Babies Born ~ July 2013 #1

This thread is for parents whose baby was born July 2013. Congratulations!

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There are many issues that you will encounter as a new parent. We have put together this list of useful articles and threads in order to assist you with some common questions or issues you may have, and to provide you with bit of extra support that we all need as new parents:

Feeding Support:

Helpful Articles
Breastfeeding FAQs
Is My Baby Hungry?
Is Feeding Your Baby Taking Too Much Time?
Feeding Your Baby
Lactose Intolerance
Starting Solids - When Is My Baby Ready?

Helpful Forums
Breastfeeding, Bottlefeeding and Solids


Please contact the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) or a Lactation Consultant if you are concerned that you may have breastfeeding and/or supply problems, and before the introduction of solids.

Sleeping Support:

Helpful Articles
Babies & Sleep
Controlled Crying/Comforting/Sleep Training
The Con of Controlled Crying
The Crying Game
15 Ways To Help Your Baby Sleep

Helpful Forums
Comforted Sleeping & Sleep Issues Forum


Other Useful Information & Recommended Reading:

Helpful Articles
Baby Massage
Cuddle Me Mum
Recommended Reading List

Helpful Forums
Infant-led Feeding & Weaning
Baby Slings and Baby Wearing


Got questions?

Post your questions in the forums mentioned above, or in the following forums where you're sure to receive many friendly responses!

General Baby & Toddler Forum
Gentle Parenting Forum

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Helloooooo?
Any of my July belly buddies girls ready to graduate? I have lots of newmum questions and would love to chat with you soon xx

Oh subbing

I'll be ready any day now ha ;)
Fire away with any questions though , I still remember early days with my DD :)

I'm officially here now :)

And me!

I didn't quite make it into July, but I'd love to keep chatting with you all.

Lactation consultant has just been. Emily has a tongue tie which will need to be snipped. That explains why she can't get a good latch. I have an appointment with a GP next week.

I am here too :) I just remembered to look for this thread.

Sorry Peeks to hear about Emily, hopefully now you can get attachment sorted.

AFM- Loving being a mum. I cant believe how fast its going. Life seems to be in a nice routine and Jack is thriving. He weighed in at 3990 grams on Friday. His birth weight was 3680 grams so 15 days on the midwife is more than happy.

Peeks, no problem at all! Keep chatting away with us :) sorry about Emily's tongue, but what a relief to find the problem.

Vic, what kind if routine do you have at the moment? I plan on setting one up, but right now I'm just feeding, sleeping, feeding etc. I have a few books I can follow I love the idea of routine.

AFM: Marley has a bit of wind so have been giving her Infants friend. I think it's helping, only second day. She just slept 4 hours so I'm feeling pretty good! DH gave her the 6pm bottle and I got about 5 hours then too :) but he is terrible at settling her! He just doesn't have the patience. Which sucks cos I need him to..

Hi all, I'm in here too. :)

I'm a bit tired now, so I'll come back later with a catch up.
Enjoy the early days, ladies. Xx

Hi :) Hope everyone is doing well, and managing to get some sleep! Emily had her tongue tie snipped this morning. What a brave little girl she was, she barely cried at all. It only bled a little bit, and doesn't seem to be bothering her at all now. Amazing really, as I know how much it hurts if you bite your tongue. She's had one breast feed since it was done and she latched on soo much better. Only problem is it feels like starting all over again and my nipple is still sore from it! She was weighed yesterday and she's put on around 900 grams in a month! Little piggy :) Whatever she may have lost while sick hasn't affected her at all! We had our last midwife visit yesterday, don't know where the time has gone, the days are flying by so quickly at the moment.

Peeks how did you know she had a tongue tie ?

Glad she is going so well know though :)

Peeks - so glad all went well with Emily.

Hi to everyone else.

Is everyone as busy as me? I knew that time would fly but the days seem to be a bit of a blur. We had,to go to Adelaide for a couple of days andt its nice to be home again, this time hopefully for a few months. Jack went well on the plane, he slept the whole way. Mum bought him a portacot and he slept 6 hours straight in it. I woke up in a freakout moment after realising the time and raced to check he was ok and he was still asleep. I woke him for a feed and he slept for another big block. I dont think he loves his bassinet at home. He sleeps ok at night in it, but wont sleep in it during the day. At night its near our bed, but during the day I put it next to his cot in his room with the blinds partially open. When do babies start sleeping in their own rooms? He is not ready yet, but he is so noisy at night. Grunting, groaning, snorting, he makes all kinds of noises lol.

Anyone resumed dtd yet? I am missing the intimacy, but have not dtd yet. Still not ready to. The mind is willing, but the body is not

Hi all , checking in :) I'm still here but just super busy with my two beautiful girls :)

Vic , my DD1 who is 3 still sleeps in our room in our bed so ha ha :)
They recommend the first 6 months to be in the same room as parents , but if course it's totally up to you .. Do what works for you ..
We had a cot and tried DD2 in it , hates it won't settle , we brought a bassinet and she loves it !!

Emily sleeps well in her bassinet, both at night and during the day. At night she is beside my bed, during the day she is wherever I am - out here in the living area, or if I have a lay down she's in the bedroom with me. I moved my DS1 to his own room quite early, I think around a month old from memory. He was such a noisy sleeper. I am used to the noise now though, as DS2 comes in and sleeps on the floor next to my bed most nights and he's a snorer. It was a bit stormy last night and DS1 came in as well, so I had all 3 kiddies at the side of my bed! lol. And DH snoring too. I think I will keep Emily in her bassinet in my room for as long as possible. Her room is at the other end of the house, and I'll feel more comfortable having her close.

No dtd here. Still a bit sore! MW told me I'd have the stitches for 3 months before they dissolve? Crazy!!

Hi ladies, up until a few days ago Marley was in the bassinet in the lounge and I slept on the couch. I just moved her into her room which is next to our room anyway. And I have just put her in her cot. She seems to like it better then the bassinet.
How long is feeding, changing and settling taking you guys? It's taking me about 1.5 hours :( which leaves no time for sleep.

It used to take us around that long too. I know there were many nights in hospital when she didn't make it back into her bassinet before she was due for her next feed. It can be so exhausting! Lately it's getting quicker, and she is also going longer between feeds too. Hang in there, it does get easier :hug:

Everybody keeps telling me this! :lol: That it gets better. I sure hope so. I am feeding every 3 hours and sometimes she will sleep for 4 hours overnight if I'm lucky.

I am so close to switching to formula for my own sanity. When I read the tin for feeding guides it says 2-4 weeks, 5 feeds per day!!! Sounds like heaven :(

Vic, I was just telling DH how much I miss him, I miss us, just the two of us together. Even if I felt like dtd there is no time at all to do it in! But your not advised to dtd until at least 6 weeks after birth.

The 5 feeds per day is just a guideline (my S-26 sachets say 6 feeds for 2 weeks-3months). Some babies will still want smaller, more frequent feeds. If you do choose to switch to formula, just make sure it is what you really want, as usually there is no going back. And sometimes it's not all it's cracked up to be - constantly washing bottles, preparing formula, heating bottles, buying formula, constipation & smelly poos! lol. I hope I am not coming across the wrong way, I'm just speaking from past experiences.

Emily is feeding roughly 3 hourly during the day, and between 3-5 hours at night. All babies are different, I know it's hard not to compare, but there is no 'normal/abnormal'. My DS1 fed every 1-3hrs day AND night. He didn't start sleeping in longer stretches until he was around 9 months old. No one had warned me about the sleep deprivation!

I really don't want to go to formula. I just get desperate thoughts sometimes I guess. I've been giving her one formula bottle at night (the one DH gives her) and that's all. I never imagined I would be so bad on no sleep, it is breaking me down.

Tasha, are you able to express? My bubs is currently feeding every 1.5-2 hrs at night, slightly longer during the day but I have a good supply so I express once a day and get around 240 ml which I use at night or when bubs is with hubby. It is still hard but gives me a break and more freedom. He feeds much quicker on the bottle so it makes it easier at night when I'm bleary eyed.

Sorry for just barging in, I haven't posted for ages. Our beautiful boy was born the 9th July, 9.2pounds, born naturally at an independent birth centre with our private midwives.
He was posterior and got a wee but stuck so pushing went for aaaagessss but we got there in the end with a little tear and a couple of stitches. All feels pretty normal now.

We are tired but very very happy and grateful! :) no Dtd for us yet either. The mind is willing but the body really isn't, sleep comes first right now! And luxuries like showering and eating ;) lol
We have taken apart our bed, mattress on floor, bub on snuggle bed on single mattress beside me and usually in our bed by around 4am when I can't sit up any longer to feed without falling asleep! During the day he sleeps in his swing in the lounge near us. A very snuggly, cuddly baby who is happiest on mummy or daddy!

Happy to hear our bundles were born safely, have been reading along when I get the chance!

hi ladies, finally making it in here! :)

our little guy is doing really well, after a slow start to feeding & a little bit of jaundice. he is a little baby (2.78 kgs at birth, dropping to 2.56 kgs a few days later). perfect in every way of course ;). hospital stay was really good, made good use of the breast feeding room until I got a unusually opinionated/pushy midwife/lactation consulatant who made me cry... then proceeded to tell me not to cry bc baby doesn't need that sort of bodily liquid, what it needed was breast milk. I think I just had the hormone drop/baby blues bc really I was crying for no reason at all. lasted 2 days and would just pop up at any time during the day, a bit funny really bc I would just be going about my business & then start to cry. odd. breast feeding has gotten off to a real difficult start, cracked, inflamed nipples making it unbearable to breast feed on one boob. ended up at a day stay program Tuesday, which was a life saver. perfected my latch & got a medicated cream for right boob as even lactation consultant couldn't get a painless latch going for me and suspected I might have a slight infection behind nipple. it even hurt too much to breast pump, my dh & I were hand expressing a feed... took us aaaages to get 25 mls. anyway, things are looking up & im glad I stuck with it. well worth the tears, exhaustion & worry that I might not be giving my little guy enough. even managed to breast pump yesterday & today & give a 10 min feed of the sore boob. sorry im going on about it, but I feel I have really jumped a massive hurdle with this breast feeding thing!

my little guy is feeding quite well, still gets sleepy & often I have to take him off, lay him on the floor/change nappy to wake him up a bit & try again. sleeping 3-4 hour blocks, and has done a couple of 5 hour blocks over past couple of days. its tiring, but we are managing. we have got our feed/settle routine down from 2 hours, to 1 hour - so we are patting ourselves on the back with that too! recovery wise, I am healing really well, ive been surprised. there's not much I cant do, other than lift heavy stuff & I am thankful im not in any real pain. had first mchn visit yesterday & he is putting on the required weight (25-30 grams per day), which is a relief considering the difficulties we've had breast feeding.

still cant quite believe he's mine & there is a lot of starring at him & cuddling him off to sleep. he sleeps in a moses basket next to our bed at night, and in the lounge area during the day & doesn't seem bothered by the noise around him which makes pottering around easy. anyway, better go & have a shower. I hope you're all doing really well, I have been reading occasionally but must admit have been a bit awol since he was born. understandably...! xx

Congrats Maybe and Andie :)
I think we are all awol at the moment Andie. Glad the feeding is under control, I had trouble too at the start, but now my nipples are fine. I used hydrogel breast discs, they worked fantastic and they stop the nipple rubbing on your clothes :)

Things are looking up the last few days for me. Things are getting better. I went to bed at 8pm last night and DH gave her a 9:30 bottle and she slept till 1am. So I got 5 whole hours!! LOL

Congrats Andie and Maybe.

Life is a newborn is so time consuming lol. Today I found myself vacumming and mopping my floors with a newborn strapped to me in his infant carrier. We got one for free when we bought our car seat. Its been a blessing as he loves it and I love that I can get things done, so can rest when he is sleeping.

Wednesday was our first mummy and baby group. It was good although really packed. There were 17 new mums with babies ranging from 4 weeks to 14 weeks. It amazing to see the different sizes. My Jack was the biggest 4 week old there. He was so good through the meeting.

Jack is in a good routine now, although he sometimes sleeps through his midnight feed and wakes around 2am instead which throws us out a bit, but I love the bigger sleep. He goes down between 8 and 9pm. Feeds normally at midnight and then again at 4am and gets up around 7.30am. Although the last couple of nights its been 2am and then 6am. Waking up around 6am is hard, but am liking only getting up once a night.

I hope your all loving not being pg and having your bubbas earthside. I love not being pg anymore although I do miss the afternoon naps on the sofa :)

Tasha, so glad things are looking up for you :) Hope there are many more 5 hour sleeps! My DH has been doing the last feed of the night sometimes too, and that bit of extra sleep is lovely.

vic, I love having my body back, I am still tired, but at least I can move and breathe! lol. The carrier sounds great :) It's amazing what babies will sleep through!

Congrats Andie! Glad you got the feeding sorted, sucks you had to deal with a horrible MW/LC though.

Congrats maybe :) How is your DD liking being a big sister?

Breastfeeding is a non-event here. Still :( Even after Emily's tongue was snipped, we still haven't managed to get a good latch. And now I'm not even trying as it was frustrating us both. My nipples are still cracked, sore and bleeding, and that is just from pumping. I spoke to the lactation consultant again because I'm sure this is not normal. I can't get in to see her until Wednesday. She did recommend using coconut oil in the meantime, so I grabbed some of that today. Fingers crossed it makes a difference. Everything else is going well, I was just saying to DH this morning how amazing it is to have a baby that sleeps! So totally different to my boys. I still can't keep up around the house though, I spend far too much time baby gazing (that, and expressing milk!) :)

tasha - 5 hours... yay! glad to hear things are looking a bit better today. I have been following your other threads but being a first time mum myself, don't really have many suggestions for you. probably should've just given you some of these anyway.. :hug:. not sure how you're settling your little girl, but my little guy likes to be swaddled tight (something I though I would never do after watching my sister swaddle hers & thinking 'they cant possibly like that'!). he squawks a bit when I do it, but calms down almost immediately. once swaddled, dh holds him on his side along the length of his arm & he just looks around with his beautiful big eyes for around 10-15 minutes & then drifts off to sleep. you could try something like that? (sorry if you already have... told you I don't have much to offer!).
I used the hydro gel discs too, very soothing. using lanisoh & drying breast milk on them too. bit of an everything approach at this stage, hopefully my nipples will toughen up soon.

vic - ill have to try out our baby carrier soon, we got one as a gift. its a sling style one. I think I want a ergo but have to do some more research on them yet. our little guys sound like they have a similar routine, except mine likes to have his longer sleep (5 hour) early morning/before lunch. wish I could get him to have it 12-5am... that would be bliss! I though I would miss being pregnant, and I would love to be pregnant again, but since he was born I haven't really thought about it. except when I put my maternity jeans on yesterday & had a little sigh when my band was all floppy bc I don't have my belly anymore!

peeks - totally get where you're at atm, it's a nightmare. out of interest, how much do you get when you pump? im still not managing much, maybe 25-30 mls if I have a good session. my baby seems content though, settles easily & sleeps well., wet nappies etc. I hope the coconut oil works out, let me know bc I might try it too!

afm - nipples still a bit stingy after this mornings feed. im finding I have less on my right boob now bc I rested it for 2 days, any suggestions on how to build up supply on just one boob?! (the other one is fine). ive just been offering the right one first at all feeds in the hope that it will adjust. and express a little a couple of times a day, but I don't get much out. hope you all managed to get some sleep last night. xx

Andie, my little Emily must be a bit of a piggy as she's having around 110mls per feed! Because I'm exclusively pumping, I need to keep pumping until I get a full feed for her. Sometimes that can take up to 40 minutes, which is a drag, as then I need to actually feed it to her, wash the pump/bottle/etc. It's so time consuming :( I bought a hospital grade electric breast pump, as recommended by the lactation consultant. Before that I was using an avent manual pump and didn't have as much luck with it. The coconut oil seems to be working it's magic already. Not nearly as sore today, and the cracks seem better already too. I was using marcalan which I thought was meant to be pretty good?? Not as good as the coconut oil! lol. It's quite strong smelling, lucky I like the smell of coconut ;)

Peeks - 110mls per feed... that would take me a month to pump! I tried my sisters electric pump but my nipples were too sore so I went and bought an avent manual and seem to go ok with it. Takes a bit of getting used to but I only need to pump half a feed so its not too bad. Do you have to wash coconut oil off before feeding? (I'm assuming yes..?)

Peeks, Marley has about 120ml a feed. Well, that's how much formula she has at night with DH. So I'm assuming its roughly the same for my milk?? And a few times he has had to top her up!

Andie, I could only express about 30 ml at the start, but now I can do about 80. If I miss a feed I can do 150ml.

AFM: surviving on the few hours of sleep I get when DH takes over! But everything is going well :) I have sleep school on Wednesday so looking forward to that.

Also, how long is everyone feeding for? She is still doing 20 min each side. But friends have said that is very long for 1 month old??

Andie, you don't have to wash the coconut oil off, the lactation consultant told me to put it in Emily's mouth for thrush. If you put it on after a feed, there's not a lot left by the next feed anyway :)

Tasha, what's sleep school?

ok, so my little guy is just a weenie with his one boob & 30-35 mls?! I gave him 45 mls last night & one boob. he guzzled the 45 mls, so maybe he's starting to eat more. both boobs/nipples are feeling ok now so I think I might ditch the bottle, although it does make it easier/quicker at 3am.

tasha - I've got friends who went to sleep school with their little ones, they found it really helpful. my baby is averaging 12-15 mins on each side, will occasionally do 20 mins on one boob. at my day stay the other day, the midwife/lactation consultant told me anywhere between 15-30 mins is fine.

peeks - thanks for the coconut oil info, I have some so will try it out if I get sore again. glad it's working for you.

hi everyone else, hope you're doing well. : )

Good to hear Andie, lucky he doesn't feed long, it's tiresome!

Peeks, sleep school is for unsettled babies. It's all day and they settle your baby for you so they can find the problems. Then they help you use techniques to help settle them and give you advice on what would help.

I really hope they can help me! I fed at 3:30am and at 5:30 I was still up trying to settle her!! DH fed her at 9:30 and was still settling her at 11:30, it's ridiculous :( poor DH was so tired for work this morning.

Tasha, hope you get some answers/help from sleep school! What does Marley do after her feed? Is she upset/crying? Or just not wanting to sleep? Do you use a dummy? I know some people are anti dummies, but we couldn't survive without Emily having one :redface:

Emily has suddenly decided she doesn't need much sleep during the day! It makes it hard to get much done. I guess I should be happy she's still sleeping at night - last night she had a bottle at 10, she was down by around 11, and slept until 4. She is smiling all the time now! Sooo cute :) She is not overly keen on tummy time, only lasts a few mins usually, but her neck is so strong already!

Peeks, she does both! I feed her and rock/pat her till shes looking sleepy which can take 20 minutes. Then I pop her in the bassinet ever so slowly lol. Then in 5 minutes she realises and them starts to cry! I will usually repeat this up to 3 or 4 times, its sooo tiring. I see how tired she is sometimes and she just wants to fight it :( you are so lucky to have Emily sleep for 5 hour blocks! How long do you feed her for?

I just had 5 hours sleep! Its rare, but I Fed her at 6:30 and went to bed at 8. DH did a bottle at 9:30 and she just woke at 1:30am. I feel like a million bucks!

Lol peeks I'm kind of meh about dummy's, no real preference either way but my little bugger absolutely refuses to accept one! I have tried and he looks at me as though I'm trying to poison him, not sure if I should try a different brand? He happily takes an expressed bottle though which my DD never did.

Tash do you put her down as soon as he falls asleep? I have to be mindful to hold my little one a little longer as it takes him a while to get into a truly deep sleep where I can move him without him stirring, too early and he wakes and we start the process all over which is incredibly frustrating! Though I understand the urge to pop bubby down ASAP just for a few minutes autonomy!

I didn't want to use dummies, but that went out the door early on! And DH went through all our baby shower stuff and found a few. It's a good temporary fix, and sometimes she will spit it out.

Maybe, she looks at me the same some times! It's funny. And after she feeds (20 min each side!) I will spend probably half an hour trying to get her sleepy enough to put down. And even then 8 times out of 10 she will wake, just after I have gone back to bed and got comfy! Asshe is drifting off she will open one eye a few times just to check I am still there rocking the bassinet.

haha mine too! Always one eye open!

Tasha, Emily is just having expressed milk in the bottle. She has up to 120ml, she very rarely ever finishes the whole bottle. It probably takes her around 30 mins - give or take. That includes stopping for burping. There are a few things you could try with Marley, if you haven't already.. put a heat pack in her bed to warm it up before you put her down, just make sure it's not too hot. And take the heat pack out when you put her down too. Going from a warm body to a cold bed can startle them. Also putting an item of your clothing in her bed with her so she can still smell you. Just be mindful of SIDS and make sure it's not going to cover her face. Have a radio playing static, or get one of those "white noise" CDs to play. Some babies sleep better with constant noise.
Babies have a sleep cycle of 45 mins, so if it's taking around 30 mins to get her to bed, and she's waking soon as you get comfy in bed, it could be the end of her sleep cycle, and she's suddenly realised she's alone in her bed and not in your arms anymore. Do you swaddle her? Some babies like it, some don't. Have you seen those "love to swaddle up" suits? They are similar to swaddling, but baby can have their hands close to their face (apparently they like that?).

maybe, that's funny! Sometimes Emily will screw up her face like the dummy wasn't what she was expecting! lol. Kind of like when she had to have anti-biotics, she didn't like them one bit and her face certainly showed it! lol

Peeks, I use the wheat pack already, it is a good idea. And I have a top of mine under her mattress. I forgot you are using a bottle with EBM. Marley will polish off a 120ml bottle in 10 minutes! Lol

I went to sleep school yesterday and they were great. I am using the angel wrap now and she loves it, settles much better so well see how we go ;)

How is everyone else? Andie, vic?