March 2018 newborns

[blinkineckmum]

Not sure if a thread exists already. If so, point me in the right direction.
Here's a place to celebrate our bundles of joy and find support for everything from stitches to breastfeeding, partners and sleep and anything else we may come across in the early days to challenge us!

Huge congratulations to all the late arrivals! Glad to see this thread has picked up a bit. What a gorgeous baby Hiptobeasquare!
My dd was checked for tongue tie and there is none. Feeding has gone quite well today but it tends to be at night when we struggle more. I think we're slowly getting there. I can't wait to feel confident about feeding in public!
In terms of pain, everything wlse has settled down a lot. So hang on in there, it's still early days!
Sorry to hear about unsettled babies. Mine is a gem. As soon as she stops shredding my one nipple she'll be the perfect baby... until the next stage!
3dc is full on. But in all honesty, it's been much easier since my dh went back to work. I can do things at my own pace, and we're all calmer. I think work suits him better than being at hone all day! I love having all 3 to myself, but it's so tiring!

Hey everyone. Just a note to all the unsettled babies out there, well on the thread obviously!Mine won't settle easily at all either - he's pretty refluxy, not helped by my super fast flow so he's bringing up loads if milk, especially at night. Using a dummy - carefully, like not immediately after a big feed - is helping A LOT the last few days. My Midwife said it's best to wait til breastfeeding is well established before using a dummy as you can miss feeding cues sometimes. Anyway it's obviously a totally personal choice but it could be a help to some. Hoping you all have somewhat settled nights tonight x

We also use a dummy and it can help. Although our ds can take it or leave it sometimes .. It helps to settle him especially if we are putting him in car seat or when he wakes up screaming for a feed and I'm not quite ready. Sometimes helps when putting him back to bed but he tends to need some help to keep it in initially - once he gets going he's fine but if he's really flustered his arms flying about often pull it out leaving him more annoyed! We use the Philips soothie dummy - only one he will take as he was started on the nicu soothie by hospital when he was a day old.
Ds is currently asleep in my arms.. But guaranteed he will open his eyes the second his head touches the moses basket mattress!

Needing a bit of advice here. I have a very energetic 22 month old toddler girl and we only have childcare 3 days a week. This means I need to entertain my toddler 4 days a week and we have a small flat - there is a communal garden but it's down 4 flights of stairs so very tricky with the two babies. So, getting to the point - Does anyone have any good tips for entertaining toddlers?! I feel terrible when she watches endless CBeebies - and she gets really cooped up and restless but I find it exhausting taking her to the park ( I did it today and yest and wiped me out!)

Cosmic Yoga on YouTube
Sticky Kids Cd
Barefoot books - YouTube
Painting
Baking
Building towers
Building dens
Get a play tent - and teaset for teddy bear's picnic
Aquadoodle
Threading beads
Train set
Play dough
Stickers
Colouring in
My 2 and 1/2 year old loves hoovering, watering plants, wiping mirrors and windows, washing up...

Also skyping/ phoning relatives, making videos on your phone, recording their own singing on your phone, taking photos...
She's also recently into cutting/ sticking/ spreading/ sharpening pencils...
I feel for you without a garden. I caved and bought a trampoline for my 2 when their little sister arrived. It's a godsend for wearing them out.
Softplay in your lounge/ her bedroom?
Don't worry. We'll be more mobile and out in the better weather soon!

And if she has been watching tv all day, get your partner to take her out for a quick walk when he gets hone from work (assuming there's time/ a partner). Or can she go to a friend or neighbour occasionally?
My 4yo has 3 mornings of preschool but the 2yo only has 1!

Thanks @raym I managed to go into labour naturally 2 days before the planned induction! I had a sweep in the morning which seemed to kick things off although nothing regular or in any kind of pattern so passed the contractions off as more Braxton Hicks but they became a little more intense around 10-11pm I honestly had convinced myself baby was never coming so went to bed and waters broke in the bed 😱at 12:15 I called midwife as was down for home birth they said she’d be on her way. In the time it took me to get downstairs and have 2-3 more contractions I felt the urge to push! I said to my DH shit your going to have to do this! He was fairly horrified! Got. Midwife on phone talking him through it the head was out and DH noticed him going blue realised cord was around his neck he tried to free it but couldn’t luckily the midwife arrived just at that moment and managed to free the cord and baby came out. He was born at 115am one hour after waters breaking. He needed oxygen to help him take his first breath which was so scary she hadn’t even brought her stuff in because it was such a rush so she shouted to DH get my resuscitation kit from the car obviously at that point I became aware that something wasn’t right and was petrified luckily after a few puffs of oxygen he started breathing and crying. Because of the fact he needed the oxygen we transferred into hospital to get him checked out to be on the safe side I ended up staying in for about 36hrs because they wanted to monitor his feeding due to a genetic condition we are waiting for the results of. Anywho I’m please to say he is doing really well and feeding like a champ which is a relief. We should get the results of the genetic testing Monday or Tuesday.

My milk came in yesterday and I’m so engorged it’s really quite painful. Those of you that have passed this point how long did it take for your boobs to settle down? I can’t remember how long it took before. Also struggling with the nipple pain like someone else said it’s really tricky getting him to open wide enough for a good latch on one side in particular. Do you just ask midwife to check for tongue tie?

@Crapbags WOAH! You sound so calm in your recollection of it!!! You must be so proud of your husband! Kinda speechless as to how that all planned out for you. I’m glad you and your family are home now though.

It took a couple days for my boobs to stop feeling like rocks in the day. Now I just get that feeling first thing in the morning still. Yes, I will be asking a professional to look for tongue tie again coz I’m trying everything to get her to open her mouth enough but no luck. Same with you, better on one side than the other.

@blinkineckmum 😂 it made me laugh about shredding your nipples and then is great until the whole nipple shredding saga has to happen again! - that’s my baby too!

@Crapbags wow! You do sound really calm. Do take it really easy - loads of rest and be really good to yourself (and your partner!) - you've had a bit of an ordeal. And this postnatal phase can be really tough (am not finding it that easy at all and 3 weeks in)

@blinkineckmum thanks so much for these fantastic tips - you can tell you're an experienced Mum! I think it may be time to get tough with my partner and get him to start baking / crafting / all that with our DD. He's a little 'relaxed' when it comes to helping out with the childcare to be honest. Gimme strength

@RayM boobs are still rock like a lot of the time - are you expressing a little? First thing in the morning can be good when they are fullest / most boulder like. I have the Medela Swing pump which is really good and has actually lasted me 2 years almost since my last pregnancy

@crapbags re Milk coming in / engorgement - mine are still a bit engorged 3.5 weeks in hence I'm pumping quite a bit. In order not to encourage even more supply of milk I've been advised to pump a bit over different times of the day so you're not entirely draining the breasts. Have you been to a local milk spot to get some advice on the potential tongue tie or from your HV or Midwife? They could all help. Wishing you all the best in this emotional first week

@Jjpeston ohh I hadn’t realised this feeling was normal! No, I haven’t been expressing but have been looking at pumps to buy so thank you for the suggestion! I guess this helps with the discomfort?

Don’t try a hand pump - I was advised to get one and it was stupidly hard work and ended up crying and throwing the thing across the room. The Medela pumps are renowned as being best - pricey but worth it. Also, if you want to pump
Loads then see if you can hire a hospital grade pump from your hospital?

Loving the support on here. Crapbags, you're amazing! It must have been scary but I am a little jealous of the quick labour! RayM, engorged boobs are normal. Mine calmed down a lot after week 1. I always express a little in the shower and bath though. I leak a lot at night.
All 3 dc currently asleep and dh is out. I'm off for a bath!

Congratulations on all the new mums my little girl is now 15 days old. Cant believe how quick the last 15 days have gone. Just wish they could stay this small forever. Its been difficult on my own but so rewarding when she just looks at me and smiles. She is very alert and likes to be awake during the day to nose about lol. I am quite scared as my non molestation order runs out on Friday for her dad dreading what he might do. I don't want to share her especially with him. My other kids have been great and thanks to my 14 year old entertaining my little girl I have been able to spend some time with the 5 year old so he doesn't feel pushed out. Sorry to hear 2 of you have had such upsetting news regarding your mums I will be keeping you both in my thoughts and wishes.

I'm currently trying to feed a very unsettled 5 week old... He's been feeding off and on mostly on for an hour now... Keeps taking himself off and then thrashing around trying to get back on again or thrashing around and pulling off while trying to such at the same time which just hurts! I don't know what's going on. Getting seriously tempted to make up a bottle of formula instead... But he usually won't take it from me, he will drink it in seconds from his granny mind you! (He has only had a couple of bottles since coming home from hospital as my mum let me and dh out for a couple of hours and ds can often look for food every hour atm)

@Ragdolly81 she is gorgeous!!
@Jjpeston I totally agree.. No hand pumps.. Someone bought me the tommee tippee at which had the hand pump included.. I've tried twice and given up but the electric hospital pump they lent me when ds was in nicu was great.

Thank you. She also will have her moments of fighting for her milk and then deciding she doesn't want it can take me over a hour to feed her at times then half hour later she can be looking for more again tends to be of a night she does it like she is filling up ready for a good sleep Lol.

@jjpeston @raym I guess I was fairly calm mainly because my DH was so freaked out/scared/traumatised I was trying to be calm for his sake when I came home out of hospital it was very odd to walk into the room where it happened and it did bring back some feelings of anxiety/worry but I feel I’ve worked through them now midwife has been and says he’s doing so well and we shouldn’t worry about the fact he needed oxygen as that in itself is fairly common apparently especially with rapid labours like mine.

Talking of breast pumps I hadn’t tried electric before and was worried about spending lots only for it not to work so after reading the reviews I brought a nuby natural touch electric pump from amazon as it was offer for £50 on amazon and so far it seems pretty good.

@ragdolly81 what a gorgeous baby you’ve got! Sounds like you’ve got a lot to deal with but sounds like your handling everything really well and your older DC’s sound fab too so your obviously doing a great job raising them.

Like you @RayM I just cannot get baby to open wide enough when feeding and it’s getting so painful When he latches on that I’m almost screaming out in pain my other DC’s are a bit horrified when they see/hear it!! I’m also really paranoid about mastitis as had it with DS1 and it was hideous so am reluctant to rest that side for too long. Midwife is coming again tomorrow I will ask about the tongue tie.

Hope it’s ok to ramble here a bit now as today I’m feeling really anxious as I’m expecting the call from great ormond street either today or tomorrow to tell me if baby DS has the same genetic condition as DS1. Obviously when I decided to go for baby no3 I knew the risk was there that this baby could be affected and I’ve tried so hard to prepare myself for the fact that he will have it so I can deal with it but today I feel so scared and emotional about it all and keep crying I guess hormones don’t help. I feel I just need to know one way or the other in order to get ‘over it’ and get ‘on with it’ kind of thing. Gosh I’m sorry I think I just needed to talk about it trying to stay positive but it’s bloody hard.

@Jjpeston ahhhh you see, I hadn’t actually purchased one yet due to the expense of them but if the electric ones are the ones that will work best then I won’t be so reluctant to part with the cash!

@blinkineckmum Oh my... I must sound so clueless. I wake in the night damp with milk no matter how regularly I change my breast pads. Should I be expressing a little before bed to counteract this?

@Ragdolly81 What a gorgeous baby you have!
My little girl is 17 days old today and I have no idea where time went... or my tiny newborn! She is packing on the weight and fast! Sorry to hear about her Dad potentially getting in touch soon. Try not to worry about it too much until it happens/doesn’t happen and deal with it then. I know how protective you must be of her! You’re older kids sound great.

@Smurf123 eep, my little girl pulls herself off me with such force and with no prompts as to when she might do this. Ouch!!!!!

@Crapbags Of course it’s Ok to ramble! I really feel that you are going through this. You must be in limbo not knowing. Once you know one way or the other I imagine it will be much easier to process. I hope you hear back from them today / the sooner the better!

Hi all, sorry not been on for while, I’ve been very busy with my little one that finally arrived at 11am on 5th April. Am I allowed to stay with @crapbags even though we didn’t quite make March?!!

@crapbags sorry to hear you are stressing about the test results, totally understandable and please rant away! I really hope you get results soon and fingers crossed for good news. I don’t know if this helps you at all but we gave birth on same day and I am having my baby ‘blues’ day today so feeling very teary and overwhelmed and it’s bang on for the day 4 hormone dump and milk coming in etc. I’ve cried 4 times today about silly things (I cried because I was hungry and couldn’t make a sandwich as baby needed feeding (again)) honestly anyone would think I’d starve!

I’m struggling a bit with my tummy which is still really tender and aches and bad back etc due to my bad abdominal muscle separation so feeling very fragile.. also my bladder is a bit odd/numb so all bit weird... I’m hoping will get better as I guess it’s still early days. When did all you ladies feel your tummy was less tender? Is it normal to feel you’ve been hit by a bus?

Also my boobs are like rocks..... I bf for 3 days for the colostrum and am now ff and went cold turkey so my boobs may have had bit of a shock!!!! Hoping for less painful boobs in few days!

For the first time mums with clingy babies, and cluster feeding please don’t worry as is completely normal and it does get easier I promise. I remember being completely overwhelmed by it with my first but it’s over really quick so just enjoy the cuddles! Dont worry about the house work! Eventually you’ll work out how to get them napping on their own, ok being put down and self settling etc. In meantime cuddle lots and get a sling maybe. I’ve got a lovely cloth one. The thing that helped most for me later was, when they are over the cuddly newborn stage, was doing a eat-activity-sleep routine rather than feeding to sleep routine (but this only works when they are bit older and awake for longer periods).

Thanks for all the wishes about my Mum x