💙🩷From Bumps 2 Babies & Beyond!🤰👶🍼🤱🤱

[MummyTo4BoysXXXX]

following on from the Due February 2024 thread 7.. now this shall be thread 8! For us all to continue our pregnancy&postpartum journey together 😊

@Cheetocat I'm the opposite, my pregnancy was terrible, I was in agony with pelvic girdle pain. I didn't like being pregnant with my first either but this was so much worse. I keep getting waves of relief when I remember I never have to be pregnant again! (We definitely won't have any more kids)

@Hankthehonk I bet that feels amazing, I am glad you came out the other side of it with the right amount of kids for you!

I think my love for it was a combination of many things. I felt beautiful and confident of my body. My baby was safe inside me and with me at all times, everywhere I went. I liked going to appointments and hearing his heartbeat and talking about what was going on with us. I'll admit I liked the attention I got too. It also took a year for me to fall pregnant and I was yearning for it for so long so I think that plays a part too.

@Cheetocat loved reading this,I'm so glad it was such a positive experience for you ❤️ it's amazing how different it is for different women eh. I had a lot of guilt about how much I hated being pregnant, especially after having a miscarriage last year. Mentally I was so happy to be pregnant and wanted to love every moment but physically it was awful and I couldn't escape that. I feel like I can be more honest with myself about how I felt about it now my baby is safely here and it's over. Even though the newborn stage is tough and I'm recovering from c section I feel so much more like myself and happy in my body since he was born.

I hope it's not causing too much sadness for you, missing being pregnant. What beautiful memories of it you have to look back on.

I like bits of the newborn stage. Love cuddles with my baby bear and he can be so cute. But I hate the sleep deprivation. It’s manageable when my DH is here but he’s away for work for a couple of days and my baby bear has been waking once an hour overnight so I’ve not been getting a long enough stretch of sleep between feeds and I’m starting to struggle again.

I’ve done co-sleeping a couple of times as I don’t have to move him when he falls asleep (moving him risks waking him and starting the process all over again) but I don’t sleep well with co sleeping - too worried about rolling on him to properly sleep.

Doesnt help when he does sleep he randomly makes whooping noises / random cries in his sleep so I often get woken back up for no reason.

Anybody else googled “how much does a night nurse cost?” yet… 🥲😂😂

I enjoy looking back at my bump, but don’t miss pregnancy I had hyperemisis until week 22-ish and then pelvic girdle pain. It was completely worth it for my little angel, but the thought of having a second fills me with dread.

The sleep deprivation is so tough, fortunately my DP and mum have helped in the day so I can nap but the lack of more than 2-3 hours sleep at one time is a killer. I also tried co sleeping but it scares me a bit, she now settles in her next to me for small parts of the night with white noise and a sleeping bag.

Those who are formula and breast feeding how are you finding it? I’m currently giving about 3 bottles of formula a day around breast feeding, she’s gained weight back but just doesn’t seem satisfied after BF :( she can literally drink a bottle afterward! Unless it’s a growth spurt she’s 18 days old. I really wanted to BF for the health benefits for baby but it’s giving me anxiety that she doesn’t have enough food. At least with formula I can see it and she settles more.

@CalFairy I'm the same with feeding. She's satisfied with breasts for maybe an hour but then guzzles a bottle. At 5 weeks now and wanted to EBF so I'm not sure what to do or if I'm making enough milk.
She has gone down by around 300mL of formula in 24h so I'm hoping this means she's taking in more breast milk. Just makes me nervous now as I'm used to seeing the volume she can sink of formula and I don't like not being able to know how much breast milk she takes.

Monitoring nappies and seems okay. She's very sleepy today/last night and Im having to wake her after 3.5/4h to eat! This makes me nervous which I think is slight trauma from her lethargy in the first few days where she was slightly dehydrated :(

Feeding is a rollercoaster and very stressful!

@KayakingBex im the same! Little one is 2 weeks tomorrow and I am in tears throughout the night the past few nights. Im going upstairs about 9/10 and little one isnt settling down till 1am. I put my fit bit on last night and it said I got 4 hours of broken sleep and tbh it doesnt even feel like i got half of that.

she is getting her tongue tie snipped on Friday and it feels so long away! Hopefully that helps her settle a bit better as she is constantly on the boob but not settling, midwife today watched her feeding today and her latch is crap, shes not swallowing most of the time shes on the boob. I keep thinking of just going on formula but i feel ive come this far without it and surely these first few weeks should be the hardest🙈

@PeeBeee its so frustrating isn’t it. I feel I could cope on my own if I got to sleep between feeds but sometimes he barely has an hour between feeds and he falls asleep on me most of the time. We’ve been doing some co sleeping since 11am in the hope I can get a nap but I think he must be cluster feeding as he’s been latched on and off since then. I’d hope to take him for a walk in the sling today but I’m barely getting a chance to feed myself and the cat so that probably won’t happen today.

Sometimes I top up with EBF that might be what I resort to today 🫠 I try to save EBF for DH to give me a break though.

Any tips with nappy rash? I'm putting on sudocrem and I'm trying to let him be nappy free when possible and he's happy for that to happen but it's currently looking worse not better 🙁

Metanium cream in a yellow tube. Thin layer works like magic. On baby #7 and never use anything else!

@CheeseAndCrackersx - I’ve been using Kit & Kin’s Magic Salve which seems to work quite well.

@Hankthehonk I feel the same way, hated being pregnant due to PGP and also the sickness, which thankfully resolved mostly by second trimester this time around. We are done at 2, very happy to never be pregnant or labour again 🙏🏻

The days and nights can be a bit Groundhog day and I find my resilience is so much lower when getting less sleep. My little boy has a cold courtesy of his loving snotty nosed big sister's kisses, so he has been much more unsettled the last week and half. Can't tell how much is due to him waking up to the world as well now coming up to 4 weeks, as he has stopped settling for the longer day naps he was doing in pram bassinet but embracing the contact naps for now 😴

@PeeBeee hope the tongue tie snip helps your unsettled nights 🤞🏻

@EastCoastExile I was looking at that today in home bargains too 😄 thank you, I'll go back tomorrow and get it xx

@CheeseAndCrackersx metanium is great but just thin skim, should be able to see the skin through it, then I do a thick layer of sudocrem to protect it so can work. Make sure dry off after change with a cotton pad. If using wipes may be worth switching to cotton pads and warm water for a little bit. Lastly could be nappy brand if since birth pretty much and using same ones. Aldi's, Sainsbury's and Asda's all gave my first nappy rash. We've used Morrisons own for both of mine (and then Pampers just for the longest stretch of sleep as expensive.)
My baby also seems to shart all the time so I put a thick layer of sudocrem on at each nappy change to prevent contact from sharts ahead of next change, as would be changing 10+ times a day otherwise!
Sorry for the essay! But with my first we really struggled with nappy rash so tried lots of things. Also using cotton make up remover pads tend to be less fluffy so don't have bits stuck to their bums.

Thank you so much @Ihatewinding
I am using Aldi nappies yes so I'll try switching. It's the inside of his left leg which is currently bad bless him. And yeah I'll stop wipes - it was pampers aqua I am using, and use cotton pads.

I feel so bad that he has it at only 3 weeks old, it doesn't take much for me to feel am I neglecting him 🙈 I know I'm not though

Oh yes, during the first week!!! It’s a slippery slope though isn’t it, a very expensive habit to break.

@CheeseAndCrackersx newborn skin can be so sensitive and what works for one baby won't always for another but hopefully can get on top of it 🤞🏻
I was sad about Aldi nappies being a contributing factor for my first as they are such a bargain! Sometimes going up a nappy size can help too.
Fwiw we use cotton pads in day and wipes at night when I'm too tired to faff with a bowl of warm water 😅
The mum guilt is real though and you're obvs not neglecting him if you're coming on here to ask advice!

New anxiety unlocked..

I just put baby down in beside crib (tutti bambini cozee) and whilst she was fussing and squirming, she managed to rotate herself so that her face was near the back 'wall' of the crib.

I'm now stressed she'll do this during the night and manage to press her face up against it whilst I'm asleep.

Help :( should I be concerned or am I being a dramatic FTM?

@CheeseAndCrackersx these nappies are really good, breathable with no plastics on the skin www.naty.com/gb/en/for-baby/eco-nappies/eco-nappies/31504.html we use them anytime we aren't doing reusables and they're great for nappy rash. Did use some others (I think pampers) with my 1st and he got an awful rash. Stuck to these ones since.

The cloth wipes with water are amazing also, so soft, and we do the same as @Ihatewinding and just use them in the day. NICU and SCBU recommended them with my first - just plain water and then patting dry well. Bizarrely, trying to minimise nappy changes too, as I think all of the wetting and wiping so frequently can make it worse. NICU only changed my 1st once every three hours, and said we shouldn't be using cream if we are washing and drying well. In a couple of days his rash had cleared up.

@msp2023 can understand why you’d find that worrying. You could maybe look into a breathing monitor - pads under the mattress or a clip on monitor.

i will add that my boy regular mashes his face into the cot side or my boob and still seems to be able to breathe but I’m a FTM too and I also worry.

We've been given the go ahead to stop waking our little boy for feeds and to wean him off top ups but even the first night was rough. He was cluster feeding and I called my partner in to watch him while he breastfed and then put him in his bed when he was done so I could sleep but my partner is feeling a bit down about not having the magic settling power of boobies and he also hasn't figured out lying the baby down without startling him. It ended up not working out, I said I'd just try to handle it on my own. I ended up falling asleep by accident with baby right on the edge of the bed for a whole hour!! I'm so shocked that my mind and body just let go of instinct for that length of time. 😭

Is our 6 week post natal check important to have?

Tried to prebook the drs today but they aren't accepting any appointments like that currently so to call on the day between 6-8 weeks and try for same day appointment, but if it's not all important then I'll just leave having it.

Don’t be too hard on urself @Cheetocat I’d say it happens everyone. It’s happened me on the couch so what I do now is nearly soft proof everything around me just incase. Have u the next to me or similar cot attached to ur bed? i always feed on that side now just incase I fall asleep the furthest they can go is to it.

i must say I’m really struggling with tiredness last night and today, nothing particularly new sleep pattern wise I think it’s just weeks of it all catching up. I now have serious blackness under my eyes too🙈

I have quite a windy little girl, she gets awful sore pains & is getting more and more unsettled/crying etc when feeding 💔 has anyone tried gripe water before the recommended 1 month. She is just 3 weeks but I’m contemplating trying her on it to give her some relief

@KayakingBex thank you! I fear the monitors may give me more anxiety! Im trying to just get over it haha, let's see how it goes.

For those who are BF, how long does your little one feed for? Both breasts or one etc..
I am combo feeding at the moment but trying to move to EBF. I find that baby will empty one boob, fall asleep and appear satisfied. Then an hour later is hungry again and then does the same with the other boob.
Same happens an hour later which is when I offer formula top up. Same cycle repeats every 2.5-3h or so.
Not sure if this is normal for BF?