October 2014 // thread 3 // Maybe we'll get some sleep soon.

[MundayCakes85]

Last thread is full so here's a shiny new one

Ah thank you! This is my first baby and I had no idea what to expect bf! I can't comprehend where she's putting it all she's been at it since lunch time but is thankfully interspersing it with sleep now

Apart from the obvious feeding a lot what are the other symptoms of a growth spurt?

Ds is heading towards 6 weeks and has become very unsettled in the evenings which is not like him at all he has only just gone down properly when he has been going to sleep at 7ish. Just wondered if it might be to do with a growth spurt or just one of those things.

Oh and he is also guzzling like a piglet!

I only know what I've read on the internet and in books as this is my first, but I think they can get irritable and really fussy. P is definitely more fussy lately and she's normally really content

Captain I am sending you virtual hugs!! Xx

H is thankfully (mostly) by her 6 week growth spurt which she started a week early! From start to finish it lasted 11 days but only two of those days were proper marathon clusterfests which lasted literally half of the day, the other days were 4ish hour daily sessions mainly in the evening. She fussed at the boob while feeding, as if she wanted to yank my nip off and was v restless inbetween feeds. The end of a particularly long session was usually followed by a longer sleep. I was so glad to have previously read your ladies' chat about your experience of growth spurts so I was semi-prepared for it coming and would have been demented otherwise, worrying about my supply etc! It's been barely a week since the cluster feeding ended yet weirdly it seems ages ago now! You'll feel a bizarre sense of accomplishment and v proud and sympathetic towards your nipples by the end of it ! You (and your mamms) can do it!

Captain sorry to read that you're feeling so down :( I get back ache carrying H in her sling for too long as well and she's only 10 and a half lbs so you're doing amazing! I'm hoping exercises like stretching and building back my core strength will help take the strain.
I hope tomorrow is a better day for you xx

We just had our longest stint yet - 9pm to 2.30am. Wooooooooo. I wish I had gone to bed at 9 then I would feel amazing right?! But no, stayed up to eat and watch shit on tv!
Hope people are having ok nights and those in the 6 week growth spurt are getting a break - it feels just constant. I also think it's worth having a look at wonder weeks as I do think it makes sense.

Hugs captain totally normal to feel like you do. Sleepless nights and days take their toll. Plus spending your days with baby just screaming at you and having other children to look after! It's ok to have a cry and a moan god knows I do! You know it will grt easier in time it just feels relentless at the minute.

V will occasionally nap in the bouncer but usually only naps when out walking in buggy. So no good for me to get rest. The only way in surviving is by going to bed at 8-8:30pm while OH stays upstairs with baby till around 11 and will give her a feed then she (usually) sleeps until 1 or 2 so I get a few hours sleep. The problem with nighttime here is that when she wakes she's up for approx 2 hours. Repeats of big train are my new friend.

Eeeeekk! Reflux is bad with us today. DS has a cough & a cold & it is sending his reflux into a tail spin.
:(
Yellow sorry, no link to guidelines on reflux meds. GP surprised me when he said Losec straight away. Thought I was going to have to battle to get ranitidine instead of Gaviscon!
Popsicle BFing is really hard & it's all normal. Kellymom website is a great source of info & the FB group Breast Friends UK is a brilliant support.
If anyone wants more info/keep track of growth spurts there is s great App called 'the Wonder Weeks' (think it was £1.29?!) & it tracks your babies development & tells you when the growth spurts are & what to expect, what development to see & how to cope.
Just got a 4 hour stretch with a cranky baby, fingers crossed for another 4.

Captain sorry things are tough at the minute. What sling are you wearing? Perhaps there might be a more supportive one? I can give you some advice on that front if you like.

Yawn DS is cutting one of his last 3 teeth and was up from 2 til 3.30. I'm so lucky DH dealt with that one as Lil tag teamed for a feed at 4.30. She managed 4 and 3/4 hours before that! Not quite yesterday's nearly 6 hour stretch but still a massive improvement on the early days. I must not get too excited though DS best sleep for 6 months was from 8-14 weeks. Repeating to myself "good sleep now does not mean I have a sleeper" a few hundred times. Argh she's asleep but Mr Teething has a really loud and annoying reflux cough which is likely to keep us all up. Poor scone

Sorry to hear of tough days. Whoever was struggling with BF - it gets so much easier very quickly! Those big chunks of sleep above were from a very small 8 week (actual, 3 week adjusted) BF baby who only slept in 2 hour chunks a week or so ago. Once thru the 6 week growth spurt life does get easier xx

6 hours... 6 HOURS!

I'm so excited. Shame is that I am now sitting here expressing from my right boob, since she was only interested in my left one. Torpedo issues!

Wonder Weeks suggests that you go from edd in order to work out when they are having growth spurts/periods of development. That means that Pip is at 8 week leap - I didn't get that until I read the list of stuff that happens at week 8 and tadaaaaa.. it's spot on.

in general though, fussy cry-y starving clingy baby... after which a period of sunny delightful child who serms quite different to how they were gefore.

Sorry about typos, am clearly delirious with sleep. Haha.

After a few days of nearly three hour stretches we've been back to hour long sleeps here and I've cried a bit because three hours was just about bearable but the idea of more time with her not sleepingmore than one and a half at best is awful. Also she's started the dreadful straining and grunting again. Don't know what to do.

Oooooooowwww ! It feels like my boob is going to fall off!!! Dylan is still fast asleep so I my expressing a bit off so I can actually move, that's proving a challenge though as I can barely get my boob in the shield! Feeling your pain this morning goats
After a real miserable day yesterday he slept for like 7 hours!!!!! Crazy baby. He's now been asleep for another 2.5 hours.

Thanks everyone for the support and hugs - I'm feeling better this morning (DS has only just woken and DH got up with DD so had relative lie in which has helped). Happy to hear of people getting some good stretches of sleep - at least from their babies anyway! Tatty hugs to you! short stretches are awful. At least you know the longer stretches are a possibility and will return in time.

fedup he won't sleep in bouncer - in fact never has even straight from hospital, although he'll occasionally have short periods of happy awake time in it though.

Thanks CJ for offering sling advice. I have a Girasol ring sling and Petite Connecta Baby carrier. Bought both after lots of research and trying things out - I'm very short so find many carriers too big. They are great and supportive, I think it's just the sheer amount of time he's in there and the fact I'm little and he's a big baby. Also carry all my stress pain in upper back/shoulders I'm general.

Hoping everyone has a relatively restful weekend!

Captain sounds like you have the right gear alright. The Connecta is great as it allows cross over of straps. Only other suggestion is a wrap like a Moby as the volume of cloth is adjustable for body size & you can stretch weight across your entire back.
I am sorry I don't know the history of your DS, has he been diagnosed with silent reflux?

I feel amazing this morning. DP arrived home last night, took one look at my pale, weepy, slightly delirious face and announced that he would be looking after Baby Badger all night so I could sleep. We waited for her to want her 9pm feed, then I set up one expressed bottle and gave him instructions for the bags of milk in the freezer and off I went for a bath and in bed by 9:45!! I slept until 7am this morning - my first big sleep in six and a half weeks. I bloody live that man.

My boobs are something else this morning - already expressed 7oz and I'm going to have to start again because they're rock hard still and BB is (finally) fast asleep!

captain thank you. It sounds like you're having a much more miserable time, though- Ada actually sleeps a lot, just in really short stretches. I think was just having the 3 am horrors. I hope things get easier for you soon.

Think we might try gripe water- does it help with the farts? Oh, the farts, my happiness depends on farts.

Oh dear, we've got the snuff lowest baby today! He's been struggling all night bless him, I thought it might be a cold but he hasn't got a runny nose, it sounds more like phlem (ugh hate that word!) or mucus in his throat/nose. He's feeding ok but sounds awful when we put him down, which means I've only had about 3 hours sleep Wondering if I should call dtrs/HV or if I'm being a panicky FTM. Glad to hear some are getting good stretches of sleep, can't wait till R sleeps for a bit longer!

*snuffliest, not snuff lowest - damn autocorrect!

tatty we are back on short stretches now too although slightly less of the grunting/straining business last night. Am so tired!

In non baby related news I am getting a cold. First one since before I fell preggers.
I hope I don't give it to the bubba :(

Thanks cj Ill get that app. I thought she'd had her growth spurt last week as she was more irritable but we'll see what today brings... hopefully the cluster feeding will be done with . I hope your baby's reflux is better today.
yellow thank you. We seem to go through patches with bf. Sometimes its really easy and others she'll cluster feed all day or my supply will go crazy and we're both soaked in milk, or her latch is off. Ive been expressing a feed or 2 in the day as she takes the bottle really well but if im not careful it makes my supply go in to overdrive and I'm yet to get the hang of expressing regularly. My dream routine would be to give her expressed in the day and bf at night- I don't know if that's possible or not??
Sorry for the self-obsessed essay
Hope everyone has a nice, sleep-filled weekend