July 2007 part 2- 4 months in, doesn't time fly?

[Princesspowersparkle]

Hello July ladies, we are here now!!!!

MFO dd had one bottle of ebm from about 8 weeks up to 4 months. She never particularly took to it well, and then completley rejected it. I decided not to worry and boy was life easier not having to sterilise and wash bottles and pumps and having to pump. Then at about 5.5 months I figured I would have to start it again because I was going back to work. Oh my, bloody hard work getting her to take the bottle again. It was horrible, but she did eventually start taking it. I used the baby whisperer technique by the way. This time I think we will start with a cup.

When does pincer grip develop Jennster? Can't remember...
Ds can grab stuff ok but def doesn't have the co-ordination to deal with peas!

ppc Can't remember. 9 months? I mean thumb and forefinger rather than blindly gripping with the whole fist.

Help - minimeep has been vomiting up all her food.

I'm thinking that maybe lunch didn't agree with her - mushed avocado and cream cheese then some pear (she wolfed it down as always!).

She took her bottle at 3pm then had huge coughing fit and vommed up most of the bottle (in M&S - oops!). Thought she'd just had a bit of an over enthusiastic cough so wasn't too worried.

Then tried to feed her tonight - she wasn't very keen on anything - even fromage frais - then the vomit just started and she looked very unhappy.

Tried to give her milk before bed - she took about 2 ounces, looked very uncomfortable had a mini sick then refused any more .

She's sleeping peacefully now.

Anyone got any advice - I'm not too concerned yet - her temp is normal.
Thought I'd ask you all first rather than post on the main board!

PS minimeep is trying for the pincer grip and has almost got it - not sure she could pick up a pea though!

Oh - Dan Snow does indeed look rather tasty!

Sorry minimeep isn't very well. Have you tried plain water for thirst? If vomiting continues for more than 24 hours then get her checked out by a Dr.

Didn't try water - but will do tomorrow if she's still not eating - thanks Jennster!

I am anticipating a very hungry baby at some point in the early hours of the morning!

24 hours without food when vomiting is quite good. If the vomiting is serious, then they say avoid formula for 24 hours too and just water, but you need to judge it....not helpful I know but that is the official line. If it gets bad then a rehydration sachet might be a good idea, but you could do with seeing a Dr if it gets that bad.

okay - I'll give her water if she wakes up hungry - poor minimeep - she looked so shocked when it came gushing out this evening

Hope mini meep is ok..

How easy is it to set up a blog. DO you need to pay for it. was just taliking to dh about it and think it would be nice for me to do, whilst he is way.. so that he can log oonline and see what we have been up to each week.. as we only get 30mins phone call time a week.

we had pre deployment do on Friday, it was a good night, I got tofinally put faces to names. We have another on Friday, then he goes the following friday.. time is running out now, coming round far to quick. never mind..

Anyone else feelignreally broody.. I am I must be mad..!! But that is a whole other opic..

Thank you.. will have am go at doing one, whilst dh is still here then he can help me.. I really am a technophobe.. DD will prob find it easier than me..lol

I use blogger too Twoplusone, it is pretty easy to set up, feel free to give me a shout if you need any help though.
My blog started as a way of keeping my friends up to date with life when we moved away. Now B is around I can rarely be bothered updating... although my friends keep telling me to.

Gave B her first bottle of formula today. She had an ounce then refused it and I ended up feeding her, but then after a quick nap I let her play with the bottle and she had another 5ozs.
I had a cry though. I really really don't want to wean her onto bottles, mainly because it's a step closer to having to go back to work, but there's lots of other reasons too.

I'd love to be able to keep feeding her at bedtime myself, but how confused is she likely to be if when I'm at work she's getting fed by me 4 times a week and a bottle 3 times?

Bilblio, I love you!!! I feel exactly the same as you and now I know I'm not alone.

I have had the weekend from hell!!!

LO has always refused a bottle and after reading a ton of books (baby whisperer etc etc) it seemed the only way to do it was to go 'cold turkey' and bottle feed him for 48 hours. It took a few hours and a lot of tears (his and mine) but eventually he took to it. To ensure he got the message I have fed him with bottles all weekend. Mainly EBM but also a bottle of formula...

I feel like total crap! I loved breastfeeding but have to give up because of work etc etc...

Am I the only one that feels sad about giving up? I used to love to look down at him feeding from me and I know that I will miss that...my DH (who obviously doesnt have my hormones) has told me that its part of him growing up...so why doesn't it feel that way? I am sure I will get over it but still feel sad about it.

Now heres a question....after going 48 hours of bottle feeding and expressing what do I do now? Do I go back to feeding him or just stick to bottles...If I stick to bottles how do I wind down my milk? Breasts feel sore (have expressed at feed times).

I hope Minimeep is okay. Poor thing!

Twoplusone - I hope your okay.

Okay chaps, going to bed now.
Nite all.

Bilblio & MFO-
When I returned to work with DS (which was full-time) and more recently since DD goes to a friend 3 mornings a week (so I can study) I managed to juggle bottle & breastfeeding pretty well- so please don't feel you HAVE to stop BFing. With DS I still did the evening feeds every night before his bedtime (and he often still needed 1 feed in the night too) and usually the early morning feed...although once he was 8 months that became to late in the morn (after 8am) for me to BF then get him to nursery in time to start work.

I started off expressing every lunchtime at work in a bid to keep my supply going, but after 6 weeks found it too inconvenient with meetings etc. So from then we just kept going with 1-2 breastfeeds each day at home and DS had formula during the day at nursery. This we kept up for a further 3 months, and finally stopped (gradually peetered out) when we both felt more ready at 10.5 months.

With DD, she has a bottle once a day to make sure she doesn't 'forget' it. I try to make it the same time each day but sometimes it changes, and some days I get it wrong and she's taken so much from me while BFing that she doesn't need her bottle- but we never go more than 2 days without her having a bottle or I know (from hard experience) that she will start to refuse it as of course she prefers the boob!! I think once you have managed to introduce the bottle you do need to keep going with it at least once a day. If you are using formula, which I am (as don't have time to express) and you give the same amount daily your breastmilk supply will adjust accordingly and you should still be able to feed a few times if you want to. You can keep breastfeeding even with one feed a day for a LONG time so long as you don't miss more than 2 days of feeding... So it really is up to you. Like you both said I felt too awful at first to stop feeding when I thought I would, so I found it better for both of us to keep going even with just one feed a day until DS (&DD) were older. I hope to BF DD until she is over 1 year old, even if only 1 feed per day, partly because it has lots of health benefits for CF babies (but I might change my mind if it gets too difficult....e.g. if she bites!!! ).

Hope that long ramble makes some sense.... I used to look forward to the bedtime breastfeed all day at work, as it was such a lovely close time with DS and made me feel better!! Going back to work is so hard, try not to put too much pressure on yourself and be open to changing your plans about EVERYTHING! I need to work for my sanity, though found full-time work very tough and now I don't have to (change in circumstances) I have no intention of doing so until both DCs are a lot older... But will keep working part-time...

Huge hugs to you all, night nigh xxxx

PS> just found this 'handout' on Kellymom (a great breastfeeding website that I only discovered on Friday....oh how I wish I'd seen it before!) which has some info about returning to work and breastfeeding...might be useful...although interesting how some advice differs!!
see:
www.kellymom.com/newman/17feed_baby_working_moms.html

Myfairone - Glad I'm not alone. The "other reasons" which I deleted my ramble about are about the closeness, and the fact that for 15 months I've given her all the nutrition she needs. Okay, DP gave her a few genes at the start but basically I've built her... I'm fine about getting her on solids, but giving her formula, instead of what I can provide her is a big step in my mind.

My HV has said for me to drop 1 feed a week until she's taking the amount of formula feeds that she needs to. I'm going to see my manager next week to discuss my hours, then I'll decide whether I can keep up the bedtime feed.
If I'm working the hours I used to work then I'll be home 4 days a week, 2 days I'll be back about 7-8pm, B is usually asleep around 7, but we could keep her up late. Then I work one 24 hour shift a week so won't be home at all. Even if we did keep her up late on the other days DP would still have to settle her with a bottle on the night I'm away.
Oh why can't maternity leave last for 5 years?

Myfairone - Are you hoping to be able to do some feeds yourself or does LO need to be totally on a bottle? I'm far from an expert, but now LO has taken a bottle I'd go back to BFing, but keep one bottle a day, then gradually switch the BF's to bottles. Now he's taken a bottle hopefully you won't have to go cold turkey again. You don't want to stop completely as you're likely to get mastitus. I'd even be worried about expressing as that's how I got mastitus, the pump just wasn't as good at emptying my boobs as B was.

ladies thank you so much! i have had a nightmare few days...

now the bottle is introduced i want to go back to bf. when i return to work it will have to be bottles only i think but will deal with that in april.

i bf lo this morning but my breasts are so sore and lumpy...really hope i havent messed up.

add onto that, lo has a really angry red raised rash so rushed him to gp who said it looks like eczema...i think it may be a reaction to the formula. opinions please?

last week i made his baby porridge with formula and the rash was very faint...last night he had a formula bottle before bed and today this bad rash..what do you think? (im lactose intolerant but dr said that its only a possibility he will be).

wish i could just stay home!!!!!

meant to say...madmum, thanks for the link

Hi MFO - I posted on your excema thread - big sympathy as minimeep has it too

Am with you for wishing I could just stay at home!

meep - thanks for the post on the excema thread

just about, thanks for the advice have looked into different formulas and it seems that sma do some different varieties.

im going to let the rash clear up and then tackle it again.

sooooooo stressed out by all this!!!! I think its a good job that I'm breast feeding otherwise I would be sitting with a nice big glass of something alcoholic

MFO- I meant to add in my long ramble last night (but it was too late for my brain to work) that when I returned to work believe it or not but DS wouldn't take a bottle. I had tried EVERYTHING to try to get him to (ironically he'd had bottles of EBM for 2 months when in SCBU when tiny...but then we'd exclusively breastfed for the intervening months and he completely refused the bottle when I tried intordicing it again at 6 months). In the end I went back to work and the nursery staff would feed him his meals then he's take quite a bit of milk from an open cup (& sometimes from a hard-spouted tommee tippee cup) and they'd also spoon in milk- by the time he was 10 months old he was very proficient with the cup and so when I stopped BFing he went straight to a cup. I also intend to do this with DD (although she does take a bottle)- partly as I have friends who are still trying to get their 2.5yr olds off bottles as they grow very attached to them (& among other things it is not great for teeth).

I think most mums feel they have to have their LOs onto a bottle when leaving a baby with someone else but it doesn't have to be this way, and some breastfed babies really take well to cups (especially the doidy cup- slanted style ones). Cup feeding is A LOT easier to combine with breastfeeding. At the end of the day a childminder or nursery staff will do whatever you ask them to (within reason) as you are paying them! And by a year most babies are pretty good with cups so the bottle stage doesn't last long (although like I said some still use them for the bedtime drink for a few more years..)

RE Formula milks- our dietician recommended the Cow & Gate or Aptimil ranges- for potential lactose intolerance the dietician recommended Cow & Gate Pepti or Cow & Gate Infasoy. very rarely babies can also be allergic to soy products so the Pepti uses some sort of denatured/hydrolysed or something cow milk proteins (it tastes horrid!)- take a look at:
www.cowandgate.co.uk/en/article.asp?chco_id=59361

OK I'm procrastinating...better do some work

Good luck MFO with the eczema, DS has had it since 1 yrs old, he's on a cows milk free diet now which helps keep it manageable but it really is such a miserable condition. We're off to see an allergy specialist at the hospital next month in the hope that he'll throw more light on the underlying causes. xx