The "July" babies are here!

[Kentishgal]

Here goes...

Hi @Kentishgal & @thedust

How much sleep are you other Mums getting?

If I'm lucky I'm getting about two lots of 2 hours.

Still worth it

Hope it's okay to join you as I wasn't on the other thread, I welcomed my little lady into the world unexpectedly quickly on 14.07.19, she was 7lbs 13oz!
Would be great to have some other mums to talk to

Hi everyone, sorry it's been a while since I checked in - as is the same as all of you, mega busy with baby. It's mad how quickly the day goes with them!
Hi to all the new joiners!
@Fuppy we're really lucky and the last 5 nights have had around 6 hours sleep a night (2 stretches of 3 hours) but my baby is now 3 weeks old. The first 2 weeks he was cluster feeding most nights so we were lucky to get a few hours max. I'm hoping this is the routine we've settled into now.

Is everyone healing ok? Think my stitches have healed pretty well now, but definitely not going to allow DH down there until at least 6weeks pp! To be fair my libido has completely gone atm but I think that's the result of a newborn!

@Capybaras Hi! I'm healing slowly as I ended up with an infection in my cs wound, the stitches (non dissolvable) became deeply embedded and surrounded with infection, they've torn large holes in my skin apparently but I haven't been brave enough to look yet!

That said, my recovery from this cs has been miraculous compared to the first. I can move around easily and relatively pain free now

Hi guys! Sorry I've not checked in on this thread before now. It has been a crazy 10 days for us!
I've had a quick skim read of what has been said so far and it is reassuring to read about your experiences with breastfeeding as it has been a bit of a nightmare for me.
Eleanor developed jaundice on day 3 so we had to be admitted to hospital. They tested her blood when we were there and said she was dehydrated so hadn't been feeding properly. A really horrible doctor made me feel like utter shite to the point where I sat in hysterical tears for several hours while my husband tried to calm me down/ranted about how he was going to punch the doctor in the face! Looking back, it was probably a very comical scene however between hormones, lack of sleep and mum guilt, it was the perfect storm.
She had to have light therapy for the jaundice which cleared up pretty quick and then I received breastfeeding support throughout my stay in hospital. We got there on Sunday night and were discharged late on Monday night. The midwives and breastfeeding specialists were amazing but I am still finding feeding very hard. She has had to have a couple of bottles of formula and I am having to express breast milk to make sure she is getting what she needs. She is cluster feeding at the minute and I can't seem to fill her at all. She spends 20 mins on each boob at every feed then will happily accept a bottle top up of either breast or formula after that. Last night she guzzled through 220ml of expressed milk in one sitting.
She gets weighed today for her 10 day check so hoping to be back up to birth weight!

Sorry for the essay there!

Hi all - Astrid is now over 3 weeks old and seemingly doing fine - it's me who's falling apart! Got diagnosed with mastitis on Friday and then had a reaction to the antibiotics prescribed. Not fun at all.

Hope everyone else is doing okay.

Lovely to see so many people posting. Welcome to the newbies that have just joined us!

BF is going perfect on my right breast but is still hit and miss on my list, this is a result of having cannula in my left hand in hospital which made me struggle to feed from my left. I’m persevering though and I’m sure we’ll get there.

@Fuppy I get about 2 hours sleep per night so not much at all! Sometimes it’s 2 x 1 hour and other times it’s a straight 2 hours. DS is 15 days old so I’m hoping I’ll soon start to get more!! He has a 3/4 hour nap on an afternoon, would love him to do that at night!!!!

Hi all, apologies for lack of update from us.

Matilda and I are doing well and my husband is looking after us- although he goes back to work next Monday!

We thought we were doing really well with breastfeeding. Baby has been very happy and all going text book apart from night times where cluster feeding is intense and constant until around 3am - most nights she has co slept with me!

But they told us she lost a pound, then two Days later gained 20grams then today she is back at the lost pound weight- so we have to add in 30 mls of formulae feed after each breastfeed to try and help her gain weight!

I hope you guys are well? Xx

Like @BeckyButterfly and @cravingmilkshake we've also been having dehydration / weight gain issues. We were readmitted last week on day 5 with 13% weight loss and dehydration which I found incredibly upsetting. We were back at home the next day on a routine of 3 hourly breastfeeds / expressing and topping up / formula top ups. DS was eventually diagnosed with a tongue tie, but the wait list is unfortunately apparently quite long to get it snipped.

We're on day 11 now and have managed to drop the formula top ups but I'm still expressing 8 times a day. I know I should be pleased but I just feel on edge and worried .

Hi only just found this thread!

I had my little boy Max on the 14th July very very quickly. I really wanted an epidural but by the time I got into the delivery room he was here within 40 minutes! And I’m quite glad I did it with only gas and air, much better experience than with my first.

I had suffered with hyperemesis throughout my pregnancy which was utterly s**t. I think that’s why I felt amazing afterwards and felt like I was normal. I have to keep reminding myself I have just had a baby lol

I’m not breastfeeding as my breasts went to the size of watermelons and I’m not exaggerating. They were scary and to be honest I don’t know how I could hold a baby up to my nipple with my arms stretched right out?!! Also he was a big boy (8lb 15) and very hungry. He’s already on 6oz feeds 7 times a day and only 25 days old! Any one else’s little one on that much? He’s almost draining the bottle so I think I will have to up it to 7oz soon 😳

We’re doing really well except now DH has gone back to work. First day was surprisingly easy but since then I felt as if I’m losing my mind! Max doesn’t seem to want to be put down and my 3 YO DS wants my attention all, Day, Long. I’m exhausted and just find myself shouting at him for no reason and I feel so guilty. I did however manage to take a walk to Asda with them both on my own today, and it made me feel so much better.

@Giraffe888 ouch! That's not very much at all!

I too have been mixed feeding, but this has been since day 2 (on day 21 today) I was advised to do formula top ups to start with to flush out jaundice, and then to carry on because of weight. We've been discharged from midwife care but still not back up to birthweight.

Just in case anyone is stressing about weight gain, some good midwives have said to me that "your baby will only drink what they want and when they want. If they're producing plenty of dirty and wet nappies they're getting enough, there's nothing more you can do. Some babies take longer to put on the weight"

You're doing great

Anyone else using anti reflux milk?

We used it with my first and all the same symptoms are rearing their heads so think we are gonna change milk. I’ve gone through 2 baby grows and 2 mussies since 7.30

Hi all,

Was part of the July 2019 thread with @BeckyButterfly. M is 3 and a half weeks old, after a fairly traumatic birth. He's had a week of cluster feeding, but actually slept some last night and had his first bath today!

Checking in, I was on the antenatal thread for a bit and haven’t posted in a while.
My boy arrived on 14.07.19 (my birthday!), two weeks early so was totally unexpected.

Exclusively breastfeeding here so far, cluster feeding is a struggle but that’s mainly mornings and evenings. He’s getting better with sleep now and tends to be up twice at night, but it takes him ages to settle down again each time, any tips on how to get them back to sleep quickly?

Congratulations everyone, love hearing about all the July babies even though I’ve mainly been lurking

Hi @Bellaphant! Sorry to hear you had a traumatic birth. I'm pleased your little one is here safe and sound though.

We went from the birthing center, to the delivery ward, to theatre! He was emergency C-section, but we were able to come home day three. He's massive - came out 9lb9oz and was 10lb5 Oz at his 14 day check.

Has anyone used the birth reflections service? I called for an appointment earlier.

@Bellaphant I used the birth reflections service with DC1. I wasn't ready to go in until he was about 8 months but I found it helpful. They talked me through what had happened based on my notes, which helped us understand why some things happened and also confirmed that there were a few places where they got it wrong.

DS is struggling with constipation, he's not had a proper poo since Thursday. Not really sure what to do, it's quite upsetting watching him straining and trying to go.

Hi @reeny19 congratulations! My baby was born on the 14th too and sounds very similar. DD cluster feeds all evening from about 6-10. A typical night for us is sleep 11.30-2.30 then awake till about 4.15 then back up about 5.30 or 6. Sometimes she will go back down about 7 for an hour but not always. I really want to reduce the awake gap between 2.30 and 4.15. I find when I change her nappy it wakes her right up and it takes hours to re settle her. I've read to only change baby if they've done a poo to avoid this but she always has so I can't not change her. The one time she had not I managed to get her back down in 40 minutes. I've ended up just having to switch boobs until she's so full she has to go to sleep, otherwise she lies there wide awake sucking on her fists as if she's never seen milk before! Haha!!So no tips on how to reduce this awake time but know you're not alone!

Hi all, day 16 here!!

Breastfeeding/cluster feeding is constant and I can't find time to express because of this- anyone else having that issue?

Anyway- we received this from our 85 year old neighbour today - made me feel heaps better!

@cravingmilkshake the past couple of days, I've only been able to express when she was having a bottle. She is feeding often and completely draining me so where I used to express for 5-10 mins from each boob after she'd finished feeding, there's no nothing left to express!
I'm going to try to express in between feeds tonight because she goes 3 hours between feeds pretty consistently during the night so hoping that'll up my supply a little. It just means I won't get much sleep 😩

Hello! 7 weeks old here and have been getting all the smiles. ❤️

Gave up BF at 6 weeks - had tongue tie complications and she'd gone off the boob, then exclusively pumping instead became difficult once her daytime naps got shorter. Felt like I was on the verge of mastitis every time she skipped a nap and I wasn't able to express. So far, she seems ok on formula. Poos a bit stickier maybe.

LO seems to have really clocked the world and is fighting sleep, for example to stare at shadows on the wall or light fittings. 😂 White noise seems to work though. She's just this weekend swapped sleeping patterns from 2-3 hour stragches with about 45 mins for nappy/feed/winding in between to sleeping really well 11-3 and then not at all 3-5ish... 😱

Hope everyone has been managing to get out and about a bit to enjoy the weather.

Lovely to read your update stargazydrifter - sounds like you did a fab job and got all the antibodies into her that you could so now is the time to enjoy her and not be stressed about it. I'm expressing 2-3 oz a day so god knows how long I'll last for such a minuscule amount!! Recovery was going so well but then my incision never quite healed up properly and it has now got infected quite badly so on strong antibiotics- fingers crossed. Still not signed off to drive so going a bit stir crazy at home (live in the middle of nowhere). I'm getting a bit despondent about my lack of weight loss - I lost it so easily after my first - I'm struggling this time and that's despite giving up dairy and calorie counting! I know it's just a silly little thing but I want to feel like me again! I'm usually about 7 and a half stone and I currently weight 9 stone so it's a fair amount to lose. Other than those silly whinges it's all going fine and she is a much easier baby than my first- doesn't cry nearly half as much - ah so much easier!! Hope everyone is getting on well and enjoying their lovely little ones.

I totally get giving up on the BF @StargazyDrifter. I find it really tough and I'm only at 3 and a half weeks! I do express as well which I think makes it harder because I feel like I'm constantly either feeding or pumping. Plus, I have oversupply because of the expressing so I'm constantly covered in breast milk and I drown little one every time I feed her 😩 I'm having to express a bit off before I feed her if she is patient enough to wait for it.
Nice to hear from you both though (and @Kentishgal) I'm pleased you are both doing alright despite some bumps in the road. I hope you can drive soon Kentish, it must be tough having to be in the house all the time.

My little lady is gaining weight like it's going out of fashion 😂 she is up to 10lb 9oz from 8lb 4oz birth weight just over 3 weeks ago and that's after having lost 12% of her birth weight by day 3. She's definitely making up for lost time!
Also, I totally understand the sleeping issues @StargazyDrifter. Eleanor has a similar sleeping patten to that. It is rather tiring 😂 especially since I've never been one to go to bed early so I'll just be falling asleep as she is waking back up.

Hi everyone.
Wow cant believe how time flies! My LO is 10 weeks now. He is smiling and gurgling loads, and generally healthy and happy.

How is everyone? My husband is working a lot these days so I'm doing 95% at the moment. I have such respect for single parents, so impressive!

I'm breastfeeding and expressing so my husband can give the dreamfeed bottle. It's hard work tho, much more consuming than I thought it would be.

Astrid is 9 weeks - also gurgling away to herself on the daily and generally doing well. Still breastfeeding - she refuses a bottle so I'm solely responsible for all feeding which is quite stressful at times but she's slowly getting into a 2 hour rhythm during the day and sleeping longer at night now so I can't complain really. Overall she's quite happy but she has her moments for sure!

I can't remember life before her. It feels like a lifetime yet it all feels like it's gone so fast too. She was so diddy at first so only just got into 0-3 month and I feel so sad that she's not as tiny any more but love seeing her grow and develop!