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!

Hello all. Just checking in on the night shift! Things are so so. Reached breaking point on Sunday with the whole 'feed, cuddle to sleep, put down in moses basket, baby wakes up, repeat ad nauseum' routine at night as it was routinely taking literally 3-4 hours to settle her back to sleep each time she woke for a feed, and on Sunday was really physically not well and then had family emergency (my dad rushed into A&E) and just thought I can't do this night routine any more. Really worked this week on other settling techniques. She doesn't like dummies, swadling, etc, and white noise not really helping. However the one thing that has is womb noise, and I have bought a 'Ewan the sheep' (kids sleep aid toy) which actually is really helping. I feel bad as sometimes it takes her 10-15 mins to settle with it and she may cry, but then she will be asleep and I feel so much saner for not spending hours trying to get her to sleep each night after every feed. May be worth a try if any of you ladies have the same issue. xxx

Hi everyone, May I please join you all? I've had my first baby, a little girl end of September and I'm exclusively Bfing. Been reading others posts and seems a lot of us in the same boat with the sleeping/feeding. My lo needs waking during her feed as she fall asleep after a fe sucks! Night feeds taking around an hour and a half!
Before I know it she's ready for the next obesity unjust exhausted !

Hello ladies, it has been ages since I posted, Eli is 2 months!

He has injections on Monday (delayed for almost 2 weeks ) and has finally got into a good sleep routine yay, so hope the injections don't mess it up!

He is getting so big - so scary! He is at last fitting into the 0-3 month stuff!

Glad to hear we are all doing well if not a bit shattered

Eli struggles with wind so we invested in two dr brown bottles we may get some more! And I will be trying the comfort formula today. We tried the colief that made him projectile vomit :(

And he is also on infacol - my little druggie baby

Oh let us know how the comfort milk works out cookie, I keep thinking I might try Em on it as it has lower lactose levels so I should be able to stop the colief (just cause its a pain making the bottles up), but I know some babies have suffered with constipation on it and I would also need new teats (as its thicker) so I keep wimping out and buying more aptamil 1 instead

Someone I 'know' having a good experience with it would be the push I need to get my brave pants on

Hi bubbaboo86

Our DD sound to be a similar age, my daughter was born 26th September. I'm also exclusively bf, I have a little guzzle monster though - she feeds really quickly. My problems come on the odd night when she's overtired and she's drunk me dry so I have no milk left to settle her with. She just has to make do with cuddles, rocking and empty sucks for those times though, I'm sure milk will build up.

I assume you've tried nappy changing in the night to wake you LO up?

I swaddle (over a sleeping bag) DD so if she is sleepy during a feed then I start removing layers. The swaddle will come off first to see if that wakes her enough, then the sleeping bag and then nappy change if she's still sleepy.

If all else fails, I don't tend to spend more than 20 minutes trying to wake her. If she wants to sleep, why not just let her sleep? She will wake up sooner for the next feed, but at least you don't waste that extra hour trying to keep her awake.

This is all assuming she is putting on weight well? DC3 was slow to put on weight in the first three weeks and I had to wake to feed him. But DD (DC4) is putting on weight well so no such issues this time, thankfully.

Hi all
Been reading but not posting, time evades me!
Misog just had to post say I started Erin on Aptamil comfort and it had been great. No constipation and far less trapped wind. She has been much more settled. It seems to make poops looser but no leaks yet. It is thicker so I have replaced teats, and I make bottles up as I go as I found it got even thicker if it stood in the fridge. I ended up having to split a teat with a pin one night at 2am when we first started with it! I thought it would be a faff but by the time I could have heated a bottle in hot water I have cooled one down.
Have also found we don't need infacol or gripe water any more as long as we wind really well and have a good tummy massage a few times a day.
Defo worth a try in my opinion.

Thanks Marie that's really helpful, do you make the bottles with boiling water then? As it's the waiting half an hour for the kettle to cool down that put me off making them as I go along

Hi bubbaboo & welcome!
Falling asleep during feeding could be sleepiness but can also be a sign of tongue tie - does it happen every feed? Do you have any other symptoms (e.g. nipple pain, clicking when feeding or popping off the breast, slow weight gain, baby with wind, high palate, can't poke tongue beyond lips)??
Xx

Misog - the water needs to have cooled not more than half an hour as then it is too cool to kill bacteria that might be present in the powder - you can make it with fresh boiling water

I do use boiling water and then just pop the bottle in a jug of cold water to cool it down. Takes about 10 mins so I don't wait until she is really hungry and wailing. Also in the day I make it when I know she's due a feed and leave it to cool as the milk is good for two hours after it's made.
While I'm here ladies (baby sleeps...hurrah) what are your opinions on babies sleeping on their front? I know it is not advised but Erin settles so well and seems more comfy on front. Haven't put her this way at night, only in the day when I'm watching but have been tempted at night. Seems to help with the tummy troubles and wind issues and she gets a much better sleep. Wakes up in a lovely smiley mood. Sleep always seems much more restless and grumbly at night on back.

Thanks septemberbabies and Katherine. Apologies for my typos, sleep deprivation obvs showing!
DD was born 29th so very close to your lo Septemberbabies. Your little guzzler will build up your milk quickly I'm sure, have you tried expressing as well? Getting mixed vibes on whether it's right thing to do at her age -18dAys as midwife and breast feeding support say 4 weeks which I saw in an Earlier post was the same for some other ladies.
Dd is putting on weight and having lots of wet nappies. Katherine, She's not tongue tied, she sticks her tongue out all the time lol and it doesn't happen every feed, she sometimes sucks really well but in the day time. I've tried changing nappy and tickling feet/face, blowing on face, which wakes her for a few sucks then she goes back to a really light sucking? Think I'll try what you said september and give it 20 min before putting her back down. Have ordered a swaddle blanket from mothercare as well as a sling. Feel like it's all a bit of a mine field! Thank you for welcoming me in x

Marie about sleeping on front- when my mum was staying with us after the birth she told me my brother and I always slept on our fronts, she never worried about it and we slept well and were fine. I am really no expert and I don't know the medical research but that's my mum's experience.

Aisha my mom said the same and years ago it was advised apparently. Don't think I'd sleep at night if I did put her this way because of all the dangers they warn of, but at least she sleeps.well in the day.

We use the Tommy Tippee anti colic bottles which I think are relatively new (HV didn't know they did them). I would recommend them especially if you have other TT stuff. DS has no problem going between breast and bottle with them too. We switched to them from the normal bottles quite early on and there was a noticeable difference in how windy DS was. I can't lie him on his back straight after feeding and have to hold him upright for 20 mins or so but he's fine if I do. He was really bad at settling on his back particularly at night but this has helped and he is a lot better now. We went through a phase of lying him on his side to go to sleep rather than on front and this also helped a lot.

Sleep wise, dd is in with me and we co-sleep. It's not 100% the answer but it's helping so I'm sticking with it until she starts sleeping through a bit more. We're on 3 wake ups a night roughly. Doesn't like being put down though so evenings when I'm trying to get dinner ready are hard. She's like a sniffer dog- as soon as she smells I'm cooking she's awake and wants holding! Have only managed a couple of meals without a baby on the boob too!

bubbaboo86 I'm expressing and DD is only 3 weeks. Have been for the last 10 days or so. Not with any view to give DD the expressed milk, just so that I have a stock and I also think it's good for my supply. I try to express once a day. But because the expressed milk isn't 'needed', if I don't have time or DD is feeding a lot then I don't express at all that day.

Came very close to giving an expressed milk feed on Tuesday night, after two nights in a row of constant feeding/screaming to increase my supply. Didn't want to because my logical mind told me that she needed to suckle the breast in order to increase my supply. I'm glad I had some breast milk in the freezer for just in case, rather than giving in to formula. But didn't need it in the end - husband to the rescue by settling her. By Wednesday supply must have raised because she's fine now.

Not all babies like swaddling btw, plus there is no need to spend money on 'special' swaddle blankets. My swaddle blankets are just cot blankets split in half down the short edge to make two long, thin bits of material. Two of my children have loved being swaddled, two have hated it. It's a bit like marmite!

marie1w Each to their own, but with all the evidence of cot death / SIDS I wouldn't risk putting a newborn baby to sleep on their front. I would be very worried and scared doing that.

Thanks KatherineClover I don't know why I thought it had to cool a bit - something to do with proteins in the milk being damaged if the water was too hot rings a bell but I might have just made it up in my sleep deprived brain

Will grab some of the comfort milk next time I go shopping and give it a try, should I introduce it slowly (every other bottle or similar) or just swap straight over when I run out of the normal one do you think?

Red I've got some of the Tommee Tippee anti colic bottles too and Em seems to like them, don't notice any difference between them and the more expensive Dr Browns bottles to be honest.

Just had hv round and dd has made very impressive weight gains so feel like I can relax about feeding now and just go with the flow.

Great news about baby's weight ShowMe.

Re: sleeping in front. This is the only way DS will settle so he sleeps on his tummy. We co-sleep/bed share so he is right next to me and in the day he's either not put down or he's on the sofa where I can see him at all times.
I read this online which makes me feel better about it: www.askdrsears.com/topics/health-concerns/sleep-problems/sids/prefers-sleep-tummy

Allis the last sentence of that link worries me endlessly ! One in thousand chance of dying is not small...

DS is tummy sleeper, he has longest soundest sleeps when on his tummy - he sleeps only minutes on his back and then wakes up...

We bought a monitor as in the beginning I was so worried letting him sleep like that I could not relax...

Velv, others with screaming babies - hang in there, it will get better...

DS screamed every evening from around week 3 to around week 7 , he is 9.5 weeks now and has been fine for nearly three weeks with only occasional crying, perhaps a couple of times a week, due to tummy ache.

We've done these things, not sure which one worked -if any-
Went to chiropractor for a course of treatments
Allowed him to sleep on his tummy which helped him passing wind alot
Burped him more often

Or, it could just be his age; he is older and bigger now ! X

Overnight I think I've developed mastitis My right boob feels tender and at the top there is a lumpy bit. I tried feeding twice in a row from it and massaging the lumps towards the nipple, but it's not helping. I'm going to try putting on a warm compress, taking dome paracetamol (allergic to ibuprofen) and then expressing (only done it once before!) to try to empty it. Then, through today I'll start her on the sorely boob, but try to empty it fully by expressing each time. But, is it okay to express into a bottle, put it in the fridge and then keep adding to it through the day? I can then freeze a good size bottle once I've built up enough in there. Is that an okay thing to do?

team on my other post I meant to say I was only expressing 20mls at a time so i would build it up to 5 or 6oz and then give it to him. Obviously if you express more you will reach the amount you want quicker and then just freeze that.

misog we are unsure about the colief or comfort ds has been sick when we have offered both. With both we haven't offered it every time. But end result is projectile vomit. Hopefully it is just a co-incidence as I am going to offer more comfort today!

We have the perfect prep machine makes bottles In two minutes :)

is it okay to express into a bottle, put it in the fridge and then keep adding to it through the day? I can then freeze a good size bottle once I've built up enough in there. Is that an okay thing to do?

This is what I do.

I think it is OK to keep adding to refrigerated expressed milk for 24 hours, then freeze it all together in one batch.