September 2006 babies

[Lysettes]

Start of our september 2006 post natal thread!

Welcome to the thread AngeandLuka - look forward to chatting
Just to add to the bottle/breast issue. We're mostly breast feeding with one top up of formula in the evening. This was to give me a break and let dh do his bit. I tried to express with ds but never managed it so didn't bother buying a breast pump this time (last time I borrowed one). We've just introduced a second bottle in the evening as I was feeding all evening and wasn't sure if dd was hungry. So last night she had breast at 8pm, bottle at 8.30am, bottle at 1.30am when she woke and breast at 5.30am. Dh did both the bottles and I went to bed at 9pm so was fine getting up for the day at 5.30am Initially I thought about giving up at 6 weeks (this Thursday) but I've decided to try to carry on until 3 months. Ds was only breast fed for 5 weeks so we're well used to the sterilising and making up bottles and to be honest I find giving the bottle easier than breast feeding as at least I know she can't be hungry afterwards and I find it easier when in public too (hate the slurping noises and at the moment her nose is still blocked up so it's worse!!). Can't wait to have my body back and burn my feeding bras

liquidclocks - when do you do your expressing? will i need to express at the same times as i would normally give a feed? i'm happy to do BF for the middle of the night feed but would love to give him express milk from a bottle the rest of the time (not least because my nipples are agony when he sucks - he has a jaw like a car clamp), but don't fancy expressing 5 times a day...

AngeandLuka - just read this bit and not the bit below if you're still trying to be positive about BF! () - I express up to 3 times a day and do both sides - once at around 9am, then 2pm then mid evening. I generally get 2 'feeds' worth each time though occaisionally I find I need to supplement a EBM feed with a BF. I also do 2 'proper BFs - middle of the night and breakfast. Also if you're nipples are still really hurting you should get your latch rechecked by an NCT/la leche counsellor because by now unless there's something wrong it shouldn't be 'agony' I don't think.

Spanner in the works for me at the moment - it suddenly started REALLY hurting again yesterday (after a few days of being 'quite' painful again) and I noticed poor little DS2 has thrush in his mouth. So I questioned the wisdom of MN and they all said the thrush may have spread to breasts and to go seek medical help. Cutting a long story short (see other thread for details if you like NHS-bashing) doctor Bl*^dy useless, midwife tried to be helpful but not insured to treat us now we're outpatients and ended up in boots chemist pharmacy where the pharmacist was extra helpful and very sensible. Now have daktarin gel for baby and breasts so fingers crossed pain should subside and DS2's mouth will improve. Arrgggh - not the way I wanted to spend Sunday morning!

Pol - I'm such a dork; thought you were talking about the flu vaccine guess it's on my mind these days ... thankfully DS1 did get his. Still waiting for mine.

AngeandLuka - Welcome to the thread!

BF-FF has to be your decision and work best for you. You may be looking for support to continue with BF, or conversely you may be looking for "permission" from other Moms to quit. Although I understand the benefits of BF, I have a different story than Liquid's. BF did not work for me. Pumping did not work for me. IMHO having a newborn was hard enough without having to worry about even larger breasts (Cs normally), leaking, eating correctly, avoiding certain medications, dealing with the pain of his latching on, and back pain from slouching while BF. I am so thankful that I'm not BF right now; that's my honest take on my personal situation. With a microwave sterilizer, bottled water and powdered formula at the ready, I would say FF is easier than BF for the first 3 months. After that, BF probably becomes much easier than FF.

Long-term pitfalls of FF for the infant include increased risk of obesity, increased food allergies, decreased immunity. and an approx. 900 GBP price tag (FF for 1 year). I have never been able to find hard figures on immunity, and DH (FF), doesn't get sick whereas I (BF) do all the time, so I suppose it's all relative. Food allergies don't run in our family, and I would hope that DH & I are setting a good enough example that obesity won't either. The price is disconcerting. I figured it out earlier this week, just to see. If you are worried about any of the above you should not quit BF right now.

Liquid - I am so sorry to hear about the migraines cutting into your BF. Hope your next few weeks are migraine-free and the situation resolves itself; fingers crossed for you.

This is what we're doing and I have felt a bit sleep-deprived, as has DH, but nothing like what we tried with DS1 as an infant:
After DS1 goes to bed at 8:00, I go to bed at 8:30 pm upstairs on the sofa bed, co-sleeper by its side, white noisemaker on (so I only hear when baby needs to be fed & not much else). DH keeps baby downstairs to do 11:00 pm feeding, then brings him upstairs around midnight without waking me and goes downstairs to sleep in our bed. I give baby the 2-3 am feeding, fall back asleep, and then do the 5-6 am feeding, after which I'm up for the day, and can get DS1 when he wakes at 7:00, which is the time DH also wakes to get ready for work. So DH gets 6.5-7 hours sleep per night, and so do I (with the option of going to bed even earlier if I'm tired enough). Weekends we alternate getting full night's sleep. Just miss sleeping in same bed as DH (it's also a more comfortable one).

Thankks for the sympathy Marls - and so pleased to hear that FF is going so well for you - used to drive me nuts! Hopefully Jameson will start sleeping longer at night soon so you can snuggle back up with your DH!

I'm feeling rather this morning with my DH and his halo has definitely slipped. For the past few nights I've had to work really hard to get enough milk expressed for the night feed as on friday DH 'accidentally' pured a bottle of EBM down the sink () and yesterday because of all the fuss with the thrush and having to do a full feed in front of a midwife the EBM I'd put in the change bag went off and I had to play catch up. Anyway, turns out he 'can't be bothered' to make sure DS takes a full feed n the night and has only been feeding him until he's drowsy enough to lay back down again - NO effin wonder he's still waking twice in the night then is it??!!! - he's perfectly big enough just to managing the once and there'sme wondering what's going wrong when he's waking up hungry only an hour after DH has supposedly fed him!!! So now DH has refused to do anymore night feeds as apparently I'm being too fussy - for crying out loud it's him that wants DS in a routine and he'sthe one that can't be arsed making the effort - I'm getting deja vu as this is exactly what happened when I was trying to get DS1 into a routine. Anyway, feeling this morning like saying sod it, I'll BF for as long as I like if he cant be arsed to meet me half way - and so what if it means he has to help a bit more on the odd day! GRRRRR!!!

Sorry for ranting, will try and calm down now, trip to the playground might be the ticket!

Hope you all had a better night!

I'm new to this is 6.5 weeks. bf going well and v happy .To Coriander73, ds has gained 3lb 10oz since birth so I can relate to the sleep deprived monster eating sessions!. thankfully they are down to three hourly now. Yours?? Anyone got advice on starting bedtime routine. I have dd age 8 so evenings are hectic and lively!

Liquid at your dh and sympathy for you.
I haven't the energy to catch up at the mo so I'll just stick with recent topics. My dr wants to put me back on some meds I was on before I was pg and he said 'We'll give it until your dd is 6 weeks then she will have had all of the benefit from breast feeding and you can switch to formula content that you have done the right thing.' So don't feel bad if you want to give up breast feeding and my dr is adament there is no benifit after 6 weeks. I however am really loving this time round and will be to give up. After the fiasco that was breast feeding ds, dd is a dream.
Take care x

I'm a bit of all these babies gaining so much weight, dd still hadn't regained her birthweight last week (was only 7lbs 8 ozs bless her) but at least I'm missing out on the feeding marathons

I'm a bit of all these babies gaining so much weight, dd still hadn't regained her birthweight last week (was only 7lbs 8 ozs bless her) but at least I'm missing out on the feeding marathons

Welcome cruisemum1! Hmm..DS is more or less every 3 hours although in the evenings i.e from 4pm onwards he can eat every hour & half which is just knackering as well you must know! Will get him weighed prob on Friday but am sure he's in the 11lb range now & just 5 weeks! We put him to bed in his Grobag tonight for the first time....can't believe it really...he's not such a newborn anymore

calvemjoe - that's really reassuring what your gp said, hope he's right
We're definitely not in a 3 hourly routine. The days go to pot as dd sleeps when we're out and about and then I have to wake her to feed if it's been over 3 hours. But at home she gets over tired or is just very hungry so it's often much sooner than every 3 hours. Nights are usually feed at 8pmish, 1amish and 5amish give or take an hour each time iyswim.

i've missed so much in just a few days!

don't know if the vaccine thing is over and done with but jacob is having all the vaccines - had his second lot a couple of weeks ago and due for the last lot of these on 6th november.

weighed today and he's over 10lb! I'm so proud of him!

and he's sleeping for longer - managed 7 hours in one stretch last night, and slept through all the loud fireworks bless him!

o'h and talking poo - we are roughly every day, but sometimes twice a day and todays was the first day since saturday evening, so it can be very up and down!

Hey coriander73, that's exactly like my ds! Evenings are really 'breastfests' for my boy! I dunno if it is for comfort or 'stocking up' for the night. what you doing about nighttime routine anyone?

Had a good chat with DH this evening over a bottle of wine and a nice meal (cooked by him!). We're going to make a bit more of an effort and I had achat about his attitude to DS2 - for some reason he thoought he was 'needy' ?!! ANyway, I'm doing the early feed tonight as a one off and we're going to work at cutting out the second night feed so then we can take it in turns and at least one of us can get a full night 3/4 times a week!

Have to say breastfeeding thrush is SO painful! Why don't they warn you about these things before you have the baby??? If any of you notice any white patches in your LO's mouths get them checked out immediately - don't wait like I did! HV came today and said should clear up in 2/3 days so hopefull pain-free BF isn't that far away...

Calvemjoe - I'm hoping a lot of the benefit of BF has happened by 6 weeks but feel it would just be so much more convenient to be able to carry on - fingers crossed! Hope your DD starts putting a bit of weight on soon, it's so reassuring when they do. Hv didn't even want to weigh DS2 today - she said she could just see that he'd grown and was thriving so no worries

Oh how rude of me - hi Cruisemum, welcome! Routines dodgy subject on MN at the moment but a few of us are using one we can't talk about but another good book is 'the baby whisperer' so I've heard. In our house we just do quiet wind-down time from 6-7 for baby and then he goes in his room to sleep and then 7-7.30 is DS1's special time when he gets milk and a story (he's nearly 2). Bedtime routines are tricky IMO but we just try and keep it consistant so they learn that the same thing happens each night and eventually they cotton on that those things happen before sleep-time.

So pleased this morning I just had to come and tell you all! I did the feed at 3.15am last night and made sure LO took the whole 4oz and hey presto! - he slept unti 6.52am!

Hope it happens again tonight but at least we know he can do it now!

Hello,
Liquid - that's great that DS2 slept a bit longer and hopefully you got some more sleep.

Last night my DS did 7:30pm, 12:00am, 3:30am and 5:30am. That's pretty typical for him. Had a more difficult day yesterday and DS was crying a lot. I think it was wind again, he kept really straining and grunting all day until finally in the evening, he had a marathon farting session! My attempts at winding him during the day didn't seem to help at all.

Hi everyone,
I feel like I should reintroduce myself as it's been so long since I posted.

I hope all your LOs are thriving and that you're all enjoying it or at least surviving it!

It's been very difficult my end as DS still doesn't nap and still wont go to bed at night. Lizzie is doing well though and has started to smile which as you all know helps you to see it as all worth it. She goes down at 7pm and wakes around 3 then around 6.30 so much better than I was expecting after a son who woke every hour on the hour!

Anyway, not sure when I'll next get on but I'll try and stay in touch.

Hi all
it's a few days since I managed to get on - like Homemama, I thnink I'll have to just pop in as and when I can.
Well done with the feeding Liquid.
Well Freddie was weighed on friday and is 12lb 7oz. he can do a 6 or 7 hour stretch, which takes us usually to between 4 and 5 am before he needs to feed, the only time he doesn't do this now (last night as an example!) is when he is havoing a growth spurt I think, he is coming up to 6 weeks so that's about right I think.
We are having real trauma's with DS, he is normally very clingy with DH anyway, but since DS2's birth, he's been like a limpet, and constantly whining, tantruming and having screaming fits. It is making evenings and weekends, when DH is at home, quite difficult, also his two back molars are just cutting through the gum and we've all had colds, I really do feel for him and am trying to make allowances, but sometimes, you have to draw the line don't you - please tell me it isn't just me that's having these problems??!

Hi All - especially to Liquid! Not been able to get on the last few days - had mum and dad over at the weekend and DH was off work yesterday. I am confused and was wondering if anyone else has had the same as me.....sometimes DD doesn't take her dream feed between 10 and 11, the strange thing is the nights that she doesn't she will sleep from 7.30 till 2.00 to 3.00, but the nights she does take the feed she wake twice a night - first time around 1.00.....what's all that about then??????? anyone else had the same experience? I'll be back on tomorrow evening hopefully and anyone that has experienced the same may be able to shed some light on it for me.

Hi All, blimey, you have to be on here pretty regularly to keep up don't you!

Liquid, thanks for the BF advice. Have decided to carry on, and am going to cut out the expressing at 10pm and bring it earlier, to 8pm, so i can go to bed earlier as DP does the 10pm feed with formula. i use the expressed stuff to top up before he goes to bed when he's sucked me dry! One boob is agony and i had blood in the milk yesterday, which has now gone - saw HV today who didn't really know what it could be, so will ask at DS's 6 week check up tomorrow. He was weighed today and at 5wks 2 days is just over 11 pounds - birth weight 7.4, so i'm really happy and BF clearly working for him... the problem is mine (control freak, like to know exactly how much he's eaten) and i need to get over it.

Cruisemum1 - DS at 5 weeks has no discernible daytime routine (yesterday slept from 9.30am to 4.30pm, only waking twice for 20mins each time to feed!). But we do seem to have managed to get a nighttime routine by vaguely using some of the tips from she-whose-name-we-shall-not-mention. He goes to bed between 6.30 and 7pm every night regardless of how much he's slept in the day - i make sure he's stuffed full of milk... if he cries i leave him and generally he doesn't cry more than a few mins - if he is properly crying i will go and give him a cuddle til he calms then straight back to bed. he seems to have learnt that this is sleep time and he goes with it... having said that, despite him being over 11lb's he is still feeding at 10ish, 2ish and 5 or 6ish every night, so nowhere near sleeping through.

i had heard that 12lbs was the 'magic' weight at which he would start sleeping 5 or 6 hour stretches... i'm lucky to get three and a half on a good night. I have no idea how to get him to go longer? clearly i can't make him eat more than he wants to at a feed... will he just start sleeping longer of his own accord?

Just a quick one as my tea's nearly ready (thanks DH! - I think he's halo-polishing after the weekend ) but just wanted to say to AngeandLuka that if you're willing to brave the MN BF crowd, though since you're still comitted to BF you're probably 'safe', then they might be able to advise you with the blood in milk thing and the fact it's still hurting so much. There's a few 'experts' hanging around - tiktok is a BF counsellor and mears is a midwife (I htink) and there are a few others - they've been very helpful and supportive to me.

Mabel, don't worry you're not alone re DS! My DD turns into devil child at times & it's really hard. With Jack, no problem, she really does adore him & is very sweet with him but she is currently going through a real tantrum & whinging phase & it's driving us potty at times...then in a split second she is sweetness & delight & just as she's always been. She also really pushing us as far as she can. I used the "naughty step" yday & I tell you it worked! Didn't think we'd have to resort to it but we did & she did apologise in the end but the drama before we got there..arrhhhhh!!!!!!

Jack is doing great - had our last cranial osteopathy appt today & as such has slept pretty much all day! They've both gone done now...temporary bliss!!! BTW, what's all this about the magic 12lb weight? Angeandluka, that's the sort of times Jack does through the night.....am sure he'll eventually drop the 2am one...when who knows!!