March 2013: Smiles, sleep & excellent feeding.....the thread of wishful thinking!

[SoYo]

Well we may as well start the thread on a positive note before the grumbling about the little darlings begins!!!

[Eigmum]

Yep, totally whacked, like the newborn days!

[leniwhite]

Believe me when i'm here there are no cats getting in the room! I love cats and always had them growing up but these are farm cats and the mil isn't a cleaner... There's a lamp by the bed with mud and cat hair all over it and i know the cats do tend to use this room as a toilet because it smells like pee i'm not one of those crazy clean freaks but where my baby is concerned I have to keep him safe no matter who gets offended. Especially as there are animals everywhere and he's still less than 6 weeks old! Last time we were here a cat jumped off the wardrobe on us at 5am, we had no idea it was in there, there's about 5 of them, one was in here as soon as we arrived and OH doesn't close the door.

Going home thursday thank god. Next time hopefully we can stay with my stepdad... If DS was a farm baby it might be different but I just worry his immune system might not be up to it

[worsestershiresauce]

Wise words Stormy - hot food is definitely off the agenda for the foreseeable! She was asleep when I started cooking... but has an innate sixth sense as to when the food is ready.

Right, so help me... I'm waking her, or we'll have to pitch up at the doctors with an empty stomach which is never a smart move.

[plonko]

I'm almost looking forward to some sleepy days. Hope you've put your feet up, Eig!

Stormy We've got the same strategy. The cat's housebound so she needs thundering up the stairs space, but there's no way I'm risking baby hands in the litter tray. The cat's only just started to show an interest in the baby, and as she's a funny breed (part Siamese, part Bengal I think) she's prone to some very strange behaviour.

I think I'm going to have to get all my hair cut off as DS has discovered his hands. Apparently my shoulder length locks are too tempting for him. This means going and talking a complete stranger about my new baby and any upcoming holidays FFS. I hate getting my hair cut.

[ecofreckle]

Wing I think Leni is the least likely of us to have arranged for there to be a cat seat in her hire car! ;-)
Worcs that sounds grim poor love. Hoping that some lovely morning nap time allows you to have a relaxing bath to de-snot. Good luck with jabs.
Stormy thanks for dream feed Info. Sounds straightforward. But am on boob. Anyone out there doing dream feed boob combo? I'm guessing you just get them out and in evil baby whisperer land they just open wide, latch on beautifully, suck in a non wind generating way and then you pop them back to a deep quiet sleep. Sounds great. Hope that's how it works.
Flange (:-)) from pump lost here so dh just ordering more. We'll have lost 17 by the time dd decides to take a bottle.

[StormyBrid]

eco I suspect actually getting the baby out of bed may be required for dream boobs. With a bottle we don't get her out at all, but one's arm ends up a bit knackered from holding the bottle in the cot for twenty minutes. Leaning over sufficiently far to get a boob in position would probably result in permanent spinal damage.

worsester where is she sleeping, when food wakes her up? If she's nearby, could be the smell. We always had that problem when she was in her Moses basket downstairs.

And she's awake early, buggeration!

[leniwhite]

Plonko same hair issue here - I actually started pulling one out of his mouth and realised he'd already swallowed half... Not a nice experience for either of us!

[pudtat]

Not sure if I have dream boob feed weighed off, but I get him out still swaddled and keep lights off etc and don't change nappy, just try to get him to feed to sleepy then gently put back. Wouldn't say he stays asleep but he doesn't properly wake up usually and generally drops off again quite easily.

[StormyBrid]

Sounds suitably dreamy to me, pud, I reckon that counts.

[WingDefence]

Flange!

I wake DS just enough to give her the last feed at night but I've read that a true sleeping dream feed isn't possible due to the harder sucking action reeds as opposed to a bottle? I don't talk to her or really look at her in the night feeds so she doesn't wake up as much although when she's had a really good stretch she does wake up a bit more.

We have a cat (there were two when DS was born) and he NEVER pops in the house - leni your issues sound like problems with your PIL not the poor cat!

[WingDefence]

reeds should have been 'needed with a breast feed due to...'

[Rainbowbabyhope]

leni just google feeding in a moby wrap and there are loads of videos on youtube showing you different ways of nursing in a wrap sling.

[WingDefence]

Looks like a a friend of a baby-wearing friend is going to lend me a nearly-new Kari Me which I've not heard of before but I'll accept it with gratitude!

[worsestershiresauce]

Eigmum - you promised me sleepy!! DD is wakey, windy, wriggly, all of that... but not sleepy.... [wails]

Stormy - you could be on to something, the moses basket was downstairs so perhaps my dinner smelt disgusting enough to wake her. Given she can sleep through her own farts she has some nerve, but just in case I'll try putting her further away from the kitchen.

Right, I have some pacing with a beady eyed baby to do.

[StormyBrid]

Well, they've got good enough noses to be able to smell their own mothers, so frying onions or whatever must be pretty powerful to a baby nose. Or possibly when the sounds of cooking stop, the absence of noise wakes her? I'm just guessing though, they are enigmatic, these small people.

Just been to the clinic, looks like the thrush is cleared up, and she's gained seven ounces since last Wednesday! We'll ignore the fact she had four ounces of milk just before we went, because she'd just had lunch last time too. Woman at the clinic suggested I might try baby sensory classes, or massage classes. Er. No thanks? She's been stuck inside me for nine months, I think there's plenty of sensory experience on offer now in comparison. (Yes, I am a lazy sod and just can't be arsed.)

[WingDefence]

Stormy you can do that all at home. Just google for massage instructions and sensory ideas.

[plonko]

Not sleepy Worsester?! Oh no! Hopefully LO will settle for you soon. We're off in an hr to get DS's done (I hope, seeing I was just summoned by the GP for an 8 week postnatal appt!) and he'd better be sleepy afterwards. He's even having an early bottle in preparation.

Stormy my HV tried the same tactic. I told her that I'm very antisocial just to get her off my case. Well done On the weight gain, sounds like no thrush, blackout blinds, new teats and gaviscon are working a treat!

[WingDefence]

HV just left here. DD now 10lb 1 and has crept up from just below the 50th centile to just above. Spoke about routines when exclusively bfing and she told me to just try to stretch out the gaps between the (starts of) feeds to 4 hours if possible and not to worry about DS waking at night (which I have been), but just to tell him to go back to sleep if he hears his sister crying at all at night.

I won't do anything about it until after the weekend anyway. One of the bonuses about not having a routine at the moment is DD's flexibility ie I don't have to think 'oh DD is due a nap/feed so I can't go out / must make sure I'm able to feed her if I'm on a long journey.
Obviously the upside is I could actually plan a long journey and know when she's likely to need a feed (vis when I got caught out on the way to SIL's on Saturday...).

And can I ask you about contraception please? If I'm bfing I can use condoms no thanks, the mini pill , and perhaps the coil?? What have you all been considering?

[SoYo]

Eco I've got a mental image of you laid across the Moses basket trying to wedge a boob into a sleeping baby's mouth.

Wing I'm having my mirena coil put back in. I've had 2 before & loved them. Nothing to remember to take, less side effects as it works locally so is a tiny hormone dose & before trying to get pregnant I hadn't had a period for 9 years. Can't wait to get it refitted!

[worsestershiresauce]

She is finally sleepy!!!! Yay . I'm not about to start cooking though... oh no, I've learnt my lesson there.

[Rainbowbabyhope]

wing I am very wary of hormone based contraceptive while breastfeeding because it does make its way into breastmilk. Even though they don't think progesterone affects babies I am eager to make sure nothing makes its way in DD's system that isn't naturally supposed to be there or is just unavoidable like vaccinations etc. I have always used condoms as additional protection even when I have been on other contraceptives before and will continue to do so for the rest of my life as I am ultra paranoid (definitely don't want any more children) so for me its no big deal to use them while I am breastfeeding.

[SoYo]

Rainbow there was a biggish study in Sweden that showed on taking blood from babies with mothers on progesterone only contraceptives there was no detectable level of progestogen in their blood as long as started over 6 weeks and that included the depo injections and POP that have much higher metabolised levels of progestogen in the mother than a mirena. Plus it's a large molecule so very small amounts can be transmitted in breastmilk.

Completely understand that some people just don't like the idea of these things though just in case there's something missed in these studies or they then have a problem and can't help thinking it may be down to something they've taken or used.

Miss Madam is having a very unsettled afternoon, think she's a bit overtired but I can't get her to nap. I've had her out in the pram, the sling, fed, rocked, sang to, put down in Moses basket/nest/on bed. Nothing. She'll fall asleep an hour before bedtime and then not sleep when I put her to bed!

[WingDefence]

I've never had the coil the before and have always used them pill. Back in my early 20s I had to try various different versions as I got awful migraines and then another lot made me depressed and lethargic so I could only use '2nd gen' combined pills instead of the more modern brands (I think I was reacting to the artificial hormones used in the 3rd gen pills).

Aaaanyway, to cut a log story short, I am wary of which hormone goes into which type of contraceptive eg I'd be loathe to try the implant or injection because if I reacted badly to the version of the hormones in that type, it'd be more of a pain then just stopping a new pill.

What's the benefit between the IUS (the one with hormones?) and the IUD (the one without - which I'm guessing would be fine for bfing?)? I have looked this up on the NHS website but personal experiences are good to read x

[Rainbowbabyhope]

SoYo thanks for the info - it's hard to know what to do sometimes even when there are studies out there which are reassuring. I think it comes from having experienced being the tiny percentage of people for whom something goes wrong when DD1 died - makes me wary of doing anything with even the possibility of any tiny risk when it comes to DD2 although I am generally a very relaxed person.

[SoYo]

Completely understand Rainbow, that would change your outlook & perspective on everything forever.

Wing the IUD has no hormones, lasts 4-7yrs (depending on type), works by making the uterus a hostile environment for sperm but has a 1-3% failure rate and can make your periods much heavier. IUS is progesterone only, makes 97% of people's periods lighter and shorter (40% stop completely) but can be irregular for first 3-6months. Rare side effects (less than 10% of people) are lower libido & spots, old progesterone contraceptives caused weight gain but a big study done on implant and mirena showed none I'd you didn't eat more (makes sense!). It's the quickest hormonal form for fertility returning after removal and lasts 5yrs. As a contraceptive it's 99.97% effective (better than sterilisation). I found the first fitting really painful for 48hrs but second one was fine and I was 19 for first one. If you're worried you wouldn't get on with it maybe try cerazette (the progesterone only pill with lowest side effects). This has less of an effect on periods & slightly more side effects but is obviously easier to stop & if you get on with that you should be fine with mirena or implant. The only progesterone one I wouldn't recommend is the drop injections as it has a much higher side effect rate & can make your periods very irregular.

That was a very long post but quite nice to use my work brain for 5mins!