Newborn support group anyone?

[CupCupGoose]

Anyone else want to join me for a bit of moral support?

DC3 was born on the 28th February (so pleased he wasn't born on the leap year day!)

He doesn't like being put down so I'm pretty exhausted. DH and I are taking turns to sit up with him at night but as I'm breastfeeding, I'm having to do more. I know it's not forever though.

Milk has just come in so I'm feeling pretty emotional at the moment. Again, I know it will pass!

I'm just about to attempt to put him down in the crib, wish me luck!

@lovesT thanks for telling me to read the nhd website, it really is reassuring. They make it sound as though its not really anything to worry about so I'll just carry on woth my pelvic floor exercises.

I'm hoping the 7 hours of sleep are here to stay but I doubt it! My older 2 didn't sleep through the night until they were 2.5!

Re tummy time... My older 2 dc hated it so I never really did it with them. I don't think it made any difference to their development. I don't think I've ever put ds on his tummy yet and he is 8 weeks today.

DH might have to go back to work next week. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about ds vaccinations as I can't take all 3 dc with me but I don't have anyone to look after them either. I can't change the appointment as DH wouldn't ever be home in time.

I had to come on and tell someone that it's 10.05 and I've managed to get ds asleep in the cot without any screaming! 10.05! This is the earliest night I've had probably since he was born! Now if he can sleep for another 7 hour stretch tonight, I'll feel like I've won the jackpot haha.

@CupCupGoose that's amazing! How did the night go? Last night she slept from about 10 and then she woke up, we looked at the time and it was 4:45 ... amazing!! Then had another hour and a half or so after feeding. Those nights are the best 😍

Oooh 7 hours straight! That would be amazing! Fingers crossed you have a good night again @CupCupGoose

@lovesT I also have a strong letdown and poor DS sometimes splutters and coughs when the letdown happens. Poor baby! I wear nursing pads though so it just goes into them. With DS1 I went through a phase of collecting the milk with a haaka but I never used the extra breast milk! Was taking up a lot of freezer space! So I'm not bothering this time

I think I have managed a routine now for DS2 where I give him a short nap around 5-6pm, then we have dinner as a family, I go upstairs around 6,30 and start bedtime, then he falls asleep around 7.30 with hardly any fuss. Such a change to previously screaming for about 1-2 hours, thank goodness

Hi ladies. My LO is now 9 weeks old. We are kind of in a nighttime routine now (Well aware this can all change!). I started putting baby DS to bed the same time as my DD toddler, mainly to stop my DD feeling left out when she goes to bed but my DS actually seems to like the routine. He has a big feed around 7pm - lately this has been a bottle of expressed milk from DH so I can bath DD. We then put him down in his Chicco crib with the lights dimmed right down and he goes to sleep. I sometimes can't quite believe I've got both kids in bed and asleep by 7.30pm I bet I'm on here tomorrow eating my words lol
DS is usually sleeping 7ish - 2am, then up again at 5am. I had a couple of blissful nights where he woke for a topup around 10/11pm and then slept til 4/5am. Heavenly! But lately back to 2am. I can't grumble too much though, I know it could be worse.
We still have dodgy latches sometimes which leave me with sore nipples. In an ideal world of get myself to a breastfeeding drop in clinic but we'll probably have sorted it out by the time that's possible!
Praying these rumours of a '10 person bubble' that have been flying around are going to materialise then I can zoom up to my mum's for a helping hand!

@babychange12 yeah I have to take her off when I feel my milk coming in because I know it's just spraying her in the mouth. I have to be quick with a muslin though because it sprays all over her face, it got me in the face once too 😂 I use breast cups to catch milk from the breast I'm not feeding from, otherwise my milk soaks through everything .. including breast pads 🤦‍♀️ I thought about getting a hukka but feel there's no point as I get enough to fill the cups sometimes! I stated freezing some a while ago but stopped because sterilising the cups was a pain, plus I would fill up the freezer too quickly 😄 but I plan to start saving more soon - I used some for a milk bath today 😊

Sounds like a few people have had some good nights sleep recently, any tips? I'm a FTM and my little ones sleep seems to be getting worse!

A typical night for me looks roughly like:

7.30 feed and put to bed
9.00 feed and struggle to put to bed (lots of rocking and trying to put in Moses basket without her waking and crying, have to hold her a long time before putting her down)
12.00 feed and easy to put to bed
3.00 feed and easy to put to bed
5.00 feed and lots of crying unable to soothe

Looks like a lot of feeding but often she's not having much at a time. I keep the environment quiet/dim lights etc.

Any advice would be helpful!

@jldy2020 how old is your little one? Ideally you want to discourage them snacking too often as it leads to them not being full and going into a deep sleep. It could be your LO isn't feeding enough at 7.30pm and is waking at 9pm hungry and overtired.
Having said that, if they are very little they do need to feed more often, so depends on the age really.

@jldy2020 how old is your DC?

My DS is 7 weeks and night time feeding pattern is almost identical to yours. He feeds more at night than in the day.

I'm pretty keen for him to start spacing out his night feeds, and also to go to sleep without being carried / in sling / in car / in pram. My DD mastered it pretty early but I can't recall exactly when.

@LolaLollypop thanks for your reply. She's 9 weeks now. How do you discourage snacking? I've been trying to pick up cues of what she wants before she cries (though not at night when I'm trying to sleep!) but maybe I'm jumping in to early then?

@stringervest she's 9 weeks old but has probably been this way for a couple of weeks now. My LO is ok sleeping in the Moses basket for a lot of the time, but then certain times of the night just cries when you get her near it!

It's good to have a support thread for these questions, especially in these lockdown times!

@jldy2020 there is probably some guidance online for snacking too but I found with my LO that sometimes he didn't want the boob, he just wanted to be held. I was always offering the boob and he'd have a bit but then would get frustrated as it was almost like he wanted the comfort of the boob but not the milk! I tried a dummy which had some success but other times I just hold/rock him without feeding him. He's in a routine now where he feeds 3hrs during the day but sleeps longer at night. It is difficult though as all babies are different. Have a look online with regards to snacking and give it a go. Try and encourage that 7.30pm feed to be really big.

Thanks for the tips @LolaLollypop

@jldy2020 are you giving both boobs for each feed? If possible, just give one to help with snacking. The first let down if milk is quite watery and not very nutritious so fills up their tummy but it doesn't give them much energy. If you present both boobs then they get twice the amount of this semi skimmed milk. The back milk from the second let down us like gold top and is thicker so keeps them full for longer and gives more energy in exchange for the effort they expend in drinking it.

Hi all I lost this thread for a while! Hope everyone is well and not finding life too hard with tiny babies in lockdown.
My little girl is 12 weeks old today!! I cannot honestly believe how fast the time has gone it makes me emotional if I’m honest. She is such a pleasure, she has been an absolute ray of light through these scary times. I just feel sad that the only adults she knows are me and her dad, does anyone else worry about how they will adapt when lockdown is lifted?

Oh also like others on here I have strong milk letdown, I just look at her and both my boobs leak furiously! Even when she’s not hungry! DH took a video of her earlier and sent it to me and just watching it made them leak 🙈

@hazandduck Ted is 12 today and I'm not sure where all the time has gone. It only now I'm really starting to feel the effects of lockdown when I'm wanting to be out and about at babygroups and showing Ted off to friends and family. I was reading ahead from 3-6 month the milestones he's expected to teach and one is to make his first friend, that make her so sad hecc vs font be able to do that. He might not even be able to at 6-12 months or even 12 months to a year.

What affect will that have on his development do you think? Presumably it will be negative?

How are all the babies doing weight wise?

At our 6 week check (which was actually at 8 weeks) the doctor said she wanted her to be weighed 2 weeks later because she was just below the line. She said if she was worried she would tell me to get her weighed after 1 week but 2 weeks was okay. We got her weighed today (by appointment with HV) and she's still "hovering by the lower line" and I think has dropped one centile? They are still saying they're not too worried but want her weighed again in a month and will go from there. She mentioned possibly starting solids a little early, more around 5 months because that might help with reflux which might be why she isn't putting on as much weight.

I'm not worried because she is definitely putting in weight and seems happy and healthy in every other way. She feeds well (apart from being sicky). Anyone else having weight problems? She is EBF 😊

Thanks for the tip @Ginny1234

@Ginny1234 snap - DD 12 weeks today. And after 2 weeks of amazing night sleeps in her crib she had chosen tonight to just not settle at all unless she's on us. I've tried about 10 times - normally it only takes one or two. And instead of looking uncomfortable and farting then crying, she is just opening her eyes wide open about 2 mins after I put her down then screaming... ugh. And it's her big bro's bday tomorrow - had planned to make loads of special things for him as he can't see friends or family and I'm worried I'm going to be so tired I won't be able to be party energetic with him
Thanks for the vent space!
(Currently drinking a G+T in the bath in desperation while DH holds her... so could be worse... )

It’s crazy isn’t it @Ginny1234 by 8 weeks with my older Dd we had already started weekly swimming lessons and a music group. I loved doing those with her and I feel guilty Cleo hasn’t had the same! Apparently the same music group does live video sessions so I am thinking I will sign up to those for now.

@lovesT my health visit was by phone so I’ve not had Cleo weighed for ages, but she is definitely gaining a lot of weight, she’s a right chunk! She never lost weight if I remember rightly and was well above birth weight by 10 days (all a bit of a blur really ha) and she has grown out of lots of her clothes and has lots of chubby rolls developing! Like my 2 year old had, she has got bad reflux and we both constantly smell of puke! It’s like a fountain sometimes coming out! By this stage with DD she was on gaviscon but I didn’t last long with her on that, it was such a faff when breastfeeding and for little reward I haven’t bothered this time. She is happy, gaining weight and I just feed her when she is hungry it just means a lot more washing for me but I don’t mind and would personally rather that than medicating her. My other Dd was the exact same and has turned out fine!

Oh no @sulkysukey hope you managed to get some rest and that your little one has a lovely birthday today :)

Thanks @hazandduck. I feed her whenever she wants but about once a day she throws it all up .. today was like a fountain!! We tried Gaviscon too but like you say it's a real faff when breastfeeding and didn't make a noticeable difference. You'd think they would make something more suitable for breastfed babies?! She is putting on weight but just not as much as they'd like. But to me she looks healthy and I think she's just little 🤷‍♀️ she's quite long and not a very chubby baby but has some chunk 😊 we'll see how it goes over the next month. It sometimes feels like they're trying to fit all babies into one box? (Not literally 😄👍) surely as lo g as she is happy and healthy that's okay?

How is everyone enjoying the baby smiles?! 😍

I ordered myself a new carrier (I decided to get one as well as my wrap) and it's amazing 😀 she's so happy in carriers and means I can do other things. I just need to master breastfeeding her in it 🤔

How's everyone doing? Ds is 10 weeks old now. I honestly can't believe how quickly its gone but at the same time I feel like he's been around for ever.

He has finally stopped screaming for 3 hours every evening and have managed to move his bed time to around 10pm instead of struggling to even get him down at midnight! He only wakes once a night for a feed so I feel like we're doing well.

We are moving house in a month. Not ideal with a baby and we can't even ask anyone to help us. I still can't even lift anything heavier than the baby.

I hope everyone else is okay.

All ok here too @CupCupGoose - we're back to having better nights although some nights still disturbed by gas/the odd early morning poo. We are lucky as DD is really chilled and is making life stuck at home with 3 DCs a pleasure. I'm really loving this stage - even got our first proper giggles in the last few days.
With DH being furloughed and able to be totally hands on 24/7 I know that when lockdown ends I'm going to look back on this time at home really fondly.
I hope DD hasn't been conditioned to never leave the house - the only times we've been out with her are for her vaccines when she's screamed her head off, so I'm worried she'll begin to think leaving the house means pain and distress!
Looking forward to a beach trip once we're allowed to drive for exercise on Wed to show her there's good stuff out there too!

That sounds tricky @CupCupGoose , are you moving far or locally? Do you have a bit of an overlap so you can move in bits?

We're doing ok. Like @sulkysukey DH is furloughed so it is nice to spend the time together, although not sure what changes will come today with the furlough info/pay.

I'm enjoying this stage as well for the smiles and babbling, something nice to balance out the crying! Now that she's a bit more alert I am finding it more difficult that family can't see her etc. Who knows how much she would've grown and developed by the time they do.