November 2014 - newborn thread!

[Greenstone]

Welcome to all the November 2014 babies! Let all the post partum rejoicing and angst begin...

Thank you all so much
feeling helpless that I can't do everything I want to do for her. I'm so clueless when it comes to anything section related as I never ever thought it would come to it. I have the giant pants, living in pj bottoms at the minute and my feet and legs are so chubby and swollen... How normal is this?

I also remember thinking well at least I won't have all the bleeding to deal with... Reality check was needed!!

Excited- chubby bloated legs are normal in any post natal situation not just after a cs, although I assume worse after a cs . That will all get sweated/weed out over the coming days - do to be alarmed to wake up all sweaty! This time my legs were all puffy, but looking normal now.

I remember asking the question about cs and lochia at my NCT group before I ended up with an EMCS. You aren't alone.

excited, we're going to be 3 weeks postnatal tomorrow, and also had an emcs.
I second all the advice the others gave, but want to give reassurance that by now it has improved a lot. Drinking tons of water but legs back to semi normal and tummy flattering out, albeit with a generous 1.5 stone to lose still overall. Am entirely off painkillers unless I push things and overdoit. Dh is back at work now but I have a helper mon-wed and family thurs and fri for the next couple of weeks still. It's worth seeing if you can call in ant favours or get a 'mother's help' for a bit maybe?

Re sling questions, I can't remember who said they had a bjorn that wasn't comfortable but this is a problem with some less ergonomic carriers. A stretchy or wrap or soft structured carrier should help. We have a stretchy for A while he's small and then wovens (which I tend to wear more than dh) and a rose and rebellion for later. I considered a manduca too - great option, but I was sucked in by designs of the r&r!
Also for anyone going abroad this coming summer, consider looking for a solarweave connecta now. Easily the best hot weather carrier but they always sell out in summer!

Happy glad the diagnosis was manageable at a&e - ds1 gets mild exczema with too much cows milk now he's off boob, but we found goat's milk quite easy to source and I think is safe?

ness re tummy button, A is 3 weeks tomorrow and it's just about fully healed but I've been keeping it clean with cooled boiled water.

Dh tried a first bottle of ebm last night. Not a resounding success but it kept him happy playing with the teat so we persevere for now, as it would make site visits easier and have one on Friday!

He slept miraculously from 10.30 - 1am in the bednest! In with us for a quick snack at 1 then asleep till 3.30ish but currently on a massive feeding spree now.

happy My HV advised against all other animal milk products for now (including goats etc) just to be sure. Gutted because I love goats cheese. She's referred me to a dietician who she said would advise me on how/when to reintroduce goats milk back in.

I'm currently substituting with soy milk. Although I'm aware some babies are allergic to soya too. I'm going to wait to see what the dietician says.

The main thing I miss is cheese. Although I have lost 5lb in a week so that's pretty good!!

Initially I really thought the combination of dairy free and infacol helped my baby. She was much less windy and easier to settle. Infact she almost went three days without crying and had a few 6 hour sleeps at night which almost felt a bit strange after the hours and hours of crying previously.

However 2 days ago she threw up every feed and cried constantly! Yesterday things looked like they were settling again (maybe it was just a bug?!) and last night she had another 6 hour sleep.

So it's all a bit confusing, but I'm sticking with the dairy free just incase.

Morning all.

Little Man decided on an extra feed last night (& a screaming fit at the same time, he couldn't fart poor wee thing) & its suprising how just one extra feed can make you utterly shattered.

Have to ask - what are you all dressing them in at night? We have him in the short sleeve vest + babygro + cellular blanket combo but I suspect he wasn't warm enough from the waist up cos he only settled with my hand over his top arm all night long.

I've started using cardigans during the day, but seriously considering a long sleeved vest at night or something like that. The room isn't that warm really - 17 to 19 degrees.

What are the rest of you doing?

After crying for 14 hours yesterday taking breaks only to feed (not sleep!) dd slept from 11 til 8 only waking at 5 for a feed and nappy change. I wouldn't be happy her going that long if it wasn't for the screamfest she'd delivered that day.

She sleeps in short vest, babygro, cellular over body and fleecy over feet. Or just cellular if she's in bed with me. I've got some grobags and she is big enough for them now but not sure what to put on her underneath?

Last night I swaddled her with a thin sheet before bed and only used cellular on top then.

How old do they have to be for the Gro Bags?

We've tried swaddling but he was not impressed. He's only happy when he's flailing his limbs about like a tiny breakdancer.

Mothercare have fleece sleep suits which look very cosy.....hmmm....

10lbs I think.

Yeah Dd didn't like it 1st time I tried but once she was all worked up last night it worked well. Although I hate seeing her all restricted like that.

I might pop into TKMaxx & get one. He was weighed by the HV this morning & is 9/13!

He was born at 8/13 so has put on a full pound in 3 weeks!

Am feeling obnoxiously smug right now. This morning he's wanting to feed every hour and it makes it almost worth it, lol.

Just realised there is no way I'm just gonna "pop into TKMaxx" What the hell am I smoking?!!

Ha!! Your smugness nearly overflowed to a shopping trip!

Good work on the epic feeding though.

We've got a gro bag waiting and it says 4kg and their head must be bigger than the neck opening.
We're dressing her in long sleeve vest, babygro and folded blanket over the top. Our room is about 17-20. FYI The gro bag packaging has a guide on how exactly to dress them for each temp and gro bag weight.

We have ttesco own brand baby sleeping bags rather than actual gro bags. The labels say baby needs to be 7lb something so my baby is already using them, which is good as she is always determined to kick blankets off.

bellyrub I happened upon your dairy-free thread in the Food section. It was very helpful. This is starting to feel more possible as long as I stay at home, still not sure how eating out or having a take-away will work.

Take away wise I've only really had chips :( At a time in life when someone (the midwife) actually encouraged me to have a calorie rich diet, it's so unfair I can't pig out on pizza or chinese every night!! But there we go!

I've recently switched to a sleeping bag. So she wears a vest, sleep suit (which just happens to be a thicker/velvety one tonight) some thick fleecy socks and the sleeping bag. I only have the one sleeping bag but Im definitely getting another one. My baby HATES being cold but really can't tolerate being swaddled. So the sleeping bag is lovely and warm front and back without trapping her arms in. Also it means she stays warm for night feeds and it's less of a shock returning to the crib (because I don't take her out of the bag). I've also mastered a way of changing her nappy by unzipping the sleeping bag but hardly uncovering her.

Well... I say all this like I've mastered the whole sleeping thing. Tonight she'll probably scream the house down and only sleep for 30 minutes!! Whenever I think I've cracked something she proves me wrong!!

He is only 4 days old so no real idea what he likes really but we are going with short sleeved vest, baby grow, 2 cellular blankets and s fluffy blanket over legs.

Midwife 5 day visit today and he has only lost about 5 % so that is good. They were happy with everything. They are so reassuring and took me through lying down feeding and checked him in the sling too. X

Appreciate the sleeping bag advice, I think I'll just replace the blankets for the sleeping bag if she's not swaddled.

She's really restless tonight, dp has been walking with her round the flat for hours. Hes back to work tomorrow so possibly shes picking up our vibes about that.

HV visit tomorrow, what does that involve?

So I wrote the last post about dairy free seeming more doable, went to cook dinner, got half-way through and discovered that the stock cubes "may contain milk". Can't use those so can't cook that, nothing much else to eat in the fridge, can't give up and get a take-away like we would have previously, I am having left-over veg from the bottom of the fridge with rice when it is cooked, DH is having a take-away :(
Meanwhile my baby has spent all evening crying to be fed, falling asleep after a few minutes and repeating after not very long depending on if I try to put her down, let DH hold her or move.

ladydolly my HV visit was just her asking questions and filling in some pages in the red book. She would have weighed DD but the MW had already done it that day.

Happy I have had a day n night so far of constant feeding for short spans dropping off to sleep and as soon as put down wakes up screaming currently asleep on me for the millionth time today!!

He sleeps in a ls vest, sleepsuit n then swaddle, cellular blanket tucked around him n thin blanket over bottom half. Heating is set to come on at 13 degrees.

We have a new born sleeping bag n have used couple times but sleeps a little better with swaddle.

We have just had 3 1/2 hours sleep. He just stirred and has gone straight on to boob. I could do a little victory dance!

Eastmids and happy- yikes. thinking of you. x

happy you only need to avoid food that lists milk as an actual ingredient. Ignore the paragraph after the ingredients list that says 'may contain traces of milk' or 'produced in a factory that also handles milk'. That bit is for people with a serious milk allergy that could result in anaphylaxis and I think the company puts that just to cover themselves. There are definitely stock cubes out there without milk in. I'm sure Oxo beef cubes are milk free.

Get a load of dairy free snacks in to keep you from feeling deprived!!

P.s. Sainsburys sell dairy free pesto!

Am sat here with DD on shoulder just trying to make sure she doesn't sick up.

Mad day yesterday, we went to visit my work and I had about 6 inches cut off my hair (was past my bum so is still long!). We also fed for the first time in public. Not sure if she picked up on it but she latched on really quickly and I used my scarf mainly as a blanket as we discovered 5 minutes in that we were sat in a draught.

All this disrupted her feeding though, so DH is currently zonked having wandered round with her for an hour last night so I could catch some shut eye.

MW appointment today so we'll be going for a walk this afternoon. Hopefully she'll have started gaining.

On the sleeping front, she's currently in vest, sleep suit and a cellular blanket. We've got sleeping bags but her heads still too small. Once we've got the new thermostat we should be able to adjust things though.

Yay a better night... Finished evening feeding frenzy by midnight, feed at 3.30, and just woken at 7am for another. Good timing for DH as his alarm goes off at 7 anyway. Best thing was that she went back in her bednest after the 3.30 feed, I only fell asleep with her for 20 mins this time by which she was asleep enough to go down. So my sleep was all in my own bed without little snuffleopagus tucked in by me keeping me awake. Happy dance here too!

After busy day yesterday with MW, breastfeeding group and then MIL and her sister we had another late evening of almost pure feeding. I'm not using an app or writing stuff down as don't want to become obsessed but I'd say between 9 Pm and 2 am he was on me for about 3-4 hrs - he's since slept from about 2.20 til now (still asleep). Just about to send DH downstairs for cups of tea. No commitments today - PJ day coming our way! Yay!