten minute breastfeeds here too and frequently only on one side per feed - DD is gaining weight rapidly and has many many rolls so seems to be more than enough for her.

Leni massive sympathy to you on the cracked nipple. I had two at the same time in the early weeks which was horrible and a couple of time DD ended up drinking a bit of blood - not nice at all. I second the air drying advice - made everything heal much quicker.

Wish I had practical advice to offer for everyone suffering with the boobs, but as mine were an abject failure I've no idea what to suggest.

eco sounds like your DD is doing just fine with those speedy feeds. So long as they're happy and growing there's no point worrying.

Good night here last night. The man got home early thanks to a systems failure at work, so he did bath and bedtime. She was a bit screamy so he kept her upright and cuddled until she'd calmed down, then popped her in the cot. Straight to sleep! Had a bit of a grumble after the first and second 45 minute cycles, but ultimately went through until 2.45 with a dreamfeed at 10.45. I woke up at six thirty, she's all quiet. Just heard a tiny squeak but don't think she's awake yet. Going to wander up there shortly.

zig I have a stretchy wrap too, but it's vast and intimidating. The mei tai seems much easier. Only slight issue, she's too little to have her legs out, but doesn't want them completely froggy in there, so she's sort of sitting on them and then it's not coming high up enough. I shall persevere though, and see if we can figure it out.

eig hope you're feeling better and calmer now. Sometimes a bit of a cry really helps. Did the pharmacist explain thrush to you? It's just an imbalance in the natural flora of the body. Babies are prone to it because their mouths are always warm and wet and milky, and milk's an awesome breeding ground for bacteria. So it's not like she's contracted some dreadful disease from somewhere, don't worry!

Stormy, dis your little one respond to the drugs you got? Just worrying about pushing the bottle if that will make it worse.