Late April Early May 2013 babies. :)

[kezziek]

Thats great about the sleeping cupcake and mightymom I hope it continues. I've just been negotiating with my littlemiss that perhaps she might want to do a nice 4-6 hr stretch for me tonight- haha she just looks back at me as if to say 'your having a laugh Mummy'. Shes had the odd good stretch of sleep in the night but generally it's waking every 2-3hrs and then we are up for 1-2hrs at a time as she is so windy and even after I put her down I can't settle straight away as she will often decide to choke or be sick or just squirm for ages with a burp. Have been trying infacol too but doesn't seem to help much at the minute for us that I can tell.

Apart from the lack of sleep and painful breastfeeding I am trying my best to really enjoy her and soak up her newborn-ness. She will never be this small snuffly yummy smelling dependent person ever again and it gos so fast ladies. Those of you with your first precious bundles- the sleepless nights and feeding difficulties make life feel so slow right now but it soon flies past. Things do get easier and theu urn into big cheeky things

Hann hows the mastitis? Ttcben and lpjkp are things geting easier? Sass hows the deeding going? I was pumping too but she got real lazy and wouldn't latch so I stopped and now she is taking it all from the breast thankfully. I'm still struggling with a painful latch and this morning I thought I had mastitis as I felt so ill and had a big painful lump on my right breast.

 

[VmrsbabcockV]

Chunky butt was 8lbs 5oz 21.5" long! He's grown an entire inch in 8 days and gained nearly a lb! He's up 8oz from his birth weight too. very pleased.
So I must have been right that his extra fussiness was a growth spurt
He's very good tho I can't complain
Our biggest bfing issue is still that the right side just comes shooting out so fast he chokes almost every time. Or makes a smacking sound while feeding which idk what that is all about but I'm guessing its giving him air bubbles...I've been stopping him every 10 min or so to burp which seems to help with the big spit ups. Hopefully when he's a bit bigger he can handle the flow

 

[MightyMom]

Kezz, my DD was like that. But I would wake up, turn on a light, take her from the cot, feed her, burp her, change her, then try to put her back down to sleep. With all that activity, she just couldn't go back down right away. With this LO I am co-bedding again, but this time I wake, change him, then lay down and feed him in the side-laying position and we both drift back off to sleep. That's why we both get so much sleep at night.

 

[Sass827]

I think our babies could be twins Kezz. 2-3 hours is all I can get at a time too. It's killing me. I've stopped bottle feeding now too and she is getting better at bfing. She's 4 hours into a nap right now, and its like, why can't she do this at night?! So unfair.

 

[Hann12]

Mines the same sass and kezzie - won't sleep at night for much longer than 2 hours, he's a hungry boy at night, but its also the best time to BF as it increases your supply so that's why they do it. They'll get there though, enjoy the snuggles because before you know it they are bigger and want to play instead of snuggle.

Mastitis is a bit better, proud that I carried on feeding through it!

 

[Foxycleopatra]

How is everyone going?

We had a really good night, Ziva feed at 1130pm and slept through to 630am!!! Hopefully this means her growth spurt is over for now (knock on wood).

Here is a picture of morning snuggles xx
https://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e331/truscully/EA7DF3DA-B55D-4C41-9BEB-DD116433BBD9-5364-000004A8C4B0334D_zps42f8fb13.jpg

 

[CupcakeBaby]

Lovely photo Foxy. Xx

Bee had a good night last night. Had our normal screaming fits during feeding but she had her gaviscon (prescribed by GP yesterday) and slept really comfortably in between so we all got 2 3 hour stretches of sleep.

 

[lpjkp]

Yay for more sleep cupcake! What did the docs say?

Lovely photo foxy...zeeva is a month old already?!

Yayy for battling through the mastitis hann! You should be proud of yourself

My mastitis cleares up too, thank god! His latch is improving with practise too, so BF is becoming less painful and more enjoyable...and he weighed a chunky 10lb3oz on Thursday too, which is 2lb more than birth, so somethingIis going well!

The sleep is going downhill though. ..hes starting to wake every couple of hours and doesnt want to go back to sleep after his feed and change...im starting to feel extremely sleep deprived! X

 

[CupcakeBaby]

LP - is he just awake after the feed or is he unhappy.

Sometimes Bee is still eyes open etc but quite content after a night feed and change.

I just put her down, turn off the light and put our white noise on (ocean waves lol) and then 3 hours later we wake up. So I can only assume she doesn't mind too much. I feel a little guilty but when she's awake in the day we sing and play and do tummy time and look at her toys and books. And night time I want to keep as night time.

 

[Hann12]

Cupcake - has Bea got reflux?

LP - I can sympathise on wake ups. I find that henry is awake and feeding a lot in the evenings and when he wakes at night it's a nightmare getting him back to sleep, takes me on average 1.5 hours. It's tiring!! It will get better though.

We are out for dinner on fri with Henry. Mil is sitting in and babysitting Annabelle so we can get out. Really excited to think we will have a nice dinner just the two of us and a couple of drinks!

Hope you are all enjoying the bank holiday

 

[TTCBean]

My mastitis finally cleared up - whew! I was feeling like a zombie for a while. I fed right through it. I am hoping I can start up my thrush treatment again now, I just have to see my obgyn next week to see. I am still in a living hell with BF, my nipples are insane sore. It's toe-curling, towel biting, I want to die pain. Going to get my LC to come out again next week just to double-check his latch, etc (but the pain is most likely just from thrush ).

DH wants to start introducing a bottle to give me some relief, is 1 month too soon? Any tips on how to introduce it?

 

[Hann12]

Ttc I can sympathise on the mastitis, on my last day of anti biotics tomorrow, also fed through it. Never had it with Annabelle and it wasn't nice. I did have thrush with her though and that was quite painful too. It definitely will not make BF painless! It probably is that causing the pain but def worth getting the latch checked anyway. I was considering getting the latch checked now too after having the mastitis as I'm paranoid now it might come back. Will see how I go over the next day or so. I'm waiting for it to become completely pain free. At the moment I'm still sore for the first 10-30 seconds.
I hope the thrush clears up quickly for you, I remember the cream being a pain because I had to keep putting it on then removing it before each feed, plus it was hard work getting her meds in.
As for the bottle I think one month would probably be fine, I know official guidance is 6 weeks but you seem to be pretty well established now. Are you pumping and giving expressed? If you are then you'll get the most from pumping at night as that's when milk production peaks, then you can give any time as long as its in the fridge stored for less than 3 days but I found it was better to use ASAP. I wouldn't trade in the first morning feed or the last night one personally but any of the others are probably fine depending on what works best for you. I would add that Annabelle never took a bottle until she was 8 months. I tried with about 8 different bottles and teats and she just wouldn't take it. It's very common with BF babies that they won't take one, they see them as foreign bodies and their tongue automatically pushes them out. Just wanted to warn you in case that happens, no one told me that was possible. Obviously 'experts' can help if this happens but I never pressed it with her. Even when she was starving hungry she would not to take a bottle! It was very limiting for me as it meant that for 8 months I couldn't go longer than 3 hours apart from her. I think Henry will be the same as I tried a dummy on him a day or so ago and he immediately pushed it out. It doesn't really bother me though.
Hopefully when you try it you won't have this problem though

 

[VmrsbabcockV]

Ttc- ds has been having bottles occasionally since he was 3 days old. We had mo choice we had to give him formula cuz my milk wasn't coming in...and then since then if we go out sonewhere or when I had to go take my finals he got pumped bottles. He's had no confusion or issues with breastfeeding..he doesn't get bottles every day tho..he sucks on a paci too that he's gotten since he was 2 days old again bc my milk wasn't coming in so he would nurse until my nipples were raw so I chose to let him have a paci to give my chest a break! Again he's had no issues switching between the three..thats my experience maybeut depends on the baby.

 

[CupcakeBaby]

I get the feeling Baby Bee will refuse a bottle now.

I try with her soothie every couple of days as she loves to comfort suck and it'd cut 10-15 minutes off some feeds. Plus I like that it reduced SIDS and my nephew takes a dummy, but only for naps and its like a magic switch of he's drowsy and getting cranky they pop it in and he's out like a light!

But she won't have it I shall persevere for a whole more though.

 

[lpjkp]

Jenson hates bottles and hates dummies, so I'm pretty much stuffed! He's a pretty easy going baby though and doesn't tend to cry unless he's hungry so we havent pushed the issue...im sure our luck will run out soon though and he will become a grouchy baby! Lol

No issues with unhappiness after feeds in the night..just a wide awake baby that makes so many cooing sounds and wiggles like a worm...therefore, no sleep for him=no chance of sleep for me! Lol

This is his first wake up tonight and hes slept for a whole 4 hours! It's his first time sleeping in a gro bag and he loves it! Its definitely an improvement from his every 2 hour wake ups! Lol hopefully I can change his nappy, offer him the breast again and he will be out like a light again for a few hours happy mommy tonight! Xx

 

[lpjkp]

Ttc and hann: yayy on improving mastitis! Well done for battling through, its not easy! X

 

[BellaRosa8302]

Ttc - was told in my bfing class that if you want your child to take a bottle you have to introduce it at 4 weeks. Supposedly any sooner could create "nipple confusion" and any later and you'll have trouble with your baby just not wanting to take a bottle. That being said, I've been giving expressed breast milk to Madelyn since she was 4 days old (along with nursing). She does not confuse a bottle with my breast or have trouble with a pacifier. She will still choose my breast over a bottle - she just loves to nurse! But she will take a bottle without a problem. Hope that helps you!!

 

[MightyMom]

With DD, we gave her a bottle at 5 days old because I was having latch issues and needed a break. She also got a dummy around 3 days for the same reason. But now with DS he is refusing the dummy. I just keep trying every day when he's having a hard time getting himself to sleep. He took it for about 5 minutes today which is the longest yet. I'm hoping to get him to take it regularly as it was really a necessity with DD, we could just give her the dummy and she'd pass out. I also bottle fed him today. Wasn't successful before, and as it turns out it was because the milk was too cold before. With nicely warmed milk this time, he fed 4 whole ounces! I don't really believe in nipple confusion, he switched back to breast just fine. I'll continue offering a bottle once a day to get him used to the bottle as well as offering a dummy to get him used to that as well. I have no problem BFing whenever he's hungry, but I don't want him getting used to suckling for an extra 20 minutes so he can get to sleep.

Did anyone else get stitches on their perineum? I tore when DS's head came out and my wound is bothering me. I'm not sure how long it will take to heal, but it's still bleeding and the stitches are still there. I was hoping it would have healed by now and that the stitches would dissolve. Am I the only one still needing a sitz bath every now and then?

 

[BellaRosa8302]

Mighty - my stitches are still bothering me. I still need a site bath and that water bottle to help clean each time I use the bathroom. I too was hoping it would go away sooner than this... I also still get unbelievable pressure down there if I don't take ibuprofen regularly. My 800 mg prescription finished yesterday so I've been taking Advil ever since.. Ugh.

 

[VmrsbabcockV]

Sorry to u girls with stitches I didn't tear but the hemmorhoids I got were pretty painful on their own I still tske a bath almost every night to soothe them.. :/ hopefully we will all b healed soon!