February 2019 babies - thread 2

[Celebelly]

New thread, ladies!

@Celebelly. The HV did advise slightly larger teats as I’m currently using the smaller size. Baby A has no issues with her weight as isn’t vomiting severely but she is pretty distressed at feeding times. Takes ages to settle afterwards as well. I’m a little concerned as she is starting to refuse the bottle and I really need to persevere with her to ensure she feeds. It’s almost as if she knows that she will be uncomfortable/sore afterwards and it is putting her off!

@Notquiteagandt. It is horrible seeing her in pain. She doesn’t settle very easily and is super clingy. Going to try Carobel with her first feed tomorrow although I’m not convinced it’s going to do much!

@Notquiteagandt. Hope your little one settles shortly. Jabs are the worst!

@bubblybrit thanks calpol seems to be breaking her fever. going to be a long night I think. Watching her like a hawk.

Good luck with the carobel. Let me know how it goes 🤞🏻

Ive started keeping a food diary as im bf. Still not convinced its not an allergy some sort.

@Notquiteagandt. Poor thing...I’m dreading when baby A gets hers as she is already so unsettled with the reflux. I’ll let you know if it works (or doesn’t work!).

The HV said that it was unlikely to be an allergy unless there was a change to wet/dirty nappies, refusal to feed even with gentle coaxing, severe vomiting and/or some type of skin reaction like rash or ezcema. Baby A doesn’t have any of those (she does sometimes refuse the bottle but will take it eventually) so we ruled out an allergy.

bubbly carobel worked well for R for a couple of weeks. You will need the next size teats like celebelly says and I found it made him constipated at first until he got used to it. R has had worsening symptoms since just before Easter so he's now starting ranitadine so fingers crossed it helps- he's had a lot of choking episodes recently and has dropped from 6 to 4oz at a time

Notquite Both my babies have had reflux and I've never had to see a paed for them. We had meds prescribed by the GP and then managed by our excellent HV. I have a friend in the next village who's baby got referred to see the paediatrician and his was fairly mild reflux so it probably depends on the GP as to whether a referral is made. With DC1 l think I was on the verge of PND before we got the reflux treated and under control, after that things improved vastly.

Reflux is awful! I've had 2 reflux babies now, DC1 had severe silent reflux so I've got some experience with carobel, gaviscon and ranitadine, and tried every technique to minimise symptoms over the years!

Oh I hope baby R starts to feel better soon @sunday38. It really stresses me out seeing her in so much pain as the crying and wriggling is relentless. Plus it’s worse by late afternoon/early evening so it disrupts bed time which means DH and I have no time at all to relax (even for an hour before bed!)

I've been on medication for about ten days now, and not convinced it's helping tbh. I'm feeling soooo tired (despite having lots of sleep) and having headaches, feeling sick etc. The mental health nurse says she thinks it's the illness making me feel tired rather than the medication, but I'm not convinced. I can barely function I'm so tired. My mum is doing most nights and also looking after my daughter during the day when I need her to. She's getting exhausted and I feel terrible about it. Wish I could just be better and move back home look after the baby again 😭

Having said that, I've not had any suicidal thoughts recently and I am getting some enjoyment from my daughter. So I'm definitely in a much better place than I was a week ago.

Give it time @detachablehoof. The fact that your getting some enjoyment from your little girl again is a massive step forward. Keep on with the medication and hopefully after another week you'll feel that little bit better again. It sounds like you have some good support around you: let them look after you.

@detachablehoof youve got this 💪sounds like youve taken some really positive steps. You should be proud of how far youve come.

Keep going detachablehoof you're on the right path. Fingers crossed the medication will make a big difference as soon as possible, I think it's common for it to take a while to settle into your system?

@Notquiteagandt. Just to let you know that Carobel has been working really well for Anna so far. We are only 2 days in and I’m using the minimum dose but she is way more settled after a feed and is sleeping much better during the day! I put her in the moses basket whilst awake to nip to the loo. Usually she would get really cranky and scream the house down but today she had settled herself to sleep. Result! Long may it continue...maybe you should try it with your little one if they are still having issues with reflux?

Gah jabs have resulted in reaction. Hideous few days. Nights the same - one / no wake ups but days are a different story! My placid happy baby is cranky, wont nap, won’t self settle. The threenager is horrendous too!!!

Glad to hear you have made some progress @detachablehoof I think you’re being extraordinarily brave x

Oh no Since2016, what jabs were they, 12 week? Does she seem poorly? Hope she's better soon. I remember them not being so bad with DS1! If it's any consolation as much as DS2 is now a dream at night (9 hours the last 2 nights!) and self settles at bedtime, we have no hope in the day.

I'm with you on the threenager though 😑 just listened to DH trying to hustle DS1 out the door for rugby tots (admittedly he left 10 minutes for a three year old to get himself dressed, teeth brushed and out the door - who does that?!).

Yep 12 weeks. DD1 was horrendous after each but as the 8 week ones didn’t have any impact I naively expected the same.... she’s just cranky and wants to feed constantly. She’s still going to bed around 9 and only waking once at 3 and then quick feed and down till 6/7 so I really can’t complain at all it’s just the day naps were going so well!

No one does that. That’s insane. Ahh the inexperience 😂

But it could also be the 3 month growth spurt... she’s 12 weeks old now!

@bubblybrit thanks for heads up think im gonna start pumping. See if my boobs react to a pump now. I will have a stash ready to try with carobel then. The baby needs to learn how to take a bottle sooner or later. So a good push to crack on with it

@Since2016 cruel twist that leaps are usually same week needles due. M also didnt react physically to 8wks was just v.v.v clingey, wingey, cluster feeding for about week after. But 12wk ones shes has several high fevers. Thankfully sorted by calpolso avoided hospital. I purposely delayed a week to. To avoid clashing with leap 3 🙄

@Notquiteagandt. Hopefully the carobel works for your little one. There is literally nothing worse than seeing them in pain post feed! It’s really off putting but clearly you need to feed them. Anna seems to be taking smaller quantities at shorter intervals which also seems to help...a little frustrating for me at times but worth it to see her more settled afterwards.

I have done sooo much washing this week! Explosive up the back poos and sicky refluxness everywhere! I'm very tempted to cocoon him up in one or two of DS1's size 6 nappies.

Glad the carobel is working for you bubbly We've had some improvement too with the ranitadine, definitely less choking episodes so far and more settled.

Detachable sleep as much as you need right now, it's all about getting you better for the long term. I found it easier to interact and bond with both my babies once they got to about 10-12 weeks because you start to get more back from them with smiles and cooing noises rather than a blank and unimpressed look!

I don't follow the wonder weeks leaps thing but I do think that R is having a growth spurt at the moment (he's 11 and a half weeks, is there one about this age?). Had a few nights where he's slept through from 10pm to 5.30am so just l could just do with him stretching it out an extra hour in the morning! I find it worse getting up for the day at 5.30 than doing a feed at 4.30 am and going back to sleep.

People whose babies sleep 5+ hours in a row; any idea what your room temp is? 20 degrees feels really cold to me. Are you co sleeping or is baby in a cribb? When did long sleep start? My LO is 8 weeks and the max I've had is three hours.

Thanks @sunday38. The ranitidine is our next step if the carobel stops being effective. She is still on 1/2 scoop per 3oz but can up this if required. Will see how she gets on over the next few days. She has just sleep 7-10 and then 11-4 so it must be working as she never sleeps that long! Poor thing must have been in pain. Glad the ranitidine is working for your little one.

deliberately no idea what temperature the bedroom is but kitchen is currently 13 degrees at 4am so I would guess bedroom would be a few degrees warmer. He's wearing a sleepsuit and a 1.5 tog growbag and doesn't seem cold.

Don't think it's what you want to hear but R started to go longer at night at about 2/3 weeks old, first to 4 hourly at night and gradually longer as we've upped the ounces of milk. It's still hit and miss what time and how many feeds he has in the night so although he did 10pm-5.30 last night, I'm up feeding at 4am tonight and expect him to be up again at 7am ish for his next feed. He's in a next to me cot but gets settled to sleep in our arms then transferred to the cot.

I don't think I've done anything special to get him to sleep well. In the early weeks we woke him up in the day for 3 hourly feeds and let him sleep as long as he wanted during the night but this was because I was worried about weight gain not because I wanted to make him sleep better. I think getting enough milk during the day helps and I do sometimes wake him for a feed in the afternoon so that we keep to a rough evening routine and final 10pm ish feed. Does that make sense? Likewise if my toddler is still napping at 4pm l will wake him up so that he goes to bed at his normal time.

@DeliberatelyGinger my little one was still waking every 3 hours until 9 weeks and I was getting exasperated. We then had a couple of really bad nights after his jabs and then all of a sudden it was like a switch clicks and he started sleeping 5/6 hours. He's now 13 weeks and sleeping 9-10 hours. So there's still hope! But then every baby is different and it really is pot luck a lot of the time! Temperature wise our house seems stupidly warm and his room never seems to drop below 20 degrees.

Luck of the draw I think ginger. Same house, room, setup. Are you bf or ff? DD slept through (8:30-6) for second time last night.

Room is cool - 17ish overnight. Side crib. Bf.

Longer stints started regularly around 2/3 weeks ago. She was 12 weeks on thurs. but she’s so different to my first in terms of sleep. So much better already. She sleeps in her crib alone for naps too - controversial but impossible otherwise in a small house with a 3 yo.