February 2019 babies - thread 1

[Celebelly]

Let's go ladies! Share your tales of cluster feeding, cracked nipples, poo explosions and sleep deprivation!

Susannach DS2 is the same! Granted he's only 2 days old. He'll go down for a bit in the Moses basket in the day but he'll only go in the snuz pod for 30 mins or so at night, maybe he's done an hour once, but he's unsettled and fidgety the whole time.

DS1 was identical in these early days, I remember we just persevered and used the hot water bottle/swaddling/white noise tricks so will just do the same with DS2. It's a struggle though!

I'd be interested in whether the babies who'll go down easier are FF, BF, combo fed etc? I don't necessarily believe that FF babies are better sleepers as I know plenty who aren't, but I think at these early ages, how they are fed is often the difference in whether you get any settled time in their beds at all at night. I know when we introduced/switched to FF for DS at 4 weeks, we would suddenly get 2/3/4 hour blocks of sleep! Glorious.

@Lookingforadvice123 - not sure if coincidence (or whether we're just really lucky) but both my son and this baby have been good sleepers (so far) and very settled in moses basket etc. I've ff both.

Emma has just gone from about 10.15pm to now (around 3.15am) - can't ask for better than that. She's just finished a 5oz bottle and now I'm burping her and she's fast asleep.

I feel for you ladies struggling with sleep xx

My Emma is pretty good overnight too (so far!). She's been asleep from 9pm till 1 in her crib when I woke her for a feed and then she woke up again now and is just finishing a feed and will go back to sleep probably until 7 or 8, maybe slightly longer. She's on breast milk overnight but from a bottle. We have topped up with formula a couple of times overnight before but haven't noticed any difference with sleep. She settles in her Moses basket fine during the day too. I think it's a bit of the luck of the draw tbh, although she had a few nights in hospital under blue lights in a crib, which might have got her used to sleeping alone.

Have tried hot water bottle tonight without success She startles really easily. A couple of friends have offered to lend swaddle blankets so will try those tonight.

DH and I have (accidentally) got a bit of sleep each tonight when we both fell asleep sitting in bed with her. Feel so guilty but she’s fine and feeding now. This is why we need to sort this!

EBF here and he does 3-4 hour stretches in his snuzpod at night. Sleepy head in the day or pretty much anywhere. I joke he is his father child!

Touches wood!!!

The grosnug bags are really good. Emma sleeps in one of those every night. Can keep their arms in so they don't startle awake!

Had another night of longer 3 hour stretches. Hoorah! But we’re officially co-sleeping. Feeling like a human tho so... I would have had more sleep if it wasn’t for the wriggly 3 year old interloper too 😡

I agree I’m not sure how they’re fed as much bearing on sleep, we’ve stopped doing a bottle of expressed st night owing to wind issues but will reintroduce it now she’s officially a boob monster!

Yes, we use a Grosnug bag and it certainly seems to help. Had a 3 hour stretch between feeds last night. I almost feel human!

Thanks all! Interesting. DS1 certainly slept better when we switched to FF and was an excellent sleeper from 8 ish weeks, but it may have been a coincidence that he also just started sleeping longer in the Moses basket on his own with age. I remember on his sixth night he slept so well, a 4 hour block followed by 2 x 3 hour blocks, with straight forward feeds in between and he was happy to go back in the Moses basket. All I aim for really is a 2-3 hour block of sleep to be honest but I need to be able to put him down as I don't co sleep. DH has just been taking him at the minute for cuddly sleeps.

I don't really believe that ff babies sleep better either. Dd was ff and very difficult to put down ds is bf and also difficult to put down. I wonder whether feeding on demand or to a timetable makes any difference. Possibly not.

I didn't want to cosleep with dd but I have with ds just so everybody can get some rest. We try to put him in the crib after the late feed and often cosleep from about 4am.

Is anyone else’s breastfed baby clusterfeeding relentlessly evening.
I fed last night from 7pm until 2am!
He then slept until 6 but I feel exhausted I think it’s the relentless feeding on an evening.
He took last night 4oz expresses breastmilk plus 7/8 breastfeeds between 7 and 2! It is just none stop.

Not on topic but we've just put our house up for sale! We must be crazy!!!

Baby did fantastic last night, fed at 10pm, then 3:30am and then 6:45am! Shame my son was coughing his guts up all night otherwise we'd have all slept great!

Hope you all manage to get some more rest soon x

Re sleep this baby is mainly formula fed and only goes 2 hours at night. DS4 was sell breastfed at this age and used to go 3-4 hours at night so think it all depends on the baby.

@Yakadee our house is on the market too. We're hoping to buy a house in same village my parents live in. Bad timing but houses in our budget rarely come up!

@maxiflump1 - that's pretty much what happened. Weren't really looking but happened to come across a house on the street we love in our village. We've already put an offer in but they won't accept until we put ours on so it went up last night. Scary! X

@Yakadee it certainly is stressful! Ours went on the market 10 gays before DS was born. It's tricky trying to keep the house tidy with a newborn, a preschooler and a moulting dog but luckily my mum has been helping us keep on top of it. Just pray the don't open the understates cupboard during viewings!

10 days not gays!!!

I know, that's the trouble. Our drawers and cupboards are the same too! Luckily my son was at nursery on Monday so I could clean the house ready for the photos. Baby just came everywhere with me haha.

We have two viewings on Fri so will try my best to keep it as tidy as possible so it won't be an all day job.

Dreading actually moving! X

We’re planning to put ours on March / April. Joy. We’re in London too and the market has flatlined but needs must - 2 bed cottage and 4 bodies + dog!

@Since2016 - we're were always going to move but probably in a year or two. Like you, it's the space. X

For those that are mixed feeding.....how long are your babies on the breast each feed? How much formula do they then take afterwards?

My little one seems to spend 20-25 mins per breast and can then take anywhere between 1oz and 3oz. Is this normal? She is only 2 weeks old and it seems as if her appetite has increased quite significantly over the last few days.

@bubblybrit we give approx 1.5-2 oz after a feed but not every feed. We also break the bottle away from him and wind partway through so that he can decide if he's actually hungry or not.

Thank you @twiglet. There were concerns regarding her initial weight loss so I’m overly paranoid about her feeding. Don’t want her to lose weight but also don’t want to overfeed! She seems happy enough with what she is getting though and all the signs seem to indicate that she is hungry for a bottle afterwards.

@bubblybrit we were told to tap Harris on the top lip with the teet if he opened his mouth then he wanted more milk if not then leave him.

Thanks @twiglet. I’ll try that at our next bottle feed. She puts her hands in or near her mouth loads but I’m not convinced that always means she is hungry!

Just wondering if anyone is having the same. So my husband is apparently still very attracted to me and seems to want to do 'stuff' A LOT! Honestly, I'm shattered anyway so have turned him down a lot too. We're not talking dtd as I'm only 4 weeks pp but still, I feel equally mean and tired / can't be bothered.

Is it just me? X