Babies Born~July 1st-15th 2009 #1

Jasp I'm glad to hear that the expressing is taking less time and you have b'fing plan of attack, hope everything keeps improving for you!

Jess and preagaingpan I hope your little guys get better soon! I'm dreading Ash getting sick for the first time, it must be so hard :hug:

AFM I've still got this blocked duct. I'd been doing the heat packs, massaging and expressing for a day and half and it wasn't going away, so I took myself off to the doctors yesterday. She's put me on antibiotics cos she said 9 times out of 10 they turn into mastitis (which is the last thing I want) and suggested I try cabbage leaves. So I'm off to buy some cabbage this morning. Preagainpan it would be great if you could tell me more about positioning him so that his chin points towards the blockage. It is on the top of the boob (round about where my bra finishes iykwim) so I'm not quite sure how to position him. If I did the football hold would that work, his chin would be pointing toward it, but it would be from the otherside of the boob iykwim...

Miss E - Sorry to hear about your blocked duct ouch.

Jess - I hope Anton is ok and you get some rest

Jasp - I am glad expressing is taking less time.

Preg - Eva has a cold too. All I have been doing is the Fess and breastfeeding. I have a feeling that the cold maybe going to her chest. I am not sure if I should take her to the doctors because she hasn't had a temp.

Sorry I don't have time for many personals. I have soooo much stuff to do atm and no time to do it.

MIss E - that could work.... I cant picture it exactly LOL... ummm you could also lie down and lie him down the other way (like your feet in diff directions) if that woud point his chin towards it.. bit of an awkward possy that one, and it isnt like you can feed him upside down!!! Hope that helps you - how is it today? I hope it is feeling better
Bekz - poor little missy E. J's cold seems a bit better though he is still snuffly. Poor winter bubs!
Jasp - how you doing?
Jess - how is Anton, it sounds scary.
All is well here. J had a v weird day yest and hardly slept. I think it may have been his cold or a growth spurt or something. I am a bit worried re feeding. One side the flow is outta control and he gags and pulls off screaming (then with milk everywhere) poor little guy. have tried reclining etc to no avail. then he gets wind. i am worried maybe his attachment isnt so good. had let it go as he is young but when should i see someone? he is doing lots of wet nappies and poos and gaining heaps of weight so not worried that way but it can make the feeds unpleasant for us both and i loved BF so much last time... might give it a few days and then see MACH nurse and if that doesnt help a LC. i am also a bit worried that he doesnt drain me bc of this...

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Good luck with your test Ryatha, hope they all go well for you. And Jess I hope you had a good birthday.

Well this has probably been the most difficult week I have had since we came home. After getting the routine 'perfected' and having Ash self settling, he decided on Saturday that he didn't want to sleep during the day (thankfully he has kept up his long sleep at night though, but fingers crossed that lasts). So after a battle of wills over the weekend, this week I have focussed on doing whatever it takes to get him to sleep during the day, even if that means sleeping on me. We are getting there and he is having some sleeps in his cot, so it looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel and at least his night sleeps haven't been affected. But today I have discovered I have got what I think is a blocked duct. It's not too painful at the moment, but I am really worried about it turning into mastitis so am trying really hard to get rid of it by tomorrow, otherwise I think I will be making a trip to the doctor. Any tips or advice you ladies have on blocked ducts would be great...

Anyway, hope you are all doing really well, sorry I still haven't done proper personals yet, I am thinking of you all and sending you all lots of sleepy vibes xoxo

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That is exactly what I am going through now. Samuel was really good at getting himself to sleep the last few weeks and this week he is incredibly grumpy! I think it must be a bit of a growth spurt, but this week I feel like I am one step forward, 5 steps backwards!! I am the same, he is going to sleep at night but I am trying to get him to sleep during the day even if he only gets 20 minutes in as he usually will stay awake until the next feed. Nurse at Tresillian said at least get a small amount of sleep before the next feed otherwise they end up worse for the next sleep. I hope your blocked ducts are going okay. Not sure if someone has suggested this but each time I feed I massage them and massage the tops of my boobs with one hand to try to work out the milk. A nurse at the hospital told me it was vital to do this as when you massage them the milk works its way out..it seems to work quite well.. hope it all clears up for you though. it is horrible and painful..

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MIss E - that could work.... I cant picture it exactly LOL... ummm you could also lie down and lie him down the other way (like your feet in diff directions) if that woud point his chin towards it.. bit of an awkward possy that one, and it isnt like you can feed him upside down!!! Hope that helps you - how is it today? I hope it is feeling better
Bekz - poor little missy E. J's cold seems a bit better though he is still snuffly. Poor winter bubs!
Jasp - how you doing?
Jess - how is Anton, it sounds scary.
All is well here. J had a v weird day yest and hardly slept. I think it may have been his cold or a growth spurt or something. I am a bit worried re feeding. One side the flow is outta control and he gags and pulls off screaming (then with milk everywhere) poor little guy. have tried reclining etc to no avail. then he gets wind. i am worried maybe his attachment isnt so good. had let it go as he is young but when should i see someone? he is doing lots of wet nappies and poos and gaining heaps of weight so not worried that way but it can make the feeds unpleasant for us both and i loved BF so much last time... might give it a few days and then see MACH nurse and if that doesnt help a LC. i am also a bit worried that he doesnt drain me bc of this...

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Samuel did that yesterday, cried after his feeds which I thought was strange as breast feeding is meant to calm them!! Samuel is 5 weeks in a few days so I think he is growing, we ended up with milk everywhere and he ended up with it coming out his nose.. funny when I told the story later!
Samuel is doing well, mostly going almost 4 hours at night between feeds and about 3 hours during the day, having a bit of trouble settling him during the day, sometimes he is good and sometimes he isn't. I think each sleep you hvae to start all over again and it is hard not to get frustrated when he is crying a lot. My husband and I are thinking of going to dinner next weekend just the two of us.. Does anyone have any tips on how to express for this? Do I express before I go or get it ready now and unfreeze it, then express when I get home? Never done it before so any tips would be great!

anton is doing ok his cough isnt as scary now. have gone to express feedind him and keeping a diary on how much he is having per day as he has not put on much weight in the last 2 weeks n the nurse was a little concern about it. in a 24 hour period he is getting round about 650mls.

oops - i have been so slack at keeping up with this thread lately that now i have no hope of managing to do all the personals :doh:

jess - glad to hear anton is getting better. how's the expressing going?

miss e - hope the blocked duct has resolved itself.

preagainpan!!!!! - glad you survived the weekend with the inlaws!!

jetta - i think you can express around 30 mins after a feed? the times i've tried to express, i've really only had 'success' (i.e. around 100mls) once so you might need to have a few goes at getting enough - you could start a couple of days before you want to go out & then it should be okay in the fridge. otherwise you could freeze it.

bek - hope miss e's cold is better. did you end up taking her to the doctors?

jas - how are you going? you've been doing such an amazing job with all the expressing & skin to skin time.

cate - hope you've had a lovely time with your dad visiting :)

sorry to everyone i've missed, hope you're all going well!

afm, everything is going okay. i've noticed that corey has started putting his hand/fist in his mouth now instead of waving it in front of his mouth & he seems to have saliva now :lol: DP thinks i'm a bit mad watching all the changes but i can't help myself!

as it's actually sunny here in melb, i think we might go for a walk :)

Sloan - I love seeing all the small changes. I find it facinating. MIss E still has a cold and now a cough but I haven' t taken her to the doctors. I have a 6 week check this week so I'll ask the doctor to check her out. She really isn't bad at all...touch wood!!!

Thanks for answering about when to express. I am impressed that most you can get so much. I can only manage 30mls on a full breast.

Miss E must be going through a growth spurt atm. She seems to be feeding every hour and is unsettled. I had a mini melt down on Saturday. I had a headache, had been up feeding hourly and all the kids decided that they hated me and were absolutely horrible. I actually could have just walked out and not returned. Thankfully I am feeling a bit better today...

I hope everyone is well..It is really hot here today.

bek - i think we're having a growth spurt here too. corey's feeding is a bit all over the place - we dropped to 9 feeds a day but then went back up to 11 again & then down to 9 again. and he's been getting quite fussy when feeding, esp on the right side & is wanting to feed hourly sometime during the day. grrrr! it must be the 6 week thing? please say it's so :lol:

i've only been able to express 100mls once & DP had to do the pumping (ahhh, the glamour of it all!). the times i've tried, i've cracked the sads when i struggle to get 10mls :redface:

:hug: for you Bek, it must be so hard having more than one, especially when they decide to be difficult.

Sloane, good to hear from you! I was just wondering how you were doing this morning. I hope you and Corey had a nice walk, it is so nice having this sunshine isn't it. In fact I think we've been pretty lucky with the weather this winter. I was worried having a winter baby that I wouldn't be able to get out and about, but luckily we've had so many nice days that I have been able to go for walks and combat the cabin fever.

I can't believe how often you guys are feeding, are they short feeds? Ash and I are only doing seven feeds a day (really six, one is a top up feed after his bath to settle him to go to sleep for the night). He spends 20 minutes on each side at each feed though, so there is no way we could possibly feed every hour, he'd never get off the boob!

Keep persisting with the expressing if you can, it does get better... I had to express from when we were in hospital to get my supply up cos Ash was jaundiced. They had me expressing in between each feed (which was every three/four hours) so that the boobs were constantly stimulated. At the time he was having to have formula to supplement what ever I could give him so that we could flush the jaundice out. I invested in a mini electric pump when we got home (pricey but sooooo worth it) and continued to do just that for a couple of weeks after. I started out only getting 10mls or so and stopped when I got up to 80ml. Now when I miss a feed I can get around 150ml which is great because it means that I can skip a feed if DH is willing to let me have a sleep in or if I want to have a drink. It was a pretty hideous time but it was worth it because I think that is what has allowed Ash and I to get down to the 6/7 big feeds and get some sleep.

Ash and I went to the paediatrician (sp?) today for his six week checkup and everything is good, he's continued to put on weight and is now up to 4.4kg which is great. I'm off to see the OB for my 6 week checkup tomorrow. I'm looking forward to having it all over and done with tbh. About 6 months before I got pregnant I had an abnormal pap smear that turned out to only be a suspected problem after I had a coloscopy. I was meant to have a follow up pap smear after 12 months but couldn't because I was preg, so my OB will do that tomorrow. I'm hoping that everything is back to normal, or at least looking forward to knowing where it is at, because it has been a concern at the back of my mind for the last 6 or so months...

Hope everyone else is well xo

hey girls
miss E - wtg ash on the weight gain! it is sooo good to have the 6 wk checks done isnt it - Jacob's is tomorrow. i hope your ob appt goes well - it must be hard having that at the back of your mind. how is your blocked duct? after my advice to you i woke up this morning with sucha painful boob and developed terrible headache, the shivers and a high temp - went to dr and it turns out i have mastitis. i never had it last time and let me tell you it aint pleasant! anyway have started the anti bis tonight and i having ultrasound on it tomorrow (which app gets rid of blockages) so hoping it clears up fast. i am feeding constantly from that side but it hurts sooo much.
bekz - you poor thing. i know that feeling when N is mean to me it hurts a lot hey.... hope miss e gets through the spurt soon. we have had one here too...
Sloane - hope you and C enjoyed your walk. sounds like things are going well with you which is great
Hi to everyone else - JessI hope Anton is doing better

hi everyone!!!!

sorry i havent been on in a while amiteal had been keeping me very busy :)
how is everyone and there little bundles doing????
amiteal is doing great!!!
she is 3.8kg and 51cm long, hc 36.5cm and sorta sleeping through the night, some nights its 8 hours sometimes 6 or 4!!! very confusing:doh:

Sorry to hear about your mastitis pregagainpan, sounds awful :hug:. Hopefully it will clear up quickly with the antibiotics and ultrasound. My blocked duct is almost better, the lump is definately a lot smaller than it was, but still there, just. I don't think I was massaging it hard enough the first few days because it didn't do too much, but the last couple of days I have really been working into it and it is finally starting to go. But I had my last antibiotic tablet this morning, so am going to keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesn't flare up...

I had my OB appointment this morning and everything is good. He wasn't able to do the pap smear because I've still got spotting :wall: so I guess I'll have to spend a little while longer waiting. I went onto the mini pill a couple of weeks ago so am not sure if it is that has kept the spotting going or if it is still from the pregnancy... Are any of you girls still bleeding at all? The OB did say that it could still last for another couple of weeks if it is a hangover from the pregnancy, otherwise if it is the mini pill it could last a bit longer...

Hope everyone is well and bubs are sleeping well xoxo

Pregagainpan - Sorry to hear about your bout of matitis..ouch.

Miss E - I stopped bleeding about a week ago, which was 5 weeks post birth.

I should arrange my 6 week check up. DH and I will be getting the whooping cough vacine too.

Miss E is still feeding a lot and has not repeated her one 6 hour sleep stint. Last night I gave her 30 mls of ebm after a 5 hour cluster feed session and she slept from 9.30pm till 2am.

Question: Miss E usually has a feed around 2am but is then wide awake until around 4am, and then is awake every hour or two until 7am. Does anyones else's bub stay away after a night feed?

MissE - I'm still spotting - was bleeding until only a few days ago so I've had an ultrasound and tests to see what is going on. They think it is stress - due to the op I had two weeks ago, but want to make sure nothing else is going on...

That mastisis sounds very painful - you poor things. So far I have avoided it but it might be due to the fact that I've had such a time feeding and expressing, Grace has been sucking everything out of me that she can!

Grace was measured today, 4.6kg, 55.5 cm long and 38cm head - all on the 50th% so they are really happy that she has been growing. She is also happy to sleep in her cot at night, but wont during the day... which is fine by me, I get my cuddles!

Hope everyone else is well and their 6 week check ups are going well too

Jasp – Glad that the expressing time is cutting down, hopefully it continues to decrease.

Miss E – WTG on the weight gain Ash! Glad to hear your blocked duct is almost gone. I’m not still spotting this time, but with Noah I spotted off and on until about 8weeks pp. Hopefully it stops soon!

Bekz – Big hugs over the growth spurt, they certainly suck don’t they? Take heart, it does get better/easier. Noah used to take AT LEAST 60mins, normally 90mins, for a feed in the first few months. But by the time he was 4months, he was down to 10mins each side. I don’t know how you do it with your other 2 running around as well, I find it hard enough with the 2, and Oliver’s a speed feeder. Hat’s off to you!

Pre - As for the weird feeding on one side, is it just the let down that’s out of control? Could you try waiting until let down occurs, taking J off and catching the milk in a towel until the flow slows down. There are also different feeding positions you can try, mainly ones were he’s feeding “uphill”.

Jetta – Hope Samuel is sleeping better for you during the day. Have you spoken to your MCHN about different techniques you can use to settle him during the day?

Jess – Hope Anton’s Bronchitis is clearing up, poor bubby (and poor Mummy, must have been scary seeing him like that)

Sloane – lol on noticing the saliva. With the pumping, it can help to have a photo of Corey or a piece of his clothing to smell, weird but it works.

Blayne – Glad to hear Amiteal’s doing well.

ETA: Bekz - Luckily, Oliver falls asleep fine after his night feeds normally, but we co-sleep, so he might still be awake and I just fall asleep, I'm not sure.

Ryatha - Glad to hear Grace is growing so well!

Sorry to anyone I've missed!

AFM – Poor Oliver’s got another cold (the curse of a winter baby I guess). He was also constipated on the weekend (which I didn’t think happened to exclusively breastfed babies!). I’m hoping it was a side-effect of the cold, I’m guessing with his blocked nose, he wasn’t taking as much milk in his feeds. Have to wait and see what his next poo’s like I guess (oh the glamour!) He had a check up on Friday and was up to 4.980kg and was 56.3cm. Silly thing is, at 6 weeks, he is only 0.3cm longer than Noah was at birth, so odd to me having an average sized baby! I go for my “6week” check next week and I’m terrified! It was at my 6week check last time that I found out I had to have repair surgery, and though I feel much better this time, just the thought of it is scaring me silly.

hi everyone
so nice to hear from everyone and that aside from the usual newborn shenanigans we are all doing well. I seem to have the fatty of the group - had out 6 wk check for Jakey this morning and he is 5kg!!! 57cm... he has grown so much since he was born, i guess it is my ever abundant milk LOL!
he has the baby acne bad, and the paed seems to think he may end up with exzema so i now have a skin regime - nothing serious but just to alleviate it a bit for him. i think it is more dermatiits than just the hormonal acne.
i asked about the constant cold - and he gave me some tips so thought i would pass on in case anyone gets help from it. he said saline is great and to use as much as poss to clear the nose. he also said steam inhalation the best thing and that the hmidifiers donmt do much (i agree) so take him in the bathroom (no fan) whenevr we shower and let him breathe in as much steam as poss, even just run the hot water for a bit. he said if it is quite bad you canhirea nebuliser (one of those mask things they used ot use for asthma) and use water in it (not saline which would be dangerous) and this will clear a stuffy nose immediately. could be worth a shot if the colds get bad or interfering w feeding. anyway thought i would shareas lots of our bubns have picked up thewinter sniffles!
Bekz - J is generally pretty settled after his night feeds - but Noah used to have a little awake time in the night....
AFM - had the ultrasound on the mastitis and going backtomorrow. tink it will help clear the blockage. had an awful night, had the shakes all night, it was awful and DH was quite worried. think i am a lot better today though.
Miss E - i stoppped spotting last week (i think) so about 5 wks pp but with N i spottedtil about 9 weeks. def nothing to worry about at this stage.

Hi Mums

I have cracked nipples galore so am expressing although my right nipple seems to have healed so can feed off that one today. I haven't had this before and it hurts and freaks me out when it is oozing and bleeding eeewwww.

We had our 6 week checkup on Wednesday last week and Amelia is 5.06kg, 57cm long - same as Jacob. I had the whooping cough/tetnus booster Bek and my arm ached the next couple of days. The nurse said it would from the tetnus but the actual needle didn't hurt at all. I was worried that I might not have healed properly with my stitches as it was a little sore after the healing time but the Dr said it had healed nicely and everything else was good too. Had to have a pap while I was there. Miss E I have stopped bleeding but it was a good 4-5 weeks for me until it completely stopped. I have a prescription for the mini pill which I haven't had before. The Dr asked what I was doing for contraception and I said not have sex :lol: pretty funny. TMI but it is a little crazy with two kids so I haven't even thought of that yet. DH and I only planned to have 2 kids and it is funny this time around because he wants me to take the pill and he use protection as well so we don't accidentally make a 3rd baby. Ummm, hello, in all the 13 years we have been together we haven't had any "accidents" hahaha. Crazy.

Bek - :hug: I'm glad you are feeling better after your mini meltdown. I know the feeling. I'm back off to sleep quick smart after a night feed but usually Amelia goes back to sleep unless she is windy. Then I could be up for almost an hour. She is sleeping in the bed with me at the moment so I give her a rub on the tummy if she is grungly.

Amelia only woke up for a 4am feed last night - woohoo. That was a welcome change although her big sister started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old so the pressure was on. I'm a bit out of it today though and very forgetful.

I better scoot and do some things before my lovelies get home. Glad to hear everyone is doing pretty well. Hope the mastitis goes away P. Sounds worse than my cracked nipples.