December 2017 babies club

Pocos

bee06 wrote: »

I know, it’s very tough at times! It will be worth it in the end though. I just keep reminding myself of how quickly the first 3 weeks have gone in the scheme of things even if it didn’t feel like that at 2am after feeding for the bones of 5 hours one night!

I don’t think I can last another 3 weeks of broken sleep.. I’m exhausted! How do others avoid the tiredness? Tiredness is def catching up on me! DD is 19 days today!!! I just need a full nights sleep... any tips or advice on avoiding exhaustion would be very welcome!!

shesty

You have to sleep when the baby sleeps during the day.I didn't do it enough on my first, did it at every opportunity on the second (not too many of them!!)Half an hour even will get you very far.I absolutely hate sleeping during the day and I tend to wake up feeling so awful but it works, it allows you to cope at least.

If you are open to combined feeding also, let OH do a feed at 6/9/12, one of those, and you go to bed .So if baby feeds round 6/7, then you go to bed and OH does next feed giving you a stretch for sleep.You can gradually replace that with a bottle of expressed milk after the first six weeks if you want.

Just a word of slight warning.....six weeks means most babies will do a stretch of roughly 5 hours sleep most nights.Mine used to go 9pm to round 2am.....so if I wanted to sleep I was in bed at 9pm (last thing I wanted to do really).BF babies will generally wake every couple of hours then after for feeds, bottle fed, maybe 2-3 hours.I would not expect a baby to stretch to 7/8 hours til about 13 weeks or so, although some do it round 11 weeks, but will still wake for feeds on either end of that.

Really sorry, I don't want to be depressing you or anything but I guess just know that you need to sleep as much as you can whenever you can as you go along , because a lot does change at 6 weeks but it's still rough.Also (believe me on this) your body will adapt and you will be like a new woman after 5 hours or so of sleep within a few weeks.They break you :-)You are at the really bad point now, 3 weeks from the delivery excitement and 3 weeks from the six week mark.You are just about halfway, it will be four weeks before you know it. Just hang in there and get OH to help whenever possible.

bee06

As Shesty said, sleep when the baby sleeps. Forget about everything else. I basically just breastfeed, eat and sleep every day. All the housework, cooking etc my husband does at the moment so I can concentrate on the baby.

Your body will adjust as well. I’m “lucky” that I slept very badly through most of my pregnancy so broken sleep and being awake for hours in the middle of the night is normal for me.

Pocos

Thanks ladies for the advice! Yes I try and head to bed about 9 ish and leave DD with my husband in the sitting room but she just wouldn’t settle last night! So couldn’t!

What’s combined feeding??? Formula and breastfeeding??

Yes I think this is the worst point! Adrenaline starting to go from the delivery and yet I’m still over 3 weeks from the 6 week mark!!!

Thanks for the real life 6 week point!!! There won’t be 8 hour sleeps yet so

shesty

Yes, so you could give formula once in the evening maybe if you were open to it.Now it does mean that your supply will adjust and you won't have much milk at that time of day (your body will learn that the baby doesm't look for food at that time) but it would let you get sleep and you can replace it with expressed milk over time, or even just feed to up your supply then once you are past the 6 week mark and things have settled a bit, if you want to take the bottle out then.It"s just something to consider.

Things do settle a bit after six weeks (and also baby starts smiling back at you which makes up for it all!) And they really settle after 12 weeks, but it's definitely a marathon and not a sprint!!!!

Pocos

Thanks for all the advice ladies! Does anyone else leak??? I find sometimes my breasts get so full they leak into the pads just drops out (sorry tmi) so I have been letting them drip into the breast feeding zip locked bags!! Rather than wasting them in the breast pads!

I might use that milk next weekend in a bottle!

Any advice on bottles that are good for breast feeding babies? Also does anyone know how many ounces you give a 3 week baby of breast milk per feed? I have about 14 ounces frozen in the freezer! Literally better than it going in the bin I felt!!

Sorry for all the questions!! Tiredness is starting to stop my brain from working!!!

Pocos

shesty wrote: »

Yes, so you could give formula once in the evening maybe if you were open to it.Now it does mean that your supply will adjust and you won't have much milk at that time of day (your body will learn that the baby doesm't look for food at that time) but it would let you get sleep and you can replace it with expressed milk over time, or even just feed to up your supply then once you are past the 6 week mark and things have settled a bit, if you want to take the bottle out then.It"s just something to consider.

Things do settle a bit after six weeks (and also baby starts smiling back at you which makes up for it all!) And they really settle after 12 weeks, but it's definitely a marathon and not a sprint!!!!

I replied to your post separately as it wasn’t allowing me earlier to reply to this!!

So the 12 week mark is the big change! I hate wishing my life away but lack of sleep is tough!!

shesty

Oh I know, I don't function without sleep.Affects my milk supply, I.end up sick, the works.Breastfed my second for about 7 weeks and I look in awe at friends who make it to 6/7/7 months and are still at it, waking every couple of hours.Two babies on I've concluded that combination feeding probably works best for me although I accept that I would limit it to just one formula feed a day in the first six weeks to allow my milk to get sorted (I think, this is a theory I hope to test on my third...).

I used to leak milk EVERYWHERE on my second specially at night.I drenched everything.A friend recently told me of a Hakaa breastpump that sounds worth investigating.I tried pumping the odd night at 2am when bursting but I got very little (and quickly realised the insanity of it, with a toddler whose wake up call was at 6am).But this one sounds like it could work, so maybe investigate.I think it's on Amazon.Can't remember quantities, sorry!!!!I'm sure if you google you will get the answer though-maybe 120ml at a time?

It's very hard and I vividly remember how endless those six weeks seemed on my first, I thought they would never end. I find week 3/4 the hardest.But don't worry it does improve (you will never sleep the same again though but you learn to live with it!!!!) And those first little smiles are just worth every bit of the effort :-)

lashes34

Our girl is 5 weeks today, the sleep situation is only getting worse this past week. My hubby put her down at 1:15 last night when he finally got her to sleep after the 11pm feed. I was then up from 1:30 until 4. Its pure torture, she was doing well around week 3/4 when she was doing one 5 hour stretch at night but its gone worse than ever the past week. We're exhausted. I thought it was meant to get better as she got older?!

rainbow kirby

5 weeks is a leap - it will get better soon!

Anne_cordelia

Just to let you know that supplementing with formula particularly in this early stage nearly always comprises supply and is a slippery slope to stopping BF altogether. There is also a risk of mastitis and blocked ducts. The best thing to do is to sleep during the day when the baby naps and catch up that way for the first few weeks. You won’t remember all the laundry/cleaning you did during these first precious weeks but will remember snuggles so let the housework go and just take to the bed. It definitely makes a difference. I didn’t sleep on my first as I felt I should be up and doing things but learned my lesson on subsequent babies.

bee06

Everyone in the breastfeeding groups raves about the Haakaa alright. I have one but haven’t used it yet. You could use it on one side when feeding on the other side or when leaking. You can get them in amazon or pregnancyandbaby.ie and some chemists have them too.

Milly33

Pocos wrote: »

Hi all, baby 17 days today and starting to find it hard to get wind and poo through! Awful seeing them in pain anc crying! I wouldn’t call in colic and reading these posts makes me think it’s just a phase.

I am breast feeding and wondering when do people recommend expressing milk and giving a bottle? I would love my husband to take over for one or two nights?

Hi Pocos, I am breastfeeding and started to express for the same reason.. So my husband can help out with the feeding and tis fine..

I will say my supply isn't like very heavy or anything it has been the same since day one. Even expressing I only get maybe an once .. I think the expressing is actually building my supply up which is good have noticed the last week my supply seems to be much better. She had no problem taken the bottle I just don't understand this feeding on demand with the babies, no wonder you get wrecked..

I am all for structure and thank god it seems to be working out.. She is on 5 feeds a day maybe 6 if she is very hungry and she is flying it... I will say we have ended up using a mix of formula and breast, I don't think my supply was that strong to keep her on the breast alone and she lost lots of weight and dya know what tis grand.. She is happy and were happy.. Still breast feed for 20mins either 3 or 4 of the feeds and leave 1 or 2 feeds just formula feeds...

shesty

bee06 wrote: »

Everyone in the breastfeeding groups raves about the Haakaa alright. I have one but haven’t used it yet. You could use it on one side when feeding on the other side or when leaking. You can get them in amazon or pregnancyandbaby.ie and some chemists have them too.

Seems to be quite good alright, I'd be interested in getting one this time to see.

shesty

lashes34 wrote: »

Our girl is 5 weeks today, the sleep situation is only getting worse this past week. My hubby put her down at 1:15 last night when he finally got her to sleep after the 11pm feed. I was then up from 1:30 until 4. Its pure torture, she was doing well around week 3/4 when she was doing one 5 hour stretch at night but its gone worse than ever the past week. We're exhausted. I thought it was meant to get better as she got older?!

Ehhhh......well.....

justwhatithink

shesty wrote: »

I feel your pain .... you are bringing back memories :eek:

Go for it with the Infacol, it won't hurt anyway. Unfortunately.....it may just be a case of waiting for him to grow out of it after that. You'll learn a few little tricks as he gets bigger that work for him. And he starts to move more and kick his legs himself more, it will become easier for him to work it through.But time is one thing I have learned (the bitterly hard way!!) sorts almost all small baby problems out, you just have to repeat the mantra of "it doesn't last forever" in your head (no help at 4am when you are walking round trying to get wind out of an unsettled baby I know - but it really doesn't last forever).

Maybe have a bottle of Pharmony gripe water on standby too, in case you get very desperate. I used to have no.2 in a sling a lot during the day when I could - partly because I had a toddler but also because it helped with the wind.

Someone remind me why I am doing this again........

Thanks Shesty. Think we're all settling down a bit the last few days and things have improved. My sister came over from London to stay with us for a few days and it's been good to have someone to reassure us that we're doing things right and to show us how to do things different/better. I started the Infacol today; he puked a lot of his bottle after the first dose but did a lot of big burping both ends which is good and the subsequent doses we didn't have any puking but lots more good burping. He has been much calmer today and while he has had to work hard with some wind it's not as bad. He's sleeping so much better in the Sleepyhead Pod we bought him, hes lovely and cosy in it and so much more settled.
I'm still not sleeping enough, find it so hard to switch off and hand over control to my husband (even though he's great). Definitely going to start trying to have a day/evening time nap this week when baby is sleeping.

Pocos

Thanks for all the advice ladies!! I did what ye said and slept when she slept! Feeling a little bit more human today! Husband back to work tomorrow so much more difficult getting sleep in when you are on your own!! Weekend fly by!! I can’t believe it’s monday already!

Has anyone here used gripe water? Any good?

andreac

Hi ladies. Sorry to hear few of you are struggling a little. My little lady is starting to sleep better. She's 6 weeks now. We are getting maybe 4 or 5 hours straight when she goes down around 11.
Then we get around 2 hours then after that. But that's manageable.

Quick question. Is there a 6 week check for baby or just me? I'm in with my consultant on Wed for my check but wasn't sure if baby has a check at 6 weeks too or just at 8 weeks for injections.

bee06

andreac wrote: »

Quick question. Is there a 6 week check for baby or just me? I'm in with my consultant on Wed for my check but wasn't sure if baby has a check at 6 weeks too or just at 8 weeks for injections.

6 week check is for both Mom and baby. My Gp appt is anyway.

Pocos

andreac wrote: »

Hi ladies. Sorry to hear few of you are struggling a little. My little lady is starting to sleep better. She's 6 weeks now. We are getting maybe 4 or 5 hours straight when she goes down around 11.
Then we get around 2 hours then after that. But that's manageable.

Quick question. Is there a 6 week check for baby or just me? I'm in with my consultant on Wed for my check but wasn't sure if baby has a check at 6 weeks too or just at 8 weeks for injections.

I think the consultant will check you out but the gp checks baby out so it will be two different appointments! That was my understanding from what the public health nurse said! So you need to organise a second app for the GP for the baby

andreac

Ok that's great. I wasnt sure if the baby had a 6 week check or if it was just the 8 week injections.
I'll make an appt with her gp then. I'm not going to go to my gp as I'm with my consultant on Wed so I'll just need to sort her appointment this week then.
Thanks a mill.

Milly33

We used the cooled down boiled water for any trapped wind and it seems to do the trick,both for wind and if she is constipated.. Rubbing the gut in a clockwise motion too.

Got a gift of a cleva mama wedge pillow at the weekend,and they do seem quite good.. I would not use it all the time only if she was giving out with wind.. But cant see the harm in them

lashes34

rainbow kirby wrote: »

5 weeks is a leap - it will get better soon!

I know but its meant to be over by now. So tired.

Pocos

OSI wrote: »

We tried Infacol for a couple of weeks, and while it helped with the wind making it much easier to get up we found it gave him terrible reflux.



Just remember you can't use gripe water until baby is at least 1 month old.

Thanks I just saw that on the bottle tonight! Will have to wait 8 days

justwhatithink

OSI wrote: »

We tried Infacol for a couple of weeks, and while it helped with the wind making it much easier to get up we found it gave him terrible reflux.



Just remember you can't use gripe water until baby is at least 1 month old.

Did the Infacol give reflux straight away? We've had 3 small spews since we started using it but that's it, it has definitely helped but not sure how long it should be used for. And I'd hate to give him bad reflux down the line.
The latest problem now is falling asleep in the middle of a bottle. Public health nurse said he'd need two hole teats early cause he has a greedy, strong suck and would wear himself out...seems like that was what was happening so we gave him two hole teats today and he was able to drink the bottle without falling asleep but he's gulping it down and he ended up with a few wind pains again...it's never ending trying to figure these babies out. I'm going to get gripe water at the weekend when hel be a month old, just to use when he gets a really bad pain like he did today I think.

heldel00

justwhatithink wrote: »

OSI wrote: »

We tried Infacol for a couple of weeks, and while it helped with the wind making it much easier to get up we found it gave him terrible reflux.



Just remember you can't use gripe water until baby is at least 1 month old.

Did the Infacol give reflux straight away? We've had 3 small spews since we started using it but that's it, it has definitely helped but not sure how long it should be used for. And I'd hate to give him bad reflux down the line.
The latest problem now is falling asleep in the middle of a bottle. Public health nurse said he'd need two hole teats early cause he has a greedy, strong suck and would wear himself out...seems like that was what was happening so we gave him two hole teats today and he was able to drink the bottle without falling asleep but he's gulping it down and he ended up with a few wind pains again...it's never ending trying to figure these babies out. I'm going to get gripe water at the weekend when hel be a month old, just to use when he gets a really bad pain like he did today I think.

Our little girl is two weeks on Thursday and same as your baby she takes off all guns blazing at start but after one ounce its a struggle. No way would she finish her bottle at midnight for husband last night and she was up a good bit during the night then.
Would she be too young for the next size teat yet?

justwhatithink

heldel00 wrote: »

Our little girl is two weeks on Thursday and same as your baby she takes off all guns blazing at start but after one ounce its a struggle. No way would she finish her bottle at midnight for husband last night and she was up a good bit during the night then.
Would she be too young for the next size teat yet?

I'd ask your Public health nurse what she thinks. Ours said to let our fella onto the two hole teat when he was 2 weeks old but when we tried it we didn't feel he was quite ready, if it's too much for them they can gag on the intake. But I think he's better on this attempt, we just need to work on keeping him calm on the intake, not always easy as he goes frantic for the bottle within seconds of waking even.

Pocos

Hey ladies just for any of the breast feeding mums looking for comfortable nursing bras! I got ones from bras4mums.co.uk called the bravado nursing bra! They are £30 which is dear but seeing as you are in them 24/7 I think we deserve comfortable bras! I have new look ones which are cheaper but aren’t half as comfy! Just if anyone is looking I said I’d pass on the info

heldel00

My mother stayed last night to do the night feed and give me a night off (husband is a sales rep so can't do night feeds because of the driving) and our little madame slept until 6am this morning!!! Sod's law!

justwhatithink

That is typical but a good thing she slept so long I guess.

Our fella is just gone backwards again; grunting & groaning all night again, and getting tetchy from evening time onwards. He got a bottle at 5pm today and fell asleep on me at around 6.30pm, I put him down at 7pm and left the room and he woke up within minutes crying. He seemed like he was hungry again (putting hands in mouth) so I gave him more bottle and he took 2oz. He won't go down to sleep by himself and is just looking to sleep on us/be rocked/walked around I think, where as last week he'd fall asleep with us and then happily stay soundly asleep in his Sleepyhead pod or sometimes on a big cushion on the couch. I don't really know what else to do at this stage, it feels like I'm trying so much (everything I can't think of for wind) but not doing anything right, and I'm not even sure if wind is even the problem anymore. Maybe I'm being irrational about it all and he's just a normal baby.