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!

Should I be worried that my DS did a 5oz bottle on top of an hour of BFing?!

I've driven down to my parents for a few days as DH is working long hours so MiniYo slept 1.5hrs in the car, slept for 3hrs this afternoon on her devoted Granny & then had another snooze this evening. This is unheard of so I'm not too hopeful for the night! On the more amusing side she did a poonami that required changed of clothes for all involved, the vest being pulled down to avoid a face full and baths all round..she was very pleased with herself!

Well I got a couple of hours off last night to go to my book group (even had a little glass of wine) which was lovely. Today is my dads birthday (81 today) so we are off for lunch at a lovely but posh country house hotel restaurant - here's hoping DS behaved as I don't fancy being the keeper of a screamer in that setting!

Leni, don't know whether the attached link is of interest?

www.mother-2-mother.com/cc-baby-B.htm#Fussiness

Argh, stupid place to put the post button!

Morning all. Yawn. Leni, DS was like that and in my case he just wasn't getting from me and when I switched to formula he was taking the same amount of formula but without me being pinned to the sofa first trying to feed him from the boob. That's when I realised he'd not been getting any of my milk.

Your situation may be different but and hour feeding from you sounds like a lot - although come to think about it, DD is still cluster feeding so what on earth do I know!

Last night was back to 11-3 and I must have been right in a deep sleep when she woke so I am knackered. We're off to visit SIL and her family today but I'm actually not looking forward to it as any time sleeping means DD isn't feeding and instead storin it up for when she's awake and when she's awake she is invariably feeding so I don't get a break then much either. So I'm not happy either way :(

Hope you all have a lovely day planned.

I'm out of ideas - I literally don't feel i can cope with putting my nipple near him today because he fed so much yesterday they're agony. It still hurts just as much as it did in the beginning! I have no clue if he's gained weight but I'm changing a nappy sometimes twice in 5 mins, so something's going in even when I'm not topping him up. Last few days he's had maybe two night feeds of formula and the rest EBF. But yes, after an hour of pain I can't carry on...

It's my birthday and we're supposed to go to the park at 3pm with friends but OH is going to get much less sleep and all i really want is to not have to feed - how awful is that?! I wish I could express instead but barely anything comes out when i do.

Also OH's bank cancelled his credit card transaction for my birthday present because they seem to flag anything he buys as fraud, so no presents for me the chemist had run out of the meds the gp gave me yesterday for the huge tear in my poor bum, so still trying not to go to the loo

People keep telling me i need to get out but how are we meant to do it when our babies demand food constantly? I have no nursing clothes and being in so much pain the last thing i feel like doing is having the public watch me whilst i struggle with it. I can't get the pram downstairs on my own whilst holding DS and the lady who thinks she owns our block because she's one of those old busy body types complained about my neighbour leaving her buggy under the stairs, so a letter came through our doors warning us that nothing is to be left in hallways. I'm on the second floor with a newborn for christ's sake!!

Gah, sorry, it's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to...

Hi Leni - 6 week growth spurt maybe? DD is also a voracious feeder at growth spurt time, and all you can do is just go with it. Tempting though it is to supplement with formula the downside of doing so is it messes with your own supply. The body is pretty smart, when demand is up, supply goes up, but if you feed from another source supply actually goes down. This could explain the hunger after an hour bf-ing. It is likely that for the majority of that hour not much milk is coming out. Check how often your baby is actually swallowing. If the swallow rate really slows down, offer some formula. That should show you whether it is hunger of comfort sucking, and save you from being chewed.

I've switched to one bottle a day and my supply hasn't yet adjusted which means by the next feed I have boobs like boulders and they really hurt. If you aren't feeling like this milk levels aren't keeping up.

Very easy to get supply back up if that's what you want to do, just feed more, and eat and drink more yourself.

I'm probably waffling about stuff you know inside out, so just ignore me

PS get a sling or baby carrier, then the pram issue becomes irrelevant. My life went from mildly hellish to much more fun once dd became portable. When she won't sleep, provided she isn't hungry a walk in the sling will send her off, which gives me at least an hour of fresh air, or even time to do some housework without her fussing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LENI!!!

Even if it doesn't feel like one at the moment :( just think, next year's birthday you might even get a homemade card from your DS!

I think you should tell the writer of that note to F off, quite frankly. Honestly, just tell them it'll only be for a couple more weeks but you have to leave it out for now.

Happy birthday, leni! Would it be possible to just take formula to the park? Then you can sprawl in the sunshine and relax while someone else feeds the baby.

We're still on the three hour repeating routine, but getting out the house still involves planning with military precision. Monday I'm going to my dad's for lunch, so the plan is feed baby at 10am, and be out of the house by 11am, and she will hopefully fall asleep en route. If she does, when I arrive she'll be parked in the back garden and left to sleep. We have the one o'clock feed there, and head home at 2pm, again hoping for a good long snooze in the garden. No guarantees it will work though!

Good morning so far today - baby woke up just after 7am, which is theoretically a sensible morning sort of time, as opposed to just after 6am, which is blatantly still the middle of the night. Four ounces of fuss-free breakfast, and a less soggy-sounding poo than usual. That'll be the gaviscon thickening things up, won't it? Napping now. I've hung a couple of dressing gowns from the curtain rail to try to block out a bit more light, and hoping being well-fed and not in pain will contribute to better napping today.

For my birthday in ten days I've asked my brother for a night of babysitting, so we can go for a meal and then see the new Star Trek film. I'm hoping it goes well and she's not too screamy, otherwise he may start having second thoughts about having his own...

Just been reading about birthmarks. Anyone's babies got them? We've got splotchy red bits on the back of the head, nape of the neck, and between the eyebrows, that appear when she's crying or straining for a poo, and a great big mole with a darker patch of skin round it on her back.

I can't tell at all when he's swallowing :( I must have already screwed up my supply then as he's had formula on nights when OH is allowing me to sleep - currently trying to stop all apart from maybe two bottles but the pain just makes it unbearable. My boobs do feel hard in the morning after the longer stretch between feeds, but that doesn't seem to change despite me having upped his feeds so much in the last few weeks.

This is why I don't feel i can take formula out, because then I'm messing with my supply even more.

We have a sling but it's easier taking all the stuff I need when I don't have to carry a baby too, i find him really heavy going very far... It's the freeholder of the building who was forced into writing the letter (official letter and as we're only tenants we have to obey) by that woman i mentioned. There's been a few issues, like the poor family downstairs who left the kids bikes outside the front door for literally ten mins and then got a note written in caps saying 'NO BIKES TO BE LEFT OUTSIDE'. No idea WTF her problem is, she's nice face to face but seriously, is it really necessary to be quite so petty?

Just gave him one boob and he was spent so maybe it is just the supply/demand/growth spurt thing...

DS has red blotchy birth marks on the back of his neck and on his crown too. His dad has the same. Weirdly I've got these big freckle things on my face that I never had before the birth - hopefully not liver spots- I'm only 33 today not 60!

I do need to eat more. Lucky to get one proper meal recently so feeling starving all the time.

Don't beat yourself up Leni - you need a break occasionally, we all do, and what better a way than for DH to have a bit of dad and baby bonding time by giving a bottle. So what if supply goes a bit skewy, there are worse things . I'm love feeding dd, genuinely enjoy it, but believe me the nights DH gives her a bottle are like the biggest treat ever for me. One feed off = 2 hours unbroken sleep, 10 fewer crows line and the avoidance of one minor breakdown. Result.

I struggled to get enough food too until I started using the baby carrier in the house - total god send. If you try this tactic you may want to either eat everything tepid or drape a tea towel over his head. DD had her first every taste of shepherds pie yesterday , and last week I actually found ketchup in her ear . Obviously this is not something I tell the health visitors, but between you and me like

Another one with a birth mark here Stormy! Stork mark on the back of her neck, which the midwife assures me is so called because that is where the stork held on to her before dropping her off at my place. Really? Really And there was me thinking the whole baby acquisition process was a h*ll of a lot more complicated than that, and involved considerably more hassle for me. But there you go.... learn something new every day... Strawberry nivus (oh get me, being all posh...) on her stomach too, which is all v exciting as apparently that one will get bigger, then go white and drop off. Wahey.

Right, must go, I have a minor melt down to schedule as apparently the ILs are arriving en mass tomorrow, and I am cooking lunch . Given lunch is a meal normally accompanied by one or both of my boobs hanging out FIL is in for a treat. Not.

Leni happy birthday to you! What a lovely time of year to have a birthday. Magnolias, daffodils, primroses, cherry blossom. How has your day panned out?
Stormy, our baby regularly gets bacon. I can only ever get through solo lunchtimes with her in a sling and she gets all sorts of bonus morsels land on her head and occasionally in her wide open crying mouth ;-) (just seen Worcs you have the same scenario!) Also, great work with the feeds. Sounds like progress for sure. Birthmarks wise we have a little reddish mark (like stork marks on eyes) between the lips and nose and a splodge under the arm. I love them both. I also love her hairy lower back (just like daddy). This probably makes me weird.
Soyo you having a nice time? Pud, how was the posh meal (I tried to go out for solo lunch on Thursday and ended up having to ask for it to take away because DD was squarking and I could feel fellow diners eyes boring into me)? I too have escaped to my Dads. The day after dd arrived he moved into a brand new house with my sister. It is a mansion. We have a guest room and en-suite and my sister has set it up with a cot and all the other paraphanlia babies require. It's like the best boutique hotel. And DH and I are getting fed beautiful food. This has made for a nice, different day. DD however has a very snotty nose that is making her snort like a pig. Chemist suggest saline drips and a snot-sucking device. Nice.

Worcs hope that the IL feeding fest is ok tomorrow. I'm pretty unfussy about who I feed in front of (totally don't care about strangers) but there is something about feeding in front of dads and FIL isn't there? Good luck. Today I fed in the car in the tesco carpark (my sister made me go there :-) ) and a lady literally came up to the car window wanting to ask how old she was and telling me how big her babies were when they were born (30 years ago). People love a baby!
Wishing you all peaceful nights.

Leni, happy birthday, hope it improved!

Eco, I had a complete nightmare here last night. Bubs went at the most 90mins between feeds, wouldn't go down in her basket, wouldn't settle in bed with me, was up for 2.5hrs between 3.45 & 6.15 & had me sobbing and with no ideas what to do and no DH to help. I'm dreading tonight, one transfer fail already. Just no idea what else to try. We've fed (multiple times and nipples are fucking agony), shush patted, sang, rocked, left to cry for a bit and nothing. I'm almost tempted to just take her back home and try to cope completely alone for a week.

Trying not to cry thinking about the night ahead. Wish us luck. Hope you all have a good night.

Oh soyo. Yuck. Really hoping right now you having a better night? As we ourselves waded through the how much day sleep is enough and too little we concluded from the evil books at least three hours and no more than 5.5. Maybe granny had some ideas too and the resulting night is better. Totally understand how you feeling about melt downs away from home. Stick with it a while? Our dd took ages to settle this eve. Things a bit different away from home. Time to attempt our transfer now....

Thanks Eco, first feed here since bed at 11.15 (lots of transfer fails). Fingers crossed we're not up too long because my eyes are glassy!

Hope difficult nights improving for all. While miniPud was a little tricky to settle, he has actually gone for ages without a feed, (I expected him t wake around 12.30) so getting him latched was a bit tricky - good job he's not too phased by the boulders and is prepared to bully his way onto them!

Lunch was ok, but I spent a lot of time flitting between the table and the hall, and was v grateful to my mum for winding him while I grabbed my starter. A lot of time spent with a finger in his mouth to keep him calm bein told that the problem was trapped wind (I know, that doesn't mean you can get it up without triggering his scream fest reflux) but 2 boob feeds and a bottle one way and another, so quite proud of myself, esp as DH wasn't able to join us.

How's it gone SoYo?

Well done pud! DH is off to to Old Trafford this afternoon and as we live not-in-Manchester (that MP who was arrested last night is our MP if you want to work it out...), he'll be gone 12-10 roughly, including going out for a curry afterwards. There's a family afternoon at the school DS will be going to in Sept that DS really wants to go to so I'm going to try taking him. Not looking forward to if DD needs feeding all afternoon (fairly likely) and I have to keep an eye on DS

DD had the nearest thing to a meltdown evening last night when we go back from sIL's. wouldn't take the bottle apart from one ounce so DH got frustrated and she didn't nap from 6 when we got home until she zonked out at 9:20. Even with a nappy change and swaddling she didn't wake for a top up at 10:30 but has slept through till 4:45!! Boulder breasts here! Am in shock.

Still keep forgetting to make a flask of tea for nighttime feeds...

Up again since 5 & was up until 3.15 last time after fsiled transfers. Too tired to type.

Oh SoYo :(

Don't go home alone. Just get others to help where they can to let you sleeeeeep on the daytime. Shows how much our newborns (when do they stop being newborns?!) like their home comforts. Even though they are apparently as their most portable etc at this young age.

I forgot to name check everyone else before - stormy, eco, leni, worsester. It's such a pain as DS takes over my iPad at weekends (we don't let him play on it in the week else we'd never get him off it!) so I'm relagated to my phone and it's harder to keep scrolling up for earlier posts. DD had some cheese dropped on her earlier though I so prefer to battle through meals eating one-handed and often with my left rather than have my meal reheated. DH has even been known to cut up my food like a baby hmm

I'm so relieved the food thing isn't just me... I've also found all manner of morsels hiding in my cleavage after dinner!

Soyo that sounds shit - and is exactly how i often feel doing my solo nights DS is a dream when OH is home yet as soon as I have him on my own he won't soothe at all. Yesterday morning was one of those times (hence my ranty birthday posts), but then when i was about to cry and cancel having friends over we tried him on the dummy again and it magically worked! He was completely calm and had obviously had enough food but just wanted comfort, so once he figured out how to keep it in his mouth he lay under his jungle gym and cooed and wiggled happily for ages

What are the dummy rules? He's only had it whilst awake so is it ok to leave it out for sleep or is that a sids risk?

Just giving him first boob feed since 4pm yesterday when I also pumped, gave myself the night off so my nipples tingled all night in a really strange way - does that mean i've succeeding in upping supply? Hoping my night off won't have messed it up too much anyway.

leni perhaps some experimenting with a small mirror would allow you to see when he's swallowing? And a rucksack may help for getting out and about - rucksack on your back, baby on your front, should balance each other out and stop you toppling over.

worsester you're making me realise how lucky I am, with your praise for two unbroken hours' sleep. Yesterday the man had the morning off, and eventually surfaced at around noon. By two I couldn't keep my eyes open, so I went for a little lie down... Woke up at 6.30 because bathtime always involves screaming, had a smoke and a cuppa and some crisps, then went back to bed at 8pm. Slept right through until the 3am feed and nappy change.

I would say "Surely the in-laws should be taking you out for lunch!" but if lunch involves boobs hanging out perhaps this would not be the best idea.

eco I'm jealous, DD no longer has any adorable furry bits. Except the tops of her ears, weirdly. Snot-sucking devices sound a bit grim. Although less disgusting than realising you've just picked someone else's nose and didn't even remember to be revolted (I speak from experience).

It does amaze me how long some of our babies can stay awake for. The longest mine's ever managed is two hours, and usually an hour and a half is her limit. If she's not in bed she'll just start snoozing wherever she is. There seems to be no way of extending her awake time. Just goes to show, whatever they're doing, it's never quite right for us!

Feeding is still going awesomely well here. No fuss at all, unless she's trying to poo and drink at the same time. Yesterday we only totalled 22oz, but that was mainly because she only had an ounce at the 3am feed. Obviously having some tummy troubles, the man suspected trapped wind. Went straight back to sleep after though, at least. And then woke up at 6am, which is still a stupid time of day even when you've had as much sleep as I have in the past twenty four hours. And Friday was beyond impressive, by this baby's standards - a full twenty seven ounces down her with no complaints.

Leni happy belated birthday! Hope it was a good un in the end. Glad you didn't cancel seeing friends as surely that would have caused extra grumpiness. Did you get a present in the end? Also with the dummies, I think it's inevitable that your DS will wait for the opportune moment, probably when you've just sat down with a cuppa after a feed, to fall asleep with a dummy in. We started using a dummy like you've described and DS still frequently has one after a bottle. There are also times when we know he's getting sleepy when he just will not take the dummy. It's one of those bits of advice that sounds sensible but is so hard to actually put into practice, much like making up all your bottles as and when.

SoYo I hope you manage to get some kip today. Don't decide to go home before you've slept on it. Can I offer (the ever un-Mumsnetty) hugs?

Wing we're also alone today, 10-8 here as DP is off to Wembley. I'm quite happy about it as he's at home til Thursday otherwise and creates a right mess.

Stormy how's DD getting on with the bigger bottles?