sept 2014: babies are here (or coming soon!)

[allisgood1]

Even though dc3 is end of August, thought I'd start a sept thread :-)

How are you all doing?

dS1 is 9 dats old. Feeding well and surely sleeping well but it's hard to know as I keep falling asleep at night feeding him!

Checking in after not being on for a few days.

Sorry to hear about more BFing trouble. Theres certainly no shame in choosing to FF and there's no need for guilt, I know it seems like a big deal when they're tiny as its really the fist parenting decision, but as they get older you realise it's just one of many parenting choices which makes absolutely no difference in the long term. I've FF all of mine due to BF difficulties and never received any negativity, it only seems to be the ugly BF vs FF bunfight threads on MN where women get judged for not BFing not in RL thankfully!

I can't believe Elizabeth is 4 weeks old today!

I felt like cracking open the formula tonight after baby was awake and feeding on and off continuously for 6 hours today. At 3 weeks old I didn't expect him to be awake for such long periods so naturally wondering if he's just not getting enough milk. After a massive meltdown he finally fell asleep. This bf malarkey is definitely not all it's cracked up to be!

Ek is anyone else having problems persuading their LO to stay on their back in the night? Emily has managed to roll onto her side a few times and it scares the life out of me! She is currently wedged with a rolled up muslin but I wondered if anyone knew of anything designed for this purpose and could recommend to me?

misog www.poddlepod.com/ Maybe something like this? Or there are some special baby pillows shaped so they support their sides and force them on their back

So up again, Christian refused breast again, hubby comforting him while I'm expressing. He drinks so much I just cant keep up with him and have no chance of expressing for feed in advance. Its more like a last minute call. Why cant he just stay on the breast? We keep for 10-15 minutes and he's all upset and I just cant eatch him screaming for a feed. Seriously considering disappointingly opening the formula.

Thanks velvet I'll have a look into those, she's such a wriggler.

I decided yesterday to stop putting her to my breasts until my milk comes in ( I know this will take longer without her suckling, but I'm happy giving formula in the meantime) as I really don't think she was getting anything except a bellyful of air which was making her so uncomfortable , she has been so much more settled today. I'm not trying to encourage anyone to give up bf though, I always planned to mix feed though due to an early return to work, so it's a bit different than for you brave ladies who are ebf.

I will try again when my milks in, but if not then she seems happy on the formula so I will just stick to that.

Hi everyone, I'm finally moving over from the antenatal thread :)
Baby Danny was born 2 weeks ago weighing 9lb 15oz & it's been a bit of an emotional roller coaster since then. I had an amazing birth using natal hypnotherapy and TENS which helped to heal my traumatic experience with DS1. We have had lots of feeding problems as, like DS1, Danny has tongue tie. This was snipped day 3, but then we had a trip to hospital in an ambulance because he didn't stop bleeding (incredibly rare). Day 1 I had to top up with formula in hospital due to blood sugar. And then because he has lost weight at each weigh in (day 3,5,7,9,11) we have been topping up with formula & expressed milk - I decided on Friday to top up with a bottle as we have tried syringe, cup and SNS (a bottle with tubes you tape to your breasts) and he had got very upset at each method, but bottle was accepted happily and yesterday he had a small gain hooray! He also started doing yellow poos for the first time too. It has been really tough as I had months of feeding issues with DS1 and it was a major factor in my pnd - a few days ago I felt myself starting to slip into a bad place. However, I feel a lot better now I have taken charge of the situation & had an improvement in his weight. I'm still BFing as much as possible, and expressing (although I don't get a great deal out - about 20mins to get 1oz, and 1 side hardly produces anything with the pump) as well as taking fenugreek, eating lactation cookies etc. It's not the BF experience I had hoped for, but Danny is a very content and happy baby & I am enjoying being a mummy to 2 boys :)

Redtoothbrush - if you are having feeding problems and a tt has been identified then it is causing you issues, it makes me so cross when HCPs dismiss this. Most midwives, HVs and gps aren't trained to diagnose them - try asking to see the infant feeding specialist midwife at your hospital, or in my area we have a specialist nct bf counsellor who can diagnose tt. In each area there are also private practitioners who snip tt, it costs about £100 (as NHS waits can be long). It's worth looking into if you are having problems with latching, nipple soreness, wind/colic etc. DS1 even struggled with bottles and would soak 2 muslins with milk squirting out. It can also have an effect on eating and talking and can cause dental problems.

Wow Katherine sounds like you're having a tough time but amazing perseverance, well done you!

DS has been feeding every 2- 2.5 hours for about 36 hours now. It's exhausting! Any ideas how long these growth spurt stages last for? I am managing it, I think, my nipples are becoming a bit sore but I don't think it's poor latch I just think they need a break from all the sucking!

Velvet and Katharine congrats :)

Kat interesting, glad you are OK - to be honest I started to helieve whatever works for you and baby, his development is more important than sticking to bf imho
we had a traumatic birth experience too, ds has latched on quickly and to start with everything seemed perfect, but for whatever reason he does not latch on properly after a few days- since coming home. He is now 6 weeks( nearly seven) and I have very sore nipples - he is exclusively bf ( with two to three times 20-30 ml EBM for Gavisgon) he is content and putting on weight following the growth charts well; and he compensated the initial weight loss quickly - he is now more than 11 pounds, was born 7.13.

But I wonder how long I can keep going with bruised nipples - went to bf clinic, they told me positioning is textbook perfect ! So they thought maybe tongue tie but posterior ( the one which is not detectable easily and need special equipment to examine) went to hospital and the bf specialist examined him and said she is not sure if he has it and if so it is really small- but my ds platelets ( thing that make the bleeding stop after a wound) is low so she said she would not even try cutting the tie if it exist... Kat your story scared the hell out of me- would not want another bleeding prob with ds as he had one before birth...what do they do in hospital how do the stop it?

So I am just confused what to do and how to deal with the pain...

Acron my ds was like this at 3 weeks- it turns out it was growth spurts and my supply also increased afterward because of how hard we both tried and stuck with it...

honey sorry if this is not what you'd like to hear but at 6weeks ds demands feed every 2-3 hours , perhaps with one stretch of 3.5 hours or so per day

honeybear Not sure but read its very different for each baby,anything from 24 hours to a week or so. Hope yours end soon and you get some sleep.

Oh dear nazly I guess I've just been lucky up until now! It's ok, I'm after honest answers, I think i'd rather know than live in hope! At least I can be realistic :)

Oh velvet more promising! Guess I just have to ride it out and see.

hi all, baby lewis arrived 23/9 weighing 3.54kg. struggling to get him to sleep, stay asleep & also with b/f. hoping his greedy big sister willl boost my supply without stealing his milk.

Katharine thank you! We have had a quick look into options privately, but with having guests this weekend, DH being unwell and DH end job/starting new one tomorrow, we've not had chance to sit and talk or pursue it yet.

I've had a massive melt down over it all this weekend too which hasn't helped. Plus DS seems to have caught whatever DH has so has been snuffling away too. I haven't quite been keeping up with how much he is eating through expressing. We have a good supply in the fridge and 600ml stock piled in the freezer but I'm losing about 10mls per feed at the moment, so at some point something has to give and we'll have to top up at some point which I really don't want to do (DS didn't react well to when we tried it previously and it really distressed me seeing him like that, which has been my big motivation in carrying on expressing). But I can't carry on like this indefinitely. I had been expressing 5 times a day, but I've spent the last 2 days doing it every 3 hours to try and increase my production (without success) and I started to loose my sanity with it about 11pm last night.

I managed to give him two good feeds from breast yesterday which is an improvement, but he was going mental on one side and got really upset so could only do it on one side. He seems to have improved his latch on the other side though.

The only other plus side is I've managed 4 weeks now. Given I had no plans at all to breastfeed, and was almost certain I would FF, I guess this is an achievement!

honey mine has also fed every 2 or 2.5 hours since he was a couple of days old - I thought that was normal! No wonder he's putting on so much weight. The last few days he's been feeding every half hour or so all day, just relentless. I think it must be a growth spurt then, hopefully supply will increase cos feeling pretty empty!

red 4 weeks is a huge achievement if you didn't plan on feeding at all. You should be proud of that.

acorn I'm rapidly learning that there is no normal lol and you just have to go with your baby! I was just wondering what others experiences were of these supposed 'growth spurts'. I'm hoping my supply should pick up soon as well, he's feeding so often that I don't feel 'engorged' enough for him like I was when we were feeding every 3-4 hours. Hope it won't take long and then he can get a proper feed out of me and be more satisfied.

Nazly & Red, I think you are both doing amazingly with BF with suspected tt too. It is so tough when you are worried about supply or in pain too x
Nazly - we had tt snipped at my local birthing centre by a specialist midwife. We had 4 feeding attempts to stop the bleeding, then she applied pressure for a few mins which didn't stop it (he had clots forming though) so an ambulance was called but by the time it arrived the bleeding had stopped and become an ooze. We still had a blue light trip to the hospital though, and the first feed when we got there cleared all the clots & it stopped oozing, then a 3hr wait for paediatrician to check him & send us home. They considered doing a blood test but decided not to. The midwife said in 153 snips this had never happened before, and a private practitioner told me she has only known this to happen a couple of times in the UK. With DS1 there was only a drop of blood & he didn't even cry!

RedTooth How did you manage to stock up so much milk ??? I have problem with bf as well,my boy refuse it or get really upset so cant manage long proper feed. I express too but msnage only for each feed or max 2 feeds in advance even if I express every two three hours. Christian drinks 70ml plus whatever he gets from me. I'd love to have so much stocked up at least for the bad days when milk supply is lower.

Aaaaaargh, Barney had lost weight at his 5 day weigh in, put on 100g at his day7 check and STAYED THE SME today despite eating every 2 hrs yesterday. Mw wants me to take him to gp tomorrow. She also said that she thinks we will tbe referred to hospital for blood tests for jaundice on Thursday.

My hormones can't cope with this constant worry...I can't focus on anything else. Nightmare.

Holls I know exactly how you feel! After 5 consecutive losses (smallest only 20g) we finally had a 35g gain yesterday and I was on top of the world. I have been meticulously logging feeds, wees, poos, sleep, formula top ups, expressed milk etc as I was so worried. HV is going to refer us Tuesday if Danny still has jaundice as he'll be in his 3rd week then, but I think it has cleared now. I think we are going to be referred for more BF support too as I'm pretty sure he's still got issues with moving his tongue properly, even though he's had his tongue tie snipped. Sometimes I just wish someone could tell you how much milk you are making & how much they are drinking, when you start to worry for their health every little thing is so stressful. Hope your GP is helpful tomorrow x

Hi all, my lil man arrived on the 17th, weighing 7lbs 5. He's a lil champion! The first two nights he slept for ages and I was all geared up for being awake all night feeding him. He's made up for it though eating every 2-3 hrs now and eats for about 50 mins each go.

Beccus, Eats many congrats to both of you

Red how do you express? After each feed? It is so difficult for me to get a chance to express given ds has reflux and needs to be held upright half hour after each feed, but I have to start as I am going back to work and my plan is to use EBM not formula...

I also don't know how I store the milk in freezer, in what portions? I have no idea at all how much he drinks per feed and how much he may take in a couple of months - I guess one way to find out is to express and feed him EBM only once?? But then babies take different amount at different feeds, no?

Hello all, sorry to hear some of you aee having such tough times with feeding!

Lots of new babies :)

Not sure if I got this tip on here but it really helped the last two nights so thank you if it was someone on here and if it wasn't on here I hope it helps others. When getting little ones to sleep settle them on the moses basket mattress on your lap then lift/slide the baby into bed - its genius!!

And a great tip from my friend which helps Eli, for bringing up burps sit them up on your lap and rotate them in a circle.

Nazly this might help you in knowing how much you need to express for each feed: kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/

I've got 3oz of my milk in the freezer but that's it. Planning on using it when I have an appt next month. I'm a bit reluctant to express too much as I don't want to increase my supply too much as I hate the engorged feeling and it's mostly settled down now. I wouldn't worry if you feel like your boobs are empty, they're most likeky not, the engorgement isn't meant to last forever. Mine just returns now if cluster feeding has happened.

Just about to attempt transfer number 3 to Moses basket! Fingers crossed.