Hi everyone

Welcome to the newbies. Delighted to have you join as long as you dont mind a couple of interlopers - some of us had our bubs a tad early but dont want to leave the group after 9 months!

Wow, what a difference a week makes. Louie is now not feeding to sleep after his daytime feeds, but is after his night. PERFECT!

Settling him takes on a variety of shapes. Rocking, singing, just putting him in the cradle and walking away. Lots of sucking in the evening (our finger or his). I'm trying to mix it up so we dont have a single crutch (multiple is better!) lol! Also making DH do some of the settling too - so its not all mummy. Our night time feeds are really special though - just me and the little man and straight off to sleep. Resisting the overwelming desire to give him a dummy (something I thought I would never do but contemplate every evening when the crying is a bit much).

His neck lifting is average, but he is a man that likes to roll. The healthcare nurse says its unusual but then she saw it. Who wants to lay money on an active wee man who crawls early! Well, he will if he gets his head sorted. We also had grabbing this morning which was lovely. Sadly - no smiles yet - well not without wind that is

Kirley 64 - on the boob thing. As you guys know L had a lefty leaning tendency. I found out its because my flow is super super super fast on the right boob (and only super fast on the left). So in the morning feeds (when my flow is strongest) I use a nipple shield to start him off, then break his feed (mid suck) and whip it off. Also, sometimes start him on the left, then switch him to the right mid suck. It seems to work for us now. Sue Cox was really happy for me to use the shields as a bridging measure esp as I seem to have plenty of milk. Which I think is a result of the regular expressing I did when he was a wee bub. I still seem to be able to whip 50 mls off in 10 minutes on the swing pump. As for feed timings. Sometimes he takes 40mins (20min each), sometimes he takes 10. I have no idea why.

Anyway - he wakes. Boobs are tingling. Better run.

Love to you all.xxxx