Nov 2006 - part 1 - sore boobs and paper pants

[CattyB]

Hi there,

Know I'm now offically a October mum but wanted too keep up with you all so if you'll still let me be a 'Nov mum' that would be good.

Our 1st week has been remarkably good - DD (first time I've typed that one ) is a wee star. Feeding is going really well, she came out know what to do and apart from being a bit tired all seems to be falling into place. Had a good cry as my milk came in but otherwise emotions have been ok. Luckily DH is at home for the next couple of weeks - highly infuriating at times but invaluable for helping getting big brothers out to school and for making dinner.

Look forward to hearing all your baby news x

Yay I've found you.

Verity now four days old, which is still so bizarre to me to be a matter of days old, feel like she's been around for ages.

Think DH & I have sorted out that there needs to be one person at a time on night shift otherwise it gets too manic.

Still feel very confused about feeding. B'feeding and finding it so painful, less so now but really unpleasant. I know the latch is fine been checked countless times, it is just the initial sucking. How long will that last? Also when to feed??? Think we are misreading the signs sometimes as she just isn't into it, but now milk is spurting through not sure what to work towards.

Anyone know when, why & how to use those nipple shields, is it for when it all initially gushes out?

Stupid question but what are dummies for? Use when crying a lot or when? Should you use one if fractious but not feeding?

Sorry for all the questions.... Read all the bloody books but feels completely foreign now!

Hi ladies
Congrats on all your babies!
I hope you dont mind me joining in..
Have finally got rid of the last of the inlaws - its a b**r when they all live up country, have felt like a b&b these last 2 weekends!
Olivia is now 10 days old and starting to find our feet - boobs getting tougher etc. She will be our last (already have twins aged 4.5)so trying hard to enjoy the early days!
sounds as though you are all coping brilliantly despite the odd low period
Schimaz - nipple guards are to protect your nips from babies sucking when they are cracked or infected I think, cant rememberwhat else u asked, hang on, will check...

right. my memory is c**p..
Initial sucking lasts (or is painful at least until about now )- Im still finding it a bit sore for @ 2 minutes then fine after that.
When to feed.. I used a version of a routine from a certain book with the boys where I started by feeding about every 3 hours in the day ie try to get in @6 feeds in daytime. I have started giving her a bath at 6 ish every night then trying to settle her upstairs for a couple of hrs before a night time feed at 10 ish. Having said that you cant really do too much in those 2-3 days after your milk comes in so just wait till things stop " gushing" first....
Dont kow a bout dummies, cant remember - think we used them for a couple of weeks with DTs but they didnt take to them.
HTH xx

Hi everyone!

Dummies are comforters if you want to use them - when you know baby is not hungry but won't settle - although i'm not sure i'd be sure that baby wasn't hungry iykwim!
Nipple guards - there are some sort of contraption on the market that you can wear to collect leaked milk for you to store but i've never used them.

Well dd2 is now a week old! she's been fab and really contented, but almost to the point i worry. how much time do you reckon your babies spend awake during the day? My dd is literally asleep with the exception of waking for a feed or poo and even then i havn't heard her get into a real paddy yet with crying! I know i should be relieved but i can't help thinking should she be waking more?

Has anyone started expressing yet. Is a week to early? I was thinking of starting to build a supply in the freezer so that in a week or two's time dp could start to offer bottles.

Hope all is well!

Morning all,

don't know re dummies, afraid we are avoiding at all costs and i may have a thumb sucker instead... he's already found his fingers and likes putting them in his mouth (usually when I am trying to feed him so it is a bun fight of boobs and fists!)

DS is nearly 4 weeks old and will be a month on Friday - where has the last month gone??? Can't believe that I have been off work 4 weeks already, let alone have had a baby for the same amount of time

Hope everyone else is doing ok. DS seems to have a small cold and his nose is a bit snotty (sorry tmi) so am going to look for one of those "snot sucker" things to try and help him out a bit.

Re: bleeding - mine has just been continual but annoyingly light i.e enough to need pads but wich it would just give up!

We're off to Moorfields eye hosp tomorrow to get Ivan checked out to make sure he hasn't got the same condition as me (I am registered partially sighted) so please keep your fingers crossed for me!

Take care all
J

Hello all

Podglet im keeping everything crossed for you - good luck!

Harry is doing well, im taking him back to the dr for his eye the infection still hasn't cleared so im going to get it checked.

Were having good days and worse ones! Somedays Harry feeds like an angel and will contentley suck away for ages then sleep for a few hours. Some days he is fussy and has really short feeds and cries alot but i suppose thats to be expected. Luckily i seem to be a natural at feeding and haven't got any pain or anything like that, (i knew my huge boobs had to be good for something )
He is gradually beginning to get himself settled in his basket at night which is good as well, it would be a real passion killer trying to resume the sex life with harry plonked in the middle of us!

Well you all sound like your doing really well, keep it up

thank you Charlee

How very rude of me - happy birthday for yesterday M2T - hope you had a splendid day!

hi everyone!

well keiran is doing well, hes 3 weeks 2 days and being weighed tomo but i think hes put on at least 2lb since birth (taking him to 9lb) as he wqas 8 lb 6 last tues! he doesnt seem to eat that much but is doing really well! at the same age (and same birthweight) dd was only 7lb 10! she didnt reach 8lb 4 (2 ozs less) until she was 5 weeks old!! lol, and they werent worried about he weight gain so im not worried about his!

i dont seem to get much chance to get on here these days, we seem to fill our days with fun! (or a crying windy baby but thats getting better now iv got him some colic drops!)

oh as gfor dummies keiran has one as dd did when she was little, i got it on the way home from hospital and hes had it ever since, coz he was sucking all night but making himself sick as he didnt need the milk but wanted the comfort of sucking! he has it when going to sleep then it falls out while hes sleeping and hes not bothered. i wouldnt worry too much, it doesnt hurt them to have when they'r asleep, the bit that can cause problems is when they are bigger if they have it all/most of the day as it can cause problems with speech etc. o na good note i only ever used dds whiel she was asleep and now at 2 she still has it in bed but only in bed and she has absolutely no problems with her speech, escpet she doesnt know how/when to shut up!!!!

right must go, sorry for long post!

Hi all.
It's good to read this thread. Loads of my questions have been answered before I asked them. We have given Isabelle a dummy to try and settle her at night, but it doesn't always work. I hate having to get out of bed 10 times a night when she spits it out before falling asleep!

Has anyone got a baby that seems to be sleeping less at night than they used to? Isabelle was sleeping 4 hours at night, but she's now only sleeping 2.5 hours. Have I done something wrong? Also, she can take up to 3 hours to settle after her bath and feed at night. She can fall asleep when feeding, but wakes up as soon as she goes in her basket and then doesn't sleep. Does anyone have any tips for getting her to fall asleep quicker? She just doesn't seem to realise it is night time. Should I be keeping her awake in evening? I really feel like I don't know what to do for the best.

All help gratefully received.

Thanxs for all advice.

Had community midwife around today who was surprisingly fab, (me of little faith). Really useful tips to having longer feeds and therefore settling her for longer. I did get a dummy for standby but think I need to persevere with getting longer feeds on the go.

It feels like Verity sleeping shorter periods too but midwife said that it is the adjustment from being so sleepy after birth, and going back into womb patterns where they were so much more active at night. Can take them a while to realise and understand nightime. So that's slightly disapointing news...

Thanks podglet for the birthday wishes
Happycatandizzy - are you bottle or breastfeeding? sorry my memory is shot to pieces
I can'r remeber who asked about bleeding but mine was stopping and starting but has finally stopped now and Freya was 4 weeks on Saturday (I bled a lot longer with ds but then I did have an episiotamy (sp?) and can you believe that we actually did the deed last night and it went surprisingly smoothly, a lot more comfortable than I remember the 1st time after having ds well I have said too much - Freya slept again from 10:30pm last night until 5:00am - so I think we must be blessed with children that are good at sleeping - well we have to be lucky in at least one aspect of life! lol! Take Care all

Mumy2Toby (and Freya! you need to change your name!) congratulations on 'doing the deed' it's probably more than you all want to know but even nearly a year after DS1 was born i really lost my sex drive but Harry is only 2 1/2 weeks and i can't wait to resume things, DP is delighted!

Harry has spent the night projectile vomiting which was lovley luckly he managed to aim it at DP each time missing me completley, im not sure what it is but the milk he's bringing up is curdled so i thik it's probably a tummy bug poor little sod.

Anyway im off to mother and toddler group this morning for the fisrt time with a group of ladies i met at a practical parenting course so wish me luck im a little nervous!

Hope you had fun Charlee

Well, DS's eyes seem to be fine. He has a small cloud on the cornea of the right eye but the consultant is not concerned about it at all. she is going to see him again in March to keep an eye (pardon the pun) on it. He was an angel, had to have 2 sets of drops and was poked and prodded by all sorts of people but didn't even whimper. Am v proud of him.

Happycat - Ivan's sleeping at night approx 2.5 - 3.5 hours at night. Am sure you are doing nothing wrong but afraid cannot offer and further advice - in fact, perhaps you can advise me on getting him to do 4 hour sleeps?!

happycatandizzy - i know its not much consolation but we are experiencing the same thing, suddenly my lo won't sleep for so long at night and takes an age to settle, thanks to whoever said the thing about patterns from the womb, that makes sense! Still not sure about the dummy business, he does really like it but sometimes needs it putting back in, which i don;t want to get into a habit of doing.
Also v impressed with those of you "doing the deed", can't imagine it at all at the moment but did have lots of stitches - did you??

Hiya everyone
Charlee - have take your advice and changed my name - not very imaginative I know but it will do
Podglet - glad your lo's hospital apt went well
Well, after all my bragging about "doing the deed" my bleeding has started up again at least I think it has ..... surely it's too early for a period isn't it? especially as I am still breastfeeding.
Freya is still sleeping well, last night she fed at 9:30pm (didn't actually go down until 11:00pm thought) and she woke up at 5:00am this morning - ds slept through from 6 weeks, so I am hoping that she will do the same as I am really worn out! at least with ds I was able to sleep when he did but when you have a 2 year old as well as a newborn, that is just not an option! And dh has not done even one night feed yet I seem to remember him helping out a lot more with ds - anyway, that's enought from me - Take Care all

Oh and cheritongirl - I didn't have any stitches this time. I did with ds though and didn't "do the deed" then until way after my 6 weeks check - hope that makes you feel better

well no stitches or doing the deed here, but thats more as i wanted to be back on the pill first, which i started 3 days ago so only 4 days and we'll be protected!!

heading off to yorkshire today (we live in surrey) to see my nan so she can meet little man, bit concerned about the journey but we'r going evening so dd should sleep in the car and so should keiran if i time his feeds right!!

keiran been dosed up on infacol the last few days, evenings are hell as he just has such tummy ache he screams for about 4 hours, not much fun, but he sleeps mst the night so im getting sleep im just knackered from the stress of the evening!!! he is getting better at getting his wind up now tho, and seems to be eating more because of it, which is great!

he didnt put on a lot of weight last week (only 2oz) but as he'd put on so much the week before they arent worried! he still above the line he started on!

hope everyone is ok!! and loving their newborns!

Message withdrawn

Afternoon all

We had harry wieghed again today he is now 8lb 3oz so he's gaining wieght fine. I asked the midwife about him as he keeps shaking his bottom lip like he's cold but i know he's not, she says thats fine it's probably just his nervous system wasn't fully devloped when he was born as he was early.

He gets tummy ache in the evening aswell so we got some infacol, it's a nightmare when yu got a 2yr old aswell. I finally get jack settled into bed then Harry starts screaming his head off, im on the go non stop and im really feeling the effects! Luckily harry only wakes a few times at night to be fed.

No doing the deed here either but not becasue i don't want to but because my bleeding hasn't subsided enough yet, it is getting lighter though. We will be using condoms though i cant have any form of hormonal contraceptive becuase of my blood clot's but we dont mind.

I have such a headache today i have been stressing myself out about DS1's health. he's got a constant cough that he's had for months and months, he's under a pediatrician at our local hospital but this few days it's got worse and now he's coughing so much he's vomiting up everything he eats or drinks and im not seeing the dr again untill January. i feel pretty useless and he gets really upset.

I put Harry in the bath with me last night he reedally enjoyed the skin to skin contact he had a feed while he was in there, he screamed when he had to get out, i figure it must have been like being born again! being taken from nice warm water into the cold outside world!

To those of you doing 'the deed' I have to say well done. I want to, but having had an episiotomy I really am scared of it. Is it best to wait until after 6 week check, or should I just go for it if I feel ok? I don't feel any pain at all from that area anymore, even when I'm constipated so I imagine I'll be ok. It's a barrier in my mind rather than anything else I think.

Thanks to those who commented on their babies sleeping patterns. I feel like Izzy is normal now when she wakes me in the night. She's still changing her mind on how often she wants to sleep at night, but she usually manages 2.5 hours minimum so I can't complain too much.

My HV says Izzy is not gaining weight very fast, but I'm breastfeeding and I thought it was normal to lose weight after birth. She was 7lb 14oz at birth, and is now 8lb 3oz at 4 weeks. Does this sound normal to you?

Hi All I had DD2 on 24thNov, just to say will be on and off here too

hello girls... thought i would finally get round to posting here... dd2 is 4 weeks today... Hi HappyCat... your dd sounds just fine to me! our Izzy sounds similar to yours especially sleep wise... its early days, i dont belive routines exist for 4 week olds. Weight wise it does sound slow... but only cos my girls always gain lodas of weight quickly. Really wouldnt worry yet as long as Izzy has plenty of wet and dirty nappies and is feeding well and often... dont let the hv panic you....
Hope everyone is well... xxx

Hi everyone!

This is such a slow thread you can tell we are all "otherwise engaged" can't you? .

I have one question - what do your breastfed babies poos look like? (can't remember what dd1's was like) But dd2 is basically yellow liquid which i know is the norm, but it also has kinda curdled bits in iykwim. Is this normal?

Sorry if tmi .

Hi Hattie - Freya is mix feeding atm but her nappies are as you described, yellow liquid with bits in, so I am sure that you have nothing to worry about - I am also finding it hard to remeber anything about ds at this age I said to my mum that I don't really remember him crying except for if he was hungry, but she has reminded me of many times that he did Freya is still sleeping well, last night she fed at 10:30 and we all went to bed at 11:30 and again she didn't wake until 6:00am - I am sooo pleased that I decided to make the last feed before bed a bottle feed If I didn't have ds to wake me up at 7:30ish, I could quite easily feed Freya at 6:00 and put her down again - that way we would both sleep until 10:00am ish - never mind, that is what you get for having a 2 year old and a newborn Oh,Oh,Oh - how could I forget Freya smiled at me this evening It was deffo a smile and not wind, I had also forgotton how that first smile melts your heart Take Care all

thx mummytotandf! reassuring to know its normal

first smile! thats great so far we are enjoying the windy ones

scuse my poor typing i am one handed at mo!