It's April 2013, the time is now & HERE ARE OUR BABIES!

[toobreathless]

Our first post natal thread!

Cooking & Cleaning can wait till tomorrow
for children grow up we've learnt to our sorrow
So wipe away cobwebs and dust go to sleep
I'm cuddling my baby cause babies don't keep!

A thread to celebrate the highs of life with a gorgeous newborn and the lows of sleepless nights, stitches, feeding traumas & Baby blues.

Essex ah the witching hour [s], it might help cluster feed to settle him, it's usually what I find with W. DD used to have colic about that time as well, found a massage and some cycling of legs helped get the wind through and she settled better. TBH she never settled until 10ish when we'd go upstairs and do the low lights/quiet thing.

W seems to be suffering with silent reflux, though he doesn't show all the classic signs. Everyone is telling me it's too early to diagnose, DD never had it, but he seems to really struggle keeping his feed down afterwards, unless he's propped up for at least 10 minutes before burping, and even then that doesn't often help.

Earlier he had a big feed and he puked it back up rather quickly, it was a lot too and he'd drained most of that boob, so had to swap him over, which will interfere with my supply... poor lad.

DD has a stinking cold and I'm hoping we both keep it away from us. She came in bed with us last night and W was wanting boob every hour, but only taking a little bit, which was exhausting. I had an hour nap this afternoon whilst DD and MiL popped to the park. DH went to bed at 8pm so he can catch up on sleep.

Ellieswellies yes I was active on the Dec 2010 board :) having to consult the books on some techniques for DD, she's lovely but needs a few rules methinks, she has a routine but thinking a rules/reward chart may help. But she is so so good with Wilf and very protective, she told my parents tonight, 'You can't take my baby' and she tells them if they've had to many cuddles and they need to give him back to mummy.

HV came yesterday, still the same woman I saw with DD, it was a nightmare again, she is just rather dithery and can't give a straight answer. She gave me lots and lots of leaflets, explaining them as she goes, including ones on smoking... which we have never done. About 90% of the leaflets were completely irrelevant and she sees me weekly when I help out at the NCT group and still felt she had to give me a leaflet about the group. She had a big bag with the leaflets in that she was selecting.

Sorry thought I had updated something, somewhere

I had a baby boy on 14.4.13 by EMCS, weight 7lbs 4oz, he is doing very well now, weighed on day 24 and was 9lbs 8oz. He is the image of older brother!

Breastfeeding is going well, but tiring. I can't find my expressing machine though, and had a look at buying a new one and they are so expensive! I've put it away somewhere safe....

I'm loving the newborn snuggles and sit for hours with him lying on my chest. I don't care if I'm making a rod for my own back

I lurk quite regularly but am usually so tired I am afraid of posting a load of gibberish......

A quick question - was anybody else induced with propess? Would like to hear from you if you were......

Essex - I second the suggestion. Of cluster feeding. It takes up time but is better than crying I think. Just keep offering food during the pre-bed period, maybe from 5pm onwards interspersed with a v loose bedtime 'routine'. DS is 7 weeks and we've been doing this for a week or two. I cluster feed, we bath him every other night, massage, 'jammies' on etc. I think he's starting to at least get what's meant to go on! He's down at around 8.30 and goes through til 1ish.

Cheese - I had propess but it completely failed to do anything at all. I had another type of pessary then moved to caesar.

Essex - the other thing I'd say is to check he is sleeping enough in the day time. DS definitely wasn't previously - a couple if short cat naps. I now make sure that if he is not napping I take him out in the pram for a long walk, drive him round or put him in the sling to make sure he is sleeping. Apparently 4-5 hours is normal and although all babies are different if they are getting significantly less it can lead to chronic overtiredness and difficulty getting off at night. Just a thought.

Hello again ladies :)
We are two weeks in here, and while I've been checking daily this is my first chance to update. We have had our ups and downs in the last fortnight, and I know there is still a long way to go, but it ever so slowly feels like we are all starting to find our feet and get to know each other. I am feeling more confident (most of the time) about breastfeeding but am not very good at calming the wee man down in any other way as I get too anxious - dreading DH going back to work as he is so good with him.

cheese I had the pessary - gave me 15 hours of "ouch" contractions which did nothing to my cervix, then when they got worried about how fast those contractions were coming and removed the pessary/planned to give me something to slow them down I went from a posterior cervix 0cm dilated to delivering DS in less than 2 hours. Not a great experience but alls well that ends well.

W has woken with DD's cold poor chap is full of snot.

Anyone know when they can take calpol? I've got some saline spray to help with the stuffiness and some snuffle babes balm (a gentler Vicks).

He slept better last night, giving me 3 hours between feeds.

Kelle I don't think you can give calpol before two months old. Try steaming baby W, putting him in bathroom when you have a bath/shower etc so that any mucus gets loosened etc. it's a horrible age to get a cold. Keep an eye on temp and plenty of fluids?

My csection incision is really painful, I'm on my second round of antibiotics as I have an infection, the infected area is tiny about 2mm but that bit is where I get the stabbing pain.y stomach feels gross, this is my first section but have two abdominal surgeries before due to endo so I will never be flat-tummied again, but I look and feel like m&s blobby at the moment ??

Essex I'd second the sleeping enough during day, as soon as baby gets too tired we seem to enter an evil circle of fussiness & not sleeping.

My scar seems ok, still oozy but I have antibiotics & doctor thinks we caught the infection early enough to resolve fast.

I put baby on bed last night, just for a second while I picked my phone up, I was standing next to her, but OH rolled over & she got a (quite heavy) foot to the face , she cried right away afterwards, for a few minutes then fed & seems fine but nothing could have prepared me for the guilt. I stayed awake rest of night just checking on her, feel terrible over it.

aw Cheese sorry to see you have infected scar too, I was amazed at how painful it got so quickly, you have my sympathy!

Morning everyone!

Eugh, after a few reasonable nights (and some over cockiness!) baby E has been a lot of a pain for the last 3 nights! She's not really settling into her Moses basket for longer than about 40 minutes, even when she's fast asleep on us, and is often awake as soon as I put her down... I know she's not starving, as she's still feeding well, and I can manage to get her to sleep for a couple of hours if I bring her into bed with me (not a good long term solution as we're not really set up for co-sleeping...

At least she's consistently needing fed at about 10.30pm, so I do have the option of DH giving her a bottle, so that I can go to bed early... But I'd rather see if she'll sort herself out tonight. I'm really not certain I can face

Blinking phone! Not certain I can face pumping, and I confess to being swayed by all the arguments of exclusively breastfeeding (not that one bottle a day of formula damaged DS, so maybe I should just bite the bullet and see if a late night bottle of formula helps me and/or E sleep better... Hmmm, will consider today...

Sorry, very me, me, me message, been a few days of pity party here...

Empress as always you are in my thoughts. Hope Sam continues to thrive despite his tragic illness.

Mama you are truly inspirational to cope with your 3 children, with partial paralysis! Was it the Pregnancy that caused the paralysis?

To everyone else struggling with the more mundane matters of sleep deprivation and feeding issues - one day at a time, one day at a time!!!!

Lots going on in here!

cheese sorry you're suffering. I hope the belly troubles settle down.

user I bumped Faithlet's head against a wicker basket I keep all her change stuff in last night and it left a mark and she screamed! Feel really guilty!

You have my sympathies amber. It took me hours to settle Faithlet last night! I got so tired my rationality went out the window! I've been expressing enough for one 80-100ml bottle a day which DH gives her in the evening. Yesterday I only managed 50ml and I noticed a difference to how quickly she settled. It's worth trying to express if you can but either way a bottle of EBM/Formula might help with settling.

Kelle I think calpol is 3 months. You can get snuffle baby and put it on a bib near the cot/Moses basket. It's a bit like baby Vicks.

Essex are you offering a bath as well? once they get used to it it's quite relaxing and cues them into bedtime. We've learnt Faithlet won't enjoy the bath unless she's pretty full though!

I'm just really struggling with her 5am wake up. Last night she slept from 10-2.30, fed for a while, settled ok (I confess with a dummy!) but she wakes at 5 every morning without fail, fed for 1 1//2 hours and fusses when put down! In the end I kept her in with me. I think I need to get a sheet/blanket to make co-sleeping a safer option (I have a duvet) because sometimes it's the only way she'll settle. I found it hard to stay awake in that period. I wonder if its too bright and its waking her. I've got blackout material I'm going to put up overnight to see if that helps.

amberlav - I'm in a similar situation re: feeding. DH would like to do a bottle feed a day, and it might give me a break- but I just don't want to rock the boat! I love feeding peter, hate the idea that a bottle could affect my supply / his willingness to take the breast.

I got all my expressing stuff sterilised last night ready to have a go this morning, but I just couldn't sleep thinking about it last night. Peter is only 20 days old, there's no hurry , I know him taking a bottle would help in the future if I wanted to leave him for a bit. Bit frankly, I think I'll be happy to be glued to him for atleast 6 months!

So pleased I can finally move over to this board now as DD was born Monday, May 6th at 2:45pm.

The birth didn't go as planned: induced then forceps in theatre (had SPD badly throughout pregnancy) followed by a big bleed and infection. But would do it all again in an instant as I'm completely besotted with her.

Stayed in hospital longer than anticipated due to infection and now I am struggling with what my midwife calls "the worst case of piles she's ever seen". I can barely walk and sitting down is a nightmare.

However, it's a small price to pay for my gorgeous little girl! I'm so in love!

Congratulations ollibob hope you feel better soon!

faith we've swapped to blankets so I can have baby in with me. Initially it was just going to be after the 3am feed, but the last 2 nights she's been in all night. We're both sleeping so much better :)

Oh and welcome to the otherside ollibobs & cheese!

Olli feel better soon! Welcome to the other side! Xxx

olli you have my sympathy - good dose of piles to go with my 3rd degree tear .

Wishful know what you mean about expressing. I feel the same. I tried DS on a bottle of ebm at 5 weeks which he took but haven't got into the swing of it and worrying I'll miss the chance. At the same time I don't really want anyone else to feed him!

My lactation consultant said it won't affect supply provided you broadly pump something for every bottle you give. So, if giving an evening bottle at 11pm make sure you have pumped that evening or over time your evening supply could drop. Obv for once in a blue moon to go out it doesn't matter so much, but if a bottle was a regular feature your overall supply could reduce.

Congrats oli!

Question about colic- Peter is a fairly settled baby- cries a bit- but he's a baby, so I expect that!

We've had a couple of evenings- tonight is one of them- where he just squalks all evening- nothing we do can settle him- and last night in bed he was making a lot of trapped wind / grunty noises. He's settled with me now- though DH was getting upset with his crying earlier on- frustrated that he couldn't settle him.

Do you think this sounds like colic? Mild colic? Should I give him something like infacol? Or just persevere. I'd rather avoid unnecessary medication if I can help it.
X

So to be 'mememe' but oh my gosh - anyone else's babies cluster feeding reguarly?!
BabyCandy needs to be on the boob for about 2hrs mornings & 5hrs in the evenings, that's on top of regular feeds.
The longest she goes without is 1 x 4 hrs at night.

Can I feed her too much?!
She obviously wants it as she cries and makes 'food face', but she's vomiting/ posseting loads like she's over full? She's also quite gassy. Poops are very frequent, orange/yellow and grainy. She's getting a sore bum as I'm having to change her so often!!

Any advice ladies?

wishful I'm no expert but are you burping him during feeds?
We used infacol for a couple of weeks before reading an article that says it's a placebo. I'll try and hunt it out...

wishful I think with colic the crying is for at least 3 hours in a day... Faithlet was very windy and unsettled a lot. Lots of straining but no poo, only to have a (normal, not constipated) bowel movement later. She's also sick a fair bit, lots of hiccoughs and hates going straight down after feeds which made us wonder if she had a bit of reflux (not severe or anything). We started giving her infacol before most feeds and she's much better. Less gassy and less disgruntled! I'd say its worth a try - its suitable from birth.

Well I'm all set up with sheet and blanket so that if we need to co-sleep at all tonight we can!