October 2016 #1

[Afreshstartplease]

Don't think we have a thread yet so here we are!

Ds arrived here 18/10 @ 5am one day before due date

I went to the toilet earlier and it was as bad as labour. But I've got over the first stage

derry well done my thoughts and best wishes are with your undercarriage at this sore and sensitive time It does get better I promise!!

Well done! Next time will be easier. Oh the things we go through!!! Just get some figs

Tmi I know but last week I went to the loo and must have been thrrr over half hour I was stuck on toilet as it wouldn't happen and had to text dh (phone was in my pocket) to explain where I'd disappeared to as he was cooking tea. Have been on fybogel since and it's still not great.

I've now lost 2 stone I gained but still 1 to go I think that'll be me to do on my own so ds better up the bf rate rather than more ff top ups. He's 3 weeks tomorrow and now 5oz up on birth weight after hv came and measured him today. He's a 9lb 7oz monster baby sleeps well though thankfully

Hi All,
I've not been on the thread before but hope it's ok to join in. DS born 13th Oct so he was 3 weeks old yesterday.
Anyone else combination feeding? DS has a tongue tie which was missed in hospital, we' re finally getting it cut on Monday and I've been using nipple shields to get Him to latch to keep us going this far. I'm really nervous about building up to ebf after the cut, does anyone have experience of this and any advice?

Welcome, furble! My DS is also 3 weeks old. I'm happy he's not quite so tiny any more!

I don't have any bf advice but hope some of the others will be able to help.

Hi furble. 2 weeks old here and had tongue tie done at beginning of week. The horrendous 8-11 hr overnight cluster feeds have stopped as her latch is much better. Can't help much re combo feeding but fingers crossed for better latch xx

Hi Furble, we're using combination feeding as DD won't latch on all the time; using bf, expressed bottles and formula, which is fine. Going to a bf group this week for extra support, as I want to wean her off the formula as much as I can.

Feeling completely destroyed at the moment.
DS appears to be an extremely uppity little creature that is not content unless he has a boob in his mouth. Unless he's being fed, he just grunt and growls and fights against me until I put him back on a boob.... and considering I have an 18 month old at home too, you see my predicament
It genuinely feels like DS is just not very happy about being alive in general and I have exhausted every idea to try and make him happy without any success.
DH is trying his best to be supportive, but I'm feeling very useless and helpless about this whole situation. I feel like I'm doing everything wrong, I'm neglecting DD, and they both deserve better than the pathetic mess they have for a mother at the moment

Oh eggy, it sounds like you're actually doing a great job, don't be so hard on yourself

Your baby is probably just trying to increase your milk supply and cluster feeding away until he gets more. Things will settle down and get easier.

Have you tried a sling? The skin-to-skin can help bring more milk in and might keep him calm while you play with DD?

(Not that I'm an expert, I'm finding breastfeeding soooo difficult this time around with painful, cracked nipples etc!)

eggy DD2 is 19 days old and feeds a lot at certain times of the day. She gets really fussy and pops on and off and cries. Luckily this is either 8pm onwards when DD1 is in bed or in the morning. Mornings are harder but DD2 has nursery 3 mornings a week and DH is here at the weekend. I took DD1 to soft play on Wed morning so she could play while DD1 drained the life from me. Fri morning was tough but Peppa saved the day.

It is so hard when you've got another DC. Mine is 3 so much easier than an 18mo and I really feel for you

milkshake it's the mornings that are killing me. He's been feeding constantly since 8am, and my only saving grace is that DH is home to deal with DD, i.e. Getting her breakfast etc

Breastfeedin does sound really tough going at times. I'm not sure I could manage it!

Ds3 slept 1030-5am last night! He then had between 3 and 5 oz of milk at 5, 7 and 930. He's been awake since 930 and is just nodding off now. I expect he will have 30-60 min then another bottle. He will be 3 weeks on Tuesday

My next youngest DC is 3.7, she has become more attention seeking since Ds3 was born, she certainly wouldn't be impressed if I wwas feeding for hours continuously!

Do you have any childcare through the week eggy? DD1 still does the hours she did when I was working. It's expensive since I'm only on smp but we can manage so very lucky. If not, are there any bf groups near you? I've got 3 near me. I might start going to one on Fri mornings. I went to the same group with DD1 and there were toys for older kids and the surestart workers (and the other mums) were great at keeping the older DCs distracted while the mums of newborns fed and had a cup of tea. Do you have any friends who are off work? You could arrange a morning play date at yours. Do anything you can to keep your 18mo entertained by someone else while your baby needs you. I long for the days when DD1 was tiny and I could feed her all day with nothing/no one else to worry about. Part of me wishes I'd waited until DD1 was at school before having a 2nd (but only if I could still have the same DD2 ifkwim?).

fresh that's brilliant! DD2 has started to sleep for 2-2.5 hours at a time sometimes and it feels heavenly compared to the 1-1.5hours that she usually does. Plus DD1 is up a lot at the moment. 6 hours must feel amazing.

No childcare - DD is too young for the only pre-school I have access to, child minders have no spaces, and we are a military family, so no family help either

Oh eggy, I so feel for you. I second the suggestion about a local group where your DD can play and you can feed.

Any one else's babies cluster feed in the morning instead of evenings?! DS has been cluster feeding from 5am and is still going now!

How old is babe now eggy?
It does sound like cluster feeding. Has someone checked that no tongue tie? This is what my dd was doing as she couldn't feed very efficiently. She has been better since procedure but still feeds a lot and the thought of more than 3 hrs sleep feels like an eternity away. We will get there though. We have to be kind to ourselves. Someone told me to think of your day as 24 hrs rather than day and night as it makes you less stressed worrying about timings and sleep etc. I have lights and heating on 24 hrs now do it feels less horrid in the small hours! I'm going to breast feeding group today too. The one I went to last week was brilliant xxx

Furble- good luck with tongue tie cut today.
Eggy- just seen your post from today!
Mine clusters evening mainly from 7pmuntil 12 when I finally manage to get her down. It is as bit soul destroying isn't it? The raw nipples and achy breasts. Also have made a permanent dent on one side if the sofa!!

evs34 definitely no tongue tie - and his latch is good, I never get sore nipples or anything. But this morning he's been cluster feeding since 5am and is still fannying about with my boobs now. He will root around as if he's never been fed, latch on for about 3 seconds, then pull off and start rooting as if he's starving again. So frustrating!!

Eggy my ds has always cluster fed at odd times too, usually morning. He also has a dreadful habit of staying awake from 6am till 2pm or even till 4pm, by which point he's exhausted and I'm at the end of my tether. Nothing I do sends him off to sleep if he's decided it's an awake day, he'll just snatch ten mins after a feed here and there, then be awake again.

Also is anyone having wind problems? Ds is getting worse and worse. He's 80/20 formula to breast fed and we use mam anti colic bottles. He screamed for 3 hours last night starting around 9 and looks like he's ramping up for the same tonight. It's heartbreaking. The doctor gave me colief but it's useless as you're supposed to add it to the feed half an hour before they have it and since ds has no schedule and I'm not a psychic how on earth is that supposed to work? I can't leave him screaming for food for half an hour! Also since I'm pretty sure it's mostly swallowed air, colief wouldn't help with that. Infacol has helped a bit but still not solved it.

We also have the added joy of constipation. He used to go 6/8 times a day easily, then he was straining to go 3 times and today he's only been once. No wonder he's in pain!

We have got into habit of just one poo a day here too kariana and although he doesn't seem to be in pain he does sometimes seem to strain. I find he will often poo more while I'm holding his legs up to clean him, it seems to help

I think less frequent pooing is a ff thing and bf babies do go much more

I've no experience of colic sorry

Argh gross one - anyone got hemorrhoids?!? Super painful and going to the loo hurts so much

Nickname - Me!! They were going but seem to have come back with a vengeance. My backside literally hates life at the moment, and is competing with my c section scar (which is itching like mad today) to be my most annoying body part. No advice apart from using ointment, just wanted to vent

Nickname I had them - seem to have resolved themselves now but it was horrendous felt like my intestines were falling out of my bum