February 2019 babies - thread 1

[Celebelly]

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

So baby slept 9 until 4 which is amaizing. Ive woken up with blocked ducts though. Got about 10 lumps in 1 boob. And no milk coming out.Tips welcome? I hope this isnt my bf journey end. Im in floods at thought of it. I really hoped id last lomger thAn 8wks as had no issues so far.

I use cotton wool in house aldis own waterwipes out and about.

Baby easily does 8 plus dirty nappies a day still and same wet. Id be going through pack day if i used just wipes.

Id so hoped to cloth bum and use cloth wipes. But with a refluxy baby im doing 2 washing loads a day. And with a babu that goes loo as much as mine. Id be like a laundrette.

2nd time around mums. Does ammount poo die down as they get older? Granted I think my childs extreme example.

@Notquiteagandt that does sound like a lot of poo! We are the opposite here and only go every 2/3 days but it's pretty epic when it happens! Is your little one on any medication for their reflux? Only DS1 was on gaviscon and that made him constipated.

Re your lumpy boobs just try and feed as much as you can and massage the lumps as you she feeds. If you have a pump try and relieve the discomfort that way. I can't see why it would mean that you have to stop bf it just shows that your producing a decent amount of milk.

Clogs are pretty common, so no need for it to be the end of breastfeeding! I've been getting them since the beginning.

Massage boobs while feeding and hand express after, trying to push from the blockage inwards toward nipple. Hot compress if it's not budging or sit in a hot bath and immerse boobs for a while and then hand express while massaging. If you have something that vibrates then you can use that on the breast to help break up the clogs. It can sometimes take a while to clear them so don't panic. Check your nipple for any little white spots and remove if there are any - sometimes the actual nipple pore can get clogged and cause problems elsewhere.

Just keep massaging and feeding/expressing till they're gone.

Also my little girl sleeps for 6-8 hours overnight now some nights so I have to wake up to pump midway through or I get engorged and clogged.

@sunday38 - they're just not what I'm used to. I feel like I need to dry their bums Haha.

@Notquiteagandt - we have about 1 / 2 dirty nappies here. She's ff though so not sure if that would make a difference?.

Emma did really well again last night, seem to be getting into a bit of a routine. 7:10pm, 2:15am and 6:20am. Shame my son was randomly awake and talking to himself from 2-4am?? 🤷‍♀️

Wipes wise we're using the Lidl own brand "water wipes". I actually use too many wipes for things like hands/faces with DS1, I might buy some cheeky wipes for that reason today as they are so bad for the environment. I never flush them down the loo though!

Echo all the advice from celebelly I'm blocked ducts. I had them quite bad with DS1 as looking back he wasn't an effective feeder and wasn't draining my boobs at all. DS2 is much better but I do wake up with them as his only overnight feed is a bottle of formula, this has been the case for almost 3 weeks and my supply has definitely adjusted a bit but I still wake up with the lumps. As soon as I feed they go though. If you have any stubborn ones try a pump.

I need some advice from FF mums please (I've forgotten from when DS1 was a baby!). DS2 has been having 2 bottles of formula a day for the past almost 2 weeks now, one at bedtime (9:30pm ish) and one for his night feed (any time between about 2:15pm and 3:45am as he sleeps anywhere from 4-5.5 hours for that stint at the moment). He's BF on demand the rest of the time.

The bedtime bottle is currently 5oz as he will have 4+. However he was draining 5oz at his night feed bottle the last few days so we've increased it to 6oz, and last night he finished the 6oz!!! I know you're supposed to increase so they're not draining it but 7oz for a not quite 5 week old seems so much.

Yesterday I introduced a third bottle as I'm slowly winding down BF while carrying on giving it to him for as long as possible. So I made 5oz which he had around midday, he took 4oz, didn't want the rest, and was rooting an hour later so he had the remaining 1oz and a big breast feed.

Sorry I'm massively rambling. My question is how many ounces and how many feeds are your babies having? I did an online calculator about how much DS2 should be having for his weight and age and it said 19-24 ounces, but when I switched DS1 to formula at 4 weeks, he was having a bottle every three hours in the day time, and probably one over night, which meant about 30+ ounces in total!

DS2 is a hungry baby and feeds A LOT through the day and all evening every evening, and still then demolishes almost 5oz formula! He's only spit up once I think. His weight gain has picked up and he gained 7oz in a week at last weigh in, taking him to 8lb 10 (only 7oz above birth weight) but I still get paranoid about overfeeding.

@Lookingforadvice123 I think just feed him when he's hungry and try not to worry too much about numbers. My DS is big on the 99.6th centile and he has been known to have up to 45 oz on a greedy day. He averages around 40 on a normal day. We do 6oz at a time: sometimes he will take it all, sometimes only half of it. My friend is a children's nutritionist and said to feed on demand as long as he's not bringing it back up. I was trying to space out his feeds and offer water or a dummy but it wasn't pretty as he would sink realise there was no milk and would go batshit!!

I'm jealous of all your sleeping babies. Mines 8 weeks today and still waking every 2-3 hours at night. Although when he woke at 12.30 this morning I put the white noise app on my phone and he went back to sleep for another hour!

@Lookingforadvice123 - all babies are different so I wouldn't worry. My son was massive! So much so they hv was on about cutting down on his milk (Even though I think that's ridiculous, babies aren't greedy and he was only having milk??) but he's totally slimmed down now and eats well..

Emma is having 6oz bottles (she's 8 weeks old) and sometimes she does finish it, other times she leaves a small amount. She has around 6/7 bottles a day. She was 7lb13 when she was born and I bet she's over a stone now. X

Wow maxiflump he's a big boy! He was big at birth though wasn't he? Both my DS' have been slow to gain weight initially, after the first loss (DS2 only lost 7% where DS1 lost 12%!). That's helpful thank you, I was worried it would be too much.

I agree re feeding on demand, I did manage to get DS1 onto a 3 hourly in the day time schedule and that worked for us as when he was going less time eg every 2 hours, he would only take an ounce at a time and want another ounce an hour later, I guess like a BF baby would be! I stretched him out slowly just by distracting eg going for a quick walk and it paid off as he would then take a bit more at the next feed. It's worked with BFing DS2 too, as if we're out on a walk he'll go longer between feeds then takes much more at the next feed and seems to go for it more, rather than just lazy suckling and chilling at the boob.

Like your DS did though they let you know if they're really hungry! 3 hourly bottles worked well for DS1 as he was always peckish by then but not screaming for it.

Thanks yakadee wow that online calculator must've been way off then! I was thinking more 30+ ounces (although like you say they don't always finish).

@Lookingforadvice123 yep he was 10lb 6oz at birth and weighed last week and is 15lb 4oz!! This was him yesterday about to bust out of his 3-6 month outfit 🙈

@maxiflump1 oh he still has all that fab hair 😍💙 he was born 1st feb too right?

Tried pumping blockage nothing came out not even milk. 😭 feels like its blocked solid. Got baby feeding on it so think shes getting some milk out.

Got our 8wk postpartum check today so ill ask dr. Heres to hoping i get the ok to drive again. New insurance claim. So hsd to be stricter.

Excited to see how much DD weighs. Shes grown so much. Still dinky though so be surprised if shes 8lb yet. We shall see.

Dredded needles today too. Im so nervous. Poor thing 😢

@maxiflump1 he's gorgeous !!

maxiflump1 oh gosh he's gorgeous! I love a chunky baby, my DS1 didn't get chunky at all until about 5-8 months but then he kept growing longer and slimming out (he's going to be well over 6"). Can't wait for DS2 to get a bit chubbier!

@maxiflump1 - he's adorable!! 😍

My son was like yours and he was beauty too! X

@maxiflump1 what a doll!!

@yakadee are you using Morrisons own nappies? I like their wipes - they are a bit smaller and possibly a bit dryer than the Huggies ones I'd been using, but they seem to work well. Don't need to use any more of them per nappy change than I did of the Huggies ones.

We also have an unsettled baby in the evenings. Takes us a couple of hours to get her settled and in her crib. She's generally pretty good once she's in though - we haven't had to resettle her the last couple of nights. She is doing three stretches of 3-4 hours per night and usually up for less than an hour in between. My husband does the first feed (usually at about 1or 2) and I do the second at 5/6. I'd love to get her doing longer stretches so that we only need to get up to her once in the night. But I'm pleased she's sleeping as well as she is.

I had thought I'd put her in her own room at 6 wks (think we'd both sleep better) but I'm not ready to do it yet! Have to put her dummy in a few times per night and it's a lot easier to do it without getting out of bed!

@detachablehoof - no, we're trying tesco (for some reason??) and so far so good. I will give the morrisons ones a go when I do my next shop.

I'll be keeping Emma in our room for quite a bit, plus we're (hopefully) moving house next month. X

notquite that does seem like a lot of poo! But probably related to the reflux. I bought a load of cloth nappies for DC1 and never used them as it was just too difficult coping with reflux etc and recovering after his birth. They are still in the loft and I feel a bit guilty about how much they cost

Lookingforadvice R is 6 weeks and having x7 5oz feeds a day. I'm going need to go up to 6oz soon but 7oz sounds a lot for 5 week old. I think you are right to give smaller more frequent formula feeds.

Lovely boy Maxiflump! Love his dungarees too. I'm a big fan of white noise, l have also been known to run my hairdryer in the early hours of the morning to settle a cranky baby!

@sunday38 I have a cloth nappy stash in the loft too. I tried with my first but they leaked and our washing machine was rubbish. I think I'll get them out when we're out of the newborn pooping all the time phase. Last time when it didn't work I felt like a bit of a failure. This time I feel more chilled about it. I'll use a mix of cloth and disposable if we're staying away or as emergency back up. If I manage to use a few cloth a day it's a few less in landfill!

sunday38 ye approx 7 x 5oz bottles would be what I would expect if we were fully FF, but we are combi feeding at the min so DS2 is only having 2 bottles a day (well 3 as of yesterday) and he hadn't actually quite finished that 6oz bottle so I'm not increasing it! But if he was fully on formula I really don't think he would be having 7oz at all, he just takes more at that feed because it's after his biggest sleep of 4-5.5 hours, if that makes sense. He has 5oz before bed and doesn't quite finish it.

35oz is still loads more than the calculators suggest though!

@Lookingforadvice123 I can't remember how much dd used to have. I know it rarely worked out the same as the guidance on the tins. Slightly different because we're topping up but ds will down a 7oz bottle of ebm or formula. He's having that after he's fed off me too. The bf clinic said to give him as much as he'd take without being sick while topping up. They know how big the bottles are and don't seem to be concerned.

Wow lanalawr, after a feed too! I agree if they're not sick really there shouldn't be a concern but I can't help being a bit worried about over feeding the formula - I remember being the same with DS1, being shocked at how much he drank some days! But then some days they will have less so I guess it all evens out, his weight always followed the centiles perfectly.

Are you hoping to stop the top ups or are you seeing combi feeding as the way forward? I'm glad we've got this far and although I think I will stop BF in a few weeks, as it's not for us long term, I'm so glad DS2 will have had BM for at least 6 weeks (if not longer! See how we go).