This thread is for parents who's baby was born January 16th ~ 31st 2009
Your moderators for this forum are as follows- Astrolady ~ Administrator Trillian ~ Senior Moderator Dachlostar ~ Senior Moderator MistyFying
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:
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.
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Okay, looks like I"m first to post! Who's going to join me?
My details:
Jared Ray was born on Jan 19th at 7:07am after a 3.5hr, drug-free labour. He weighed 8pd4oz (3.75kgs) and was 52cms long. He was weighed two days later and weighed 4kgs, so obviously he's enjoying his booby juice!
All is going fairly well, except I had a mastitis scare and now have two bleeding nipples. BFing is painful but I'm persisting because it's very important to me. Sleeping is going very well, last night Jared slept for four hours, woke up for a feed and then slept another three. Delightful since he's not even a week old yet
Big brother Ben is coping very well with the change and adores his baby brother. He's always bringing him blankets (even when it's 42 degrees!) or dummies or whatever he thinks he wants He even shares his cars with him - which is huge in Ben's world
I wanted to say a few things in the Belly thread so I'll put them here...
Sydney Moose - I've got my fingers crossed that things will start for you before tomorrow night
Congrats Happymum!
Welcome home Ren!
I have attachment issues with my left boobie too. Did with Ben and Jared is a little better, but we still have some issues at times. It's frustrating, but when they get a bit older it gets easier. I think my problem stems from my enormous boobs! I'm an F cup at best, probably should move to a G this time around, but haven't been back to be fitted.
Bon, we don't really have a routine and I won't be trying to get one. Well, unless you call; Feed. Play. Sleep. A routine, which I guess you could! Jared seems to have night and day pretty much sorted and doesn't really want to be awake for his 3am/4am feed which is fabulous. I'm just trying to stay home as much as possible (not hard in this heat!) as that seems to help keep him settled
Hi girls!! i got back from hospital today...so good to be home!.... stayed in extra night as Ava had lost 400g (bit more than 10% her birth weight) and we needed to make sure she was gaining it and not losing more. A few attachment issues on left side, but feeding great from right side! My left is a flat nipple makes it a bit trickier but we are getting there and I am determined to have her feeding from L side regularly soon! Expressing with top up feeds of BM helped Ava to put on 220g in just 2-3 days!! we didnt think it was possible. she has gained more than half the weight she lost so its' wonderful. She is doing so well and now weighs 3.44kg. She's sooo tiny! I thought i'd have a big bub but nope she's nice and average!!!
I had a wonderful labour and birth (I call it perfect cos' i cant imagine it being otherwise!!) and my hospital stay was pretty good also....bub was POSTERIOR so very painful and didnt know until I was 9cm dilated by which time it was too late for anything even if i wanted it!!! I just feel on such a high and can't believe how much in love with our daughter we already are!! She is just perfect and we feel so so lucky to have her. Every time I look at her I just think "wow you are ours!!"
Can't wait to hear how you are all doing with your new bubba's!! I will have to go back and read the other thread to catch up!! A few pages there..... I will stay in this group even though Ava was born 02 Feb, it's only a few days off anyway and besides you girls have been with me throughout the entire pregnancy!!! also be great to learn off you girls as you've had bubs 1-3 weeks before me so i'll know what to expect etc!!!
Will post up my Birth Story soon..... look forward to reading those birth stories yet to come also!!
About to post up some pics!!! (I also posted in other thread before it was closed )
Ok so I know Sam was a December Bub but he was due Jan 26 so that gives me grounds to stay in this group, hopefully no-one has any objections to that.
Ren - yay you're home - excellent news. I had exact same problem with my left nipple and I expressed about 6 or so times in hossie and just those times I did it have had no nipple troubles since. It was super sensitive for the first few minutes of each feed for a couple of weeks but now it's just as tough as the right hand side one. Ava has had an excellent weight gain since her first initial loss. Sam lost around 10% of his birth weight but gained it again fairly quickly too. Can't wait to look at your pics - she looked just gorgeous going by the pic you sms'd me.
Mel & Dis - Hi, glad to hear things are going well with your bubs.
Am sure the rest of our friends will join us in here soon.
HappyMum - congrats on birth of Lachlan!! Gill - congrats on birth of Ella!! AJC - yeah attachment problems seem pretty common huh? I was upset i had to express in hossy but then in the end it was the best thing! Milk came in faster and so much more of it and she gained the weight she needed I hope soon we can wean off the nipple shield on L side. Dont like using it. and yeah attaching is very tender but after a few sucks it eases off.... i've been told by MW's that this will be for few weeks until my nipples toughen up... Runner - hope you made it out of the hossy today as planned and are enjoying being home with your gorgeous Amara and son and DH.
I'm soooooo tired.... averaged about 2hrs sleep a night in hospital except the last night I slept for 6hrs (in between feeds of course!). Amazing how we can survive on such little sleep.... I couldn't sleep for first 3 days in hospital cos' i was just living on adrenalin and so amazed that I'd birthed our baby and she was here with us.... can't stop staring at her.... I get teary so easily. I cried when i walked in the house this morning holding her and DH said "whats wrong?" and I said in between tears "im just sooo happy" hehe I've certainly done ALOT of crying lately.... just so happy. (silly hormones hehe)
xx hope you are all great. I'm off to bed we are so tired. I'll be back online Monday. DH and I have the weekend together and thats it he has to keep working as we have our business to run. Monday i'm probably gonna cry when he leaves for work!!! He's so great with Ava, he is just loving being her Daddy. Holds her heaps, changes her etc. its beautiful watching them together.
Ren, there is nothing wrong with crying from happiness. When I'm breastfeeding, I'm a crying machine - happy or sad
It's awful that your DH has to go back to work, and it makes it hard, but like the lack of sleep thing, you somehow manage to struggle through it. Enjoy your weekend together as a little family!
Well done on Ava's weight gain!
AJC, of course you're welcome in this group - you're a part of us!
We had another good night with Jared last night. He slept for six hours again which seems to be the norm for him at night - thank goodness. Now if we could just get his big brother back to his normal sleep patterns we'll be wonderful again. My DH won't be much use to us this week since Valentines' week is his busiest at work. He works nights and will be working crazy 16 hour shifts for much of the week I hate it when I have bedtimes AND mornings by myself, but I suppose I've got to get use to it sooner or later. At least the cooler weather might make sleeping a bit easier for Ben
hi girls
im here,,,just saying hi..will pop back in later
cheers bon n nixon
P.s Ren-can you change my ticker?im too stoopid,ill email you my password n log in
sorry I have taken my time to post - I came home yesterday from hopstial - same day as Renee - it was SO fantastic to meet you!! and have a real buddy there to talk to!!
yes, I had another LONG labour and very painful posterior yet again. Oh well, at least this time it was 10 hours less!! only 17 this time!!
I cannot believe after 2 posterior labour/births that both times no stitches, no tears just pain, pain, and more back pain. Hey, it is all over now, and we have a gorgeous little girl named Amara. This is a Sanskrit name meaning eternal beauty and it also comes up in Tibetan names as mother and beauty.
feeding is going well, and I did get a pretty good sleep considering we have a newborn -but I am finding that we have to wake her up for feeds as she is very very sleepy because of a long labour and some jandice.
I look forward to writing personals soon - take care and I will be back online again hopefully tomorrow.
I am joining you over here now. How exciting to have "graduated" into the next group. I felt like I was never going to get out of the TTC groups and now here I am. Yay for all of us.
Ren: Welcome back. It does feel like we are locked up in the hospital and I found it nice but weird when I got out. So great that you got to meet with with runnermum at the hospital. I understand how you feel about the nipple shield. I have to use them for both sides as have flat nipples and she finds it impossible to attach. She fusses and screams but last night she did it perfectly but when we tried again in early morning all was forgotten and I was so frustrated. This week now that we are home alone together we are going to workm on getting rid of the shield. Let me know how you go with it.
I have been crying lots too (mainly from happiness) however yesterday I started to worry what I would do if anything ever happened to her and so was cryi ng about that.
Happymum: Congratulations! Little Lachlan is a cutie. Hope to hear from you soon.
Runnermum: Well done to have no tears and stiches. Amara is a beautiful name and I am sure she is a beautiful baby living up to her name. Glad to hear feeding is going well.
disgirl: Emily is sleeping for up to 6 hours at night which was are now not worried about and have stopped trying to wake her. Today she fed at 5.30am and then I tried to feed her at 9am so that she would make it through church without waking and she would not wake up so only fed for 10mins. She then slept until 12.30 and fed again. I just can't believe she did not get hungry! At least she made it though church fast asleep.
Hello ladies
I've also graduated over here after being 'released' from hospital on Thursday. I can really relate to you girls who felt you'd been locked up there, after 6 days I was really ready to come home.
I am having some issues with breastfeeding at the moment, unfortunately I seem to have a really low supply, so am also expressing after a feed, feeling a bit like a feeding machine at the moment. Owen seems to have long sleeps during the day and is generally able to settle himself, nighttime however is a different story. He takes longer to settle and his sleeps are shorter, hopefully that will change sometime soon.
me-lisa I can relate to you getting upset about anything happening to Emily, I seem to get emotional whenever I think about Owen, especially not being able to fully breastfeed him, hopefully I'll start to feel better about that soon.
Happymum: Congratulations, hope to see you back here soon
I will post my birth story soon, nothing went according to plan, so ended up with the emergency ceaser. Anyway hope everyone is coping with the tiredness........
Dee, great to see you again I do hope you keep us updated on your journey
Urgh, we had a shocking afternoon/evening yesterday. Jared fed constantly from 4:30pm until midnight. No exaggeration, the only time he was off my boob he screamed so we stuck him back on. We were both exhausted by midnight. I can't stand to let him cry so the only time I let him was to have some dinner. DH was no help because he works nights so had to get a little sleep before leaving at midnight, and Ben was terrible too - just too hot and couldn't sleep. All around an awful night - but things can only get better from here! Jared has been asleep nearly all morning. Just waking up for two feeds. Now I just have to get Ben to bed and I can get some sleep.
Oh, and I'm guessing it was the garlic and onions I had in my dinner last night, Ben was the same, I was just hoping Jared wouldn't be affected....can't say garlic flavoured milk appeals to me either
Good to see a lot of us have made it into this group. I'm sure the others will post when they get time too (not an easy thing with a newborn, hey?!).
Well, all is going well with Max and me. After a few bad days at the start of last week, he's settled down again now. I think the first week and a half he was probably still just a bit shell-shocked from the birth, cos he does cry now, but is generally very good and settles himself to sleep etc.
Max is waking anything from 3-4.5 hours for feeds at night, and during the day it is sometimes only 2 hours in between. But during the day we are often out and about or have visitors, so that probably explains why he sleeps less then.
I've been expressing a bit over the past few days, as it is our anniversay tomorrow and we are wanting to go out for dinner. So DH gave Max a 'test' bottle of expressed milk on Saturday and he scoffed it! I'm so happy! It hasn't made a difference to his feeding from me either, so I don't feel at all guilty if we give him a bottle every now and again. I think I will wait a few more weeks (at least) before trying him on formula. Again, it will just be used 'in case of emergency' as I intend to breasfeed for 6 months at least.
Sorry to hear some of you have been having feeding problems. I tried a nipple shield while I was still in hospy, but didn't like it at all! The midwife helped getting Max to latch on the first time, but then when it was my turn I couldn't coordinate trying to get that to stay on and trying to get him to attach at the same time. My nipples aren't as sore anymore though, thank goodness, so I haven't used it since.
I've been working on my birth story too, and am hoping to have it posted sometime this week. Can't wait to read everyone elses..
ETA - My birth story is up and it's long!
Last edited by gypsy79; February 9th, 2009 at 02:49 PM.
I had my first day home alone with Emily today and it went well. Apart from not finishing anything I started it was pretty good. She woke up for feeds almost exactly every 3 hours and we began our attempt to lose the shield. It was hard and she kicked and scream and squirmed but we got attachment right for periods of time then lost it. I would put the shield back when she was getting too distress to ensure that she was getting enough. It went pretty well and I am confident that we will be much better by the end of the week (hopefully having it completely sorted out -but it is ok if we don't).
gypsy: I think it is good to be able to express so that you can have a little bit of freedom. Glad to hear it went well. I have to give it a try..it is on my long to do list (which also includes setting up the movement/breathing monitor....I really should have had that done by now).
disgirl: Sorry to hear you had such a hard time with feeding. It is hard to hear them cry. We have discovered that Emily needs to cry for about 10-15 mins with us going in to pat or give her a cuddle and some soothing words before she can settle off to sleep. It is generally straight after a feed so I know she cannot be hungry (and we check the nappy..as once forgot that and it was why she was screaming..opps). It is good that your little man seems to have calmed down now and hopefully you are getting some more rest. It must be so hard with two but I guess you have the experience and confidence that a first time mother lacks which would help.
Shellsie: You must be exhusted trying to feed and then express. Hopefully your supply will increase soon. I have to express lots at the hospital which I think has helped me but it was annoying having to do it especially as my milk was not in as it was 20 mins for about 20 ml.
I am getting my internet fix for the day as I accidently broke the other computer and DH takes this one with him each day. I was putting the power cord into the laptop and it pushed back the connection into the computer so cannot attach anymore (more attachment issues for me!) I hoep we can fix it as it has so much stuff on it that I don't want to lose and I want to be able to have internet during the day.
I also wanted to ask how long are we meant to continue bleeding for? I looked up something that said that you should not have bright red blood after about 5 days but I still am and am getting some pains in my lower belly. Do you think this is normal? I started to get worried.
It is Amara's 5th day and I am still bleeding, although not too worried. I think I tend to bleed when I am up and around more - like today. It is not bright red however, but I am still getting some tummy pains also, but I think that is the uterus shinking back to size which takes some time. how old is your bub? If you are still bleeding more than you think you should in a couple of days, go and see your GP to make sure all OK.
Breastfeeding can be very hard the first time around. It does take patience and i DO UNDERSTAND at night we do not have this!! If I can offer some help I am happy too - all is going well for us the 2nd time around. Remember that not just you but the baby is learning too. Amara sometimes takes her time to get her mouth in the right position.
Lansolin is a wonderful product to help sore nipples - I always have some handy and put it on every second feed or so. I also have Bosom Buddy - a special gel packs for your breasts - to cool them when that milk is making your breasts feel like cement and you look like Dolly Parton!! I am a now a 14 C and although this may seem not that big to some, for a 10A girl, it is!!!!! It won't last too long however ...
Babies Born January 16th ~ 31st 2009
He even shares his cars with him - which is huge in Ben's world
so very painful and didnt know until I was 9cm dilated by which time it was too late for anything even if i wanted it!!! I just feel on such a high and can't believe how much in love with our daughter we already are!! She is just perfect and we feel so so lucky to have her. Every time I look at her I just think "wow you are ours!!" 
also be great to learn off you girls as you've had bubs 1-3 weeks before me so i'll know what to expect etc!!!
he has to keep working as we have our business to run. Monday i'm probably gonna cry when he leaves for work!!! He's so great with Ava, he is just loving being her Daddy. Holds her heaps, changes her etc. its beautiful watching them together.
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