💙🩷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 😊

Hey! This is the exact same situation I was in. The advice is to usually reduce top ups by 30mL (in 24h) every few days.
Keep an eye on wet nappies, weight and general satisfaction of baby.

Three weeks in and I'm still struggling to reduce top ups. I think bottle feeding makes a mum so used to seeing how much milk baby is getting that BF then makes them anxious!
I'm still plodding on and trying to reduce top ups slowly but will admit, it is constant stress and worry :(

Day 3 and my milk is in, I really am hoping that means tonight I will get a solid couple of hours sleep! Heidi slept decent enough the first night in the hospital after being on the boob most of day but I got no sleep with the woman opposite me being on her phone ALL NIGHT🙃, then I went home the next day and the past 2 nights have been relentless so fingers crossed for tonight🤞🏼🤞🏼

I was doing top ups because of weight loss, my approach now is that I’m breastfeeding exclusively in the day then doing bottles, a mix of formula and expressed, from evening through overnight. He’s been guzzling the 90ml bottles so I’m going to start making them up to 120mls and see how much he has. The way I’ve approached cutting top ups is that if he sleeps / is calm after a feed, and having same number of wet/dirty nappies then he must be getting enough when BF.

I got my milk yesterday too, third day, the engorgement is real 😞

I have found that using my finger for her to suckle after she's thrown up milk helps her settle. I know she's been fed and full so I know she's just looking for comfort, has honestly worked a treat to keep her settled and not crying. I have to do it when changing her nappy too as she hates having her bits out 😂

I use a salt and warm water mixture that I apply by squeezing a sponge down myself while I go to the toilet to keep clean and help with stinging. I've been for a couple of walks and noticed the pain is so much worse after so must be a gravity thing.

Trying to keep up the pelvic floor exercises lol

Thinking of how much I complained and moaned when pregnant is laughable now lol

I feel like I could have asked this exact question so will be looking out for the answers too. Especially not knowing when they are full from the breast because they wake up after a short sleep compared to when formula fed. Also does anyone try and exclusively breastfeed at night only? I’ve been trying to because I was told that’s when the hormone to produce more milk is at its highest. But it’s exhausting being up all night. Is it’s wrong to switch it around and exclusively breastfeed during the day and formula feed at night so that she can sleep for longer stretches and I can actually rest? I feel like I wouldn’t mind her constantly on my boob during the day because it’s my first child and I have company during the day.

In terms of formula, I ’ve been topping up with Aptimal newborn but she’s been wanting more oz today so I think she’s having a growth spurt. Every baby is different so I don’t know what her average oz per bottle should be for a one week old.

Hi ladies.

I had a review by IBCLC the other day who advised me that the 'correct' amount of formula milk for a baby in 24h is their weight x 150.
This is then split over the 24 hours depending on how many times they feed.

Hope this helps anybody - I wouldn't necessarily use the exact volume as gospel and of course go on hunger cues etc but it's nice to have a rough idea.

Anyone else's baby stubborn with their burps? He loves a fart but doesn't like to burp 🙈😄

I’d love to know this too. I feel like we’re experiencing similar, with same age babies. I’ve mostly BF today and would prefer formula at night as she sleeps longer stretches with it. Can I ask how much formula you are topping up with?

@Ebonythoughts sorry the above was in response to your post, it didn’t include it :)

@msp2023 is that their weight in kg or how does it work? Sorry I feel completely dumb about it all as a FTM.

Ahh hello everyone I have just found this thread after finally going to catch up on the previous one!

Baby and I are doing great, I absolutely love being a mum already and the last 2 weeks have flown by. We're formula feeding and she absolutely loves her milk, I'm having to make her take breaks during the bottle or she drinks it way too fast x

BF here too and nighttime is really tough, 11 days old and I feel like the last 2 nights she just wants to be feeding the whole time, she’ll get wind and have lots of wee stomach pains so I think being on boob is a comfort thing for the pains but then it causes more wind in turn so it’s a vicious cycle 🙈she’s been falling asleep eventually around 6/7 am and sleeps for maybe 4 hrs but has to be in my arms, she wakes as soon as I go to put her down or give to DH. I’m deff finding the tiredness of it all today.

im also still getting pains into my scar depending which way I move or (in bed) lie, and the numbness someone else mentioned between scar and belly button is so strange, will we ever have control over that area again? My uterus has really gone right back down but I’ve this wee pocket of loose, numb skin now 😬 I dunno if that’s normal

@CalFairy Hey, yes in kg.
E.g my baby weighs 3.8kg and feeds around 10 times a day.

So that roughly calculated as
3.8 x 150 = 570mL (total in 24h)
Hence around 60mL per feed.

Hope this is helpful :) Again, I go off hunger cues mainly but turns out we were over feeding her but around 250mL a day! Hence excessive spit up, uncomfortable belly.
She's gotten used to feeling stuffed from formula so now weaning off the top ups gradually.

I’m formula feeding and baby was taking 0.5-1oz per feed in his first week and is now up to 1oz-2oz every 2-3 hours at 13 days old. He’s not a big baby though, born 6lbs 15oz but he was over his birth weight at his day 10 check and he feeds well. Hope that helps give a rough idea. I’m using Kendamil and really pleased with it.

@DmcinT I’ve had 2 sections and I still had numbness from the last one wee man is 3 1/2 so I’m not sure if things will ever b normal as 4 the wee pocket it improves I’m 8 wks in & looking loads better 😂

This is what I do, breast during day then formula and expressed milk overnight. It could cause supply issues but it works for me, so if supply becomes an issue I’ll move to exclusive formula. 2.5 weeks in and it’s working so far.

Does anyone who had a c section get really bad stomach cramps when they have wind or need to do a poo? I'm wondering if it's normal or not. I'm about 1.5 weeks in from c section.

On the feeding, I'm EBF, but do both boobs every 2.5-4 hours. Which is what the midwife at the hospital told me to do this time around. It seemed a long gap but I tried it and she seems full and goes longer. Like @Ihatewinding my partner then winds her and puts her back in the cot.

Very different from my first who was early and not too well, and I had to wake every 1.5 - 2 hours to feed, which was exhausting

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 how long are you feeding for on each boob if you don’t mind me asking? I’m also finding my little girl can easily go 4hrs between feeds and even then she doesn’t seem that hungry. I’m only feeding about 5-8Mins from each boob at a push but I’m guessing if their tummies are the size of marbles at this stage that’s plenty. Having lots of dirty nappies so assuming that means she’s having enough?!

@Gardenfingers23 yep probably about the same as you, about 8-10 mins 1st boob, and shorter on the 2nd. Boobs feel pretty soft afterwards and lots of dirty or wet nappies.

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 yes I get such bad pains from wind and even going to the toilet is a bit tender (almost 2 week out from CS)

on BF I might try doing both sides each feed. I’ve been alternating each feed but she could feed for 20-30 mins, do some wind and feed for another 20 mins so switching sides might reduce this. I do think she just latches for comfort too and doesn’t necessarily feed for all that time🙈

I'm a bit concerned I'm over feeding her after seeing how much others are having!

She's on formula and I use a prep machine, the smallest bottle it makes is 4oz. The last few days she's been drinking nearly the whole thing but always at least 3oz- every 3.5 hours. Is that too much?!

Also I read online that after the first couple of weeks you can wait for them to wake up to feed, instead of waking them for it. What does everyone do in this regard because I've been waking her up so far?

@Meeting were 15 days and on 3/4oz every 4ish (sometimes a bit before sometimes a bit after) hours x

This sounds fine and same as us.
I asked my HV about over feeding etc and she said the baby won't take the milk if they don't want it. They'd refuse or spit it out.
Follow hunger cues and feed as needed and all is fine.

For those with cramps etc after c sections, I'm eating lots of fibre and also drinking peppermint tea and taking peppermint capsules. All definitely helping. A friend who had a section had advised me of all this beforehand!

Feeding is going well for us which is a lovely change after a terrible feeding journey with my first. The challenge at the moment is my ds just wants to be held all the time. Can't settle him in his cot at night so we're currently doing shifts splitting the night between us but that's not sustainable. My daughter always slept well wherever we put her down so this is new territory! Tips for getting a velcro baby to be happy in a cot very welcome