Babies Born ~ November 1st -15th 2011 #1

[Lolpigs]

I am supposed to pump straight after a feed, but that has never been possible. I pump for 20mins, After feeding bub, and then feeding her the formula getting her settled already its been an hour and a half usually and she is back up in an hour for another feed. This is why it is getting hard to continue. I would rather her be on the boob, than pump and not have anything which has happened a few times. Due to my low supply I don't seem to "fill up" very quickly.

Unless my husband is here to feed her the formula, I almost get no time to pump. I'm really not sure what to do, he says stop pumping but I don't know what to do :S

[Mollie89]

Well after the craziness we have had tonight, im about ready to curl up in a ball and just cry... Or chuck in the breastfeeding and start formula... i feel like absolute crap because all Aubree is doing is crying and nothing we do it settling her.. Mind you im not sure weather she is over tired or not....

[Lolpigs]

Well after the craziness we have had tonight, im about ready to curl up in a ball and just cry... Or chuck in the breastfeeding and start formula... i feel like absolute crap because all Aubree is doing is crying and nothing we do it settling her.. Mind you im not sure weather she is over tired or not....

don't know hun, Lilly is having issues tonight as well shes been up and crying since 6:30 :S

[Mollie89]

SAME with Aubree.. I gave her the boob she stopped crying and went to sleep.. now I am to scared to move her because I know she is tired

[Cranky Kitten]

Sounds like it could've been over-tiredness or over-stimulation. Sometimes they get themselves so worked up they find it hard to relax enough to sleep. Sucks to be in the middle of though

[DANNIIM]

Mollie she could be going through a growth spurt possibly! I know when I was still breastfeeding, Abby had a whole afternoon that she was feeding non stop and wouldn't/couldn't sleep for 7 hours straight and nothing I did settled her so we ended up taking her for a drive and the poor love was so exhausted she slept for 10 hours straight.

Wondering if we've had a growth spurt this last week cos Abby has spread her feeds out to 4 hourly mainly today. I even had to wake her at 7pm tonight cos I didn't want her going over the 4 hours. Her whole personality has really come through this week and we have really started to connect, it's really nice cos she just snuggles into me now and falls asleep without having to be fed

[Lolpigs]

Well managed to get a couple hours nap, but that was with bubs asleep on me, seems she had a tummy ache or something that finally settled. Good grief.

Awake again for 12:30 feed, hopefully she will just go down to sleep after this one.

[Lolpigs]

Ugh what an awful morning, in bed at 2:30 up at 5:30 and bubs was screaming after her feed from wind. She hardly took any bottle. Offered boob again at 8:30 and she sucked for a bit then spat up. Didn't seem too interested. Finally got her to sleep with sleepy wrap and dummy.. gah.

Also husbands are crap help when they haven't had enough sleep. Well at least mine is. Makes me not want to ask him for help becuase he is such a pita.

Hope everyone elses night went well. Thinking of you Sweetpea x

Also heard from my LC today, she pretty much agrees with my plan and says my supply "may" improve and pumping is the best way to do that. Gah. Don't think they know why my supply is so low or why it is not improving. Too hard basket I guess.

I'll try and pump when I can but not at the detremint of my BF relationship with bubs I think, seeing as isn't baby supposed to be better than a pump anyway?

[xAmandax]

Awwww thank you everyone for your support and being so kind it made me feel so much better reading all your replies I really feel that the best thing might be to go see a relationships counsellor just to bounce some thoughts off of a third, impartial person cos I finally got a chance to speak to him about it last night and I said I was really hurt by what he said and wanted to make sure he didn't actually mean it, and he was like, I didn't mean it in general but in that particular situation you were being selfish- ugh.

So yeah, Danni I agree with you completely and yes, that's the part that upset me so much, after everything I've been through, it definitely would be nice for a bit of gratitude rather than the opposite! So many people say that having a baby brings you closer and I feel sad that it's not really done that considering I feel like what we have achieved as a couple is so special and his actions just don't really demonstrate the same feelings... I'm sure he feels that way deep down somehow but he sure doesn't show it! Thank you all again for your support, definitely what I needed!!! *hugs to you all*

On another note, sorry to hear of the tough time you both had lolpigs and mollie! I had a similar night, from about 4pm till 11:30pm or so, violet kept feeding every 5 mins... Made my FIL say he thought I should mention it to the nurse who comes Wednesday but pretty sure it might be a growth spurt! Hope you both have better days today and nights tonight... And lolpigs, I hear you on the husbands being not particularly helpful thing! Ugh!!

Jan, so sorry to hear of your ordeal... I really hope all is okay, thinking of you!

Oh and Danni, also, the overnight feeds are sooo tiring! We are every 2-3 hours too and each time she cries it feels like I've only just gotten back to sleep... And it's such a struggle to get out of bed! Feels like you can hardly remember a night where you had a full nights sleep hey!

[DANNIIM]

Amanda glad you had a chance to speak to your DH. They say some men can go through PND and depression post baby's birth too and it's a huge adjustment period for the whole family once a bub is born but hey it can't hurt to seek out some councelling to work out where your both coming from cos sometimes it just feels like your hitting heads constantly.

Wondering how much wake time most of you are having with your bubs mainly during the day cos it always seems as though Abby wants to sleep. She is feeding plenty still but she will either go straight back to sleep or only maybe have 1.5hrs of wake time and that can be pushing it some days. I fed her at 10pm last night before i put her to bed for the night and she went through to 2am then was awake again at 5.30am but then i just fed her and was up for the day instead of going back to bed, plus she had 1.5 hrs of wake time till 7am. Really got to work on her having more wake time during the day but she really seems to only like 1-2 hrs of wake time then goes to sleep which is good cos i can then have some time with DS or some me time.

Hope everyone else is going well!?

[Cranky Kitten]

I don't know that Alex is having any more awake time than that - usually broken into 30 minute to 1 hour blocks between feeds during the day. He'll normally have at least 2 big sleeps, one mid-morning and the other in the afternoon, and a few little catnaps here and there. He does tend to doze off after his feed, I normally cuddle him against me sitting upright or on my chest as he has a tendency to be a bit spewy.

[Lolpigs]

Lilly still sleeps after most feeds unless she has issues with gas or whatever. Usually for an hour or 2.

Starting to feel really down, made the decision to stop pumping today and realised hubby gave bubs her first full formula feed last feed. Because it took us neally 2 hours to get her settled, becuase hubby accidentally caught her skin in her nappy clip ( he was so upset) and she was hungry again and I forgot to check the time. Hubby is trying to be supportive, becuase he knows how much I wanted to breast feed and how hard I've tried to get it going, you think after 4 weeks of hard slog I would see some result but I've gotten nadda. He says if it were up to him, he would just bottlefeed, but he knows how much it means to me

LC has pretty much put me in the too hard basket. If I continue this hard slog I might get an increase, but I might not. It is really not enjoyable to continue doing, and takes away time for me to recover from my opteration. Not sure what to do beyond continuing to nurse as long as Lilly wants to. Still feels like I am letting her down or making excuses in my head however.

Feeling very sad On a good note she finally got out all the gas and a big poop that was bothering her so she is sound asleep now after that FF. So that is at least something, but it will mean that it will be 4 hours or more before I BF again due to the FF. She only went to sleep at 4:30 or so.

Sigh totally bummed. I think I might end up carrying this sadness forever. Life completely sucks atm.

[~~Snoogans~~]

Danni - Zoe sleeps a LOT! She wakes for her feeds, anywhere from 3 - 4 hours, then pretty much passes out after some burping and a few cheeky snuggles.
Except today, today she has been awake and grumpy and farty and grumpy for about 3 HOURS!!!! she is finally asleep now tho! w00t

And, my sister has taken Harriett for the night! yehawwwwwwwwwwwww ... I shall be requesting a shoulder and foot massage from the man!

[DANNIIM]

Phew was starting to wonder if i had a sleepy bub on my hands. She generally has a wakeful period in the morning first thing of an hour or two then she has been having another wake period in the arvo just afternoon lunchtime or another hour or two and thats it, but today she fed at 12.30 and then slept till 4pm this arvo for another feed and she is awake at the moment but starting to get grumpy so i know she is close to another going to sleep. You'd think i should know this stuff being 3rd bub and all but DS2.... well that child just did not sleep so Abby seems like a dream baby to me atm.

Lolpigs you got Lily on Nan don't you? That formula is known for binding them up and i know i had to change DS2 from it and i used Karicare for him. It's hard going getting feeding sorted for them, but you've done the best you can and that's all that matters.

[AMumma]

Hugs Lolpigs xx

Mr grumpy man is in full swing at the moment. Hubby got him to calm down, he's clean and fed so guessing it is wind.

[Lolpigs]

Yeah Nan HA to keep her hungry for boob. She hasnt been constipated though,but I guess because she is getting more formula now it is taking her belly a little while to adjust and it is giving her more trouble? We figured it out it was gas. She has been crying in her sleep rather than farting.. I know I know I have a happy farter hehe We gave her infacol last feed and she is getting back to where she was. I'm going to try giving it to her every second feed and see how she goes.

Edit: LMAO as I type this she just did another epic poop. On my husband. Classic.

Thanks for hugs Amumma, thanks for the support Dan, it is hard going.

.

[AMumma]

Awww poor hubby. I got spit on tonight, wasn't a full vomit but still yuk lol.

Ive let him go to bed, knowing he will be up for a feed in an hour. He was to upset being kept awake.

Levi and I will be home on our own tomorrow night, no idea what I'm going to do for the boredom lol.

[Cranky Kitten]

Edit: LMAO as I type this she just did another epic poop. On my husband. Classic.

Did she have a nappy on?

And the other girls are right btw - you've done the best you possibly can and given her a fantastic start. If all the pumping and stress is getting too much and getting in the way of being able to relax and enjoy her, I'd suggest cutting back or stopping and going to formula full-time. She will benefit a lot more from a relaxed, happy mummy rather than a stressed out to the max frazzled exhausted one.