Harrison James - 5th July 2013 - Our Story..

SaraLouise

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I thought instead of clogging up the birth announcement and breastfeeding sections with Harrisons journey I would start a journal where I can document everything! I'm not really expecting anybody to read it, but its for me to track our progress :)

Here is Harrisons birth story..

http://www.pregnancyforum.co.uk/bir...s-birth-story-5th-july-2013-its-long-one.html


Our Feeding Journey...

July 6th 2013


He took his first feed at 11.20 am yesterday (his birthday) and suckled with a good latch (midwife checked) for around 10 minutes. He then had another good 8 to 10 minutes at 12.45, and a further 10 minutes at 2.20pm.

Then it all went tits up really (pun intended). He will now just not suckle atall, won't suck on breasts or a finger or even a syringe, he latches perfectly and then just lies there doing nothing. He will literally lie on the boob in this way for over 30 minutes - I tried!

So I am now have expressing into a syringe, but am trying him on the breast before & after all feeds. I got 0.1ml at 7pm (so he had gone 4 & a half hours with nothing), 0.1ml at 9pm and 0.5ml at 1am. I've spoken to midwifes and they keep telling me to preserver and that he will pick it up, but he had already!

I had to give him 15ml of formula which he also refused to suckle so ended up cup feeding, because his blood sugars started to drop.

But I've just given him 0.4ml of colostrum which is apparently the equivalent to 8ml of formula so they are happy about that.

He has a little bit of tongue tie but nothing that they would snip, but it might be another reason he is struggling a bit.

So for now its just try him on the boob then hand express and syringe feed followed by a teeny top up of cup fed formula if he needs it!

Whoever knew it would be so complex.

Specialist looked at his tt & said it wasn't worth snipping and as he has prooved he can actually feed as he did it in the beginning they don't think this is the main reason for his not suckling.

He also has a problem with his pee pee, where his foreskin is too short so the tip of the penis is protruding a bit, but obviously this isn't causing the feeding problems! I am just going to keep trying to latch, and hope that he finally gets the urge to suckle x

July 7th 2013

Bi-jingo he's got it!

He has latched & suckled twice today, once for 10 minutes & once for 13. It took me & a midwife to hold him in a position that he could, but I'm just glad he's finally getting some food! So all formula has been stopped & if feeding goes well today/tonight we should be allowed home tomorrow!

So glad I kept going!

I spoke too soon
Wouldn't even latch this evening. Managed to express 10ml to give him so he's had something, but not enough.

I'm using lanisoh after every feed/express & no soreness yet!

July 8th 2013

Thankyou ladies.

He latched again this evening & suckled for 12 minutes,, which was brilliant but my nipples were too sore to continue. I felt soo guilty as we have been just hoping & praying he would just suckle, and now he is & I can't handle it! He was clearly still hungry too with rooting & that but I couldnt bare to put him back

I expressed 26ml milk this morning & gave it to him by bottle. He already seems so much more chilled, as we didn't have the fight to get on the boob & I felt relaxed as I knew he was getting a good amount

Obviously I will keep trying him on boob from now on first, but I don't mind expressing if thats what it takes x

He just had 45ml of expressed and are being allowed home!

Looks I'm going to be an expressing mummy now x

July 9th 2013

I am trying him at the breast before every feed, he seems to be gaining interest but we can't quite get positioning right! I am going to see the breastfeeding consultant today & hopefully she can help. I also find that I can express a lot more milk if I keep him skin to skin when expressing, so we are still getting some bonding which is nice.

Oh my god!

Breastfeeding consultant came round today & suggested nipple shields. Went & got some medela ones & he has latched & fed perfectly 1st time twice in a row for 10 minutes!

Im soo glad I stuck at it for the 4 horrendous days!

I'm not going to get too excited as I know it could change but this seems really positive

He has now had 5 breastfeeds in a row with the shields!

I'm so happy x

July 17th 2013

Well, we are still going with the breastfeeding ladies, but for the last 5 days its changed a lot.

Harrison was weighed on Friday & he hadnt put on any weight. I was gutted as I really thought we were doing well!

The midwife told me that the reason he hadn't put any on (or lost any I might add) is because he was running out of steam after the foremilk & not getting to the hindmilk on feeds. I was under the impression that if he pulled himself away then he was done but this obviously wasn't the case.

So since Friday we are on a new routine that is as follows...

Wake up from nap, change nappy, try on the breast without shields (almost always unsuccessfully), feed from breast with shields til he pulls away (usually between 10-20minutes), give him to dad for winding whilst I express for 10-15 minutes, wake him again & give him expressed milk (usually around 50ml), then I wind him whilst dad washes all our equipment & puts it in the sterilizer. We have to do this every 2 hours!!

I'm so ridiculously tired but its work as he had put on 6oz by Tuesday.

I am starting to think that it would just be sooo much easier if he were on formula, but I have literally battled with him the last 12 days to breastfeed & it seems such a shame to give up now.

The main problem is I don't know how I'm going to manage this routine when my OH goes back to work on Monday

July 18th 2013

In going to keep it up for a few more days so I know hes got nice & fat, he's too little to take risks. But then I am going to start just putting him on the breast during the night. I don't mind during the day, but the expressing & bottle feeding & washing just takes so long at night, I am barely sleeping

As for the shields, I know, I am just trying him on boob because I'm stubborn & want him to latch himself so badly! I've stopped stressing now when he doesn't, and I always have the shield next to me to put straight on so he doesn't get too stressed, but I have this thought that one day he will just figure out what to do lol x

Well he's just been weighed and he's put on another 8oz since Tuesday! So proud of myself! He's now 6lb 10oz, which is a whole 1lb above his birth weight, which for 13 days is excellent.

She said I could start missing some expresses or express & put it in the fridge. Which would be nice especially at night time.

He has been brilliant on the boob today;

02.58am - 04.06am - 36 minutes on boob, 20ml of expressed
07.01am - 07.58am - 20 minutes on boob, 40ml of expressed
10.28am - 11.20am - 22 minutes on boob, 28ml of expressed
13.27pm - 14.15pm - 27 minutes on boob, 38ml of expressed

- all using nipple shields -

For us this is really good, usually I'm taking him off after 15minutes so maybe he's getting the hang of it!

So proud of us right now!

July 26th 2013

Feeding is still hard, we are still doing 2-3 hourly, and he is generally on boob for 20 odd minutes, and then I express about 40ml & give him that. But its working, he's putting on weight nicely.

We've changed to Dr Browns bottles for the expressed milk, so that's helping with his wind a lot, and he's having infacol before every feed.

July 30th 2013

We are getting there slowly! He's starting to drop some of the expressed feeds & just take boob (with shields) so its starting to get a bit easier. He's still not in any routine with feeds though so that's a bit hectic. Hes getting weighed later on today so we will see if its working!!
 
So as of today Harrison has decided that he refuses to go down for a nap without having booby first - regardless of when he last fed. He only stays on for a max of 5 minutes & I'm not convinced he's even drinking as when I take him off the shield is full of milk! I thought he would be too young for comfort sucking but obviously not!
 
Harrison now weighs 8lb 10oz, the little chunk! He's not having a very good day with feeding. Being sick quite a lot & not feeding for very long periods. I'm wondering if the infacol is giving him an upset tummy, so am going to reduce it to every other feed & see if that helps.

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Harrison has his tongue tie appt this afternoon. In very nervous, I can't bare the thought of my baby being in pain, but it would be excellent if we could feed without shields!

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Hey hun, how did the appointment go with the consultant.

He's a fabulous weight now...well done to both of you xx
 
They had a look and they said the tt was so small (1mm) that it wasn't worth snipping. Im so glad as I was crying before I even went in the room haha!

I left him for the first time to get my hair done, cue the tears once again lol, I only left him with my mum for 3 hours but it literally felt as if I'd lost an arm!

We are having a problem with feeding again as he's started having green poos. That means he's getting too much foremilk & not enough hindmilk. So I'm back to expressing after every feed which is pretty soul destroying!

Oh & happy 1 month birthday to my baby!


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So after battling green poos and expressing and everything for few days I decided to just chill out..

I completely stopped expressing (as I thought that expressing was causing a bit of an oversupply and therefore more foremilk) and just exclusively fed from boob for 3 days - something I've not done since he was born! I had the inevitable engorgement for the first day, and a slight panic that he wasn't getting enough by the 2nd, but by the 3rd day his poo was back to being lovely bright yellow and its been that way since! Now I'm only expressing if I'm going out and its all feeling much easier. I don't feel like I'm attached to the pump all day, and he seems to being enjoying feeding more as its easier for him to get the milk out.

I'm so happy!

So hes exclusively booby feeding now, and the other day he even did 6 minutes on the boob with no nipple shields! I was so proud of him.

Oh & he's almost 9lb now!




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Well its been too long since I've updated this!

Harrison is doing really well. He's finally moved from 40min-an hour feeds to 10-20 minute feeds, & its so much better.

I'm still feeding on demand which is becoming a bit of a pain, ideally he would be going 2-3 hours between feeds now but in the day time he rarely goes more than 90minutes. He has a formula feed before bed (around 7.30pm) & he then sleeps from 8.30pm til 1am, but is generally up every 2 hours after that.

I'm going to get him weighed on Wednesday but 3 weeks ago he was 10lb 2oz. He was born on the 2nd centile, moved up to the 9th & is now on the 25th, hes even started to grow out of some of his 0-3mth stuff!

I'm starting to feel a bit sad about how fast he's growing up, I obviously love the fact that he is doing so well on mummy milk & he seems to be learning new things every day, it was wonderful when he first started to smile & he's almost giggling now which is adorable. But I saw a 3 wk old baby on the weekend & looking at him & comparing him to H it really did make me realise how much H has grown. He no longer looks like a newborn & now looks like a baby. I dunno its silly really but I feel as if I've blinked & my teeny tiny 5lb 12oz baby is no longer there.

Anyway, he's absolutely beautiful, and I love him more than I can ever express. He's genuinely the best thing I've done in my life, and I'm *trying* to look forward to seeing him turn into a proper little boy :)

Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk 4
 
Better update! My little munchkin is now 3 months old, & weighs 12lb 9oz!

He's been on milk strike for just over a week, but that seems to be improving.

We are combi feeding, so although he is on formula around 4/5 times a day, he is still getting lots of booby milk. I had planned on stopping by now, but I'm finding it much harder to give up than I thought.

He is such a beautiful little boy, I feel so lucky to be his mummy, but I am finding it tough. 93 Sleepless nights, and the constant feeling that I have no idea what I'm doing is starting to get to me I think. We have the hv coming on Thursday for a pnd assesment, I'm very nervous, but interested to know what they can do to help.

Anyway, Harrison has started laughing now, which is completely adorable. He's still not I I interested in any of the toys I have bought for him though! He's also moved into 3-6 month clothes!

Some recent piccys...
 

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love the cookie monster baby grow, love cookie monster actually.

hes so adorable.

hope your keeping well

xxxxxx
 
Little update on munchkin!

He's 5 months now :eek: & I literally don't know where the time has gone. We are Stoll combo feeding but I'm winding the bfing down now & I would say 99% of his nutrition comes from formula. I'm proud to have made it this far but I'm definitely ready for the break, even though I'm going to miss having that one to one with him that no one else can do.

We have been "weaning" for a couple of weeks, started with baby rice & now he has either puree banana or puree apple for breakfast. I'm looking at introducing veg this week, and tried carrot yesterday but its safe to say he wasn't a fan!

He's coming along leaps & bounds really. He laughed for the first time last week, very slow compared to lots of other babys, he was the only July baby not laughing but by god it was the worth the wait, was the most gorgeous sound I've ever heard.

He can sit unaided too now, when he wants to! He's probably done it about 7 times but will only do it if he's seriously distracted lol. He can also stand holding on to furniture! I really think he's going to be a "walker" rather than a "talker". He doesn't really babble too much, although he can do a very loud squeel, but loves to be on his feet & moving around.

I'm missing him being my teeny tiny baba (although he's still very little at just over 15lb) but I'm loving this gorgeous little boy hes turning into. I'm so proud to think that I've managed to get him to this point!

He's been a bit of a misery guts the last few days as his teeth are bothering him a lot.

Oh & we has his appt with the consultant about his Willy and its much worse than we thought. Long story short its going to take about 3 surgerys to get it to be "functional". These will be when he's around 18 months. He needs his urethra moving, a circumcision & another one to try & straighten it up. I'm very nervous about the whole thing but I know its the right thing to do in the long run!

I think that's about everything for now!
 

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Thankyou!

Got to post this one of his carrot mustache, seemed to go down a lot better today!
 

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Soo my baba is 27 weeks, where has the time gone?? We stopped bfing 4 weeks ago, I was very sad about it but he has adjusted well & has only "asked" for booby a handful of times.

I'm so proud of my gorgeous little man, I seem to fall in love with him more & more everyday. He has a proper little character now, and its so amazing him seeing him grow.

I've not got much to update, so just a few pictures today...

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How did I miss this journal ?! Just mooching through his photos, he's is just the cutest little thing, I'm totally smitten :love:

tapatalkin
 
Almost 7 months old already :shock:

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At the aquarium

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So grown up

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Bath time
 
Update time!

My little guy is talking! Well, he's saying baba & dada, and he shakes his head in a "no" gesture when you are doing something he doesn't like. Its very cute & very clever but I really don't get any peace anymore.

He's coming along nicely with his feeding, we've dropped to 4 bottles a day and he's on 3 meals a day now. He's still not very good with me feeding him anything lumpy but he will quite happily sit there and munch on a pear or plum as long as hes the one holding it. He's sitting fantastically & rolling around with no problems, no sign of crawling yet but will stand unaided so wonder if hes just going to be a walker.

He's had a cough/cold for a few weeks now but I think its finally starting to shift thankgod!

Weighing in at 17lb 8oz at 33 weeks so is chunking out nicely.

Only 3 months to our consultant review & me & OH still have no clue what to do about the penis problems but we will get there!

Me & OH are stupidly broody but we are trying to hold off until after my gallbladder op!

Think that's it for now!

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