March 2016: the one where Indomitable gives birth...

[vroc81]

I hope I haven't duplicated a new March thread in my sleep deprived state.. Went to reply and found thread was full!..

indom it did require me and dh to work together like some sort of sleep deprived octopus. But we literally balanced the mosses basket mattress on top of the feeding pillow and did some wriggling and jiggling about until we could get him latched on. When he'd finished and had snuggled up to me and fallen asleep dh lifted the mattress back into the basket. He slept for almost 5 hours and went back in without stiring without allthe fathing around. As I said it was probably a fluke but it's when his sleep magically improved. Although I've just throught we probably could have made things a lot easier by putting the mattress next to me in bed and feeding lying down.

Infacol has been working really well for us, DS brings up wind beautifully! I stopped using it for a while as I wasn't sure if it was actually doing anything and then he started having problems so started back again.

DS is I have to say a little angel at night most of the time. He hates having his nappy changed at night so I try to avoid it unless it's really really wet - he has stopped pooing at night really now. Generally he has his feed and goes back down in his Moses basket pretty well - I stick Ewan the dream sheep on and turn the light out and he fusses for about 10 minutes, making little noises and flailing his arms around a bit, but he clearly isn't in distress so I just leave him and then he goes off by himself. I have also discovered that Ewan the sheep effectively works on DS as a snooze button. If i wake up as soon as he begins to stir and turn him on, DS settles again for anywhere between another 30 mins to an hour which is amazing when you're shattered! If I don't catch him as soon as he stirs though then it's too late and the window of opportunity is gone!

Well, we had some crib success last night! He still fed 2 hourly hut slept for an hour or so in between in the crib! I swaddled him which I think made the difference.

Magpie, swaddling (using the Woombie) was the turning point for us with Zach's sleep too. I got told by the neonatal team it's not recommended but kind of think if it can help your sanity as a parent it's got to be worth it.

Paper, thanks, Zach is doing well. He's still tiny (6lb 5oz at his last weigh in at 18 weeks old!) but seems to be following his line, albeit just under the 0.4 centile which is the tiniest one. He has recently gone onto gaviscon as he was puking so much. Most of the time it wasn't bothering him although sometimes he would look uncomfortable after a feed. Since he's been on it his puking has massively reduced and his sleep has improved too, I guess because he's not throwing up half his feeds so is staying fuller for longer. Last night he slept from 11.15pm after about 100mls of expressed milk until 4.55am! Amazing! Long may it last as waking every 1-2.5 hours as he'd been doing for a long time is exhausting. He's getting weighed again today so we'll see if the gaviscon has had a positive impact on his weight gain. Fingers crossed!

Missi FX that Zach has put on a few oz. I took Martha to the clinic yesterday. She's 9lb!! My friends children were both well over 9lb born and Martha is 6 weeks old.

We were told at ante-natal class that swaddling wasn't recommended any longer because babies can overheat. I've swaddled Martha a couple of times - she has slept a bit longer but shes not keen on being covered up.

M is a reluctant burper so we gave her infacol from a couple of weeks old and we tried her on gripe water a week ago. The burps are phenomenal - as good as her dad's!

I'm way behind on the thread again!
Sorry to hear everyones sleep problems

DS has never tolerated being swaddled - he hates it! One thing he does like is being a bit more enclosed in his basket. I didn't want to splash out on a sleepyhead but made an improvised version after seeing a suggestion on here - I can't remember who from - of a cellular blanket rolled into a sausage and put inside a pillow case in an oval shape.

Paper some of the burps that DS comes out with are incredible too! I can't believe such a tiny person can make such a noise!

Took DS to be weighed this morning and he is now 9lb2 at 5 weeks old, he is tracking the 25th percentile perfectly. I took him into work afterwards to meet my colleagues and they were all cooing over how tiny he is, which seems weird to me as he already seems so much bigger than he was when he was born!

Thanks everyone for the advice the other day (from scared) just felt like utter shit the other day and like a failure as a mum for not loving her straight away. Have got hold off hv and gp today.
Oh took two days off sick to help me. Dreading him going back tomorrow. I get so anxious in the evenings and start to dread the night ahead- horrible thoughts of little sleep etc ( I'm a wreck on less than six hours) but come morning I feel fine again. Anyone else get this?

Had Calais weighed today she is now 7 pounds 9 ounces at seven weeks. She was 5 pounds 1 at birth. So proud and happy.
She follows the 0.4 centile for her actual age but for corrected age she is just under the 50th line. So she's doing good.
Think she's trying to smile now as well. She is 2 weeks 4 days corrected but I'm sure I saw a little bit earlier. Will post photo and see what others think.

Calais will only sleep swaddled. I don't like it but we need sleep and I'm scared of co sleeping. She can fall asleep u swaddled but after about ten minutes her startle reflex will wake her up. Hoping once this goes she won't need to be swaddled anymore.
We have some thin swaddled and make sure she doesn't over heat.
Hope zach put on some ozs missi and it's lovely to hear of the other babies gaining weight nicely.

Fingers crossed for good nights all round tonight.

Calais fed at 10pm last night down for 11:30 then fed at 1:30 down for 3am then fed at 4:30 down for 5:30 then at 8:45. YAwn. At least oh did the 4:30 feed.

Oh no rhu sorry to hear that and apologies as I do remember you saying that a while back - for some reason didn't realise it was with immediate effect. Glad your DS still gets the free hours though so will benefit from some time at nursery (and you get a bit of a break)

Eleanor is another swaddler hater unfortunately! We have a gro snug which is basically a newborn sleeping bag that you can use as a swaddler or convert into a sleeping bag. We tried to swaddle and she just got pissed off at not being able to suck her hands!

E is 20 days old now (where the hell has the time gone?!) and has been either asleep or on the boob all day today so think we've hit the three week growth spurt. My nipples are already killing me really need to get this latch sorted as I'm worried they will crack again - slightly hoping they will have just toughened up after three weeks of abuse! My mum was supposed to visit tomorrow but my stepdads mum is ill and my mum and stepdad are her carers so she's had to cancel. On the one hand, a shame that I won't have help tomorrow but on the other hand if E is gonna want to feed all day tomorrow I'd be more happy parking myself on the sofa with a box set and snacks and having a pj day.

time I know you don't feel it, but you're doing so good too. Fantstic that she's gaining weight well, that's down to you and your oh looking after her so well. I really hope you get the right support in place soon. But to add to everyone elses reassurance, I've talked about similar with my mum friends. From our experiences it seems to be more normal for love to build over time than to have that full on rush.

I know exactly what you mean with sleep. I'm fine once I'm up and going and can keep going all day, but initially waking up I feel awful! I'm a right proper grump with dd too, until Ikve washed my face (not worked out how to shower safely alone with the 2 of them yet) and got into the sunlight for a bit I sometimes get anxious about the night ahead in the evenings, particually if dd is being hardwork or I've not taken the time to nap in the day after a bad night, but it's getting much less often and seems to tie in with hormoan surges as well as sleep deprivation. Then I'll stupidly sit next to Eddy waiting for him to wake up once I've actually put him down, waisitng time I could be sleeping.

Have you heard of brigtening? It's the stage before they can smile properly, but are trying to. Eddy's been doing it the past 4 or 5 days., to me dh and dd and just did when my parents picked him up this evening which made their day.

Wow - rory is 10lbs 4oz at 18 days old. Birth weight was 8lbs 12oz, super booby milk haha!

Had him at out of hours doctors today as he's throwing up all his feeds and it stinks, now have infacol and baby gaviscon so hopefully one of those will sort his sickness out.

Sorry to hear that Q I hope it helps

Baby gaviscon is Magic! I used to express a few ml (I think it needs 10ml or something) to mix it with and spoon feed it into him for each feed. It revolutionised our lives!

DS2 is above his birth weight at 5 days. Very proud of his feeding and my boobs!

My odd freak-out-inducing boob-lump seems to have gone down a lot. I couldn't find it earlier (empty boob) and this evening it's back but much smaller.

Oh, it seems we're having a fussy evening. Back to the face head-shaking & screeching. I've given the dummy to calm him (and he's dropped it as soon as he's calm). Any ideas? He does all the hunger cues, will even latch on for a few sucks before unlatching & freaking out.

Evening/morning had a bit of a night so far. E was so unsettled and clearly in pain for most of the early evening. I've mastered 'tiger in the tree' hold now though. She finally slept on me about 9 and we both slept on the sofa for a few hours. Then she has woken up, done a poo and been sick in her carry cot so hopefully that has relieved the pain.

We use infacol and I really don't know if it helps or not. I can't say she seems proper colicky but she is more unsettled in the evening and she is so windy. I looked at tommee tippee colic bottles today but they were really expensive and I don't know if it will help her wind. I'll see how she gets on and ask at my 8 week GP check if it's the same.

Can't remember who asked but here you have the 8 week check for you, baby and their first jabs all at the same time.

Time glad you are feeling better today and that you have been in touch with the GP and HV. I feel more anxious at night. I think because at night it feels a bit worse if they cry or are unsettled because everyone else is asleep and you want to be and also you can't just pop them in the pram and go out.

Indom great news on the weight gain! No advice here I'm afraid on the fussing but good luck for tonight.

Knew I'd forgot stuff! Q poor baby- hope R is ok!

Dobby I've not heard of brightening but you have described what we have had today and yesterday! Attempts at smiling and we can't be sure if she means to or not

For anyone with a grumpy baby in the evening Google the witching hour!

It says that babies get moody, arsey and cry for no reason in the evening anywhere between 6.00 - 10.00. My DD is a pain in the arse inconsolable for a hour or do, she doesn't want feeding, she doesn't want to be held, she doesn't want to be left in her chair basically she gets her knickers in a twist (don't we know it) and nothing we do helps.

So DS2 has decreed that tonight we don't sleep. We started trying early, I was ready to try to make the most of any sleep opportunity (I thought this might happen, see) but since 8pm he's had 4 20 minute sleeps and much fussing at the breast. We don't have 'witching hours' we have while witching days/nights, apparently.

So we've given up and at least now he's transfixed by the TV rather than screeching at my boobs me. It's flipping cold though.

*whole

Sorry to hear your night has been terrible indom. what do you think might be causing him to fuss? Too slow or too fast letdown? With E I use breast compressions during feeds to get the milk flowing as after the initial ott letdown my flow slows due to her crappy latch. I find if she's not swallowing, some breast compressions get things moving. I've read that breast compressions can be good for encouraging supply as well so maybe why my supply is fine despite E not latching well.

El is pretty chilled in the evenings at the moment but I expect that to change at some point - with DD1 she was really calm for the first few weeks then all of a sudden got fussy . Its weird as people say second children can be/are completely different in terms if temperament from birth but so far E has been exactly the same as DD1.

We've had our usual three wakes here (12, 3 and 5.15), two successful stints in the cot and a bit of cosleeping in between. I've got no idea why E is sometimes fine in the cot and sometimes hates it...

Sorry for your bad night Indom. Hope you got more sleep. It was freezing last night!! I've just chucked the heating on.

Like marmite we had quite a regular night. Feeds at 8pm, 1:30am and now at 6am with sleep in between. Our problem is during the day. J just seems so unhappy when he is awake. Arching his back, crying, uncomfortable and constantly desperate for food. We gave him water yesterday and he necked that too (we stopped him after one ounce). He's only happy when sleeping or eating. I'm going to take him to GP today, just to check him over. We can't keep feeding him this much .

Just realised that from my last post it doesn't look like he's feeding that much at all, but during the day he will drain his 5 ounce bottles and ask for more, then hungry again usually within 2-2.5hours. He's having probably 2 or more bottles more than he should in each 24 hours and constantly asks for more.

Wow rhu it would appear you have a very hungry baby

indom sorry about your bad night hope you managed some sleep at some point.

Infant gaviscon is a godsend. Rory only posseted rather than bringing up full feeds and went 3 hours instead of 1.5/2 between feeds. I feel like a new woman with that kinda stint of sleep haha. He's on half a sachet twice a day so hopefully it'll work well enough to keep all his feeds down.

Oh also indom R was doing that same head shaking, screeching thing then latching, feeding and being sick and was all because of trapped wind - the infacol seems to have seen to that. I think he was latching and suckling for comfort then would remember his tummy hurt so start screaming again, wasn't actually hungry if that makes sense.
Have downloaded an app called 'baby sleep' there's a hoover sound on it which calms R in seconds - best 99p I've ever spent! It has a free trial and basically consists of loads of different sounds like in the womb, rivers, shower, heartbeat etc.

We finally slept around 4:30 and I've just woken up with humongous boobs. I've had to wake DS2 to get him to take the edge off.

I've no idea why we get the fuss, marmite. It seems unrelated to let-down as he doesn't latch for more than a second (before or after let-down). It's not engorgement either. I have no idea.

Q that's crossed my mind. But it's so unpredictable whether he'll feed and sleep like he did the other night or become screamo-baby like last night. Might try some infacol tonight.

DS1 found our Prince Lionheart bear the other day which plays womb sounds & white noise etc. Magic!

Thanks for all your help & suggestions.

Q, glad to see the gaviscon is working.

Rhu DS1 was like that but with the incredible sickness of reflux. I don't know anything about silent reflux, but could that be it?

Rhu how old is he? I was concerned about DS is 5 weeks today and last week as he was absolutely packing it away, draining 5oz bottles every 2.5 hours. His best day he had 32oz in 24 hours! But I think it was just a growth spurt as he calmed down after a couple of days and is now back into having usually 4oz every 3.5-4 hours or so.