July 2007 - yet starting in June!

[Jamantha]

Well, I can't see a post natal July 2007 thread, so will start this, even though Charlotte, my DD was born 4.5 weeks early in June. I'm sure the other July ladies will be along soon enough.

Have had 2 nights at home now. Yesterday afternoon was fairly distressing as Charlotte wouldn't latch on, and if she did she wouldn't suck. But have got loan of electric pump from hospital, and support from midwives and now managing with comination of breast, expressed and formula milk, sometimes all three in the same feed. Finding it quite emotional, with all the issues associated with feeding one's baby, but trying to stay calm as found out yesterday that getting self into a state doesn't help anyone.

Dh has just gone out to get some things we're still missing, and I'm putting my feet up for a bit. Phil & Ted has just arrived so we might try a stroll down to the ante natal class tonight!

Any how, hope there are lots of lovely birth stories to come from July ladies, and that we can swap advice, give each other moral support etc over the coming weeks and months.

Thanks for all the reassurance about clingy babies. I'll enjoy it while I can, even if it is tiring, and making my back hurt.

For the past 2 days she's woken at 5:30am and wanted to feed at least every hour until mid afternoon, inbetween feeding she's been dosing on me, but not getting sleepy enough for me to be able to put her down, and I can't sleep when she's on me. My parents are up today, and Dad is very happy to be on baby cuddling duty, while Mum is doing her House Elf job. DD always settles so well on Dad, he thinks it's because his dodgy heart beats so loudly.

Myfairone - What a night! Hope it starts to improve soon.
I've been making up words to nursery rhymes too. Usually something along the lines of begging LO to go to sleep.

Hi, haven't been on for a while....

Interesting to hear what you say about LO needing to be cuddled all the time. Theo was quite good at being left to sleep in his cot / basket a couple of weeks ago, but now he seems to want to be cuddled pretty much all the time, although I can somtimes get him down in his basket / bouncy chair after a while once he's in a deep sleep. I actually dont mind as this will probably be my last baby and I want to enjoy him . My backs complaining though.

My DS was doing a couple of projectile vomits and was groaning a lot after his feed and arching his back as if in pain. He's been diagnosed as having reflux, but I think its quite mild. We've got infant gaviscon to settle his stomach after a feed but most of the time the taste of it makes him gag... which kind of defeats the object so I've been cutting it down quite a lot. Generally though he's been much happier over the last couple of days but this is worth keeping in mind if any of you have babies that puke a lot and show signs of dicomfort after a feed and take a while to settle.

Hope everyone is getting on OK!!

Good luck at church tommorrow Kyte!! I'm sure you'll feel pretty protective with everyone swooning all over him.

Hi everyone - been offline for a few days and have just caught up.

I'm so relieved to read about clingy babies! My LO has become reeeally clingy this past few days...and has become VERY attached to the idea of boob-as-pillow. Glad it's not just us having issues settling in cradles etc.

Good luck today Kyte! I've also found a sling settles LO or at least gives me a chance to get on with things!

On the expressing front, Pulapula, what's your expressing regime in order to get enough for your nighttime bottles?

Take care all - I don't know what I'd do without MN!

We are getting chatty again- been offline a couple of days and so much to catch up on!

Kyte- really hope all went well at church!

Glad to read about everyone's clingy babies...Mairi is hard to settle these days and also won't sleep in her moses basket unless really in a deep sleep...so using the sling too quite a bit as it's hard on DS for me to sit cuddling her for ages as well as feeding her for ages! Hoping it's just a phase, as seem to be her pillow at night these days too which in some ways I love but at times want a bit more space!!

We tried her on her first bottle of EBM on Friday, which she took with no probs so finally I can start being able to get others to feed her occasionally!

Was feeling a bit rubbish on Friday & then discovered my c-section scar was oozing/bleeding a little in the middle Had to call the out-of-hrs docs yesterday & turns out it is infected so now on antibiotics. Thought at nearly 7 weeks the scar would have been so well healed that infection was unlikely but apparently not Feeling better today though & scar not so sore. Got to have swabs done of it tomorrow...

Huge hugs to you all xxx

OMG, have to share this. After seven weeks of letting LO fall asleep on us in the evening (normally at around 10 or so - she's a night owl, I think) last night I decided to put her down awake in the dark at 8.30. After a few minutes of protesting, she settled herself to sleep. She's done the same thing this evening. She seemed so difficult to settle in the evening that we hadn't actually tried this before - I know that probably sounds odd - but there's no way I thought it would have worked. But it did. Maybe all the protesting was that she wanted to go to bed after all, not be held by us for hours.

And for anyone having chronic crying in the evening, I kept reading in all the books that crying peaks at six weeks and then diminishes. Oddly enough, it has. She still has an evening grizzle, but it's not as bad as it was a few weeks ago, and she's now 7 weeks.

Hi Cyee,

I tend to express twice a day. I express off one breast whilst feeding off the other at the first feed of the day (7 or 8am depending on when he wakes) and then in the evening around 9.45 as the bottles are at 6.30 and 10.30 so I am quite full again then. I also have breast shells which I sometimes use as I can collect maybe 1oz from the breast I'm not feeding off, as I leak a lot still.

At first I would get maybe 2-3 oz per expressing session, but now I can get 4-7 oz, and as I give 5oz bottles, I'm starting to build up a reserve. But on a couple of occassions, I haven't got my letdown, so end up with maybe half an oz, so its important to be relaxed etc. With my DD, I ended up topping up with formula as I couldn't produce enough for her bottles, but I find that as long as I pump regularly, my body is producing the extra milk needed. But it took a while to build up. Good luck.

I'm just away to my bed, but thought I should pass on that if you breastfeed and wish to get your wee one to gain weight in quick fashion, chocolate hobnobs are an essential part of your diet. Between birth and day five boychild lost an ounce. Between day five and day nine he had gained eight ounces. Got to be loving the choccy-hobnobbery

Right, my bed, it calls to me.

Take care all.

Agnes

Got to agree with the biscuits agnes, though my biscuit of choice was bourbons.
Bryher gained 3oz by day 3, and was a full pound over her birth weight by day 11.
I need to lay of the biscuits now as at 3 weeks old she's given me a bad back.

Am I right in thinking periods can restart from 3 weeks? Because I think mine have.
I know the MW told me all this, but I just listened to the part about if you exclusively breastfeed then periods are unlikely to start until your stop BFing. My bleeding had tailed off to almost nothing for the past week then it's started again today and it's about the same amount as period. I was hoping not to have to worry about this for a few more months.
Could there be another explanation?

nightmare 2 days for me...LO clingy & constantly wanting boob, im hoping its a growth spurt!

i think i have a blocked milk duct. have a very sore red area on the boob. cried to a lady on a helpline & she was so lovely! tried expressing but couldnt get any more than 2ozs...think crying may have affected it though

was starting to feel i was getting into a routine and now feel its all gone wrong...maybe im just not relaxed enough about it.
HV coming today so have tons of questions for her!

Hope your all okay and thanks for being so chatty because feel like this is my lifeline right now!

big hugs to all
x

bilblio - meant to say, my blood loss has got really red again and seemed to ramp up..im wondering if its period or just where im doing more!

kyte - how was church?

Oh what a night ....

LO has been grumpy the last few days, seemingly in pain sometimes, but always settled if offered the breast so I thought maybe I had just been missing hunger cues. Then yesterday he was really unhappy all afternoon, crying and straining, but still wanted to feed every hour or so, so I assumed it was the fabled 3 week growth spurt and went with it (cue a day spent watching DVDs and eating biscuits - homemade hobnobs are my top tip!). Then as the evening wore on he got more and more agitated, only settling if put in the bath and when offered the breast just chewing and sucking for comfort, not really feeding. His tummy seemed swollen and he kept writhing as if he was really sore, and crying and crying (he's never really cried properly since he was born, he's usually very easy to calm down and tends to whinge more than cry). Eventually I got in a big panic and phoned the out of hours doctor who didn't really do much apart from weigh him and mumble something about reflux and Gaviscon "but he might be too young"?! Satisfied that he at least wasn't dying we came home and eventually got the poor lad settled to sleep sometime after 3.

This morning he's still not right but at least he's slept and had a proper feed. He's farting constantly so I think it must be genuine trapped wind (so much for the Infacol ), and I think I'm going to call the HV today for some advice and to try and clarify what the doctor might have been talking about. I feel terribly worried it might be something I'm doing wrong with positioning or something I'm eating but I just can't figure out what.

The midwife was right when at my booking in appointment all those months ago she told me I didn't know the meaning of worry ...

Had tricky, troublesome few days with LO being grumpy pretty much continually. But this morning she's asleep, peacefully on my lap, looking a real cutie. All my frustration has melted

hello again all, not been around since i came home with isobel to be honest. can't believe she's really here!! hope everyone's ok and coping well.

just reading down posts and bilblio i'd completely stopped bleeding but restarted over weekend, hv said this will happen on and off now... if lo is bfing a lot this makes you bleed more too

mfo - if you have a sore red area and its v painful, it might be mastitis and you may need antibiotics, so if it persists I would see a doctor just to check. When I had it the pain was excruciating when she was latching on, and as she approached my boob.....shudder

my dd2 is mostly content especially when sleeping on me or dh - Im mainly feeling as if Im struggling when Im deadly tired and DD! and DS are doing my head in! Also trying to watch what I eat anf feel stressed so need chocolate which makes me feel worse.

greetings to all and lo s

my bleeding has been erratic. It stops and then all of a sudden Ill feel a little spurt run out of me.(sorry tmi) So maybe normal as bfing

Thanks Kyte. HV was helpful on the phone (after sighing a bit about the uselessness of doctors) - she suggested specific massage techniques, bucket baths (we know baths work), tilting his cot and a rough ride in the pram! We're going to keep going with the Infacol but I have a gut feeling there's more to it, for some reason. I've skipped dairy for 2 days now because I've convinced myself that's to blame - I had massive milk/yoghurt cravings while pregnant and have doubtless sensitised him or something equally inconvenient. We'll persevere - he's always been windy but never painfully so. I don't know how anyone is expected to take 12 hour sessions like that on a daily basis until 3 months though!

Kyte & Chubby, and any others with windy babies - my DD has quite a lot of problems with wind. We've been using infacol, which has helped relieved the worst colicky symptoms, of 3 hours solid crying every night, but we still get some long grumbling sessions and lots of wind. We've also just got some gripe water, which seems to help, but is tricky to give to her as she doesn't like the taste (unlike the infacol). Starting a baby massage course tomorrow, so if I learn anything for helping with wind will try to pass it on.

Thanks for all the advice on bleeding. It seems to have stopped again today so I'm going to put it down to the fact that DD had spent a couple of days feeding on the hour every hour from 5am till 3pm. She was back to her normal 3 hourly feeds yesterday and my bleeding has slowed down again today.

Chubby that sounds like what DD was like with colic before we started with the Infacol, I had been giving her 2 squirts before every feed, but now she's a bit more settled and less windy I've gone back to one squirt. If her tummy does look bloated and feel hard before a feed then I give her 2 squirts again.
The HV did say if the Infacol didn't work there is another brand which is better than Infacol but it's much more expensive, unfortunately I can't remember what it's called.
I know what you mean about worry, I had to keep leaving DD with blokey trying to wind her because I couldn't deal with seeing her so upset. It was a very odd feeling, I'm normally the strong one who can cope with anything.

Colief is an alternative to infacol. It costs £10 for a tiny bottle and is lactase, the enzyme that digests lactose the sugar in milk. It tends to be formula that causes the problems with wind that the colief sorts out though. It's worth a try, is prescribable (but that doesn't meant your dr will prescribe it) and has a tendancy to make poo very runny.