June 2020 Babies - newborn snuggles, recovery, milk and night feeds!

[LillianFullStop]

First post natal thread for June 2020 babies! Looking forward to seeing our birth club thread members here soon!

@Smiffette Ivy is the same age exactly and we use a next to be crib as well I'm sure your LO will get there soon.
The new swaddle I have ordered allows there arms to remain above there head and movable so it's more of a natural position for them. This is the link, I say it could be a complete gimmick but I thought I would give it a go.

https://www.lovetodream.co.uk/?utmsource=google&utmmmedium=cpc&utmcampaign=1557989988&utmmcontent=57846326623&utmterm=love%20to%20dream%20swaddle&gclid=Cj0KCQjwgJv4BRCrARIsAB17JI4rDOxOcveb6Cl2zNkDqkIai17MmApQr-1nf4OPNPfX16lVbyTA3PEaAhNAEALww_wcB

@Busylizzie85 thanks I will take a look at the swaddle!

What are you guys wearing at the moment? I'm finding it hard to dress without feeling 'fat'.

@MsMiaWallace when I'm at home I'm living in leggings and long vest too.

When out I was wearing same but have finally got some new nursing bits, couple of tops and a dress so wear those now. Still in a size bigger than normal but no way my boobs would fit in a smaller size

@babybird20 you're not alone in not really losing much weight yet. I put on about 4 stone and have still not lost anything apart from the initial loss of the baby, placenta, and fluid. I wouldn't mind but I've been taking the time and effort to track everything I eat and drink and even though I've got my calories set to maintain weight and breastfeeding calories added on I'm trying to eat slightly under those calories so the weight comes off slowly. But so far, nothing! Like you, I lost a lot of weight before getting pregnant (over 11 stone) and was about a size 12-14. It's very hard on my mental health being so much bigger now after having such success with weight loss. I'm so depressed at how I have nothing but maternity clothes and some of my sister's old fat clothes (from before she lost weight) to wear. I live in leggings and harem pants with a couple of t shirts that fit me. I cry about it to hubby regularly and that's why I started tracking my calories again because I wanted to feel like I was doing something about it. It's so depressing when it falls off other people and yet I can't lose an ounce - and I'm EBF!!!

@APD1981 don't be so hard on yourself sounds like your doing amazing and doing it the heathy way

Are you walking much ?

I find when I do atleast 10000 steps a day weight loss is better but I can barely walk 1000 steps at the mo very sore still in so looking forward to walking x

@APD1981 11 stone is an exceptional achievements!! Wow! It's so hard isn't it when you lose something you must've been so proud of. I've really struggled too as have no nice clothes at all, wearing maternity joggers and a vest top pretty much non stop with one saggy dress for when I leave the house! I need new clothes but so reluctant to buy them in this size! How did you do it before? With the calorie counting? I was on slimming world so going to rejoin next week and take it slowly with them!

@mrssunshinexxx I'm the same as you, looking forward to walking to parks etc with baby but at the moment it's hard work to go around the block!

@Smiffette thank you for the encouragement, it's hard to let the weight gain go but need to focus on surviving this new born stage at the moment!! (Currently eating hobnobs in bed as benjis not having any of his crib again!!)

@newbyxx Benji is exactly a month today (argh where is the time going!!) I can't keep staying up for hours with him on me so trying to get him in his crib a bit at a time. It's so hard though as means instead of a nice 2-4 hours stretch of sleep he's getting half and hour max of disturbers thrashing sleep before crying 😭😭😭

@mrssunshinexxx yes I go for at least one walk a day with the pram, sometimes two and when DH is off work I often go for a walk on my own when he has the baby. I used to run and swim a lot and really miss the buzz of exercise.

@babybird20 I use an app called Nutracheck to lose weight. I never dieted, just tracked calories of what I ate and aimed to be within my allowance. I didn't eat diet food etc. I never really got on with SW. Wasn't for me. DB also lost 6 stone so 17 stone between us and unbelievably we both hit our goal weight on the same day last year! I was actually asked by Nutracheck to have my story published last year and ended up as a full page spread in the Sunday Mirror and I was a double page feature in Simply You magazine! I was actually supposed to go for an all expenses paid magazine makeover to London this time last year but it turned out to be the same week that my dad died so it all got cancelled. And would that believe I was approached again yesterday by Nutracheck to feature in Health and Wellbeing magazine next month! I've told them I've just had a baby and I'm now losing pregnancy weight but the feature is actually a 'top tip'type thing with a couple of their successful members. I think having my weight loss become so high profile (literally all my family, friends, and colleagues knew all about it because of the publicity) means I feel even more crap about what I've gained now. And so even more pressure to lose it. I bought a whole new wardrobe last year and now can't fit in any of it so I'm determined to get the weight off asap and get back to how I was. And I'm enjoying eating well and feeling in control - but not losing a thing which is very disheartening!

*DH also lost 6 stone, that should say

@APD1981 wow that's really cool and you should be really proud losing weight is bloody hard especially now you here a baby x

@BabyBird20 we had the same last night. Bubs has been sleeping in her crib at night (not in day!) but last night we had waking up every hour, lots of thrashing and an exciting three hours between 11-2 where she just didn't want to sleep at all, despite having a full belly.

@apd1981 wow! That was an insane amount of weight you lost! Sounds like you have the willpower to do it, so I believe you should be able to do it again!
Mine isn't quite the same as yours, but I did the 5:2 diet. I say diet, but I ate what I wanted within the limits of the calories allowed. I lost 14lbs in 6 weeks and was in the best shape I had been in for a couple of years. Perfect size 10!
Then I got pregnant that month :D and started eating like there was no tomorrow. Post baby, I now have over 24lbs to lose! Quite daunting, but I think I can definitely do it! Need to start by actually going for a walk today. Been at home eating for far too long!

On another note, we had a nightmare 2 days with colic a few days back. I didn't know what to do with myself. But colief has changed our lives! I express milk as well as breastfeed directly. So, with every feed, I add some colief to some expressed milk before breastfeeding. My baby is now so happy. He can happily sit in his rocker for an hour whereas he wouldn't leave my arms during colic gate. We are slowly starting a routine now. Fingers crossed things remain positive!

Hi All,

I've only just found this thread, sorry to be late to the party!

FTM to a little boy early Monday morning, a week overdue. I came home Tuesday evening. Our first night was a complete nightmare and has been the same ever since so I'm really hoping for some advice if any of you have experienced the same.

Our little one just wont sleep at night! First night we went up at 11pm and I breastfed him. Every time we put him down in the crib he would scream. So began a continuous night of breastfeeding and comforting till we gave in at 4.30am and gave him a bottle of formula which knocked him out.

The next couple of nights have followed the same pattern. I feed him, he falls asleep, I place him in his crib and he screams the place down. I have to pick him up, give him a bit of a feed and then he happily falls asleep on. As soon as I transfer him back he wakes. So I've literally spent the last couple of nights awake the entire time before allowing my husband to give him a formula bottle at 4am just so I can get a couple of hrs sleep.

In the day he is great, he will feed then 2-3hrs sleep, no issues. Anyone else gone through the same thing or any advice? At my wits end and dont know how many more nights like this I can do!!

@SRS1311 sorry to hear you're going through those hard first few days. We did not sleep for the first 4 nights. But I think he started sleeping better when my milk came in. We let him cosleep sometimes when he flat out refused the crib.
Keep persevering. Dont forget to sleep when he sleeps, whenever that it. It'll slowly get better. We haven't quite mastered it yet at almost 4 weeks, but we have really seen improvements from those first few nightmare days.
Good luck x

@SRS1311 has your milk come in does he feel latched properly?
Personally I would swaddle or get a sleepy head sounds like he feels too alone in the big crib? X

@SRS1311 has your milk come in does he feel latched properly?
Personally I would swaddle or get a sleepy head sounds like he feels too alone in the big crib? X

@SRS1311 our LO was like that our first night home (at 5 days) having taken 3 hour naps happily in his crib all day downstairs. He was falling asleep after feeding then immediately waking in his cot and crying as soon as put him down. We found a hot water bottle on the sheets before bed worked wonders - the change in temperature from my warm body to the cold sheets seemed to be waking him. He is now nearly 5 weeks and apart from the odd bad night he sleeps between 4 and 7 hours when we put him down, no hot water bottle required! We have also kept a very strict and repetitive bedtime routine of going up same time every night, dark room, lullabies, bath, change, feed, cot. Not quite sure if he knows its bedtime or just a fluke but it seems to be working! He now stays awake for much of the morning and evening and sleeps most of the afternoon and night.

We've had one or two rough nights where he wakes on lying down due to his tummy so it could also be that. We could tell it was wind as his tummy felt rock solid and he just looked so uncomfortable. I found the wind tended to build up over the day so whilst he was ok to lie down during day after a lot of burping, sometimes by nightimr the wind seemed to have accumulated. This only happened when my milk came in though. We have started giving him infacol and I burp him A LOT including mid feed, even though he is breastfed, and he is so much better.

Oh also , on his second night in hospital he would not sleep at all due to mucus so it could be that? Apparently newborns have a lot of mucus in their system and can get congested, this is also worse at night and when they are lying flat. Theo screamed thr house down and I had to ask a midwife to take him for a walk as was at my wits wits end. If its that it would be just temporary but you would be able to hear bunged up sounds? I'm not sure if its advised to use on very new babies but the few times theo has woken at night recently due to congestion we have used saline spray and nasal aspirator to try and decongestant him a bit - seems to be helping.

Hope you find a solution, I really feel for you. Obviously every baby is different but in my, extremely limited , experience, the LO will be crying for a reason however difficult it is to pinpoint - it's a bit trial and error but find the reason and you can hopefully find a solution

Gosh sorry everyone i didnt realise that post was so long!

Thanks all for your messages of support!

My milk came in yesterday, breast feeding has felt hard too..perhaps because I do it so often through the night. Yesterday we had a great day..normal routine and decided to try something different at night. We decided to give him a bottle of formula at 10pm, knock him out and carry him upstairs on the sleepyhead to the crib. This would hopefully give me a chance to sleep for 3 hrs or so. I got panicked at last minute about the sleepyhead going into the next to me so we tried to just 'slide' him off into the crib - needless to say it didnt go well. Same night routine ended up happening. At 2am I was reading this mumsnet thread and even tried the sleeping others have suggested but as soon as baby is put "down" he screams and cries.

Today he has been good - hes will feed then sleep for 2 hrs in his moses basket. I've tried to express milk so that it can be give me a break. Past day or so I've used an electric pump and as my milk came in yesterday I was getting a small amount - an ounce or so. This morning was 2 ounces. This afternoon after a couple of attempts nothing seemed to be coming out at all. I then breast fed and despite him normally being good he woke up after 10 mins twice screaming...its like he hadnt been fed! As we had the couple of ounces of expressed milk I gave him that and he was okay. Now I'm worried - am I not making much milk? Anyone else had a sudden stop like this? I dont feel confident now with the breast feeding.

Between this and the night time routine I am struggling and crying a lot! Sorry if this ends up a long post.

Will try the suggestion of a hot water bottle / persevere with night time routine...thanks everyone for the advice so far.

Long posts are good! Sorry that should have said Co-sleeping above!! Also will look into the congestion suggestion thanks.

@SRS1311 I am only a month in but still having issues similar. Have you read about the fourth trimester and how baby just wants to be with you so soon after coming out? I was desperately trying to get him into the crib in those early days and he was miserable and we were miserable and no one was sleeping. We got to a point where my husband and I take shifts just holding him on our chest when he sleeps and he will happily sleep up to 4 or 5 hours like that now. It meant that we alternated sleeping but we're happier all round. Now starting to rebuild crib time in during the day and a couple of times at night to get him used to it but he'll still wake within half an hour in the crib when I know he's happily sleep 3 on a person which is really hard to do!

@APD1981 that is such an amazing achievement! How fab to have all that publicity to help and inspire others too. I completely get how frustrated you must be now but you know you can do it! 😍

@SRS1311 The tears are quite common, especially if not sleeping. I remember one of the first questions my health visitor asked me was: "have you cried yet?".
Speak to your midwife or HV if you're concerned about breastfeeding. They were incredibly helpful to me. Get help sooner rather than later. Worst case scenario, we thankfully have easy access to formula. Good luck xx

Agreed with @Missgemini - I was sobbing constantly up until this week. And still have moments where it seems overwhelming. And this is my second!!

Hi everyone, hope you’re all doing well. Sorry I haven’t the chance to go back and read all the previous posts. Finally coming to say that my baby girl Jia Rose was born last Sunday July 5th at 41+1. Other than a slight case of jaundice (very common among East Asian babies apparently - her dad is Korean) and some awful engorgement that prevented breastfeeding for a couple of days we’re doing pretty well.

Anyone else who had an episiotomy, how have you found the recovery? Day 6 and although I’m definitely feeling a lot better I’m wondering when I can expect the stitches to stop hurting completely, or at least enough to make sitting for long periods breastfeeding less uncomfortable.