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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Well, today was a MUCH better day! We tried to go down the road as I had a few things I wanted to get, but Lily started screaming half way through my trip so all I got was a few things for her. I wanted to get some thankyou cards, birthday cards for a few friends and some clothes for me, but I started to get flustered and she wouldn't settle unless I held her so I went home! We'll try again tomorrow, maybe DH can come... But overall a much better day, she's having a sleep now. I have managed to do washing, prepare dinner, do the washing up and even get dressed todday, hehehe...unlike yesterday, I was in spewy pj's until DH came home yesterday...such a horrible day!
I also think I may have been getting mastitis yesterday, as I skipped a feed the day before. I had a fever of 38.4 for most of the day even though I took paracetomol and sore boobs (more than usual!). I guess it was good she fed every two hours. It's gone now and I called the nurse who said it should be ok and to keep an eye on it and not to skip a feed!
Melissa, I can sympathise with you as I'm sure all of the girls here can. It feels good to know that there are others going through what you are doesn't it? My DH sounds like yours. He is trying so hard to help, but has no idea. But I depend on his positivity to pick me up, he makes everything seem ok and tells me it doesn't hurt the baby if she cries and to keep calm and it usually works for me so far!
I find that if Lily had formula that she has trouble pooing too. Maybe that's Olivia's problem? Have you tried giving her a bit of water before or after a feed, maybe? And maybe the throwing up is due to the change to formula too.
It's amazing what a good sleep will do for you, or should I say what a lack of sleep will do for a perfectly normal person. I think that was partly my problem yesterday too. My DH gave up going to play soccer for me yesterday, which made me cry more cause I felt guilty. He loves his soccer and rarely goes to play with friends. Then he stayed up until midnight so I could sleep for a few hours, even though he had to be up at 5:30am to go to work.
Kristie, I think Lily is getting into a bit of a routine too. She seems to be awake and unsettled and feeding every 2 hours in the day from about 8- 10ish, then sleeps at about 10-11, wakes for a feed and a play then sleeps from about 2ish til 6 or 7, has a big feed and play, another feed at 10 sleeps at about 11ish wakes at 2 or 3, sleeps til about 5ish feedsthen sleeps until about 7:30. Usually. Though she does have her unsettled times early in the morning sometimes. If that is to be her routine though I can handle that. It means I get about 6 or 7 hours sleep at night and have a chance for a snooze in the arvo if I need it. Today I slept with her for 2 1/2 hours!
Anyway I must go the princess is calling!
Kel.
Last edited by MrsFabuloso; May 5th, 2007 at 07:57 PM.
: Accidently posted before finishing!
Kel - Glad you had a better day! It can be really stressful going out with bubs when they're unsettled...It's so nice when you get all the things done that you want though when they have a big sleep! Glad you didn't get mastitis!! That would be awful...
Dylans been well...nothing out of the ordinary...he's feeding both sides again now I think because he's feeding so regular again - every 2 1/2-3 hours so we'll see what the night brings...
Thanks Kellie and Kristie for your support. Some days are just worse than others and some days are great!!! I read in a thread here somewhere that if you give 30mls of water plus have a tea spoon of brown sugar, it works for constipation. I would rather try that than give meds.
Adam is a great support, at the moment he's burping Olivia and singing foo fighters to her!!! lol
Am off to visit my parents and brothers today, while Adam goes and plays inline hockey.
I hope you are all keeping well, and a big hello to Linda.
Take care
Love Melissa
Well we had a great night last night. Lily slept from 10:30 til 3:00, then from 4:00 til 7:00! I got to bed at 11pm so I got a great sleep too, as well as a snooze yesterday arvo, I might even have gotten too much sleep....is that possible with a newborn?! LOL
DH is home today, he's on night shift tonight, so I'm hoping Lily has a repeat of last night with her sleep tonight.
It makes things so much easier with DH home. Even though he just burps her or snuggles with her, it's a relief not to have her on me the whole time. A friend asked me if I'm enjoying motherhood, and honestly, at the moment, I don't think I am. Not that I'm not enjoying it so much as just getting the hang of things I think. I mean I wouldn't change it, and once Lil and I sort each ather out, I will enjoy it, but for now it is so tiring and draining!
Dylans very unsettled this morning...managed an ok night sleep but thats cos I kept falling asleep when I was feeding - lol. I have the sorest neck and shoulders though!
Melissa - I agree - they are just so unpredictable at this young age...
Kel - The first weeks are sooo difficult. I can totally relate to you not enjoying it so much. Believe me it gets a lot easier and enjoyable as the weeks go on. I remember Louis getting to around 3 months and going ooh I love this stage and then have had that ever since!! They get into a bit of a routine and start interracting with you and it's fantastic (although still hard!)
Yeah on your great nights sleep - hope she keeps that up for you!
Just trying to organise a shower now so I can race down and do the food shopping after his next feed!
Just popping in now. It has taken me a long time to get in and write something. My Mum and Grandmother have been here so with a newborn and everything things have been pretty hectic.
Anyway for those who don't know me. Jake was born by c-section on the 12th April.
Kellie - just wanted to say that I felt exactly the same as you when I had Luke. I really did not enjoy the first weeks. I think it was about 12 weeks (like Kristie said) that I really began to love being a mum.
Kristie - I fall asleep feeding too sometimes. I said I wasn't going to put the bassinette in our bedroom but I have so I can just reach over and get Jake and then put him back quickly. I have moved the nappies etc into our room so I can quickly do that before going back to sleep. I will prob put him in his room soon. It is right at the other end of the house though so I am not in a hurry.
Well I'd better go and fold the pile of never ending washing.
Aaaagghhh Dylan won't settle...luckily mums here and having a turn now...he's such a hard boy to settle. I can't remember Louis being so fussy and so chucky - but I'm sure he probably was...lol!
Dh is giving me a shoulder rub now and I'm having some choccy bikkies and then hopefully off to bed...
Oh I would kill for chocolate biscuits right now but I think it was one of the things giving Iggy gas so have cut it out. We are all well though I have at least one teary a day. Iggy was in a good routine of feeding every 3 hours during the day n 4 hours at night but has developed a monstrous appetite over the last few days so have been adjusting. Am craving junk food but trying to stay strong.
Ooh Krysalyss you're being good avoiding all the naughty stuff! LOL! It's hard when their patterns change all the time at this early stage.
Well...first day on my own and it's going really really well! I got 8h sleep overnight (broke of course) so that was a good start and Louis and Dylan slept in until 7.45am! Dylans been unsettled as per usual this morning but I took Louis to the library and he fell asleep in the car! So no complaints from me so far...I actually think there's less mess with dh at work also! hehehe.
Sorry I have been MIA, i didnt get the notification that there was a new thread!
We had an awful night and Dh was back at work today. Im so worried about how tired he must be as he is a truck driver
I was bawling my eyes out this morning out of sheer exhaustion and my mum left work for an hour to help me out. god bless her!
Mason has been asleep for only an hour and is now awake again! I think he has some wind problems-- but I cant drive to the chemist! So I dont know what to do.
Im so glad you can all relate to me regarding the tears...but we ARE all doing a great job.
Danni - aarrgghh those nights are terrible...Hopefully he'll crash for a big sleep soon and you can get some as well!
The winds a killer though - it's soo annoying. I had it last night and we were trying to get it up and then I fed him some more and he vomitted the whole feed up - grrrr...
Thats great your mum came around to help! I had my mum on call to come around today so I could have a shower but luckily I managed without her...hopefully I'll be able to get her around another day when it's all not happening...
and you're right - we are all doing a fantastic job...you just have to really do your best as it's just plain hard work in these early weeks!
Just think though - 2 or 3 more weeks and we'll all be getting those first smiles!! Woohoo!!
Oh Danni, I can sympathise with you so much. I think our bubs know when our DH's are going back to work for the first time. The night before Adam went back to work, Olivia screamed and screamed. She had previously been settled for a few nights before. I was so worried too, Adam is an electrician and the last thing I want is for him to be tired on a job.
Olivia is having one of those days, got out of my nighty at 1230 and had my first coffee now. Now she is crying AGAIN!!!!!
See Ya
Love Melissa
quick post as I have a million things to do. We had our first holiday away as a family of 4! We drove 2 hours then took a 2.5 hour boat trip to Bornholm - an island off he Swedish coast. It was so beautiful there. We left on friday, Saturday was difficult as both boys were quite unsettled (DS1 had been sick for a few days before) but we really had a fantastic day on sunday. actually the whole experience was challenging but Matti really did so well. We are planning to come to visit family in Oz in July, so we need asw much travel practise as possible!
Better go. All well here...he is sleeping beautifully these days..only 1 feed last night at 3am...so maybe better days ahead (i Hope)
Melissa - Dylans been unsettled this arvo as well...waking every 5min and then finally had a bigger stretch of sleep. Cheeky thing...
Deb - Wow on going on a holiday already! Glad it went well! We're heading away to PIL in a couple of weeks which is an 1 1/2 away so that will be interesting! Mostly the kids sleep well in the car at least so thats something...Gosh - I imagine it will be a big challenge coming over here though!! At least bubba will be a little older...
Yeah on just one night feed! Dylans going just under 4 hours overnight - I'll be happy when that stretches out a bit more - it makes sooo much difference...
Oops .. I think it's been a few weeks since I've posted in this thread ... I'm having a few little challenges with motherhood that have kept me exhausted and quite sad a lot of the time.
Breastfeeding is going down the toilet, which is causing me the most amount of grief. Jambin seems to be getting fussier and fussier, won't latch properly, will rarely feed from my left breast, and sometimes seems to be absolutely screaming hungry but just won't feed. On top of that, when I had him weighed last week (at 3wks old) he still hadn't regained his birth weight. I'm taking him to get weighed again tomorrow, so fingers crossed he's gained a bit more weight. He was a big boy when he was born (4.86kg), so I'm not sure if that's why he's only gaining slowly, but whatever the reason, it's adding a lot of extra stress to the breastfeeding because I'm worried that I'm starving him. I started expressing today - not so much to feed him with, but to try to increase my supply, because I'm worried that I'm not getting enough. I got 30ml the first time and 20ml the second time, which I hope isn't representative of how much Jambin is getting when he feeds, because it seems much too little to be satisfying him.
He's also become extremely unsettled the last few days. He won't sleep for more than 20mins during the day, whereas previously he would have a long sleep in the morning and the afternoon - I would wake him after 3hrs to make sure he was feeding regularly. So to go from that to 20mins at most is exhausting. And he just cries and cries for hours on end. I was holding him in my arms or feeding him from 7.30am this morning til 6pm tonight when I finally got him down to bed (but I can hear him starting to stir already *sigh*).
And DH goes back to work tomorrow for the first time. He's been working from home for the last 2 weeks, so has been available to help out, so tomorrow is the first day I'll be alone for the whole day.
Sorry for no personals - I promise I'll be respond to everyone tomorrow
Good luck at your appt tomorrow - I hope he's gained some weight for you! Do you have anyone else around you to call on since you'll be home on your own??
I know Louis was a day napper usually sleeping 20-40min at a time and it can be soo frustrating. Just when you think you're getting a break they wake up again. Dylans a bit like that at the moment but luckily resettles with a dummy or a cuddle.
I know it's not much help at the moment but I promise it will all get easier!
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Babies Born April 2007 #2
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