October 2014 // thread 2 // keeping each other company through the night feeds!

[sazzlehopes]

Hi all, welcome to thread 2!

Welcome to the madhouse tatty!
I think we may be coming to the end of the 6(?) week growth spurt, hurrah, H clusterfed hourly from 7-11am then napped on and off til 4pm and has been feeding hourly again since then. Still sounds a lot but she hasn't been fussing at the boob like before so I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel and it feels like it's winding down at last!
DH arrived home from a two day course down south today and then headed out to a 3 hour band practice So he's making the flipping dinner!

Me and gun I hope you get the meds and support you need, my sister suffered with anxiety and PND so my heart goes out to you both x

those with more than one - you can do it on your own!! I've managed it a few times now. Yes it's chaotic and someone is usually crying (probably me) but we get through it! R doesn't really go to bed til 8.30 as can't get him to stop feeding any earlier. I'm kind of dojng bath between 6.30 and 7 then somehow juggling getting them both on their PJs and doing stories and milk for ds1 usually whilst R is on the boob. Fortunately tonkfjt ds1 said he was tired and didnt want stories! Phew.

Off topic but I'm trying to find a waterproof parka. Can't tell you how hard it is!!! At this rate I'm going down the uber mumsy frumpy look - has anyone got any pointers for me?!

Yellow have you checked the washing machine/ tumble dryer/ any white goods? Or under the sofa?
DH ended up in casualty tonight and came home with 2 giant bandaged fingers. Now he can't change nappies/ clothes/ wash up for a week, grrr!
I take my hat off to you lovely mummies with more than 1 baby, think your all doing an awesome job

I'm feeling sorry for myself and having a cry. My husband only got home from work at 8.30pm - we've had an 1.5hr together and I'm in bed to get an hour before the 12am feed (hopefully). Tomorrow he has a work do so I won't see him at all. Boo!!

I really never thought about this side of having a baby until now

Missus its only antisocial like this for a few short weeks, you'll have your evenings together again very soon xx

Munday he'd put it in my friend's bag so she'd driven home with it!

So pleased to have found this thread! I'm currently awake with a day old baby who doesn't seem to like the dark! Is this common??

Ah the mind of a toddler! Glad you found it Yellow Tomorrow my aim is to get dressed before dinner do the weekly shop with baby in tow and sort out the family allowance forms.

Ha ha yellow that's pretty ingenious hiding!

Well the newborn sleepsuits are off to charity, he's now in between sizes so have put him in 0-3 month stuff where his feet don't quite make it to the bottom. At this rate he'll outgrow the pram carrycot and I'll have to rethink the daytime sleeping spot.

I'm really sorry to hear things have not got any better gun the Bp med in on is labetalol, it's considered safe for pregnancy and bf. I would take the anti d while you wait it has to be better than feeling anxious all the time. Is it sertraline they have offered you? That the only one I'm familiar with that's safe when bf (I'm sure there are probably others too)

V has been awake since 2pm (only x1 30 min nap) I'm bloody knakered Just want some sleep.

Thanks Yellow. Tiredness clearly getting to me xx

Day 2 with New Born Baby:

Obviously it's early days with our newborn, and we're complete novices!

Basically, our baby has gone for really long periods without sleeping. She's been awake now for about 5 hours. In that time we've had 3 dirty nappies, 1 very wet nappy, 3 sicks roughly an hour after feeds with screaming (she's very mucousy which I've been reassured is normal) and no signs of sleeping yet.

We've now relented into taking shifts because she will sleep beautifully in our arms. I'm going to do 3 hours now while DP sleeps, hopefully a feed will happen on that time and then I will sleep for (hopefully) 3 hours while DP stats awake.

We're doing this purely to get some sleep but obviously worried it will set a president.

Did you have this problem on the early days? How did you overcome it?

missus the lack of time with DP gets better. It's just these first few months when wveryone is trying to get as much sleep as poss (and prob natures odd way of helping you to not get up duffed again too soon after baby!) I thought this adter ds1 when dh was getting home from work, I would go to bed, we would sleep in seperate rooms so he wasn't woken in the night.... But it wasn't long til we started to have an evening together, he moved back in our room And then baby moved in to his.... The only thing we have never got back is afternoon sex or a lie in together!!!

Hi belly habe you tried swaddling? I didn't have that problem - more the opposite in the early days but my baby was premature and severely jaundiced so I needed to feed him as much as poss and he slept a lot (but not so much now!) try things that make wherever they are lying more 'womb like'. A lot of us here have found the sleepyhead to help, hot water bottle on mattress or just going with the flow of them sleeping on us until they get used to being out in the world! Is she crying when awake or just awake?!
Keep an eye on the sick - it is normal in the early days as you say lots of mucous to clear out - but if carries on she may have reflux that could make her unhappy. My baby is very sicky but not seemingly distressed with it (mostly distressed with his wind instead)

Hi Bellyrub! Congrats on your baby. I'd say don't worry about setting a precedent at this point. It's far too early to establish any kind of routine or for your baby to recognise patterns and anticipate situations. Right now the main things are discovering what works for your baby today (it may have changed by tomorrow) and getting whatever sleep you can so you recover from the birth, especially while your DP is on leave and can help more.

sazzle how are you and Ned getting on with the feeding techniques?

Belly what Badger and Fed up said! 2 days old is so very very tiny - if you can't sleep on Mum and Dad when your age can be counted in hours, when can you! More seriously, this is my second and looking at my first MN post natal group as an example - the toddlers with the worst sleep now are those who's parents sleep trained them early. It can just leave very insecure kids who sleep OK for a few weeks out of blind habit, but who long term are scared of being on their own at night because they associate it with being lonely and or left to cry. I prefer to shower with cuddles and warmth when they need it when wee (which is harder and more tiring for the parent initially) but it pays dividends long term as they learn to happily self soothe.

belly- we had exactly the same when DS was a few days old. The worst was the first night back from hospital. The October post natal thread has been so useful to me (and I know others have said the same) because it's shown it's a common issue, which makes things slightly more bearable when it's 4am and you've not slept yet, knowing you're not alone. Have you got a crib or Moses basket for the baby to sleep in? We originally had a crib but went out and bought a Moses basket after our first disastrous night which has helped, and others on here have reported success with a sleepyhead.

Feeling a bit tired today- DS's potential reflux symptoms are getting worse and I keep convincing myself he's going to choke. I saw something on the FB group about gaviscon making sick thicker and thus posing more of a choking risk.....is gaviscon less likely to cause an issue if FF because it's easier to administer? I have an appointment for DS to see the doctor today and don't want gaviscon if it then causes a whole other worry. Not sure what this GP is like as I've only seen her once (she was on maternity leave when I joined the practice) so not sure if she'll even give us anything!

Hi Belly welcome to motherhood! I hope you managed to get a few hours sleep. It's nice you and your DP are working as a team.
E has been awake since 3.30- she almost settled but then started choking on snot and has been grouchy since I'm so tired!!
Hope the rest of you had better nights

sore If we eventually got the gaviscon to stay down he generally didn't choke. If you're ff it might work for you.
I think after last night's a&e visit is going to take its toll on me today so so tired already. Managed to give Dylan the omeprazole successfully this morning

munday- DS has had me awake since about 4 with his weird choking noises. Managed to sleep from 11:30 until 2 though. Did you get back to sleep?

mrsb- hopefully the omeprazole works its magic and you can catch up on your missed sleep today!

Who was it who mentioned Homes Under the Hammer? Was it Fedup? Is it bad that's it's often the highlight of my day!?

I feel like my DD is luring us into a false sense of security. Second night alone with her (after coming home from SCBU) and she only wakes for bum change and feeding at 2am and 6.30am then goes straight back to sleep. She did the same again at 9am and is currently sound asleep.

But...in the afternoons /evenings she just screams if you put her down. The only thing that stops her is offering a boob but I'm sure she's not hungry, just using me to comfort suck. She refuses her dummy for hours though. Does this sound like colic? Anyone else got a baby who's like that? What do you do? She did the same in hospital so it's not the new surroundings freaking her out.

pebble I let him comfort suck if that's what keeps him quiet / happy!

captain I'm watching it now... I can't stand that presenter woman's hair!!

We had a better night here. The tiny tyrant still spent most of the night making weird grunting-straining noises, but knowing that other people were having the same thing made it easier to tune them out, so I slept better. We still woke every two hours, but she mostly goes back down easily after she's had a bit of a munch, so it doesn't feel too bad (amazing how everything becomes relative). Also, what mostly wakes her up is often doing a poo- or, rather, the sound of it wakes me up and then changing her wakes her up. This gives me hope though that she CAN go longer, once she's got her bowels figured out. Light at the end of the tunnel.

pebbles we had about a week of that at the beginning and I found it really hard. The only thing that helped was massively lowering my expectations of everything. Once I'd accepted that I was just going to be on the sofa nursing all day it became sort of okay. I kind of felt like if that's the thing that makes the baby feel better then that's what I should be doing. And mine seems to have got over it, at least for now. She's got much more distinct feeds now, with gaps in between. Such luxury.

I'm really looking forward to handing my work in on Friday. At the moment it means I can't really go anywhere because I need to work when she sleeps, which means aside from anything else I'm getting really bored. Need an expedition. Need to leave the house. Should probably actually get on with it and then that might actually be an option. Sigh.