I'm a little bit excited. A whole dumbstruck, and a little bit pooping in my pants lol. We were soooo not trying lol. But yeah, guess we shoulda taken more attention with the birds and bees talk
DH is pretty excited. he is also freaking out a bit about logistics (ie our travel plans, the appts and scans etc), it's just very very surreal. we have never fallen pg easily, so this is just weird lol.
Cass, I am super happy for you! I am picking boy! How very exciting! I am sure that everything will work out nicely and you were already planning to be home a bit earlier, it was meant to be
I'm thinking boy too! How cute would that be, I just know your girls will love doting on him!
Arte - sorry your post got a bit lost in the EXCITEMENT. Remember a while back you told us she'd stopped gaining weight? That is the exact same thing that happened with E especially when she was going through the most hellish stage of not sleeping. Sounds exactly the same - not even long enough to get a solid 20 mins before she would start up again, I was hallucinating and having heart palpitations and other weird physical things pretty much day in day out. I was totally shocked when we finally got into the sleep school and they showed me her weight gain had stopped - I didn't talk about much at the time because I felt so guilty and embarrassed like i'd been starving her for months or something (of course I hadn't, there was a sleep issue mixed in there as well. PITY the MACH nurses at the clinic couldn't point out the bleepin obvious when I went there desperate for help 6 weeks earlier ). BUT part of the learning to go back to sleep process was about adding in extra calories as well.
So, what we did:
*Add full cream dairy and more egg into her diet (ie giving her custards, semolina pudding, etc). I would also give her things like french toast (cooked in butter) in fingers
*Grate a bit of cheese into her food, or add a bit of butter or oil. So she doesnt' have to consume more volume to get more calories
*Give the "third boob" ie - b/feed as usual, then put her down to play or whatever, then 20-30 minutes later pick her up and offer her a boob again (the 1st if she's drained both, or the 2nd if she's only had a little on that side)
*Getting her up for an extra feed sometime before midnight - take your time and let her comfort suck for a while
*They also had me stop feeding in between that midnight feed and about 5am. This was to encourage her to take more calories during the day, when she's awake
Anyway it didn't take long to get her gaining again and she was much more content after a couple of weeks. I would really give this a go if I were you, everything you've described sounds so similar to the pattern we had with E. And if you don't get any improvement on either the sleep or the weight gain, it might be worth following up with a paed.
MD, thank you so very much for that! I will go out tomorrow and stock up on high calorie things for her. I was floundering in the dark with no idea of what to do, I really appreciate having a plan.
I have wondered if her no weight gain is related to my weight loss, like it is taking the nutrition out of my milk. I thought I was eating enough but maybe not enough to support breastfeeding I hope I haven't been starving her She never seems overly hungry, except this crazy overnight frenzy. I will definitely offer both boobs too, she has always been content with just one side since she was born. She is a non complaining type - like if DH has her and she wants a feed but I take a few minutes to get inside, she will just go to sleep without it.
That makes whatever happens tonight a bit more bearable having a plan for tomorrow.
I do think that the mother's diet can affect the composition of the breastmilk, but really only under fairly extreme dietary conditions. Like your blood, if you were eating loads of lipids or starving yourself then that would show up in your cholesterol levels, but in the most part the measurements of various things remain within a fairly narrow range (ETA just remembered the word I wanted to use- homeostasis). It's like that for breast milk. E never seemed extra hungry during the daytime during that period either (she seemed content enough with both her breastfeeds and solids) so it never occurred to me that it might be a problem. I only fed the one boob too which seemed to be enough (and was for the first 7 months), but when I started offering the 2nd and 3rd boob - even after a little play or whatever, she also took it, so maybe it wasn't. Dont' feel bad - trust me any self-flagellation is a result of your sleep deprivation. Everything is so much more in perspective when you've had some rest. I hope this works and you get some decent sleep soon. You are a wonderful mummy and a most excellent person too. xxxx
ETA - just realised your E is a bit younger than my E was at that stage (around 9 mths old from memory), so it's probably more appropriate for you to still be giving a feed between that late night one and 5 am (?) Also, not sure how far you've gone with introducing solids at this stage? Obviously don't be stuffing her full of something she's never had before, start with a little and build up gradually. xxx
Last edited by AnyDream; March 2nd, 2012 at 06:48 PM.
I thought BM was supposed to be like that, I hope it is good enough for her.
She is not quite 6 months yet but we started solids just before 4 months because she was very interested, grabbing it and eating it herself. Now I wonder if it was because her body needed it? Anyway, I didn't want to start her that early so I have just stuck with simple foods - mainly fruit and veges, bread and kruskits, and bits of our tea. Now she has (yet another!) cold and hasn't been interested in any solids today so I have been offering her BF when normally I wouldn't and she has been taking a bit. I will try extra feeds over the weekend and see how we go, but am sort of thinking about a bottle of formula in the evening after her solids dinner. Not that she will likely take a bottle lol, nothing is ever easy!
Arte you might find if you're offering extra feeds for a few days you will get a boost in supply and won't need the formula. Have you comp fed her at all before now? See how you go.
haha, are you guys sure lol? I wonder if DH only has girl sperm lol
Leila told me a few weeks ago that we need a 'brudder'...maybe she sees something we don't!
now that the immediate shock is over I am starting to get excited i have to get a ticker!!!!!!
I havent told Miss L yet...I think I want a bit more time to get used to the idea (also, i had a very hard time around 5-12 weeks pg with Marta that i want to prepare for this time JIC...darn PTSD!).
Cass, W keeps talking about when I have another baby. Not happening lol. I waited until around the 12 week mark to tell W with both of the girls. I am glad you are excited. New babies are always a blessing.
MD, many thanks as always xx. I have never fed a baby from a bottle since I fed my brother his bottles when I was 5. I have no idea how lol so I hope I don't need to.
Last edited by Artechim; March 3rd, 2012 at 06:22 PM.
Arte, I would have no idea how to do a formula feed either. But boosting supply, I know how to do that lol.
Cass wow @ the brudder talk. Start planning boy names! There's plenty of time before you need to announce, we waited until after 1st tri to tell dd1, it makes it more real for them once you start getting a bit of a bump. Xxx
BellyBelly Member
). BUT part of the learning to go back to sleep process was about adding in extra calories as well.
I hope I haven't been starving her
Dont' feel bad - trust me any self-flagellation is a result of your sleep deprivation.
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