Babies Born March 2008 #3

[prama]

hello girls,

i rang tresillian, the lady was wonderful and understanding. i told her the whole story from day 1. she understood that i was at crossroads. one option if i really wanted to continue breastfeeding is to go to their residential house but i need to a referral from gp/early childhood centre/lc. but she also understood the pain ive been going thru and said i probably have vasospasm. it's pain that's burning /excrutiating and can be psychosomatic. she said she takes her hat off that i actually stayed bf-ing for 8 weeks. she saod a lot of woment start to wean at 4 mths and im halfway there so it's not so bad. i told her about the pain and depression and not wanting to go out cos it hurts and feeding takes an hr and half.
at the end i guess i wanted some sort of reassurance. you;re right bron, it was nice to know from someone neutral that it was ok to stop.
while i was talking to the lady, i saw steve crying cos of the pain i was.. it broke my heart to see him upset over the pain i was going thru.
so we've decided to stop for now, im still upset to stop so soon but almost 8 weeks of pain is too much. i wish i could have done it for longer but i guess if we had a good start it might have been different.
im going to keep expressing just to keep comfortable to wean, and slowly stop my motilium as you cant stop it immediately, it has to be gradual over the next few weeks.
it also broke my heart when i was warming some ebm and lakshman was crying, i was trying to comfort him and he was trying to get to my breast thru my shirt. he's so beautiful, i dont want my pain and stress to affect him.
part of the decision came from last night. steve's aunt went thru a lot of pain bf as well, but her aunt was a nurse and made her do it. it was comforting to hear her story and that she understood.

well, that's where we are at, right now. maybe the next child, if we have one, it will work out better. i do feel a little better know that i dontr have to go thru excrutiating pain. even as i sit here, my breasts have burning pain.

Thanks so much for all your support and understanding.. it made all this a lot more bearable. i know GPs say that dont do it if it's causing you so much problem pain, they think of the wellbeing of both mother and child.

Shell - sorry to hear of your discomfort too. dont feel guilty.. it was a bad dream but DJ loves you heaps so he;s not going to bite you! I feel the stress of being the sole provider too, that everything's on your shoulders and there's no break. it feels a bit unfair. i suppose if bf was going well for me i wouldnt feel that way.
are you still expressing, you get tons of milk and that helps heaps.

medicare - you will have to pay the actual cost and then when you get his card you can claim it.
we went to put him on our card. steve and i had our own cards and hadnt got ours put together. but then stupid medicare couldnt put lakshman onto our cards cos his name was too long for the system so now he has his own medicare card, lol, 15 years ahead of his time!

thanks for all your wonderful thoughts and support. it means so much that no one's judging my decision... what would i do without you all!

[prama]

i have a question that might be silly - this is for mum's w boys... when you put the naapy on, is it better to have their penis facing up or down, or whichever way it is at that time?

[all girls]

Don't ask me but willy down otherwise they pee up and the nappy leaks. Good that you spoke to someone Prama and that you have made a decision, trust me the guilt will go pretty quick hun and you will be enjoying your little man.

Shell if you can go to medicare they give you a slip of paper that you can use straight away at the Dr. I have been using Donnalix and it has been working well, summer is so much more settled and you only use 0.1 ml per kg of body weight so only a tiny little bit is needed. Maybe DJ is having a growth spurt, when they have one you usually don't realize until after the fact and for me/summer I really thought it was wind at first.

Bron, isn't life different now getting excited over poo! hehehe

I went bike riding with Codie today was nice easy ride but we were gone for 2 hours and now am paying for it geez my butt is sore, used DH bike and it felt like there was no seat, trying to get her a bit fitter for soccer (her request) so everyday either walking or riding, i hope it helps me too!!!

Im off to bed xoxox

[teachmum]

Down, point it down Prama! Unless you want to change his clothes regularly. It's funny when you have a boy coz there's heaps of stuff you just don't think of coz you've never had to deal with them.

When I had my first bub I stressed about wind pain but unfortunately there is not much you can do other than comfort them. Apparently babies under 3 months cry for at least 3 hours a day - seems longer somedays doesn't it!

To all the new mums don't wear yourself out trying to get your bub to sleep longer at night. I refuse to believe anyone that says their bub slept through at 6 weeks - they must have amnesia from lack of sleep .

Have you noticed how they respond to your voice above everyone elses? They quickly work out who loves them the most not matter how you feed 'em or how cross you feel at having to get up 5 times a night. Can't wait for that magic first smile .

Take care

[shell_120308]

Hi girls,

Waiting up for DJ's midnight feed then heading to bed, hoping for a better night. So far he has slept well, 2.5 hours, let him sleep on his side (of course with my careful monitoring and would only do while I was awake), it has helped him and he isn't in so much pain from the wind. I have supports so that way he doesn't roll on his belly as well. Hopefully he will have another good sleep after this feed when he returns to back sleeping.

I feel much better tonight, managed to express enough for early morning feeds and a top-up of 40ml just in case. Going to make sure I get some sleeps tomorrow when he is asleep as well. Lack of sleep doesn't help me at all, just makes me more irritable and stressed.

Becstar - thanks for letting me know re: doctors and medicare card. I will see how he is tomorow, he is having a good sleep at the moment, not in so much pain, so hopefully I will have a good day with him and no need for a visit to doctors.

Mumzy - thanks for the tip re: wheat bag. how long would you heat it up for? I just don't want it to be too hot for him.

Bron - yeah maybe it is a growth spurt with DJ as well since that can also create discomfort for them too.

Prama - you shouldn't have to go through that much pain - it is hard on all of you, more importantly you. That is good to hear that the lady from Tresilian was understanding and helpful. I prefer to express and bottle feed, it is much easier for me and my hubby and mum can help by feeding him as well, so it isn't all on me. Yeah the dream was disturbring but it was just that - a dream. I know he isn't angry with me.....My expressing comes in spurts. Sometimes I can express enough milk for 3 feeds, but other times I can only express enough for one feed. so it is a bit of give and take really. It is frustrating that is for sure. I do prefer expressing compared to breastfeeding though. I bought the Nan HA formula as well for when I have to give DJ formula

Trina - yeah maybe he is going through a growth spurt and that is causing him the discomfort. I will find out on Wednesday when the community nurse comes out to see me for the first weigh-in since week 1!!! Well done on your bike ride, wow on doing 2 hours as well, my hubby wants me to get onto a bike, but I told him he will need to buy me a really comfy seat to do that

Teachmum - re: voices - DJ recognises my voice and I am always getting into trouble from hubby and mum when they are putting him to sleep and I talk to them haha

Well girls, I better get things ready for DJ when he wakes up, he is due his feed soon so should be waking up shortly.

Here's hoping for a good night!!! I am sooo tired.....

Chat soon
Shell xxx

[prama]

thanks for your supportive words. xoxo

Thanks girls, willy has been up, that's how it naturally seems to be, so no wonder we were getting lots of wet clothes. The top of the nappies are always wet and some times leak out depending which way I'm holding him. LOL. Gee, DH wasnt much help with this question, you'd think a man would know.. haha. I was starting to wonder why the nappies werent doing their job... My mum told me if the willy's up straight becareful, they might pee on you any moment!

I know Lakshman's weeks ahead of some of you girls but now when I give him tummy time, he's starting the move his legs to try to crawl.

I'm going to ring the LC whom i saw the other day. im sure i have enough milk, they come out in squirts when i hand express. the problem is lakshman chomps when he's on the breast. i tried putting him at different lengths of the areola but he starts so suck then cries and detaches. he only wants to go to the sorest part and then chomp..

Lakshman has been sleeping well lately, 11.30-12 he goes to bed and then wakes up at 5, must be the top up formula. but the last few nights he's been waking up at 2,3am. he doesnt sleep thru, he cries in his sleep sometimes so I wake up and have a look. dunno if it;s a bad dream or wet nappy, or he didnt get his booby in his dream.

We get an occasional smile when we make funny faces or baby talk to him..mostly he smiles in his sleep.
the other day at the LC, she put him close to the breast and waited for him to want to latch on. he just had his face close to the breast and had he biggest smile ever.. cheeky bugger.

Shell - do you breasts get sore if you dont express for a few hours. I feel mine get so uncomfy every 3 hrs.
We have a chemist here that has a nurse/midwife come in as well. maybe you could ask your local chemist to see if they have nurse as well, esp if the ECC is slack.

2 hrs on the bike! welldone!! see, with all the feeding taking so long, i cant fit the time. do you girls feed, then go out and do stuff and then come back in time for the next feed?

have you all started doing exercise? im just doing walks and swim once a week. i want to go to the gym once the feedign thing is sorted. bf-ing hasnt helped me loose weight.

do you watch tv when feeding bub? i do, and sometimes feel guilty for not paying enough attention, so sometimes i tell him what's going on tv. and when he's wide awake on his playmat, i play with him a bit but then i have to do other stuff. i feel guilty again not spending all his awake time with him. my mum said you have to teach them to learn to be by themselves or else they'll always want you next to them. and if you're not there, they'll just cry and you can never get anything done.

[Sammiejane]

Morning Girls -
well i was right, my best friend flew in from the UK with her husband, daughter (my goddaughter that i had not met yet - she is 11 months today) and her Mum.... Saturday was great and they are here until Friday so we spent yesterday together, they are coming over today and we will spend wednesday and thursday together too!!! WOOO HOOO. She booked flights back once i had my 20 scan, can you believe it! Mum has known all this time and it wasnt until the last month that i had any suspicions! Athough i did it to her 2 years ago, i flew over for her wedding and only her DH and Mum knew (for wedding numbers) and i managed to totally suprise her a week before the wedding!
Isabella (my goddaughter) is so cute and we are taking milions of pics of Molly Jane and her together as we dont know when they will see each other next
Oh and she had another suprise, she is pregnant again and due in September! poor DH said - oh no, she started it the first time around and she is already pg again!
Oh i could gush and gush about it, i am so happy and touched that they flew all this way to meet Molly Jane!

Anyway a couple of things to add then i have to download the pics for day 3 of picture taking!!!

WIND - tried the grioe water, worked ok, but alternated with boiled water 5 mls in a syringe, this worked heaps better, so am giving that before each feed and grpe water only once a day and she seems more settled. She is uncomfy when she is tryingto pass a poo and the she is so happy and relaxed (its normally after the 4-5am feed, so i undo her nappy between feeds and just wait and rub her tummy if she is pushing)
Slept better tonight 4 hour stints which was good.

PRAMA - you are doing a fantastic job, have you joined a mothers group? are you having enough adult interaction, this can also help with making you feel better... I am glad that you have made a decision, you need to do what is right for YOU and Lakshman, not what other people think is right.
When we did our BF classes pre birth, the LC told us that the first 6 weeks is the most important and if women were not sure or found feed difficult to try and reach this mark and then stop as the antibodies etc that are gained in this time are the most important and they are so new with no defences... So you have gone past this time anyway so dont feel guilty at all.
Better that you little man has a happy mummy and FF than a sad, tired and sore mummy and BF (in my opinion)

Molly Jane still has pimples, her face is dry too and skin is peling off, poor thing.
Been told that it will right itself soon, and she is just ajusting (someone told me that they call it the 'coming into the world rash' as it is just the adjustment phase!)

Well gotta go, have a great day everyone and i will do proper personals soon - got to tidy the house a bit too -