Sept 08 - newborns, milk, nappies and all the rest ....

[Sassafrass]

Hope noone minds me starting our post natal thread now that the babies are arriving so quickly.

Arrivals!
28-May - Johnworf ? Katherine, 1lb 8oz
30-June ? KashaSarrasin ? Felix, 1.39kg
26-July - Jenbot - DD, 3lb 6oz
11-Aug - Crabby - Lilah 2.34kg
13-Aug - Sassafrass - Katie Rose, 7lb 2oz
20-Aug - Sunshinemummy - Effy Marilyn, 6lb 3oz
22-Aug - Talia1 - Anna, 6lb 2oz
26-Aug - Jenpet - Samuel, 3.166 kilos (about 6lb10oz?)
28-Aug - Potxola - Lorea, 7lb 6oz
31-Aug - Digitalgirl - Alfredo, 7lbs
1-Sept - Debithescot - Andrew, 8lb 10oz

Oh, and another question:
4) he's only feeding from one side per feed. I've been squeezing the nipple after he's been on there for 45 mins, or after an hour, and milk still seems to be coming out, and he still seems happy on there, so I'm wondering if his laziness means it takes a long time to empty the breast? Or should I unlatch him and get him onto the other breast at each feed? Is the fact that I can still express a bit after an hour of suckling indicative of anything at all?

good questions hopefully i'm dying to know the answers too.

btw, my son only feeds for half an hour at a time and about 3-4 hours between each feed, should i be worrying?

morning...me to hopefully and eandz maybe i should be worrying too my dd only feeds for between 5 - 10 mins each time then going 3 hrs between, until the afternoon / eve then wakes constantly. i'm concerned my breasts are never being drained. Been and bought an expresser so gonna try that today.
It's so difficult to know what to do just go with what the baby is telling you i suppose,

Your son eandz sounds like he's the perfect feeder...i don't think you should worry

morning

i have the hv coming today not sure why as he was only weighed on monday but never mind am going to quiz her about dd's potty training

it's dd's birthday on sat and as she's been so good am going to make an extra fuss of her

will is still good but greedy dh is strting nights in a week though so i may change my mind"!!!

hopefully I think that what you can do with Teddy is to do breast compressions when the milk flow slows down from the 'first' side and when he starts to fall asleep on that side, swap him over. Do not time his feeds. It tells you nothing of how much milk he had.

He may accept the second side, he may not, but always offer it. IMO there is not need to tickle, blow, etc. I only changed dd's nappy if she needed it changed but some people like to do it between 'sides'. With breast compressions and side swapping, the new spurt of milk tends to wake up a baby better than these 'tricks'. Hopefully if you do this more often during the day he will have longer gaps at night.

But if he takes the second side and if he is having a growth spurt, he will, then it is quite all right to offer him a 3rd or 4th side, so to speak.

By all means, you can continue skin to skin for as much as it suits you. How often he is on or off the breast and for how long is not as important as how much wees and poos he produces in 24 hrs.

Oh, your breast always has milk. It never runs out because as long as you are feeding, you are also making it. it isn't a bottle.

PS, you cannot spoil a baby with cuddles. In fact, hormonally speaking right now, you probably need him close as much as he needs you close. enjoy all the cuggles you can get when they are little because one day he will be a smelly teenager.

hopefully - I can recommend Foxy's suggestion with switch feeding. DS hasn't been putting on weight as he was only taking enough milk to pacify himself.

I've been switching sides 2-4 times per feed since Monday (the gush at the start of the feed defo keeps him interested, as does the breast compression) and I've noticed a change in his poo's (there's more, it looks like Colemans mustard and there are fatty curds in it - all good signs of more milk going in)

Foxy thanks for that link, I'll give it a shot next time he feeds. Maybe we too can aspire to nappies like ILTMIMI!

here is a video from the same site showing breast compressions.

wow foxy that video is amazing! I tried to BF my ds for bout 3 wks- he never looked like he was doing that kind of feeding, he did sort of one suck and then a quiver! Cant wait to try it again when this one finally pops!

just looked at some more of the videos, my ds looked like the one who was 'nibbling'. its no wonder he kept losing weight. No-one ever said it wasnt ok!

why is it that Elliot will only sleep in our arms, even when hes asleep when we go to put him in his moses basket, he wakes up and screams, at first we thought it could be colic because he had a lot of farting episodes, but thought if it was colic he wouldn't settle at all.
last night we hardley slept a wink incase he stops breathing, (done this before in hospital)
his basket is pre warmed with a hot water bottle, he is well fed and burped. has anyone got any suggestions?

aahhh barnpot Elliot is only doing what is normal for him. He only knew you for 9 months and you were always there. Now he wakes up and finds you are gone so he is instinctively driven to find you back the only way he can.

He doesn't know that mummy thinks a moses basket is best. He knows what is best for him and that is right now to sleep on or next to a grown up.

It is shown that having him sleep as close as possible to you actually will regulate his breathing so he is less likely to stop breathing and if he does stop breathing, he is nearest to you so that you will more likely notice it. This phenomenon has actually been filmed in mother-baby sleep labs. Sleeping mothers who make the decision to cosleep have been filmed rousing their co-sleeping babies when they have a longer period between breaths. It is probably why SIDS is unheard of in Japan which is a developed country with high rates of co-sleeping.

BTW, i understand that many new mums find the idea of cosleeping terrifying. It is something we have lost within this culture. Less than a hundred years ago, almost everyone coslept in the UK.

Carrieon I hope you get to join the postnatal group properly soon too! As for my DD, as far as I can tell she likes Wee Dougie. She is always coming over to him when he's in the Moses Basket or my arms and saying 'baby' and she likes to touch him and kiss him. Yesterday we gave her a rattle that we'd got free from Kiddicare and she took it over to him! Like you, I tried to get her used to the idea before he came as several of my friends have had babies so I held them and watched her reaction. I too have had her on one knee and a baby on the other - as you say it shows her there is room for 2! At the moment she is getting a lot of attention from her grandparents who are staying but not much from me which I feel really guilty about. I think she'll find it hard when they go home on Friday and I'm going to have to make a real effort to compensate. At least she's at nursery Friday afternoon, that will be a distraction.

I have encouraged her where she's shown an interest in DS as I want her to feel part of things and not constantly be told not to touch! We do tell her to be quiet/ gentle cos he's sleeping which she seems to understand. We also got her a doll ('Cupcake' from the ELC, from 18 months) and a stroller and moses basket which we gave her as a present from DS and she loves that so that might also help your DD - it's her very own 'baby'! Good luck.

barnpot i have exactly the same. foxy is entirely right about the co sleeping, but i'm also far too terrified to try it. Last night I managed to get him down for 2 hours by waiting until he was completely asleep, fallen off my breast, and then quickly putting him in the basket (which is on the bed next to me - dp is on inflatable on the floor). I've also had some joy having the swaddling loosely round him as he feeds, then just tightening it up a bit as he drops off, so I don't even have to swaddle him once he's in the basket/cot.

If anyone has any other ideas, I'd be thrilled to hear them!

I co-slept in the hospital bed with DD, the midwife suggested it as it would save me getting out of bed after my cs. But I must admit I couldn't relax as much with her in the bed with me.

Now we are home DD is in the moses basket next to the bed, she is so close that I don't have to get out to pick her up though.

barnpot I've got the same problem. DS cries if we put him in his basket at night. It's too early for sleep training so we're co-sleeping. DS will only stay asleep at night if I feed him lying down, then when he's finished I don't have to move or disturb him. DH has learnt to stick to his side of the bed for when I switch sides.

DS slept for three and a half hours straight this morning. Not that I did, I woke everytime he snuffled, cried or moved. But as soon as he realised he was still snuggled up to my boob he settled himself.

foxy I was happy when I thought I'd found a solution but so many people are against co-sleeping with such a young baby it made me question my decision, even the HV said I should keep trying to put DS back in the basket and I'm 'setting myself up for future problems'. Thankfully my mum (who's Fillipna) is fully supportive of co-sleeping and doesn't believe in trying to train a 3 week old to sleep away from his mummy (apart from when she wants to hold him!). DH also realises its the only way we'll get any sleep at the moment otherwise we'd be sleeping in shifts just to hold him and whats the point in that?

listen to your mum then. I don't always get the chance to say that.

Oh, I am not Filipina but I look it!

mumiyumi
although he feeds that way, he stops sucking in the middle and pauses for what seems like forever. i've never drained a breast at all!

i've been using the ameda lactaline double breast pump that i read about on here somewhere. i feel like such a cow.

foxy
hows it going with you? i'll be in the uae on the 20th (of next month) i'll email you in a bit. (so probably tomorrow when i remember again!)

Hello new mums! How can I mamage sleeping 3-4 hrs at night. It is a mistery to me!!!!

HELP
Lorea is feeding very well and it is growing well, so no problems there, but when it comes to sleeping.......
I had the same problem with her brother. I breastfeed her to sleep, wait for a bit and when she touches the moses basquet or crib starts to cry or sometimes it happens after 3 minutes........
I have tried everything, even the hot water bottle. At the end, after 28 times, I have to breastfeed her again on my bed and we both fall asleep. It is not ideal, but it has been happening more and more. Yesterday she slept only 5 min on the crib. I have tried swaddling her and it makes no difference.
But I won't swadle her arms if she sleeps with me, because I woke up during the night and she was sleeping tummy down next to me.

I gave up on the moses basket, after I spent £50.00 on sunday.
*Anyone has any moe suggestions?
I don't want to let her cry because her brother sleeps right next to that wall and if there is something I value it is the fact he sleeps through the night now. He had lots of problems sleeping when he was younger.
I have surrounded the crib with cot bumpers and I even bought a sheepskin fleece that I place underneath the sheet. I would love to sleep there, but she just seems to want to sleep next to mama. I will take it as a compliment
During the day she is either in the carrycot o the floor for 5 min. or I carry her aroung in the sling. She loves sleeping during the day, right after each feed. She feeds on demand.
Thanks for listening

Jearund Dougie is gorgeous. We will keep in touch and introduce our children when they are older. I am sure Dougie will fall in love with Lorea. That will be funny.

It is great to see yourt photo!!!. The one they took of me in the hospital is X rated. They took it when I was giving Lorea skin to skin contact. But I promise I will find one suitable to post in my profile.

Confirmation that the feeding is going well now- Andrew has gone from 8lb 6 to 9lb 2 in a week. I'm very happy with that.

potxola (and the others having problems with sleeping) reading through this page of posts should hopefully reassure you a bit that you are not doing anything wrong or have an abnormal baby. It is very normal for babies not to want to sleep on their own. DS1 was like this, he would only go down in his crib and cot if he was held until he was completely sound asleep and he needed a dummy to settle him. And when he was tiny he would wake up quite a lot. he was also like that during the day. Now he sleeps in his bed for 2 hours every afternoon and goes to bed and sleeps all night usually waking after 7.00. he doesn't usually kick up a big fuss about going down and will entertain himself until he goes to sleep and when he wakes up.
i'm not saying that to show off at how good he is but to remind you that doing things that people say are bad habits now won't affect them in the long term and your children will learn to sleep properly, this phase doesn't last forever, honest!

hope that didn't sound patronising, I just re-read it and thought maybe I could have reassured you in a different way

potxola sorry that you are having problems with the sleeping of your LO. I am lucky that DD is fairly chilled out character, but still has trouble settling in her crib.

I may be shouted down for this, but I was recommended the Baby Whisperer. I had flicked through it before today, it all seems fairly common sense. But after yet another taxing night, thought I would read it properly. I found the most useful thing so far is the section that tells you how to read the actions and movements of your baby. I was slightly scornful until I sat and studied DD all day. And she is right. Quite a few of the signals that I was reading as hunger are in fact tiredness and over stimulation. Would normally have fed again and again at this point, but I have put DD twice as often today for naps after reading her cues. The first 2 times it was screaming meltdown city until (following BW tactics) she fell asleep. The third time (she had only been awake for 30 mins) she went down again. Sceptical as she had only just woken and fed but that was 1.5 hours ago and she is still sleeping.

We'll see but the baby cues section is certainly worth a look. Good luck!