jan 09; dream feeds, sod mummy's needs, shes on her knees...the one where it all starts to get better (hopefully)!

[fourlittlefeet]

here we are; a bit early, but one more task done. tick

Moose- i bought a funky laura lees dress off ebay last summer and it was great at weddings, also got a nice one by fever for a bargain price, both quite flattering and good if you have an ample boosoom!

Elkie- Haven't been to the clissold park one o'clock club, but take dd swimming there once a week now the pool has re=opened, it has great toddlers pool. Greenbaby is a bit for prices, i was walking past it in angel today and couldn't stop myself from going in. How's connor doing? Being a milk monster sounds promising

Have been checking out the internet for dresses, am llooking at this sort of thing and this kind of style which are both completely different!

hkz wow I love the Reem Acra one, it is magical. The 50's style one is lovely too, a bit more cheeky iykwim but I think I prefer the RA one because it does quirky AND fairytale beautiful..

heron best thing to do is to get in bed with lo and stay there all day- just feeding, snuggling... but I realise this is very difficult to achieve!

Think I'm getting mastitis- breast still v sore. Off for a bath.

heron - I'd stop expressing - you don't usually get as much mechanically as baby does which may be why you're 'short' of milk. as EPPM says lots of suckling will increase supply...

is it just one small bottle of formula? if so you could just stop let LO suckle and bring on milk, if its more you need to do it gradually to give your milk chance to catch up - as I understand it all supply and demand, so if you give formula you will make less milk IYSWIM.

EPPM have you tried combing your boob? I swear it's doing this that has shifted my numerous red patches and helped the mastitis.. have a bath / apply hot compresses, then put a little olive oil (or nice massage oil if you have it!!) on the boob and comb, in the direction of the nipple, with a wide-toothed comb. seems to work...

heron I agree with the suckling as the best way to increase supply this is a fab site which might give you some ideas you might've said, but why do you think you have too low a milk supply?

elkie that sounds like a crazy day . are you still standing??

moose how do you plan to lose the weight you want to? I really want to drop a dress size (don't know how much I weigh but I'm wanting to get back to being a 12, I'm a 14/16 at the moment). I don't want to muck up my milk supply .. at least that is my excuse for not cutting down on chocolate and exercising!!

Spink you are the same as me 14/16 hoping to get back to 12. I have done it before after putting on 4 stone with DS2. I start off with a total refined sugar detox, which is absolute hell for a couple of weeks but completely stops any cravings.

Then I get out my pedometer and walk my ass off (literally )! I make sure I walk a minimum of 12,000 steps a day, more if I can manage it. Food wise I tend to eat a huge bowl of porridge made with water and tonnes of fruit for breakfast, a snack of an alpro soya yoghurt after my morning walk and a huge green salad with grated or cottage cheese for lunch, another light snack after picking the boys up from school and some quorn or something with steamed veg or another salad or baked potato for tea. The one high fat thing I let myself have is avocado and lemon & corianer houmous on wholemeal toast - high fat, but good fat and really good for energy.

I think the main thing is the walking though, as it really gives me more energy and the impetus to carry on as I can see my body changing shape and feel my clothes getting loser as my bum, legs and tum tone up.

It shouldn't affect your milk supply as long as you make sure you are eating several small intakes of really nutritous food and make sure you build up the exercise slowly rather than exhausting yourself.

hkz glad I could help. Thanks for that, I will look up those designers tomorrow. Am off to bed now - totally shattered. Here's hoping the flippin dog sleeps tonight!

Lots of posts ladies.

spink/EPPM - i second the combing, my mother told me to do it, especially in/after a bath, and i'm sure i've fended off mastisis a few times.

Sunshine didn't come out to play here today

Off Home (childhood home - parents house, brighton) tomo for weekend. OH will join us late sat night after match.

Oh God. Had a good day in that I had sleep last night. Had a bad day in that I was guilt ridden for havind dd1 at ther nan's, and being glad as it made it easier to power shop for mothers day gifts for nanna's. Feel guilty about that too as I choose the cards and gifts not dd1.

Went to bf workshop thing with lactation consultant who made me feel wrong small and tiny. Yeah, so I'm feeding all wrong, both sides each feed although i was told that would raise the sugar she gets and therefore the wind - so I drain a side completely and offer 2nd obviously if still hungry, no point giving the lactase drops to assist her metabolising lactose, YET ought to go dairy free for 2 weeks, OBVIOUSLY never had breast duct thrush and antibiotics not required as the pain stopped too soon after starting the antibiotics, but keep taking them...., actually laughed when I asked if could be raynards syndrome which I'd heard could happen.

So am back expressing to try get gaviscon into dd2, who hates it in water, I have cold sores and I ache all over and I really do feel the pits.

Poor dh home to mental wife and he's on hs knees as he's only in his 2nd week of being out the house 6 til 6. Its a MASSIVE day tommorow including baby massage, chiropractor for all and jabs for Harriet. Plus its her poo day going on routine so she's full of desperate hate bless her boots , this afternoon and evening. And all dd1 wants is a little trip to the beach to dig a hole in the sand.

Where do I begin to try and fix this??????

Sorry, what a miserable old bag. Will go eat worms.

Oh, you poor thing tree - the lactation consultant sounds horrible.

I took ds1 to swimming lessons at Clissold Park, the pool had just reopened and it was great. If I can I'll try and book there for ds2 but it may not work, as he won't be 4 months until June and then summer holidays will get in the way. If I book for Sept though we'll get in half a course before I go back to work, and when I last looked they were about half the price of lessons at my nearest pool, plus can be booked online, which Haringey doesn't do!

tree how were the worms I hope they were chocolate ones filled with praline.
what a truly shitty day. Lactation person sounds absolutely rubbish. Maybe we can help you draft a scathing letter of complaint. I'm only half joking, bfing and coping with colicy babies is hard enough without that kind of 'support'..

Hope your massive day goes ok. Try to remember that it is not up to you and not possible for you to always 'fix it'. You're only human after all, peach.

elkie thanks for the reminder, I'm booking ds in for a swim session as soon as they open this am. He's lost confidence a bit because he had a bit of a break over christmas and new year but hopefully will be back to his splashy ways soon. We did Little Dippers classes with him and they were FAB. Plan to start them with Rosie in a couple of months!

i know i have lowsupply cos as the day goes on, when i express i get less and less milk.
i started expressing cos LO would not settle after a feed cos he was still hungry.

lying in bed allday bfing is not an option i'm afraid sounds good tho.

i guess it is not toobad he gets 2 feeds out of 5 in breast milk. the other 3 are formula.

morning

heron - I think everyone gets less as the day goes on (I certainly do) I wouldn't worry too much about that.

I can express twice as much at 10am to what I can express at 8pm....

Tree- You sound like you are doing a good job-Stop feeling guilty! Things vwill even out soon

Elkie- I take dd to thosev lessons they finish next week though, think i will sign her up for next term and ds can join in.

Have you been to the Lido in London fields? Its fab and worth checking out int he summer.

...just to finish last message!

I was really worried about low supply with DS1 and was told just to look at the weight the baby was putting on - if it was fine, then milk supply was fine (IYSWIM). This time I haven't worried and can see my supply varies through the day....

It is really hard when you can't see how much they are getting!

You can increase supply just by letting the baby suckle even when you are empty(they do this naturally too, my DS spent yesterday manically suckling (which makes you worry you don't have enough milk!)- result, this morning I looked like Jordan (only the boobs though!)

I'm still quite worried about feeding - C is doing plenty - he's feeding now - and he seems alert and not miserable and to have the wet and dirty nappies - but he's just not gaining weight very quickly. Have just been to see the health visitor and think the hospital is going to insist on formula top ups again.

oh dear elkie - but you have to go on what's right for baby and if he's not gaining weight it is probably the right thing to do.

elkie I'm clueless about weight gain and what babies are supposed to put on, so forgive me if I am talking rubbish - but if he is alert & has good nappies, does the lack of weight gain have to be a big problem? are you ok with giving formula top ups?

i read on net average for babies to gain is 4-6 ozs a week.
bracken started on the 75th centile and is now on the 25th centile she gains on average 3 ozs a week.
it is hard not to worry my dd1 has always been a really fussy eater.
she started on the 25th centile and went right below 0.4th centile and into the red saw paedatrician nothing wrong she has got better as she has got older. it just runs in the genes. dh was fussy as a child his dad was, i was. me and dh are bothj of small stature. i wouldnt worry as long as ds is alert and has dirty and wet nappies
all babies r different as far as weight gain is concerned

No knowledge on weight gain I'm afraid as mine have both been over-gainers rather than under-gainers - their mother is obviously a glutton. Can imagine it is stressful though, and hope hospital don't insist on more formula elkie. Is he still doing ok in terms of his actual weight? He must still be fairly big for his age, or does that not matter?

In good news, DS slept 11hrs straight last night. I'm still wondering if I fed him in my sleep and just haven't realised it. It will of course never happen again until he is at least 18mo, after all DD only just manages that now and she's almost 27mo.

Tree - hope lactation consultant was helpful in some ways, am sure you're not doing bf 'all wrong' if you've got this far with a colicky baby you must be doing something right imo. I never offer second side, have only done that once in 10 weeks. I find if I don't drain breasts completely then they get lumpy from blocked ducts and DS can only just empty one side. Its all subjective imo, I don't think there is a definitive best way to do things. Gaviscon is pretty ghastly tasting - DD was on it and would only take it in milk. You ok generally? Sound a bit down again?

Right off to look at hkz's wedding dresses....

I'm not worried that ds is gaining slowly ithe sense that I think he's well and I know he's eating, really! But no, I don't want to ggive formula top ups, in case it screws up bbreastfeeding

The display went very weird just now!

The problem with the theory of topping up is that if you feed baby less your body stops producing so much milk. Also, I find mixing feeds correctly and all the washing and sterilising a real chore. And mix feeding, particularly trying to do both at every feed (as opposed to more common methods like replacing a breastfeed with a bottle of formula) may be a compromise but it has almost all the disadvantages of both methods.