March Mamas 2012 Baby Group (Closed Group)

[waula]

Hi lads...

Just about caught up with both threads...I've read everything I promise but my brain is a mush... sat here with Noah shoved down my nighty having skin to skin snooze time. He gives the best naked cuddles in the world.

Congrats on all the new baby news - i'm so pleased for you all...

MsC - huge hun...adaptation to life with a LO is really hard work for both mum and dad and the exhaustion is a bugger. Hope you get things sorted asap. I echo what the other lads have said about making sure you're eating/drinking well... My DH has been brill over the past 10 days but we had a bit of a sleepless night last night (hourly feeds from 11-5am yawn) and he's out at the pub tonight with some friends and off with his Dad all day tomorrow and on the way back from my parents said he might sleep in the spare room tonight cos he's knackered. which is fine. ish. so i'm basically on my own for 24 hours. which is fine. ish. but made me have my first tears since Noah was born. do OH's get baby blues??!

emera - hope you're feeling bit better after your marathon feeds. knackering aren't they but i love the fact the day after you have so much more milk! i woke up this morning exploding out of my bra again. gone from 32B to 36DD and got bits falling out everywhere!

Missy - hope you're well and Ted being good and weaned off the shields...

stinky stumps...ewwww Noah's is still hanging on and it is R.A.N.K. stinky stink stump. no sign of infection spreading etc just stinky so trying to keep it aired as much as possible but really...drop off now please.

right...sorry for anyone i missed... xxx

 

[mitchnorm]

Emera....good tip about best time to try first ff....think.we may stick with boob tonight then test a formula feed tomorrow

Waula and all....regards skin to skin...i feel bad as i havent done this yet....i suppose i am a little worried about how tiny she is and whether she'd get cold but sure she would be very toasty very quickly.....mmmm just know she hates cold and having nappy and clothes off. Might go.for naked cuddles tomorrow in bed before we get up excited.. Oh not sure how keen she is on lying on belly on my chest...prefers cradlibg

 

[emera35]

Mitch, i love naked baby cuddles, but totally hear you on worrying about them getting chilly. I think the best skin to skin time is during a feed to be honest, its so snuggley like that! (bottle or breast, they are content, so you can really cozy up). I rarely did it with Roh after the first time at birth as he was so tiny i was scared he'd be cold. With Freyja i've done it quite a few times already as its a good way to get them to take more milk...not that i need to do it at the moment!

She's finally given up on ransacking the boobs for all the milk she can get and is dozing in a fat bellied stupor, so i'm hitting the bath and then bed!!

Hope everyone has an easy night!

 

[citymouse]

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[firsttimer1]

aww mitch make sure u get some skin to skin! and remember, even when tiny - babies are tough! maybe do it like emera says when feeding, with a duvet over both of you

 

[MsCrow]

Mitch, I'm sorry if I'm annoying people by banging on about biological nurturing but it's a lovely way to combine skin to skin with a feed. I wish I had been shown in hospital how useful it would be. Mia will draw from your warmth but also throw a blanket over her too to keep her snuggly.

Personally, I'd breastfeed exclusively until my milk had regulated and I could consider expressing for MrC to do a feed or perhaps formula, I probably wouldn't introduce it so early. So, possibly from 4 weeks old?

Laura, Edith doesn't really have a night pattern, we often get a quiet afternoon though. Last night she slept from 11pm to 4am but had fed constantly all day and cluster fed until 7am when she went through until 9:30am. The night before she was feeding every two hours. I know those sort of nights are accompanied by shorter 10 minute feeds and that's only enough to sustain her for 2 hours. If she cluster feeds it sets her up for a sleep session.

Thanks for the kind thoughts ladies. Yesterday was a truly shitty day. I felt very much abandoned by the midwife and caged in the house. Our stupid mistake was 'planning' to go out and the opportunity drifting by. It's a fine balance, if MrC feels like he has some private time, he gives everything to make the house and us tick over. Sometimes though I'm resentful and I get critical. Sometimes it's justified, he doesn't realise how abandoned I can feel, sometimes though I need to realise he has a lot of adjusting to do. Things have been better today, the company of an old friend, Edith feeding and sleeping better and MrC and I back in our usual groove. My main MW came and weighed Edith, she's now 6lbs 1.5oz so she's gained 3oz since day 5 and we've been discharged. My lovely health visitor also came to carry on the monitoring and she's dropping by next week to see if I'm ok on my tod. I'm really appreciative of this.

Waula, I fully sympathise with the .ish feeling, it's how I felt yesterday until, like you, I cried. I do think men can have the baby blues. MrC had them last Friday when everything started to sink in. You forget that hospital provides you and Noah with a safe bubble to get over some of the shock of having a baby, your OH will suddenly have had to come to terms with it all on your coming home.

 

[emera35]

MsC Glad the support is back up today! Great news about Edith gaining weight!

Its very true what you say about men getting the blues and struggling to adjust. OH struggled really badly when Roh was born. Not right away, but over the first few months he was very angry and unhappy. I think he was deeply shocked by not being able to do what he wanted when he wanted all the time, and kept saying "I just want time for me!" every other day. Trouble was i just wanted to thump him! I was already doing the bulk of the childcare, even when he was at home, so he'd come home and Roh would wake up crying and he'd instantly get frustrated and storm off to another room. It took him a while to realise that alot of the free time he had was as a result of me sacrificing my time for him. And gradually things got more balanced as it sunk in that we had a joint responsibility. He's such a great dad now, and generally a very supportive partner, apart from the odd stroppy wobbler when he's tired. I can forgive him that though, i do it too!

Oh as far as introducing a bottle. We did it first at 3 weeks or so with Roh, i expressed for OH to feed him. I was feeling really confident with the BF by then, and Roh was feeding well and gaining weight steadily. I think you'll know when its the right time to try it, it does tend to be around about 3-6 weeks that everything is well established and its the ideal time to introduce the bottle then. Leaving it too much later there is a chance that they will just never take to it. I haven't decided if i'm going to do bottles this time or not. I might try her with one occasionally to see if she'll take it more than anything.

 

[Skadi]

Bottle feeding has become my saviour as OH can now feed her in the early morning. I feel almost human again since I am getting 6 consecutive hours of sleep now! I don't think we would have started bottle feeding so soon though if Keira hadn't been in the NICU. My 'plan' was to wait until 8 weeks as is recommended. lol @ plans.

She was sleeping in my arms this morning when I saw her burst out into a huge smile and then she started laughing. It was hilarious because she was still asleep! She went right back to snoring! lol

Oh dear I just heard a little trump over the monitor and now she is crying. It's so cute when her little trumps startle her awake. Time to feed AGAIN!

 

[citymouse]

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[wouldluvabub]

Ok so I have a question for you bf mummies! Bubs is fully projectile vomitting after some feeds.. Not all just randomly. I've tried different positions but it hasn't helped. The midwife seems to think it will settle its self down and we think the issue is his getting milk too fast. I have now started letting him feed for 5 mins then having a 5 min break where we try to wind him. Then back in for another 5 mins. He won't feed for longer then 10 mins. Which is fine he is obviously getting enough! So far so good but as thi is just a random event you never know. Just thought people might be able to offer some tips incase this also fails. I know it should settle down on it own and we both get better with feeding but in sick of being covered and I mean literally cover in vomit!! I didn't know a tiny person could hold as much liquid as he does!!!!

 

[Skadi]

That's crazy wouldluv. Keira spits up often but rarely vomits like that and I have crazy oversupply plus a violent let down thanks to two months of exclusive pumping. (I've seen it letdown on its own without more stimulation than that of me taking my bra off even and it squirts across the room!) She usually gets about 4oz in roughly 10-15 minutes. As long as I burp her good, and keep her sat up for 30 minutes after each feed she is fine.

 

[wouldluvabub]

When I spoke to the midwife today she said if I was worried about it to go to a&e not because it's an emergency but to get it all checked. I don't know that I need to be worried about it or not. He seems happy.. It doesn't faze him at all.. I'm just worried he might have something wrong with his tummy

 

[Skadi]

Our pediatrician just told us that if the spitting up didn't bother her then not to worry. If his tummy was bothering him he would most likely let you know by crying out.

 

[loolindley]

I'm still alive...just!!!

Lost my grip on reality yesterday, but determined to have a better day today. I AM catching up, but always on my phone so quite difficult.

There is some fab advice on here and I wish I had time to ask some of my questions. Part of problem is though that I forget about them as soon as the next one appears / Dharma has a good few hours and I fall in love again.

Steep learning curve with a dose of sleep deprevation followed by soothing from my beautiful daughter seems the order of the day.

Though I am starting to wonder how much sense I am making.

Please keep posting. It cheers me up when I get the time to read a post, and I promise when things settle a little i'll log on to a computer and update you all properly.

Day 5 checks today.

 

[mitchnorm]

OMG ladies...justhaad the best night with Mia!!!! I decided to take your advice emera about not risking the ff for first time at night....still open to combi though will try her on.a ff today just to test that i have the option....any how last night went something like this.......

Feed and change at 11pm....put down (swaddled though one arm.up and one down to compromise ha ha) 11:20pm
Feed and change at 3:10am...down at 3:30am
Feed and change at 5:40am....down at 6:35am (Hubby had a double clothing change/pee on self episode and she decided on monumental feed)
Back down asleep again.

Found that picking her up......first feeding...then change...then feed again before putting her down must really fill her up

I feel fab!!!!! I am not silly enough to.think it will be like this every night but it give me hope of better sleep. Hubby however is a different matter could not sleep..... Cannot sleep when he cannot hear her breathe and sometes she is ooo quiet. Thinkng of putting basket on.his side of bed for a couple of nights to make him more secure/hear he better. Bless him x

 

[mitchnorm]

Good luck.with both our babies 5 day checks today

Forgot to.add to previous night feeding post...mw asked me to not let her go.more than 3-4 hours with feeds...so happy i am still within that. Daytime feeds not an.issue in.that respect

 

[loolindley]

Hooray for a great nights sleep!!!

We had a great one too, but I'm worried that I'm letting her go too long in between feeds when she is sleeping. She finds it so tough to fall asleep that I hate waking her will someone tell me why she can only go that long between feeds so I don't have to ask the midwife and get told off?

 

[lauraclili]

I've no idea about waking them up for feeds.

for great sleep. We had great swaddled sleep last night too!

X

 

[mitchnorm]

Loo...my mw just spotted a little jaundice in the whites of Mias eyes so was keen to keep regular feeds...otherwise she would say demand feed and not wake her i am sure. I didnt set an alarm for night feeds as didnt expect her to.go that long....3 hours 50 was longest gap last night

laura....woop for great sleeps!!! Partial swaddling for mia last night too x

 

[wouldluvabub]

Loo- the MW in the hospital told me over night to leave baby no longer then 6 hours and no longer then 4 hours durin the day.