December 2013 - sleepless nights & lots of cooing

[Stom91]

Our very first Thread :)

[Alyssa1978]

I don't think dp's sometimes realise how hard it is watching kids while they are at work and we do it all day. Mine doesn't seem to get how hard it is to get the littlest thing done while I have 3 to look after, he's at work and only has them for about an hour before they go to bed and when he does his 2 night shifts he sleeps all day so I have them and works all night do I have the fort to hold down again.

Ds1 starts nursery next week so I have to get 2 buses to his nursery with a huge double buggy and a toddler walking. I tried the new pushchair out yesterday and it does fit in the buses I need but god forbid I ever had to fold it down with 3 kids on my own.......all I get from dp is "it'll be fine"
Yeah you fucking drive so I'd like to see you try it out my way for even a day.

Off to get Lleyton registered today xx

[SupermansGirl]

Just come back from dentist pregnancy has officially ruined my teeth! My poor gums are all puffy and bleeding all the time:(

Would like to ask has anyone else lost their appetite since giving birth? I never get hungry and when I do which is very rare normally at night I don't fancy anything. Im having to false myself to eat.

[Mogz]

Super I think the lack of sleep makes you less hungry, it is certainly having that effect on me. DH is having to remind me to eat as I just keep forgetting. Must try harder to keep fluid levels up too.
Good luck on your bus run with your 3 little ones Alyss and good luck to your ds1 as he starts nursery, how exciting!

[yogafan]

Thanks for sharing thoughts on keeping lo awake during the day - I've come to realise not only is it impossible, it doesn't seem to bear any relation to nighttime sleeping. DD slept solidly all day yesterday, and was pretty much asleep all night. Not that I got any sleep, she woke briefly to feed most hours, it seems, settled quite quickly - as long as she wasn't out down. Does anyone know when this gets easier? When will they start to sleep for longer and be easier to settle and stay settled?!

[13loki]

Just sent off Älfi's citizenship application. So hopefully by the end of the month she won't be stateless anymore. Älfi wouldn't sleep last night until almost 2, she fed almost constantly from 10-2, then slept a whole 3 hours until she wanted feeling again. But she slept from 8:15 to 12, then fed and dozed until we went to get Lola from childminders.

[PinkWitch803]

Just about to go to the docs about Olly's tummy. He is a bit colicky so want to find something that will make my little man happy. It breaks my heart to see him cry whenever he is awake :(

[hotcrossbun83]

Super, I had no appetite for first couple of weeks and was sick a couple of times when people forced food on me. I think it was stress worrying about being responsible for this whole life! It's passed now, I also used to check he was breathing every 2 mins but today he was sleeping in pram so I set up video monitor, propped up screen in the bathroom and had a lovely bath while he slept. I've definitely relaxed a bit.

A bit of hope for all those sleep deprived - ds is 4 weeks today and I think is finally figuring out day an night. Today he was really wide awake most of morning and slept some of evening (dh had him while I slept), 1-4 and 5.30-8. It's not perfect but I can survive on that! We have a new routine where dh has him from 9-12ish and I go to bed, the rest of the night is much easier once I've had those 3 hours and dh gets a good night from 12 onwards. Only possible with bottle feeding of course, if I ever get ds back on boob it'll have to change.

[mumofthreeboysS]

Well tongue tie clinic was worth the visit. She Confirmed my suspicions that he had tongue tie and snipped it, then spent quite a while helping me with the latch and positioning, do I'm hoping it'll help. He's got such octopus hands tho and I've ended up swaddling him tonight just to feed hi but it means he's all warm and too sleepy to feed well- argh!

hot,that's the best method to use- did it with both my other DS's so I could get a decent nights sleep. Not working so great for this one yet- got 2 hours before midnight last night but then only 2-3 Hours the rest of the night as he wouldn't settle well. Hoping now his tongue is snipped he'll feed more efficiently tho it's not looking too good for tonight as he's been feeding so sleepily today.

Was it you who's buying the Cocoonababy? I can't scroll back to see. DH may have come round to the idea now- he often initially says no then thinks about it! Let me know what it's like when you get it- tho I may have ordered it before you get yours. Have you bought the special sheets for it too?

[BohemianRaspberry]

Oliver is 3 weeks tomorrow and we are attempting a 'kind of' routine with him going up to basket at 7-8pm although he has spent most of the day sleeping. He generally sleeps quite well from 11-3 but getting hmi back off at 3-4 is a pain just lately. He at least is giving us some stretches.

His biggest problem is that he is a total guzzler and gives himself chronic evening colic. We're thinking of shares in infacol.

In terms of appetite, BF is making me ravenous and thirsty. I'm downing pints of water and squash hourly and constantly on the lookout for food!

[Blondie276]

Pink witch how did you get on at doctors? I went this morning as infacol does nothing and she's been getting worse. Got told to give cooled boiled water even though breastfeeding. Feel fobbed off to be honest as don't think it'll make any difference. Was told if no better go back next week. Great. So another week of screaming unhappy uncomfortable non sleeping baby! Hope you had a better result!

[hotcrossbun83]

mum yes was me, got it today on click and collect John Lewis to my local waitrose. They were out of stock by have it at the moment. I'll let you how tonight goes, it looks comfy. It comes with one sheet so figured I'll see how it goes before I buy more, he's not a sicky baby and I have a tumble dryer so might get away without spares (but the extra sheets do have gorgeous patterns...)

it is quite a lot bigger than I expected, will just fit in the crib but sides are not as high as they recommend - but I don't see what risk there could be for now, he's strapped into it, it's not like he's going to roll off and fall out. I have a co sleeper so my plan is to start with it next to me in bed then move it a more into crib each night until he ends up fully in crib! What could go wrong? :)

[mumofthreeboysS]

hot well I couldn't wait and have persuaded DH so we ordered it from John Lewis this eve- click as collect for Friday! Let me know how it goes. I'm just praying he'll like it or it'll be a huge waste of money! Tho we didn't buy Moses cot (just borrowed) so haven't spent much on him till now.

bohemian I'm ravenous too tho I think it doesn't help being up all night- my stomach is probably confused between night and day! I'm not really drinking enough tho - oops. Does bf hurt for you any more? I shouldn't have been so hopeful that it wouldn't hurt after him having his tongue snipped- still bloody hurts. Don't know how long I can put up with the pain. Im constantly thinking 'I wish I could just get a bloody bottle and feed him' but at the same time don't want to give up and regret it. I beat myself up about not being able to bf my other two for years.

My nips still feel like they're getting squashed- they come out a bit mishapen- maybe the latch still isn't deep enough?

[Alyssa1978]

We've found if we bath Lleyton before his night feed and put him upstairs in a dark room all swaddled up he sleeps until his next bottle approx 4/5 hours later.
mum I just couldn't cope with the bf night feeds so we switched him to bottles for the night time but I have to admit it makes me lax on the expressing.

[hotcrossbun83]

Mum don't want to speak too soon but ds is currently asleep in it on sofa next to dh, he has never slept anywhere but on us at this time, it's his fussiest. It's good because you can put it on your lap or next to you so must feel better for him than going in pram/cot where he can't see us.

Must admit I've covered mine in a muslin and kept all the packaging, if he hates it after a night or two I reckon I can return it, he won't have touched it apart from belly band. If he loves it, I'll be a bit gutted I didn't just get it at the start, 4weeks of potentially better sleep lost just to spend the money anyway...

[SupermansGirl]

Has anyone given their little one a dummy? I think Delilah is starting to suck for comfort. Not too sure what I should do I dont really know what giving her a dummy will do.

[Blondie276]

I struggled the first few weeks BF as my
Nipples were red raw and bleeding. Turns out my DH was chopping on them and I couldn't break her habit so have managed to continue using nipple shields. Although not ideal they have been a godsend ! Nipples now totally healed and stop her doing any damage. Feeding no longer painful and she is feeding well! ( 1lb over her birth weight at 3 weeks) so worth considering mumofthree?

[PinkWitch803]

Blondie276 I didn't feel much better than you when I left the surgery. The Doc listened to Ollie's bowels and agreed there was movement - great.

She did take me seriously, but still tried to fob me off with "he needs winding after eating, how long do you spend winding?" - as long as it takes, but he gets hysterical with the pain!: "Infacol takes a few days to get into the system, how long have he been taking it?" - two and a half weeks.

She went to her computer and wrote on Ollie's notes, then referred to Dr Google (babycentre) for a list of foods I should avoid. I told her I didn't eat much on that list, but would eliminate the things I have eaten etc.

Anyway, she also recommended giving Ollie chamomile, or peppermint, or fennel/aniseed infusion to help with the winding. Cooled down of course.

I told her I was doubtful, but would give it a go for my baby's sake, but it breaks my heart to see him in such pain of an evening. She told me to try it in a week and come back in a week if there is no improvement. But she could tell I wasn't impressed and told me to call her if I needed to before that.

So now when I feed him, I have to go through the following:

If feeding from my right, massage boob, warm towel/flannel and pump to get flow going
Deal with demanding guzzler
Roll him up to push any old wind in his tummy up
Infacol him
Calm him down before latching
Milk
Herbal tea

However, saying that, this evening, we have had more success in burping him.

supermansgirl We have given Ollie dummies which he takes, but he tends to spit them out. We do use our little finger in his mouth to pacify him and it really calms him down.

[mumofthreeboysS]

hot sounds great- Joshua is like that in the evenings- refuses to settle anywhere but on me or DH so I hoping it'll help. Had to let him fall asleep in our bed tonight then transfer him to his Moses basket.

blondie yeah I should try nipple shields. I'm being stubborn and keep thinking the latch will improve and the pain will ease but it's really getting me down- I'm starting to think sod it I'll just switch to formula...

alyssa so you're giving expressed milk at night? How much do you express to do that? I'm very tempted to try that- I'm also struggling with night feeds.

[PinkWitch803]

mumofthree I also use a nipple sheild on my left as it was very sore following a few bad latches and hey havebeen a saviour. Let down still stings a little, but bfing is quite enjoyabke mostly, except for the permanent milking, but atlleast I am not crying in pain anymore.

As for expressing, I try to express about 4oz, or as much as I can and pop it in the freezer for dp to use for Ollie if I am tired or Ollie is more demanding than usual. Yesterday Ollie latched on well all day and I didn't have any trauma feeding him, so he didn't get any bottles. This morning I am handing Ollie over after his breakfastand DP will ggive him the next feed so I get some sleep.

Ollie is three weeks and so far we've not seen any issues with teet/tit confusion

[Alyssa1978]

mum I have expressed milk in the freezer for during the day so dp can feed him but the use formula on a night as when I tried it after he'd dropped too much weight he was definately more settled and he's not the screaming baby he was at the beginning.

[Alyssa1978]

As long as I express enough during the day then not expressing at night hasn't been an issue so far.
The hv scared me by saying if I didn't express during the night then my milk would dry up but when I tried it for a couple nights I was lucky to get one ounce total out both boobs everytime I did it, I still get more during the day.
I think sometimes it's just whats best for the individual.

[yogafan]

With DD1 I expressed after the first feed of the day - apparently it 's normal to have more milk on the morning. DP would then give that in a bottle at 10 or 11 at night (after I 'd gone to bed after the first evening feed at 8ish). This worked well for us and I was planning to do again. Or tempted to use some formula if baby sleeps for longer having had that...

What is the rolling technique for winding a baby? So far I've only really got over the shoulder pat or massage...

[yogafan]

Also - mum, if your DS has just had tongue tie snipped it will prob take a few days for him to get used to it and for latch/feeding/pain to improve. Good luck!

[FraggleRock77]

Hello everyone. Our DS is just over one week old today (corrected) and 3 months old actual. He was a 29 wk prem baby. I've been hanging out in the prem section but thought that now he is term I should progress to the new born threads. We are moving to Oxford area in Feb, anyone else local? Xx

[mumofthreeboysS]

yoga yeah it probably will take a few days or a week or so for him to improve his latch- the problem is my right nipple is so bruised now I can't let him near it. I almost hit the roof when he latched on it earlier. Bf counsellor suggested expressing off it till it's healed. I'm not sure when to do it tho. She said do it after he feeds off the left but then won't he be waiting 20 mins whilst I do it? Or I suppose I could try and do it before the feed starts. Bit worried it's still going to hurt expressing but I guess I have to stop being a wuss and just do it. I may resort to formula top up tonight as I can't imagine I'll cope well expressing at every feeds in the middle of the night.