August 2016 Babies Club

brokensoul

cant26 wrote: »

Have had a couple of rough days here. Between epic toddler tantrums and baby up for most of the night I'm absolutely exhausted! Baby seems to sleep so easily during the day. After a feed goes straight down in the Moses basket. As the day progresses he gets fussier safe by 8pm that's it. Full of wind, won't settle at all. On the boob from then until at least 2am. He won't go near the basket at night, has to be beside me in the bed or in my arms! He is defo suffering from a bit of silent reflux I can see it in him. At the doc on Monday so hopefully they will be able to steer us in the right direction. Was pretty emotional yesterday and felt very sorry for myself but then I copped on!!!

Boobs are ver sore atm, getting my latch checked later but think it's fine. He is just stuck to me at all times! Good to hear it settles down judge trudy. That's the pump I was going to get scarepanda. Have heard great things about it considering its manual and so cheap. I'm scaling back my breastfeeding goals! Every day at the moment is an achievement. While I love feeding him and I'm so happy I'm doing it I'm not sure how long we will continue for. Two weeks tomorrow then the next goal is a month. We'll see then.

Haven't registered birth yet trudy but we will receive payment for September. It's only the month that the baby is born that is excluded. Every other month is back paid. At least was the way it went the last time.

I went to a breastfeeding class before my two arrived and the woman running it told us that your breastfeeding goal should be 3 days because of all the nutrients etc that get pass over in the first three days. According to her anything onto that is a bonus, so you are already doing brilliantly!

I managed 6 weeks before the breast abscess got the better of me. Was a bit disheartened at the start but have now decided I am a f**king rockstar for having managed it at all

You are a rockstar for getting to two weeks, remember that!!

Judge Trudy

brokensoul wrote: »

I went to a breastfeeding class before my two arrived and the woman running it told us that your breastfeeding goal should be 3 days because of all the nutrients etc that get pass over in the first three days. According to her anything onto that is a bonus, so you are already doing brilliantly!

I managed 6 weeks before the breast abscess got the better of me. Was a bit disheartened at the start but have now decided I am a f**king rockstar for having managed it at all

You are a rockstar for getting to two weeks, remember that!!

Yeah fair play to you for managing it with two!

6 weeks is my goal, did it for 10 with my daughter. I'm going to have a bonfire with my nursing bras, ugliest things ever

scarepanda

It must be in the air cant26. The last few days herself has been awful cranky, especially during the day. I thought it might have been something I'd eaten, but don't think so now. Today especially has been hard. She woke at 3.30am and didn't go back down till about 7, woke again around 8 and has been up and down ever since. When she's awake she's not happy at all. She definately has wind that's trapped, but I think she might have some silent reflux as well. How is your little lad complaining with the reflux?
I'm on my own from tomorrow morning till Sunday afternoon so it'll be interesting to see how we get on! Will definately be ringing the PHN Monday to see what she says. It could easily take a week to get an appointment with our GP, so contacting her first is quickest.
Don't be afraid to use the shield's if your boobs are getting sore. You really don't want it hurting when he's nursing, especially if your finding yourself a bit emotional coz it'll just make everything worse.
Iv no bf goals as such. Actually surprised I'm still at it after the way things were in the hospital. It's definately gotten easier in the last couple of weeks. I find I get a bit emotional in a good way when I'm feeding her. Kinda like i feel like crying, but never actually do. Now I need to build up the confidence to do it in public. It's probably the hardest thing about it now, but it's all down to my own insecurities.
I'm finding the pump brilliant when I use it. Hadn't got a clue what we were buying at the time, himself just saw it one evening when we were out shopping and we bought it coz it was so cheap.
Your some woman brokensoul for keeping it up for that long, especially with two.
We registered her a couple of weeks ago. I got a letter last week that I need to complete for payment. Have any of ye set up special accounts for the payment? If so what did ye go with?

spottybananas

JudgeTrudy could you try breastfeeding wearing normal unwired bras? I gave up on nursing bras after about 8 weeks and went back to maternity and non wired normal bras, hated messing with the clicky bits!!

Judge Trudy

spottybananas wrote: »

JudgeTrudy could you try breastfeeding wearing normal unwired bras? I gave up on nursing bras after about 8 weeks and went back to maternity and non wired normal bras, hated messing with the clicky bits!!

I find the clicky straps handy but I wasn't spoiled for choice when I went shopping for nursing bras and had to settle on one that I wouldn't normally wear in a month of Sundays. I think my breastfeeding journey is coming to an end soon anyway, I'm finding it too trying after another hard night.

cant26

brokensoul wrote: »

I went to a breastfeeding class before my two arrived and the woman running it told us that your breastfeeding goal should be 3 days because of all the nutrients etc that get pass over in the first three days. According to her anything onto that is a bonus, so you are already doing brilliantly!

I managed 6 weeks before the breast abscess got the better of me. Was a bit disheartened at the start but have now decided I am a f**king rockstar for having managed it at all

You are a rockstar for getting to two weeks, remember that!!

Aw thanks brokensoul. Your comment was lovely to see. I don't know about me but you certainly are a rockstar, feeding two. So if you can get to six weeks with two I can with one!

cant26

scarepanda wrote: »

It must be in the air cant26. The last few days herself has been awful cranky, especially during the day. I thought it might have been something I'd eaten, but don't think so now. Today especially has been hard. She woke at 3.30am and didn't go back down till about 7, woke again around 8 and has been up and down ever since. When she's awake she's not happy at all. She definately has wind that's trapped, but I think she might have some silent reflux as well. How is your little lad complaining with the reflux?
I'm on my own from tomorrow morning till Sunday afternoon so it'll be interesting to see how we get on! Will definately be ringing the PHN Monday to see what she says. It could easily take a week to get an appointment with our GP, so contacting her first is quickest.
Don't be afraid to use the shield's if your boobs are getting sore. You really don't want it hurting when he's nursing, especially if your finding yourself a bit emotional coz it'll just make everything worse.
Iv no bf goals as such. Actually surprised I'm still at it after the way things were in the hospital. It's definately gotten easier in the last couple of weeks. I find I get a bit emotional in a good way when I'm feeding her. Kinda like i feel like crying, but never actually do. Now I need to build up the confidence to do it in public. It's probably the hardest thing about it now, but it's all down to my own insecurities.
I'm finding the pump brilliant when I use it. Hadn't got a clue what we were buying at the time, himself just saw it one evening when we were out shopping and we bought it coz it was so cheap.
Your some woman brokensoul for keeping it up for that long, especially with two.
We registered her a couple of weeks ago. I got a letter last week that I need to complete for payment. Have any of ye set up special accounts for the payment? If so what did ye go with?

Your little lady sounds like my fella in reverse. Every night he's up until 3am. No matter what. It started from 7pm onwards that the crankiness would hit and then we'd be feeding constantly until 3 but last night I got until 10pm before he went to crazy town!
Like you it's definitely an issue with wind but on Thursday especially I noticed at times that something would come up into his mouth and when he swallowed he looked in pain. Also every hour or so he'd start what seemed like choking before he'd swallow something back down. These were all symptoms of silent reflux my older boy had. Yesterday he wasn't as badly affected by it. The PHN said chocolate can be a culprit and since I've come home I've discovered this amazing bar of chocolate in aldi which I've eaten a bar a night!!! I've stopped that now so will be interesting to see if there's any difference.
I'm not too sore yesterday and today but I'll root out the shields if necessary. At least I know they are there. I'm just lazy and gate the thought of washing and sterilising them before every feed, there's a lot of feeds!!
Good luck on your own today, you'll do great.

scarepanda

cant26 wrote:

Your little lady sounds like my fella in reverse. Every night he's up until 3am. No matter what. It started from 7pm onwards that the crankiness would hit and then we'd be feeding constantly until 3 but last night I got until 10pm before he went to crazy town! Like you it's definitely an issue with wind but on Thursday especially I noticed at times that something would come up into his mouth and when he swallowed he looked in pain. Also every hour or so he'd start what seemed like choking before he'd swallow something back down. These were all symptoms of silent reflux my older boy had. Yesterday he wasn't as badly affected by it. The PHN said chocolate can be a culprit and since I've come home I've discovered this amazing bar of chocolate in aldi which I've eaten a bar a night!!! I've stopped that now so will be interesting to see if there's any difference. I'm not too sore yesterday and today but I'll root out the shields if necessary. At least I know they are there. I'm just lazy and gate the thought of washing and sterilising them before every feed, there's a lot of feeds!! Good luck on your own today, you'll do great.

Aw cant26 that sounds so like herself. It's only started the last week or so, but yesterday was the worst. Usually she's fussy at the 9pm ish feed and again at the 3am ish feed. I notice she's alot worse when she's in the moses basket. I usually put her in the pram during the day and she seems to settle better.
Sometimes it sounds like she's almost chocking/coughing although every time I get up to her she's still sort of asleep and without the sound effects you'd just think she was mooching. Iv also noticed, even when she's awake she's making swallowing actions that are not suckling and it's usually accompanied by a distressed face. She'll also randomly cry out when she's fast asleep. It's weird to describe, but sounds very similar to your lad. I'll definately ring the PHN on Monday.
She didn't settle till just after 12 last night. I was at my wit's end if I'm honest and had a little cry for myself. I was exhausted from the night before and was trying to settle her all day and all week really. I was waiting for a tradesman to call yesterday to fix something so couldn't set up camp on the arm chair like I usually do when she's like that, so I was on edge and didn't get any sort of rest yesterday.
Thankfully though when she did go down after 12 she didn't wake again till about 4.30, so I did get some sleep, but I fell asleep with her in the bed for a short while after that feed. Co-sleeping freaks me out, so I'll have to be more careful in future. She didn't get up again this morning till about 8 so all in all last night was decent.
Hopefully today and tonight will be OK. Will be the longest I'll have been on my own with her. Himself is a little worried after last night, but i should be OK now that iv had some sleep.
I have 4 shield's and have an avent steam steriliser so it only takes a few minutes to get everything ready. I usually need the 4 shield's to get through the night.

Dispite everything, there's nothing nicer than when they are settled and they cuddle into you for a nice snooze.... Those few moments make it all worth it :-)

spottybananas

Cosleeping is fine once done following the safety guidelines re position, bedding, etc, and a breastfeeding mother's body still knows the baby is there when you're asleep. It was and is the only way any of us get decent sleep!

scarepanda

spottybananas wrote:

Cosleeping is fine once done following the safety guidelines re position, bedding, etc, and a breastfeeding mother's body still knows the baby is there when you're asleep. It was and is the only way any of us get decent sleep!

I know there's nothing wrong with it when done safely. It's just a personal thing that makes me nervous. Im usually quite a light sleeper, but I do toss and turn a good bit and my partner is quite a deep sleeper.
Usually were not to bad in that she only really wakes at 3 ish during the night. My partner is usually still up when she wakes around 12 and I'd usually be fairly awake when she's due her next feed around 6 ish. The problem last night was that she woke at 3.30 the night before and I didn't get much sleep after that yesterday.

scarepanda

I know this was a complete fluck, but herself rolled herself over from belly to back yesterday while doing tummy time with her Daddy! I wouldn't have believed him only he was in the middle of taking some photos of her and caught her mid roll!

spottybananas

I hope you don't think I was being patronising I was just trying to give the info as some people think cosleeping is totally unsafe. Baby should sleep on mum's side so your partner being a deep sleeper wouldn't make any difference. I wasn't really comfortable with cosleeping until he was old enough to roll around and push himself away if he couldn't breathe due to anything, but desperation made me do it until then.

scarepanda

spottybananas wrote:

I hope you don't think I was being patronising I was just trying to give the info as some people think cosleeping is totally unsafe. Baby should sleep on mum's side so your partner being a deep sleeper wouldn't make any difference. I wasn't really comfortable with cosleeping until he was old enough to roll around and push himself away if he couldn't breathe due to anything, but desperation made me do it until then.

Oh jaz I know you weren't! I can definately see the advantages of it. I love being able to feed her while I'm lying down at night, it's just the sleeping bit that makes me uncomfortable, just incase something happened. May be when she's older I might be more comfortable with it.

Thankfully she's in a lot better form today and I'm way less stressed than I was yesterday. We're just back from our first walk on our own.... She got the low down on all the neighbours ;-)!!

Judge Trudy

I cracked last night and gave bubs some formula. He is like my daughter, such a guzzler! I was worried he would be fussy and not take the bottle but he polished the bottle off in no time. Just dealing with the dirty nappies now but he slept from 1-6 which was heavenly. I don't want to give the breastfeeding up altogether but if I top at night, I'm worried about my supply drying up.

cant26

Little guy had his two week check with the GP and am so deflated after it was so excited for him to be weighed as I felt he'd put on a good bit. Turns out he's lost again. We have now exceeded the 10%. Questioning everything, my supply, my ability.. Don't understand the let down reflex will have to look into that. Have to start topping up but I'm going to buy a pump too to try increase my supply. I don't mind having to give formula but I really don't want to give up. I feel I'm only starting to process everything that happened me in hospital and it's leaving me very emotional, I was really hoping all our mental cluster feeding would've paid off
Trudy do what feels best for you. Think it's so different when your other kids at home. You need sleep!
Scarepanda I hope you got on ok on your own over the weekend.

spottybananas

Cant26 contact a Cuidiu counsellor or lactation consultant, bf babies take longer to get back to birth weight. I was told at 2 week check up that I should top up as he wasn't back to birth weight, I said no and could we review it in a week. She said that if he hadn't passed it in a week I would have to give top ups and to feed feed feed. I tried extra feeds and he spat it up so feck that, I just went back to what we had been doing. The next week he had exceeded his birth weight by quite a bit, never have top ups.

If you start top ups your supply will drop, it's a vicious circle. Definitely contact a bf expert for better advice.

cant26

spottybananas wrote: »

Cant26 contact a Cuidiu counsellor or lactation consultant, bf babies take longer to get back to birth weight. I was told at 2 week check up that I should top up as he wasn't back to birth weight, I said no and could we review it in a week. She said that if he hadn't passed it in a week I would have to give top ups and to feed feed feed. I tried extra feeds and he spat it up so feck that, I just went back to what we had been doing. The next week he had exceeded his birth weight by quite a bit, never have top ups.

If you start top ups your supply will drop, it's a vicious circle. Definitely contact a bf expert for better advice.

Thanks. Had your baby gained any weight though? Mine is just constantly losing. Hasn't gained anything.

scarepanda

Ah cant26, I'm really sorry things didn't go to plan at the appointment. Don't give up on a bad day though.

Get in contact with your local support group, and find out from them what you're best plan of action is. Make sure to listen to everything they say, but only do what works best for you, your baby and your family.

Does he have tongue tie or problems with his latch?
The avent pump is really good and it's way less mechanical than the hospital pump. Pumping at home is far easier as well. I also found that writing down everything that happened me in the hospital really helped me move on from everything. I had always planned on keeping a kind of diary for her when's she's older and it took me a couple of weeks to get it started, but I find it really helped. Breastfeeding might be the most natural thing in the world, but that doesn't mean that it's easy and being emotional, about anything, but especially about your experience in the hospital will only make it even harder on you -at least that's the way it was with me.

Get through today and look forward to tomorrow.

XxxxX

spottybananas

He had gained a bit but not enough, but he was in scbu for the first 5 days and I was ill so was bound to gain more when we could properly feed on demand from days 5-12, so don't go by me.

Are you on any bf facebook pages? There's great help and advice on them. Or any bf meetups near you?

cant26

scarepanda wrote: »

Ah cant26, I'm really sorry things didn't go to plan at the appointment. Don't give up on a bad day though.

Get in contact with your local support group, and find out from them what you're best plan of action is. Make sure to listen to everything they say, but only do what works best for you, your baby and your family.

Does he have tongue tie or problems with his latch?
The avent pump is really good and it's way less mechanical than the hospital pump. Pumping at home is far easier as well. I also found that writing down everything that happened me in the hospital really helped me move on from everything. I had always planned on keeping a kind of diary for her when's she's older and it took me a couple of weeks to get it started, but I find it really helped. Breastfeeding might be the most natural thing in the world, but that doesn't mean that it's easy and being emotional, about anything, but especially about your experience in the hospital will only make it even harder on you -at least that's the way it was with me.

Get through today and look forward to tomorrow.

XxxxX

Thanks scarepanda. It was just one of those days, suppose feel like a bit of failure if the poor little guy isn't getting enough to gain weight. I bought the avent hand pump today and can't bloody use the thing! Will have to watch some YouTube vids during our crazy nighttime feeds to try figure it out. Do you pump to increase your supply? If so when do you do it? There's a breastfeeding class in the hospital tomorro so might get to that. Think his latch is ok and don't know about tongue tie.
Now if only I could figure out how to fold the buggy! Had to haul the car seat around all day because I can't fold the buggy. Spent €1400 on the bloody thing, I'm fit to burn it after today!!!!

spottybananas

What's your buggy?

If you want to increase supply eat oats, all the oats. Porridge, porrdige bread, lactation cookies, non alcoholic beer, brewers yeast, etc.

cant26

spottybananas wrote: »

What's your buggy?

If you want to increase supply eat oats, all the oats. Porridge, porrdige bread, lactation cookies, non alcoholic beer, brewers yeast, etc.[/quote

It's a joolz. After 100 attempts I have finally figured it out.
I have the porridge soaking for the morning! My friend just told me that fennel tea is meant to be good too.

brokensoul

cant26 wrote: »

spottybananas wrote: »

What's your buggy?

If you want to increase supply eat oats, all the oats. Porridge, porrdige bread, lactation cookies, non alcoholic beer, brewers yeast, etc.[/quote

It's a joolz. After 100 attempts I have finally figured it out.
I have the porridge soaking for the morning! My friend just told me that fennel tea is meant to be good too.

Fennel tea is good, you can also get fennelgreek capsules which are great too. They will make you smell a little of maple syrup though, which is not unpleasant but is a bit odd!

scarepanda

cant26 wrote:

Thanks scarepanda. It was just one of those days, suppose feel like a bit of failure if the poor little guy isn't getting enough to gain weight. I bought the avent hand pump today and can't bloody use the thing! Will have to watch some YouTube vids during our crazy nighttime feeds to try figure it out. Do you pump to increase your supply? If so when do you do it? There's a breastfeeding class in the hospital tomorro so might get to that. Think his latch is ok and don't know about tongue tie. Now if only I could figure out how to fold the buggy! Had to haul the car seat around all day because I can't fold the buggy. Spent €1400 on the bloody thing, I'm fit to burn it after today!!!!

Firstly your not a failure. You can't say that, or even think it about yourself. Your giving your all to look after him as best you can. This is just one of those bumps in the road everyone faces. I had my first major one when herself was 2 days old, your just hitting yours at 2 weeks. Iv always been told that 2 days, 2 weeks and 6 weeks are the major milestones to get past, that there the main stumbling blocks.

Is the pump not working or is it that it's not expressing for you properly? I got a bit confused as to which side the white pluggy thing in the middle of the pump was supposed to be on. Turns out it's supposed to be facing up, so on the bottom section of the pump if that makes sense. Also your supposed to have the handle pressed in before you start expressing. One boob works better than the other side, although I haven't spent much time working on it as that's boob has always been the better boob, the one that didn't get as sore.
I haven't expressed yet to up my supply as such, although it did have that effect on the sore boob when I gave it a break from her feeding directly from. It was always the one with the lower supply when I expressed in the hospital. I express to either give a sore boob a break, to give me a break so himself can give her a feed and I can go lay down for a while or on one occasion to release a blocked duct. I want to start expressing more often to build up a little milk supply. I'm just nervous of storing/prepping the milk wrong incase I make her sick or something and also messing up my supply as she's only 4 weeks old and everyone has told me not to express (for handiness sake) until after 6 weeks. We've a wedding in 3 weeks which is 3 hrs away so baby and babysitter are coming with us and I'd love to have some expressed milk to take some pressure off me incase she wants a feed in the middle of the ceremony or meal or something when it would be harder for me to slip away.

I didn't find the hospital based classes fantastic or consultant very good if I'm honest, but there's no harm going to see what they have to say. I was recommended to take fenugreek capsules when I was in the hospital. I don't take them religiously though as I find I start to smell of them after a few days which is weird and not very pleasant. I was also recommend to take fennel tea, i got some but haven't had any.

Ask about tongue tie as it might be the reason why he's not gaining. He might be nursing but not as well as you think due to it if he has one and that's certainly not your fault. I'm surprised your GP/PHN didn't check for it.
Did you ask about the reflux?

Judge Trudy

How is everyone doing? Since the weekend I weaned bubs off the breast, I basically went cold Turkey which was such a silly thing to do. I ended up very engorged yesterday and honestly the pain was worse than child birth but bubs slept 12-6 one night and 12-7 another after the bottle, which was heavenly. He seems to be a good sleeper (better not speak too soon) but a wee sleep stretch here and there makes all the difference.

scarepanda

Oh, that's brilliant to hear judgetrudy. Sleep is glorious! Have you noticed any other changes with him on formula? Were you giving any formula to him before you weaned him?

We had another rough night last night. She wouldn't settle for either of us. I eventually got her down around 3am. But she was screaming most of the time between 9.30-3. it really got to me because we didn't know what was wrong with her, I was exhausted and my Mam was playing games again that never fails to put me in bad form which didn't help the situation. I feel so guilty this morning for getting frustrated with bubs :-( she's asleep on me at the moment. Not ideal, but I'm loving the cuddles.

How are you getting on cant26? Did you make contact with any lactation consultants?

Brokensoul, I saw on the July thread (or maybe the breastfeeding one) that you were in hospital. How are you feeling? How are your two little ones getting on?

Judge Trudy

I only started giving him formula on Sunday night and I find he's much more settled and content but with more wind and a lot more dirty nappies. When he was breastfed, I literally couldn't get him off the breast which wasn't ideal with a 3 year old needing me too. He's such a hungry baby and I don't think I was meeting his needs, he only put on 4ozs in 2.5 weeks. At least now I can get up and get a bit of house work done or dinner made when he's a bit more settled.

Are you still nursing exclusively Scarepanda?

scarepanda

Judge Trudy wrote:

Are you still nursing exclusively Scarepanda?

Surprisingly I am judge trudy. Well she gets the odd bottle, but haven't tried her on formula yet. Don't really have any plan or goals on how long we'll keep at it. There's days she's stuck to me, but she's our first so I have plenty of time to follow what ever she needs.

cant26

Hi everyone!
Scarepanda thanks for your lovely post I'm sorry I'm only replying now it's been a hectic few days. Tuesday was nearly as bad as Monday! Fed solid all day and all night, think he slept four hours in total from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning. I felt like I was going to craic. I think it was the two week growth spurt. The same yesterday but slept a few hours last night. He was checked for tongue tie and he doesn't have it. My latch is fine but have to be vigilant he easily slips to a crap latch.
My friend who is a midwife and currently breastfeeding her second baby called and gave me a great pep talk!
He literally cried for hours unless he was on the boob he's a bit like that today too so I totally hear you about feeling crap and frustrated.
Sorry to hear that your mom is stressing you out, it's the last thing you need. I hope you got some rest today. It's so lonely in the middle of the night isn't it! My OH is in the spare room since day one and I'm so jealous of his sleep!! Hopefully when things settle he can come back, I miss him
Trudy my boy sounds just like yours. Attached to me more often than not. I'm not sure how long we can continue like this. Like you having a three year old makes it so hard to do the insanely long feeds will see how we go over the weekend and take it day by day. Delighted you got some sleep it makes such a difference.

scarepanda

Ah no bother at all. We all have our days and it's hard not to put pressure on ourselves - I'm my own worst enemy.
Ah your really lucky to have someone like that, that has a midwifery background AND is ahead of where you are at the moment so knows from both sides what your going through. Sometimes only someone like that can get through to you. I had a midwife the last two days in the hospital that was wonderful, she was the only one that id listen to, even though my OH was telling me the exact same stuff as she did beforehand.
Unfortunately I didn't get much rest. When she was in good form this morning and had a couple sleeps I wasn't tired enough to go lay down. When she woke from one around midday i decided to go for a walk, so fed her, changed her baby and clothes and got her into car seat etc - had a very happy baby. Didn't make it 5 mins down the road before turning back. She usually loves being on the move, but not today. And she's been very very unsettled since then. Any time I did get her off she woke as soon as I moved. She's fast asleep in daddy's arms at the moment though. It got to a point that she was crying so much and had herself in such a state that I didn't know if she was over tired, hungry, in pain or just plain old crying. Unfortunately she has my temper which comes through when she's in that humour. She wouldn't nurse even for comfort. A few tears were had by me. She has tears now as well so it breaks my heart even more seeing years when she's crying.
My OH has thankfully taken over since he got home from work. She's seemed to calm down a bit since we gave her a bath. And I got to go have a shower so feel a bit better myself now, just need sleep.

Hopefully your little lad is doing better