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.

re colic & windy babies. i'm bfing my lo and hv has got me to cut out caffeine and fizzy drinks and drink fennel tea and peppermint tea and does seem to be helping her, she doesn't seem to struggle so much and don't get the hours of grumbling that we did before

Jennster - quick question about Infacol - we are giving DD Gaviscon infant with every other feed (suspected reflux) but she's also really windy. Do you know if we can use Infacol with Gaviscon? Hope you don't mind me asking - seem to remember you are a pharmacist?

Also, I am expressing 4 x a day and have had a bit of a dodgy tummy over the last couple of days.... does this get passed on to DD?

Am going to follow advice and cut out the caffeine for a while to see if there's any effect.

Gaviscon and infacol are for slightly different problems, so you need to work out which problem it is. Reflux is due to excess acid or faulty stomach valves, but trapped wind (which has similar symptoms) is a different reason why the feed might come back up.

The infacol is meant to help disperse and release trapped gas, and gaviscon is meant stop stomach acid escaping back up the oesophagus (by trapping it in the stomach) and so they sort of work against each other. Colief on the other hand is for when the stomach pains are due to the lactose not being digested.

I hope this information helps.

i feel really guilty about saying Lee has been the noisiest whingiest baby out of my three.. I have been in hospital with him all weekend.. . The thing they thought he had I cant remember oproperly the name oif it,(hypo(somthing0 polarosis!!!(something like that!!) but it is todo with the exit holr of the tummy into intenstines.. at the moment his hole is boderline normal, abnormal, so they are keeping an eye on it, as the problem normally becomes apparant between weeks 4 and 8, it is common in boys apparantly.. At the moment, they have him down as having had gastro, bless him. If he starts to projectile vomit again then we have to take him back and he will have more scans.
he was sedated on saturday to give him a rest as he had only slept for 3.5hrs in 20hrs.. he was also given an enema. he had a drip in his head, and temp was taken rectally twice a day. he was attached to a heart and lung moniter, so cuddles were awkward at first until I got used to drip in head and wires in babygrow. he hasnt been sick since sat morn.. so hopefully everything is ok now and he was discharged this morning.

Sorry long piost..

Hope everyone else is ok... Take care
xx

toyou 2plus1 - what a stressful time you're having!!! Lots of positive vibes to you too!!

grateful for bleeding advice as starting to get paranoid there was something wrong!!

Oh Twoplusone, really sorry to hear you're having such a tough time. All best wishes to your little one. Hope he's improving.

Not on the same scale, but we're having a more tricky time with LO. She's been diagnosed with torticollis (can't turn her head to the left at all - muscles just didn't develop), so after six weeks of hoping things will improve, we finally got to see a physio last week. She gave us some exercises which basically involve pushing LO's head round while she shrieks (grim, I know, but we were told it was the only way to stretch the muscle). Having done that for a week, her neck now has a huge hard lump in it this morning. Took her to the doctor who'd never seen anything like it, and apparently it's the muscle gone into complete spasm. Have to take her to hospital tomorrow for another examination. And have been told to stop exercises in the meantime. Poor little thing. Feel like the only times she's been awake and alert, we've been causing her pain.

Aww 2+1 how awful. Hope everything works out.

Hyperpyloric stenosis 2+1?

Hmm seems like a few of us aren't having a great start to the week...

2+1 huge hugs (((( )))) really hope your DS is ok, my friend's DS was also borderline for this and I know how worrying it was for her- luckily her DS was ok in the end although did have pretty bad reflux that needed medication.

Cakehead- good luck at the hospital tomorrow, hope your DD is ok bless her.

We had bad news today... HV left urgent phone messages & it turns out Mairi's spot test (which has already been repeated due to one abnormal result) came back again as abnormal for cystic fibrosis . So we have to go to hospital on Wednesday for a sweat test with a specialist which will be a definitive test for CF. I am so scared, but know we will just have to deal with whatever it shows. Think we are in shock at the moment, but I'm praying it is a blip and she doesn't have CF. The waiting for the test is already killing me!

cakehead and madmumnika- I do hope your los are ok..
lee has just projectile vomited again.. (Thanks for the name jennster.. I am crap at remembering things like that everything needs written down for me at the mo..) I have phoned med centre they said to keep an eye on him tonight.. which I was going to do anyway.. can see me having a sleepless night just waiting for himn to do it again, poor little mite.. have a drs appointment in the morning for something different but will mention it to him if he is sick again..

we do seem to be having a rough time as a group at the moment..
Mam goes in for her masectomy on Friday.. something elso for me to worry about..

On the plus side only a week and a bit till dd comes home and I cant wait I have missed her like crazy.. Must go lo is stiring and dh needs to go to bed his first day back at work tommorrow..

Take care all.xx

Sorry for your worries cakehead, madmumnika and twoplusone. I really hope you all get some good answers over the next few days.

I'm also joining the infacol / gaviscon debate. The doctor and HV have said its reflux, but Theo hasn't been sick that much recently although he does posset a lot. He's also started to appear more uncomfortable late afternoon / early evening, which kind of makes me think of colic. I had been giving gaviscon a couple of times a day (Theo really dislikes it!) and have just been starting to think of infacol too. Sorry if I missed it but what is the alternative to infacol? Was it colief?

Kyte, am also thinking of trying cranial osteothapy, so would be interested to hear what you think? I reckon its worth a go as something is bothering him.

I hope everyone is doing well.

Oh dear folks, not having a great time of it, are we? I really hope everything settles down with your babies - worrying is so exhausting. 2+1 - my MIL had a mastectomy last year and she's doing great now - it's a long haul but there are some fantastic cancer care nurses around these days who made things easier for MIL by being on the end of the phone and giving her someone familiar to see at the hospital.

We've had another night from hell - OH was shoving LO round the town in the pram at 1am, to no avail. I took over around 2 and spent the entire night up with him - he slept for a wee while but only upright on my chest so no kip for me! This wind thing is also starting to affect my BF because he's stopping halfway through a feed to cry and twist around, and then sucking for comfort at other times, so my poor boobs are all engorged ... hoping to avoid going down that nightmare route again so off to rake out the savoy from the bottom of the fridge! Poor bubs was farting all night but still sore and not himself this morning.

There's a community nursery nurse coming later, to weigh him I think - no idea what exactly they do vs what the HV does, and am wondering if these probs continue whether I should see the GP rather than the HV - never quite sure who does what really!

Hope you all have a better day and my thoughts are with those with unwell LOs.

Thinking of you Cakehead, Madmumnika and Twoplusone. Really sorry to hear you're having a particularly tough time at the moment.

Thanks a million for the expressing info Pulapula. Just expressed enough for one bottle, should have thought about expressing-for-relief in the morning sooner. Thank you!

I also have a question for you all - my LO feeds at around 3 (EBM from Dad) and then tends to start grunting/farting/pooing at about 5.30. I've tried feeding her a little at this time and she has a quick suck, but wondered if any of you have any tips as to... well... basically how to keep the noise down!

Take care everyone, and hope things start to improve for everyone soon...

Will be thinking of you Madmum - must be a huge worry.

Chooster - we've been having cranial massage for LO's neck and it has been great (well, seems to chill her out for a day or so). Also the osteopath picked up the muscle spasms in her neck before the physio or doctor, and she's been really helpful subsequently - very involved and talking to each new person we've seen. Friends recommended her as she'd treated their collicky babies well.

We used Infacol with DD1. Worked well, but they seem to get a bit resistant to it after a few days, so we'd swap it with something else and then go back.

Twoplusone - you're poor little one, vomitting like that. Hope it settles down soon and you find something that works for him. My mum had a masectomy two years ago when I was pregnant first time. Amazing how well she's done since, but yes, it's a big worry when it's happening.

Gosh, we're a fine lot, aren't we?! Wishing everyone good things for a rainy Tuesday...

Cakehead and Madmumnika big hugs.

My mum has had all clear after mastect. 7 years ago and is doing fine. She's still involved with the support group.

Flipping heck we are a windy lot! That includes me (poor dh). We too were up all night (well between 2 and 5) with crotchety baby who wouldn't burp. At around 4.30 we had the projectile vomit that got us changing the bedding because by that time he was in our bed, then the almighty megash** and as we were trundling off to the bathroom to change him 2 almighty burps. Am off to look at Nurse Harveys, Infacol and Dentinox today.

Cakehead, madmum and Twoplusone, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your little ones!

Do we all seem to be having probs right now? Its not easy is it?

Turns out I had the start of mastitis. Really painful left boob with huge red streaks and swollen area. managed to avoid antib's so far. Was told to express to relieve the engorgement and to get LO to feed from that breast at every opportunity. Seems a bit better today thankfully.

LO seems to want to feed every 2 hours now! Im wondering if its growth spurt or he's just sucky.

HV weighed him yesterday and he has put on 9ozs so I guess boobs are still working!

I ended up crying to HV yesterday. Im sure she must think Im a nut!

Big hugs to all
x

2+1, chooster & madmum - my thoughts and prayers are with you all too. You really are having a tough time of it (it really puts my worries/stresses into perspective).

2+1 hope everything goes well for your mum too.

Sorry - I haven't had chance to catch up with everyones posts over the last couple of days, but I will do eventually.

sorry - I meant cakehead not chooster (oops)

hi ladies sorry not been on in ages just a quick question dd has got sticky eye and i have been bathing it like they tell you too with cooled boiled water etc but its not clearing has been three days now has anyone elses baby had it and will it go if i keep cleaning it or should i go to docs to get drops?

Hello, sorry to intrude again. Bubble, my lo has two sticky eyes and midwife says they are blocked tear ducts. they water a lot and apparantly it will go away, just bath regularly. I will leave you all alone now.

Hi there, been meaning to post for weeks but no time any more - been too busy trying to work out how to look after 2 instead of 1!

Bubble are you bfing? This might sound gross but my hv advised me, as well as boiled water, to squirt breastmilk into LO's eyes as they've been really gunky, as it has lots of antibodies in it. Apparently gooey eyes are really common, it's something to do with blood having got into their eyes as they are being born.

Hope things get better for you twoplusone, cakehead and madmum. Thinking of you.

Bubble, my Lo has sticky eyes. Midwife said to bath with cool boiled water and its been like it from birth. Checked with the HV yesterday and she said to continue and that it was just blocked tear ducts. My LO has a real red streak in the white of his eye where it was damaged during birth and I think that has something to do with the tear ducts blocking.

When Lo wakes up he looks like a real grub, sticky eyes and sticky up hair!

Hope everyone is feeling fine today.

myfairone - snap!

Think it was kyte who mentioned dentinox earlier, but wow what burps! It's not got any artificial sweetener in it too.

Hello all. I'm finally here. Better late than never.

Went in for induction on Friday morning. Was given first prostin at 11am and nothing happened. Had second dose at 5pm still nothing. Was to have a third dose in the morning. Was woken in the night by one of the other patients snoring. (Must have had a total of about 1hr 30 mins sleep due to her) Pains started at about 4am. Nothing very bad but they were there every ten minutes or so.
In the morning was examined and told that I didn't need the third prostin and could have my waters broken down on labour ward but they were busy and they'd ring when they were ready. In the meantime the contractions were getting more intense. At about 13.30 the midwife gave me gas and air. At 14.00 She examined me and said I was about 7 cm dilated and needed to go to labour ward. NOW! They got a wheelchair for me and took the gas and air off me while I was transferred downstairs. OMG the pain was so bad!!!!!!
James William was born at 14.50 on Saturday. He weighed 7lb 14oz.(Same weight as DD) I couldn't have any other pain relief as I was too far gone so I managed it on Gas and Air. No tears or episotomy. A couple of grazes that she stitched as they were opposite each other and would have stuck together. The whole process was 1hr and 20 mins.
Was moved back to the ward and my own private room (staff perks are great - even a newborn baby gave me more sleep than that other snoring woman.) Came home yesterday evening and spent most of today on the couch. James sleeps very well for a baby. I'm not expecting it to last tho.

Quick question. When breastfeeding and you collect the leaky milk in a breast shell. Can you use that milk to make a top up feed. Have managed to collect 4oz today and seems a shame to waste it.