Babies Born April 2008

Thanks Janine for the info.

Russell is attachment is good most of the time and my milk has come in. though it appears to have dropped offa bit today. I find that he dosnt get it all the way to the back of his mouth, however that i think has something to do with my nipples. when i express first his attachment is much better. its all trial and error and for the most part feeding dosnt hurt its when i touch them that they are tender. might just express for a day or 2 if dont settle soon.Russell is also impatient.

C-section land- have some internal swelling on one side of my scar which is almost completely healed, but not sure if i should be worried. i think its the muscle healing. apart from that its not to bad. have dissolvable stitches which have made things easier.

Zennie- hope the scar doent hurt to much.

I must be pretty lucky with our feeding, Mallana hasnt given me a single graze or crack.

(now no one take offense to this)
I must admit I am very very proud and happy of how my breast feeding is going. As most of you know i was unable to feed my older two girls but this time everything is just so so good. I feel like screaming from the roof tops how proud of myself i am. I mean i know i havent had any real problems with it which is mostly the reason i am still going. Its the weirdest feeling. soetimes i am so scared to say how good it all is in case i curse myself. But we are at a month now so i think (hope) nothing can really go wrong.

ok sorry to brag.

HI everyone,
JUst thought I'd pop in and make myself known, I'll be back to actually read everyone's posts at a later date, but will need to go and get ready for Benjamin to wake up in a little while I'm sure!!

Breast feeding has been going well for me also, except that of late, my supply seems to have dropped off.
I'm currently expressing every 3 hours and bottle feeding as Benjamin is very hungry at the moment and will put away 100ml every 2-3 hours during the day, and every 4 hours at night!!
Hopefully my milk supply will build up again and I can go back to feeding him directly rather than expressing first!

fak (feeding at keyboard, so forgive if I'm blunt or have no punctuation)

BW, welcome! Milo or aktivite is good for supply, just drinking lots actually, I found Fenugreek tablets great with my first, I have them ready for te 6 week growth spurt if needed, and of course bub will want to feed more frequently to build up supply. Sorry if you already know all that.

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Newbies should feed b/w 8 and 12 feeds a day if on the boob, or supply can go down. Not a good idea to try to follow a formula fed baby's schedule (4 to 6 feeds a day) or you will lose your milk.

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That could be true in many cases, but just to give a different experience, Si only asks for 6ish feeds a day, and my supply's good. River was similar, and I had heaps of milk for him. I definitely agree that putting your feet up if you can, drinking lots, and getting bub to hang out at the boob for a day or so is great for supply though.

Huge congrats on the feeding Bea!

Hope your scar settles down Zennie.

Hi to everone else!

yeah, i got my info from people that help you keep ovulation away, which means night feeds and frequent day ones - no doubt there is lots of wriggle room there and different baby needs. as long as frequent feeds aren't seen as supply issues though, cos that would be unnecessary stress. i know a few gals who quit cos their baby fed often, they thought their milk was low.

btw, i'm jealous of your six feeds a day!

gads, gotta go again, he won't let me sit today.

Hi Girls

Been reading this thread with interest! Good to see other people going through the same things!

Isabelle is two weeks old now and doing well - Putting on weight, even has a double chin now. Feeding really well, although her attachment isn't great and I have to open her bottom lip most times to get her to feed properly - But I know she's getting enough milk, cause she's got soooo many dirty and wet nappies!

Appears she has a touch of colic though - Gets very windy and it gets much worse in the afternoons, I think after the wind has been collecting in her stomach throughout the day. Might try and get some infants friend today and see if that helps.

Having ups and downs at night, sleeps for some and doesn't for others! Oh well, thats babies for you!

The thing I have the most trouble with, is when to move her around during the day - If we want to go out and do something, do I do it after she's had a feed? If she's in the middle of her sleep, do I move her? Its such a hard thing! I want her to get sleep but still need to get out to the shops occasionally! When do you guys time your outings for?

Ok, thats my essay for the day! Better go and give Isabelle the other side!

Jane- i normally do things start after a feed, so that i know i have a certain amount of time before MJ is hungry.

Last night we got a 5hr stretch again- woohoo!!!

We've got a windy baby here to Jane, popping Si across my lap can work, and Brauer's Colic relief seems to help too. We feed before an outing too. :) With sleeping babies, if they're in a deep sleep, I find I can move them gently without waking them. If Si's been unsettled though, I won't risk it, I let sleeping babies lie. :P

Well, I went shopping yesterday and had one of those japanese vegetable pancakes...don't know for the life of me how to spell the real name, starts with O. Anyway, we get towards the end of our pancakes and my sister goes, 'gee they're quite cabbagey aren't they!' I just went 'what'.
Was so annoyed with myself, so we had a bit of an unsettled baby last night again. Will have to keep my brain switched on a bit more.

Argh, River crying, about lots of little nothings, so methinks it's naptime. ;)

Joining in with the April Babies..... My little "too posh to be pushed" DS was born on April 19th at 4.21pm Perth time by emergency c-section.

I see that there are a few emergency c-section's happening of late. Still doesn't make it any easier to cope with the restrictions it places on caring for your newborn.

DS has tongue-tie and despite the hospital paed saying that it doesn't need attending to because she is feeding well, I am like MummyMeg - resting my nipples. I have tried to keep going but have had to comp feed with EBM and formula due to nipples cracking right around the base as well as abrasions, compression and blistering at the top. This makes expressing hard too as I have to do it by hand, the pump just rips it to shreds even more than DS. I have been told that there is a paed in Joondalup that does the cutting of the tongue-tie via laser, but they weren't sure of his/her name - anyone know at all?

Besides the BF issues - and yes I know it is only week one and all could change.....- DS sleeps in 3 to 5 hour blocks and only cries for the usual hunger, pain, poo issues. Hopefully she remains a good baby.

Jane - I'd be happy to be able to get out fullstop - but the c-section means no driving and I hate being stuck at home. I'd try to put her into her capsule after a feed and then take her to the shops then, but there is never a perfect time. Personally I would go when you need to.

Zennie I was told by the home care midwife that it hads been a long time since she had seen such a clean c-section wound. I have no issues at all with my external wound, but the pain internally is horrific - possibly because they had to cauterise my blood vessels on the uterus and their was a lot of tensioning with 3 minutes from incision to birth.

Got to go EBM, the let down is happening....

Grubi, what kind of pump do you have? If it's an electric one, maybe see if you can use a manual one for the start, electrics can be a bit rough on untoughened nipples.

Just a question for all you first time breastfeeders - were you told that it would/might hurt?
I remember the blistering I had with River and was really discouraged, but everything was fine, my nipples just needed to toughen up. I mean, it doesn't hurt for everyone - because babies can differ in their sucking - for example I'm finding Silas has a much stronger suck than River ever did, and that might account for the people who find that it doesn't hurt them much, and don't get much damage.
But just wanted to encourage those who were discouraged, once your nipples toughen up and you and bub sort out your attachment, things get better. With River it took us 3 or so weeks to get sorted, and about 2 with Silas.
And I am curious to know if you were told that it might hurt for awhile.

Hey there!

I've got a windy baby here too. Have bought some gripe water for him but wanted the all clear from the Dr before giving him anything. Saw Dr this morning and he said "it can't hurt. It might not help either, but it certainly won't do any harm!" I'm hoping it's all Liam needs...

Geez it's hard to type one handed!!! :lol: He's asleep in my arms at the moment... do all of your babies dream a lot???

Must get the birth story done soon too... Will aim for sometime this week!! ;) and get some pics.... *sigh*

Hope you're all getting adequate sleep... HA! :cryinglaugh:

Hiya Grubi!! Welcome! Good to see you from the buddies group!

Nelle, thanks for the Milo info, I LOVE milo so I'll get onto that!

Went to MCHN today (extra visit cause she was worried about his weight gain, apparently 110g in a week wasn't enough in week 2), so, today Benjamin decided that he'd show us all, and has put on 330g this week (hence the extra feeding).
We were pretty sure he was having a growth spurt, then someone on here mentioned it (I'm sorry I don't remember who!), adnd his measurements today prove it.
A little gripe water before his 2 feeds so far today has resulted in him being much more settled too which is great!

does milo have choc in it? i'm on strict-ish diet for first 6 weeks.

Nelle, i wasn't told it would hurt so with my first i was shell shocked. my let down is pretty painful and my nipples really hurt that first week or two. at least this time i was ready for it. were you told?

Wow, seems like everyone's babies are putting on weight...except for mine. :(

Had Baxter weighed today and he only put on 75gms for the week, still 5gms off his birth weight.

I called an ABA counsellor and she told me to fit in another 2 feeds per day, hopefully this will pay off.

He is so very settled and doesn't suffer from wind so she thought perhaps he was just a placid baby.

Have already had 2 cries about this today, sorry to whinge, but I feel like I'm failing him...

SG
xo

Shoegal- Mj didnt get up to birth weight til her 3rd week so please dont strees. then in her third week she gained 240g!! I did the extra feeds for that week and it worked a charm. As bax is content i wouldnt stress. BF dont follow the norm!!!

Nessa, thankyou. :hug:

I am in tears writing a reply, you have given me hope.

How many extra feeds in a day were you doing? And did you continue or drop them off?

SG
xo

I upped Mjs feeds to evey 3 hrs if i could. sometimes she wouldnt feed.

now we feed every 3-4hrs. i just go with her demand. if it has been over two hrs since her last feed and she wakes and its hard to settle i feed. basically try when he is awake offer him the boob.

if i remember correctly MJ only gained 60g on 5 days

please dont stress, cause it can effect your milk. i suggest you and bax go have a bath together. and feed him in there.

Aww Shoe, please don't worry, if he's wetting nappies still then I wouldn't worry. I know how stressful it is, River was a chunky newborn, but for awhile there as he got older he was soooo skinny (because he was long/tall) and people would make comments about him being unwell. Even if you 'know' in your head that everything's okay it's hard not to worry. :hug:

Janine, I think I picked up from Bellybelly (Belly buddies who'd had their babies first) that it would be uncomfortable, but gee the cracks and blisters took me by surprise! And I remember having a small panic at those milk blisters babies get on their lips! I thought they might be hurting him, was so relieved to hear that it was all okay. :D
I think it might be because once feeding is established, the pain goes away and you kind of forget it, you know? So people don't think to remember - oh yeah, it can really hurt at first!

Milo have chocolate? No idea. Probably though. I mean...it tastes chocolatey...That's not very helpful is it. :P I'd guess it has cocoa in it.

Milo really is a product that has me torn, I love the stuff, grew up on it, but I'm so not a fan of Nestle, they've got some really unethical practices in terms of promoting formula in less developed countries...grrr....I am desperate to find something I like better than Milo! Honestly, sometimes I wish I wasn't so into human rights, ignorance is bliss, I'll never enjoy most chocolate the same way again since I found out about child slavery on the Ivory Coast...although at least World Vision doesn't advocate boycotting at the moment.
Ooer, sorry. *nelle steps off soapbox*

Had a moment of 'do-I-have-enough-milkness' yesterday and had a fenugreek tablet. Si's still weeing and pooing though, so I haven't taken any more.