August 2016 - early arrivals to the newborn cuddles & graveyard feeding shifts

[rumisyum]

So many August bus babies have arrived already! Anyone else fancy a chat during night feeds or wondering what to make of the contents of tiny nappies? Might as well get comfortable...

Sophia it does sound like reflux but I'm no doctor. All I can say is that I really hope your doctors help because mine are useless and this week will be the 3rd doctor I've seen!

Can anyone recommend a sling for a small baby that isn't a wrap? I'm desperate to try one now!

pear Not sure whether it's a wrap, but I use the close caboo which works really well for us. You can use it from 5lb up.

How do you know what's normal posetting and what's vomiting in babies? DD is sick really frequently, we're getting through half a dozen sleep suits some days. Tonight she projectile vomited all over our friend, the whole feed came up. Her poos are quite watery too. Really worried she might have a bug or something.

seconding bellas question

Bella to me that sounds like reflux. I would talk to your HV and make a doctors appointment to rule it out.

Hg thanks...everybody I've asked has recommended the Caboo. I've managed to find an old version second hand. I hope it's as good as everyone says!!

Generally reflux is forceful vomitting, whereas posetting is the effortless mouthful of milk infants can bring up after a feed (which can still look an impressive amount at the time, but isn't comparable to projectile).

Thanks Pear. We've only had one projectile incident, I was hoping it wouldn't be reflux. I'm heading to the GP to book our 6 week check anyway so will ask.

Dd has been awake for 2 hours and counting...

Congrats Lou! What a lovely little girl.

Christine your projectile photo made my morning tea come out of my nose!

Sorry haven't been posting much it's been a whirlwind of visitors and adjustments. All seems to be going well here, DD is very well behaved and loves to just feed and sleep. Managing to get a fair chunk of sleep as she feeds then sleeps for 4 hour bouts. We've introduced a formula feed in the evening as she seems to not be satisfied enough with BF. DH does this feed and loves it, also means I can head to bed a bit earlier. Fx it continues for a while.

We tried her in our room in Moses basket for first couple of nights but all three of us had no sleep. We trialled her in her own room and worked really well with just sound and breathing monitor. She seems to like her space as she now doesn't like to sleep on me (apart from sling) and would rather be in her basket and send herself to sleep.

Have had a couple of blocked ducts on my right hand side which have managed to clear up with heat compress and lots of feeding. Weirdly makes me feel really fluey.

She does get quite grumpy in the evenings around 9ish. She's not hungry or windy, just likes a good moan. Anything else I'm missing? We try comforting but she just seems really restless.

MrsPmt Have you checked your temperature? Feeling fluey could be mastitis and you might need antiobiotics (if you do, take probiotics too so you don't then get thrush...)

Does anyone know..I'm sending off child benefit form (I feel terrible saying that, doesn't sound nice does it!) and they require baby's birth certificate. Does it have to be the original or can it be a photocopy?

It has to be the original Christine. They send it back pretty quickly though

Thank you biscuits

Is anybody else still struggling a bit with latch? I'm still finding it tough, I've seen peer supporters, feeding midwives, been to boob groups and I just can't seem to quite get it totally right. We've just had a particularly bad night and it gets me down a bit that I am still having some issues.

I am Alfie. Think little one is getting there but have cracked nipples and thrush so it's still hurting. I found that it was my positioning making it difficult. When I stopped holding my boob at all and moved him to it rather than it to him that helped a lot. It really gets me down too! Especially when there's so much stuff about how natural and instinctive it is...

I am Alfie. I am day 12 and still have the major toe curling pain every time he latches on. I am hoping that it won't last much longer. He is a really good wee feeder and is 4oz over his birth weight already (9lb 8oz today!!) so he is definitely getting what he needs. My poor nips are suffering though.

Been keeping a close eye on temp Sophia but never abnormal. Just seems to clear itself up after a while.

Alfie there are some good videos on YouTube about latch. Also second what Sophia says about positioning, bringing baby nose to nipple plus using lots of pillows to get comfortable. My MW also advised changing position each feed from cross hold to rugby ball etc. I have found that her latch is a lot more rough now she knows what she is doing and she is suckling a bit more vigorously which has led to a bit of nipple pain.

Yep, me too alfie

it changes every time I feed her. I had a phase where I thought we'd cracked it but she (i?!) seems to have forgotten how to do it and we've regressed to painful latch. Apparently they do forget between feeds sometimes. I've tried a few different ways but to be honest I think it's still trial and error for us. I just try to make sure I'm pro-active with the nipple cream!

I think it took me until about 6 weeks to get totally sorted with DS, and I ended up feeding him until he was 2.8. Agree with others to try different holds. DD has picked it up more quickly although recently she's been doing a weird little head wobble before latching on. No idea what that's about!

DD has basically screamed at me all day. Of course it's DH's night out so I'm about to attempt bedtime for DS whilst keeping DD quiet. Wish me luck!

I'm five weeks in now and last week I felt we had it but this week she's pursing her bottom lip and not keeping the breast in her mouth instead she's clamping at the bottom god the nipple. It's so frustrating because no matter how many times I pop her off she does it again. Peer supporter tried to show me the flipple today but it's not particularly helping. Have no idea what to do.
As awful as this sounds it is nice to know I'm not alone in this.

Very interested to come on here tonight to see that the topic is the very thing I've been thinking about all day. Today I was told that I have a lipstick nipple which is a sign that my DD isn't latching properly and could be the very cause of her reflux! I'm going to get help with it on Wednesday...cannot wait!

I've now got a Caboo closer sling and I'm aiming to spend more time holding DD to keep her calm in the day. I'm looking forward to spending more time with her whilst being with DS tomorrow.

Sorry to hear lots of you are also struggling with feeding issues. It's so tough but so worth it. With my Ds I was told it can take up to 12 weeks to be really confident with BF and that was true for me first time. I didn't think I would make it past 6 months with my son but it in the end I bf until he was 2 It was the best thing I'd ever done so I'm looking forward to getting to that rewarding stage with DD!

Oh Pear really hope that's the problem and you can get it sorted!

Alfie I know exactly what you mean! I honestly think if women were told how hard breastfeeding is, and that issues like these are not all that uncommon , more would persevere!

Well we had a really good night last night! A friend has leant me a swaddling blanket so I thought I'd give it a go and what a difference! DD woke for feeds but went straight back in her moses basket after. Bliss! I'm wondering about hips though. I'm sure I read swaddling can cause hip problems. Anybody know?

bella we swaddled DD for the first few weeks as it was the only way to get her to sleep for a while. I think it's only bad if their legs are straight - just leave it loose enough that they can get into the frog legged position.

So this morning this little lady has burped in my face twice and then sneezed all over me. She is entirely unapologetic.

Did not get 1 wink of sleep in the night DD was just so crazy windy. She was impossible to wind and crunching her legs like crazy. Is that the result of adding cows milk to my porridge yesterday morning or the oatmeal cookies I had before bed or the lack of milk or the poor latch? I just want some sort of answer

Hg that's a very cute photo

Is anyone using infant gaviscon? What are you using to feed it to baby? Spoon? Feeding cup?

A syringe