Babies Born August 2007

[Fig]

Hi,

Rhiannon: Caitlin was having problems sleeping in her cradle which was next to our bed. We had made sure she was feed, burped, changed but she was still complaining everytime we put her in there. In frustration at 2:00am in the morning we put her in her cot in the other room and she feel straight to sleep and has been sleeping in there since then. I think the cradle mattress may have been to hard for her. Maybe Jensen prefers the softer feel as well.

I took Caitlin for a walk in the pram yesterday after her lunch time feed. Big mistake I think. She didn't really sleep on the walk and I think she got overtired. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to calm a very cranky baby who I couldn't settle back to sleep. I think I might give her a couple of more weeks at home before I venture out too much again. She just doesn't seem to cope with being awake for any more then an hour at a time.

Hope everyone is well and getting sleep...

Fiona.

[Turkish Delight]

Hi Girls,
So much has happened in here since i was last here which is great to see.

Thanks for all the "poo" advice. i phoned the MCH hotline re: the poo and they said that b/f bubs can last up to 10 days without doing a poo and bottlefeed bubs can last 2-3 days. Ela has begun doing poos again at every chance! Last night i fed, burped, changed her and was quietly rocking her to sleep in my arms when she did a poo (she even got scared of the noise she made!), so i changed her again which woke her up but she fell asleep quickly (thank God). I feel sorry for her when i use the wipes to clean her bottom as they are so cold, she keeps her legs shut once i wipe her once and have to wait a while before she lets her legs loose!

Ela now has sticky eye. We took her to our GP who gave her eyedrops, it seems to have started to clear up already.

Sara - OMG 1kg in 3 weeks and already over the 5kg mark, what a bub! and mum too of course! Hope she's starting to feel better.

Geez, i'd so love to have another bub and so soon too! But with good education fees, paying for 3 kids might be a bit too much. I guess i'll mourn for my 3rd child forever! I think Ela being such a placid and good little bub has made me realise just how beautiful children. I really couldn't enjoy Devrim's babyhood as he was a real monster (and still is), Ela is truly a star.

I don't go by the 5 min rule thingy. I agree re: the types of cries. Ela grizzles her way to sleep sometimes and have come to think that she likes the sound of her voice. I let her cry a little when i am doing something, but never let her get to the stage when shes having a crying fit and screaming her lungs out. What needs to be done can wait, bubs is more important.

My milk supply seems to be dwindling, i bf her at each feed but also top her up with formula. She generally has about 30-40mls about 3-4 times a day. I can live by that. I had a lot of milk with Devrim, but not with Ela. If i can bf for a few more months i'd more than happy.

This has become one looong post.

Take care all

[Kirst11]

I'm the opposite with regards to milk! I have an excess!

Both my girls have pretty fierce sucks, and both destroyed my nipples. Ardyn was bottle-fed breast milk for 3 months, and Bailey is currently doing the same. But I don't know how long it will last, as it's a lot harder to express all the time when you have a 2 year old to contend with as well. Her attachment is good, she just sucks really hard. I gave her a go on the boob today, and she seems to be sucking a bit nicer. I think it's becasue I have a good flow of milk now.

So I express probably 5 times a day for 10 minutes a time, and get about 250ml a time. So over a litre a day. She is only drinking 100-110mL a feed at the moment, so the excess is being frozen. We thought that as long as I am producing it, we'll keep it, becasue if I have to shut up shop early becasue of time constraints (or anything else), at least we will still have a supply.

My DH calls our freezer "Gattaca" - haha!!! If you've seen the movie, you'll understand. There is already about 4 days worth in there, and she's only 10 days old. At this rate, I could shut up shop after 2 months, and she'd still get as much as Ardyn did.

I'm going to leave my post there, otherwise it will be really long and full of drivel.
Much love and hugs to you all!!!

[kungfubecca]

hi all,

Fiona, sounds like you have a sensitive princess there. Not like my ruff and tumble little man, he loves his pram, the more bumps the better, although he doesn't like his cot matress to lie flat, we had to shove a blanket under one end to raise it on a slight angle.

Sehra, I am still learning all this stuff, but you demand fed ela for a few days would your supply increase because she was demanding more??

Krist, I have founds that Xavier sucks harder when I have too much milk, you seem to have quite a supply on your hands, would bailey do better after you expressed a little say 50ml? I also found lieing down and letting him feed he put less pressure on me, and what would normally hurt didn't anymore.
Can i ask how you go if your expressing 250ml each time but bubs doesn't drink that much, do you get an engorged feeling?? I've expressed once or twice and Xavier doesn't seem to be able to drink more than about the 100-110ml so my body is starting to regulate my supply now.

Well for us we have an MCHN appt tomorrow, it should be good. Hopefully they will finally tell we what the go is with the mums group and when it might start. 4 weeks old tomorrow so it will be interesting to see how big he is getting. Not sure if he's grown a huge amount this week though. Fingers crossed he's a good boy for me, he peed on me twice today

wishing all good sleep.

[Kirst11]

Can i ask how you go if your expressing 250ml each time but bubs doesn't drink that much, do you get an engorged feeling?? I've expressed once or twice and Xavier doesn't seem to be able to drink more than about the 100-110ml so my body is starting to regulate my supply now.

I don't know to be honest. I have pretty big boobs anyway, maybe that's got something to do with it? My mum said that she was the same. She's sure that when she was in hospital with us that what she expressed was being used to feed the whone nursery. Maybe my body has regllated to the 250ml? As long as I don't express more, it should stay at that.

I don't mind expressing that much. At least I know that I have enough. I just freeze the excess.

I put her on tonight just to soothe her before her bath, as she was a bit hungry and I didn't want to give her a full feed. She seemed a lot better. She got enough out to calm her down until her 'night night' feed at bedtime.

We'll get there. I refuse to put pressure on myself, I did with D1, and it didn't do any of us (DH included) any good. And she's FINE. There are advantages to the bottle as well as disadvantages. Too many people focus on the latter. Whatever I have to do to get the BM into her, I don't care.

[kungfubecca]

HI,

Thanks for answering Krist. I agree too many people put an emphasis on the how you feed and not the well being of everyone involved. My DH's cousins were amazed at how I could BF Xavier, and in public too, and asked how I could do it, as they didn't think they could. I just told them that when it all comes down to it, if your not comfortable your not going to have a positive experience and the most important part is making sure bub is fed, in the long run.

While I am pro feeding etc, I don't believe in pushing people into anything, I've heard too many stories about under nourished bubs.

[sconeonamission]

hi girls! Well last night was a nightmare! Jensen didn't get to sleep til midnight... Was wide awake and then just kept crying and crying and crying. He would only feed for five mins then the crying all over again. He'd hunt for my nipple, but wouldn't latch and just cry. I was crying, he was crying. I get so upset when he cries and I don't know whats wrong and I can't fix it. I feel like a failure. Andrew went out to sleep in the loungeroom, but came back in when we were both settled. I ended up having to stand up and walk around, then rock him while patting him. He slept for 3 hours, fed for 5 mins, back to sleep for another 1 1/2 hrs the feed for 5 mins then another 1 1/2 hrs of sleep. Andrew's had a suggestion put to him, to express my bm, so Andrew can feed him at night. I don't know if I'm ready to do that, incase he wont go back to just mt bb or he wont take either. i enjoy that time with him, its something just he and I can share! I just managed my own 1 1/2hr nap, with him curled up right beside me!

We also tried putting him in his own bed! Up til last night he was in a safesleeper (like a basinet, but small, portable, soft with hard sides) between our pillows coz he wouldn't sleep in his cradle. Well, Andrew missed cuddling up, so we put the safe sleeper in the cradle. Thats where he slept last night, when he slept at all! So that was good! Its harder for me to check if he's still breathing when he's in there tho! Also, we had a teddy bear in bed with us and I rolled over last night, and could feel this soft little arm. Panic just rushed over me coz when I moved the arm, there was no response! I thought I'd been so tired that I'd put Jensen to bed beside us after feeding him and then rolled on him! Silly bear.

I'll pop back later and reply to what you all have written, but for now, Jensens waking up in the next room and I have some washing to do!

[Kirst11]

Rhianon, I sympathise, but don't beat yourself up. He's still learning, and you sound like you're doing a great job!

If you don't want to put Jensen on a bottle, would you consider cup feeding him? There are special little cups made just for bubbas.

[neuri]

Hi Ladies,

Making a late entry to the thread!

My little girl Willamira was born 17th August.

Its so comforting to read everyone else's experience with their August bubs. I don't have any family here in Sydney and so every bit of support I come across I find invaluable. I'm all open to advice.

After problems bbing for the first few days due to nipple damage and a very hungry baby, I think we're on track. I went a bit funny from lack of sleep and I think I cried more than Willa in our first week together. It's getting better now as I get used to needing less sleep.

Feeding-wise, she fees about every 3 hours with maybe a 3-hour and a 4-hour interval at night. So all up about 2 night feeds. Her long sleep is usually in the late arvo, not during the night, which is a bummer but hey, I know its only going to get better so must be patient. She has a dummy, which is both a curse and a blessing because it calms her but God help us when it falls out when she's trying to sleep. Sometimes every 10 minutes!

She's got pretty consistent sticky eye and we took her to the GP but the doctor didn't think we needed eye drops so I'm wondering why that was considering the poor kid can hardly open that eye when she wakes up sometimes... Maybe I should insist on some as its been another week now and still no improvement.

The main worries I have at the moment is what looks to be 'wind' and a stuffy nose. The wind is horrible as nothing consoles her She arches and screams and I can see her tummy is distended and hard to the touch. It eventually clears up after plenty of rocking and tummy rubs and a bowel movement but I'm not sure I'm doing anything right when this 'wind' thing happens. And what can I do about her stuffy nose? Someone gave us saline drops for this purpose, but I'm not sure. Its affecting her sleeping and feeding when she can't breathe properly.

Other than that, I guess things are going well! I'm experiencing some moments of rather acute anxiety, where I get worried, sad and a little depressed, but I guess this comes with the territory of getting used to a newborn.

Thanks for listening.

Neuri

[Turkish Delight]

Hi Girls and welcome Neuri.

Neuri - my Ela has sticky eye at the moment and is clearing up pretty quickly since we got the eye drops. Insist on the eye drops, you can definitely see results in a day or two. Hope Willa gets better soon.
The dummy issue is a bummer, i know! Ela has a dummy only when she finds settling a little hard. It falls out and she wails again, pop it back in, comforts her and drops out. She eventually doesn't want it as i believe she gathers that nothing comes out of it, so why bother!
Saline nose drops are better than any medication on the market trying using it as it will loosen up all the mucous in her little nose.
In regard to her wind, try lying her on her tummy on your knees, it may help ease the wind out.
It sounds like you are doing a wonderful job. It can be hard at times, but believe me it does get better. Just hang in there.

Bec- i am demand feeding her everytime she wants a feed, but just doesn't settle without the extra top up of formula. i'm scared to express after feeds because i did this with my son and i got mastitis several times. I'm sure if i expressed my body would make more milk but the pain and suffering of mastitis just puts me off completely.

Ela is sleeping less during the day now, so i pop her in her cot to kick around and tire herself out, but she sleeps easily at nights even though she wakes for 2 feeds and change, which i am very pleased about.

Take care all...

[Kirst11]

Hi Neuri. Welcome.
I live in Sydney too, having moved here a couple of years ago when DD1 was about 5 months old. I know what it's like with no family or friends for support, so feel free to call on me at any time. I understand the depression thing of having a newborn, and no one to hang out with or talk to. I live in the Northern Suburbs, but we can always meet half way or something if you ever need a coffee. Trust me, you will need it. Let me know your thoughts.

[kungfubecca]

Hi All,

Rhiannon, it sounds a little like jensen may be having a growth spurt. He may be getting an ok feed in that 5 mins, but needs to do it more often??? If your worried he wouldn't go back to bb after bottle then stick to it. It is recomended that you don't express at least until after 6 weeks and your milk is established. all that said I have expressed, xavier happily goes between bottle and boob. If I express for nathan to feed xavier I do one of the late evening feeds, as it means I can get into bed early, and sometimes he sleeps a little longer too, sometimes not though. I know how scared you must of felt when you rolled on the teddy. I swear I wake up every second night thinking that Xav is in bed with me and I've squashed him, or droped him off the side.

Hi neuri, congrats and welcome. It sounds to me like your doing a great job. if your breast feeding breastmilk can do wonders for both sticky eye and a stuffy nose. just drip a little onto her eyes and gently wipe away with a cotton ball, just remember to wipe from the nose out and use a different cotton ball for each eye to avoid infection. the nose could be harder, but I found that Xavier ended up passing milk out his nose himself. The MCHN also said that the stuffyness is also bubs trying to clear out their system. To help Xavier sleep with his stuffy nose we just raised his cot mattress a little and he sleeps on an angle.

Sehra, it's great that ela can happily go between bb and bottle so well. Ouchie on the mastitis. I am being very consious of try to avoid that with massage when some sections get firm, but I have to admit I am scared of getting mastitis.

Well as for us we had our 4 week check yesterday. Xavier has gained 1kg, has grown 3 cm and his head is 2 cm bigger!!

I hope you all have some good nights sleep tonight. Happy fathersday to all the daddies out there.

[sconeonamission]

Hi! We had our 1st checkup (meant to be 7-10 days, ended up being 12 days) on Thursday. He had not gotten any longer, but his head grew and he's now up to 4kg. I had noticed that Jensen has a sticky left eye, might give the breastmilk idea a go. ATM there's not much to say... I think he has gotten himself into a routine now... at night he sleeps for 3 hours, then feeds for his 5 mins, sleeps for 1.5hrs, then feeds for another 5mins then asleep for another 1.5hrs and wakes for a feed.
Seems to be good. but after the 3hr or the first 1.5hr nap, he's wide awake. Thats sweet and all, but he wants to see me and I want to sleep - what to do?

Happy Fathers day to the daddies.
I'll pop back in tomorrow. Hope you all had a great day!

[alioops]

Hi!

another late entrant to the 08/07 bubs. Emma Josephine was born 16/8/07 @ 0440. I have spent most of my time here in 04/06 thread 4 my oldest.

We have had sum feeding issues too. Emma has a very little mouth in proportion to my bbs n can't latch on. i'm talking 45 minutes b4 giving up here! @ mw advice have been giving her bottle of ebm n expressing 4 each feed coz she had lost 120g in a week. will possibly try supply line nxt weekend as would prefer not 2 carry my pump n an esky everywhere. With oversupply only express till u r comfortable, don't empty or u will make even more. Always ensure u empty the 1st bb b4 offering the second tho or u will get mastitis.

Is any1 else in adelaide?

[kungfubecca]

HI all,

Welcome alisando,

well i just started typing and who should wake up?

rhiannon jensens routine will start getting longer and longer. it's hard when they are ready to be awake in the middle of the night.

hi and bye to everyone, as the midget is a fidgeting

[Ilithyia]

Hi girls,

Just poppin in quickly. About to go and do my mum's assignment for her and then put the roast pork on for tea.

Welcome to the new girls and bubs! Congrats to you all.

Sorry for the lack of personals. I seem to be so busy lately! Trying to put the girls into a routine where they go to sleep at the same time is a little harder than i though!! He he. I will be back in some time soon for personals.

Things are good here. Night time sleeps are gradually getting longer which is great. Feeding is still going perfectly. And my little girl is growing like a champion!! I can see it now!

Better head off the oven is starting to smoke!! LOL!

Hope you are all well.

Take Care

[sconeonamission]

Hi Alisando!
Welcome Neuri!

Thanks Rebecca... Its not a problem that he wakes in the middle of the night, just that he doesn't want to go back to sleep! Other than that he's put himself into a routine I can deal with!

Sara - You do your mums assignments?! lol What is the assignment on? Hope all goes well with putting the girls to nap.

Does/ did anyone else's baby make strange strangling/gurgling type noises when they're drifting off to sleep or if you move them when they're sleeping? I'm not worried about it, just it sounds weird! Lol least its a positive that he's still breathing (I still check! If his dummys moving or I can see his wrap moving up and down I'm good too).

We had the biggest power chuck today! I was in here, chatting to my sister (nixonsmama), when I hear this loud splat coming from the bedroom. I rush in there and there are 3 big puddles of baby spew all over the floor! He was in his safe sleeper in his cradle, looking at me as if to say what happened? He'd vomited thru his dummy, didn't quite clear the side of the safe sleeper, and then ended up with the 3 puddles on the floor. Had to change all of him, he was soaked! I panicked and called my sister. He didn't have a temperature, but changed him from a wondersuit to one of those summer suits with no legs. He wanted a big feed then. He's ok. Later we went out shopping and we came home and had another big feed, and when I was burping him, had another spew. Wouldn't go back to sleep.... Guess he was over tired. Finally he got to sleep bout 2 hrs ago... He's only just woken up as I've typed this! I'm going to go and give him a nice bath with the johnson & johnson bedtime bath stuff...

Hope things are well with everyone.. be back tomorrow

[neuri]

Hi Ladies, thanks for the warm welcome!! And hello as well to Alisando. Hope everyone had a fantastic Fathers' Day yesterday.

(i'm typing with one hand here as bubs is on the boob)

Cheers Sehra & Becca for the advice re. the stuffy nose and sticky eye. I applied some bm to Willa's eye and lo and behold, it cleared up heaps. So I guess we won't be needing drops after all. We used the saline drops as well and I've just sent DH off to the pharmacy for baby vicks.

Rhiannon, lol about the power chuck. I am continually amazed at how much throw up and poop such small babies can generate. Willa managed to poop through 3 outfits in 24 hours yesterday. Hard to believe its all coming from bm.

Interesting reading about everyone's experience with night feeds/waking and such. I keep a diary of Willa's feeds and have been obsessing over it as if it will reveal the secrets of how to get her to feed according to a more regular schedule.

Last night, we had Willa in her own room in her cot for the first time (instead of her bassinet beside our bed). I have to say I think all of us slept better. I just wish I could fall asleep quicker. Seems that when I finally get settled myself, its nearly time for the next sleep. Sigh.

Sehra, how did the expressing lead to mastitis? Shouldn't it have had the opposite effect? For anyone else who is expressing, what pumps are you using? I've been using the Avent Isis one but am finding it a bit fiddly initially when trying to get the right suction on my boob.

Kirst, thanks for that! I'm in the Inner West. I might just take you up on that offer. Always happy to know other mums living in Sydney.

Neuri