May 2016 Babies Club

wuffly

Aww Lucuma, that sounds hard going, it is hard to get her to wind/burp? You must be shattered. How long more do you have in ireland? You are getting a lot done with your mat leave, fair play! I got dressed today! Major progress! lol!

Kathy hope your little one has arrived and all is going well! xx

I got 3, 2hr blocks of sleep last night i feel like a whole new person, most sleep I've had since he arrived. The cluster feeding was awful. Was exhausted and boobs were in bits. Had the midwife again yesterday (booked a 3 session package) she went through a different method of latching with me and it was less painful immediately. Best thing we did by mile was booking her. She also weighed him and he's back up and over his birth weight already so at least all the feeding is doing good. Also had a follow up with the hospital paediatrician all grand happy with his weight so no pestering about formula etc.. measuring well over all on the charts. they use the international WHO one here as there are so many nationalities. So its a bit skewed. Met another couple that we've bumped into a few times at the hospital and we have the same Dr, they had a awful experience, the night before I delivered she came in, in labour and the rooms were full and they wouldn't give her any pain relief when she wasn't on the labour ward. Poor thing was waiting for hours. Thanking my lucky stars to have had the kind of labour i planned and such a great midwife.

Hope all is well with everyone, Teggers, JA how are ye getting on?

teggers5

hey everyone.. finding it hard to stay up to date with boards these days!
all well here. blessed to have a quiet and content baby. his feeds are still all over the place. he's only managing 2-3ozs per feed and waking at various intervals for bottles. PHN reckons it's the tongue tie causing the issues so is referring him to Clonmel to get it sorted.

LegacyUser

Lucuma, just dropping in here for another thread - we could be talking about the same baby, except we're a few weeks ahead! I had to just make a rule with myself that I couldn't feed her lying down because it just wasn't worth the amount of hassle that came from it. Exact same problems as you and would take the next two-three hours to get it all out of her system.I have gripe water, Infacol and something called Colic Calm, which is supposed to be very good.

She still has bad wind (nearly 8 weeks) but she seems to cope better with it 80% of the time. She's settled a lot more at night now, she will actually sleep through a lot of it. I've manged to put her back in her basket after her feeds the last two nights, and she slept for a few more hours. I don't like sharing the bed with her, it makes me very nervous.

My Granny always put a hot water bottle in with the baby too (she had 4) - took it out once they had settled. Get one with a cover on it, might be safer. I'd also suggest (and I know this is sacrilege for some people, but I'll say it anyway!) a soother. Mine is a very, very sucky baby, with silent reflux (they suck a lot to relieve the pain of reflux too, btw, I've been here before with my first ). She's on Zantac now, I wasn't hanging around like I did last time. The soother has been my godsend, but I only introduced it because she had the hang of latching on no bother from day 1 and the midwife said go for it. She's really getting into the hang of having the soother to go to sleep. My older girl is the same, it's only for sleeping, but I didn't introduce it til 4 months with her. It might give you a break though, if you haven't done it already. We also had the crying for hours in the evening with our first for a couple of weeks, nothing would help her til she stopped herself, like someone pushed a button, at 10pm at night!!

On re-reading, this post might be better in the breastfeeding thread - sorry.

Lucuma

BusyIzzy thank you SO much for that post. Bit less 'heat' in here than the BF thread so harm to post here ;-)

That's mad your experience with this baby is so close to my own. I think mine has reflux too! She roots like a girl possessed most of the day/night. It couldn't possibly be hunger all the time as she feeds loads, more often than every 2 hours alot of the time it's every 1-1.5 hours or cluster feeding. Other people think I'm making it up I'm sure coz it looks like hunger, but I really think half the time she wants the breast to releive discomfort in her tummy- from wind or reflux or both!
Tell me is it hard to get theZantac drops prescription from the doctor? Am thinking of asking for them at the 6 week check up if I don't get her registered for free GP before then -don't want to pay 55 euro. I am thinking to get them as well, am giving Gaviscon infant twice a day but I think she might need something stronger.
I suppose I'll have to start feeding her with me sitting up during the night alright based on what you said......it's a balls having to fully wake up myself for the feeds though but I suppose you're right with a windy baby like this the lying downffeeding is causing more problems than it's solving. ....

Teggars you lucky thing with a quiet baby!! Enjoy! ! I never knew tongue tie could affect bottle feeding! My sister had her baby's TT snipped privately recently & it was 200 euro. Apparently TT is on the increase.....possibly to do with how much
folic acid we take now! I definitely think it's amazing how many ppl I know had babies with a TT alright. ...twould make you wonder how the human race ever survived if it was that common.

Wuffly- back to birth weight already, well done Mama!!

Lucuma

Oh btw Izzy I introduced soother the day we came home from hospital with both babies! My toddler doesn't need it to sleep though and I'm glad about that, as most of my friends with kids the same age need it in order to sleep and I'm glad not to have that dependancy so I intend to avoid it with this baby too. With no.1 we use soother for emergencies (there's usually a few of those a week!) like having to go in a church for christening or funeral, or to keep her quiet in a supermarket when we're doing the weey shop or shut her up on long car journeys etc.
The baby will take soother with a good bit of help from us....it's useless at night time we use it during the day though

LegacyUser

Sorry people here, hope you don't mind me posting back to Lucuma.

My first had fairly bad silent reflux.I thought I was mad, but at five weeks she would not sleep at all during the day and practically cried herself hoarse.I noticed she was doing all this gulping and swallowing particularly when she was lying down when relaxing to go to sleep.It kept waking her up.It was harder to get the Zantac first time round, because I probably sounded like a crazy first time mother, but I knew it wasnt right even though her weight gain was good.It is a weight based prescription though so you do have to revisit the doctor regularly.And the prescription has a 28 day life, so once you open the bottle, you get 28 days out of it (can get more but you notice it isnt as effective after a while).She was bottle fed and fed like a lunatic, gulping the food down.I did combo feeding the first few weeks and she was constantly sucking and rooting.She also rarely got sick which is apparently a feature of it too.

The Zantac made a different baby out of her.Now she's totally wired anyway (as I watch her wrecking the living room...),so we had to work hard at getting a napping routine in place coz she didn't just drop off.We also used to feed her, wind every two ounces, sit up with her 20 mins after each feed before lying down, and tilted the head of the bed up.All helped-it wasn't solved but it helped-and when she got to solids and got sitting up more it helped too.But the pram was no good, there was no going around with her in the car seat clipped in the buggy or any of that.Nor could we feed to sleep, so that link was broken early, she learned early enough to fall asleep herself.The crying thing lasted about two weeks, she'd start around 6/7 every evening and howl solid for several hours and there was nothing we did that helped.Nothing.Like you, my mother and aunts were shocked.But oddly, all of my friends with babies just said 'ah yeah, the witching hour'.You basically just have to ride it out and trust that it will pass with time (and it will, but it's hard).

Since you've done the Gaviscon,I think you should be ok to ask for the Zantac.I got the prescription for my second at the six week appointment.Emphasise the lack of sleep for yourself, particularly since you are breastfeeding, and how hard you are finding it.I don't think Gaviscon and Zantac mix but I'm not 100% sure on that.Our second is nowhere near as bad as the first, but I still sit her up for about 20mins after each feed and have her basket tipped up.Now if I could solve her wind issues out we'd be sorted, she's a very grunty baby!!!!

Sorry again to everyone here, I'm not trying to derail, so just ignore if possible.

Kathy22

Hi all our little boy entered the world bright and early yesterday morning. I didn't get the birth of my dreams but the that seems very unimportant right now now, just so glad to have him here safely. I didn't end up getting the sweep as baby was too high and cervix still too closed. However he had other intentions. Waters broke ennroute home from appointment. He passed meconium so I was induced, however the birth went smoothly and he was unaffected except has a bit of mucus now and is a little pukey. My placenta got trapped so I ended up in theatre which I found upsetting. Lovely nurse brought him and my husband down to me when in recovery. I was so grateful. Good few stitches which are only sore now today. Im hoping they heal soon. Eeek! He is feeding well today and is such a great little guy, currently fast asleep. Thanks for all the advice that got us here.

Lucuma

Congratulations Kathy! !!! Another boy for this thread, were you surprised or expecting a boy?

Wow sounds like this little fella was determined to arrive with drama....waters breaking in the car! Sorry to hear you didn't get the birth you wanted but it's great that the induction went smoothly.
The trapped placenta must have been awful, poor you! Brilliant that feeding is going so well already for you, well done. The bf class must have paid off?

Re the stitches, ouch. Make sure you're getting your allowed allocation of diphene & panadol from the nurses! The whole affect of labour on all systems 'down there' is not much craic but just keep the stitches clean and you'll be on the road to recovery in no time.

Kathy22

Yep it was rather eventful alright. We never found out the sex but I felt throughout he was a boy. Just a hunch. Maintained it was a boy since our 20 week scan. When he was born i was like yes I was right. My husband thought it was a girl. Lol!

I have a hemeroid as well which I think is causing more pain than the stitches. Finding it hard to get comfy so I'm stuck mainly doing the lying down position. I have a good supply, have been able to express a good bit as he was fussy on day one. He now has a good latch just tends to do short spurts often. I think I was a bit nieve and the reality of breastfeeding when your sore and tired is much harder but sure once we get home it will hopefully settle. We are getting home tomorrow thank God. I'm so excited to go home!

How is everyone else getting on?

Lucuma

Kathy22 wrote: »

I have a hemeroid as well which I think is causing more pain than the stitches.
I think I was a bit nieve and the reality of breastfeeding when your sore and tired is much harder but sure once we get home it will hopefully settle.

don't mention hemorrhoids :eek: I had no pushing stage to speak of this time around but I think I gave myself one with my 1st bowel motion - I kid you not.

Yeah that's the awful thing about the newborn phase - especially after 1st child (happy to report it's not as bad after the 2nd one so far) it's just a very intense period with bleeding, stitches healing, extreme exhaustion, hemorrhoids, bowels, learning how to change nappies, deal with your particular baby's issues whatever they might be, adjusting to being responsible for someone 24/7 and learning how to breastfeed all at once.......You can see why mothers reach for the ol bottle !!

Pumping in the hospital, that must have been weird were you pumping colostrum so? Great that it worked anyway and you can continue - if it's what you want. Thanks for those links to LLL and Cuidiu by the way.....I was too lazy to look them up but had been meaning to, via your links I arranged to go to LLL yesterday and Cuidiu next week....I think alot of the Cuidiu meets finish up for the summer my sister was telling me though.
I meant to go to HSE BF club as well but I had just been with PHN the day before and couldn't face another weigh-in! Perhaps you can go and skip the weigh-in, I just didn't want to take the chance.

wuffly

Big congrats on your little boy Kathy! Hope all is going well for ye at home, how are you recovering from your operation? How is breast feeding going?

Lucuma how is your little lady doing are you getting over the wind problem?

Have had a hard few days here, both nipples got infected and i had to stop bf'ing on monday night for a few days, expressing and topping up with formula but hoping to get back to bf'ing soon. Went to a lactation consultant this morning, and managed to get him on with a nipple shield but my nipples need a few days to heal up. Kicking myself for not getting help sooner, trying to power through the pain was a bad idea! Apparently I have a big pain threshold. Yesterday was awful little fella wouldn't settle and I was upset at having to pump and and bottle feed. Much better today thankfully.

What are the LLL meetings like? i missed the last one before the summer here.

Lucuma

You're getting good use out of the expensive pump so wuffly! The infections sound very painful, you mentioned before he had a slight tongue tie can that be snipped or is it more of a latching issue?
Great you were able to visit a LC and hopefully be back on track soon.

It was obvious you have a high pain threshold from your labour story in fairness!

No progress with the wind here, she's still like a hot air balloon for the 2nd half of the night. Gave her gripe water tonight, it says on the bottle from 1 month on and she is 5 weeks since Tues. I had to stop giving her the Gaviscon infant for the reflux coz it's making her constipated! Oh well at least that means no more need for pumping and sterilising bottles. Hoping to get Zantac drops as I don't think they cause constipation Bizzy Izzy do they?

Just remember wuffly that it won't be like this for long, in a few weeks it will start to get a lot easier!!

I took my little bábóg to cranio sacral therapy yesterday. She said her body is full of tension- one of the more extreme examples she has seen she said! She is very tensed up alright- won't sleep on her
back, unsettled, squirming, grunting, groaning alot etc. It seemed to help I'd say we'll need a good few more sessions though.

We're having a heatwave in Ire at the mo. I feel bad that I am not going for all these walks you're supposed to go on when on mat leave in the summer. I'm coming to conclusion those walks are the preserve of bottle feeding mothers.....I simply don't get anywhere enough sleep to have the energy for that. Plus if baby cries to be fed I'd have to feed her standing up at side of the road? Walk in a sling would be only one that might work &I'm far too tired for that!

I'm not having any really bad days, no really good ones either. I'm just knackered but ploughing along. Can't wait for this newborn phase to be over & get her out of the bed but for now just surviving

Neyite

Mod:

Howdy ladies

As with all our Due threads, we will be moving your chat over to our Newborns forum and re-christening it as the May 2016 Babies thread.

We'll wait for any currently overdue ladies and check back in a couple of weeks to move you to your new home.

Kathy22

I guess I'll post here until the new thread is set up. We have had a pretty tough week. Night before our little guy was due to be discharged he vomited a lot. Turns out to be an infection. He is still in hospital on IV antibiotics. Also off food to let his tummy settle till Saturday. A week since he caught it. I am a bit calmer now but was an emotional mess the first few days especially leaving the hospital without him. He will be monitored for Ia few days once back on feeds and will then be discharged. I am pumping like a mad yoke at home and in the hospital. Have a large supply built up. Ive also ended up with a seized muscle in my leg by my sciatic nerve had physio today and am in crutches. Just to enable me to get in and out of the hospital. Absolute nightmare few days but I am just counting down to him c coming home. Also looking forward to ending the 3 hourly pumping and just feeding him like normal :sigh: !

Neyite

Sorry - I don't think I was clear - keep chatting in this thread!

It's just a re-name to May 2016 Babies instead of the Due May 2016 and moving the thread over, but your posts and chat wont change.

ja1986

Hello everyone!
I'm so sorry I didn't reply ,I moved over to the breastfeeding thread and never came back. Well I'm the proud mother of a three week old! So glad I checked back here,a lot of what ye are going through so am i. So it's all normal!


Went to the hospital last Friday sent by my doctor with suspected womb infection. Doctor gave me cream for my scar instead of antibiotics over breastfeeding. Hospital checked me over and said I was grand. Anyway,was back at docs yesterday as my daughter has thrush and mentioned I had clots the last few days. She put me up on the bed and pushed in my stomach which is paining me and she thinks I def have some infection so I'm on antibiotics now.

I'm still breastfeeding at the moment. My mental health is back to normal hahaha. She's currently on me and formula still. I just feel she's a very hungry baby and needs top ups? Just by chance I bumped into the phn earlier and mentioned this ,she told me to keep doing what I'm doing and she'll call to me next week.

Thank you to everyone that posted info 're breastfeeding classes iv heading to quiet a few of them. My problem was her latch all the time. Iv moved her position to sitting up as opposed to across my body on the bad boob,and having no problems with the latch that way. Crack and bleeding nipples gone wuhoo!

Just one more question,I'm a bit afraid of co sleeping but it's just so much easier for feeding in the night. I feel like I'm going to squash her. Anyone else feel like this? Hope everyone is good. Xxxx

ja1986

And if ye read all that reply ye have too much time on yer hands!!!

Lucuma

http://www.deltababy.be/our-products/bedtime/side-positioner/side-positioner-1.htm?lng=en

Oh god Kathy you poor thing! ! What a week. Can't believe you had to come home without your little fella, ah that must have been really hard!
Fair play to ya for pumping like that despite everything. I'd say you and wuffly didn't expect to be needing those pumps so early! Just as well ye bought them beforehand & had a good one ready to go when the sh!t hit the fan. I hope the small fella will be home soon and that your leg heals up quickly.
Ja I'm Co sleeping not coz I want to but coz baby won't sleep in her own bed. I ordered this side sleep positioner online (link above) it stops them from rolling onto their tummy when they're sleeping on their side. it gives me peace of mind about cot death.
As for squashing her I just know I won't roll onto her, not sure why. I fall asleep with her in my arm pit as such so my arm is up on the pillow.

Haha re having too much time on my hands. I'm currently 3 hrs into a 3.5hr aircoach journey from Cork to Dublin with bubs. Gotta say they're so portable at this age! Easiest journey I've ever done with a child & I've done a lot! ;-)

ja1986

That's true.. the thought of getting through a bus journey with a toddler frightens me. At this age it's so much easier.
Just today when mam came to my room she thought that I was very close to the baby and she thought about waking me to move me away a bit. So she's after making me a bit nervous.
Just got a new sling for when she's old enough,at least il be a bit hands free for the toddler.

Does anyone know about the good milk? Like when I breastfeed it's splashing out at the start and to be honest she's nearly choking on it she gulps it so fast. After that it looks a lot more creamier and slower,would that be the milk she's after? Because I feed her for a half an hour earlier and she fell asleep after it so I ran out for a half hour to return a broken pump ! But when I got back my partner was after giving her a formula bottle and she drank 3 ozs. Of it.
I have no idea with the feeding yet. She's up a lb already and I don't think it's from my breast milk at all.

spottybananas

ja1986 wrote: »

That's true.. the thought of getting through a bus journey with a toddler frightens me. At this age it's so much easier.
Just today when mam came to my room she thought that I was very close to the baby and she thought about waking me to move me away a bit. So she's after making me a bit nervous.
Just got a new sling for when she's old enough,at least il be a bit hands free for the toddler.

Does anyone know about the good milk? Like when I breastfeed it's splashing out at the start and to be honest she's nearly choking on it she gulps it so fast. After that it looks a lot more creamier and slower,would that be the milk she's after? Because I feed her for a half an hour earlier and she fell asleep after it so I ran out for a half hour to return a broken pump ! But when I got back my partner was after giving her a formula bottle and she drank 3 ozs. Of it.
I have no idea with the feeding yet. She's up a lb already and I don't think it's from my breast milk at all.

All of the milk is good, the fore milk is watery and thirst quenching for baby, the hind milk is thicker to fill her. The more top ups you give the less your body will make, then she will appear to be hungrier as you mentioned because your body won't be making enough to satisfy her, you'll give her more formula, your supply will dwindle so you'll give more formula because she'll be hungry, it's a self fulfilling prophecy. Same with your husband being ever so "helpful" with his 3oz of formula. So your body now has missed a signal to make that milk and she's not looking for it so it thinks it doesn't need to make it. Feed more, skin to skin as much as possible, and your husband needs to stop the sneaky formula for many reasons.

ja1986

spottybananas wrote: »

All of the milk is good, the fore milk is watery and thirst quenching for baby, the hind milk is thicker to fill her. The more top ups you give the less your body will make, then she will appear to be hungrier as you mentioned because your body won't be making enough to satisfy her, you'll give her more formula, your supply will dwindle so you'll give more formula because she'll be hungry, it's a self fulfilling prophecy. Same with your husband being ever so "helpful" with his 3oz of formula. So your body now has missed a signal to make that milk and she's not looking for it so it thinks it doesn't need to make it. Feed more, skin to skin as much as possible, and your husband needs to stop the sneaky formula for many reasons.

"Thanks"

Lucuma

Ja I'd say just sleep on your arm IYKWIM & you won't roll onto her. It's great that you were able to fall asleep during the day! I can't really. I do rest though & I'd get to a drowsy state but rarely if ever fall properly asleep. I can't lie down during the day coz of her wind issues, it's bad enough getting through the nights lying down. So during the day the best I can get is stretched out on a recliner or sofa with her on my chest.
I got a 4 hour stretch of sleep with her last night and literally don't KNOW myself today!!
I'd say looking back I won't even remember half the conversations I had with people, decisions I made or places I went during this time!
Ja that creamy hind milk is what you want to be getting into them to gain weight. And as SB said above the watery foremilk would be good to keep them hydrated this weather.
Kathy hope it went well feeding the baby today. Is he getting better?

wuffly

Glad you are doing better JA! You had a rough start. Hopefully all continues to go well.
Our little man is back on the boob but still needing top ups. Hopefully not for long if my boobs can take the constant feeding to get my supply back up. Really hope I can push through the part and stick with the BF'ing.
I really wish we had no visitors at this point my mam is here and dying to help but there is feck all to do and it's too hot to send her off for a walk. My sis in law is here (stop off post traveling) and while she is lovely she has no interest in the little one which I don't mind but it wrecks my head she won't get out of the house and I feel totally judged for having a justifiably upset 17day old and being totally knackered. feel awful but can't wait for her to leave and today after getting the little mans passport in a rush I'm half considering not going home as planned and staying here in peace for a week.

Glad you got some sleep Lucuma! Hope she is starting to turn a corner for you!

Kathy you poor thing, hope your little one is home soon, all that expressed milk will stand you when he is home. I hate expressing can't wait to be done with it!

wuffly

Glad you are doing better JA! You had a rough start. Hopefully all continues to go well.
Our little man is back on the boob but still needing top ups. Hopefully not for long if my boobs can take the constant feeding to get my supply back up. Really hope I can push through the part and stick with the BF'ing.
I really wish we had no visitors at this point my mam is here and dying to help but there is feck all to do and it's too hot to send her off for a walk. My sis in law is here (stop off post traveling) and while she is lovely she has no interest in the little one which I don't mind but it wrecks my head she won't get out of the house and I feel totally judged for having a justifiably upset 17day old and being totally knackered. feel awful but can't wait for her to leave and today after getting the little mans passport in a rush I'm half considering not going home as planned and staying here in peace for a week.

Glad you got some sleep Lucuma! Hope she is starting to turn a corner for you!

Kathy you poor thing, hope your little one is home soon, all that expressed milk will stand you when he is home. I hate expressing can't wait to be done with it!

Lucuma

Ugh an unsympathetic SIL staying with you is the last thing you need right now wuffly I'd say. I find my Mam very handy for walking around with the baby while I eat, shower & get dressed? Couldn't your Mam cook for you, do the laundry & the shopping? Ok the shopping might be hard for her in a foreign country but she could do the rest- or is your OH off work still? Hope your SIL leaves soon.

We got smiles this morning! !! :-) :-) at 5 weeks something, same as her big sis :-)

I've been out & about loads with the baby this weekend sans sling/buggy; just been carrying her on my arm so people have been coming up to me all weekend oohing & aahing such a young baby.
Unfortunately the number of ppl that have said the same thing to me is too many to be a fluke now at this stage- they usually say 'oh she's so tiny! ! What age is she?' Then when I saw nearly 6 weeks they say 'really?? She must have been a very small baby when she was born was she?' And I say she was 8 lbs and then a look of disbelief/confusion comes on their face and they say '8lbs really? She's so small you'd never think she had been 8lbs!'
:-( :-( :-( looks like the breastfeeding isn't going as well as I thought

wuffly

Aw smiles! Amazing! Can't wait for that! Getting out and about sounds fab too! I'm sure your little one is thriving people have no concept of baby sizes/weights by looking at them!

Feel a bit like I am wishing this time away and I don't think I would be if we had an empty house. I'm so glad my husband is here but could do without the 'support' of everyone else. My mam is very good to mind him and give me a rest but he's so unsettled at the moment I hate leaving him when he's so upset. We have so much food in the freezer and friends have been dropping in food non stop we are spoiled, and won't need to cook before we go home. Have asked her to bake some proper brown bread tomorrow tho!

Little fella has been a terror today finally conked out on me and hour ago, afraid to move as he's hardly slept all day between being on the boob and screaming for it when I take a break. Lovely to finally see him calm although God knows what kind of a night we are in for!

angeldelight

Lucuma wrote: »

Ugh an unsympathetic SIL staying with you is the last thing you need right now wuffly I'd say. I find my Mam very handy for walking around with the baby while I eat, shower & get dressed? Couldn't your Mam cook for you, do the laundry & the shopping? Ok the shopping might be hard for her in a foreign country but she could do the rest- or is your OH off work still? Hope your SIL leaves soon.

We got smiles this morning! !! :-) :-) at 5 weeks something, same as her big sis :-)

I've been out & about loads with the baby this weekend sans sling/buggy; just been carrying her on my arm so people have been coming up to me all weekend oohing & aahing such a young baby.
Unfortunately the number of ppl that have said the same thing to me is too many to be a fluke now at this stage- they usually say 'oh she's so tiny! ! What age is she?' Then when I saw nearly 6 weeks they say 'really?? She must have been a very small baby when she was born was she?' And I say she was 8 lbs and then a look of disbelief/confusion comes on their face and they say '8lbs really? She's so small you'd never think she had been 8lbs!'
:-( :-( :-( looks like the breastfeeding isn't going as well as I thought

Don't pay any heed honestly! Unless you've had your own baby very recently you forget just how teeny tiny they are when they're little. Trust yourself xx

Kathy22

Thanks guys it has been a sh!t week but he is on the mend now. Finished antibiotics and started him on breast milk. He is only on small amounts to start but will gradually increase over the next 3 days and once he has no tummy reaction he will be allowed home. I really can't wait. Have to say I hate the ICU. I feel like there is always people around us and I can't hold him properly because of all the wires. The doctors seem to have missed the communication module and don't give us the answers unless we pester them. Almost lost the rag with one of them as I got really upset because they would only consider feeding via bottle where I wanted them to consider a cup but she wouldn't even listen. He has a soother as he needs comfort from something and now breast milk from bottle. I feel like our breast feeding journey is going to be so hard at home. Need to get the LC but she is proving difficult to get hold of. I'll be rooting out her office on Tuesday if she doesn't answer her phone. Anyway he is getting better and will be out if there soon.

I am still rather sore. Going in and out if the hospital and the uncomfortable chairs are not good for my hemorrhoids and stitches. I find I am throbbing when I get home How long did people find the pain takes to go away? Have physio again on Tuesday to help my seized up ass and leg muscles. Hope to be off the crutches by next week.

Wuffly hope you get some space. I can't imagine having someone stay with me at the moment. My life revolves around pumping, hospital, eating and hurting. Lol! Sorry to hear your having a tough time feeding. It's hard when the nipples hurt. God I just feel like everything hurts these days I may as well suck up the sore boobs.

I hear you on the pumping. I need to do it more but can't seem to find more hours. Im doing it 8 times per day but I know I need to be aiming for 10. My left nipple is cracked and sore. I pumped a 50ml bottle today and looked down and the whole thing was pink so dumped it. Used the multimam compress and lots of lanisoh to try get it to heal. Been temperamental all week.

Lucuma don't listen to people I'm sure you are doing a stellar job. My little guy is just back slightly above his 8lb1 birth weight and people said he looks so big. He is just really long. Glad your mam is helping a little. However I really hope you get some rest!

Question: my boobs are still quite big and uber sensitive. I can barely get shower water on them they hurt. Do they calm down after a few weeks? I really hope they don't remain this size they are so big.

Anyway this is a very long post so I better sign off. 30 minutes to the next pump!

wuffly

Kathy that sounds awful you poor thing and your poor little man. It must be exhausting pumping and stressful in and out of hospital. Hopefully the little man will be home with you soon. Hound the LC until you get them. I'm finding I need a lot of support to keep up the BF'ing I know I just need to get over this bump it's hard to push through and giving up is so tempting when I'm so tired. You will get there but take all the help you can get and push for what you want.
Hope ye are settling in at home soon.

Spent the night feeding and letting him sleep on me hoping all the skin to skin will be enough to drop the top ups, think I will try and do this for the day.

Lucuma

Wow Kathy & wuffly I'm in awe of the 2 of ye, overcoming such obstacles & still trying as best ye can to persevere with breastfeeding. Becoming a mother is so fecking hard as it is- even if everything goes smoothly it's still probably one kf the hardest transitions you'll ever make not to mind when there are extenuating circumstances! Well done Mamas!
I'm here totally misusing bf'ing to discourage any1 from sitting next to me on the Aircoach hee hee. :-D although something tells me a newborn is probably enuf of a deterrent!
Kathy get this inflatable ring cushion if you can

http://m.boots.ie/h5/cat_hub?unCountry=roi&path=%2Fen%2FSafe-Sound-Health-Inflatable-Comfort-Cushion_1419302%2F

I had that in my hospital bag BEFORE I had no.1 just in case I had to have stitches! Overkill I know but I used it alot after no.1, esp on uncomfortable chairs as you say. I walked in & bought it in a chemist- may have been Sam McCauleys. I didn't need it this time, I can post you mine 2m if you want-just PM me?
Re healing it does take a while but assuming everything heals normally I would expect by your 6 week post natal check up you should be fairly well healed up. Did the placenta removal contribute to the size of your tear or was it just from labour? Any idea what degree tear u had 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th? On no.1 I had an episiotomy which is equivalent of 2nd degree. On this one I had 1st degree tear. Assuming you're keeping stitches clean (use shower head if u don't have time for shower every day) I guess wounds do hurt as they're healing. They hopefully gave you instructions on what pain relief to take when you were leaving hospital.
Both of ye actually don't forget to take vitamins/tonic every day coz there is a real risk of becoming run down. I took mine religiously this time around after getting very run down last time.
Kathy think positive re the BF at home- on a + side he had a good latch before the breastfeeding stopped, you have a good supply and he won't have been on bottles for long. Skin to skin is the way to go for getting babies back on the breast alright - just lay around all day doing skin to skin & feeding and don't try to go anywhere or trying to' get back to normal'- that's not a priority right now!
Kathy my Mam tells a story about finding blood in my lil bros nappy which came from her bleeding nipples into him and out the other end! He went on to have zero health probs & 580 points in his LC so maybe you should have fed baby the pink milk! ;-p
Thanks for the encouraging comments- OH says he would tell me if he thought she was underweight & he doesn't think so. ...I've decided to shave a few weeks ofd her age and a few lbs off her birthweight from now on....2 ppl asked today I said she is 4 weeks old!!

ja1986

I really appreciate this thread. Thank God I found it. Everyone is going through something different but has advice for us. Hope you girls are getting on better today. My issues seem tiny compared to what ye have to go through.

Brought back my second tommee tippee hand pump yesterday because,well it's crap. Got a play mat for her instead. So haven't been pumping or anything,but my milk is seriously flowing! Iv never seen anything like it. I had her on me all day yesterday and today.

Starting to get a bit of a routine going. Have the girls bags packed for tomorrow and we all had our showers and clothes ready for tomorrow. Think this is the way forward!

wuffly

The last thing I feel is determined at the moment... He's feeding nearly every hour on me leaving no time to pump and get a bit of supply built up. Feel like I haven't a hope of getting my supply up and getting him back to ebf or even to feeds every 3 hours. Baby clinic tomorrow to check his weight. Hoping the midwife can give me some sort of stragegy. We top him up in the mornings after I've fed him for most of the night. I get 2hrs sleep and time to pump and I'm all motivated. Then he feeds off me all day and by 7pm I'm exhausted and ready to give up and we top him up again. It's soul destroying at the minute. He gets terrible wind that's almost impossible to get out of him when he's on the bottle. Dreading if we do go to formula he'll be so uncomfortable. It's probably positive in that it's really stopped me from giving up bf as it doesn't seem any easier for him to be on formula.
My sis in law leaves tomorrow hoping that will reduce my stress a bit. I just want my house back and not have to be pumping in the bedroom and having to be dressed all the time. Although it won't be much different with my Mam on that front!

Lucuma people are twats say whatever you want! My friend got given out to by a stranger for having her little fella out and about when he was less than 40days old (Indian tradition not to) It's great you are getting out and about. How's the wind?

JA sounds like you have totally turned a corner, well done! Hope I am right behind you! Have a great time!

Kathy how are you doing? Sending positive thoughts your way x

Lucuma

Hi ladies,
Well I'm at the 6 week milestone today-made it! Can't believe it really and I'm still in one piece & so is baby. Phew! The first 6 weeks are so bloody hard so good riddance!!! Dare I say it- it's a little easier now. I think babies are like littlle rubix cubes; and our job is to figure them out. So I do understand her behaviour a bit better now. I know that when she has already been fed and she starts to root frantically for the breast, head bob and lep around (she literally propels herself forward using her feet!!) It is not in fact hunger but wind and if I put enough effort into winding her that behaviour stops.
In the last few days she has gotten better at getting the wind out of herself. Yesterday morning when I woke up she was doing her usual noise-ing but it was productive for a change so it was like Twist, Grunt, Groan, Paaaaarp and Turn, Groan, Grunt, Paaaaarp and so on! :-)
And this morning after the last lying down feed when I sat her up it was like a firing squad going off Pap-pap-pap-pap :-) Never thought the sound of someone's farts would be such sweet sweet music to my ears!
Unbelievably I haven't bicycled her legs in the last 48 hours! We were literally doing the tour de france on a daily basis before that. And she is burping much easier herself as well- she evem burped while lying down feeding this morning. Or the little belches are coming without needing much or any patting. I was practically generating electricity with the amount of back rubbing that has been going on.
We still have a long way to go now....want to get her sleeping on her back and/or sleeping in a crib/basket of some description. At the moment she'll only sleep on or next to me which is draining.

Ja - well done on all the feeding + milk flowing! That sounds great. Can't believe you were using a manual pump, I tried one before but would be there all day. I found the elec pump much better.

Kathy re sore nipples- mine, esp right one (my bigger and more used boob) are still sore at 6 weeks. Is this normal, I don't know. I had thought it would be like learning to play guitar- at first your finger tips are really sore & raw and then they toughen up. But how long should that process take I don't know. LC in the hosp and my doula and MW in hosp all said she had a great latch. Is it thrush, I don't know? There's no flakey skin on me or white residue in baby mouth. I have 6 week check up this week gonna get her to look at my nipples. Will you have your 2 wk check up this wk? Be sure to get doc to look at hemerroid for you & prescribe something if necessary. Also if you have constipation aggrevating it tell the doc they can give you advice inc prescription for that as well if reqd. I'm sure you know anyway but kiwis, pears, prunes, porridge, lots of water, lots of fibre good and lay off bananas and cheese - that's what GP told me at my 2 week check. Also on the nipples I let mine hang out the first few weeks and rubbed the milk onto them. This meant milk dripped everywhere but so be it! I really should have put a mattress protector on the bed tho! Apparently you can get dble ones in Argos. On the sore boobs mine are still sensitive. Check that yours aren't engorged? If so putting cabbage leaves in your bra (green leafy type) is meant to help. Did u have time to get fitted for nursing bra? You wouldn't want a bra that's too small at a time like this when they're under enuf pressure!
Wuffly that sounds torturous you poor thing :-( The one thing you could really do with now is privacy. Whatever about having your family around but to have in-laws !!! For god's sake don't worry about going around in pjs and pumping in front of your mother, you now realise what she went through with you- she has seen you in a lot worse I'm sure.
Did you Google tips for wind, I found lots online. Perching them on your lap or a cushion and rotating them around and around their hips (go in both directions) then rocking them back and forth and gentle bouncing works well. Is there cranio sacral therapy available over there for babies? If not defo bring him as soon as you get home- I'd make the appointment asap as the good ones are very busy. Re 'building up your supply' if you mean the amount you're producing then having baby on the breast will do that more efficiently than any pump!
But I'm not sure did you mean that or to build up a supply of b-milk for topups?
Apparently the wind gets better when they get older- as I said I've noticed an improvement at 6 weeks. So even if formula fed you will get better at the winding techniques (also go to baby massage class if you can for winding techniques) and they will get better as their digestive system matures. I know how frustrating the wind is though!
Went to Cuidiu coffee morning in M&S cafe today, mainly wanted BF advice. 1st woman I spoke to was bottle feeding her 6mo she gave up BF after 6 weeks, the next woman I spoke to was BF'ing her 6 wk old but is weaning to bottles next week, I was thinking argh no encouragement here!! I checked the flier afterwards & it was actually a 'social meet up' I was at, not a breastfeeding group, oops! I must read descriptions properly in future. LLL is definitely way more hardcore! Cuidiu seems to be for all mothers not just bf

Kathy22

Hey guys haven't been on in a few days. Well we finally all got home from the hospital and have been enjoying being at home. I literally didn't get out if my PJs yday! Things are still not going so great here as he is not really taking to breastfeeding at all. I don't know why but I really need to figure it out as I don't want to be pumping and bottle feeding him my milk. Had his check up today and he is up 8oz on his birth weight. He lives his milk and guzzles it down so at least we have no trouble there. I finally got to speak to the lactation specialist and she took a look and reckoned it might be early trush but then a couple of hours later I felt really ill. Nurse in ICU sent me to get checked out. I had a fever and an exam showes Mastitis. Got admitted to be given IV antibiotics. Discharged myself the next day and fever finally broke that night feeling a lot less sore and a lot less Ill!!! I'm on shed loads of antibiotics so taking loads of probiotics as I really cannot cope dealing with another setback.

Lucuma you are so sweet thanks for the offer of the cushion. I actually bought one but my physio recommend not to use it as said it would create a pressure point. I am so much better down there now. I had been prescribed sheriproct or something of that name and it has worked. Finally feel somewhat normal down there. Cannot believe your little girl is 6 weeks. It feels like that time flew by altho probably not for you! How long have you left in Ireland? Are you feeling positive about things? Thanks so much for all your advice it's been super.

Wuffly you poor thing. I would hate constant people in my house. Things can get chaotic with pumping, feeding, washing, changing etc. as I'm sure you know. Hopefully with your SIL fine you at least have some space. How is things going now? Is he still cluster feeding?

JA sounds like things are going well for you and your developing a routine. Long may it last.

I have a private lactation consultant coming for a few hours on Monday I need a miracle or something. Something has to give but she is supposed to be brilliant so fingers crossed. Need to register him also and do his two week checkup which were Late going to due to his stay in the ICU. I'm planning a morning of skin to skin tomorrow before visitors and hopefully get him latched on. Fingers crossed!

spottybananas

Just popping in to say Kathy re pink milk from bleeding nipples,there's no need to dump that. If baby was breastfeeding he'd be drinking it anyway and you wouldn't even know, it's fine to give. You could freeze it and dilute with non pink milk if you wanted also.

Hope everything works out for you soon, you're doing great.

wuffly

My god Kathy you poor thing, you've had a horrendous time, I can't imagine how your able to even think about bf'ing, with everything, fair play. I hope your skin to skin day went well and the little man is latching on for you and hope its not too painful. You are amazing!

Still struggling with breastfeeding here, good moments and bad. He is back on the boob and was doing great and we had finished the top ups although he was feeding a lot he was getting more settled, but the nips have gradually been getting sore again and he's been quiet rough pulling and chomping the last two days I was still tender after the infection but if he was feeding properly there shouldn't be an issue. Getting very disheartened with it, midwife and LC have said his latch is good and no tongue tie so no reason for the pain. Made another appointment for the LC on weds... emailed her and she thinks my supply is either too fast as he stops pulling and going on and off when I use the nipple shield (using since yesterday) or else its too low and thats why he's feeding so often. No reason why I'm getting sore though. The long and the short of it is I feel like its next to impossible to get it right... I really need to turn a corner soon he will be 4weeks old on thursday. Lucuma I'm in awe of how you made it work with your first. I'm doing my best not to give up.

My mother keeps telling me I've done great to do it until now, but maybe I should give up now. OH is telling me I'm great and he know's I can do it... I don't know which is worse. I do know when/if there is another child I'm not seeing an visitors for 6weeks. I feel like having them here has ruined the good start we had made and I'm so annoyed that I let it happen...

He is such a great little fella and he's doing so well in spite of all the feeding fuss just dying for him to get a bit more settled in himself. He gets so frustrated feeding sometimes and can be impossible to settle works himself into such an awful state, which puts me in a state... with my mother looking at me practically in tears with a face like why can't you sooth my darling grandson...

Sorry thats an awful rant just need to get it out! I hope some Irish fresh air soothes us all!! His passport has arrived and we fly home on thursday, not sure if i'm looking forward to it or dreading it but anyway!!

Hope everyone is well xx

Lucuma

Kathy22 wrote: »

I have a private lactation consultant coming for a few hours on Monday I need a miracle or something. Something has to give but she is supposed to be brilliant so fingers crossed. Need to register him also and do his two week checkup which were Late going to due to his stay in the ICU. I'm planning a morning of skin to skin tomorrow before visitors and hopefully get him latched on. Fingers crossed!

Kathy you poor poor thing, I cannot believe you had to go back into the hospital again. First baby doesn't come home with you, then he's home and you're back in...chr!st. You're due a break soon!
Pity the Rotunda LC didn't spot it was mastitis - did she give you any advice about latching the little fella on - prob just told you to do skin-to-skin?
Sounds like he's after getting fierce fond of the bottle. I can see now why you got upset when the doc in neonatal wouldn't consider a cup or alternative to feed him. I suppose when the babies realise they can get the milk into them much faster via a bottle teat the breast is a hard sell. There are women who just pump and bottle feed, there's even a facebook group for it, big decision though.
How're you getting on sleep wise - are you getting some?

I usually get a 4 hour stretch from approx 23:30 to 03:30 but I don't get it every night. From 03:30 onwards then it's a circus til I finally get up around 9 to 10am. I'm fecking knackered! I do feel positive though, god knows why!

wuffly wrote: »

Getting very disheartened with it, midwife and LC have said his latch is good and no tongue tie so no reason for the pain. Made another appointment for the LC on weds... emailed her and she thinks my supply is either too fast as he stops pulling and going on and off when I use the nipple shield (using since yesterday) or else its too low and thats why he's feeding so often. No reason why I'm getting sore though. The long and the short of it is I feel like its next to impossible to get it right... I really need to turn a corner soon he will be 4weeks old on thursday. Lucuma I'm in awe of how you made it work with your first. I'm doing my best not to give up.

Don't be in awe of me at all girl, I only fed my first for 3 weeks so you're already gone past that! On no.1 I had trouble sleeping & was put on strong sleeping tablets that you can't bf on so I had to switch to formula at 3 weeks. I didn't have any serious BF issues during those 3 weeks but I never did it long enough to really put my stamina to the test like it's being put to the test now! And no.1 was a really easy baby this one isn't!!!!

I can sympathise with you about the baby never seeming settled. I was kinda in that boat for the first few weeks. I got Zantac drops (for reflux) at the 6 week check up (you need a prescription for them) and since going on the zantac she is more settled between feeds during the day now in my opinion. My mother thinks I'm dosing her with all sorts between gaviscon infant, zantac drops, infacol, gripe water etc but I'll do anything for a quiet life, I feel I'm already martyr enough to be breastfeeding & and coping on so little sleep so if there are any magic potions that appear to give her some relief & make my life more bearable bring em on as far as I'm concerned.

Are you fair skinned wuffly? Coz fair skinned people are meant to have more trouble with the nipple pain. My baby does that coming on and off and pulling when she's full of wind. When that happens I have to call a halt and wind her coz the pain of them going on and off and pulling is terrible. Hope the LC can figure out if it's a fast let down making him do that in which case you could try express a little before he starts feeding, or maybe she might say you can just always wear the shields to feed if you can keep up a satisfactory supply that way.

I was at the cranio sacral therapy with baby again today - relieved of another hefty sum - 75 euro. There sure is money to be made from exhausted mothers seeking sleep! Baby let a lot of wind out during the session, maybe that was a good sign. Had no dirty nappy actually all day yesterday and only 1 today but she has been doing toxic (and I mean toxic) farts. I really think between the reflux, the chronic wind, rashes on her face etc that my milk doesn't seem to suit her at all, hard to believe it's ''the best start in life'' and all that jazz. I'll be very curious to see if these things improve over time and what changes occur when I do wean her to formula in the future. I am making changes in my diet like have given up chocolate and trying to cut out dairy but I'm loathe to make drastic changes....might have to though. Some peopel suggest giving up coffee ......that'll be a last resort!

Heading back over to europe on Wednesday. Can't wait to be back with hubby and my toddler again but I'll miss a lot of things about home. Funny wuffly we're going in opposite directions! It was definitely a bad idea in hindsight not to have privacy for these first few weeks so you and your husband could find your groove, but you couldn't know that in advance. In fairness your SIL should never have arranged to be there when a newborn was there though!! She must be clueless.......and in theory having your mother seemed a good idea I'm sure. It won't be as full on when you get back to Ireland coz your mother will have her own life and will be doing her own thing rather than 100% focused on you like she is now. I can vouch for this!

wuffly wrote: »

I do know when/if there is another child I'm not seeing an visitors for 6weeks.

Oh my god could not agree more. Why do people visit ?!? I won't even remember any of them it's all just a sleep deprived haze.

Kathy22

Thanks spottybananas, breastfeeding is such a huge learning curve. I read so much about it before the birth but nothing could have prepared me for what I have learned in the last few weeks.

Wuffly I really feel your pain on the feeding. Our little guy goes from zero to starving in the space of a minute and starts chomping away and throwing his head around making it so hard to get him calm enough to latch.

LC called and she was really good, spent about 2 and a half hours here and showed me a lot of what I was doing wrong, bring baby to the boob rather than the other way around. Im a bit more confident with positions now and we did ok today. She did mention he had a slight tongue tie and gave me options about fixing it however in hospital as he was roaring his head off when pediatrician was looking at him the doctor said def no sign of tongue tie there anyway so I don't know. She said its very mild but is impacting his latch, he tends to find it hard to get a good latch and when he does he does small sucks and can sometimes fall asleep on the boob. I got some Medula nipple shields as she gave me some to try and they did help so we shall see how we go with them although I don't want to rely on them all the time.

Safe travels home Wuffly, Im hoping things settle for you but try not to be too hard on yourself. You have to give yourself some time to rest also.

Lucuma I don't think I could do exclusive pumping, its awkward and I feel like Im double jobbing. My big issue is he is not really great on the boob and seems to give up before he is full, therefore I am giving him some expressed milk on top of it. Maybe when we get more confident with it things will be better. Sleep wise he is ok, usually do a feed around midnight, then he sleeps till 4am, although I hate the nighttime feed as we always have a horrible time trying to feed, taking ages then i have to pump my other side as I am so full and give him some expressed milk as he gets hungry again.

Lucuma you seem to be getting on great breastfeeding, fair play to you for making it work. I know how tiring it can be. Oh and I hear you on forking out fro baby stuff, lactation specialist was €100 but in my mind worth it rather than have to look at alternatives. Fair play on giving up foods, I would be so annoyed if it resorted to that.

Safe trip home for you as well, will be lovely to get back to your hubby and get settled into your own home with your own routine. How much longer do you have off work?

I am pretty tired now this eve and my little man is roaring down the house after a feed, change, burp. cuddles etc. He slept a lot of today so I'm hoping we are not in for a night of tears. We have held off on visitors till Thursday, with the lactation consultant and public health nurse yesterday plus some other visitors I think he was over stimulated and cried all evening and didn't sleep a wink. The joys. Although I wouldn't change him for the world, he is just the cutest little thing.

spottybananas

Kathy have you a Cuidiu bf group nearby, or have you joined fb bf groups? Yes bring boob to baby is helpful, and also that you should be tummy to tummy with baby when feeding in a cradle hold, to get the positioning right, I found that a helpful tip to remind myself when baby's position would effect latch.

Kathy22

spottybananas wrote: »

Kathy have you a Cuidiu bf group nearby, or have you joined fb bf groups? Yes bring boob to baby is helpful, and also that you should be tummy to tummy with baby when feeding in a cradle hold, to get the positioning right, I found that a helpful tip to remind myself when baby's position would effect latch.

Hey yep have gone to a meeting before he was born just not since but I do intend on it. I don't really feel confident going just yet, we would be flailing around and he'd probably scream the house down. I need to build confidence before going. We did a but better today and I am getting more of a hand at getting him on although he seems continuously hungry today and wants to be on the boob all the time, he is currently asleep after over an hour of feeding. I don't feel too dispairing and feel like we will eventually get there. Definitely more positive than before

spottybananas

Don't worry about him flailing or being noisy at a meet up, it's par for the course! Lots of mums on hand to help with support and extra hands if needed.

Lucuma

Kathy22 wrote: »

Our little guy goes from zero to starving in the space of a minute and starts chomping away and throwing his head around making it so hard to get him calm enough to latch.
.

One thing my sister tried for same prob was her husb helped to syringe some expressed milk into baby's mouth at the start of the feed to take the edge off their hunger & calm them down enough to be able to latch on.

You're doing great Kathy considering the difficult start you've had!
I had both extremes of the spectrum this week.. got gastro on Wed and was puking violently & was weak & unable to hold anything down. Had night from hell Wed night- really needed to hand baby over to someone else to mind for the night but couldn't. Then Thurs night got my longest stretch of sleep since baby was born- and possibly since I got pregnant! - fell asleep around 11pm & she woke me looking for feed at 4:50am!!! I couldn't believe it!! More than 5 hours in 1 stretch, oh sweet sweet bliss. I'm like a new woman since. 'Only' had to wait 7 weeks for it!!

Kathy22

Lucuma how you doing back in Europe with your hubby? Is your little girl still getting any longer sleeps?

Wuffly how you getting in, how are you finding breastfeeding these days? Did you get home to Ireland OK?

Teggers and JA how you guys doing, thread has been quiet lately.

We are actually doing ok! Shock horror. Hubby went back to work this week and although finding it a bit hard by myself we are getting into some form of a routine. Need to get out walking now and shift this baby weight have a wedding next week and dress shopping was miserable:(

I'm still doing a mix of breastfeeding and expressing. He is a slow eater and I just can't cope with the 1 hour plus feeds at night. Got him weighed yesterday and he is up a whole pound since last week. Nurse was delighted with him. Whoop

Lucuma

Kathy22 wrote: »

Lucuma how you doing back in Europe with your hubby? Is your little girl still getting any longer sleeps?

No, that was a freak one off occurance - could even have been me sleeping through her grunting due to sheer exhaustion that time! actually since we got back to europe her sleeping went from bad to worse. no long stretches at all since we got here and even that first stretch of sleep that we used to usually get stopped happening. her wind has gotten to the stage that i tried feeding her sitting up while trying to get some sleep in bed at the same time and even then she was so agitated with wind that neither of us got much sleep in the last week. i had hoped hubby would help me with winding her during the night but no, he's dead to the world. think he is suffering post tramautic stress from the 5 weeks he spent looking after our 1 year old. once he saw what a disaster she is for sleeping (won't lie on her back, won't sleep in her own bed, can only be fed to sleep with me there etc...) he started asking me every day what's my end date for breastfeeding, so i'm glad i spent those 7 weeks post partum in ireland with my mammy i'd say i'd never have lasted so long breastfeeding otherwise. we're 2 days away from 2 months old so i'm very proud to get this far but i would like to get some sleep now and be able to enjoy the remaining 3 months of mat leave - it's such a short precious time and will be over before i know it and i'll be back in work! so i don't want to/can't keep running on so little sleep and going around like a zombie. so i decided to give her formula yesterday. it was like a magic sleeping potion. only thing is i got hardly any sleep coz i was awake all night expecting her to wake up - but she didn't! i'll combination feed for a while but it's a relief to be honest, i'm so looking forward to and excited about sleeping for long periods and getting her out of the bed. that was impossible the way things were as she would wake up as soon as she was put in her own bed she was never in a deep sleep after breastmilk. but the formula knocks her out into a deep sleep where i could move her anywhere i'd say and she won't wake up. happy nights ahead!
kathy you're going brilliant, a whole pound! you've plenty milk anyway!
wuffly how was the journey back, hope you are happy at home and not minding the lack of privacy. it's been great to have privacy since i came back to europe, especially with breastfeeding, i've just been going around the apartment with my tits out most days, that wasn't an option at home! think i had thrush in my right nipple coz the daktarin seems to have sorted it out. funny one though coz there was no white stuff on me or baby.
my baby has a hernia on her tummy. i think it's a hole in her stomach behind her belly button so when her belly is full of wind (always) her belly button inflates with gas. you can push it with your finger and it deflates, and immediately reinflates. looks very strange! but gp at 6 week check said it would sort itself out might take up to 1 year! other than that she's' healthy and normal, thank god! feel so lucky

Aveen

Lucuma sounds like a small hernia, my wee lad had the same and did sort itself out over his first year

Aveen

Lucuma sounds like a small hernia, my wee lad had the same and did sort itself out over his first year

wuffly

Hey ladies, we made it back to Ireland fairly painlessly, little man just fed and slept for the flight. I kept him under the bf cover the whole time to keep him from getting over stimulated as the airport was though going at night time. BF'ing is still a major struggle, my nips aren't healing and he's constantly hungry. We saw another LC on thurs who said he does have tongue tie. We are going to get it snipped in Clonmel next week. I'm so angry and annoyed it wasn't picked up and sorted sooner. I asked the day he was born and have been told constantly since it wasn't an issue. This LC said there's no such thing as mild tt, which is what we were told repeatedly. Decided if there isn't a dramatic improvement in the week after the snip we will move to formula. I'm destroyed physically from lack of sleep and nipple pain. It's ruining what I hoped would be a special time. I dread the nights with him. (To quote game of thrones 'the nights are dark and full of terror!!)Feeding himnand feeding him and he is never satisfied enough to sleep properly. And I feel so sorry for him as he must be hungry all the time because he can't get enough. A week after the snip be will be 6weeks plus so even if I stop then I'll have given him that much. Met my friend that stopped BF'ing after 3weeks yesterday. He's thriving and sleeping through the night at 3 months she has short enough mat leave as well and said its not worth it spending it miserable which i am at the moment. I won't get this time with him again and don't want to waste it beating myself up about BF'ing and having a unsettled/upset baby. It's ****e on all of us and I think my OH thinks I've pnd and tbh sometimes I don't feel too far off it after a bad night.

Lucuma well done on 2months BF'ing you've given her a great start! You do need a lot of support to bf. You need your rest and now you're back home with your toddler as well you need more energy. It must be lovely to be back in your on place. We've really made it hard on ourselves having long stay visitors and coming home so soon. I miss our house desperately! What not to do!!
Kathy glad it's going well for you, combo feeding sounds like a great plan, if I could get enough time and milk I would do the same. Youve done a stellar job after all you went through!

On the bright side we are starting to get some smiles which are amazing and gives me a glimpse of the happy baby he will hopefully be in a few weeks!

Lucuma

Aveen wrote: »

Lucuma sounds like a small hernia, my wee lad had the same and did sort itself out over his first year

Really, did it look like the attached photo. I've never heard of or seen a baby with such a yoke sticking out of their belly but my mother said 'they used to bind them before' implying these are quite common?

Aveen

Lucuma wrote: »

Really, did it look like the attached photo. I've never heard of or seen a baby with such a yoke sticking out of their belly but my mother said 'they used to bind them before' implying these are quite common?

Hey Lucuma, that's what my wee man looked like, I didn't realise they could have it until I spoke to GP. More common in boys. You should notices a different when baby starts sitting up. Oh and it can change colour depending on baby temperature and pressure behind it

Lucuma

Aveen it's great to talk to someone else who's baby had the same, I thought maybe I caused it by doing baby massage on her (to relieve wind) before her cord wound had healed properly. It's not a nice thought that she's going to have it for a year. I hope her stomach won't have a weakness in the wall or anything when she is older coz of it.
Welcome home wuffly! Glad the flight was okay, it's easy when they are babies in fairness. ...they just sleep through the whole thing usually. When they get on the move you need valium, large amounts of alcohol or both to get through the flights!
I hope you don't have PND, it's hard to tell coz if anyone had to survive on so little sleep & have the responsibility of feeding,cchanging, bathing, dressing a helpless infant while also recovering from labour what exactly is there to be particularly cheerful about like! Make sure you & baby don't fall off the radar of check ups now coz you're not plugged into the irish post natal care.....can u get him a pps no & register him for the free under 6 gp? And make sure to get a check up for yourself as well both mental & physical!
My sis got baby tt snipped private in Cork it cost 200. I hope you see an improvement out of it!
We're going for the 2 mo vaccine today, hard to believe! The last 2 months are just a blur, I've sleepwalked my way through them & somehow managed to survive! Made a big move this week, got the baby out of my bed hurrah. I was quite nervous about how it would go & trying to remember how to get a bottle fed baby asleep, you need a lot more tricks up your sleeve! I'm using 1) swaddle, 2) white noise, 3) sleepyhead pillow, 4) soother if req'd. It felt amazing to have the bed back to myself after 2 months of her sleeping in my arm pit :-) can't believe I co-slept for so long, always good to try new experiences I suppose.
I'm so exhausted. ...I'd kill for a night's sleep. Coz of the pregnancy-insomnia since 1st trimester it's nearly a year now since I had a full night's sleep. Just so shattered & used to surviving on so little sleep but I just want it to be over now.......I met a mama at toddler music class today with a 3 WEEK old who is sleeping from 11pm til 7:30 with just 1 feed at 3:30 which her husb is doing. .....I wanted to hit her !! Last night I got a 2.5 hr stretch, then 1 hr feeding/winding/pumping etc then a 2 hr stretch til 5am and after that got no stretch at all due to wind, just dribs and drabs. At least now that's 4 nights she has slept in her own bed with no breast either going to bed or during the night so she is almost ready to
hand over to some one else (poor unfortunate) for a night while I sleeeeeep. It's going to be so blissful.
Are ye finding baby's nails get dirty every day? I'm having to clean them almost every day, what do they be doing to get dirty nails like!