March 2016 babies - 2 here already, many more yet to come!!!

[Missikat]

Hi ladies, thanks Indom for the suggestion of me starting a new thread. Seeing as Zach and myself have been knocking about on antenatal since November it will be lovely to have you all joining us shortly in the baby, rather than pregnancy conversations! Bring on the March babies!!!!

Congrats Rosie!!! So cute! I'm getting so jealous of all these babies haha want mine now.

me I'd count that as one feed. But I wouldn't watch the clock too much if I were you - with DD and jaundice I was told not to let her sleep more than three hours and I ended up obsessing about it, writing times down, and getting myself very worked up. Was the worst thing they could have told a control freak like me!! Just make sure you offer the breast regularly (like, constantly) as he'll turn it down if he doesn't want it. Also as indom says, at the beginning having several attempts to latch on is entirely normal - but after a while you end up being able to do it without looking and whilst playing candy crush on your phone. It's really hard when baby gets stressed because the can't do it, but try (if you can) to remain calm - its fine if baby has to wait a minute or two for a feed whereas if you tense up it makes it harder to latch. Be kind to yourself- you're doing great. I didn't leave the house other than hospital trrips with DD for three weeks! Spent that time just learning how to feed and getting to know my baby. Jaundice is very common- it can take a while to shift but unless it's bad enough for him to go under the lights I'd just take each day as it comes, feed feed feed, look after yourself and watch TV box sets! Hope your night has been OK. Also just remembered if you are near Berkshire (assume you are if you gave birth at RBH?) and if youre on Facebook there is a Facebook bf support group called 'breastfeeding Berkshire' and its really useful for advice and info on drop in support etc.

missi my DD was very pukey, but a happy puker, I think some babies are just made that way! Am hoping baby 2 is less sicky this time round!

ffaux hope your doctor's appointment goes well and you get some reassurance.

Another early morning wake up for me - 5.45am! DD is sleeping really well at the moment so I wish I could take advantage of it but my stupid body is having none of it

Morning, thanks for the indulgence! Course it's only a cold, he's fine, I was just overreacting/panicking! (Rather annoyingly he's blatantly well enough to go to school - there goes my sofa day!)

It's nothing like the worries that ffaux is having. Which makes me feel very stupid. Hope you get some more reassurance today, Ffaux

Ah, sorry to hear about a pukey Zach, Missi. DS had reflux, we were dismissed by one GP so didn't get gaviscon till he was 4months old. It was awful. Gaviscon worked like magic. Do ask for it if you think it'll help. (As the second GP pointed out if it's not reflux, the gaviscon won't help, but it won't do any harm to try).

Congratulations Rosie!

Oh my god Rosie congratulations!! Willow was born on her due date in 2012 and I love that she's so uncommon - hopefully they'll always be punctual she's gorgeous and I'm so happy for you

Anyone else feel The Guilt about their older child/children? :(

DH is getting so irritated with the others, even the one who has always been babied by everyone. She has started to wet her bed and has never done that before. The 4 year old keeps weeing herself at school.

A friend was cooing over Nancy on Saturday in Tesco and Willow was desperately trying to her her her sparkly wellies that normally get so much attention but she was ignored... it's probably just hormones but I feel awful!

marmite you mentioned clock watching. I'm in a bit of a control freak too and when I had Willow I looked at the time every time she woke up and got very obsessed with it. If she slept 5 hours one night then 3 the next for example I'd be really upset. Ended up with pretty bad anxiety etc. Do you think it's best to just ignore the clock when they wake up? How will you know when they start sleeping through?!

Indom glad your DS is ok but sorry about the lack of sofa day!

Wow, don't ask why I wrote "her" three times!!

Morning ladies.

rhu, please don't beat yourself up about the feeding. It's perfectly fine to ff and your lovely Jacob will thrive just like your DS1 did. There are so many things to feel guilty about when being a mum, try not to add this one to the list!

marmite, DS1 was a 'happy pucker' too, not bothered at all about it. Zach seems to be exactly the same, just pukes, nothing else. Indom, DS1 was 'diagnosed' as having reflux and prescribed Gaviscon which minimised but didn't get rid of the puking. I don't think it was reflux as he wasn't bothered in the slightest. In the end he was referred to paed as his weight gain slowed (obviously not something I want to happen with Zach) and they suggested early weaning at 21 weeks which solved the issue overnight.

congrats rosie and a mother's day baby too- how lucky/lovely!
I'm so glad you got the gel pads indom because I know how much agony they save. My first baby- shredded nipples so bad she puked up blood after every feed, repeat mastisis, deeply damaged nipple tissue, multiple breast abscesses, a&e, failed manual drainage (excruciating) of the abcess, put to sleep under GA to remove them, woke up post surgery to find 3 tubes sticking out holes in my boobs to drain pus, permanently scarred boobs. (and all this a few weeks after a C-section and severe PND). Told me they'd cut through all my milk ducts which may not heal completely and might not be able to bfeed subsequent children. DD2- had learnt all about biological nurturing, the boob sandwich (indom that link you posted is the one which demonstrates this beautifully), had a super pillow (my brest friend pillow) for support and used the gel pads from the first feed onwards. Also practised reverse pressure softening to help baby latch when engorged Result: painless breastfeeding (even with my flat nipples) till she self-weaned at two years. Yes breastfeeding can be initially uncomfortable but no woman should go through agony. It's amazing what a few smart changes can do to alleviate that pain.

beautiful I'm really worried about this happening!! Ds is used to being the centre of attention so he's going to be in for a shock. I've already asked people to ask ds to show them the baby when they come round to visit so.he doesn't feel left out. My parents have also bought him a present and so have we so when the baby gets lots of presents ds gets some too.
I'm not sure what I would do about the weeing though.

indom I'm glad your little one is ok!!

Baby wooden is 6 days overdue now and there's still no sign of things starting.
Dh works for himself and he has a really important event all of next week which he can't afford to miss, I'm starting to get worried that this will be when the baby will choose to arrive and he will be stuck between not spending time with his new son and losing the money/exposure for his business which is just starting and is at the stage where he needs all the business he can get!

I'm worried about this with ds too. He's already become more clingy, and wet his bed the other night which is really unusual for him. I think I'm just going to try really hard to give him attention as soon as I put the baby down. We still haven't got him a present, I can't decide what to get, anyone else got any good ideas?

suz my parents bought ds a tractor because he's obsessed with tractors and we bought him some tractor dvds.

Beautiful I am a bit worried about this with DD and DS1. So far, things have been fine, but who knows what it'll be like when the novelty of having a baby wears off! We have done the presents from baby, making sure they get some 1:1 time (not easy!) and we have introduced pocket money for doing chores. At the moment they are obsessed with the baby and want to be with him all the time. When visitors come, we get them to talk to the bigger two before they hold baby, but it's definitely playing on my mind that it won't always be like this.

Thanks for all the advice last night, you have given me the confidence to have another go. We fed baby me two teeny bottles of formula last night as after midnight he resolutely refused to take the breast. But he didn't take much (50ml each time) and the second one he projectile vomited up at least half of what he had. I felt absolutely awful and ready to stop and just do formula full stop but things always seem better in the morning. So I had another go at putting him to the breast about 9am this morning and he had a good 20 minute or so feed from one followed by 10 minutes at the other. However he has not properly settled since, every time I put him down he shows signs of wanting more but then when I put him on the boob he will have a few sucks and give up.

So I'm just all a bit confused about when is the best time to offer a formula top up - should I offer it after every breast feed and see if he takes it?

marmite I called the RBH clinic and they do not have any appointments today they could have seen me tomorrow but my community midwife is coming tomorrow and I have no idea what time, they just come whenever. Have booked an appointment for Wednesday morning but that seems a long way away right now!

Have also called the NCT breastfeeding support line and left a message asking for a call back.

I really want to try and crack this, I don't mind if we mix feed but I am just totally clueless about when to give him formula if we do that.

me if Wednesday is too far away, you could try a breastfeeding network (BFN) drop in? They usually have drop in sessions in the area most days... you can find out nearby ones to you here:

www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/sample-page/

Re: mixed feeding. It's great if you can get that to work for you but quite tricky. I know a couple of women who did it, but not that successfully and both ended up on ff only. That's fine if you're comfortable with that of course, but worth pointing out because it can be difficult to keep your supply correct when you're topping up with formula. But try not to get too stressed about it, baby will be fine whatever you decide. If you do really want to bf there is lots of support out there, but unfortunately it can often be a case of having to hunt it out.

beaut I also obsessively clock watched with DDs night wakings and even had a sleep log which was supposed to reassure me her sleep was improving. It wasn't! So I stopped bothering and just went with it, and learnt to accept I had a sleep refuser who would (one day!) sleep through.

suz we've bought DD a scooter from the baby, as she's wanted one for ages. I expect she will be far more interested in it than baby!!

me I was advised by special care nurses with ds to offer a top up after each feed, he only ever took about 30 ml at a time and Cassidy seems to take about the same. 30 mins bf is great though, I wouldn't worry about topping up if Cassidy did that every time, their tummies are still to tiny at the moment.

Thanks MrsElls and marmite. After that initial 30 mins, He has been feeding on and off all morning now - 5 times since then but only for 5/7 minutes a time with short sleeps in between. I spoke to an NCT breastfeeding counsellor on the phone who said don't worry about duration of feeds, just keep offering it every single time he shows a sign of wanting it so that's what I'm trying for now.

marmite trust my luck the local drop in to me on a Monday does not run the first Monday of the month!

Congratulations rosie!!! Mia is beautiful.

Banking all this feeding information for imminent use.. Well not that imminent... Induction non starter due to my BP not being bad enough, my cervix being unfavourable (love that term who came up with unfavourable?!) and me being too well to warrant them trying and failing with an induction so got to wait it out a few days..

q that's defo me!
Due date tomorrow and then predictably in the overdue club . Who else ?

Haha Q I love that!!

Sher I'm due tomorrow too but fully expecting to be late.

Almost sher, mine's Thursday! Must try and book a midwife appointment in case she can do a little sweep.

q that's definitely me, I'm done nesting now! All the worst things are done I think. Tomorrow I'm going to have a lazy day

I'm Thursday too - midwife called today and wants me to go in and see her tomorrow for a sweep and to be given an induction date for next week, becoming much more real now!

The picture made me giggle, it's definitely how I've felt today!

Due date tomorrow for me, and like maybe am fully expecting to go overdue. 41 week appt is next Monday and I'll get a sweep then- don't expect to go into labour anytime soon! Q that picture made me laugh, my nesting instinct has completely gone - at the beginning of my mat leave I was really productive but these days spend the whole time sat on my arse...

Also past few days I've been absolutely starving - what's that about? Bit late for baby to be going through a growth spurt!

Ooh blimey q, that's all very quick! I'm not supposed to have an appointment until 41 weeks and am not sure whether to just wait it out or go in on Thursday. I've done plenty of walking and stuff today and had pineapple for lunchpudding, the baby's feeling very low down and has definitely turned from being back to back, so it might happen anyway! I swing between feeling like it's imminent and being convinced I'll go a full two weeks over and ruin Easter.

Good present suggestions by the way, thanks! He's already got a scooter etc, I suggested to dh earlier that we got him a vtech camera and he loved the idea, so that's probably what we'll get! Just need it to arrive before the baby does...

marmite same here again I'm absolutely ravenous past few days, another 'symptom' of labour I'm trying to google for reassurance that this is it

Haha sher I also googled whether it was an imminent labour sign!