July 2016

[primarynoodle]

Hopefully this works...

So we can keep in touch and pass on words of wisdom!

Perhaps someone clever could link to the stats?

Indians, love the idea of a new mums commune - especially if it were made up of you guys! However I must say that in my case, it's me who the baby won't settle for! DH went to the gym last night and in the couple of hours that he was gone I fed Ruben four times - twice from each boob - changed his nappy twice, winded him, and still I couldn't get him to stop crying. I ended up in tears myself. DH walked in, took the baby, and the baby was asleep on his shoulder within ninety seconds. I was so hacked off!

Sophie, I was in hospital for 6 days after the birth and, desperate as I was to get home, I have to say it really helped build my confidence in dealing with a little baby. I learned so much from the midwives!

Cookies v impressed with the running. I cannot wait until I can exercise again. I have to say I have been pleasantly surprised by how quickly my bump has gone down - I was expecting it to be larger for longer - but it is bizarre feeling the utter lack of muscle tone there. There is a class in our village where you can exercise with your baby and I will be joining that as soon as I get the GP green light! I'm about 7-10 pounds heavier now than I was pre-pregnancy (didn't have scales before so it's hard to say for sure) but I don't expect to lose it all as my bazonkas are sodding enormous now.

Dats I also have latch slippage issues at times - my poor boobs end up feeling thoroughly munched as a result. I try to take him off when I feel him slip, but sometimes he then refuses to go back on immediately despite not being done, so the feed ends up stretching out over a much longer period. I am really struggling to hold him in place when feeding! I have to support the boob to help prevent the latch slipping, which leaves me with only one arm for Ruben. In the cross-body hold I end up with my arm shaking from the weight of him towards the end of the feed. Rugby hold with a pillow beneath is better, but not as easy to keep a good latch.

Primary we had a low key wedding - but still had quite a lot of people there (50 or 60). It cost us less than 2 grand and it took us seven weeks from engagement to wedding day. It can be done .

Cheery I have the same problem with Ruben's scratchy paws. We have some babygrows that have cuffs which fold over into scratch mitts and they are a godsend.

Cookies I had mega bum pain after a horrid poo last night and I'm afraid I've decided to mess with my iron tablet prescription and only take half a dose. I have a very healthy diet with lots of dark green veg and I'm sure I don't need to take two iron tablets a day. Especially as it's been more than two weeks since my op, and I only lost 800ml of blood which, while quite a lot, isn't particularly extreme.

Indians I'm sorry that Bertie's dad is being a pain in the ass.

Julf I've used coconut oil too on my very flaky baby and it was fab. Not using anything at the moment though on the recommendation of my latest midwife, who reckons it's best to just let the skin sort itself out. We'll see. His little feet are like crocodile skin at the moment so I can't see myself being patient enough to wait for them to self-sort.

Dats, Ruben only had his first bath this morning, with DH - mostly because we don't have a bath, but the in-laws do and we stayed with them last night. He looked very relaxed.

Also, when I had my hurty bum last night, I went to sleep hoping against hope that it would no longer be hurty in the morning because whilst I have suffered the indignities of getting my massive stretch-marked boobs out in front of all and sundry, being 'milked' by midwives I have met thirty seconds previously, having a speculum stuck up my fanjita in front of DH so that a blood sample could be taken from the baby's head, having my pubic hair shaved in an operating theatre full if people, and having my bum wiped and dosed with barrier cream also in the operating theatre... Whilst I have dealt with all that, somehow I cannot face the thought of a GP looking at my bum.

Elliz, Claudia is just cute as a button!

Oh also, Elliz, Rubes' face is absolutely covered in baby acne. I feel so bad for him but don't think he gives a shit.

Cookies have you tried lactulose? It's not a laxative it's a softener and it helps a lot. Also are you sure you are on right dose of iron? I was borderline anaemic and they had me on three a day I mentioned it in passing to midwife and turns out I only needed one! She said a smaller dose for longer period of time is more effective. Worth asking perhaps?!

Tongue tie snip took seconds. It can cause issues with eating and speech later on (not always of course!) it is better to get it done as a small baby than a toddler as they have to go under general then as they can't keep still whereas babies just have it cut. Worth reading up on of talking to someone about options. Great that it's not affecting feeding!

Ruben has been awake for four hours now. I feed him, he falls asleep snuggling me, I put him in the basket, he wakes up.

DH has taken him for two lots of half an hour during this time and has made helpful comments such as 'he's starving' and 'you should have slept this afternoon instead of having a coffee with the NCT group'.

Never mind the fact that I skipped having a shower so that I had time for that coffee, eh? Grr. Argh.

I can see why people end up co sleeping. Ruben is so happily snuggled into me, and I know that the moment I try to move him those big blue eyes are going to open. Oh god, I am so very tired.

So... My 'decent' sleep amounted to 2-4. Dh decided to change the shift pattern, I would do till 2 in the morning and he'd do the rest of the night. I warned him about grunting baby from about 4 onwards.
He came downstairs to take over and I went up to bed. 4am came and I was woken up just to check these noises were normal (even though I'd told him exactly what to expect) and how the hell was he meant to sleep through them. At which point I said something stupid like why don't you just go upstairs and I'll stay with him the rest oft he night.
AND HE FUCKING DID!!!

bluebell and sock!! I'm speechless!!!

I do feel a but mean whinging as DH has otherwise been spectacular, particularly around my anxiety, and he does wake up to do any nappy changing and winding I ask of him when I've had enough and need a break. I think it was tiredness coming through when he made those comments last night but holy god he was annoying! He also was going on about the fact that I didn't express yesterday which meant he couldn't help feed. Again though, no time - Ruben was too awake during the times I would have expressed!

Ah well. Rubes is awake again now!

He sounds like my dh - tries to be super helpful but anytime he's hungry/tired/wound up makes really unhelpful provocative comments.

Dolly - have got my discharge appointment with midwives today so I may get a second opinion. Didn't realise it could have long term effects! For anyone whose baby has had a tt snip did it effect feeding afterwards at all?

Having a bit of a wobble today - tomorrow is a year since we got our first daughter's "incompatible with life" diagnosis at her scan, then next Saturday it's a year since she was born. Am really struggling to process everything and on top of it all I've got to go for dinner with MIL tonight who will be pawing all over Annie like a doll just want to hide away :(

Bluebell and sock I'm so with you on the dh. Dd hasn't slept the last two nights. I feed her in bed, she falls asleep, as soon as I try to put her in moses she wakes and will not settle so end up holding her again. I'm sure I must fall asleep while holding her which I don't like but better than her screaming blue murder.
I suffer til about 5am then wake dh and tell him I need a couple hours sleep. He takes her but my issue is he owns his own business which needs very little input from him. He rarely leaves the house before 10am. At around 7am he wakes me saying he's knackered and hands her back! He's still in bed now, baby and I have been up an hour, she has fed, hiccupped, sicked, and now feeding again!! He is doing my head in but trying not to snap as then he does even less. He hasn't done housework and didn't change nappy once yesterday and held baby for all of five minutes last night. Grrrrr

Anyone tried the rolled up towels in moses basket to make baby sleep in there? The cot probably won't fit in our room so she must sleep in moses,! Any other Ideas to get her to settle?

Sock primary and bluebel you have hugs from me too.

Sophie - sometimes what works for us is stripping ds down to nappy for feeds so that he's a bit cool. Then after feeds when he falls asleep inevitably we quickly transfer to Moses with warm blanket and saddle him.

Primary they say it can't make it worse only better or do nothing. They may advise against it being snipped they don't always do them particularly if no current problems. What an awful week for you big hugs xxxx

The men have just about NO idea, do they?

for everyone who is at the end of their tether with their DPs

Mine doesn't do too much when awake! He's just starting to look at things and pay attention to things that move. We might have had a possible smile or two, but they could still be wind! If he gets bored/fed up, which doesn't take long, then he'll cry. He is nearly 6 weeks old now, so a bit older than most of the babies on this thread I think.

Rose reached for a toy for the first time yesterday

I just had to share this with you all, as you'll understand how amazing it is: I just ate a hot meal uninterrupted by cries. Baby asleep all the way through
It may have been an omlette that I scarfed at breakneck speed

Flossie - sounds great!
Indians - Mine looks around and makes noises. Shortly followed by cries and grizzles!

primary sending hugs. I can't imagine how difficult it must be at the moment. You're more than entitled to a wobble. Can you postpone dinner with your mil?

sophie one of the midwives here suggested either wrapping the baby in a blanket or if it's hot putting a blanket under them when they're on you. Then transfer blanket and baby into the Moses basket. That way, they're lying on something that's already warm and familiar rather than being put down on something cold.

Bit late to the party here. Megan is a week old today. Having feeding issues to the point that I was told to stop bf for now and express only. Struggling with the amount of extra time that is taking. We'll get there though. Is anybody else exclusively expressing?

When he's not being fed, changed, cuddled, burped or I'm trying to stop him crying... He spends some time on his playmat with the music on, looking around and startling at things - oddly he loves staring at our wooden drawers! Sometimes I'll go down and play with him and sometimes I'll leave him to it if he's quite content. Sometimes he's on my knee and I'll sing to him or tell him a story. He will also go in his chair in the kitchen and watch what's going on. That's about it really!

Hiya Tams, I was expressing for my wee guy. His appetite overtook my supply so he's now pretty much formula fed. I stupidly stopped expressing for 2 days and my supply is almost gone

tams - I've been not exclusively expressing but doing a lot of it due to tongue tie. It gets easier as your supply increases, first few weeks are quite relentless. If you OH can do all the washing and sterilising for you it makes such a difference if you have clean pumps!

Socks and tams - Even if you don't appear to be getting anything at first you are still "asking" your boobs for milk at the right time so gradually your supply will increase so don't be disheartened! X Socks your supply might have dwindled but if you get back to expressing very regularly it will come back. Have a look at relactation if thats the route you want to go down x