(TEAM) Aphrodite - delivering Tigers in 2010

[Joli]

Woops - sorry Britt, I didn't mean to hit the 'send' button quite yet! I wanted to ask how you were doing! You're over half way through your pregnancy now, that's just amazing - have you got any updated bump pics? I'll bet you're feeling her move so much more now. I really do miss that feeling, I loved being pregnant. Have you and DH started on the nursery or bought anything yet?

 

[hibiscus07]

Hi Ladies - sorry I've been a bit quiet this last week, but I started back at work, today will have been a full week, and needless to say things have been hectic! I've had a ton of client meetings and my boss seems to be throwing every deal my way to get my number (or rather HIS numbers!) back up. I've managed to get home every lunchtime to feed Harrison, although yesterday I had a client lunch, so I went a full day without seeing him, which made me cry as I was leaving for work. I'm so exhausted from running back and forth and juggling everything - not to mention that Harrison still feeds at 4:30am every night, so I'm not sleeping well before a full day at work either.

Hibiscus - sorry, I'm not able to answer your question on the pill and bf, but I did read that once you start getting AF again, your breast supply goes down, because your hormones change, so that's what might be happening on the pill? alternatively, when going through a growth spurt, Harrison will have a 24 hour period where he eats every 2 hours, then he goes back to normal, so maybe Jack is having a growth spurt? How are you finding pumping at work - it's pretty tough and time consuming isn't it?

For you ladies that ebf, can I ask how much you feed your babies each feed? I'm not sure how much I should be feeding Harrison, I've been giving him about 120ml (4oz) each feed, but I have no idea whether this is too much or too little (he still eats about 7-8 times a day).

Hi Joli-
I'm sorry to hear about the hectic work schedule. I empathize! I've been doing 2 pumpings a day at work, but I'm not producing enough so had to add a 3rd, but it's nearly impossible to fit it in, even with the hands-free pumping bra. I will say that the bra has helped a lot with time management, though. Other than the set-up and cleaning the pump pieces, it's not super time intensive now. I can do my emails and other writing with no issue, even though it looks totally ridiculous! Good thing I have a lock on my office door haha. If you don't have one, I recommend it: https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Wishe...MQLU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297999142&sr=8-1

It sounds like Harrison getting up at this stage might be totally normal. I saw your previous message about babies going through a period at about 4 months where they get up more. Jack HAD been sleeping 8+ hours without eating, but all this week he's been getting up a 1-2 AM, and again around 4-5 AM. It's rough, especially with work!! How many hours are you working each week? Do you at least get a couple of hours of awake time with Harrison each evening? I find that the hardest thing about working--how little time I actually spend with Jack during the week. I love my job, but...ya know.

Re: the supply issue, I called my OB nurse practitioner and she said that statistically, the minipill shouldn't lead to supply issues, but she's heard anecdotal info about that. She suggested going off of it for a couple of weeks to see if it helps. AND she suggested taking fenugreek and/or making "lactation cookies". I never heard of the cookies, so I looked em up and they sound yummy! Basically, oatmeal/choc chip with brewer's yeast and flax seed, which help with your supply. Who knew??

As for size of feedings, Jack will typically eat 5.5-6.5 oz, sometimes as little as 4.5, and very rarely 7+ ounces. I do notice that if he eats less, he gets hungry more quickly. Have you tried to give Harrison more? Does he just automatically stop eating at 4 oz?

Thanks for the info!

 

[Joli]

Hey Hibiscus - thanks for the lovely post and all the good info! I'm pumping 2-3 times a day at work (usually every 3 hours), it really is time consuming and disruptive, but I figure it's good for Harrison. How long do you usually pump for? I usually do 7-10mins, and get on average 5oz, if I go about 2.5 hours in between. I have thought about giving Harrison more to see if that will make him sleep longer at night, I just wasn't sure if I started giving him more out of a bottle if he would find my nipple unsatifying, as when the flow stops coming, he doesn't put in the effort to suck after about 3-4 mins each side - so I'm sure he's getting more from the bottles than from me.

Before I had Harrison, I'd say I'd work an average of about a 13 hour day (9am - 10pm), sometimes more, sometimes less - but since I've had him, I've been running out the door each day at 6pm and I get 2 hours with him before bathing and bed at 9pm. I usually then do a few more hours of work. I'm glad that I gave him a later bedtime schedule than most babies, cause it means that I do get some quality time with him. I also wake up super early in the morning to make sure I get a quality 45mins with him in the morning as well. It's exhausting though!!

The lactation cookie recipie sounds yummy!! I'm surprised there's chocolate in it, I thought chocolate was a no-go because of the caffeine? I've been taking 2x610mg fenugreek since Harrison was born, and I also drink Mother's Milk tea several times a day. I've also heard oatmeal with flaxseed was good, so whilst it's been cooler I've been having that for breakfast - I guess it's similar ingredients in the cookies! Can you give me the recipie?

Have you thought about how long you will bf for? We saw the doctor yesterday and he said the longer the better, even when Harri goes onto solids at 6 months, he said to carry on with bf as a supplement. Based on what Jack's eating, I should probably feed Harri more (given that they're nearly the same age) - he has never stopped eating the milk in his bottle, so he always wants more, but is always satisfied enough not to complain...!

How much are the rest of you feeding your bubbas?

Harrison had his vaccinations yesterday and he has a mild fever today and had a night terror last night, poor thing. But he's being sweet. He's now 16.8 lbs, which is just above average for his age, nothing special, but he's 68cm, which puts him in the 95th percentile for length - still not as big as LB's Zac, but still pretty long!

 

[GossipGirly]

joli - if he drains 3 bottles in a row you need to go up an ounce, libby is starting to drain 6oz every 4 hours and sadly is not sleeping through the night lol Iv realised she was hungry but getting bored with trying to get the milk out of size 1 teats so have moved up to size 2 and she is a lot happier x

 

[hibiscus07]

GG--that's interesting re: draining 3 bottles in a row. That sounds like a good rule of thumb. Thanks for sharing that!

Joli--I don't know how you handle that schedule. I will MAYBE work 9 hours at the office and an occasional 1-2 hours here or there in the evenings (I definitely couldn't do it too frequently). You are quite the trooper.
That's amazing you can get 5 oz in 7-10 minutes. Hearing that makes me think my supply issue is def real. It will take me no less than 20 minutes to get whatever I'm gonna get.
As for length of BFing, I'm planning to do a year, maybe more if it seems natural to continue. I was wondering if solids might keep him fuller. I originally wanted to wait until 6 months, but we started Jack on teeny tiny amounts of brown rice cereal (by HappyBellies) this week and he tolerated it quite well. I know it has probiotics in it--maybe that helps them tolerate it better.

BTW, I'm happy to report that Jack slept from 8 PM to 345 AM last night, and then 4-ish to 7. Woohoo! I'm still exhausted but it's much better than has been normal as of late.

Here's one of the lactation cookies recipes I found. I'm gonna try to make some this weekend:

# 1 cup butter
# 1 cup sugar
# 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
# 4 tablespoons water
# 2 tablespoons flax seed meal
# 2 eggs
# 1 teaspoon vanilla
# 2 cups flour
# 1 teaspoon baking soda
# 1 teaspoon salt
# 3 cups oats
# 1 cup chocolate chips
# 2 -4 tablespoons brewer's yeast

1. 1 Preheat oven to 350°.
2. 2 Mix the flaxseed meal and water and let sit for 3-5 minutes.
3. 3 Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar well.
4. 4 Add eggs and mix well.
5. 5 Add flaxseed mix and vanilla, beat well.
6. 6 Sift together flour, brewers yeast, baking soda, and salt.
7. 7 Add dry ingredients to butter mix.
8. 8 Stir in oats and chips.
9. 9 Scoop onto baking sheet.
10. 10 Bake for 12 minutes.
11. 11 Let set for a couple minutes then remove from tray.


Read more: https://www.food.com/recipe/oatmeal...cookies-by-noel-trujillo-192346#ixzz1EJwuY82j

 

[Joli]

Hey GG - when you say drain 3 bottles in a row, you mean over 3 feeds right? (just checking!). Harrison always drains his bottles. Last night as an experiment, I gave him 130ml for his dream feed at 11:30pm (I normally give him about 100ml), and he still woke up at 3am. I guess from what you're all saying, I should be feeding him more! I'm going to slowly increase it over the next few days.

Tonight is Harrison's first time sleeping unswaddled. Have you all stopped swaddling your bubbas?

Hibiscus - thanks for the recipie! I hope it didn't take you too long to type out They look yummy!! I've never pumped for longer than 10 mins - in fact, after about 6 mins, nothing more seems to come out. Pumping for 20 mins must be so tiring! That's wonderful that you're planning to bf for a year. I have no real plans for how long I will, I guess for as long as Harrison's main food source if milk - I figure once he goes onto solids, as that increases, his need for milk will naturally decrease and my supply will naturally decrease with it. When Jack slept from 8pm - 3:45pm, did you dream feed him in between? Harrison generally sleeps now from 9pm - 4am (with a dream feed at 11:30pm) then 4:15am - 7am. I wonder if he'll ever sleep through the night! On solids, when I went to the doctor the other day, he suggested when we go onto solids, for us to make our own rice cereal, cause that's better and more natural for the baby than the packaged rice cereal - has anyone tried making their own?

 

[Joli]

GG - I forgot to mention, we've had Harrison on number 2 teats since he was 10.5 weeks old, he got so angry at the number 1 teats, so we moved him up one, and he was so much happier! That's great that Libby is having 6oz at a time - so she eats about 6 times a day? I should get Harrison from 8 feeds down to 6 a day, but it's hard to work out the scheduling - I want him to eat at 1pm, so that I can come home at lunchtimes to feed him, but I feed him around 7:30am, so it's hard to figure out what time the feed in between should be throughout the day to get him down to 6 feeds. I was never good at maths!

 

[Britt11]

Hey Joli, glad to hear that you are in the swing of things at work, although I imagine it still must be hard.
I have some questions for you ladies, I am a bit confused. How do you know how much milk you are giving your baby when you are breast feeding? Or are you always bottle feeding now?
also what is a #1 and #2 teat?

as for me, my little kitten and I are doing great. The scan went very well and she is doing awesome. She is actually still measuring 6 days ahead little tubby and her legs are measuring in the 97th percentile so my doc said she might be a tall girl.
she is kicking me tons now, which is so weird, I do love it though. She catches me off guard sometimes though.

as for names I believe we have mostly decided on Piper for her...with a couple of back-ups like Brookyln. I guess we will see for sure when she is born on what we feel she suites. We are not telling my parents as I know they will hate the name Piper at first, but its our decision. I think its cute, what do you guys think? too out there?

 

[GossipGirly]

britt the teat sizes increase as baby gets older as they get more milk out..

joli yeh over 3 feeds in a row if he drains you need to increase, libby has been on 6 feeds yeh and im hoping with the new increase she will drop the night one and go down to 5!

Maybe you could give him a feed at lunch time or morning even when he is not really hungry, like a top up feed to get him to his next one? so u keep him on your schedual?
sorry must go libby calling ctach up with rest later x

 

[GossipGirly]

omg I love piper britt just seen that as I was logging off x

 

[Britt11]

thanks hon!! yeah

okay but what is a "teat?"

cheers

 

[GossipGirly]

lol the thing they drink out of from the bottle?? x

 

[hibiscus07]

I had to think about that one for a second, too. Here, we call them nipples rather than teats. Either one makes sense, though!

Britt--I love the name Piper! Over halfway there now--congrats She will be here before you know it.

Joli-my supply finally increased--yay! I guess adding that 3rd pumping finally made my supply catch up. I made the cookies this weekend, too. I've had WAY too many of them haha. They are pretty yummy. No worries about the recipe--it was a copy/paste job. No typing out...phew

Regarding the dream feed, it seems to vary. A couple nights ago, he slept straight through to 345 but last night, he went to bed at 8, but was up again at 11 pm to eat, but then slept again to 5 am, and then got in another 2 hours after eating. Love it!

How did Harrison do sans swaddle? We stopped swaddling Jack at about 6 weeks, but only because I was so tired of swaddling him, that I had to at least TRY to see if he could sleep without it and he's been fine since then. We do have a routine, though. We put him in his sleep sack, hat, and then i put socks on his hands to keep them warm (ridiculous, I know). Our house is freezing! I actually think just having the routine of putting him in that sleep outfit, then turning out the lights in our bedroom, and turning on his sleep-sheep white noise thing lets him know it's time to go to sleep. Most nights, I rock him about 2-3 minutes, and lay him down in the bassinet in our bedroom and then leave. He can usually get himself to sleep after I go back in to the room in response to his fussing 1-2 times more, and then only stay for a couple of minutes.

We haven't tried making our own rice cereal. If you give it a try, let us know!

TTYS, all

 

[hibiscus07]

Before I forget, new pics of Jack....
He had his 4 mo appt Friday, freaked out when he got the vaccinations, which was sooo sad, but was happy up to that point.

He's healthy, but his weight dropped form 75th ptile at 2 months to just below the 50th ptile. I wonder if my supply issue is to blame. I swear he was like 15.5 lbs at home a couple of weeks ago, but was only 14 lb 2 oz at the Dr Friday. Pediatrician wasn't concerned, but I'll have to keep an eye on it.
He also had his first sweet potatoes Friday. Very entertaining! (see pics haha)

 

[Devi#1]

Hi girls!!

Hib - I think I will give the recipe a shot too. Still bf so hoping it will give milk an jump.
I see jack has a sophie!! Arjun has one too & loves it!!

Britt - love the name too! How u?

Joli - wow u seem to be one busy woman!

 

[Joli]

Hey Britt - I have no idea how much Harrison is drinking, that's the problem! Whilst I'm at work, I pump, so I can see how much I pump and I estimate that Harrison is roughly drinking the same amount when I feed him from my breast when I come home. But I can't find any resources to tell me eg. If I pump 120ml, then is that how much bubba drinks, or can he get more out, or will he take less out cause he stops sucking when not enough is coming out. I'm so happy for you that your pregnancy is coming along so well! I think Piper and Brooklyn are both awesome names - I especially love the name Brooklyn. It sounds like she's gonna be one cool kid So have you bought anything yet for your nursery?

GG - thanks for the feeding suggestions.

Hibiscus - that's awesome that your volume has increased - mine has done the opposite! Last week I was able to pump 150ml if I went 3 hours between feeds, but today I've only been able to pump 120ml - I think it's been all the stress and lack of sleep. How often do you pump at work? When you pump for 20 mins, do you have milk coming out all the time? I seem to have nothing left to pump after about 6 mins, but I keep it going for 10 mins just in case. That's fantastic that Jack is sleeping so much better now too! Harrison was going until 4:30/5pm before, but has reverted back to his 3am plus 6am feed since he had his 4 month jabs last Thurs. We're still swaddling Harrison at nighttime - he did not do well on Sat night without his swaddle - what a disaster! He has his daytime naps with no swaddle, but not nighttime! We're going to Cape Town this weekend for a week's holiday, so I'll try him out unswaddled again when I don't need to worry about waking up for work the next morning in case he has a bad night. Apparently making your own rice cereal is really easy, you just mix rice with a lot of water and boil it for a long time, then you mash the rice into the water, and it becomes like a cereal - then as they get used to it, you can add in an egg, or some mashed babyfood like carrot etc. I'll give it a try when Harrison gets to 6 months. I just love love love the pics of Jack!! Keep them coming! The one of him with food all over his mouth is especially cute!! You're looking well also

Devi - where's some updated pics of Arjun? He must be so big now!

So ladies, today is my birthday, and I've had some great news from work - they've agreed that I can work form home on Wed and Fri afternoons for the duration that I'm breastfeeding! I wish it could be longer, but for now, I'm so grateful. Best birthday present ever! I really need this though, last Friday I was so exhausted I nearly fainted. I hope the rest of you are well! x

 

[Britt11]

hey ladies, I will write more later just absolutely knackered, work has been unbelievably crazy, I am soooo tired. I had to work the long weekend as well....

anyway, thanks for the positive comments on my baby girl's name. I really appreciate it. Joli, I really like Brooklyn too but its getting more and more common over here and I think we will probably go with Piper- providing she "suites" it when she is born. Hopefully we dont get too much flack from our families.

Hib- I have to tell you Jack is SOOOOOOOO cute! I absolutely love the profile pic of him holding and looking at Sophie adorable, we got our LO a Sophie as well

I will write more when I can, but hope you ladies are doing great.
Devi- nice to hear from you, how is Arjun? how is life in India?

 

[2016]

Britt...love the name Piper. We had three names picked out for Stewart before he was born and kept them secret from everyone. When he was born, we decided we didn't think ANY of the three suited him. We trialled one of the names on him for a couple of days but it just didn't work. When then trialled another totally different name on him for another couple of days but didn't like that either. You can imagine, by this point one week on, how much pressure we were getting from people to name him!
I started feeling very down about it because I felt like I was almost failing him to not be able to give him a name but I just wanted to do it right and I was so tired and Neil was working all the time so we could never discuss it. Anyway, one night just before bed, we were looking through the name book for the umpteenth time and Stewart, a name never even on any long or short list was said and we knew instantly that was his name! Next time I doubt I will bother picking any names in advance - although if we ever have a girl her name is already picked and we don't care if she looks like it or not!
Can't believe how the time is flying by. Aren't baby kicks wonderful? Is your placenta anterior to muffle them at all? I am sure I missed loads of kicks because mine was.

Joli...can you get oat milk where you are? Just as oats is good for supply, oat milk is concentrated oatiness! Also you can get a doctor to give you Domperidone (Motillium) to boost supply. You can actually buy it OTC over here. Don't know if this will help you but here is a link about how to estimate how much a BF baby will drink:
https://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html
Sorry you have to work so hard but it's great news you get to work from home to help with pumping.

Oh shucks it's almost 10pm and I am not done here but I really must get to bed to try catch up on sleep. Am recovering from a mammoth growth spurt where Stewart ate every 1-2 hours day and night for 48 hours! Nearly killed me and I ended up with pinched nerves in my back and neck from poor posture.

Will catch up more later. xx

 

[Britt11]

Hey Britt - I have no idea how much Harrison is drinking, that's the problem! Whilst I'm at work, I pump, so I can see how much I pump and I estimate that Harrison is roughly drinking the same amount when I feed him from my breast when I come home. But I can't find any resources to tell me eg. If I pump 120ml, then is that how much bubba drinks, or can he get more out, or will he take less out cause he stops sucking when not enough is coming out. I'm so happy for you that your pregnancy is coming along so well! I think Piper and Brooklyn are both awesome names - I especially love the name Brooklyn. It sounds like she's gonna be one cool kid So have you bought anything yet for your nursery?

GG - thanks for the feeding suggestions.

Hibiscus - that's awesome that your volume has increased - mine has done the opposite! Last week I was able to pump 150ml if I went 3 hours between feeds, but today I've only been able to pump 120ml - I think it's been all the stress and lack of sleep. How often do you pump at work? When you pump for 20 mins, do you have milk coming out all the time? I seem to have nothing left to pump after about 6 mins, but I keep it going for 10 mins just in case. That's fantastic that Jack is sleeping so much better now too! Harrison was going until 4:30/5pm before, but has reverted back to his 3am plus 6am feed since he had his 4 month jabs last Thurs. We're still swaddling Harrison at nighttime - he did not do well on Sat night without his swaddle - what a disaster! He has his daytime naps with no swaddle, but not nighttime! We're going to Cape Town this weekend for a week's holiday, so I'll try him out unswaddled again when I don't need to worry about waking up for work the next morning in case he has a bad night. Apparently making your own rice cereal is really easy, you just mix rice with a lot of water and boil it for a long time, then you mash the rice into the water, and it becomes like a cereal - then as they get used to it, you can add in an egg, or some mashed babyfood like carrot etc. I'll give it a try when Harrison gets to 6 months. I just love love love the pics of Jack!! Keep them coming! The one of him with food all over his mouth is especially cute!! You're looking well also

Devi - where's some updated pics of Arjun? He must be so big now!

So ladies, today is my birthday, and I've had some great news from work - they've agreed that I can work form home on Wed and Fri afternoons for the duration that I'm breastfeeding! I wish it could be longer, but for now, I'm so grateful. Best birthday present ever! I really need this though, last Friday I was so exhausted I nearly fainted. I hope the rest of you are well! x

sorry happy belated birthday Joli!!
I like your work bday present

thanks 2016, I appreciate the name advice. Its a tough one for sure, I do love Piper, there is something about it that is so strong but also cute

My placenta is posterior, so I feel everything! its so cute, I started feeling flutters as early as 14 weeks and now they are full fledged kicks. It really catches me off guard sometimes- maybe its those 97th percentile long legs

 

[Ladybird28]

hello everyone, sorry been absent for quite a while but things are still manic here. Zac has started to sleep through the night more often now but the trouble is that he only has 1 or 2 naps during the day that last 10-15 minutes so Im struggling to get anything done as he's really clingy. He's also draining 7oz bottles every 3 and a half to 4 hours so I'm going to start weaning him in a couple of weeks. He seems to be growing so quickly, he just wants to try stand up all the time and sit up constantly. Time is going by so quickly, it only seems 2 minutes since he was born!
I really need to catch up with everything that's been happening on here but I've gotta say Britt I love the name Piper I think its fantastic xx

ps here's a couple of recent pics of Zac x