November 2014 - newborn thread!

[Greenstone]

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

Anna, as I'm slowly moving to fully formula feeding as breastfeeding must stop next week I've got him on a feeding routing of roughly every 4-5 hours during the day. After his 2.30 feed I try and keep him awake and alert until his 7pm feed where he'll normally be zonked. If he's still fretting I leave him in his Moses basket with white noise playing on my phone and he's down within 30 mins til his 1am feed.

Teeth at 5 weeks is ludicrous frankly. Ds1 didn't get his till 6 months. Still, we soldier on, and he's quite chilled about it, all things considered.

On a really frivolous note - I'm back in my pre-pregnancy jeans! (I am also very shallow, but this pleases me no end.) I have celebrated of course by baking a tray of mince pies and making tiffin.

Oh for a like button......

I'm still wearing size 12 handmedown mat jeans. I'm usually in size 10 skinnies. Boo.
Over a stone left to drop. I am also v shallow, more make up every day even in hospital!

Wore not more. One handed typing.

Utopian - doesn't the baking mean that the pre-pregnancy jeans no longer fit?

Have tried posting a couple of times but keep getting interrupted by MiniWol and losing them.

She's growing well but had a couple of days suffering from wind during the week. However she somehow went 6 hours between feeds last night (although this included 2 hours of happy wakefulness until DH was able to put her in her Moses basket at 2am). She's made up for it since though. Feeding roughly every 2 and a half hours since waking at 5.30am.

We had our first poonami yesterday. So glad that I remembered the tip about taking the vest off down the body.

Hello ladies, DD is 2 weeks old today... have to say shes a pretty good baby. Weve seemed to have gotten into a bit of a routine where she feeds from 7ish for hours but will then go to sleep about half 12-1 and not wake up again till 7/7:30, have a feed and a nappy change and then nod off again till half 10/11 which means Im actually feeling fairly human. Had a couple of bad nights last week which left me in tears all day, DP is finding it hard to cope with me being so irrationaly tearful but I know hes doing his best. We had a big row yesterday morning and he was barely replying to texts etc all day but then came home with chocolate and had ordered take away pizza even though it was my turn to get us a treat, I think he just feels a bit helpless as he cant stop me being upset and it makes him cross.

Finding it quite hard to get organised enough to get out and about.... im abnormaly excited about going to sainsburys tomorrow with my best friend haha!

You seem to have come so far since you found out you were pregnant. Your DP will catch up I'm sure, neither of you have had much time to get used to the idea.
M is 4 weeks tomorrow and I'm proud that I walked to aldi and back with the pram!

Hi all. Just wanted to check in as have had a bit of a day of it. DS won't be put down today. Sling was great going out but OH has just gone out to a friends birthday party. I have a feeling I am stuck on the sofa for the night.

Hope everybody's day has been Ok and nights are even better. x

Moggle, does massage make her sleepy at all? I find it I put DD on her side on her lap and rub her back after a feed, she will often go to sleep if she has fed enough.

barmy that's a good idea, will try it later on. It's so hard to resist at 5am when she was lying there smiling at me!
Have had a fab day with lots of friends and their toddlers over. DD seemed to love the noise and chaos and sat serenely in her bouncer observing for a while, but for most of the afternoon was fast asleep. Clearly noise helps her sleep so think I'll have to try white noise too.

Am feeling very festive now! Got all my shopping done and busy watching Christmas films. Best of all my right nipple has finally healed so I can feed on both sides pain free!!!! Going to go buy some new nursing bras tomorrow to celebrate, the 2 cheap soft ones i got from Amazon are looking pretty sorry for themselves now after 6 wks of constant service and multiple lansinoh stains!!

Hurrah for nipples healing and shopping complete moggle!

catg I wear A in the sling at home so I can cook in peace - works a treat (although obviously you have to be mindful of hot things)

toni I'm sure it will! Had to take them off already as the waist was rubbing my emcs scar, but I'll take any tiny triumph at the moment! I am of course still way off pre-pg weight, so there's some weird disparity there..

ark - you're both steadily getting there - it took me and dh a hell of a time, and it wasn't such a surprise for us!

DD is doing a weird thing with feeds. Yesterday she wanted to be fed all day, then she fed at 12 ish last night then not until 6 this morning. She was awake at 4 but wouldn't feed. She only had a few tiny feeds until 4 this afternoon but has wanted to be fed almost all the time since then (unfortunately, as now DD1 is in bed I need to clean the house before my mum comes tomorrow and wrap presents). Her nose is blocked up and snuffly again now, which might be why, and I can't remember where I put the saline nose drops.
My achievement today was taking both girls to church - very discreet breastfeeding while entertaining a 3 yr old without making much noise, why did I think that would be a good idea? And I've got to do it again on Thursday with probably very over excited 3yr old.

We're trying the Moses basket tonight after 5+ weeks of co-sleeping.

We've both come to bed to read books etc as we want to see if he'll settle in it. Just being able to reach over and cuddle DH is lovely. After just 5 mins I decided that Baby isn't coming back in the bed again! But it means tonight might be a bit hairy. Actually it could be an epic fail & I could be eating my words tomorrow!

We gave him a bath and a feed and had him in it by 7.40pm in an effort to have him sleeping all evening. But now he's awake and feeding again - I forgot about cluster feeding in my enthusiasm for an easy evening!

I don't understand how people get their babies down at 7pm, waking up for a feed at 12.30. Don't they cluster feed? Or does that happen with formula fed babies but not with BF babies?

annarose I can tell you now this BF baby has been cluster feeding g for England tonight. My OH went out at 6 and I have had a space of about 30 mins (broken up into 10 mins) since he left when he isn't feeding.

I think / hope we're seeing the end of cluster feeding... DD is now going 2 hrs between feeds instead of previous 45min-1 hr. Still not as good as rest of the day when it's 3-4 hrs but still better than it was! Hope your DS is not far behind...
Also I've noticed my boobs don't get so huge and slightly sore between feeds, so maybe it's a sign my supply is fairly fixed now, so maybe cluster feeding isn't needed any more?

anna same question here! even without the cluster feeding dd won't go down that early. She'll just wake and scream.

We had a 3 hour nap together earlier, she'd never nap that long if I wasn't in the bed with her. It's made me think that's why she sleeps so long between feeds at night time. So when sh said I should start getting her back into the moses or cot I said I doubted she'd sleep as long. His reply was 'we just have to deal with it'.... we! it's not 'we' when he's in the next room wearing earplugs!

Hey folks! Evening all. Seems some of us are having troubled times with others settling more. I remember from dd1 realising that tough times were only phases and good days would be coming again.

dp and i are v lucky and no we have it easy in comparison to others ( certainly compared to dd1!). Dd2 is generally a v chilled and patient baby - who has indulged us with long stretches of sleep through the night. Tbh she has made recovery from csection easier.
still have wound issues and have been referred for a scan to see what is going on. My external wound has reopened in 2 places (after 6 weeks!?) so having to apply antiseptic lotion and have had new dressing applied. Bloody horrible csection!

dd1&2 and myself had a 2.5 coach journey this morning followed by ferry to my folks. They were fab - dd2 fed, smiled, "chatted" and slept whole of the day and dd1 was on cracking form. It made the whole 8 hr trip a pleasure.

now i am,home with family - my festive season has really begun :-)

I am feeling rather bitter and envious of those with settling down babies. Does that make me a terrible person? DD struggling with terrible wind pain. She was up at 3:45 this morning and couldn't sleep from then on - every time she dropped off she'd get another spasm and jerk awake. The constant crying and the screams are just hideous and have reduced me to tears this evening. She's also so restless during the night that she sleeps all day, then won't settle at night and so on. I exhausted and feeling completely useless as a mother.

Oh twig, that sounds tough. Of course you are not a terrible person nor a useless mum. You and dd are getting it rough. I remember with dd1 being in tears alot of the time as she wouldn't settle. The intensity was draining. Will you have support / help over Xmas.

i have no real advice other than it will get easier. You are doing a great job, even though it may not feel like it. X

Twiglet you are doing great. You are a great mum without doubt. The endless screaming is a killer. DS did it from 3am through to 8 this morning and then when I had to get up decided he'd go to sleep and has then done the same all afternoon and evening. I am shattered and have been in tears repeatedly today so I sympathise wholeheartedly. Have a big hug. xxx

Thanks ladies. DD up and feeding currently after about a 30 minute break in the crying. Trying to feed her upright straddling my thigh - there's a lot of loud gulping noises, does that mean she's swallowing more air than normal?! Feel a bit better after my crying jag, though am completely shattered and my eyes are in and out of focus all the time.

So far we have tried Infacol, gripe water, various positions, tummy rubbing, bicycle legs... I despair of my poor little DD ever having a comfortable night.

Twiglet I was feeling bitter and jealous too earlier when reading the thread - you're so not alone however I should know better because I've been through it all before with dd1 and I know that all the screaming and sleeplessness does end and so quickly in the grand scheme of things.

But it's hard. Had coffee with friends at the weekend and dd2 was not the model infant at all - wouldn't feed quietly for ages and did that angry screamy thing as I was trying to talk, I was v flustered dropping breast pads and running to change dirty bum etc and felt that I am still shit at this the second time around! But I'm not and neither are you. We just have babies with digestive systems that haven't matured yet and they're struggling with this and so are we.

Will your dd sleep in bed with you? If so do it. Dd2 is worse when she's in with me so I tend not to but would in a shot if she'd settle.
Hang in there

DS has been screaming since 4. I've tried everything I can think of-feeding, winding, Infacol, rocking, cuddling, swaddling, having him in with me, dummy (spat out), and finally at my wits end and crying hysterically (me as well as him) gave up at 7.30 went into DP and gave DS to him thinking I just wanted at least a few minutes of sleep, only to now feel awful that I've done that and can't settle because he's not here with me.

Greenstone, you said this stage doesn't last long.... Can you give me any indication or glimmer of hope for when it's likely to get better? He's 3.5 weeks.

Anna, cluster feeding definitely happening here as well - DD is BF- so there is little chance of getting her down early at this stage. It has got a bit better in that she starts around 3pm now instead of 6pm, so sometimes goes to sleep around 10 rather than 1am, but she is on and off like a yoyo so no chance she would go to her cot then.

Has anyone else had lots of green poo from your bf baby suddenly? It has all turned green for the last few days but I am not sure why. She is very windy in the evening as well so I am wondering if it is related.

Thisisimpossible, sounds like a hard start to the day for you all. I hope he settles soon. Will he sleep in a sling at all? It's awful to hear them so upset! You are doing the right thing taking a break and giving him to DH for a while.

Twiglet, hopefully it is a stage and they will all settle soon. We went to visit friends who live a 2 hour drive away yesterday- DD was fine when she was there but then screamed the whole way home and for most of last night as well until we bathed her which finally seemed to calm her down. I feel clueless when that happens every evening to be honest and am dreading family staying this week in some ways because they will have unwanted helpful suggestions no doubt! It can only get easier.