**The Lucky Thread** PAL Babies born late Feb 2011

[Rainbowpea]

Q - lexi's cord stump is still on her belly button. Are your babies??
I thought it dropped off about 10days, but hers is still firmly stuck... should i be worried?

How old is she exactly? Juliette's dropped off quite quickly, before 10 days but then took a while to heal. What does it look like? As long as it's not infected prob ok. What did the midwife/hv say?
Xx

 

[kafs78]

she is 3weeks + 1 day. Hv said its fine, but im sure it should be off by now.
its black and hard. no smell, no blood...nothing!

 

[Sophist]

Q - lexi's cord stump is still on her belly button. Are your babies??
I thought it dropped off about 10days, but hers is still firmly stuck... should i be worried?

Aislinn's came off at 6 days, but its still a little red, and occasionally has a little discharge. Pede said its normal.

Are you doing anything to it? With my other kids we used to put alcohol on it to try to dry it out, but my mw said I didn't have to do that anymore.

Things are evening out a bit for us now. I'm still BF, but supplementing with formula, she's taking maybe 10-12 oz of formula a day in addition to BF. She's much more content and pooping a lot more. It's a lot of work doing both, but this morning she refused a bottle and just wanted to BF, then after she BF she took the bottle. So if she's not wanting to wean yet, I guess we will carry on for awhile and see how it goes.

 

[Rainbowpea]

she is 3weeks + 1 day. Hv said its fine, but im sure it should be off by now.
its black and hard. no smell, no blood...nothing!

Sounds as if it's ok, doesn't sound infected must just be stuck on quite well! Mayb try a soak in the bath to loosen it?

X

 

[Rainbowpea]

Q - lexi's cord stump is still on her belly button. Are your babies??
I thought it dropped off about 10days, but hers is still firmly stuck... should i be worried?

Aislinn's came off at 6 days, but its still a little red, and occasionally has a little discharge. Pede said its normal.

Are you doing anything to it? With my other kids we used to put alcohol on it to try to dry it out, but my mw said I didn't have to do that anymore.

Things are evening out a bit for us now. I'm still BF, but supplementing with formula, she's taking maybe 10-12 oz of formula a day in addition to BF. She's much more content and pooping a lot more. It's a lot of work doing both, but this morning she refused a bottle and just wanted to BF, then after she BF she took the bottle. So if she's not wanting to wean yet, I guess we
will carry on for awhile and see how it goes.

Sounds like you are doing well and she will be getting the best of both! Hopefully her weight will beef up now! Don't ever feel guilty for the choices you make as you know that you are doing what you think is best for your baby xx

 

[Sophist]

Thank you!!

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend with your babies! I'm going to try to go to church in the morning, its been about 7 weeks since I've been and I miss it. Wish me luck that Aislinn will cooperate.

 

[korrinalex]

So good to hear everyone is doing ok. Jude's cord came off in the hospital when Ted was changing his nappy...I was having dinner in the eating room and when I came back Ted just said, "What am I supposed to do with this?", holding it up...think Jude was about 4 or 5 days old...I was relieved as it kinda freaked me out!!! Have a good Sunday....what I wouldn't do to sleep for 10 hours!!! xx

 

[Rainbowpea]

hey, finally got round to uploading some pics to the pc...this is juliette at 4 weeks. love her!

 

[kafs78]

aw Juliette is adorable.

lexi's cord fell off today! thankfully. was starting to think ti was never coming off

 

[Sophist]

Alina she's soooo cute!!

I'm supposed to get the pics from A's photog session tomorrow. Will give you girls a peek once I have them.

 

[korrinalex]

AWWWWW..... Juliette is beautiful!! She looks so contented too! xx

 

[kafs78]

does your little ones seem to go through an unsettled crying spell around about 5pm each night? lexi has for the last few nights. I have to bath and feed her and shes literally in bed for 6.15pm shattered!

My feeding seems to have gone slightly erratic today. She seems to want fed every 3 hours, yet she has managed to go mostly 4 hourly.. so not sure what shes up to.

she is now 8lbs 8, so that a full lbs since she was born. Wee chubb!

 

[Sophist]

Aislinn regained her birthweight! 10 lbs even at the doctor today!!

We still have thrush. Grrrrrr!

The crying sounds normal...Aislinn isn't doing it (yet?) but my other kids were definitely fussy in the evenings.

 

[korrinalex]

Yip, Jude has a fussy period - a wee bit later than that though. The health visitor says that is normal. She explained why it happens but I can't remember. Jude is hard to get settled at night. He feeds and feeds and feeds and only then will he go down. Last night I was feeding from 8 until 1/4 to 12 with only short breaks. Nightmare!!! We had been out all day so feeding on demand had been more difficult and he must have been tanking up on what he had missed!! He is sooooo greedy! He is to be weighed again tomorrow so I hope that will go ok. If not, I think he needs a big steak and fries!! xx

 

[kafs78]

Right i need you ladies to have a look at something that has been suggested to me. my friend swears by this, for getting our babies to sleep through the night as soon as physically possible.

Google: Dream feeding

Read up on it please and tell me what you think

 

[kafs78]

This will save you ladies having to look on google:

Introducing a Dream Feed
When to start?

It is never too early at all to start the dream feed. What time does your LO get his last feed before bed? The dream feed should be given between 10.30-11pm. It sometimes takes a week or so before the dream feed kicks in

How to do it?

Giving what Tracey calls a dream feed right before you go to bed. For example, you give her the breast (or a bottle) at six and eight in the evening (if you are cluster feeding) , and the dream feed between 10 and 11. With dream feeding, literally nurse or bottle-feed her in her sleep. In other words, you pick your baby up, gently place the bottle or breast on her lower lip, and allow her to eat, taking care not to wake her. When she’s finished, you don’t even burp her; just put her down. Infants are usually so relaxed at these feeds, they don’t gulp air. You don’t talk; you don’t change her unless she’s soaked through or soiled. With both these tanking-up techniques, most babies can sleep through that middle-of-the-night feed, because they have enough calories to keep them going.

It can be hard to get the hang of not waking them; the main thing to remember is to keep everything really low key for the dream feed. Low lights, low noise and take everything really slowly. The idea behind it is that the sucking action in babies is a reflex so they will do this even in their sleep if stimulated to suck. Make sure you have everything ready and at hand near your chair before you start. When you lift her out of her cot/crib support her neck and then lift her up slowly into your arms in the feeding position without waking her (as much as possible). If she is swaddled, there is no reason to unswaddle. When you're ready to start the feed stroke the cheek nearest to you - that should stimulate the rooting reflex and make her open her mouth. Pop your breast or bottle in and she should start sucking. If she stops then there are a few things you can try to get her to strike up again - either stroke the palm of her hand, twist the bottle around, or gently shift her position a bit. She shouldn't need winding unless she's a particularly windy baby (they tend to take in much less air because they're so relaxed). If you do think you need to wind her do it in the on the shoulder position and rub rather than pat. Then when you're done lay her down as gently as you can. If she does stir then try shhhhing to ease her off to sleep again.

If he's waking before this feed is due then try giving him the feed before the time he usually wakes without waking him.

If baby wakes when you go to do dream feed do not stress about it - most likely she will drift back to sleep during DREAM FEED and that is fine. If baby won't take the feed, try again in 15-20 min to catch at a different point in her sleep cycle - she may just be in too deep a sleep.

If DH/DP is willing to help out, have him lift the baby onto your lap and have him come back to place the baby back in the cot/crib when you are done. Or, if you are using EBM, have him do the whole process (while you pump for the next night’s feed).

When to do it?

Between 10 and 11pm

How much?

As far as the cluster feed & dream feeds go, offer as much as he'll take. There is no "set" amount of how much it should be, it's simply to "tank" him up, simply because you want the majority of his calories during the day and you'll eventually want to cut the dream feed out. The amount for a dream feed can vary from the amount they take in the day and can often be hit and miss.

All babies are different, and dependent on your LO’s age, night wakings aren’t uncommon.

How long to implement?

Sometimes it can take up to a week to implement...if you can't get him to take it within 5-10 minutes I would put him back down right away. If you find after about a week of trying, that it's just not working I would then concentrate on the cluster feeding instead. The dream feed sometimes takes a few days to a week to get established, I'd recommend that if it’s not working, you drop it for a week or 2, and then try it again.


Problems?

Won’t take the dream feed;

1. Sometimes it can take up to a week to implement...if you can't get him to take it within 5-10 minutes I would put him back down right away. If you find after about a week of trying, that it's just not working I would then concentrate on the cluster feeding instead. The dream feed sometimes takes a few days to get established, I'd recommend that if it’s not working, you drop it for a week or 2, and then try it again.

2. If baby won't take the feed, try again in 15-20 min to catch at a different point in her sleep cycle - she may just be in too deep a sleep.

3. You have to do what works for you - and some babies just won't take to a DREAM FEED no matter what you try.


Currently doing a dream feed and LO has started to wake

Try dropping the dream feed

 

[Sophist]

Yip, Jude has a fussy period - a wee bit later than that though. The health visitor says that is normal. She explained why it happens but I can't remember. Jude is hard to get settled at night. He feeds and feeds and feeds and only then will he go down. Last night I was feeding from 8 until 1/4 to 12 with only short breaks. Nightmare!!! We had been out all day so feeding on demand had been more difficult and he must have been tanking up on what he had missed!! He is sooooo greedy! He is to be weighed again tomorrow so I hope that will go ok. If not, I think he needs a big steak and fries!! xx

Maybe he's headed into a growth spurt?

Right i need you ladies to have a look at something that has been suggested to me. my friend swears by this, for getting our babies to sleep through the night as soon as physically possible.

Google: Dream feeding

Read up on it please and tell me what you think

Since we switched to mostly FF, Ace is sleeping 5-7 hours at a stretch at night. I have read that babies aren't really ready to sleep through until they are 11 lbs...Aislinn isn't quite there yet, but she's been sleeping a LOT better this last week! The nights when she goes 7 hours are heaven sent for me!

Let us know how the dream feeding goes. Aislinn won't eat while she's asleep, even if she falls asleep at breast she just pops off and won't go back on, or if she's taking a bottle she gags and chokes on the milk.

We used this video with my other daughter and his program works really well...she was older, maybe 4-5 months.

https://www.drhull.com/

I borrowed the video from a friend, but if you order the video he will give you lifetime email support, or at least he used to, to tailor the program to your child's specific needs.

 

[Rainbowpea]

I used dream feeds with my dd and it really worked. At 11 when we were going to bed I would just pick her out of her cot and feed her and she would stay asleep. We didn't start doing it until she was older though, maybe 4-5 months when she was bottle fed. I'm not sure I could do it breastfeeding though, can't force a boob in their mouths like you can a bottle! I'll deffo be doing it again when we move onto ff.

Juliette is more fussy in the evenings, cluster feeding but I think it is helping her sleep better at night so I'm good with it!

 

[Sophist]

Girls I'm going to PM you pictures of A.

 

[kafs78]

So whats your feeding routines then?

Mins seems to now be:

Wake around 07.45.
08.00 Feed Sleeps again shortly after
11.00 Feed Sleeps again shortly after
2.00 Feed Sleeps again shortly after
5.00 Feed
5.45 Bath
6.15 *feed Literally only about and oz.
6.30 Bed

10.00 Feed
2.00 Feed
5.00 Feed