hey girls! Just a quick post from hossy - today is day 3 already. Reuben is such a sweetie - feeds strongly & ravenously. A bit of a marathon really! I will try to post some photos - but I am not so savvy with that.
Thanks Nat, Ethan now has a middle name... Ethan Ivan. His middle name is after DH's late grandfather, who was married to the nanna that passed the week Ethan was born. Ethan was born on his birthday. So it's quite appropriate!
I have a question... My little one will only feed 15 or so mins at a time but wants a feed every 1-2 hours. When he falls asleep at the breast i change his nappy to wake him and then put him back on but he gets really restless after about 4am for some reason?? Does anyone have any ideas on how i can get him to feed longer to fill him up?
Hi everyone! My gorgeous son Kyson Lucas was born (2.5 weeks early) on May the 2nd at 9.40am weighing 8lbs 10.4oz (3.925kg).
We are both doing extremely well and were back home from the hospital after only 48 hours. Kyson is such a joy and I love him more ad more each passing day. So far I've been really lucky because he is an absolute angel. He's feeding well, and even sleeping quite well. He doesn't cry much and is generally a really placid baby. Fingers crossed that things stay this way
Dee, I love Ethan's name. We had Ethan on our shortlist of names for a while I'm not really sure how to entice Ethan into feeding for longer though. I tend to do the same as you; feed, change nappy, and then feed again. But Kyson tends to have his restless time around 11pm, and his best sleep after about 3-4am. Maybe Ethan's tummy is quite small and he can't fit much in. That might result in the small and frequent feeds you are needing to give him. Hopefully time will stretch his tummy and lengthen his feeds for you.
Huge congratulations to all the new mummies! I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday!!!
Welcome Cherie! Goodness me Darcy was a good size!! How are you recovering?
Krystie, . I sort of half co-sleep - Tom starts off in his cot at the end of our bed at night, and then after his first feed stays in bed with me. It's taken me a while to get used to it as I'm afraid of rolling on him but if we are tummy to tummy, it seems to be okay. I must have put him back in his cot without waking properly the other night because I woke up and couldn't find him next to me and freaked out!! I've just got him used to his sling, now, so the baby-wearing thing can kick off properly. He spends most of the day in arms except for the afternoon sleep. I have to watch my back and shoulder as I have an injury that flares up a fair bit.
Dee, it's pretty normal at this stage for a breastfed baby to feed every one to two hours, unfortunately! Their little stomachs are only about the size of their fist, and the breastmilk is digested quite quickly. It's also quite normal for them to want to feed a lot in the wee hours of the morning - your hormones mean that your body responds really well to nighttime stimulation and your milk production is at its peak. This kind of nighttime feeding often settles down by about four weeks and then ramps up again at six weeks when they have their growth spurt and are telling your breasts to produce more milk!
Unfortunately we live in a culture where we are being told that they "should" be feeding only every three or four hours, so when they demand it more frequently we think there's something wrong with our supply, or we're doing something wrong. And so we delay feeding or supplement, not realising that we're interrupting that amazing hormonal and behavioural relationship between the baby and our bodies, and it's often a slippery slope to thinking we aren't producing enough milk, and then giving up.
One way of encouraging a longer sleep is to only offer one side at each feeding, but to offer it for as long a time as you would offer both, that is, offer him the same side after you've changed his nappy. This encourages more let downs in one breast which means the baby gets much more of the fatty "hindmilk" rather than the watery foremilk, and this might help settle them a little better. One encouraging thing I heard today from my excellent MCHN was that if you feed a baby absolutely on demand in those first weeks, they are more likely to put on a good deal of weight and reach the weight earlier where they have more reserves to help them sleep longer. So demand feeding now might cost you something in the short term, but may help with sleeping better later!
Thanks TM. I do only give one breast then change and offer the same one again. He feeds every 2hrs or so during the day, but almost hourly at night. Tho the other night he slept from 1-4 am but was up every hour after that. He gets a bit of wind too.
That makes sense tho that he feeds more at night. He was back upto 3.1 kg last week when the midwife weighed him so I kno he.s feeding ok, i didn't realise it's normal to have more frequent night feeds. ds2 slept right thru and i had to wake him up and ds1 had bad colic so i was up with him all night due to that.
I wasn't sure as my breasts have settled now and not getting rock hard as they were. I worried my milk was slowing. now I know! Thanks! Haha funny I feel like a first time mum with some things, it's been so long and he's different to the other 2.
He gets more beautiful everyday! I'm so in love with him. He's so alert and happily lays on his play mat for an hour and a half 3 times a day just looking around. It's the cutest thing!
welcome Krystie! Congrats on ur baby boy! I kno wat u mean by loving him more every day! I wish my little Ethan never had to grow up!
Thomas was 3.6kg, I made a mistake
Registered User
welcome Cherie! And congratulations!
I'm not really sure how to entice Ethan into feeding for longer though. I tend to do the same as you; feed, change nappy, and then feed again. But Kyson tends to have his restless time around 11pm, and his best sleep after about 3-4am. Maybe Ethan's tummy is quite small and he can't fit much in. That might result in the small and frequent feeds you are needing to give him. Hopefully time will stretch his tummy and lengthen his feeds for you.
I've just got him used to his sling, now, so the baby-wearing thing can kick off properly. He spends most of the day in arms except for the afternoon sleep. I have to watch my back and shoulder as I have an injury that flares up a fair bit.
Bookmarks