July 09 - Sore ladybits and melons for tits! [grin]

[Quiltedrose]

Ok so there's only 2 of us so far but felt duty bound as the first July delivery to start the thread off!

'Pop' in when you're ready!!

Hi everyone Abigail is 12 days old can't quite believe she has been here nearly two weeks already , BF is going well she is over her birthweight already but is still slightly jaudiced so has to be checked again in one week time , she also has to have a hip scan due to being breech for so long

becca Having a salt bath is really healing for your wound after i had my appendix op they recommened it to help heal the wound It sounds like it would sting but doesn't and it does help with healing

I am also starving all the time eating much more than when pregnant and drinking loads too have a permnant thirst !
My DH is back to work next week and I am dreading it , its just juggling everything as well as BF and he goes back the day they break up from school

Hello everyone, sorry haven't caught up but somehow been insanely busy, can't believe DD2 is 2 weeks today (well, in an hour she will be).

At work this afternoon, LO asleep, equipped with sling, nursing cushion and hope to get a couple of hours stuff done so don't have to squeeze stuff in at home. And yes, I know it's bonkers but still think it's easier than teaching someone else to do this one bit of my job - DP is covering the rest.

Will be back to scan all the messages I've missed, particularly in case there are any BF or sling questions outstanding (although I know there is plenty of other help out there )

x

Hello

I'm here officially now, Noah Rhys born on Friday 10th July at 9.50am, 8lb 10oz.

I've rambled on about his birth on the antenatal thread

Hi everyone

DP back a t work today....!!! I actually feel full of beans, I think I'll get more things done now he's not here cos it's been like a bit of a holiday having him home.

Arh he's just been to say bye and cried! He is such an emotional bloke!

DD1 is at nursery but only 3 days a week till the end of the month then she's home full time apart from pre-school hrs! Eeek, god knows how I'll cope, hopefully it will all be a breeze

Gillyan your DP sounds lovely - very sweet for him to be missing his family. Glad you're feeling with energy too.

Phoenix Congrats!!

BF - Lydia thanks for the rugby hold tip re tongue tie. It seems to work a lot better when feeding on my right side. I just can't come to grips w/it for my left so sticking to cross cradle there.

I wonder though, when does bf get easier?!!? I have the added issue of the the tongue (although tie snipped on Fri) still not extending as it should but still...I still having to deal with sore breasts and nipples. I am also not very confident in getting a good latch unless on the sofa (with the help of pillows at times) which means I am housebound. My poor other DC's are getting restless.

Speaking of which...

Other DC's how are you coping ? Queenfee Mum2b3g and anyone else with 2 other DC's or more
How are you finding it? Are they getting restless? Do you find CBeebies is on most of the day (or is that just me) . My 2 are doing relatively well with DS2 and me but but are getting BORED and when they are bored they get tantrumous, start to fight and just become a general pain!

Oh the joy of these early days.

hi everyone...well after feeling smug about bill sleeping for 3 hour periods he was feeding last night from 2til 5!! i eventually tried to feed him lying down as was so tired nodded off, he unlatched himself and back on to the top of my aereola and i now have what looks like a mahooosive love bite on my nipple!!
misspaella i am the same can feed fine from my left boob but my right is still sore especially now it has a love bite on it!! it does feel like tis getting a bit better but i too feel housebound as i need pillows for rugby hold!!
me and dp are so tired from last night we've let dd watch dvds and cbeebies all day!
have a bit of embarassing thing to ask but my lady bits feel fine as had no stitches but when i go for a pooh it feels like im poohing glass!! argh its awful any advice?? is this normal?? ive started up on lactulose to try and soften it a bit but its a killer!! hope everyone is good x

Hi guys, been to the docs and I've got an infection in my section wound, a skin infection around it tioo and they've not sticthed it right on one side and thats why it's not healing. Got steroids and anti biotics and a cream for it, so hoping this works.

lydia pooing glass!?? My god, sorry no advice other than gets to the docs or ask MW's if you are still under them, hope you're ok xx

misspaela I've got DD1 home for thenext 2 days for the first time onmy own so I'll ave to see how often cebeebies is on! I'm going to my friends ( who is my hairdresser ) tomorrow for the day, I am havomg all my black colour stripped out and I'm going bright red! yey, I love changing myhair! She has a baby almost 4 wks older than Summer and also a 3 yr old so we shoudl have a fun day and DD1 should be quite occupied, don't know what I'll do Thursday yet.

Off for my firts bath of the day ( doc says I need 3! ) can't just go and have bath with a baby to look after and jobs to be done!

gillyan oh no! hope they sort things out for you. They said 2 baths a day to me which is laughable I have just about managed 1. Incidentally my stiches are now disolving which is a relief as they were pulling.
missp My darling DCs only just survived the weekend as they were playing up so much. We so need to get back to normal routine and do things - they have been better since back at school but they break up on thursday - help! I usually find that most people have solved all their BF issues by 6-8 weeks hope that it's sooner for you.
mij any tips re breastfeeding in a ring sling - the sling is proving invaluable as it leaves my habds free but if I could feed in it it would help so much. missp if you haven't got 1 I think it may help the whole sibling problem

Hi guys

lydia could you have piles?? I know they hurt like hell when trying to go! Also, lots and lots of water to keep it soft, fresh fruit and veg etc

gillyan ouch! you poor think I hope you feel better with it soon! And there's me complaining about my stitches!

misspaella how's it going with the bf now? once your nipples start healing and you lose the pain from that it should be so much easier for you

phoenix congratulations! What a gorgeous name!

Had my first HV visit today - thankfully it is with DD's HV anyway so I know her really well and it was her that got me sorted when we moved down here with the PND and everything.
Isaac is doing really well and the little milk monster has put on 14oz in just under a fortnight! Yay gold-top booby milk!! He's gone from 7lb5oz at birth to 8lb3oz today!
HV is really pleased with progress but is coming back next week anyway to do my PND questionnaire and to weigh him again.

Does anyone have any recommendations on breastfeeding tops? I am looking on e-bay and asking around at the moment as I don't have any at all. I want one with either the full length under material or one with the flap of material that comes to just under the boobs. I need something nice and discreet but cool in this weather! I will be out and about loads with the various activities we do with DD and also BF support group and I want to be comfortable and not faffing with the 3 layers of clothing I'm having to wear at the moment to hid my tummy/keep my boobs in!

Love to all xxx

H&M have a lovely range of BF tops. I've not used them personally but know loads of people who do. Apparently it can be a bit hit and miss wheather they have them in though so prob best to call 1st.

Alfie was re weighed yesterday and has gone from 8lb 9 at birth to 9lb 7!! Another gold topper here He's such a guzzler it's not really a suprise though. He has started being a bit sicky too so hoping it's not the start of reflux and that it's just the wee monster being a bit greedy!

Bought some inbetween jeans yesterday and feel so much thinner and normal today because of them. Just need to get me some lovely tops now.

Well done Alfie!!

Is there room for a little one over here?
Hetty has just had some boob and a tiny formula top-up (Mummy's milkman is yet to arrive). Daddy now spoiling supervising his daughter - Mummy going to have a bit of a kip so I'm not stopping, but I just wanted to pop in and say Hi All .

Hi JetLi

Love Hetty's name! So cute - my youngest cousin is a Hetty!

Hey everyone and congrats to all the new arrivals!

Beccabump BF going ok. Still clipping my nipples but I am persevering with tongue extension exercises and different feeding positions. Some feeds are great and some are teeth gritting. I hear it can take up to a month to really notice a difference from having tongue tie snipped. I also take painkillers as and when needed to get through the day. It really is feed, feed, feed!

Baby weight LO was just weighed for the 1st time yesterday (day 10) and he has put his birth weight back on. MW explained that they no longer weigh until day 10 as it can undermine BF and they really do not recommend lots of weigh ins. She said to me as long as he is weeing, pooing, and seems happy then I am doing a good job feeding. I really wish they were like that when I had DS1. I ended up 'topping up' with him after he dropped too much weight from birth and they were on at me about his weight (which led to mix feeding which led to bf finishing at 4 1/2 months - )

Anyway
DD is with her grandparents today until tomorrow and just have my 2 DS's with me as DH in Holland for work. I plan on snuggling with my 2 boys w/a takeaway pizza and DVD's.

I have a horrible cold so this is perfect.

Bums mine is still sore when doing a no 2. I feel like I am giving birth again. ARGH

Hope everyone is going ok.

misspaella well done on persevering with the bf! hope you enjoy the pizza with your boys

bums just realised why I am so sore still - I totally forgot about the rather large 'hole' they fixed at the back wall of my bits! I have been so sore with the ahem labial grazes (more like huge rips!) that I had forgotten all about that bit and it must be the bruising and healing that is killing me right now! It was pretty deep and the mw demonstrated by showing me how much of her fingertip fitted in there - oh the joys of post-birth flashbacks!!

weight gain our mw's here are now being pretty good about the weight gain/breastfeeding thing. Ours still like to do regular weigh ins but are much less fussed about the bf babies gaining weight quickly. They are also using the new charts in the red books designed to plot bf weight gain.

pnd been feeling really off today - thought a summer baby would help but it's like the blooming swamp of despair here we've had so much rain! DD is going bonkers from having to stay in - I'd usually let her out in wellies and raincoat but it's too bad even for that! It's cloudy and miserable and my dreams of sitting in the garden in the sun having a nice time bf'ing have gone out the window for now.

We were sent back up to the hospital with Noah yesterday as he had lost more than 10% of his birth weight when mw weighed him. She worked it out to a 16% loss, he was 8lb 10oz at birth and 7lb 5oz yesterday . She sat with me while i fed him and then weighed him again and it had gone up so we know he is putting it on. Hospital just checked him over and asked lots of questions and were satisfied that now my milk had come in we should be ok. He is feeding slightly better now. I expressed 3oz yesterday which he polished off at 3am this morning, he then slept til 6.30

becca hope your blues lift and the wetaher gets better soon for you

phoenix Hope you are ok and Noah is doing well.

All fine here, I think the bathing, drying with a hair drier and applying the magic cream is working as my wound seems to be not as bad!

Had all my hair died totally red and I love it! I love not having to work ( where my red hair would astound the snotty lovely bakners )

Babe is doing well, had a really good night last night - bottle at 10.30pm (me asleep for 11.10 ) bottle at 2.10 am ( back to sleep for 2.40 am ) and then woke at 6.10 (DP fed me strauight back to sleep ) Me - woke up at 9am!!! To find a brew next to my bed and DP had got DD1 up and dressed andhe had only woken at 8.30!! ( he doesn't strat work till 9.30 so he just had time ) Hope tonight goes the same.

Had nad rain here too this afternoon

Congrats to new arrivals

queenfee I haven't fed in a ring sling often, but I find it's important to make sure the material isn't too bunched, so you can release the inside rail a little without the whole thing going too baggy and too low. When I feed in a pouch, I put the babe the other way around (so in a RS, head away from the ring) and stick her feet out of the pouch so she isn't sloping head down, and then just pull down the inside bit of material to latch on. It will probably take a bit of trial and error, and will also depend on nork size/angle of dangle! It will probably require at least one hand to support babe's head to start with - the only time I've managed to BF completely hands free on the move was in a woven wrap as it's so supportive. HTHs

DD1 having a major wobble this week - very insecure and needing lots of mummy time, and rejecting DP, which is making him sad. Also had about 4 lots of wet pants/trousers today. Trying very, very hard to stay calm about it!

Activity I'm a big fan of co-sleeping (cos I'm a big fan of doing whatever gets everyone the most sleep ) but if you're not up for it, have you tried any of these things:

• warming moses basket before transferring babe
• putting something in it that smells of you, like a nicely ripe pyjama top for example, on top of the sheet
• dotting used breast pads around the basket (didn't work for us but works for some)
• wedging something like a rolled up towel behind babe so he is a bit on his side

Just a few thoughts .

PS MWs don't do any weighing before 10 days here, for exactly that reason - it can seriously undermine confidence in, and therefore success of, BFing. DD2 wasn't weighed til 12 days and apart from being discharged, and assuming there are no other health issues ahead of us, I won't get her weighed again. Frequent weigh-ins can catch underlying health problems and may even save lives, but how many Mums really need their baby to be weighed before they know its not thriving? It's hard not to worry though, isn't it. and let's face it, if Sidney has been having just colostrum until now he's not going to be piling on the pounds just yet, is he!

Sending warm milky vibes!

Midwife just been and Noah's gone from 7lb 5oz (3315kg) on Wednesday to 7lb 9.5oz (3480kg) today

His birth weight was 8lb 10oz so a bit to go but getting there

well done noah and phoenix! activity

charlie is happy enough in his basket, IF he is swaddled.
this one is the best one, there is another more common technique which you fold down a corner and fold from there, but i find this method is better, tighter and easier to remember.

honestly, it makes all the differance makes them feel like they are being held.
HTH

Yay for noah

Becca I?m feeling the same about the weather, not managed one lovely day in the garden yet

Dp went back to work yesterday so last two days have been harder. I did manage to get to the hospital on my own for her hearing test though so feeling pretty pleased. Mind you she didn?t wake up the whole time, not in the car or in the test!

Activity the mw here wait until 10 days to weigh too so try not to worry about weight loss yet. Milk coming in should make a big impact.

I had a good night last night only woke for feeding at 1, 4 and 8am. Having trouble getting her to sleep long enough (not on me) to have a shower today though.

wind does anyone have any burping tricks they can share? I think my milk letdown is too fast and causes loads of uncomfortable wind