Your first week home with new baby..

[EllyBoo72]

How did you find your first week at home with your new Bubs?
Was bubs more settled in hospital, or more settled when you got home?

We found DS was fantastic in hospital, and on our first night home, he slept for 5 hours solid...Then on the second night he cried for 5 hours....and then most nights after that!

I'm really interested in hearing other ppls stories of how bubs settled in at home
Thank you!!

[Snacks]

Natalie was taken to the nursery on our first night in hospital because she wouldn't settle and I needed sleep! At home she was the same until the fourth night when both she and I cried uncontrolably for hours, LOL. I think she'd settled by a couple of weeks in...? Its so hard to remember now

[Roryrory]

I actually found DS was more settled at home than in hospital but I think that is because by the time I was home my milk came in and so he wasn't hungry anymore, and I got the hang of burping him.

[Karina]

She was a horror on our second night (sunday) in hospital and cried nearly non-stop from 1 am to 5am!!! On our first night at home (tuesday) she wasnt particularly settled and kept waking and crying every hour. Poor hubby, i dont think he had expected that! After that first night at home, she settled much better. The first week was not as bad as everyone had said it was going to be.

[aussienic]

I found my first son was really unsettled in hospital but once I got home in my own surroundungs he settled down a little. My other 2 sons were both in special care so they were well settled in hosp and at home

[Lilly-Pilly]

Our first week was fantastic! I went home from hospital, DD kept her routine of feeding 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm, 10pm, 2am. She had that routine on her own fron the first night she was born.
She settled well, I was calm and relxaed and loved it. We'd go out shopping, meet friends for coffee, go visiting and she was great!! I loved every single second of the fisrt week or two.

[Tobily]

I was pretty blessed with both of mine as newborns.
Both were good in the hospital. Emily slept the whole time we were there, and Toby did for the most part but I do remember walking the hallways with him one night at 2am but that only happened once.
When they came home they were still good - DD always slept so well, since birth and still does now. DS was good too but he has got progressively worse as he gets older

[Mother Goose]

DD was an Angel in hospital and the first few days at home. When she was about 10 days old (so home for 5 days) she hit a rough patch that lasted three or four days and then settled again.

[Rachel]

DD was unsettled in hospital, would only settle if she was being held by myself or DH, she also did this the first night we were at home. We thought this was fair enough - it's a pretty scary world out here! The second night at home (3 days old) she would sleep at night in her cot for a couple of hours, and it got better and better and started sleeping through from about 2 weeks old. We are have a very good little girl.

[~Jo~]

All my babies settled better at home..probably because mummy felt more settled

Jo

[Cherie]

DS was pretty unsettled at hospital AND at home (and still is, at nearly 5wks old). Our first two nights home, he was awake for 4 hrs straight (12am-4am), which thankfully hasn't continued.

I felt more settled at home, despite coming home in a wheelchair - I felt like I was just biding time at the hospital.

[westy]

Both my boys were settled at home and hospital.

From memory the secong night at hospital was the worst, where they both had a unsettled periods for an hour or two.

[naomi54]

Lachlan was an absolute charm at the hospital, we were in there for 5days. On our first night home he cried uncontrolably for 3hrs straight from 1am, in the end sent Rick down to servo to get some formula (he was so hungry, seemed wasnt getting enough from me) by the time Rick got home he was sound asleep!
The second night he was good. It seems every 3-4nights he will play up like that, and its mainly because he is hungry. As he is now completely bottle fed (long and completely guilt ridden story), i will top him up with some formula and he settles down within an hour or so.
The other nights he is such a great sleeper and feeder.

The first night home, poor Ricki didnt know what to do, as in the end both Lachlan and I were crying uncontrolably! but now when he plays up i generally know what he wants/needs so am able to accept it, although last night i ended having a little cry with him because i was just so exhausted.

[bon]

Harry was a horror at hospital and not much better at home lol! When I can laugh now...But he was not a settled bub at all in hossie and when we got him home the first night he slept well but after that he pretty much cried all the time. Mind you we were also having feeding troubles etc. Once he got to that 12 week mark he was settled and slept heaps better.

[widdly]

DS cried all the time at night in hospital so the nurses ended up taking him from about midnight both nights we were there. First night home went well though he would only sleep in our bed not his and i was bf constantly, second night home was hell as my milk still hadn't come in and DS was STARVING and i was EXHAUSTED cause i was constantly feeding him and he would scream whenever he was off the boob as he was so hungry and my nipples were getting sore! I ended up expressing but only managed to get about 15ml and went to bed and left DH in charge only in bed a couple of hours, could hear DS screaming the whole time so only got teeny amount of sleep. Early the next morning my mik finally came in and DS was finally satissfied. We kept co-sleeping for the first 2 weeks and let him constantly feed. My uncle and auntie and their 3 and 1 year olds cam and stayed with us for 2 nights at the end of the first week. We lived in a tiny flat so it was hectic and i overdid it and the second night of htier stay i was a blubbering mess as i just did too much too soon.

naomi - please try not to feel guilt ridden, you did your best, and when it comes down to it all baby really want is a feed they don't really care where it comes from as long as it fils their bellies. Sounds like youa re doing a wonderful job and ur bub is beautiful!
My big tip for the first week is don't have too mnay visitors and just concentrate on getting into the swing of breastfeeding and catching up on sleep. If your bottlefeeding however im thinking you could just get back to life as usual pretty much straight away.