JULY 2014 - WE HAVE BABIES

[justhayley]

Well it's only mid June but I hear we have our first July 2014 baby - congratulations MrsC, also hear there is one going to be joining us very very soon so thought it was time to start a postnatal thread! Wow can you believe it's that time already!!!

I hope to be joining you on this thread in the next few weeks - have no desire to get to 40 /42 weeks in this heat thank you.

For now congratulations new mummies xxx

[AuntieMaggie]

mummy DS is like that sometimes and especially was during the first week - was pushing me away with hands and feet while trying to get at my nipple. I just need to be a bit forceful getting him on but he's happy once he is. We used to joke (me and mws) that he liked an audience as the first few days I had to get the mws to help as I was afraid of hurting him.

ismarah I've got no idea how to dress anymore either - wasn't expecting to have lost so much weight after 3 weeks as well as trying to dress for easy boob access and this heat!

[AuntieMaggie]

coco well done on your solo trip. I've done a couple but have avoided any where I need to use the buggy as I struggle to get the damn frame to fold!

[MrsA2]

Ismarah and Auntie I'm with you too on nothing to wear. I still have a belly (11 days since DD was born) but before pregnancy I had a flat tummy shame about my big bum so all of my clothes emphasise the wrong thing and also the maternity ones show off rather than disguise bumps.

Post-CS the midwife explained the belly will last longer than a vaginal birth, not sure whether she was just being kind though.

Mix in trying to find something coo and that gives bf access and I have about two tops and one skirt I feel comfortable wearing out the house.

[ItsAlwaysBetterOnHoliday]

Sleep deprivation and cluster feeding plus midwife/hv appointments are making it tough for me to keep up with both our threads!

Hope everyone's having an OK day. I too have no idea what to wear. I have one nursing top which is too hot to wear in this heat and have resorted to layered vest tops. My maternity clothes are easiest for boob access but look faintly ridiculous as I've been lucky enough to go nearly back down to my original size (with a jelly belly!). I'm just giving up on looking nice for the moment!

Luckily all the cluster feeding appears to be paying off as DS is over his birth weight. Hope it stays that way. After another 3 hour feeding session in the early hours I was worried my supply wasn't enough!

mummy DS does exactly the same. I find it hard to deal with sometimes - sometimes just putting him down for a few seconds seems to help, or the health visitor today thought it was probably wind, and burping him does seem to help a lot.

[coco808]

mummy my DS has been doing the same when he has bad wind. I tend to just lay him on his tummy for a bfew mins and that seem to help

ickle I too experienced empty breast this morning which was quite disconcerting. I'm hoping the supply will increase.

[ismarah]

This evening I have the opposite of an empty boob - it's so full it's starting to hurt and bean, the little tinker, is fast asleep and not up for helping me out. Harrumph.

As I have mentioned I'm rather well endowed and having milk in is NOT helping so when I do BF there's no way to be discreet about it - my tits are significantly larger than her head. So I've not even bothered layering vests - I just yank the whole side down. But then I've also no balls plans to BF in public at this point.

Oddly, my clothes problem is mostly mental, I think. My pre-pregnancy clothes fit just fine (ok, maybe not my jeans) but in this heat I'm a bit lost. The school gate taunt to bean will be along 'your mum's an emo' - black always goes with everything in my view but where we are is a bit floral and pastel. I grant you, black isn't the most comfortable in this heat. Drat.

[icklekid]

Well ismarah got my first leaky boob today after empty yesterday. Also when trying to get ds to latch on little shoot of milk came out! Like mini water pistols. Dh found this hilarious!

its I'm mainly back to normal size with a bit extra on my tummy - is tricky to find breastfeeding friendly but fitting clothes. Got some nice nursing t shirt style tops from h&m which are fab

[ismarah]

I sprang a leak too - took me stupidly long to figure out what is was.

Walked into town this morning with bean and timed it perfectly as there's now a massive thunderstorm over us. Thankfully bean is asleep as I have the scaredy dog on top of me instead.

[MrsA2]

Ismarah and Ickle, I have SO much leaking, thank god for breast pads and regularly the water pistol starts from one or the other - particularly if DD latches but then pulls off. Poor baby, I think I must have a very forceful letdown as we can both get soaked during feeds!

[icklekid]

Yes mrsa I like the reusable washable breast pads- stay in position better and softer!

Well for 2 nights in a row we have done 11pm,3pm,5.30pm feeds which is amazing feel loke I've had decent amount of sleep! Fingers crossed this is a routine we can keep up! How is everyone else doing at nights?

[ismarah]

Ickle we've also done those same times for the last two nights - it's awesome! Sleep!

I feel like I don't have much of a let down. I feel the relief afterwards if my breasts are very full but not really during. And bean is always frantic for more more more when on the breast - she's only satisfied after a top up.

I'm aiming to get past the 6w checkup and then I'll probably stop BF. I don't enjoy fighting with her to get her to latch when she's frantic and it doesn't seem to do much for her to be honest. She can have skin to skin and cuddles as part of or separate to FF anyway and that seems to be the thig she enjoys more than the BF itself.

[icklekid]

Ismqrah so pleased your little one is also behaving at night. I'm the same without much of a let down. Luckily he seems to be satisfied with just breastfeeding and other than when really tired can latch well, if your not enjoying it though agree you shouldn't push it too long not good for your mental wellbeing.

[ismarah]

She latches fine - it's the hungry frantic fighting that I find frustrating. I spend 45 mins this morning with her on one breast and by the end she was only slightly less frantic than she was at the start. It's like she's aware she's small and is determined to catch up as quickly as possible.

We got a gift from friends today. After 8 miscarriages over 4 years, one after 12w and one found at 20w, they've stopped trying. So today they gave us the bits and pieces they had gathered through their ordeal. The sweetest gift but so so emotional to receive.

[teaandkittens]

Hi everyone, hope you don't mind me dropping in?

I just gave birth to my first baby on Tuesday! She is beautiful. I am doing ok so far- had a cs so v sore but dh is wonderful and dd sleeps and feeds well so far (she was a whopper- 9lb2!)

Very confused and overwhelmed by the whole looking after a newborn thing- I'm just kind of making it up as I go along so would be great to join this thread and check I'm not completely making a mess of things.

Congrats to all of you on your new babies

[elliejjtiny]

ismarah I did lots of skin to skin with DS4, who was bottlefed. I found it nicer than doing it while feeding like I did with my older 3 boys, more relaxing. So with DS5 I do skin to skin snuggles after feeds.

Congratulations tea. I sympathise with the post C-section pain, worse than labour I think.

[ismarah]

Welcome Tea!

I also had a C section and as soon as the stitches are out you'll start to feel much better. Keep on top of your pain medication and don't overdo it and you'll be surprised at how quickly you bounce back.

Ellie I agree about skin to skin on its own vs during BF. One is a cuddle done on purpose, the other a byproduct of something else. BF can be lovely but it's obviously not the only way to interact with baby.

[icklekid]

Welcome tea hope you are recovering well and glad to hear dh is taking good care of you! I think most of us are making it up as we go along but call it being baby led

Any one able to offer any advice on coping when dh goes back to work on mon? What's the hardest part! What won't I have thought of? Mum coming up tue/wed but want to be coping really!

[ItsAlwaysBetterOnHoliday]

Congratulations snow and hello tea!

Sleep (lovely lovely sleep..) - the last couple of nights, like others, DS has fed around 11pm, 2am and 5am which seems actually manageable. Although this morning between 7 and 9 he was making lots of squeaky noises in his sleep which kept waking me up to see if he was OK!

ickle my DH goes back to work tomorrow too and I'm dreading it! I've started to look up what parent/baby activities there are nearby so I have options for doing things. There's a meetup at the cafe at the end of our road on Mondays so that will be my first port of call. Bit scared about all the other things like having a shower and getting dressed though! Plus DS is getting bouts of really painful wind in the afternoons and evenings which mean he screams for about an hour or more - not looking forward to being

[ItsAlwaysBetterOnHoliday]

... On my own with him when he's like that. Which reminds me, has anyone tried Infacol? The health visitor mentioned it as a possibility and I wondered how others had got on with it.

[ItsAlwaysBetterOnHoliday]

Oh and tea I totally feel like I'm making up as I go along! :)

[ismarah]

We've used infacol - it does seem to reduce the screaming a bit. It's tricky though - do you use it for every feed or just the ones around the usual screaming time?

DH, to me last night at 5am when I'd finished a feed and bean was still frantic: 'well why don't you jut feed her?' As if I hadn't thought of that. I snapped. Am now having breakfast in bed, while he avoida me. Sigh. We were doing so well.

[ItsAlwaysBetterOnHoliday]

ismarah yup, we've had a couple of snappy moments like that. sigh

May pick up some infracol in the week then!

[teaandkittens]

Thanks for the welcomes!

Snow, my dd is 5 days today and is a dream baby- feeds, sleeps, repeats, with lots of contented cuddles in between. Midwife came this morning and I said I was worried it wouldn't last- it all seems a bit easy (I am tempting fate here big time)

Are newborns just easier in the first week or so before it all descends into sleepless nights and constant crying?!

And icklekid- I love your use of "baby led" to describe "making it up"...definitely pulling that one out at some point