JUNE 07...Starting thread!

[nannyjo]

Well i think i was the frist to 'pop' from the due in june thread so i thought it was about time we started the post-natal thread.

DS2 is 2 weeks on monday I had him 4 weeks early due to induction for OC. Everything is going really well and i think things are finally starting to settle down (i hope i haven't just spoken too soon!!)

He is really suffering with colic though and were getting about 4 hours sleep a night on average and with a 2.5 year old there is no chance of catching up in the day, but i shouldn't complain as i'm lucky to have got two wonderful boys. Thats it now NO MORE!!!!!9smile0

I know a few other june mums have had their babies so it would be lovely to hear from you to see how you are all getting on (when you get the chance )

Everyone has gone off to have a RL.....they're all sleeping here...Mum, DD, DH....just me and DS and a transformers video......

....and I'm still in my jammies

I'm still in my pj's too! don't see the point of dirtying clothes when your not going out!

got serious cabin fever though, dp has taken dd to a play center as she was climbing the walls.

I'm going to attempt my first bit of housework - vacuming...exciting

Hi Holly......they're certainly more entertaining to change. DS used to wait for the nappy to come off and then fountain....he managed to pee on his face on several occasions.

I still find it odd to change DD, still not sure I'm cleaning her properly, and it's less obvious when she's pee'd with her nappy off. It's not till I've dressed har again that I pick her up and realise there's wee all over the back of her clothes!

IKWYM about the cabin fever Claire....I made it out to the shops yesterday (about 10 mins walk from here) and felt much better for it. Now the reain has stopped I should at least get out in the garden for some fresh air, but just cannot be arsed.

Em had a pretty poor night last night and was awake from 2:45 to 5:15.

us girls are so much tidier! Its my first exp with a ds too, any other mums of boys finding that the nappies leak all the time? I make sure his bits are down before doing up , but everytime he wakes up with a wet back, doing my head in babygro, sheet, blanket all need changing, using pampers, any ideas?

ouch thats a bad stint..rain hasn't let up here, its so dull, was really anal in planning for this baby and aimed to have a summer baby, as dd1 was born near christmas, and the weather is awful - moan over

Claire, try the next size up in nappies so there's a bit of bagginess underneath. I find that if there isn't the wee bounces off and squits out the back, even with DD.

Right, just had a phonecall from friends to ask if they can come visit....so better go and get some clothes on!

See Y'all later.

Thanks Daisy , I'll try that.

Yeah lil boys are fun, aren't they? Can't wait till we try training ours to go in the big toilet and aim properly .

Sort of squirmy-odd question here, but when it comes to nappy changes and little girls, how thorough are you about wiping/cleaning her bits? I am of the school of thought that too much disturbance is bad, but DH is a bit worried that we're not doing quite enough. Gentle guidance please?

So, S has napped now for 2.5 hours after being awake all morning, despite my desperate attempts to get her to sleep this morning. Sigh. Will my desired 3-hour Baby Whisperer routine EVER WORK???? ARSEEEEE!!!!

Hello there. Glad to hear everyone's settling in, and sore nips etc a bit better. Have been being rather quiet as BF has been going fine and M's a champion sleeper. Actually heard her cry for the first time since birth today...she's about 40000 times more chilled than DD1 was...as I remember having infected ducts, sore nipples, horrendous back pain etc first time round am just appreciating it this time! So I'd better take myself away again before I get lynched! zx

yeah...I'm not a big fan of routines with v young ones...though I guess it's nice if it works. When it doesn't it just makes you feel like a bad mother and more stressed than if you just let things happen iyswim?

likelbel - I have a dd aswell , regarding nappy change I would just wipe gently with not too much thought to the inside just once,pulling it open and getting in all the crevices is not needed, as the cleaning in the bath will see to anything you've missed - hth

My little lad has settled into a routine of sorts, and its made it so much easier for us, it will come in time whatever routine your aiming for it will gradually come. I've found that my ds can only stay awake for about an hour and a half max 2 hours, so I swaddle him as soon as he is looking sleepy and put him in his crib and he's away

bz!!!

what's your secret???

Holly no worries, you're not bfing police

Argh DS eats, I burp, eats, I burp, spews, I change, is hungry, I feed, burp, put to sleep, then he decides he wants more food. What is it about boys and food?!

I have baby vom all down my trousers. Couldn't give a rats.

Hi girls

I've finally managed to grab 2 minutes to say hello to you over here. I hope you're all as well as can be. I know some of you are having a hard time with feeding and I hope things ease up soon. I'm also having a bit of a do myself, and have spent half the day blubbering harder than the LO!

My first night at home (wed) was really hard as the baby was feeding every hour and crying her eyes out. The mw came the following day and told me that I had flat nipples and the poor child couldn't actually latch on properly. She showed me how to sort it out (with a syringe - ouch!) and the difference was immediate. On Thursday and Friday she fed roughly every 3 hours, with deep sleeps in between and I was finally able to get myself together.
For some reason though, things deteriorated badly yesterday afternoon. She bagan feeding at around 6pm, and no kidding, she wanted to be fed off and on til 12pm. It was horrific, as she was inconsolable in between. I was so stressed and was crying my eyes out, unable to believe how it was going, as I thought I had cracked it. She fell asleep exhausted at 12pm, and slept until nearly 6am! You might say this was good going, but I went through 6 hours of hell to achieve that, so it wasn't worth it!

Anyway I thought it was just a bad day but 'round 2' began his morning. She had a 30min feed at 6am. Then woke at 8.30am, and fed til nearly 10pm! She fed again at 11.30 for an hour, then slept fitfully, feeding again at 1.45 and again at 13.45, for 30 min each time. She refused to be put down after her feeds, screaming for an hour, until she collapsed exhausted at 4pm, where she has been sleeping since.
I know she is latched on properly, so I rang the mw in tears (she wasn't due to visit today), who told me it was normal to be feeding so often and I should 'just go with it' or give her a bottle. I dont know what to do. She reckons she is going through a growth spurt- but could she be already? she is only 7 days old...
The mw also reckoned I was dead lucky to have her sleep almost 6 hours last night, but tbh, the hours prior to and since then have been awful and I was much happier having her feed 3 hourly.
The thing is, that now I'm so frazzled that I end up losing my patience and am then consumed with guilt. I just don't know what to do. She does manage to get some wind up, and seems to happily trump away during feeds, so do you think it's wind? Should I be winding her in the middle of a feed as a matter of habit?

I'm sorry to blether on, I just wish I knew where it went wrong and how to help her. I want to be abe to enjoy her but at the minute I feel like I can't do much for her other than be a human milk wagon.

Any ideas would be gratefully appreciated.

pingu x

pingu - having similar problems here, but not on such a grand scale. Having had difficult feeding all week, I went to a breast feeding clinic on Thursday and they gave some advice which improved things no end. Thursday and Friday she fed like a dream, taking good long feeds every 2-3 hours. Saturday morning was OK, but Sat afternoon she'd have a short feed (maybe just 5 mins), drop off totally zonked out and then wake crying and wanting more within the hour. I found it exhausting both as I didn't seem to manage to do anything else, and that I found it distressing seeing her cry so much. Thankfully Sat night was better, with her taking good feeds every 3 hours again, but today has been more short and frequent feeds. Should be seeing MW tomorrow so will discuss with her then.

Hiya Pingu

First, big hugs. Second, and this will piss off the BF police no end, but I had a similar experience to you with DS and my solution (after much much suffering on everyone's part) was to FF. With DS I eased into it gradually, doing one FF a day to get a break, and when it helped us all so much to get on with things, within 2 months he was totally FF. Consider it an option to mixed feed and/or totally FF. At the end of the day, a baby needs a happy mum more than they need a boob. Truly.

thanks jamantha

I tried to make her more alert during feeds- stripping to the nappy, tickling her feet, even wiping her eyes with cold water. I resorted to a bath last night, to which she protested wildly about, but it didn't help much. She does seem to take decent enough feeds most times, but them I can't be sure. I seem to be able to hear her actually gulp back and swallow the mild at times, at at other time, she doesn't. I realise she probably just wants on there for a snack/comfort, but its so ahrd being tied to her all the time and seeing her so fretful when I try to persuade her not to.
Do you think she genuinely isn't getting enough milk, or that she may be sucking on an empty breast?

Pingu...stick with it....sorry to say but at the moment you are a human milk wagon

Seriously though, it does get better. Em is not yet three weeks and she's already much more settled. she had a night like you had on friday and fed constantly from 5 till 10:30 then slept 7 hours....they do it to stimulate your supply into producing more as they grow apparently.

you're doing great honestly....don't feel guilty. just keep going with the on demand feeding....

avent sell a contraption called niplette for flat nipples...not sure what its about but it might be gentler than a syringe.

and try to stay calm...if you're agitated then dd will be too.

kel...i was trying to phrase that delicate question about dds bits too...it's all new and scary. i was pretty sure not to go delving, but the nappy cream gathers in there and didn't want her hetting sore. we've not been giving her too many baths as her skin is really dry. gave in and bathed her on thursdfay though when i realised she had cheesy smelling armpits

Hullo.......
I'm gatecrashin........
Still got heart burn, swollen ankles, and still sittin on my friggin ball!
But nothing, nada, not a tweek

Holly if your here - bloody well done and massive congrats - glad you're home and happy

Hi to everyone else - its very handy reading through - it's giving me some good tips! I got some nip shields yesterday - and tomorrow I'm going to get some Infacol and some fennel tea!

I think you're all doing great by the way! For what it's worth - as I clearly don't know my arse from my elbow!

pingu - no idea I'm afraid about if she's getting enough milk. But all those "alerting" tactics sound familiar. Have tried them all and often with no great results. The two things that upset me are when I can't get her to wake enough to feed, and (and this one's worse) when I can see that she's really hungry and screaming for food, but can't/won't get into the right position to latch on. I can keep trying to follow the instructions from the feeding clinic, and when she's calm they work great, but sometimes she fights it, and won't tilt her head, won't open wide, won't suck, pushes my breast away with both her hands. Yet I can see she's hungry and it breaks my heart.

Pingu,

My DS is doing the same. We had a dreadful night last night as all he did was feed and cry pretty much non-stop all night. Suspect he has a stomach bug that I have just had though (nice) so I will let him off...
We were up until 3am, neither DH, DS or I got any sleep. After that DH went and slept on the sofa and DS slept in bed with me so I could just latch him on as and when needed. I agree with LilkelBel though that if you are getting to breaking point a single bottle of formula to give you a break will not harm. Also, as long as your baby is sucking at the breast first then the stimulatory signals are still getting sent to your brain so you shouldn't be affecting your milk supply massively. (this is according to my team of midwives so please don't attack me either BF police!) I have been doing this and DS is almost 3 weeks old - had to do it in the hospital as my milk took 4 days to come in (elective section) and DS was starving! He is fine! keep at it though - it does get better eventually - I dimly recall from DD anyway!

Oh re: cleaning girls bits, no need to pull stuff back!

Pingu I have no decent and constructive advice to offer you but I really feel for you and hope that things ease up.

I think try to see a BFing counsellor, they really do help. It doesn't help you right now this minute but hopefully you can find a way forward x

thanks Janamantha and Red

I appreciate your advice. Jamantha- I found it helpful to get the mw to come to the house and watch me latch her on- could you do the same? I know what you mean about fighting the breast- its so frustrating and I end up being irrational and saying things like 'well take the bloomin' food if it's on offer' . ( silly, i know). She's so strong though, for a little baby! she literally thumps me with both hands!

It's so hard knowing whether or not she is actually taking back milk or using me as a dummy???? She's just fed now for an hour and is screaming again....I'm at my wits end

x