April 2010 - our little bundles are here!

[lineky]

Thought I'd start a Post-Natal thread as there are so many of us now sorry about the uninspired name.
Well I am slowly realising the sleepless nights thing is no myth - VERY tired!

Bettymum sorry to hear your having bother with feeding. Could it maybe be the latch? Could you get someone to check for you? You should also rule out other possible causes of pain like mastitis or thrush? We are having a bit of a feeding dilemma just now too. Eilidh used to be in bed every night between 7'30 and 8pm. In the past couple of weeks she has been up later and has been feeding for up to 4 hours on and off. I think that my supply is slow at night and its taking ages for her to fill up. My dp thinks that I should consider a formula feed at nighttime but the thought is upsetting me so much. I've built it up in my head to be a terrible thing if I don't exclusively breastfeed. I know its irrational but I even cried thinking about it last night. Anyone got any thoughts on this? I will try expressing in the meantime to top up at night but not sure I can express enough every day as 6.5 oz wasn't enough for her the other night!

I've been mixing formula feeds and breast feeds since Jude was a couple of weeks old, and aI've often felt like a failure...partly also due to the fact that Makenzi was exclusively breastfed longer than Jude. I totally understand where you're coming from harverina, but when I look at Jude now, I see a contented lil boy who has a full tummy, and is full of happy smiles for his mummy cuz she's done evereything he needs her to do. I think men find it hard to understand and appreciate the way we may feel about it, cuz my partner just shrugs it off with throw away comments that he thinks will make me feel better, but they used to frustrate me and make me feel even more stupid and upset.
Just a thought but are you making sure you eat enough during the day, cuz I read that by not consuming enough calories, you use up what you need for your own energy, and by evening time, it can be the equivalent of giving your baby semi skimmed milk rather than full fat, therefore making baby hungrier much more quickly. If you do give a formula feed, don't beat yourself up about it, Eilidh will be happy at having a full tummy...and you could always try and express to replace the next days formula feed with an expressed bottle, but if you don't manage to express a full bottle then don't worry. xx

Princess thanks for that lovely reply. I know your right, of course you are. And you are not a failure at all for mixing feeds. You did what you had to for your baby. How come I can tell you that though and not accept that myself?! I have managed to express 7oz for tonight. Will start by feeding eilidh myself then get her dad to use bottle to top her up. Fingers crossed! If it doesnt work i'm going to try a formula feed tomorrow night. Do you find it affects your supply? I was thinking about feeding her myself then giving her formula only when needed? Can I do this or do I have to do one or the other?

Your welcome...and thank you for yours too! Sometimes as mum's we are our own worst enemies!!!
No, my supply is fine, and even if I express quite late at night (I do always make time to express, I usually get between 4-10ozs), I find I still have enough milk to feed Jude whenever he wakes during the night time/early mornings. I then try and express again in the morning, sometimes, (like today) I still haven't done so, and feel full, so I will just express as much as I can in one go. If on any one day, you give more formula feed than usual,(ie more than 2 bottles say ) maybe try and make time to express, just so you know you're not affecting your milk supply, (and the expressed milk can then be used the following day instead iof a formula top up) but the odd top up bottle I've found always to be ok. Glad you're feeling better xx

Hi Princess and harverina, thanks for your replies.
I ended up going to the GP on Friday afternoon, luckily she had an appointment available, and she has prescribed oral Daktarin cream to put in Alexander's mouth and also on my nipples. She couldn't see anything on either of us, but she thought the pain symptoms sounded like it might be thrush. It might be my imagination, but it seems to feel better already...maybe it was the distraction of feeding him at the zoo .
Harverina, I know exactly what you mean about the formula thing, the GP suggested doing one formula feed a day to give myself a break, but I don't want to given that I exclusively BFed DD. It's silly because the only person it would bother is me, I'm sure Alexander would be quite happy, and obviously there are millions of healthy, happy formula fed babies out there. Anyway, I will see how it goes over the weekend and will still go to the mums and babies group on Monday to see what they think.

Bettymum glad your feeling better today. Princess, thanks so much for all the advice you have given me. Tonight has been brilliant. Eilidh took an expressed bottle from my dh after her bath. My plan was for her to take a bottle first and for me to then feed her, however, she fell asleep while feeding from the bottle and was in bed just after 8pm. Last night she took a small bottle from my dh and I then fed her and she was in bed for 8pm and slept till 6am. We went to baby massage yesterday for the first time so I gave eilidh a massage before her bath tonight. She was so relaxed so think that this has helped too. Delighted tonight. We bought aptamil today just in case but only plan to use it if my expressed milk and breastfeed doesnt fill eilidh up in the evenings. I expressed this morning after feeding eilidh at 6am then 10am and I also expressed tonight. Feel that this will be manageable every day. So will just see how it goes. I'm ashamed to admit that I started to cry in tesco when we were looking at formula. My poor dh! He is so supportive and tries his best to understand. Think my hormones must be all over the place. Hope you are all well and have had a nice saturday. We went to the shops today. Had a lovely day thought made myself depressed trying things on. I felt great just bever having eilidh as I lost the baby weight quickly but have started to gain weight. Still have a hole in my c section wound and i'm not really able to excersize. Desperate to go swimming and get rid of this fat!

Sorry for all the typos i'm on my phone tonight!

That's great Harverina xx
I think finally my sister is about to give birth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's a week late today, and been having false alarms all week...sooooooooo excited !! I've been on the phone to her for 2 hours, finally managed to get her off it, but know she'll be ringing me again to call her back in no time...my phone bill's going to be huge...I'll be hiding from dp when it comes in lol

Good luck to your sister Princess! x

Hi all. I have been keeping up to date with all your posts but haven't posted for a while.

I think I'm finally reading ds's signs, it's only taken 12 weeks so hopefully napping during the day will get easier!

Since posting last we've had one of the scans on his kidneys. We haven't had any results and my appt with the consultant isn't until 31 August. I am going to phone this week to see if he is still to have the other scan too. I feel very much in the dark about what is happening. I don't like the thought of him being on antibiotics all this time. I know it's only a little bit but it's just so long term.

Other than that he is doing great. He was a whopping 17lb 10 oz when he was weighed on Tuesday. He is such a chubby . He is a real charmer and I'm enjoying him a lot more now than when he was a few weeks old and always crying.

Wow mistymoo 17lb 10 at 12 weeks!! I thought George was huge weighing 15lb 7oz at 12 weeks
I really hope the kidney thing gets sorted soon. A friend of mine whose baby is a few weeks older than also has issues with his kidneys and found it difficult getting appointments & had to keep chasing the hospital up. I think he's had the all clear now though. Fingers crossed for you it all gets sorted soon.

Haverina so pleased to hear that the expressing is going well. I've given up offering George a bottle now as he was taking less & less. He was having the occasional carton of aptamil if I hadn't had time to express & I did feel hugely guilty which I found odd as I really didn't expect to have those feelings! Anyway he's back to being exclusively breastfed now & seems to be thriving - even managed to get him to sleep until 7.30am on sat & sun mornings! Up at 5 today though

Hiya everyone, thanks for the congrats!

princess how's your sister? Has she given birth?

Has everyone lost their baby weight gains? I still feel like I'm made of jelly and can't get into trousers smaller than an 18 and need to get into my leopard wedding dress soon. The Wii Fit is arriving today!!!!
Fingers crossed.

helen, Eilidh fusses alot on the breast at night too, so I can undertand why you are giving Noah a bottle at night. I have been expressing like mad so that my DH can give Eilidh a top up at night. Even the smallest top up seems to make her more settled. Tonight I didn't BF her at all after her bath and I missed feeding her so much. Did not anticipate feeling like this when I was pregnant - I was actually quite relaxed about the whole thing - I had formula and bottles as a back up and had the attitude "if I can do it, fine, if I can't also fine"...where has my relaxed attitude gone?! I hope that I didn't make anyone feel bad by telling you all how guilty I've been feeling about considering formula.

Glad to hear that the zantac is helping helen. Eilidh suffers from mild reflux and it can be distressing at times when she is very sick, so I feel for you.

zeeky, did George take the aptamil ok? Did you find it affected your supply?

Eilidh was up at 3am last night - this is the first time that she hasnt slept through the night for weeks so it was a bit of a shock to the system ! Hoping that it was a one off, but not convinced as her sleeping patterns have been all over the place recently.

princess any news about your sister?

Hope you are all well.

oh you lucky people with babies who sleep through the night!!! Romy is a whopper too at just over 14lb but will wakes twice for a feed......so so tired now!!
Sorry about the silent reflux helen, hopefully the medication will settle him quickly, a friend of mine had exactly the same thing with her baby girl and I swear she was a different baby after 2 weeks of meds!
my baby weight is here to stay i think , I just feel huge and my stomach is like a map of Milton Keynes with stretch marks....
anyone else's baby displaying early signs of stranger anxiety? Romy burst into tears when a girl at Isabel's nursery said hello! Isabel was terrified of everyone for a few months at this age...sighs.....x

Hi all. Nice to read that you're all getting on quite well.
H is another whopper of a baby - 16lbs 10oz at her 4 month jabs! She started rolling over yesterday and was awake for 1.5hours last night trying to develop her new skill
H has only slept through the night twice so I'm also a bit of those of you who're getting lots of sleep.
We've booked her christening for 6 weeks on Sunday so I started my healthy eating plan yesterday. I still have half a stone to lose from my pregnancy and 1.5 stone of flub to lose after that. My target is Christmas.

Congrats on your engagement Rumple

Neeko, eilidh tries hard to roll over but can only do it if she is already lying on her side. She gets really frustrated trying when she is in bed. I really do know how lucky I am that eilidh sleeps through most nights. She is a star. She slept till 6.45am this morning. Some mornings she wakens at 5am but I even think that is brilliant. Think baby massage has been helping eilidh settle this week too. Sorry to as a personal question but has anyone had a period yet? I have had a very mild period this week. Very disappointed! Neeko well done for starting a healthy eating plan. I just can't get motivated but feel terrible when I see how fat I am. All my friends are so skinny. You'd think that would motivate me. We are thinking about organising e's christening for when she is roughly 8 months. I'd love to lose a bit of weight by then. Wonder if I will still have an open c section wound then?!

Harverina, I've had some light spottting a couple of times, but nothinh heavy yet. (Sorry if tmi!!)

And yay...my sisiter finally had her babay on Monday afternoon...a little girl named Acacia Freya, 8lbs 4oz. My sister had been worrying she wouldn't be able to deliver a baby over 7 lbs!!! I did eally feel for her, as she had a hard time over the last couple of weeks..it was false alarm after false alarm, and contractions starting than trailing off into nothing. She went into hospital Wednesday I think and was 2cm dilated, and they sent her home until she was 3cm. She was worried she wouldn't be able to tell lol...it's not as if you have a tape measure for dilation!! Midwife Friday said she was still 2cm and did a stretch n sweep, went into hospital at weekend with trickling, thinking it was her waters, and was told she was constipated and this was preventing baby from 'pushing' through, and had to have a suppository, and her waters were still intact!! By Sunday she was a bit of a mess...just really worn out and sore...throughout all of this she had been having contractions since Friday. She finally got to 3cm on Monday morning, and managed to get into labour ward, and then things happened pretty quickly. She felt like she needed to push at 3 1/2cm, while in birthing pool, and popped her waters (her words!!), and within an hour she had Acacia, but she had pooed inside and neede to be taken for a couple of minutes as she was a bit blue. It was a bit of a shock for Annie to have a girl...she's been adamant that she was having a boy!! Hehe, I was right!!
She's home now, and I STILL haven't seen so much of a photo...oops phones ringing and I have a strange suspicion that's her now!!! xx

aw congratulations to your sister princess.

helenwombat kacie has significant reflux, it was awful at first. she was never awake and content, she had hiccups all the time, and seemed to choke on spit a lot. then there was the vomit. it would flood out of her mouth and nose sometimes hours after feeding and there was loads! my health visitor told us to try sma staydown (i had already given up breastfeeding) it took a couple of weeks on the new milk and then she was like a different baby. it has worked wonders. she's been on it for at least 3 months now and only has little dribbles of sick and is a very content little baby.

i am pretty much back to pre pregnancy weight now but my belly is still bigger and very jellified! i can fit into most of my pants but they are very tight and make my belly bulge out so still sticking to the bigger sizes. i want to lose another half a stone though as i had gained a bit of weight before i got pregnant. + really want to tone my belly up but too lazy at the moment

Haverina George didn't seem to care if it was formula or breastmilk - he just didn't want to take much from the bottle fullstop! Didn't seem to affect my supply. I would often feel overfull in the morning so would express then as could get plenty out quickly. Planning to reintroduce the bottle when we start solids & hopefully he'll take it better then. That's how it worked with DS1.

Had a few good night with George but back to waking at anytime between 3 & 5 this week

Got George's christening on Saturday. Still got half a stone of baby weight to lose which is sitting round my middle. I can get into all my old clothes but have a big muffin-top hanging over the top - yuk! Managed to find a nice dress from Monsoon to wear to christening with a high waistline which hides most of the bulge The bigger issue is wether or not George is going to fit into the christening robe - it's 150 yrs old & very delicate. It's the reason we're having him christened so quickly at only 13 weeks as otherwise he will be too big!

Hope the reflux settles down soon helenwombat. DS1 suffered from it mildly & that was bad enough so really feel for you.

Did anyone just see GMTV? They were discussing losing baby-weight. New guidelines say that you shouldn't start to diet for at least 6 to 9 months after birth especially if you are breastfeeding. Woohoo, chocolate cake here I come

Harverina No period here. Didn't get one until about 6 months with DD1 so will feel really cheated if it comes earlier than that.

Congratulations Auntieprincesstweetz

zeeky you've just given me hope for the bottle. I'd be more than happy to keep bf after 6 months if I knew i could get out sometimes.

Right off to check GMTV's website although I'm only eating healthily, not dieting.

Zeeky It just said not to calorie count. No mention of cake

Thats good news zeeky, so I have another 2 months of eating rubbish?! No, I have to start eating less rubbish as its making me feel awful. I can get my pre-pregnancy clothes on but alot of them are tight - the jeans dont fit the same anymore since my tummy is much lower!

Can't remember if you have mentioned this already but have you tried a sippy cup instead of a bottle? Tommy Tippee do one from 4 months I think.

Congrats tro your sister princesstweetz, sounds like she had a long labour! All worth it in the end though I'm sure .