Due May 2024? Part 3

[Sa11yCinnamon]

Just kicking off a new thread, hoping no one else does it at the same time!

@Athena1984 hope all is ok, keep us posted xx

@Clarkey34 pretty scary to hear those sounds! I haven’t updated here in a while but my little girlie has a few different issues going on one of which is a large VSD which she will need a surgery to repair

Ive probably been more anxious than most in terms of not wanting to let her get too worked up. So post jabs yesterday was a stressful time

Shes soooo much better today though thanks. And actually she was over the worst of it by night time. 😊

Does anyone have any tips for a blocked milk duct? It's so painful and I really don't want it to turn into mastitis!

@junebuglb I'm glad you had a good night & she is feeling much better now.

Totally understandable why you've been a bit anxious. I hope you & DD are doing ok. Do you have an idea when surgery will be?

We’ve not had a great week. My HV has been pretty rubbish from the start but this is the cherry on the top! Firstly she didn’t book the 5/6 week review appointment despite the health concerns my little girl has around cmpa and potential reflux. I called the HV number on Monday and she said she’s going on holiday but someone would call on Wednesday to arrange the visit, nothing. I called again on Friday morning and really had to fight to get someone to come visit and do the checks.

Turns out the feeding advice the HV had given me after apparently over feeding my baby previously has now led to her dropping 2 percentiles. I knew she wasn’t gaining weight properly but was frightened to feed her more because I’d been told only do the bottle every 4 hours. There was times where we couldn’t wait and I’d feed her after a couple of hours anyway but it’s evidently still not been enough. A different HV saw me and she was quite alarmed by the lack of care we’ve received (the infant feeding team didn’t see me in the hospital before I left either which apparently should happen for all FTMs) I told her I feel like I’ve not been listened to by my HV at all and haven’t had any support as I even had to contact the GP myself to get the formula for her Cmpa. In my area dropping 2 centiles is an automatic referral to peads at the hospital which obviously sent me over the edge and I did not want to spend the weekend in hospital waiting for someone to see me. The new HV said she’s not going to do the referral yet because I’ve followed bad advice so I’ve got the weekend to feed on demand and get a bit of weight on her with another check up on Monday. If she’s not gained anything by Monday we’re off in to hospital so hopefully there’s an improvement.

I’m utterly furious about the whole thing, I shouldn’t have to fight for these things so I will be putting a formal complaint in. The new HV said I could request to change to her if I didn’t feel comfortable going back to my original one so I’ve asked for that to happen.

My poor baby has been hungry and uncomfortable because of shitty advice. For context, she weighed 8lb 9 at 3 weeks, at 6 weeks she’s only gone to 9lb 2.

@SarahB88 that's terrible, I hope doing it your way over the weekend has the desired effect and you can avoid hospital x

@Sa11yCinnamon Thank you, it’s such a worry but sounds like we’re getting the right support now so hopefully on the right path now.

@SarahB88 I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through that. I really hope now that you’ve got some better advice things start to improve.

I’ve been relying on the health visitors on the Peppy app, which I get via my work, and have found them really helpful.

@PeppedUp that’s really interesting to hear you’re getting that through your work, we were in the process of looking at an EAP that offered similar before I went off but it had to go on pause until I return so I’ll bear Peppy in mind.

I’ve got a much happier baby this weekend, no colic signs yesterday and she’s done at least one poo every day since Friday now which she’s never done before. Here’s hoping we’re on the right track now.

@SarahB88 really glad to hear things are looking up! X

I just posted this in infant feeding, but I'm not sure how much traffic that gets so thought I'd paste here too in case anyone has any advice or opinions 😊

My baby is four weeks old and currently exclusively breast fed. I'm enjoying feeding him, he's gained a really good amount of weight so I'd say it's going well.

My partner wants to be able to do more to help at night, as obviously I'm up for hours. I'd like to try the baby on a bottle soon anyway and am going to start trying to express milk this week, but build up a little stash before giving it to him.

My partner wants to be able to help sooner (as I'm sort of a tearful zombie at the moment) and suggested formula which I really don't want to do before I know if I can pump enough, or alternatively that I do all the feeding and he does all the soothing and settling - we've done this a bit already but I feel bad waking him if he's asleep and I'm already up, so would be a more even split.

Just wondering if anyone has any other suggestions? Or reassurance that baby will start to sleep more soon (wishful thinking there!) 😂

You will need to pump at every missed feed anyway to keep your supply @Sa11yCinnamon so not sure if that changes your mind.

Personally if breastfeeding is going well I would stick with it as the feed times will get better. I’m obviously not doing that but my friend has a baby a little older than mine and she tried to pump so her husband could help with feeds and to make night feeds quicker. Pumping was stressful because she wasn’t producing much and then it was stressful trying to get the baby to take formula because he wouldn’t take the bottle. She ended up going back to EBF, her little boy will be 8 weeks old in a couple of days and she says it’s much easier now.

Not sure if that helps ☺️

@SarahB88 it helps and it doesn't 😂 I want him to be able to have a bottle if I'm out, in time and have read this is a good time to start. I guess I just need to figure out the right routine and ratio, if he will take it!

@Sa11yCinnamon Try lots of different teats until you find one that works for him! We’re on Tommy tippee now as she was just sucking in so much air with the mam ones. We might move to dr browns for a slower flow but we’re trying carobel thickener to help with the reflux at the moment so don’t want to give her a slower flowing teat at the same time.

I can only give advice on my own situation but this is the third baby I’ve done it with 😀 I waited until 6 weeks when breastfeeding was established and then I introduced one formula feed a day. Personally I don’t get on with expressing and I haven’t got the time to sit and pump either and I’ve never had much success at getting good amounts. I like giving a bottle once a day as it means baby gets used to having one, and it means my husband can do one feed. We give the bottle between 22:00-23:00 and then she settles much better in her cot for 2-3 hours. It means I still spend the evening cluster feeding and then I feed overnight as well when she wakes. I don’t pump at the missed feed and I’ve never had issues with my supply. I’ve done the same with all 3 and they’ve all been fine with breast and bottle. I would probably advise just to hang on another couple of weeks to ensure your feeding is properly established x

Hey @Sa11yCinnamon, I’m pumping a bottle a day at the moment so my partner can feed overnight - it’s worked really well for us.

I’ve got a manual pump and usually pump around 9/10pm, pop the bottle in the fridge, give a final feed to my son around 30 minutes later and then my partner gives the bottle at either the first or second feed so I get a longer stretch of sleep (at the moment it’s usually 60-70ml and I add baby vitamins and sometimes some left over colostrum). We have a NUK express baby bottle warmer, which makes it easy for my partner to heat when he’s half asleep. For me, pumping takes about 10 minutes if it’s been long enough since baby had a feed. Occasionally, I mess up timings and then it’s a bit more work.

I didnt do research into pumps - just saw a Phillips one in TK Maxx and thought it was a good deal and it has worked for me. With my previous son I used a Haaka pump, which uses a sunction cup to latch on to your other boob while your baby is feeding. I think they’re quite popular so lots of people must like them but I find it a bit awkward trying to feed with it attached.

Thank you @Emmacb82 and @PeppedUp! It's so useful to hear different perspectives and know that if one thing doesn't work there are other options. Am currently too tired to actually think about said options but will do that tomorrow 🤣

We have been doing this since the start (after a day 3 emergency hospital visit with him basically starving due to being such a big baby… 🫠🫠). I personally LOVE the mixture of BF and expressed bottle feeding- it’s been a bit of a lifesaver. It’s given me the flexibility to have friends over and have a few wines guilt free, have a lie in it I’ve had the sleepless night because my partner can do the morning feed and also it means if I’m on the go and don’t want to BF out and about which I don’t enjoy, I can resort to a bottle. It also means he’s already confident with a bottle for later down the line which I know a lot of mums struggle with.

Ive had extensive meetings over the combi feeding of breast and bottle and it’s been great for us- he’s tracking on the 91st percentile for weight and is in 3-6 clothes (and was at 5 weeks).

I personally have the Medella double hands free pump and plan to have more babies so it’s a worthwhile purchase- but even if I was just having one baby, it’s been SO worth it’s money because our baba has a potential tongue tie so isn’t as effective at milk removal as I’d hope- it’s allowed me to keep my supply up.

I have friends from NCT who have rented a hospital grade Medela pump which you could always do to trial it?
Also for those saying about having to pump when baby feeds to keep the supply up- I haven’t found this the case at all just to reassure you!

Just to update on how things are going with us. The HV came back on Monday and Drew has snuck in to the 50th percentile again after spending a weekend basically cluster feeding to get the weight on. She’s 10lb exactly now 🥰

The carobel is doing the trick with the reflux, we’ve not had any choking and spluttering or vomiting since staring it on Friday. She’s starting with the painful wind again though but I have just realised I’ve forgotten to give her her probiotic drops for quite a few days so we’re back to them and hopefully that helps otherwise I’ll be contacting the HV again as we’ve agreed that infacol and gripe water aren’t the way to go for her. She has another review on Tuesday morning.

And finally, we have a referral for tongue tie assessment! I’m so happy about that as it’s been a bit of a battle but the new HV is so helpful so here’s hoping they see us as they might still no due to get not being BF.

How’s everyone’s sleep doing? We’re getting a consistent solid chunk of sleep from 11-3.30/4ish then she’s up again about 5.30/6.30ish but she’s going down great in her next to me now so I’m feeling really lucky for the amount of sleep.

@SarahB88 That's great news! I'm so glad she's putting on weight and feeds are easier 😀

Our sleep is excellent. Marcella either wakes once around 4-5am feeds then goes back to sleep or sleeps through 11-6 🙏🏻 Husband and I alternate who gets up so we each get a full nights sleep every other day.

Is anyone taking their baby on holiday soon? We have Vienna in eight weeks time. Very excited!

@TheBirdintheCave so pleased with her even if I did just put her in a nice outfit for her baby class and she immediately pooped 😂 at least the nappy contained it!

Great to hear about the sleep 🙌 the furthest we are planing to venture this year is Glasgow on the train to see my brother and that’s not even concrete yet.

@LondonGirl1992 that's great to hear! I already have an Elvie pump which I tried yesterday and got a decent amount for the first time. I want to build up a wee bit and I think we'll maybe try a bottle at the weekend when everything is a bit more relaxed!

Re nights and sleep, we've started sleeping in separate rooms and taking turns having the baby so we both get an uninterrupted stretch. Need to tweak a bit in terms of timings and hoping we won't need to sleep separately for too long but for now it's definitely the best solution.

@SarahB88 that's fab news, you must be so relieved. Hope the wind eases off!

@TheBirdintheCave my in laws are in the south of England so that will be our main holiday destination for the next while, going when he'll be 10 or 11 weeks. Just debating whether to drive or get the train, both have pros and cons!

@Sa11yCinnamon I'm so pleased to read that others are sleeping in separate rooms. Everyone we've spoken to has looked at us gone out when we've said this. I hope it is also not forever but it is working well right now.

Our little one seems to have gone backwards with sleep. We've had two very unsettled nights being awake from 1.30/2.30 & only settling on my chest about 6am both mornings.
I'm hoping it is just a blip & she goes back to (9pm-11pm) until 3am feeds and wakes about 5am/5.30am for the day.

Hi hope everyone is getting on ok. Sounds like it from some of the messages.

To the mum's out there who are formula feeding, how do you do it when you go out? I am combi feeding breast and formula ATM but am weaning off to just do formula and trying to understand the best way people manage if they go out. Do you bring a sterilised bottle and then use a liquid formula or the powder and bring a flask etc and make it up on the go. I know the nuby is meant to be good for that. How long does the sterilised bottle last before u put any milk in it as I know it lasts 2hrs with milk usually.

Hope that makes sense!

@TheBirdintheCave thats exciting! I imagine Vienna is quite baby friendly. We just got baby’s passport and hoping to book tickets to Spain for a couple of months’ time.

@SarahB88 glad to hear things have improved for you!

In terms of sleep, we’ve had longer stretches for the past three nights. He goes down around 11pm and wakes around 3.30/4am, whereas he used to just do three hours. Then he feeds again around 6am. After that he doesn’t sleep very well in his crib - he will grunt and move a lot so he usually only goes down for an extra hour before I have to hold him.