Due in June - Thread 13

[CurryandSnuggle]

Will add tags separately as currently feeding bubba xx

@beansprout55 I still feel a bit "off" down there with some sort of soreness but it doesn't hurt or sting. I had an episiotomy and Ventouse delivery if that helps. Hope you feel better soon!

Hope all ok @ChildOfFriday?xxx

Thanks curry, prema and mrs29. Glad to know it doesn't necessarily mean uterine prolapse! So hard to want to do pelvic floors, so put off by it.

Anyone else have a windy baby? Mum told me to buy infacol. He screamed all of last night clearly in pain as he was passing excessive gas and several poops. Winding him during feeding doesn't seem to bring anything up.😞 he gulps air during BF sometimes, I don't see how our latch could be any better so don't know how I can improve that!
So yes, anyone else using infacol? Or have any tricks to stop the wind causing us both sleepless nights?

@beansprout55 Ive been using infacol since about 7 days old as baby just couldn’t shift his wind and it did seem to work a bit. He seems to have gotten better the last week and moving the wind more himself. I found that if I lie him down a for 2 minutes then wind him it comes up easier. I always wind over my shoulder also never just sit them on my knee and wind them that way.

@beansprout55 we’ve had to start with infacol. Dd keeps bringing her knees up and straining with a red face - sometimes crying. She didn’t poop yesterday but did this morning, and often strains to pass wind. When we try to wind her after a feed nothing comes out so assume it’s trapped or she doesn’t need winding… or we are doing it wrong. We’ve had three days of this, and she’s waking up in the night grunting and going back to sleep :( people say to try bicycle legs but doesn’t seem to help (and she locks her knees in place which doesn’t help!)
anyways, we are giving her a dropper at every feed, not sure she’s a fan of the taste or if it’s working yet (we’ve had one poop at 5am and nothing), but less uncomfortable and no tensing, so perhaps working already!

@MrsTwentyNine as long as you are expressing your milk supply won’t run dry, and baby isn’t going to just forget your nipples. I have heard of someone from the group that someone they knew went EBF after a few weeks of bottle feeding, so it can be done. Don’t despair!

Thank you @Vimto1991 that's true! I just need to keep trying my best to express more / put him to breast more. Hope you're doing okay!

Good tips. Another also really struggling with EBF. I haven't gone to formula, I express and give it in a bottle because he just fusses and cries so much and I know he's not getting enough through breast feeding as he doesn't stay on long enough! He feeds better on the boob if he isn't starving. Really hope this gets easier as I want to ditch bottles.

When did you all give babies their first bath? Been given mixed advice from MW.

I’m glad I’m not the only one struggling with BF! We’re still combi feeding using formula top ups, I finally got a decent electric pump so am trying to power pump every few hours so I can increase supply. I’m really struggling to find a comfy BF position though! Any ideas? I have to hold my boob out of her face a bit and also help her latch, so it doesn’t leave my hands free to lift her higher up. I end up with her on my lap on a cushion and get back ache.

@beansprout55 we ended up giving Faith her first semi-bath at a week old because she did a ginormous poonami! It seemed to be ok, we just kept water away from the cord area. I think you can bath them when you feel they might need more than a top and tail.

Also yes to the heavy feeling down below after giving birth. I only had a superficial graze but even so, it felt like my perineum was in shock for days and my bum felt kinda numb. But it’s all much better over a week later!

@beansprout55 our little one seems to have something like trapped wind too, and we are trying Infacol. It didn’t work for his sister, but she was vomiting more than anything. He doesn’t do that - he makes distressed noises and writhes around, which makes me think it could be wind. Otherwise, I think it’s just their digestive systems maturing and there isn’t that much you can do about that. I remember from our daughter the hours and hours trying to wind overnight, and I think we’re now at that stage with our son too. From memory it got a lot better at around three months, so hoping for similar this time.

We have given our son a couple of baths now, just with plain water. His cord stump fell off at one week and the midwife checked it at 10 days. We gave him his first bath that day.

@Rolledthedice I use a pillow under my breastfeeding cushion to bring him up higher, so I I don’t slump. That was the advice from the physio when my back went bad with our daughter.

It's good to hear we aren't the only ones with a grunty baby with trapped wind! It seems to really upset him sometimes and I'm not sure there's much you can do except wait until their digestive system matures

Ditto here regarding wind. We get a couple of episodes a day, and beyond changing his position, there's not much that seems to work. Apparently they need to learn how to relax certain muscles at the right time to poo, which I'm guessing is the problem.

So reassuring that others are experiencing the same.

I find that he's happier when I'm walking with and bouncing him, or lying on his stomach on my chest, but often it's just a waiting game.

@beansprout55 we gave first bath at 4 weeks as advised by both midwife and health visitor (and any natural course). Has one every night now and she loves it 💕

Everyone who's worried about trapped wind... It could be infant dyschezia. Lyra's been doing it for a few days now - lots of grunting and and straining, going red in the face and some crying (but not proper screaming). It's absolutely nothing to worry about and passes in a few weeks. I'm not a doctor and got this off the internet so this isn't a medical opinion! But it definitely matches what Lyra's experiencing. @RoseValleyRambles just realised this is the same as what you've suggested too!

@beansprout55 we gave Lyra her first bath around 10 days (her cord dropped off at 4) - more just to get her used to water than to actually clean her - and she loved it! We top and tail her most days so the bath is more for fun than because she actually needs it.

Congratulations to everyone who has had their baby! 💕
Baby Charlotte was born 10 days earlier on the 8th June, after an induction.
We've had quite a journey since then incl. jaundice, tongue tie, mastitis etc. We are also struggling to breastfeed. So I'm pumping, breastfeeding and bottle feeding at the moment which is quite time consuming. Hope things will get better after we've had the tongue tie procedure. Crossing fingers.
Is anyone else pumping the majority of the time? I'm struggling a bit in terms of frequency and supply.

Sorry I haven't managed to keep up with the thread over the past two weeks.
I hope everyone is managing. Sending much love. Xx

My baby also struggles to bring up her wind and seems very colicky, she can scream for hours and seems so unhappy. Im not particularly enjoying the newborn stage because of all the crying :(

We tried infacol but then we suspected silent reflux so we've tried baby gaviscon and I've read that infacol and gaviscon can make babies worse... 😫

@Annabell1 congratulations!!
can I ask what symptoms did you have for mastitis? I’m getting burning when feeding from my left breast, not entirely sure if it’s mastitis as I feel well in myself?

@Annabell1 I'm pumping more than BF as latch issues and baby has wind so is unhappy. Baby is only 5 days old, so I'm making sure I have 50ml for each feed, plus trying to breast feed before/after/during if he agrees! Then tomorrow it will be more and so on... I'm struggling big time, especially as I HAVE to be one step ahead with expressed milk. I'm sat here in tears as I just collected 60ml and as I was decanting it i lost about 50ml of it. I don't know what to do. Chugging down milk and waiting for the steriliser to finish to see if I can replace any of it.
It's so hard isn't it?

Baby wakes up and with his wind issues is very unhappy - takes an hour to get through a feed with me pausing for winding and cries. Then I need to settle him, then pump for half an hour. I then have about an hour, maybe two, until I do it all over again. I sleep 3/4 broken up hours in every 24 at the moment and I'm at breaking point - when will this get better?

@beansprout55 i know you haven’t gone onto it, but it may be worth using ready made formula, just to help you out at the moment, you may get a bit more sleep and peace of mind that baby is feeding that way. I don’t think there is any shame in it, and your baby will be none the wiser as they grow up (hey I was formula fed and I don’t care what my mom did as she did her best!)
I am 21 days deep, I’m still not producing enough during bf, I haven’t had time to express all week as baby has been wanting to fall asleep on me so I don’t think this has helped supply. I’m starting to want to be just formula fed at this point as it is tiring and I just want a happy and fed baby!! Doesn’t help my left breast burns so bad when baby feeds 😩 going to call my GP tomorrow and pray it’s not mastitis!!

@beansprout55 I'm formula feeding but I just wanted to say my baby is the same but she's 3 weeks old. She cried so much and struggles badly with her wind and I think reflux. It's so tiring :(

Hey @Vimto1991 thank you so much! ☺️ I really hope you don't have mastitis yet, so good you are seeing the GP today. My breasts were rock hard, lumpy, hot to the touch and red. If its getting worse you may also develop a fever. In the beginning she didn't latch at all and I didn't have a pump yet. Not a good combination 🙈.
@beansprout55 You are doing an amazing job, no matter how much milk you have! It is really hard. I cried so much over feeding the first two weeks. Please be kind to yourself. ❤️
I have given some formula as well and I will continue to do so in case I don't have enough milk. Please don't beat yourself up over your milk supply. Stress is not helping and it's exhausting enough. Can you contact a lactation consultant or breastfeeding team to check the latch? I'm for example only bottle feeding at night to get more sleep and my partner is doing the 11pm shift so I can go to sleep earlier. I'm also listening to the audiobook 'Mixed Up', which I find quite helpful. I hope you will find a way that works for you. Xx

DS continues to be cranky and do the red faced leg kicking thing. Last night we have in and tried a pacifier, and the effect was miraculous - he settled immediately and was much more able to self soothe. Worth a go if you're struggling with the same thing. Mam do a glow in the dark night one.

Our little man is finally here! He was born yesterday morning after we were called up to Labour Ward to continue induction on Monday afternoon. Unfortunately it was a more complicated birth than we were hoping for- due to being slow to progress, merconium in the waters and some heart rate concerns we were advised to go for a Caesarean when I got to 6cm, but now he is here he hopefully seems to be doing well and we are in love! Hope everyone is well

Congratulations @Annabell1 and @ChildOfFriday ❤️