November 2014 - newborn thread!

[Greenstone]

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

I have the flat-ish MAM ones. But tbh I haven't tried the bulb ones - I think the MAM ones were half price in Tesco at the time.

I have those, but she struggles to hang onto them. Think they're better for avoiding wonky teeth in future though.

Folks, you can also use lansinoh before as well as after a feed, it's totally safe and often needed!
Great news Twiglet on dd's weight. Keep her by the windows as much as possible to help with the jaundice.
I'm not currently using a dummy but absolutely haven't ruled it out. Dd1 refused point blank but haven't tried yet with dd 2. They are great things if used judiciously. Not sure why people get so worked up about them.

Just had 1st visit from HV. I had Community MWs for 4 days & they were amazing, but now I've been transferred over to "Trish" who I wanted to fucking slap.

She was talking about how much he was feeding and I said he was feeding amazingly well, feeding all thru the night in fact!

Trish: "He's just using you as a dummy"

I said that no, he was gulping and swallowing so it definately wasn't just for comfort. Then she gave a patronising head tilt "Well if you offer it, of course he'll drink it...."

I said well the Community Midwives said it was normal cluster feeding.
Trish: loud silence

I said: "But you obviously don't agree with them."
She said hurriedly: "Oh no no no.....its just your sleep I'm worried about"

I said its OK, as he slept from 10am to 12.30 today and I had a nap then.

Another patronising head tilt: "He really should be sleeping more at night than during the day..."
I retorted "At 6 days old?!"
Trish: "Hmmm....welll....."

Then she was giving me a leaflet about PND "Do you have a history of depression?"
"YEP! But many years ago and I didn't get the baby blues so its fine so far"
Trish: disbelieving head tilt.

AAAAAAAHHHHH! MUMMY RAGE!

Baby boy born Saturday afternoon. I am knackered!

DS2 born 10.21am Sunday morning, after 4 hours of established labour, and weighing 8lb 3oz.

Congrats Brian and pink girly! Welcome babies! Hope you are both feeling ok.

Trish sounds delightful Anna Rose I had a much nicer experience at dd's 2 week check today, same kind of questions from nurse but a sympathetic 'try to rest and eat drink as much as you can' vibe.

annarose Oh what an annoying experience. I've read such a mixed bag on here about HV, I'm a bit apprehensive about our first visit...
Our 5 day check with the midwife (and a student) was this afternoon. I was feeling a little fed up today as poor DD had been struggling to latch onto my right boob today due to it being just so hard. Managed eventually each time but it was just a frustrating experience for us both. At least I know my milk's in, the amount that got sprayed all over the living room floor while I was trying to make it better for her!
But at the weigh in we found she has gone from 3.19kg at birth to 3.35kg now, so we're really really pleased and I'm feeling so much happier about everything. And my right boob is feeling better and less hard so I'm more comfy too.
Tried the wrap sling today for a little while, that seems to be a big success. Next decision to make is when we are ready to leave the house to go register her birth, I'll need to be willing to feed in public as it'll probably be at least a couple of hours out of the house...

Congratulations ImBrian and pinkgirly!!

I'm glad to hear others are also having guzzling and clustering. The last two days dd has gone through patches of eating non-stop for hours. Today we were tried to go for a walk right after a big feed and I ended up feeding her sitting by the front door for about 45 minutes. Every time she stopped I thought she couldn't possibly be hungry any more and then she'd start rooting again. I guess it's a good sign that she's taking in so much milk (and we've had some spectacular fountains of poo) but it's exhausting.

I think my 8 day old may also be doing this cluster feeding.

With 5 nappy changes last night (meaning 5 trips to the bathroom for fresh warm water) I'm wondering when everyone plans to switch to baby wipes?

Just popping in to say hello.

I might not be posting much for a little bit. DD lost more weight again over the weekend despite having started on EBM top ups . We are now topping up with EBM and 100ml of formula at every 3 hourly feed. It is a colossal increase in volume of fluid. Frankly there is not enough time in a 3 hour window to BF, EBM top up, formula top up and express milk. Let alone sleep. It's all a bit shit.

Enough of my self pity, I'll be back when things have calmed down a bit here. Will probably still lurk, although reading about other babies piling on weight probably doesn't help. It's all karma: my first two were milk monsters and exclusively breastfeed for 6 months.

Use the wipes now!! As long as they sensitive/frag free u should be fine!
Why make life hard at 3 in morning ?!

Sorry to hear you're having such a hard time Kantha, do they have any idea why she's not gaining?

Yesterday I made three amazing discoveries:

Wearing two pads is twice the comfort.

A cut up Always Nighttime catches nighttime boob leakage better than anything else.

Baby feeding sitting upright astride my thigh means he doesn't fuss as much and drains the whole boob in one go! I think he swallows less air sitting up, I dunno. What it meant in reality was that he got all the sleepy hind milk & slept all night with the exception of feeds (11.00-11.30, 1.30-2.00, 5.00-5.30, & 7.30-8)

So Mummy is very happy this morning!

Bellyrub I've been using wipes since about Day 2, cos lifes hard enough! I also don't change wet nappies overnight, just shitty ones. Wet nappies don't tend to bother baby thanks to nappy technology.

We've been using reusable cheeky wipes and are loving them- way easier than cotton wool! Get her clean so fast even with mega nappies. And poor DD only gets warm water once a day- we put water in the box with the wipes and they then go cold. She doesn't complain any less for the warm water wiping than the cold so maybe you could have a bottle of water and a bowl there and avoid the nighttime tap trips?

Thinking of you kantha, hope all this effort helps her turn the corner and she's back on track soon xxx

Oh kantha that's so hard. Would you post on the breast and bottle feeding board at all? Some really knowledgeable posters there. hopefully even in a fortnight this crap phase will have eased and dd will be gaining.

That sounds like a good night Anna! Does he go straight back down after a feed? Dd tends to overfill her tummy so I have to hold her upright for about 20 mins after a feed to avoid a huge puke. She did a stretch of 2.5 hours in her carrycot last night which was good for her.

Belly- god yes, wipes at night, always.

We're still on cotton wool but have a bowl with cold water and just do it efficiently and then follow with boob. Wipes don't come pre warmed after all..

kantha that does sound hard, but hopefully is just an adjustable glitch. With ds we all kept saying 'this too shall pass', v helpful for babies and indeed many children and some adults.

anna I've experienced some good and shocking HVs. Yours sounds particularly challenging!

In other news, ds1 is getting better at tolerating A being feed in the same room as him. Slowly, but we're getting there.

Greenstone yes he lies flat straight after. I presume its cos he feeds upright? So everything settles as he's feeding? Honestly I dunno.

He does pause about three quarters of the way through and do some hiccuping and gurgling, but after a minute he settles back on boob again. I've learnt he'll feed through the hiccups and actually the feeding sorts them out quickly so I don't wait them out anymore.

But I also suspect he just isn't that windy now that i've stopped guzzling coke and fruit juice. I didn't know till a MW said it on Day 4!

Ok, that's all the permission I need!! Wipes it is!!

Sounds great Anna, he sounds fabulous! Might try to feed more upright tonight but it can be a bit fiddly with my small boobs.

My sleepyhead cot insert thingy has just arrived...I'm counting on it to work as well as the reviews say it will....

Kantha - sorry to hear your difficulties and hope things get better soon

I've switched to wipes too. Faffing around fetching bowls of water was just too much hassle. Late night nappy changes are bad enough as it is... DD doesn't actually seem to care about having a dirty nappy but she doesn't like being changed and it always seems to set her off hiccupping. And because she doesn't make a fuss when her nappy is dirty we just have to guess so it's a bit like Russian roulette because if you get it wrong she'll projectile poo mid-change. Yesterday she did this four times during a single change - it was extraordinary.

Spitting up milk is starting to be an issue. Last night I'd hold her for ages to make her burp, and she'd go down fine and then an hour later throw up milk over everything. I know they say it always looks more than it is, but I was starting to wonder if she was taking in any of the night feeds.

greenstone experiment during the day! During the night its too stressful to try something new. I don't think boob size will matter as they just lean in to you to a greater or lesser extent depending on boobs, with their little legs either side of your thigh.

The only crap thing about the position is having to sit upright yourself. Haven't figured that one out yet. Last night it was hard on my back so will have to do something with pillows tonight for support.

The night before I was feeding laying down as everyone advises for rest, but he wasn't talking nearly as much and I was feeding constantly. So i'd rather half an hour of sitting upright to four hours of lying down with him fussing about, iykwim.

I'm an E cup right now - they look like pornstar implants, DH is transfixed lol - and it sucks. For the first five minutes DS struggles to latch regardless of position until the excess has been drained off. I know they say to express a bit first but realistically you're not gonna do that at 5am! Really hoping they reduce in size after 3/4 weeks when supply is settled.

Serious screaming here today is this the start of the colic weeks I wonder.

caravela I could have written your post. Feed followed by nappy change = hiccups almost every time.

I know breastfed babies aren't meant to get wind but I'm pretty certain mine has a gripey tummy. But that could be because of the sudden switch from bottles (both FF and EBM) to the nipple. Maybe her tummy can't cope with all the different things.

Greenstone today, my baby only stops screaming when she's on the boob. I'm allowing some comfort sucking just to give my ears some relief!!

Oh dear, hopefully things will settle down for everyone soon! Your HV sounds a charmer, Anna...

MW just been to see DD for heel prick test etc on day 5 and says all fine but DD still looking quite jaundiced She's feeding a pooing regularly so I know her systems are working, not sure what more I can do given the strangeack of tropical weather we are experiencing here...!

A friend bought a sling by this morning for me to try, so am going to take DD for a little walk tomorrow and see how I get on with it.