Babies born~September 1st-15th 2009 #1

[Sanchez]

Hi All

Have had a rough couple of days with Violet not sleeping longer than an hour and continuously wanting to feed. I was worried that my milk supply wouldn't be able to keep up ect - but some lovely BB ladies put my mind at ease and she has had a better day today.
I gave her a bottle of EBM last night as i was beside myself - by the end of the bottle she had the whole idea of how to suck on the teat. I am almost ashamed that i was so narrow minded before i had her with the comments i made such as "my baby will never use a pacifier" and "i won't give my baby a bottle before 3 months" Those things seem so ridiculous now!

Kosi - glad to hear the inlaws have left the reservation!

I wonder if anybody has any tips on how to start expressing some EBM to store. I am not sure how to get started without losing a feed IYKWIM. Should i try overnight when i tend you have fuller breasts and try and feed twice on one side and pump the other? Wonder if anyone else has a good routine?

Hope all is well x

[PeanutBaby]

I hear you Sanchez!! I was so judgemental of formula bubs and pacificers but lo and behold, Charlotte is having both and I couldn't be happier now the pressures off regarding feeding.

Happy Mum, Happy Bub!!

Not sure regarding storage as I have to use my EBM as I go..

[Pooley]

Sanchez and Peanut Baby - I have always been open minded about everything to do with becoming a mother. Maintaining this kind of attitude has helped me through the fact that we decided to formula feed because of post- labour problems I experienced. I honestly think it's the best way to be especially with so many differing opinions being thrown our way constantly.

Every baby is different. Our decision to formula feed, tummy sleep, use dummies, demand feed, they are all personal decisions that DH and I have made together regardless of peoples opinions or "the norm". I will never be one to pass judgement on others, parents simply do what they think is best for their baby. Then later we are faced with even harder decisions like immunisation etc. Never ends I guess.

P.S Frazer is my little heffer!! Today at 4 weeks 3 days he weighed in @ 5.24 kgs!! That is a gain of 690gms in 2 weeks!!

[Janine1511]

Sanchez and Peanut Baby - I have always been open minded about everything to do with becoming a mother. Maintaining this kind of attitude has helped me through the fact that we decided to formula feed because of post- labour problems I experienced. I honestly think it's the best way to be especially with so many differing opinions being thrown our way constantly.

Every baby is different. Our decision to formula feed, tummy sleep, use dummies, demand feed, they are all personal decisions that DH and I have made together regardless of peoples opinions or "the norm". I will never be one to pass judgement on others, parents simply do what they think is best for their baby. Then later we are faced with even harder decisions like immunisation etc. Never ends I guess.

P.S Frazer is my little heffer!! Today at 4 weeks 3 days he weighed in @ 5.24 kgs!! That is a gain of 690gms in 2 weeks!!

Pooley - I'm the same... I had my "ideal" ways which would be natural birth with just gas, BF to 12 months, no dummy, back sleep but went into it thiking that if any of those didn't happen or didn't work for us then so be it. I got my natural birth with gas, but I was BEGGING for everything else lol, she tummy sleeps and I may have to kick the BFing sooner than I had hoped as i'm having dramas with it. Haven;t gotten the dummy out but would if needed.

[sangie]

I finally get a chance to get on here! Things have been crazy around here with the wedding, plus we had my Dad's 60th surprise party and to top it all off I'm still sick with mastitis and my DD has a throat infection. Talk about dramas, I could have my own tv series right about now! Thankfully Ethan has been an absolute angel, eating and sleeping well and being such a happy bub I'm just praying he doesn't get DD's throat infection

Pooley - yay on Frazer's weight, that is fantastic! We have Ethan's 4 week check up tomorrow and I'm looking forward to finding out how much he weighs now. He definitely seems heavier lately.

Sanchez - I express after feeds and can still get quite a lot of EBM. I've been storing them in sterile bags which I got from the chemist.

Art - yes we all wore baby doll style dresses. Thank god it covered my bumps lol! I also wore those control undies that suck you in. Not very sexy but does the job

Janine - woohoo on the IL's leaving. I'll check out your pics when I get more time!

Taurean - how are you going with the bf? Fingers crossed you don't have any more issues with your bb's.

Hello to everyone else and sorry for not getting to everybody. Ethan is awake and looking for a feed. Hopefully I'll get a chance to get back here soon!

[Artechim]

Sanchez, I was the same - there was no way I was going to have the baby sleeping in my bed, then we ended up co-sleeping for 18 months lol. I also planned to have very limited television, but with a toddler, a newborn and a freak snowstorm there is not much choice for entertainment. Very cute pics on FB btw. That view from your room makes me really Brisbane nostalgic lol.

Taurean, how is everything going? I hope all the breast issues are clearing up for you and that Izzy is plumping up nicely

Pooley, Frazer is doing really well! What a porker! A is now 4.6kgs, up nearly a kg since birth. They really don't stay little for long.

Nicola, hope the packing and moving is going well and you are finding time for yourself in amongst all of it

Sangie, hope all the sickness clears out of your house and that E doesn't catch the throat bug. My midwife said to keep kissing them on the face, then hopefully you will pick up anything that they are exposed to and pass on the antibodies in your milk (hopefully without you getting sick in the process)

Kosi, IL's are always nicer as they are heading out the door lol. I am lucky with mine though, they are good people and we mostly get along.

PB, go to user profile in the top left corner and go down to edit sig. You can make a ticker at a site like lilypie and use the html code to add it on here. Hope that makes sense.

Not much to report here. A is a happy bub, very easy. She tends to sleep 2-4 hours at a time at night. She starts in her cot but if I can't get her to resettle in there after a feed then I just take her to bed with me.

[Pooley]

Sanchez and Peanut Baby - I have always been open minded about everything to do with becoming a mother. Maintaining this kind of attitude has helped me through the fact that we decided to formula feed because of post- labour problems I experienced. I honestly think it's the best way to be especially with so many differing opinions being thrown our way constantly.

Every baby is different. Our decision to formula feed, tummy sleep, use dummies, demand feed, they are all personal decisions that DH and I have made together regardless of peoples opinions or "the norm". I will never be one to pass judgement on others, parents simply do what they think is best for their baby. Then later we are faced with even harder decisions like immunisation etc. Never ends I guess.

P.S Frazer is my little heffer!! Today at 4 weeks 3 days he weighed in @ 5.24 kgs!! That is a gain of 690gms in 2 weeks!! Think I have a little michilin man on my hands....

[Taurean]

Hi Girls

Finally a chance to post again!! Things have been mad in our camp.

Breast issues still continue unfortunately but I do think this time we are getting somewhere. I have finished my antibiotics but I'm back on thrush treatment as it didn't clear up completely and I'm taking Inner Health Plus as well to try to increase my good bacteria levels. Isobel is now having the powder in a bottle once a day too as well as the Nilstat drops 4 times a day. I'm still taking pain killers/nurofen for the pain but I'm slowly weaning off them too. Oh, did I mention that I'm now sporting a cracked nipple (Izzy drew blood from it on the weekend - ewww and OUCH!) and have constipation from the antibiotics so have wound up with some nice rhoids on my butt. Fabulous!!

To top things off, Izzy had an absolute shocker of a day on Monday - much like what you've been experiencing with Violet, Sanchez!! The poor little thing was so out of sorts and just wouldn't settle after her 4.30am feed. She only cat napped for 45 mins and pretty much cried the rest of the day and would only calm down for a bit if I held her. It was so sad and tiring. My DH came home early from work to give me a break thankfully and she finally settled into a good sleep at 6.30pm (after a decent feed of EBM) and I had a few hours catch up sleep as well. She ended up having a good night and a great day yesterday so we went to a work function with DH last night. She slept for 5 hours last night so I thought she was back to normal but then it started again this morning after her 4am feed. To cut a long story short, I ended up taking her to the doctors at midday and they think she has colic. The doc told us to get onto the Brauers Colic Relief straight away so hopefully we'll see an improvement within the next 24 hours. Far out - what next?! I guess I should be grateful that it's not a daily thing (well not yet anyway) and she is settled in the evenings (she's asleep now so I'm off to bed very soon!) but just clingy and upset during the day. I will have to master our sling ASAP!!

Pooley - congrats on Frazer's weight gain!! I'm thinking formula might be the best option for us. I may have the supply but all these issues are really getting me down. Maybe formula is the answer to all our problems.

Art - good to hear you guys are doing well. I admire you mum's looking after a toddler and a newborn. I really don't know how you all do it!

Sangie - I hope your mastitis buggers off soon! You poor thing. Sore boobies are awful, especially when you're trying to breastfeed as well. I hope your DD is on the mend soon too. Poor little tacker.

Janine - are you ok hon? What bf issues are you having? Can I help at all?

PB - my BF/weight gain issue buddy (LOL), can you tell me what you're doing? Are you expressing and feeding Lottie from the bottle full time? How many formula comps does she have? How much are you expressing? It makes me feel so much better knowing I'm not alone.

Kosi - woohoo that the IL's have gone! I'm dreading mine coming over. Terrible, I know, but my MIL is going to drive me nuts. Must keep reminding myself that she means well. How's Ava going now? Sleeping well still or was it a once off?!

Sanchez - LOL! Yes, we do what we can to help our little babies! I was never against bottles or dummies and have found both to be a godsend! Izzy loves her dummy but doesn't need it all the time. She often self settles (well that was before the day time spack-attacks that started this week!) and is often content just checking out the world but when she wants a comfort suck, the dummy has been great. The bottles have also been fab to get that yummy EBM into her. She took to it really well and I don't think the bottle or the dummy has caused nipple confusion as she still loves the boobies! At least I know I can hand her over to others for feeding if need be. Bottles and dummies were introduced for a reason

As for expressing, you will generally get a decent amount in the morning, first thing. I often express straight after a feed which will give me a nice top-up bottle for Izzy but if I want a full bottle to give her that night, I express inbetween two feeds in the morning. I got about 170ml at 8.30 yesterday morning and 150 at 10.30 this morning. It takes me about 15 mins to get that. Your supply generally dwindles throughout the day and by 6pm ish it's not so great. I expressed around 7pm tonight and got 70mls. It normally goes up a bit again after 9pm. Remember that your boobs are always producing milk so you will always get something regardless of whether they are engorged or not or if V has just fed. But I do find that early morning express is a winner.

Oh, and for freezing, I'm starting that soon. I have special 'baby food' ice trays with lids which hold 25ml in a cube which makes it easy for preparing a bottle. The past couple of weeks I've just been using everything I express though as we were doing top ups after every feed. Now I'm just trying maybe one top up a day and 2 full EBM feeds a day (one in the morning if she's unsettled after her first big morning feed and one in the evening. That means I can express again at those times and know I'll get plenty. Hope that helps.

OK, I have to go to bed. Who know what the night has instore for us...nigh night!

[kellynz]

Hi all,
a quick selfish post for me today, as i dont have time to read all the news.
Sadly i've been in hosptial for the past few days with a bad breast infection It came on really suddenly on Friday night after an awesome dinner out with DH while his parents minded T. I felt a twinge in my breast about 9 and thought 'thats strange' and by 11pm i was freezing cold, shaking uncontrolably. Progressed to vomiting and awful headache and went to the hospital. I had a fever of 40 degrees by 1am so stayed all night with my lovely MIL while DH went home to get rest for the next day. I left emergency in the morning, but was back in by Sunday morning with a really swollen red breast and fevers, eventually getting out on Tuesday afternoon. It was not fun at all, but DH really stepped up and looked after T so well when i couldnt. We're back home now (after thankfully a good 6 hr car trip) and trying to get feeding going again, but its hard work with both nipples cracked and bleeding every 2nd feed, not enough milk and poor T getting sore tummy from antibiotics. Trying to stay positive! Wish us luck, will check in with you all soon.
Kelly & Tadhg

[Pooley]

God, you guys are soooo motivated to keep up the B feeding after all you're going through. I honestly don't know how you all cope, I cringe just READing your posts.

If I had to deal with any of the stuff that you guys are, I think I would be an absolute nut case and a useless mother.

Givin' all you ladies props, You all deserve medals!!

[Janine1511]

Hi Ladies,

Well it's been a not so great week. I've always found BFing a bit painful, but until recently have found the pain manageable and have been able to tolerate it enough to keep going because everyone says it gets better... when?! Early this week however, I had an increasing pain in my left breast, which felt like a nerve sort of pain that shot through my breast and all the way down my left arm to my wrist and was unbearable, then I started getting a similar pain in my right breast, probably not quite as bad. The last time I BF emily was Tuesday morning, when it was so excruciating I was in tears the whole time and had to take her off early. I didn't have a proper let-down because I was so tense and she wasn't getting much milk because of that. So I pumped a bottle of EBM for her next feed. I asked some advice here on BB and also called the ABA, both of whom said it sort of sounded like thrush or a breast infection so I figured a trip to the Dr was in order to get something to make it better again. Mum came over and off we toddled to the GP who checked out my rack and after some prodding and examining determined there to be NOTHING wrong. She said it sounded like a nerve ending that Emily must hit when she feeds, as expressing doesn't hurt at all. I went to see a child health nurse for a 2nd opinion who said the same thing to which I burst into tears and she said to give it a few days and try her again, and if it's still that painful I'll either have to continue expressing, or make the switch to formula. She told me I needed to get more sleep, stress less blah blah blah, or I wont make enough milk to express as it's hard to keep your supply up expressing full time and I wont make any if i'm stressed. I was also screened for PND I think, she was asking me all these questions, I think it was because I was so upset, tired and stressed. I know i'm not depressed, i'm just exhausted.

Since then i've been expressing every hour and have been making enough EBM to have 2 bottles in the fridge at all times, but can't seem to build up any more than that. My biggest problem is that I want her to have BM, but I don't want her on my boobs... the thought of it makes me anxious and I have alot of guilt over the fact that I just don't want to. Even if the pain stopped today I think I still wouldn't want to. I don't really know why either. So i'm going to attempt exclusive expressing and see how long I can do that for until I decide where my heads at and what I want to do. DF flies back in this arvo, can't wait to see him... he has a knack for making everything better.

This prob all seems silly, a couple of you have had way more issues with BFing than I have and have come through it all, and here I am ready to give up after my first hurdle.

Hope you're all doing well, Kelly i'm sorry to hear about your breast infection Will come back soon to read what the rest of you guys are up to and do some persies, have to get Emily up for a visit to Pooley and master Frazer.

Sorry for the really emo post!