Calling All Experienced Mums!

[SareBear]

Baby Alfi is now 9 days old and boy is this motherhood thing hard!

I need some good, no nonsense, straightforward advice. Please help wherever you can.

1)Alfie is 7lb ish and is breast fed. Since last night he's been feeding on and off for 2 and a half hr stint. Cries, nappy changed and cuddled in this 2 and a half hr period, but is essentially on the breast to calm him. I've loads of milk. He will then sleep for between 45 mins to 3 hrs. Is it poss that he's having a growth spurt or is it too early? His poo is wet without lumps and yellowy orange in colour. Regular wee n poo.

2) How many ounces of milk should he have per feed, not in total for a day. I am considering expressing and teaching him to bottle feed to give me some freedom on the odd occasion.

I'm thinking of having 2 glasses of wine on Sat. Is this a big no no? If I do have a drink is there a best time to have one ie before or after a feed? How long will it take for the alc to hit my milk?

3) Once I've sterilised bottles (Avent microwave steriliser) and I've taken them out the steriliser, is it true that you can fill them with boiled water and they will remain sterile for 24 hrs if you pop them in the fridge with their lids on?

4) The lack of sleep is shattering me. I keep crying hot, hopeless, pathetic tears. When will I get used to the lack of sleep? I have NO negative thoughts towards little one. I get overly anxious and stressed when he cries and can't stand it. Does coping with this get better?

5)When can I start to get him in to a routine. I'm trying now. Is it too early?

I'd really appreciate any help you can give me. I'm a little at my wits end x x x

 

[Jelly Bean]

Don't know how 'experienced' I am, but...

1) It's a growth spurt. There's usually one around 10 days old newborns. LO sure did have one.

2) There's a calculator available online for this. Basically you multiply 2.7 oz per pound of LO's bodyweight, then divide it by the number of feeds LO should have every day.

I'm not sure of the exact time that alcohol hits your BM, but you should know that small amounts of alcohol (i.e. 1-2 glasses of wine) haven't been shown to affect your BM negatively...what you should know is that babies usually don't like the taste of it and he may reject it.

3) Yes.

4) Yes. Your main strategy should be letting things go around the house as much as you can in order to sleep when he sleeps.

5) It depends what kind of routine you mean. BFing on demand is widely recommended for young babies as opposed to a feeding schedule, for example.

 

[mommyof3co]

Ok let's see

1. He could just need to suck, have you thought of giving him a pacifier to see if that helps..he might not actually be hungry all those times

2. You can't really say how much he should have, all babies are different, I would try 2oz and see how he does. Some babies take just 1oz, some take 4-5oz...with it being so early you probably have lots of milk so when you pump youwill probably get more than enough for a feeding and you can try it and see what he takes

The wine...some people say it's ok, I personally wouldn't do it, never did, to me it's not worth the possible risk of something happening so I chose not to

3. I really don't know, we weren't as huge on sterilizing as it seems most are there, I'm not sure if it's something with the water or what? But what I did was sterilize the bottles then put them away in the cabinet until I needed them. If your just using the expressed milk you wouldn't need the water anyways so that's what I did. If they had the caps over the nipples and the bottles were closed up I wasn't worried about them getting infected with something

4. It does get better, just give yourself some time. As hard as it is though the best thing you can do is stay calm, he will sense you are stressing out and upset and it will make it much harder to calm him down because he will get stressed too. Try napping when he does, get as much sleep as you can, other things can wait

5. I personally think it's too early for a routine, everything will change so much over the next few months, from the amount of time he eats for to how long he goes in between, when and how long he naps, how long he is away to play...everything changes so much that it's hard to get any kind of routine. What I did was feed on demand, he slept when he was ready, I slept when I could...I have 3 kids now so with the 2nd and 3rd it was much harder to really sleep when the baby did. But we did everything on demand until they set their own routine when they were older

 

[Bec L]

Hi, and congratulations!

I think Jelly Bean has done a good job at answering your questions but the main thing I wanted to say is it DOES get better!!! The lack of sleep is sooo hard to deal with and it feels like it will last forever, but it won't and you will start to get used to coping with it.

Sleep when you can (easier said than done) and don't worry about the housework etc (I still don't now )

IMO, it's fine to treat yourself to some wine (you deserve it!) I didn't really drink when Poppy was newborn but a lot of that was to do with not fancying it, and also feeling soooo tired that the thought of any sort of 'hangover' made me feel ill! But people say to drink whilst actually b'feeeding, or straight after a feed so it has time to leave your system before the next feed.

We introduced a bottle when Poppy was about 5 weeks old and I would just express as much as I could in the day and give her that. Usually I topped up with a b'feed after.

I don't think it's ever too early to attempt a routine but don't get too hung up on it. We didn't until Poppy was at least a couple of months old, as she was feeding so regularly that it was easier to have her downstairs with us until it was time for our bed. Even when we started the bath/massage/story/feed routine, she would still not go to sleep until about 11pm some nights so we were up and down the stairs all night from 7pm!

Good luck with it all and keep us posted on how you get on

 

[SareBear]

Thank you so much for your detailed answers. I really aprrecite your time x x x

 

[Mervs Mum]

1) Sounds like the start of a growth spurt - they usually have one around 10 - 14 days.

2) He shouldnt be having a particular amount. He should be fed on demand - sometimes he will snack other times he will eat more. Look at this picture:



He shouldnt be having ounces - he needs little and often.

Wine - a couple of glasses is fine - if you are sober enough to drive you are ok to feed. I would have them right at the end of a feed or immediately after as the amount that does pass into your BM will take roughly the same length of time as it does to enter and leave your blood stream.

4) It's very very early days honey - give yourself time. Nap when LO naps. Get him in bed with you in the morning and feed and doze.

5) He will find his own routine - it's way too soon IMO especially if you want to BF effectively. You need to feed him when he gives you the cues to ensure your supply matches his demand. If you feed to a schedule he will never be satisfied as your boobs wont get the correct signals. Go with the flow - routines will come later.

Hang in there honey!! You have done so well so far and I promise you there will be more ups and downs but once you get the hang of things it will become so much easier.

 

[Heather.78]

hun take a deep breath and relax your doing just fine like the girls have said hes prob going through a growth spurt, I think i was feeding every 1/2 hr at some points in the early days my boobs thought they were going to explode(quite normal early on they do calm down after awhile) crying after birth is soooooooooooooooo normal its those hormones again if they dont get you enough during pregnancy, I cryed about stuff that didnt matter at all ie was i going to be a good enough parent,
the first month is the hardest everything is new to you, your trying to recover from having your lo and have to feed often(feeding uses alot of energy as well) waking up a few times a night does take some getting used to but Ive been doing it for 8 months and you do get used to it(dont worry most babes sleep through by this point) the best advise anyone ever gave me was sleep when they sleep sod the housework, have naps. i know this doesnt answer all your questions but i hope it helps, big super hugs and well done hun your doing just fine