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!

Just to say my Jessica is exactly the same with evening / night-time cluster feeding (for often 2-3 hours) and being grumpy. Again the professionals tell me it's a phase and most babies grow out of it by 6-8 weeks. It's all to do with encouraging increased milk supply apparently. I'm only saying because it was a relief to me to know that I wasn't doing anything wrong so hoping that reassures others a bit as well. It doesn't make it easy though. I'm bloody knackered! The sooner she gets over this phase the better!!! xx

On a side note I weighed myself this morning, so thought I may take the initiative and start the weight loss thread. Come join me! xx

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/postnatal_clubs/2199364-September-mummas-weight-loss-thread

My baby was doing the evening cluster feeding thing too, but last night she didn't... So hoping that she's finally settled.

Am convinced she is intolerant to dairy, every day I've had it she's been inconsolable at night and sometimes in the day. The days when I've cut it out she's been the happiest baby ever! Got final midwife appointment tomorrow so will talk it through then.

Tried oilatum junior on her last night for the dry peely skin - shocked at how well it worked! It's like her skin is brand new this morning!

Had a bizarre thought last night, and trying breast milk on her baby acne, it seems to have taken the redness away, though might be a coincidence?

Hope very on is having a good day. I'm on orders to rest more, and very bored already!

coolcat Probably is the breastmilk that did it - apparently it has miracle healing powers.

Haven't posted for a while but have been keeping up with the feeding and sleeping drama! My Molly has baby acne too and I hope it clears up soon - everyone was saying before what lovely skin she has so I feel bad for her - not that she cares obviously!

We switched from SMA to Aptamil and I think her wind and constipation may be marginally better although she still doesn't poo as often as i'd expect/want but have to keep reminding myself it will be different as she's FF rather than BF and all the guidance assumes BF and as that's what I had planned to do that's all I had read up on!

I have to say that she does sleep well (so far) and this seems to be the stand out benefit of FF over BF (not that that's a reason to do it!) and I do feel for you all getting next to no sleep. Molly does seem to like her sleep (typically this will all change now i've written this!) and I often have to wake her to change/feed but equally she has had days where she has barely slept at all during the day and falls asleep on us but wakes up again once she has been put down. She's not even 3 weeks old yet, so it's all new!

Midwife tomorrow - think my C section wound has got a bit manky as I don't like to look at/touch it so haven't been paying much attention to it and now it's quite sore .

Dreadful night last night; bRney would not settle and then cried from 2-4. I think he may have been a bit cold so will layer him up tonight - out of interest what do you all do in terms of bedding in Moses basket?

Arghh, saw the HV today who referred us to the GP. Just got back from seeing the GP and now have even more worry!

HV said that he shouldn't still be jaundiced at 14 days, plus his fontanelle is too small, indicating it might fuse too early and stop head growth!! He might need an operation on his little skull

GP is going to monitor head growth for the next couple of weeks, and send him for a liver blood test for the jaundice (although he thinks the jaundice is in the normal range for a bf baby), BUT, he then detected a heart murmur and has referred us for a specialist check.

Can this baby thing be any more stressful?? Anyone else had any of the above?
xx

Ah no LH, that is quite stressful. No experience of any of it, but hope you get answers soon

LH my goodness that sounds stressful :( I hope it all comes to nothing and he is all ok!

LH is he bf? Only bf stops the liver from breaking down the enzymes as quickly and jaundice can last quite a long time in bf babies so try not to worry too much about that. Fingers crossed about his head bless him.

Think I'm finally going to give up attempting to mix feed and just go with formula going forwards. My midwife has conceded that I may well be one of the very few women who just don't lactate as despite putting Em to the breast before every feed and her latching well and giving it a good go, and then pumping while she has her formula I'm still not producing more than a couple of drops of very thick liquid which I think is still colostrum. My boobs have never filled up, no engorgement or anything similar so I just don't think it's going to happen now.

Seeing the midwife again tomorrow so I will carry on with the feeding and pumping till then, but it feels pretty pointless pumping on empty boobs, and quite often Em won't latch on as she knows she's not gonna get anything.

Other than this we are both doing well, had a couple of bad nights sleep wise but last night she did 3 x 3 hour stints between 9 and 8ish with only minimal fussing when awake. Unfortunately cause she is quite sicky I have to keep her upright for half an hour after her feed, so while she is sleeping then, I cant, but I feel so much better today for having a decent nights sleep.

Ella and LH I hope all is ok for you both

LH we had to go to the prolonged jaundice clinic yesterday - had to catch a wee sample and a blood sample (3 tiny vials). If no news in the next few days then it's all ok. Are you being referred to a similar clinic? Be prepared, the blood test is a bit traumatic for them to go through, mainly as they have to be held very still. Danny screamed the entire time.

Misog - I really feel for you as I'm in a similar boat, although (as this is my second pregnancy) I'm actually making a little milk so I'm keeping going with combi feeding for the time being. I found it reassuring though to discover it wasn't something I'd done, just the cards Mother Nature has dealt me. X

LH that sounds stressful - to be honest in early days when ds was in intensive care, I had as much stress as I ever had in my life and there are still different things not quite right and need testing so we are far away from being stress free with ds - hope everything goes well for you

Thanks Ladies, trying not to stress out too much as I know it could all be nothing, but it's such a worry.

Katharine yes, that's exactly what we've been referred for for the jaundice. I know bf babies can be jaundiced for longer so hoping that's all it is. His skin isn't too yellow, but his gums are very yellow and the whites of his eyes have a slightly yellow tinge still.

I've also been told that heart murmurs in small babies is quite common and usually resolves itself.

Got everything crossed it's a case of the GP being overly cautious and all will be fine.

Ella that sounds awful, hope you're on the mend now? Don't worry about getting so upset, when they told me dd's blood results last week I was so upset I got hysterical, I don't think you can help it what with the hormones and lack of sleep.
You did the best thing keeping everyone away from visiting-at least you know you've kept baby from catching anything. Get well soon.

LH, the doctors found a heart murmur on P day 2 in hospital - she had to have an x-Ray and a heart trace. The registrar then checked her a few hours later when going over the results and couldn't hear the murmur! Checked again the following day and no sign of it so she's been signed off. Apparently all babies are born with murmurs, which normally sort themselves out in the hours after birth as valves close, but some babies take longer to do this than others. And there are two different sorts of murmurs too - benign and ones possibly requiring surgery. So fingers crossed it's benign
Ella Sorry to hear about your clots - I've got one on my leg which I caught in time to get clexane injections and stop it from going DVT. I've to inject for 6 weeks, just when I thought I was done with injections after the GD! Hope you're feeling better now you're getting treatment and are back at home with the kids and DH. I'd been wondering where you'd got to.
Another cluster feeding Velcro baby here - my nipples are so sore that I've been resorting to a 2oz formula feed at night to get her over to sleep and shift the wind! Gives me a break until the next 2 hour long feed! DH went back to work today and I coped fine, despite the sleep deprivation...

Interesting sleeping story from us tonight! We never had a sleeping routine for ds, I demand feed regardless of how often he wants to be fed... So he goes every 2-3.5 hours at 7 weeks. Tonight I decided to express and give him one feed just from expressed milk with bottle - I have no idea how much he takes per feed and this was mainly to find out how much milk he takes every time so I have an idea how much I should freeze for him in each plastic bag!
(For when I am back to work)
I expressed 120ml this evening - he took it all and demanded to be put on breast - so I still have no idea how much he takes!!!! :) I then went to bed and he had his first 5.5 hours gap without feed! Apparently had an hour play time with daddy and then he slept on his tummy for a long long time!!! This can change our night life; if we had a breathing monitor I could put him in bed on tummy after a big feed and go to bed then!!

Red, thanks for the tip regarding the amount of expressed milk - I think I should up my game and express more as 130-140 ml per feed will not be enough for ds when he is 3 months...

Has anyone else started periods again??
Was hoping to dtd last night got up to go to the loo and noticed ive come on

Ella ive just finished my injections. Si bloody glad too! Had been on them for around 11weeks during pregnancy too.

Nazly, DS eats more at certain times of day - particularly evenings. So when you intend to give expressed feeds is going to be a factor in how much he'll need. Just to further complicate the matter!!!

We had an interesting discovery yesterday too. DH and I had both noticed on Wednesday, DS's latch on the bottle had changed and got a lot stronger. So I tried feeding him from breast yesterday. No pain at all on one side. Pain on the other side only after 20mins and he'd started to get a bit lazy/sleepy. Up until now, its been painful from the second he's latched. I'm definitely not doing anything differently. I'm more sure then ever now there has been an issue of some kind of issue. Not sure I will be able to switch back completely though now as he's used to not having to work for food unfortunately (plus his slow initial weight growth, would make me worried to until he's put on a good deal more)

Haha ILove I am in the same boat. Was hoping to dtd last night too after finally starting to feel myself down there, and started my period yesterday morning. DH was gutted

Really took the piss cumbrian! I was more up for it than dh as hes still worried about me giving birth etc (2nd time was horrendous but 3rd was brilliant) and think hes scared about another unplanned pregnancy. Once ive got the implant there's no stopping us lol.

I would love to have the coil but im scared of them rummaging down there and having to check strings etc. Mum said she had coil in 10yrs and never checked once. Dont want to take pills as I will forget lol. And dont like messing with hormones.

Whats everyone else doing for contraception?

I have literally just had that conversation with my midwife ilove and think I'm gonna go for a copper coil (maybe??) Progesterone only contraception (implant, injection) doesn't suit me so I'm wary of the mirena as its the same albeit in a more localised delivery system. I have never had particularly heavy periods so think I could cope with them getting a bit heavier which I know is common with the coil.

I was off hormonal contraception for 18 months before I fell pg(wasn't ttc just fed up with synthetic hormones) and fell using condoms (not planned) so dh isn't keen for us to go back to just relying on them. Maybe I should just go back on the pill for a bit and then reassess in a few months? At least I know that doesn't give me any major side effects, knowing my luck I will have problems with a coil, and trying to deal with that and a new baby doesn't seem like fun

So no help at all from me - sorry I cant make up my mind one way or another

Me and DH finally DTD for the first time last weekend (so just after 2 weeks after having Jessica) as I completely lost my sex drive in pregnancy but now it's definitely coming back again. We're sticking to condoms for now but DH doesn't like them and I find them a bit 'faffy' too. When I have my 6 week check at the doctors in a few weeks time I'm going to ask to go back on the pill as it's always worked well for me in the past, but wanted to have a few weeks first for my hormones to settle down before I went back on it. Plus I'm told that the pill I was on previously (microgynon) isn't suitable for use when breastfeeding, so I'll probably have to go on the mini-pill instead so will need a new prescription. xx

Oh and I'm sorry to hear about all the stress you are under LH1981. I hope when they check it out it turns out to be nothing. Big hugs. xxx