Feeding every hour, how do you cope?

[Rouge]

PZ - how is using a nipple sheild not really feeding her!! Don't start crazy mummy guilt on yourself!! It doesn't matter how it gets in her belly - it's just so awesome that it gets in there FULL STOP.

WORD!

Get that rubbish outta your head girl. YOU ARE FEEDING HER!

[PumpkinZulu]

My bad. I know I'm feeding her. Sometimes I just wish I could plonk my boob out and that was that. No sticking a pastie on my boob first. Mum was talking about when I got teeth as a baby, and DH said 'it probably won't even matter for you, you've got the shield'. I know he didn't mean to upset me, but I actually cried at the thought of NOT having my nipple bitten

[Rouge]

It's funny the things we judge ourselves on.

I have no doubt the older she gets she will one day be ok without the nipple. You will have that moment I promise.

I always wanted a co-sleeper, never happened. Felt like I'd failed in the bonding somehow. Always wanted a sling baby... that wasn't to be either. I mean I used the sling but attachment parenting wasn't something either child wanted. I even wondered if I smelt wrong LOL! And was offended that they wanted to sleep in their cots

It doesn't always go to plan, but it's not because you failed. It's just sometimes what happens. And I can tell you know you have amazing perseverance to the benefit of your beautiful daughter. Don't ever doubt that.

[Babyluv]

Keep perservering with and without the shield hun. I had to use nipple shields with my DD for about the first 3 months as she just couldn't latch on without it. I got sick of them and started trying her without them. Sometimes she would feed sometimes not. If she was hungry she wouldn't have the patience to try. But eventually she got it and we haven't used shields for a long time. The most important thing is she is getting your milk, you're doing a great job

[Rouge]

I just realise my derp. "without the nipple" I meant without the nipple shield... Hopefully that gave you a giggle. Still slightly delirious obviously.

[Glamourcide]

Babe, just wanted to pop in and tell you what a frickin' CHAMP you are You are doing a fantastic job! I know it feels right now like this will be a never-ending road to walk, but I promise you will get through and DD will get into a workable routine soon... it seems like you can't go on any more but you can, and you're doing an amazing job of it DD1 was bottle-fed, but fed every hour on the hour, DD2 was BFd and much the same... you muddle through it. The housework, the shopping, meh, it will all still be there when you have time for it. The hair loss is totally normal, I had it after DD2 and honestly thought I was going bald - don't panic! Vitamin supplements etc won't do much to help, it's a normal process that happens post-partum. For nine months, your hair got stuck in the 'grow' phase of its cycle, and barely any fell out - and you have beautiful thick hair like mine... imagine going nearly a whole year without losing a strand, then the hormone switch back to 'normal' growth and loss flips back on and that 9 months worth of retained hair just goes 'Time to goooo!'... yeah, there's clumps everywhere and you'll think you're going bald! But don't worry, it's not BF-related, and you will still have plenty of hair, it's just thinning itself out to its pre-preg state after holding on for so long It'll get better - it takes a bit of getting used to to realise your hair has been *that* different during pregnancy, but you'll adjust (Watch out for your nails, too, mine were awesome during pregnancy and then started splitting and breaking off about two weeks after birth and they've never been nice since... ah well, what goes up must come down, right?)

Just hang in there, hun... try to maintain as much of a 'life' as you can. Go to the shops, do coffee and playdates etc if she's easy to feed on the go, if it helps you mentally to get out of the house so she stretches her feeds out, then do that and see how you feel. Call your friends around to help entertain DD so that she might not want to comfort-suck constantly while you're at home, and of course get Nanna and Dad on board to help out and keep her amused so you can rest when you need to. Just hang in there, you are doing such a fantastic job and this too shall pass *hugs*