ladies. sorry have been MIA from this thread, just have not had any time to get on here!! - who would've thought having a newborn and a 2 yr old would be so demanding
glad to read you all seem to be coping with your new additions - it certainly has been a big adjustment for me!!
Not much to report on from me, Miss Z has well and truly woken up from being in my tummy and my goodness she is one demanding little lady - soooo different to my first DD, so im finding it a bit disconcerting, but am managing well - she feeds like a champ and i had my 2 week nurse appt yesterday and she has gained 315grams in 1 week - i definitely have another little buddah on my hands!!
TUP - i have the same issue with DD (ie i feed her, burp etc then put her down for sleep and she just cries!) mind you, this only started on Monday, so i think she is just becoming more aware and alert to the fact that im not holding her - will be investing in an ergo baby carrier soon, because i just cannot sit and hold her
anyways, i will try to post more regularly, but if i don't i will be keeping up with whats going on in here
TUP & Lisa, thank you for the EBM help And TUP that info was incredibly helpful, thank you
TUP, are you following the sleep & breastfeeding routine or just the sleep one? I've read the book and found the sleep routine and what she said about sleep interesting. A friend has used the sleep & feeding routine with her 4month old (she started it when her DD was a couple of weeks old) and has had huge success with it. I hope it works for you
Negrita, glad to hear Miss Z is doing so well! That is an incredible weight gain!
Afm, we had had a restless night last night. He woke about 9.30 or so and was awake for a little bit, then had a feed and he must have guzzled it too fast as he had a small coughing session which must have upset his tummy as he then done a huge vomit over the both of us. So at about 10pm or a bit after we both ended up in the shower. Poor little guy. I know its normal and his fine, but its still scary when they vomit so big. The shower was lovely though lol. After we got out we had more skin to skin on the bed and he has a small feed. Was lovely hahaha.
He slept well after that, was up at his usual times but then he also woke twice more after 5am. I think he may have been a little cold but could I get him to stay wrapped up and not pull his arms out to stay warm?! Nope! Lol. After the 2nd time though I put him in bed with me and we slept in until 8.45!
Anyway his just gone down for his mid-morning nap so I'm going to take this opportunity to go shower lol
just popping in real quick to let you all know that deals direct is having a sale on baby stuff. They have a Roger Armstrong port a cot on sale for $39.95. We actually have this port a cot and it is great - a basic one but great all the same.
Sorry I've been MIA for the past week or so....I just never find the time to get onto the computer, however I think things are settling down so hopefully I will be able to get back on more often in future.
Just a few responses:
The discussion on how often your bub is feeding - Amelia feeds every 2-3 hours during the day, but can occasionally do really long stretches at night. Some nights she wants food every 3-4 hours, some nights she will go 5-6 hours. Last night we had an amazing night and she was fed at about 9:30pm, was asleep by around 10:45 and slept til 6am - so that was 8.5 hours since the last feed!
Regarding expressing - I have been trying to express a bit during the day (when I can) and have been doing a big express each night at around 9:30 when DH feeds Amelia a bottle of EBM (I express enough for the next nights feed, although last night I managed to get a little extra). I find that Amelia settles really well after this feed. I have an electric breast pump (tommee tippee for anyone who is interested) and I have found it works really well. During the day when I express I usually get between 30-60ml at a time (at which point I stop as I don't want Amelia to not have 'enough' when she next wants food).
AFM - we've been having huge issues with vomit. Initially we thought she might have some sort of reflux as she would be screaming when I was trying to feed her and vomiting in huge amounts. We now think it's more likely a wind problem. She gets so much wind and just can't bring it up and she screams since it makes her poor little tummy so sore. It's not unusual to sit with her for 1-2 hours at a time trying to get the wind up (which sometimes results in many vomits). Anyway, DH's Mum suggested trying infacol last night (we'd also had this suggested from the lactation consultant) - apparently DH almost lived on it as a baby - and, at my wits end I went and got some and OMG, it was amazing! The burps have come up so easy and Amelia seems so much happier. The fact that she slept so well last night I feel has to do with this as often she wakes up a lot needing to be burped. Today she has wanted to feed every couple of hours (I rekon she's catching up from last night), but I don't mind, especially if she wants to sleep so well again! I will know for sure in a few days if it is the infacol helping or if it is just a cooincidence, but all I know is that today I have really enjoyed being a Mum, whereas I hate to say it, but I haven't been enjoying myself much the past couple of weeks
Anyway....gotta go put tea on before Amelia wakes up!
Must.resist.baby.sale!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing that Lisa I hope I can control my "browsing"
Chody, Thats great Amelia slept so well! I hope it keeps up for you. I really hope the infacol works, it must be so stressful having her vomit so much.
Afm, Well Xavier does not like dummys (not that that bothers me atm), but he also doesnt like bottles! We tried to give him some EBM last night & tonight, from two different teat types, and he wouldnt have a bar of it. It made him kind of gag as well. I've had to express a little every day for comfort, and thought it'd be nice for DP to give him a feed at night. But he wont take it haha. I've read that some babies take time to take to things like a dummy or bottle, so I'll keep offering it every other day or so. If he doesnt take to it, he doesnt, no worries there. But it'd be nice to not have this EBM go to waste lol.
I also have such a hard time getting his wind up! It doesnt bother him, he usually emits it out his butt (LOL) at some point or he works it up himself. I asked my midwife if its bad that I cant get it up every feed and she said not to worry as they aren't as strict with BF babies and getting wind up anymore, and if it doesnt come & it doesnt bother him not to worry. I just hope it doesnt create problems later on as he grows.
I think he's also moved permanently into our room too lol. I've got the porta-cot set up in there (not sure if thats ideal though for sleeping in every night? I dont think we'd fit our normal cot in our room though) and its so much easier getting up to him at night.
Oooooh I also weighed myself for the first time since giving birth (finally bought some scales lol), and I've lost 12 kilos of the 22 I put on. Not bad 2 weeks post birth I dont think!
Anyway the little man is ready for a feed, so I best be off
If everyone doesn't mind, and you haven't already, can you please tell me how you are expressing?
Using what? Hand? Manual? Electric?
Brand?
How long does it take?
To get how much?
I have the advent one and So can't tell if it's me or the pump but I do it for 60seconds and nothing comes out!
Am I being ridiculously impatient? How long with a full morning breast does it take for the pump to get anything out?
Is it better to express from a breast that baby hasn't emptied eg the 2nd breast? Does it happen faster then?
Most pumps say wait to try until after 6 weeks for whatever reason but Arthur is 5 weeks in Sunday and you guys are ripping along with younger babies!
I have a client and her sister can't express any way but my client is like a cow. She uses the advent electric pump and can get 120 mls each time!!!!
I want my wife to have some feeding time with him.
Also, anyone having drama with getting baby to bed at 'our bedtime'.... Like between 8:30 and 9:30?
He fights! Sometimes for 2 hrs!
Wakes himself up. Not screaming just grizzling and being restless. We check bums, rock, walk, bouncer, cuddle, sing, feed.....
All that after a small feed then a bath then a bigger feed then we try. He has all the tired symptoms. He just fights that one.
Every other one during the night, I get him up to feed after he wakes. 15 mins, one breast. Sometimes burps sometimes not. Back to bed for 3-4 hrs. Repeat... But the 9pm one is rubbish!
Any tips????
Last edited by mum+mum; February 24th, 2011 at 07:53 PM.
sorry from me too for being MIA on this thread for awhile, been having ALOT of troubles with Ayva breastfeeding, so i have been stalking, but not replying to anything (but its been so quiet anyway! lol)
the good news is, shes starting to attach properly again! yay!! she has only had a bottle of EBM once (which was this morning) since around 7pm last night, and that was after she'd been feeding for like 1.5 hrs, and was still acting hungry! but i can live with that!
i was just so surprised when she attached last night, the feed before she was really resisting, but then i tried lying down for the hell of it, thinking i should try every feed, and Voila! she attached and fed like a champ, and continued to do so throughout the night! DH said he didnt even wake once when i was feeding her on booby throughout the night thats how quiet she was! (she was in our bed though, so she didnt have a huge chance to wake throughout the night like she would in the bassinet)
now all i can do is it stays like this!! i can deal with EBM top-ups provided she feeds well, and is just still a tad hungry, but ideally, id love her to get milk drunk from only me lol. however, i wont complain!!
however, i think that when she had the bottle last night, it must be her "arsenic hour" because she was very very fussy again at around the same time when she had a feed today, and was awake for around 2.5-3 hours, and was feeding for AAGGESS from me! so i think it must just be her unsettled time of day?
does anyone else's bubs have an unsettled time of day? what do you usually do to help get them to settle down and sleep (or at least stop wanting booby! lol)
ill add to the discussion about feeding! both when booby and on bottle, generally Ayva will sleep around 2.5-4 hours between feeds (depends on the time of day), and at night will usually do a stretch of about 5 hours, then another stretch of either 3-4 hours. but mostly its around 3-4 hours between feeds
shan - awesome job on the weight! its such an AWESOME feeling when you just lose weight! lol i've lost about 17-18kg since bubs was born, so im well below my pre-pregnancy weight, and nearly at the same weight i was when i was at my lowest during pregnancy, im about 1kg off it
im even fitting into clothes i havent worn in years and my pre-preg clothes just seem to be falling off me!
all i need now is for the skin on my belly to catch up has anyone else still got saggy skin from their bubs? can any experienced mums tell me if it actually gets better? or does the skin just stay saggy?
also, i dont mean to be ignorant, but whats the Tizzy Hall save our sleep routine stuff? sounds interesting, i really have no idea about those routine things lol, ive just been letting Ayva run the show so far :P
I changed my ticker too to a picture of Ayva BF'ing today, i was so proud of her i had to take a picture and i just loved the picture i decided to make it my ticker lol
I had a MASSIVE blonde moment today too, i was going to go to the clinic to get DD weighed and checked out as usual, and i went and checked the address, and when it's open, and the times etc. and went there, and when i got there, i realised that its open on WEDNESDAY, not THURSDAY! it even said so on the paper, and i realised that, but for some reason it didnt click! lol!! i knew it was thursday today, and i knew the clinic was wednesday, but WTH?! lol! i was so cranky with myself because DD and i just got back to sleep after a feed, and i woke us both up unnecessarily! lol... ah well, at least this way DH gets to come tomorrow, as he couldnt go today as he had to do his exam for his paramedic application.. (fingers crossed he did well!!) but yeah...
will be interesting to see how much weight she's put on over the last week, because i KNOW shes a guts, she will OFTEN feed herself to the point where she will throw up!
is that normal? lol...
anyways, better go, its tiring typing with a baby leaning on your arm! loll
Hope, what a beautiful picture!
Great news on the weight lose too.
I'll chime in here too....
I put on 6 kgs during the whole preg and have now lost 16 kgs. i was in my pre preg clothes after 2 weeks.
i'm feeling pretty sexy....
BUT... I was at 106kgs when about to give birth and am now down to 90kgs so its not like i was 76 and am now down to 60kgs... i still have a way to go but am very happy with my size 14 - 16... I would like to get down to 75kgs so another 15 to go. I read that breast feeding can burn an extra 600calories which is the equivilant to 2 x 1 hr aerobics classes!
I put it down to the breast feeding! and the having no time to really snack alot. and being busy.
Skin on the belly...? I hear you!
How long does that take to get firm again, if ever!
Anyway, hope has inspired me to update my ticker pic too....
Congrat Hope & M+M on your FANTASTIC weight loss! thats amazing! I too have the saggy belly skin, look o funny with my stretch marks lol. How'd everyone fair up with the good ol stretchies? I only got them in the last two week when Xavier had a growth spurt, and they're only on the front of my belly (it was the bottom of my bump). I'm quite stoked I only got a small amount lol.
I dont fear the belly skin not tightening ever again, I think it will. IF I exercise LOL.
Hope, thats so AWESOME about Ayva bf!!! I really hope it continues and improves for you! That is a gorgeous ticker picture as well, I love it. And lol at the blonde moment, I had one of those today when I got my MCHN appointment times confused.
Oh and Xavier seems to overfed himself too, he's puked once the last 3 days after having big feeds and guzzling away really fast. He seems to puke huge amounts, it comes out his nose too the poor bugger! He got me this morning as well, AFTER I had a shower lol.
M+M, LOVE the ticker pic! Did you get some professional photos done? Its gorgeous!
Re the unsettled times & getting off to sleep, Xaviers unsettled time is 9.30-10.30pm. He can be in bed earlier, but he always wakes at 9.30 or so for a feed, then takes his time going back to sleep. Last night was the 'worst'. He's really not that bad, he doesnt cry or grizzle, he just fights going to sleep. His eyes will droop and he'll realise and wake himself haha. Last night he just didnt want to go to sleep. Rocking/patting wasnt working, he wanted boobie the entire time. He had a large feed, which sent him off to sleep but he woke when I put him down and wouldnt go off again. Then he just wanted to comfort suck. So I gave him a dummy. Funny how I wrote in my previous post he wouldnt take one, but he took it last night when I would tap it while putting it in his mouth. He fought sleep still a little with one type of dummy (i have 3 different types lol), but finally kept one in and even though he was wide eyed I put him to bed and he took himself off to sleep.
During the day I usually feed him, change bum, offer other side and when he finishes I just cuddle him for a few minutes and he goes to sleep. Or we put him on our chest, he goes out like a light like that! Well except for last night lol.
Afm, I stuffed up my MCHN appointment today I thought the appointment was 1pm, but it was 12pm! So now I have to wait until tuesday to get him weighed/checked etc.
And after Xaviers battle against sleep last night, he slept really well. Went 5 hours from 10.30 until 3.30, then was up at 6.30, and then didnt wake until 9.30. I'm living this awesome sleep up, who knows if it will last hahaha.
I also got pulled into doing a parenting class on the 6th. Y'know how a couple comes in and talks about their experiences with their newborn for the first few weeks? Yeah well thats going to be me LOL. Oh god. DP is adamant he wont be going lol. which I dont mind, he doesnt like talking in front of people. Its funny though because at our parenting class we laughed about how we would NEVER be that couple if we were asked. And now look! Lol. I couldnt say no when my midwife asked, I was a bit chuffed she thought to ask me lol. Will be interesting!
Urrrggggh and we were meant to have a BBQ with friends tonight. We bought a $70 gas bottle for the bbq, $80 worth of food, handmade all the salads & dressings ... and our friends forgot about it and organised for their family to go around to dinner
SO ANNOYED!
Well I think I'm going to go make a cuppa tea and eat some of the boston cake I bought for dessert tonight. Cant let it go to waste!
Just popping in while little miss is asleep.
Our little girl Sophie was born by emergency c/section on the 11th Feb at 10.10pm. She weighed 9lb 8oz and was 55 cm long.
I'm looking forward to meeting you all.
This will be a bit general b/c Im soo tired & it's all most lil miss wake up time.
Great going everyone on the weight loss I have found Im snacking so much, I cant be bother making anything & Im craving sweet things so undoing all the good stuff that breastfeed can help with! I've told hubby that Monday is D day, going to try & exercise and make huge effort to eat better..
M&M I use manual advent express. Takes about 10 min to express 60 - 80 mls... If Im not getting milk within a minute I sort of reposition the breast pad thing and also putting a warm face washer on your breast can help, expressing while feeding from the other breast or having a warm shower before expressing... I think it's one of those things you need to just keep up with. In the morning your breasts are usually fuller so it's often a good time to do then.
I put lil miss down at 7pm and let her self settle. Usually only takes a few minutes, her unsettled time is more through the afternoon, when she might sleep 30 - 40min & then wake up & cry. Having said that my other 2 little people were screamers/unsettled for at least the first 6mths and it didn't matter what we did, & I tried everything!!! My oldest is still bad at going to sleep & she is now 4yrs old... But having said that, my one bit of advice is if your going to try one way to settle, do it for a week or two & give it time to work before trying a different method... Can be soo hard, I can feel my anxiety just peak when my babies cry & cry... very stressful...
Welcome Bec, our babies share the same birth date
Shan bummer about your friends, that's a disappointing!
Well best run now, hope you all get some good quality sleep tonight.
Hi Ladies,
Sorry, have been a bit slow to join, but am finally here. My little DS is three weeks old on Thursday and my DD is 23 months on Wednesday. DS has wind issues, hopefully not reflux but we are on losec as he's a big time vomiter and can't be laid down for quite a while after each feed. My DD was such a great sleeper and feeder so it's been a bit hard. Trying to get routines going but the little guy is hungry all the time which has made it close to impossible. Doesn't really like dummies but is taking breast, EBM and formula so he's adaptable like his big DD was. I express using the medela swing and highly recommend them. Got it for $219 delivered.
Hopefully will be able to add more and read all the posts soon - the room my computer i in has no air con and it's 35 today with now the hottest summer on record. 38 the last two days and humid!!
Welcome Samcouger & Lairdoz Look forward to getting to know you
We had an appointment today with the MCHN, and Xavier power chucked all over her He had only finished a feed 15minutes before we got there, and as soon as we got in the door he chucked over me. So she took him so I could clean myself up, and he kept going all over her hahaha. I felt so bad!
We then weighed him, and in 11 days since he was last weighed his put on 650grms! Little piggy!! He's also grown 3cm in length and his head circumference has grown a cm. So proud of my little boy!
MCHN also asked if he had started smiling a little yet, and he has! He smiles when he's got wind or needs to fart, but he had neither of those and done it a couple of times when I started talking silly at him. I managed to grab it on camera too. Soooo cute!
Anyway he's down for a nap atm so I'm going to run and make some lunch while I have the chance lol
Shan - That is a brilliant weight gain! Go Xavier!!!
Lucinda has started smiling too. Last week she looked at me and did a big smile, but this morning it was a proper smiling-at-me smile. She was looking straight into my eyes and she did a massive cheesy grin! I melted. Naaaaaaaw.
Hi everyone Welcome Samcouger & Sophie and Lairdoz & DS. I definitely look forward to getting to know you & your babies better and sharing the journey together.
Me - I'm so busy that I feel overwhelmed at times. I am so freaking grateful that I have the most amazingly lovely husband who has cooked dinner every evening since I had Lucy. I have not ventured into my laundry in almost 3 weeks yet the laundry is still getting done with thanks to DH, DS1 & DD1. My days and consumed with breast feeds, 2 childrens nappy changes, feeding & amusing DS2 & DD2. By the time I get some time to myself, it is 11pm and I am exhausted. I dream of the day that I can shower & toilet ALONE again. lol. It might sound like a moan, but I am really loving it. DH is putting in applications for DS2 to start daycare soon. I am such a sook and I want him home with me forever but I know it is best for him, especially now where most of his activities are happening inside
Shan, Hope and M+M - Congrats on the weight loss! That is awesome! I'm not going too badly if I say so myself. I put on about 11kgs during pregnancy and have lost about 8.5 so far, so only 2.5 to go! I was probably a couple of kg's heavier than I wanted to be before I got pregnant so ideally I'd like to lose around 5 more, but I'm not stressing about it, that being said, I am absolutely hanging out to go to the gym. I haven't been in sooooo long and just want to get in there again. Hopefully when I have my 6 week appointment next week I'll be given the all-clear to head back there again!
M+M - Expressing info: I am using a tommee tippee electric pump (purely because I had some of those bottles given to me and I was told that babies can be more likely to take these bottles as the teats are very much like BB's). The amount I can get out varies. Sometimes I will only get 10-20ml, but I can usually get 50-60ml off one BB in a reasonably short stint (during the morning or early afternoon). At night DH feeds Amelia a bottle of EBM so I pump both BB's at this time and seem to get varying amounts that have ranged from 50-150ml total. As for nothing coming in the first minute, that seems to be the case for me. It takes a while to get started but once the 'let down' has happened it seems to pick up the pace.
TUP - Wow, it's awesome that DD will self settle! Was it you that is using the 'save our sleep book'? If so, are you using her tips to get her to self settle? I have a copy here and tried it for a few days but have given up for now as Amelia has so much trouble with wind what self-settling seems almost impossible at the moment. I don't mind the routines in the book, but I found that i was constantly looking at the clock all day....I might use it a bit more when she gets over the wind problems and she gets a bit older.
Lairdoz - Your DS sounds just like Amelia. She has huge wind problems and vomits huge amounts. We also need to wait ages before laying her down. What is losec and what is it for? At the moment we are giving Amelia infacol to help get the wind up (she would scream for ages otherwise as we just couldn't get it all up). I'm not sure if this is the best option but we have an appointment with the paediatrician next week for her 6 week check up so I'll ask then.
Shan - Congrats on Xaviers weight gain!
Lisa - Your days certainly sound busy but i'm glad that you are loving it. I myself sometimes feel like i am going a little crazy!
AFM - Well the infacol seems to be working still in dispersing Amelia's wind (either up or down) but we are still getting lots of vomits - and huge ones at that (although this doesn't seem to be upsetting her at all). I'm not really sure of the solution to all this but hopefully we get some sort of answer when we see the paediatrician next week. Last week she only put on 110g (as opposed to 280g the previous week). I'm wondering if all the vomits have something to do with this or if it was just a balancing out from the previous week. She will be getting weighed again tomorrow so I'm hoping for good numbers.
Hey just wondering if I can join this thread. Piper was born on the 9th of Feb. She is doing very well except for a few feeding problems due to the fact that the whole family got sick with a nasty cold the day we got home, including her and the fact that we have thrush. But we are battling along. Oh and hourly feeds during the day and 2 hourly at night with 2 other small children is hard work. I look forward to chatting with you all and seeing how all our little bubs grow.
Welcome to our newbies
I have not posted for some time just been a little busy trying to get this house in order and catching up with things. I have been stalking though.
As for expressing I was using Madela electric pump which I hired the pump and brought the attachments very dear though but worked a treat.(that was with ds #1) with my next one I was hand expressing and using the same pump at the hosp, but I ended up stopping and going on formula.
My boy is vomiting too and have taken him to the docs it might be reflux but am going back in 2 weeks and get another check up. He struggles to bring up wind too so I might get some infacol and see if that works I find if he doesn't burp he vomits more and he doesn't settle as well.
well I better go and check up on bubs and make up some bottles
take care
ladies. sorry have been MIA from this thread, just have not had any time to get on here!! - who would've thought having a newborn and a 2 yr old would be so demanding 
- i definitely have another little buddah on my hands!!
- will be investing in an ergo baby carrier soon, because i just cannot sit and hold her 
Reply With QuoteAnd TUP that info was incredibly helpful, thank you
she has only had a bottle of EBM once (which was this morning) since around 7pm last night, and that was after she'd been feeding for like 1.5 hrs, and was still acting hungry! but i can live with that!
it stays like this!! i can deal with EBM top-ups provided she feeds well, and is just still a tad hungry, but ideally, id love her to get milk drunk from only me lol. however, i wont complain!!
I thought the appointment was 1pm, but it was 12pm! So now I have to wait until tuesday to get him weighed/checked etc.
- look fwd to getting to know you and your littlle bubbas 
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