Babies Born ~ March 2012 #1

[Razzberry]

Just a quick question girls - How long do you breastfeed for?
With my DD it used to take about an hour and even at 6 months it was still about 40mins. I am just finding it hard sitting for so long (or trying to walk around feeding while tending to DS).
At the moment DS is taking 40mins to an hour.

[~ Mylitta ~]

DD is taking about 20ish minutes on average I think. Both my girls have been fast feeders, whereas DS took about 45 mins. I wonder if the girls have been faster because I've breastfeed all through the pregnancies and been tandem/triandem feeding and therefore my supply is a lot greater so they get more faster...

[skybie]

10-15 mins, she lurrrrves her food

[Phteven]

Moderator Message »
Just a heads up that over the next couple of weeks we will be merging the belly/baby buddies groups. Instead of 2 groups for each month there will only be one. We hope you enjoy getting to know more members through your larger groups. If you have any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to contact a member of the moderating team.

[peanutter]

hello, newly combined group!!

[Novella]

Hi peanutter! yay new group

Razz Helena takes about 30 minutes to feed. It can be challenging when you have a little one cdemanding attention. I had 2 years between dd1 and dd2 and became very skilled at walking about while breast feeding. Hopefully your ds will get quicker the older he gets.

Miss E Helena could do with the next size up in nappies but I'm trying to use up all the newborns. Hope your engorgement settles, I expressed at least once a day with my older girls to build up a freezer stockpile but I haven't had the time this time round apart from the 1L I hot when my milk came n

We are having a good night so far,must admit going to bed at 8.30 allowed me to catch up on some sleep. I feel like a bit of a nana lol

[Novella]

Baby Buddies

Skybie: Addison Jane, 28 February
peanutter: Judah Samuel, 7 March
Elocin: Connor Neil, 12 March
me-lisa: Alicia Cate, 17 March
sararose: Helena Kate, 17 March
nickers: Ryker Thomas, 24 March
buffy1: Willow Dona, 25 March
Mylitta: Arlia Feyt, 26 March
Razzberry: Oliver Noah, 27 March
zilly: Samantha Alice, 28 March
Nel.B: Lachlan Anthony Michael, 29 March
m+w=peanut: Addison Ava, 30 March
sloane: Keely Paige, 31 March
lct76: Yves William, 1 April
Miss E: Cooper Robarts 2 April

New list for our combined group

[peanutter]

feeding - Judah feeds really well! Takes between 20 and 40 minutes - a huge improvement from DS1's usual 45-90 minute marathons ... DS2 doesn't unlatch while feeding, rarely perks, and if he falls asleep while feeding, it's because he's done and dusted, and no amount of rousing, unwrapping, tickling, blowing on his face, etc will get him to take any more ... he however has no real routine with feeds yet ... I'm really praying that a routine comes soon - I go back to work in a couple of weeks and I will be pumping to a routine, and wanting to bf before and after work, which will obviously be tricky if he's not going to want to feed on my timetable ... !

sleep - Judah is still pretty mercurial ... one night he'll sleep 7 hours, net night he'll want boobies every 2 hours ...

nappies - DS2 is still fitting newborns ok, but we have him in cloth basically 24/7. The nappies we bought for DS1 are still working great, and we just picked up some more before DS2 arrived, as DS1 is still in nappies too ...

photos - no plans for professional ones of the 4 of us yet, but my dad's 60th is coming up, so we've recently had a playdate in the park with the whole family, and we took a bunch of photos - many of which turned out pretty well, so we'll get a couple of them framed Our theory was essentially that if you take 100+ photos, you'll have 2 or 3 nice ones ... and you're unlikely to have more than that on your wall anyway, so why pay $500?

bleeding - all gone ... don't even need pantyliners anymore ...

back - my back is *not* liking being on the couch breastfeeding and pumping so many hours a day. My pelvis was all out of whack from the last birth, and that was mostly fixed up with chiro work - but my sacrum is still pretty grumpy. I've had it worked on a couple of times since DS2's birth and hopefully now I will be able to be on my feed for more than 5 minutes without pain ... ! Time will tell

expressing - I've been expressing like a banshee, and I have a fabulous stockpile of about 15 liters in the freezer. I might have to start pumping a little less, as I will only be able to pump twice a day when I go back to work, and I'll explode ... it will be difficult as I have a full working day plus an hour commuting each way ... but I did it last time - with a hell of a lot more issues physically - so I can do it this time ...

older bubbas? - DS1 is beyond infatuated ... it's beautiful to see. I haven't yet had them both at home though - with the trauma and the c-section and everything, we've just kept DS1 in daycare for the time being ... DH is stopping work in 2 weeks, and when he's at home full time, we'll be dropping DS1 down to 1 or 2 days a week in care ... haven't decided whether to go one or two days yet ... DH is studying, so he'll want one day a week with only DS2 to make sure he gets his study done ... but we're tossing up having a second day of DS1 in care, for DH to have a dedicated housework day ... but very undecided. The cost of daycare is similar to the cost of a cleaner ... would it be better for DH to let the cleaner in, take the boys to the pool and the park and come home to a clean house ... or to drop DS1 at daycare and do the cleaning himself, and have a relaxy afternoon while DS2 naps, before picking DS1 up from care ... don't know ... and I think it needs to be DH's choice, as it will primarily impact him ...

housework - it's actually ok. DH is helping craploads ... I do the basics during the day (dishes, laundry, milk, paperwork, some shopping, tidying, etc) and then tell him what needs doing when he's at home, and mostly, he does anything I can't do or don't get done (washing the dogs, vacuuming, taking the bins out ...). the house is pretty far from what my ideal is, but it's heaps better than I would have expected this soon after having a baby!

office work - yup, so I'm back in a little over two weeks! it has come up like nobody's business ... I don't know where the past 9 weeks have gone ... I'm not ready, but I hopefully will be by the time I return. I've been doing some work from home - a bit here and a bit there, answering questions and checking emails and writing a few papers ... but not a patch on what my normal day is!

other? not sure what else ... It's 4am, so I should probably finish expressing and go to bed ...

[nickers]

i think its a great idea all of the month is merged!
peanutter- wow thats some stock pile you have going there! i had a freezer full with both ds1 and ds2, havent got there yet though only got 5 x 100ml stashes in the freezer. And this time i finaslly have a deep freezer so could store for a lot longer. how many days will you be going back to work for?
i like the sound of a cleaner.. i guess you could trial it, as long as she was getting everything done and in the way you wanted it the same as if dh was home doing it, it would be nice for him to be able to go out and about and have quality time with the kids.

Razz- ds3 was taking 1hour plus to feed (im expressing now and giving him ebm) on/ off the breast a LOT and then after that was still having to top him up then express all within a 3hour cycle. when you have other children is really tough. ds1 was still really little when we brought him home (2.65kg) and would always fall asleep on me, take over an hour, but i had the time to persist with it and i did. as horrible as it sounds now i have 3 children i need to attend to so i have decided to just keep expressing and feeding that way. Ive been feeling very guilty that i havent spent more time with the big boys these school holidays.
Miss E- i hope yo dont get mastitis thats horrible. mayeb try not expressing to empy the entire breast as the more times it gets emptied the more it will keep filling.
Sara- i feel you on the nana lol i have been going to bed neally every night, i hate doing it but i need the sleep, i am missing a lot of shows i like and my "me" time
Ive got about 60 more newborn nappies then we'll be moving onto the infant ones. i need to buy some aldi too and trial them, i used them with both the boys after newborn size and they were great.
for those on FB i added a pic of Ryker thismorning, his acne had gotten so horrible a few pimples on thursday has turned into a full face of pimples the clinic nurse on thursday said it was a hormone rash and normal. dh rekons it was all the chocolate i ate..... not sure about that but good excuse to stop rading the kids chocolate pile anyway..... im thinking i may take him tot he doctor tomorrow if its still so red and horrible. I only booked professional pics to be done a few days ago and thats next Friday, i dont really want to be getting pics done though with his poor face looking so bad. ive put egoderm cream on it which hasnt helped any, ive read hydrozol can help but can only use it for a few days, i know i have some but cant find where i put it.

[peanutter]

thanks, nickers!

I'll be back full time.

DH and I have tentatively decided to have DS1 in daycare on Thursdays and Fridays, with Thursdays being "uni day" and Friday being "housework day" ... we'll see how it goes!

[Elocin]

Happy Sunday ladies!

Hi Peanutter!!! What a stockpile of EBM you have... How awesome. I really want to get organised and start pumping, just to have some in the freezer but never feel like I can get enough out... Do you pump before or after you bf?

Miss E, fingers crossed that mastitis doesn't show up hun. I can't believe Cooper is out of newborn nappies already! These babies are growing too quickly!

SaraRose, those photos are just divine!! Such gorgeous girls you have.

Skye, I am freaking jealous you got so much sleep out of Miss A! That is great!

Nic, I don't know what you can do about R's wee pimples because they are caused by your estrogen... Good luck at the GP though, I hope they can give you something that will help.

Buffster, how you doin lovely lady? Sending you and Willow lots of love x

Razz, Connor usually feeds for about 20-30 minutes with a 10-15 minute top up within the next half hour.

I hope everyone else is doing well!

We had a **** of a day on Friday... Crying baby & Mumma most of the day I have cut dairy out of my diet and it's made the world of difference... Totally different kid!

He is sleeping great until about 2am hits... Then we are up, feed for 10 minutes and there is nothing I can do to keep him interested in the boob. Wrap him and he falls asleep quiet quickly (5-15 minutes), back to bed BUT he's usually then awake about an hour later to repeat the process.

DH has a theory that he's close to sleeping through as he doesn't *really* need the milk... I don't know, but I'm really hoping so!

Speaking of sleeping, Connor is snoozing on DH's chest so I'm going for a nap xo

[peanutter]

elocin: after, always after, to make sure DS2 gets all he needs first, and also because he stimulates supply and let down a lot better than the pump does! But I think my body just responds really well to my pump now, as they became firm friends when DS1 was bf and it's really variable - sometimes I'll only get 20ml, then other times I get 350ml which is nuts, because DS2 wouldn't be drinking anywhere near that in a feed yet, he's only 5 weeks old!! But for now, I'm just pumping and storing all I can ... I already have business trips on the horizon, and I will only really be able to pump twice a day at work (though I'm considering pumping once before work too ... I normally get to work before 8am, so there is time... will see how it goes when I'm there...) On average, I am currently pumping about 100ml after every normal feed, and 200ml after the overnight feeds (which makes sense, because apparently that's your peak production time).

sorry to hear you had a crummy day last week - but sounding really promising re the dairy! With the overnight feed, I've heard a few people saying that the best way to check is to give them water (boiled and cooled water) and if they are more wanting the snuggles than the milk, they'll stop waking if they know they're only going to get water, and so will just sleep through ... but some people would find that to be non gentle, or would want to offer the cuddles anyway With DS though, he just went from waking for a 3am feed to not waking until his 7am feed ... it was so dramatically sudden that the first morning I woke up at 6am, saw that it wasn't 3am and DS1 wasn't crying, my instant reaction was that he was dead, and I fled to his room before calling an ambulance - only to find him happily asleep, warm, pink, and breathing perfectly well ... then he woke up for his 7am feed, and just continued sleeping through!


office work - I'm going to have to be really hard on myself, and just shut down the computer and leave at 5pm ... with two kids now, plus with baby weight to lose (and therefore a gym to attend) plus counselling and Bible study, I just can't be working long hours any more. There's three of us at my firm who are generally the last to leave, and there's one (yes, one) person who leaves at 5pm every day. He has never been penalised for it - and everyone else kind of just knows that if they need him for anything, they need to get him before 5pm, because after that, you won't see him for dust - he's on a train heading home to his family ... and I just need to do that. It will be hard! DH and I have historically had an understanding: he will not say a word against me working long hours (and I mean long: I've been at work until 4am, and back on a train at 6am before, and I've lost count of how many times work has sent me home in a taxi because I've missed the last train at 12.05am...) provided that I never bring work home. This way, if I'm at home, I'm at home ... but we might have to have some flexibility there, if I cam no longer going to stay back to finish things off ... it will be a new day!

six week checkups - mine is coming up this week, but it's in the city ... that's an hour driving both ways, or driving and then train and tram trip there and back, either of which would be a fair effort for me on my own ... so I'm wondering whether I can organise to do it with a local GP instead of going in ... I'm also supposed to see the psychiatrist and the dietician too though, so maybe I should just suck it up and go ... I don't fancy doing the tram with a pram though ... and as much as I like the chest carrier, I don't fancy relying solely on that for what will end up being a 5-6 hour day trip all up ... and will also mean I'm carrying nappy bag and handbag as well as DS2 ...

[buffy1]

Hi lovely ladies, nice to meet our new March buddies! *waving*

Elocin, sorry you had a rough day on Friday. I hope you managed to catch up on sleep x

Nickers, it sounds like you're doing an amazing job with the EBM. I saw Ryker's pic, it doesn't look too bad - what did doc say?

Evening to the other ladies, sorry for crap personals. Willow is well, starting to smile and generally being adorable. She's cluster feeding in the AM and having longer naps in the arvo. Have had some trouble settling after feeds, especially during the night, but not too bad.

Still in a very rough patch mentally, and still too anxious to sleep when she does dagnabit. Heading to PND support group tomorrow and waiting for meds to do their thing. DH is an angel, taking her while I try to nap, researching how to express (really!) and doing all the cooking. Am so lucky he's home for a bit longer. I keep telling myself things will get easier. Sorry to be a downer.

[lct76]

Oi Buffy you silly moo, don't apologise - WE ALL LURV YOU!

[skybie]

buffster id give anything to come give you a biiiig old squishy hug right now xxxxx

[Elocin]

What LCT and Skye said hon!!!!

Feel the love baby... There's plenty of it coming your way

We are here when you're ready xo

[Novella]

Peanutter you have inspired me to get my pump out and Express I'm going to aim for once a day, hopefully DH can do a feed or two one night next weekend and I can quickly express overnight and catch up on some sleep. Sounds like you have things organised pretty well for going back to work! I'm lucky this time. Between annual leave, long service, maternity leave and PPL I'm able to take a year off and get paid for 50weeks so nim hoping by the time I'm back I won't need to worry too much about expressing, although as I'm a nurse in a large public hospital we get an extra 30min paid break to express while bubs is under 12 months and the use of an expressing/bf room and can borrow the maternity wards pumps

I'm having both mine and dd's 6 week check up at the gps on a Wednesday while my dd2 is at child are and dd1 at school.

Buff hope you get to a better place soon hun xx

Elocin sounds like a bad day Friday, hope things improve for you. Little Connor sounds like he is cluster feeding at a really bad time of day, I know from working nightshift that from about 2am my mental reserve is at its lowest, just keep telling yourself this too will pass and make the most of any nanna naps you get

Nickers poor rakers face looks sore, glad it isn't bothering him though. Sorry no advice but hope it clears up quick. I wonder if your photographer could use photoshop so you don't see it in the photos, are you getting family shots or only ones of your littlest man?

AFM busy weekend but beautiful weather. Had a BBQ at a friends yesterday and then went to an open day at an orchard. Kids had a ball, ate lots of pears, plums and juice so dont think we will go far from s toilet today lol. Mum is having the big girls for a sleepover tomorrow, suppose I should give her a heads up about the fruit consumption Helena has slept well so far again think the fresh air helps her have a better nights sleep

Well the bleeding haas stopped for over a week now so I'm hoping I'm done! TMI but we DTD yeStereday and everything seems to be in working order the pelvic floor exercises are working

[Elocin]

This is me:

Connor slept from 7.30pm til 1.15am (I went to bed at 8pm)... Back down at 2am & woke at 4.45am. He has just fed for 20 minutes and just flashed me a massive smile.

Oh happy day.. Well, so far anyway