February 2019 babies - thread 1

[Celebelly]

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

So glad its not just me with a sleep refusing child and in need of a rant.

Reflux is the devils work. Not uncommon to go through 5 bed sheets and full outfit changes plus in a night.

She will nap in the day. But come night doesnt want to be put down. Wants to be on me. Partly think the sitting up position helps.

Seems to be a cycle of sleep, vomit, scream, want milk to soothe the burn, fill nappy, outfit and bed change, vomit repeat constantly until usually 4 or 5am.

Toyed with her finally growing and gaining weight so cluster feeding like crazy certain times of the day.

Its horrible. Rather jeleous of you ladies who are getting hours unbroken sleep.

I have been surviving on about 2hrs max broken sleep through out the night in 10/15 min intivals.

Even if baby drops off for a bit. I cant switch off as I am listening for her being sick / raspy /borking. As it terrorfies me shes going to choke. As well as not being able to sleep sat up with a baby on me.

Have given in to a dummy. Even though shes ebf now. Nuk latex have worked well for us (cant remember who asked about dummys) and apart from giving my nipples a break seem to help the wind. Baby M is still tiny so the teat on these is more manageable to as 0-6 ones where huge for her.

Being a single mum means I still have everything to do in the day. So sleeping when she does isnt always an option. But need to do something as running on adreneline atm and thats only going to last so long.

I wish I could take away this reflux..its horrible and its breaking my heart seeing her in pain.

@Squashbanana1 12 mins is really good. The feeding team in hospital said to me to aim for at least 10 mins a time. Anything else is a bonus. 4weeks in now and baby will feed anything from 5mins to 25mins a side.

@Notquiteagandt I'm querying whether my little one has reflux. It seems that way at the moment. She is quite often sick after feeds and I'm stuck in the same cycle as you.
Sleep just isn't happening unless she is upright on me. That's great for her but not for me as it means I can't get any sleep.

Have you been to the doctors? I think we will go next week and hopefully see if they can provide us with something to ease the night time discomfort....

I'm only managing emotionally because my partner takes over between 7-11pm so I can have a bit of rest before 'night duty.' I can't imagine how hard it must be for you as a single mum. Hope you have some support. I'll be about on here in the evenings (for what seems like the foreseeable future) so if you ever want to share a sleepless night time rant, feel free.

@LittleD0t thanks so much ☺ shes om baby gavisxon whucg thickens it up it seems. Whuch isnt much fun coming out nose thicker and rentedine. Both take edge of but not cured it just yet. But only bèen on rantedine few dayd so maybe too early for results just yet. Heres to hoping 🤞🏻

Those worried about reflux... have you tried titling their crib/Moses basket? I put a few books under the legs of the basket so one side is more upright. It seems to help.

Also, bicycle legs is good for squirmy babies or trapped wind

We are in hospital with DS2 what started as a slightly smelly cord stump quickly escalated - midwife at his heel prick appointment said it looked infected and to see out of hours, he quickly went downhill to the point he wasn't waking or barely feeding. We've been admitted for 48 hours for antibiotics on an IV and had all the tests including a lumbar puncture for meningitis (thankfully that one has already come back clear).

Check those cords ladies, and act quickly.

Forever grateful for our NHS but I am so angry at the tw*ts in our of hours who kept us waiting for over an hour; a 5 day old baby. I had to go to the reception desk in tears because he'd gone downhill since being there and we couldn't wake him - only then were we seen as a priority.

Gosh @Lookingforadvice123 that all sounds scary. Glad you are getting some treatment now and that it's not meningitis. Hope you're little one is in the mend soon.

Scary @Lookingforadvice123! Hope he improves soon.

@Notquiteagandt I've got my fingers crossed that it helps and that you get some well deserved rest at some point.

@AvoidingMarking I'll try this. I think our Snuzpod comes with a wedge to tilt it slightly so I'll give that a whirl.

@Lookingforadvice123 oh gosh. That all sounds so scary. I'm glad you're getting help now and that you're in the best place. I presume you get to stay with your DS. Take care x

We are also in the broken sleep club!
DS seems to like to cluster through the night we also have to keep him upright after feeds for 15-20 mins so feeds take a considerable amount of time by which point he wants to start again

@Lookingforadvice123 - oh no, your poor lo. Well done you for pushing and getting sorted. I hope he's feeling better soon and you're all home x

Emma was asleep for five hours tonight from midnight to 5am. I'm not sure if I should be waking her to feed before then or just making the most of it while it lasts! She had a big feed before going to sleep and then another now and she's drifting off back to sleep again. It's so hard to know what to do! Her weight gain was good at last check, well above birth weight, so I've been a bit more relaxed and let her kind of dictate the pace for feeds, but five hours seems a long time But then she seems happy enough so god knows.

Also I know they're controversial, but I've tried Emma on a dummy for a few minutes after feeds and it really seems to help with reflux and settling her. She literally has it for about five minutes but means she can be put back in cot and I don't have to sit upright with her. It's made her a lot calmer - no more thrashing about or grumbling after feeds, and she seems a lot more comfortable. She was getting quite upset after feeds previously.

@Celebelly - my Emma has been doing the same. She's gaining weight fine etc so I'm just making the most of it!

We use a dummy too. Not loads but it does seem to help at times. She spits it out when asleep anyway so I'm fine with that x

@Lookingforadvice123 So sorry to hear about your son! Well done you for spotting the signs and getting him treated quickly. Keep us posted, and sending love

@lookingforadvice123 poor you! We also had a hospital admission last week due to an infection of the fingernail (overzealous clipping by me and husband #parentfail). We had 24h of iv antiBs and then got sent him with an oral course and fusidic acid for the fingers. It was a pain and difficult on me as I’m still recovering from my tears. But baby was totally fine and loved having me captive for almost constant boob! Make sure you keep yourself well stocked up with food and drink. I found wearing him in a sling a really good way to calm him between feeds (and seek out the hospital cafe cake selection, haha). Good luck xx

I'm so sorry @Lookingforadvice123. I really hope he's back to normal soon and you don't have to stay long. If you need anything dropping in to you then let me know.

Never been afraid or ashamed to use a dummy.

For some babies with reflux they really do help settle them.

With my first people really tried to scare me out of using them and that she'd be impossible to get off it and it just wasn't true. Took it away at 9 months and she grizzled for a couple of days.

If anyone wants to, then try them. It's no it the end of the world and if it works then hey! You found a solution that helps you and that's what matters.

Last night started well and went very down hill. 3am feed she was sooooo unsettled, was up for 5.30am just super squiggly and writhing around. I think she may have been too warm but god knows what else was going on. We gave her more food but it was so hard to tell if she was really hungry. When she did go down she was making all her insane gremlin noises so couldn’t get back to sleep. 7am feed was so much better I wonder what on earth was going on :( she’s been quieter for a few nights. Eventually we all conked out (including the cat!) at 7.30 for about 3.5 hours. Can’t believe it’s now 12.30, feel like we’ve lost the whole weekend!

@Thesnobbymiddleclassone I remember them being seen as the absolute devil when I was small, it was something you really judged parents about. I think it was more when teeth were coming through. We are acquiescing and are going to try it, I think lots of her sucking is for comfort and not hunger so feeding her more is just creating more gas and discomfort and stopping her and us going back to sleep and making the situation worse, but it’s hard to tell.

I finally have my baby!!

Got away without the drip.. the pessary did it’s thing 🙌🏼🙌🏼

So, my boy was born 10.35am today, weighing 10lb 7oz 😍

@lookingforadvice123 im sorry to hear that we had the same bloods LP the lot turnt out to be meningitis we are home now. Delilah is 10 weeks old now and id say this week is the first proper week we have been home no midwife no hosp stays no health visitors. We have had 30 plus blood tests bless her and shes still so tiny at just 7.14lb hopefully iits all positive from here on

Yay congratulations @NotAsGreenAsCabbageLooking glad to hear that your little boy is finally here!

And you beat me by a pound @NotAsGreenAsCabbageLooking (my DS was 10lb 6oz!)

Hi all,

I just wanted to ask whether your babies poke their tongues out quite a lot? Our dd is 4 weeks and sort of pokes her tongue out slightly on and off. It's hard to explain. She does not latch well at all despite lots of support and does not open her mouth very wide. I keep reading things I shouldn't and making myself stressed that she has some terrible disease (muscle wasting etc). I cannot remember whether all babies poke their tongues out a lot at this age? I keep thinking that coupled with the dreadful clicky latch there must be something wrong...