February 2019 babies - thread 1

[Celebelly]

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

@Susannach I find myself wanting chocolate ALL the time. Actually managed to somehow be back to my pre pregnant weight by week 3 but god knows how as I have a bar a day 🤪

With you all on the junk! I seem to be maintaining the same weight somehow? I guess I'm just eating the same level of crap?

I'm 9lbs off pre pregnancy weight so don't think think that's too bad. Took me a LONG time to get here with my first.

I will defo have to start eating better soon. I imagine I'd lose that 9lbs and more if I stopped eating choc every day! Xx

@Yakadee I've said the same. As of
Monday which is tomorrow 😫 we need to be good. I'm going back to slimming world too once I can drive as although I'm back to my pre weight in need to lose more to b me a healthy mummy!

I feel like I might be the last but Faith was finally born by c-section on Thursday. It was quite the adventure: on Wednesday seats midwife appt she wasn't sure which way the baby was So sent us for a Scan the same day. They confirmed she was Green and I was booked in for an ECV to turn her the next day. We never made it as I had a bleed on Wednesday just before midnight and went to the hospital. They checked me over and we agreed to a c-section in the morning (category 3 so planned but not really. Somewhere between emergency and elective). When they were checking me I was having contractions which I was too were Braxton Hicks. By the time morning came the contractions were pretty frequent and intense and I was bumped to a cat 2. Baby Faith was born on Thursday at 9:21 am and weighed 9lbs 3.
She has hipdysplacia from being in breech position and is wearing harness to correct it. She has a ridge in her skull from being pressed against my rib cage (but they think this will resolve itself) and it'll be some time before we find out if she has hereditary spherocytosis. All in all quite the drama!
Was anyone else who had a c-section discharged with anything stronger than ibuprofen? I was expecting to be but it hasn't happened.

Some corrections: it was meant to say Wednesday's midwife appt and Breech not Green.

maxiflump1 DS1's behaviour has gotten worse over the last few months really, I think a combination of being unsettled due to knowing the baby's coming, and a big change in his usual routine/sleep patterns when he started pre-school and dropped his daily 1.5 nap. Plus he turned 3 end of December, and he's a classic threenager! He loves DS2 but we definitely noticed him attention seeking more the first week he was born, but he seems a bit happier/more settled this week. Still defiant! But hopefully less unsettled.

Yep I'm eating way too many cakes/biscuits/treats! I was the opposite when DS1 was born and lost my appetite (due to shock probably!) so I'm giving myself two weeks (which ends today!) and then I need to be healthier.

Ahh congratulations @DeliberatelyGinger on the arrival of Faith! What a drama indeed! I hope your recovery goes well and you get clarity about her condition soon. Just to say, my oldestDD had a ridge when born too and it did resolve itself, pretty quickly actually. Enjoy your new bundle!

@DeliberatelyGinger - congratulations! What a drama but glad she's here!

I had a section and was given Dihydrocodeine. X

@DeliberatelyGinger congratulations. Lovely name.

I was given oramorph in hospital but was told if I felt need for anything stronger than paracetamol & ibrufen after day 4 they wouldnt discharge me whilst they sorted pain relief & meds out. My section is up and across. So unsure if they treat that differantly. In my local hospital its a 3 or 4day stay minimum for emcs.

As it happens baby ended up being severely jaundice with weight issues so we stsyed in hospital for 2 more weeks! But they where still rather strict with pain meds.

Day 3 & 4 was worse for me pain wise as all the meds from anasetic etc had worn off. So hopefully youll be over the worse pain wise soon

@DeliberatelyGinger. Congratulations on the arrival of Faith x

Congratulations @DeliberatelyGinger !!!!

Congratulations @DeliberatelyGinger!

My first caesarean 2.5 years ago saw me discharged early (day 3) with a standard set of pain killers: paracetamol, ibuprofen and tramadole!

This caesarean saw me discharged on as standard (day 1) with no pain killers. Times have changed! The pain relief I was offered in hospital was the same as first time though. I just took paracetamol and ibuprofen at home.

Who else is giving their baby top ups due to weight issues? How much are they having in a top up and how often? Has anyone managed to get back to bf with no top ups? Ds is four weeks tomorrow and not back up to birthweight yet. I feel like bf is getting worse in terms of latching and am worried that this could be the beginning of the end of bf for us but I don't want it to be.

@lanalawr. Yes I’m struggling with this also. My little one has just reached her birth weight but I’ve had to give her a 30-50ml top up at each feed. I feel as if I bf her for 30-40 mins and it just isn’t satisfying her at all so need to rely on the formula. I’ve tried expressing but not producing a great deal so the formula remains. Also feel that my milk has reduced rather than increased so not sure how much longer I’ll continue to bf x

I'm sorry you're also struggling @bubblybrit. How old is your little one? I feel like my milk is ok but need to improve supply. We're on three top ups of however much he'll take (about 150-160ml of ebm or formula at the moment). It feels like loads and I can't see an end point to this.

@lanalawr Margot lost 13% by day 5 and went down to 5lb9 at lowest from birth weight of 6lb8.

Her weight stayed stagnent for 12 days on top ups. Only once I decided to cut down she started gaining.

We started off 50ml top up each feed. Then cut down to 30ml. (After me saying 50ml wasnt working as she couldnt keep it down) Then down to one or two top ups a day. She finally got discharged hospital at 14 days and back to birth weight at 27 days old.

Now week and a bit later she has been exclusively breast for about 10 days and last weigh was 4oz above birth weight. So following her curve nicely. Albeit 2nd percentile.

I found giving her formula was false economy as it just made her reflux worse, iritated her stomach and made her throw up more. Breast milk topups didnt work as I cant express well.

Things helped for me was offering breast at every wimper. Hand expressing in shower. Being warm and relaxed helped. Hand expressing in general over a plastic pump. (My boobs dont react to a pump at all) trying to be as relaxed as possible. And eating alot of oats. Making sure drinking loads too. Boob massages whilst feeding.

This is my story and what helped me. Every baby is differant. For us though only once I had stopped topping up so much we finally got a gain.

Little Faith keeps having tantrums on my belly. It's completely adorable but after a c-section.....

Thank you @Notquiteagandt it's interesting that the top ups were causing problems for you. I've got milk there and can express (managed 60ml total after 10 mins each side this morning). Ds just won't suck on the boob. I can feel his jaw moving but I don't think he's actively sucking. Really hoping for a weight gain today (27 days old and at the last weigh in he weighed the same as he did at a week old 😔).

@lanalawr Fingers crossed for you. I know how disheartening and hard it is. I remember the peadetrician was due and she filled her nappy epicly. Que dr walking in to me in floods lf tears changing her. As I was convinced that would of lost her a bit of weight. Was literally clutching at every straw.

Probs a silly question but have you had all the tounge tie, cranial stiff jaw/neck checks etc done? Heard good things about peadiatric osteopaths.

With my little girl main issues where reflux and my milk didnt come properly through for about 7 days. And took a while to establish supply. So not quite as an easy fix.

But heres to hoping for you its something super simple and things will just click into place

Fingers crossed for your little one's weigh in lanalawr.

@lanalawr. She will be 4 weeks tomorrow. I caved last night and fed her formula only as she just wasn’t settling. She ended up taking close to 100ml. The health visitor is due tomorrow so plan to speak to her about the feeding issues. I’m sure your little one will start putting weight on shortly x

Another one doing mixed feeding here. We have moved from 50ml top ups after each feed to three bottles a day amounting to about 200ml in total. Was going well and I was increasing the proportion from expressed milk. He was gaining well and I was actually enjoying breastfeeds....BUT...

We seem to have hit a very difficult patch - I’m thinking it’s a growth spurt. He has become randomly extremely fussy on the boob, isn’t settling between feeds and is basically hungry the whole time. I also seem to have a baby who won’t be put down anywhere and will only sleep during the day in the sling. So finding time to express is impossible and I’ve been having to use formula to calm him down and get him focused on breastfeeding. It’s exhausting and demoralising - my breasts have milk but he seems too hungry to take it and so I end up giving him a bottle which I know is a short term fix but won’t solve the problem in the long run.

I’m trying to increase the amount I’m expressing to get through this without it affecting my supply too much. And I’m hoping it will pass when he moves out of this phase. But it’s such a rollercoaster. He is four weeks on Weds. Sounds like you might have hit a growth spurt too @bubblybrit. Sending strength and lots of good luck!

Hope everyone is well!

DP went back to work today! But I managed to get us up and out for a baby sensory class at half 10 somehow, so feeling quite pleased with myself tonight! Baby E was a dream too, apart from a bit of a weep when we were leaving and she had to go back in her car seat. She gets weighed tomorrow so will be interesting to see how much she's put on in two weeks!

@AmberRose17 at 4 weeks there is a growth spurt and baby fussing on the boob can be a way of upping your supply so you make more milk the next day. It is extremely tiring having someone attached to you all the time. A few more weeks and it does get easier!

Yes I think you might be right @AmberRose17. She hasn’t settled at all over the last 24 hours and been crying a lot no matter what you do to try and settle her. Think I’m in for another long night! My DH works long hours and gets up super early to commute a fairly long distance so the nights are left solely to me. Normally I don’t have an issue as Anna is pretty well behaved but the last 24 hours have been especially difficult. Hope you have a good night with your little one x