Babies born~March 1st-15th 2010 #1

[Cass72]

I agree M2W it is lovely to co-sleep. Waking up with that little soft body snuggled into yours. Breathing in their sweet scent it's just such a wonderful closeness. I co-slept with DS1, I was on my own though and it worked for me. DH is dead-set against it. It's not even open for discussion. Nic would sleep in his cot during the day for sleeps then I would just put him into bed with me at night. Eventually he didn't want to sleep in my bed and would only settle in his cot. I guess he just decided when the right time was for him to give up the all night access to mummy's boob! Once he was in a bed he would only come into my room in the morning if I didn't get out of bed early enough, ie he wanted breakfast! Some mornings we just liked the cuddles in bed too for no other reason than to cuddle. He was never clingy as a baby/toddler, actually he was very confident of how much he was adored. He's 15 now and can I just say that he's an affectionate kid who will still give his mum a kiss and a cuddle (obviously when his mates aren't around!). I'm making sure I give Robert plenty of kisses and cuddles at bedtime and have insisted that after the 5.30am wakeup he gets to come into bed with me for some extra cuddles and snuggles after his feed and change. I'm happy enough to forgo the cosleep at night as long as I get my early mornings.

[Rach83]

Hi lovelies,

Mum2Willie, your personals are legendary! I can barely remember what the one I just read says!

Jandals, recovering pretty well from my cs, better than I thought anyway! Sometimes I do a bit much the day before so am a bit sore the next day, but overall not too bad! I was really happy with my cs though. I think the next bubs i will have an elective one. My labour was such a drama that I dont want to go through it again! I am perfect example of why a birth plan is only going to upset you if it doesnt go to plan!

Jemma is such a good little girl! I cant stop looking at her and touching her. I am so in love with her and my DP. I think I was born to be a mum i love it so much!

Hi to beata and miamunchkin my bellybuddies! We did it after 9-10months of tears, whinges, laughs and the rest of it!

Hi to everyone else - sorry its gonna take me a while to remember everyones names - good work to the person (sorry name escapes me) who is doing the list - looks awesome

xx Rach

[CinderToriella]

wow there is so many ppl on here

I have no idea whats going on lol

[thrilled82]

Well, while Willow won't settle from 3pm till 11pm, I should be happy she doesn't chuck.
So no, no new hair product for our household.

Bree - I had the beginnings of a blocked duct/mastitis in my right bb on Saturday. It was really red, patchy and hot and it hurt like hell to feed off it. I joined ABA just before Willow was born and so I checked my ABA book 'Breastfeeding Naturally' and it said that it could be the start of something nasty, so feed first from that bb each feed. I did this, although it hurt, and by Monday when I had my Drs appointment it was pretty well cleared. The book also said to use a hot/warm face washer on the bb before each feed to soften the bb and to massge while bubs is feeding to help clear the duct.
I also massaged under the shower.

I cannot believe how quickly my nipples have toughened up.
On about the 4th day of feeding I was certain I would not stick at it. I was in so much pain and discomfort. By the end of the first week we had purchased our first tin of formula and pretty much since the tin of formula entered the house the feeding has settled down and I am breastfeeding quite well.
I think that has a lot to do with me being more relaxed as I have the tin of formula as a back up plan.

Willow takes both bbs each feed, and it's taking me around an hour to feed.
What is everyone else's feed pattern like?

The Trescillian nurse I spoke to this morning re: Willow's unselttled period of an evening suggested that I fed more frequently during the unsettled times. So am trying 2 hourly feeds tonight, no sure how the nipples will hold up.
I guess I could express and have a bottle up my sleeve if my nipples get too sore.

[CinderToriella]

Hannah is a sleeper feeder..

She feeds for a small amount of time then falls asleep and u cant make her keep going.

then ot long after she wants more

we feed every hour sometimes, sometimes every half an hour..it depends how much she takes each time.

its rare she takes a whole breast at a time
Sometimes at night and during her day time naps we can go 2-3 hours between feeds

I feel like my boobs are always out, i always have my tops down and my bra showing and i just leave it like that lol, coz whats the point of packing up haha when i will need to get it all out again soon

Iv never had this 3-4 hour business i dont know what that is lol

[Breesa]

Hi All

Thanks for the encouragement re my sore boobs! I spoke to two ABA ladies today following my lactation clinic visit 2 days ago. Small refinements my holding position of bubs but it seems he is attaching properly.

Now just trying to get my one remaining cracked nipple to heal - it fully stings for like 15 seconds, and can even make my eyes water... horrendous. ABA gave lots of things to try but its a guessing game so im a bit frustrated by it all and just pushing thru at the moment.

Thrilled - does willow have gas/ need to burp? My little man only screams when he needs a burp, and I find just putting him over my shoulder helps settle him and release the pressure. May also be worth checking out Dunstan Baby Language to see what cry she is using, - its a dvd someone gave to me about understanding babies cries (im hungry, im uncomfortable, burp me) etc.

You also asked about feeding routines - my boy is feeding around every 2hrs during the day, then at night 6/7ish often cluster feeds then crashes for 3-4hrly feeds until 6am. I think my boobs would be aching if he didnt feed all night - how are yours doing??

Co-sleeping - we are co-sleeping. I have an Arms Reach Co-sleeper which attaches to our bed, but Ciaran hasnt even gone into it yet.... i guess i like having him right next to me which is also great for those sleepy night time feeds. Hubby was happy to try it out and i did alot of reading that confirms that its safe and babies are not at risk of being rolled on (parents are so paranoid of doing that they often barely sleep for the first few nights till they get used to the baby in the bed). Anyway, its working well for us a the moment, and i will continue to do so until i feel its time to move him to the cot next to me (or Ciaran gives an indication its what he wants).

Our boy is almost 3 wks old - man time has passed kinda fast!

[thrilled82]

I know what you mean Breesa ... in the middle of those crying fits at night it feels like time has stalled, but then I sit back and see that Willow is over 2 weeks old and wonder where those 2 weeks have gone.
Am counting down till she is 6 weeks - when they say the hardest stretch is over ... although I don't think the hard part is over, it's just after 6 weeks we've probably all adjusted a little better to the new sense of 'normal'.

I had two girlfriends over with their 4 month old babies yesterday.
Goodness I hope Willow grows to their size quickly ... I think I'd handle her a bit better when she's a bit bigger. The 4 month olds seemed so settled and secure, they knew their routine and had a good handle on how to get across their needs.
Am finding that a struggle at the moment ... tyring to work out what Willow needs.

Willow does have a bit of wind.
Load of crap those who say BF babies don't need burping!!
DH is chief burper, he gets up each night feed and burps between bb changes.

Willow is feeding between 3-4 hourly of a day, am trying a shorter break between feeds if she is particularly unsettled. Of a night she will go 5-7 hours.

We are not co-sleeping as a plan, but we are not against it either. Just this morning we have all enjoyed nice quiet awake time in our bed with Willow. On the odd night to help settle her we have brought her into our bed and slept nicely together for a while. We just use whatever works for us. Her bassinet is right next to my side of the bed, so it's nice and easy to just lift her across when we want to put her down to sleep.

[Cass72]

I can't wait til my chief burper comes back Thrilled.

I've found that Robert tends to be more gassy at night too and will often spill his milk after I have put him back to bed. At 2 this morning, I was getting frustrated because he wouldn't settle. He eventually did but not until after he'd left some milk in my hair and down my back and on his sheets.

Okay so at 9am after some sleep and after giving him another feed I had a bit of an epiphany! When I feed him during the day we usually have a little more "up" time after a feed - that is I lay him on my chest for a cuddle so he's elevated a bit. Obviously by time I put him down for a sleep his tummy is settled and all the wind has gone. I think tonight I'll try and give him some more "up" time after his feeds and see how that works. I figure an extra 10 minutes cuddling after a feed is way better than getting up and down for an hour. It's funny how things that are totally obvious during the day seem like such a big issue at night.

[thrilled82]

I am convinced she screams louder at night then during the day ... but am probably wrong ... just feels that way!

[Deedles]

I am so glad to be home! We just got back from a visit to the grandparents house for the weekend and although it was lovely I think it may have been too soon to travel with the boys.
As soon as I walked in the door I instantly felt relaxed.
I have also just read through all the posts and I am so tired I have forgotten just about everything I have read.

DS2 has been waking up quite a lot at night so I have decided to just pop him in bed with us so we can get some sleep. We have one of those tetra beds that we just pop in the middle of the bed but sometimes I just pop Lennox next to me.
I find it very calming and he seems to sleep longer next to me. We Co slept with DS1 and loved it!

Hope all the bubbas are sleeping and eating well. I do remember some of the posts being about a yucky eye though. Lennox has had it since day 1 and it seems to just keep getting worse. I will try the breast milk again to see if that helps. Sometimes his eyes gunk up so much he cant open them, poor lil fella. I know the doctor said his right up had a blocked tear duct but the left didn't and it keeps getting gunky too so it must something else.

Oh and thank you so much beata for the information about foods to avoid when breastfeeding. I never knew that orange juice was bad!! I have been sculling it down every morning. Lets see if it helps!

[roxxie]

Hi ladies! I've finally made it over from the belly buddies thread, Lacie Jane has arrived

I'm hoping to read over this thread in the next couple of days to see what I've missed, so just a quick post for now to say hello and I hope you're all doing well and enjoying your new arrivals.

xxx

[miamunchkin]

Roxxie, welcome to the group!

Deedles, it's my little man that has the gunky eye. We got drops from the doctor. If Lennox's eye gunk is green at all, then you should go to the doctor. If it's watery or yellowish, then it's probably a blocked tear duct.

Hi to everyone else!

My little man has had his first MCNs on today. Thank goodness he has grown enough to fit some of them! He looks soooo cute cloth bummed! We've had abit of an unsettled day today - basically he was awake from 6am to about 12 noon. I managed to get him to sleep now but he's not in a deep sleep and I can hear him "singing" and whimpering! I hope that means he'll be exhausted tonight and maybe go longer than 3 hours, but don't want it to be anything wrong!

[Cass72]

We've had abit of an unsettled day today - basically he was awake from 6am to about 12 noon. I managed to get him to sleep now but he's not in a deep sleep and I can hear him "singing" and whimpering! I hope that means he'll be exhausted tonight and maybe go longer than 3 hours, but don't want it to be anything wrong!

Okay so it's just not me. I just sent an email to DH telling him the same thing about Robert's day. He didn't really sleep much this morning and he was just getting more and more upset and hard to settle as the day went on. I finally managed to put him down in his cot about 40 minutes ago - and going back into him every 5 minutes because he would start crying (read screaming!). He's been sleeping now for the last 20 minutes so fingers crossed he'll get a decent sleep! I don't know if it's something I ate or he is just having one of those days. It is windy here today and I remember DS1's primary school principal used to hate windy days - the kids would go feral on windy days!!

I too am hoping that it means he'll sleep longer tonight but I'm not holding out too much hope!!

[Feijoa Mum]

Hi everyone and what a group it is now huh?

As you can see I have finally changed my name as I am no longer a mother of All-Boys

I cant believe Peppar is over three weeks old already. It has seriously flown by. What a pity the end of my pregnancy didnt fly by as fast.

We have had the usual trying days with her but in general she is a really good little girl. Basically four hourly with some longer stretches over night.
In saying that though she must be having another growth spurt because she has been a bit unsettled yesterday and today and wants to feed more often and only wants to sleep on me. Not cool when I have four others to look after.
My hug-a-bub has been used a fair bit and I have to say is fantastic. Love the total hands free-ness of it so the washing and the 476 other jobs still get done.
DH is working nights at the moment so that witching hour is really trying my patience and coping skills. The older boys have been a great help though albeit reluctantly im just pleased I cooked heaps of meals for the freezer. That and that my kids dont mind weet bix for dinner
Well speaking of dinner our pasta is cooked so I best feed the troops before madam wakes up.
I do read through all your posts but like many of you its gone two minutes later so I apologise for no personals.

wishing you all at least a 4 hour uninterupted sleep tonight

[thrilled82]

Agh, sounds like we are all dealing with the same issues.

After several days of a really trying time between 3pm - 10pm, Willow has been just beautiful this afternoon. This was really great as it's my birthday on Tuesday so today was a big family lunch ... our first restaurant experience with Willow ... and she slept through the whole experience.

I've been feeding more regular during the unsettled (screaming) period - doing 2 hourly feeds and it appears to be helping. The feed settles her and doesn't allow her to work up all her engery on screaming.

Oddly though today she has decided she no longer wants to feed on both boobs per feed, she has been settled at empying one boob per feed and then dropping off to sleep. This has been heaven for my boobs/nipples ... I can handle the 2 hourly feeds if I am just using one boob per feed.

I also think Willow is more awake today - she is making loads more eye contact and turning her head to find my voice when someone else is holding her.

Does anyone know when babies might recognise Mum?
And when should we expect a "real" smile ... I am taking her wind pains as smiles at the moment

[Mum2Willie]

Cass - Re milk spilling out - I feed with bubs on a bit of an angle and have the bed propped up on an angle too....but the bit of extra burping time could be the answer too!!

Rach - It makes me teary often when I have a quiet second (without toddler wanting attention) and just look at Sophie...did alot with son too (but had more time when he was little).

Thrilled - Ds1 did that unsettled thing till 11pm too!! It was wind!! Sophie only feeds from one boob and it only takes her between ten and 15mins usually. (sometimes 5 mins). She is a very efficient feeder. I am trying to keep to one boob a feed because I have an oversupply of milk issue (had it with toddler) and learnt it keeps my supply down and me more comfortable and stops milk squirting so furiously while bubs trying to feed (and prevents some wind!!)...learnt these lessons the hard way last time!

I agree with the smaller feeds more often for settling too!!!

Shell - Soph is feeding every 2-3hours (day and night).

Bree - Took me about 6 weeks with my son for my nipples to be ok! Work through it Bree as it is so worth it..I fed son for 18mths! But I feel your pain!!!

Roxxie - Welcome

Claire - On Saturday Sophie drove me insane, crying with wind all morning!!!

Stacey - Oh how i would love a 4 hour stretch overnight!!! Jealous!

I took Sophie to the health nurse today and she is now 4.3kg (born 2.9kg). She is 4 weeks today!!! So has put on 400g a week - so the breastfeeding is working well and we could well say she is a guts!!! So she is certainly getting plenty with her feed of ten mins on 1 boob! The milk spilling out after has to be a sign she is full!!!

Can't believe she has put on half her birth weight again already!!!

Her wind has good and bad patches...I find bending her legs up towards her stomach before each feed a couple of times - makes her fart a few big loud farts!!!! Along with pedalling her legs!

Then, I often stop halfway during a feed and burp...when I get a burp...start feeding again...and then burp again....

This seems to be minimising the wind...she still gets some bad patches though...

Sophie has been smiling for a few days nows and she follows me with her eyes...if someone else is holding her and she hears my voice she turns her head! She can grab soft toys and holds her head up by herself for quite a long time now!!!

Toddler has been a really good boy in the last week - things seem to be settling down again which is great...

Hubby went back to work last week and, whilst trying at times, I felt the week went quite well!! Here's hoping that continues..

Now - Sophie - I would just love some sleep!!!!!! Please !!!!!

[CinderToriella]

M2W how do u i just do all those personal replies i can hardly remember what read lol

I am glad i am not the only one feeding so often, Sophie sounds just like Hannah short quick feeds more often

[Cass72]

I just let Robert cry himself to sleep and I feel like the worst mum in the world. Last night it was hourly feeds and little or no sleep for both of us so I was deterimined to have a good day.

Our morning started out so well too....

I gave him a feed at 645 then he had some "floor time" laying on a quilt marvelling at dust bunnies floating around the room while I had my breakfast. After I had finished and he was starting to get frustrated I gave him a nice warm bath and dressed him. I then put him into bed for a sleep - he slept for an hour. Once he woke up I gave him another feed and we headed out for a drive and became members at our local library. I was feeling pretty good by this stage and even managed to time it right that we were back home in time for his next feed. The plan was then to put him to bed for a bigger sleep. That's where it fell apart.

He had his feed, I burped and changed him then gave him a cuddle and told him it was time for a sleep and put him into his cot. All good - for about 40 seconds. He started crying. I talked to him and held his hands and he settled again and then I left the room. Cue, screaming! I came back into the room and soothed him again then walked out again.....cue more screaming!! He had worked himself up this time (I had to go to the loo so was gone a bit longer) so I picked him up and gave him a cuddle and talked to him. I also changed his nappy. I could tell that he was really really tired so I put him back into bed. This time it lasted for about a minute before he started crying. I ignored him for about 2 minutes which felt like 20. Then abruptly the screams stopped. I peeked in his room and his eyes were open but he just looked so sad. I stayed out of sight so he wouldn't start up again and he closed his eyes. He's been asleep for about 15 minutes now and I feel absolutely horrid and haven't stopped crying since.

I'm just so tired from last night. I really can't wait til my mum gets here on Friday.