*March and April mums and babies*

[i.love]

Hi girls, how are you all doing? Cakey, how is your infection?

Colics are horrid aren't they J started crying without an apparent reason too, so I might think about getting infacol for him as well.

Em, good luck with the weigh in!!

P.S.
I published my labour story at last in Trimester 3. Sorry it took so long, I just didn't have the energy earlier.

 

[Podpie]

Finding it hard to keep up already lol. How can something so tiny take up so much time?

Reuben has been through a lot the last few days. His weigh in on Sunday didn't go well so we were referred to the paediatric team at the hospital and he had bloods and urine checked etc because of his poor weight gain. All was fine and he had his tongue tie divided on Sunday afternoon.
The tongue tie division really set him back and it's been a huge struggle to latch him on, so I made the sad decision to bottle feed mostly expressed milk but toppling up with formula when I haven't pumped enough. Unfortunately having an undiagnosed tongue tie for 2 weeks meant he wasn't feeding efficiently and my breasts weren't getting the stimulation they needed to produce milk so my supply isn't great. Working on increasing it with double pumping and herbal supplements and it seems to be improving!
Reuben was weighed again yesterday and has finally gained 30g! Not loads but every little helps, and now we're feeding much better I'm feeling positive that he'll keep gaining now. Being weighed again tomorrow to check, and if all is good I'll be discharged to the health visitor. Two days isn't long but they didn't want to wait until after the long weekend as there are no clinics.

And today is our first day on our own! Carl is back at work and my mum has been here to help with feeding and my emotional state but today we're going solo!
It's going well so far, not counting the foot in the poo and projectile wee that got him in his own face! Onwards and upwards!

 

[Niknaknoo]

Welcome to the thread em and congratulations! Good luck for your weigh in, there are a few of us with babes struggling to gain weight so we know what a stress it is.

Podpie, persevere with the pumping and keep working on his latch, my cousins wee boy was bottle fed breast milk for the first couple of months as he couldn't get his latch but with the help of nipple shields he eventually cracked it! X

 

[Cakey]

Hey girls sorry I haven't been able to catch up, was discharged from hospital yesterday. I have a uterine infection I think probably because my waters had been gone for 27 hours by the time Oscar was born but hopefully on the mend now. My only worry is that Oscar was never sick until we went into hospital and I was being treated, I think the antibiotics I'm on make him feel poorly so hoping we can both feel better soon. I just want to stress if anyone feels ill suddenly, please go get checked out. I was fine until I suddenly started shivering and my temperature was up at nearly 40, it was so quick but luckily it was caught early.

Podpie I'm sorry you've had a rough few days. I know it's hard expressing but if Reuben is getting some breast milk then hopefully he will pack on the weight soon Oscar is nearly back to birthweight, I'm glad I decided to give him expressed milk. As Nik said as well, he might go back to the boob. I tried Oscar on it the other night and he would latch, but he just doesn't like a boob in his face lol. Good luck

Olya your birth story was lovely I might be tempted to write one myself if I get a chance. Xxx

 

[Em91]

Hes lost again! born 2660g dropped to 2320 on sat and is now 2310. only 10g but hes feeding continuously so can't believe he's still losing. She suggested a formula top up Which is a route we really didn't want to take as soon as we topped up with DD she stopped latching Im going to try and start expressing between feeds and give that to! Feel like im failing him

 

[i.love]

Sorry girls that you are having such problems... These first weeks/months with the baby are not very easy, are they?

Lanny oh please do, I love birth stories

Em please don't say you are failing him, it's so not true - you are doing everything you can! Hope you soon find a way to help him... X

 

[Podpie]

Em please don't feel that way! Your situation sounds identical to mine. Reuben was feeding well and often and his latch looked perfect from the outside and wasn't hurting so everyone assumed all was well. He lost weight at day 5 and day 10 and had only gained 20g on day 12. It turned out to be an undiagnosed tongue tie which was stopping him feeding effectively and because he'd been feeding that way for two weeks my supply had suffered. It was a vicious circle of him not feeding properly, which made my supply bad, so he hardly got any milk, and didn't have the energy to grow or gain weight. We're just starting to break the cycle now. You could try some of the things I've done...

You could get him checked for tongue tie. Lots of midwives aren't experts and can't always tell, so if I were you I would look up an expert to come take a look. You do have to pay but if it helps his feeding I'd say it's worth the money. Reuben had a posterior tongue tie of about 50% but every midwife that looked just said "well it doesn't look like a tongue tie" just because it wasn't a typical one.
Rent a double pump from NCT and start expressing. If his feeding isn't efficient your milk supply will suffer so it's best to counteract that sooner rather than later. Then you can give him the expressed milk as a top up and you don't have to use a bottle, you can cup feed or syringe feed once he's had boobie.
I'm taking more milk plus which is a bit pricey, but I was taking fenugreek tablets which is a bit cheaper. Both will increase your milk supply.

You don't have to take the formula route if you don't want to. I'm very upset with the way I've been fobbed off by the midwives in my area as the answer to everything for them seems to be "top up with formula" as I was told that over and over.

I'm now bottle feeding with expressed milk and formula when I haven't made enough. Once he's put on some weight I'm going to attempt to get him back on the boob but it may be that too much time has passed to really get him feeding successful and I will carry on expressing and bottle feeding.
My supple is increasing day by day so I'm hoping eventually I won't need formula top ups, that's the main aim. He's getting about 80% breast milk at the moment so I'm happy with that for now.

I've felt every emotion under the sun over the last week or so and it feels like I'm only just coming out the other side and emerging from this horrible dark cloud.
I'll tell you what my mum told me because it's absolutely true even though it's hard to believe at the time. You are doing your best, you are not failing him, and you are amazing for persevering when the easy option would be to give up. You're a fantastic mummy and want to give your boy the best.

 

[tiggy85]

Sorry to hear some of your ladies are having pressure to top up with formula and low weight gain, Podpie has given some excellent advice, along with perhaps increasing numbers of feeds during the day, and maximising the length of feeds by stimulating them to keep feeding.

Sorry your feeling like your failing em, please don't feel that way. Be kind to yourself your doing your best,

I'm on antibiotics my inflammation markers in my Urine and bloods have massively increased in three days, so infection somewhere.....feeling better already after 24 hrs of antibiotics.
How is everyone doing for sleep. Jensen feeds 2-3 hourly around the clock and the feeds take an hour, so it means I'm onky getting 1-1.5 HR sleeps in between and that's if he settles in his basket afterwards, sometimes he just wants to sleep on the boob! So I get no sleep then!

 

[GF91]

Sleep is varying for me Tiggy! Some nights Milania's been great, other nights colic gets the better of her and it's horrendous. She's normally doing 8.30/9 til 12.30/1 then 3.30/4 til 6/7 ish? How long she feeds for depends on the feed before. There's been times she's woken up at 3.30/4 and that's its she's been awake then until 8/9ish! I've been quite naughty in that if she's just fussing & not hungry I tuck her in my bed next to me & we nod off together then I wake around 15 mins later and put her back in her bed. I'm so paranoid about rolling on her or something- especially if we've had a bad night & I'm shattered! Jay tried getting up every feed with me- abit pointless as she's breastfed & he was also grumpy as anything (he doesn't deal with sleep deprivation well) so i banned him. The doctors put him on really strong sleeping tablets as he's suffering badly with stress so he's pretty zonko most of the time xxx

 

[Demaris]

Hi everyone, sorry to hear about those that are having problems xx

Jago is feeding every 2-3 hours, sometimes he 'grazes' from one feed to another so I'm left getting sometimes only 4 hours broken sleep a night. Hubby is now sleeping on the couch simply because he has work and needs a full nights sleep.

Ahhh baby awake will continue later!

Hope you are all doing ok xx

 

[tiggy85]

Same as me then demaris! When I get a three hour stretch at night I'm so happy as I get 2 hrs unbroken sleep! Doesn't happen often! If he went any longer between feeds my boobs would explode any how!

Getting Jensen weighed later today! Think he has gained ok.

Hope your all getting some good rest or having nice feeds xxxx

 

[Cakey]

I'm lucky that I get 3 and a half hours before Oscar is hungry in the night then! Certainly never feel it when it's 2:30 am and he won't settle back to sleep though!
Does anyone else's LO get really fussy when it's bedtime? Oscar is happy to nap all day long but as soon as he goes in his Moses basket he can fuss for up to an hour before sleeping. Not really sure what to do :/ xxx

 

[Niknaknoo]

I've been a bit spoilt with zach, we've had to a few nights where he has slept for a good 5 or 6 hours! Although he has been up twice tonight already, which I actually don't mind as he is getting extra feeds and will hopefully put on a bit more weight.

 

[i.love]

Tiggy similar to you - I usually get 1-1.5 hours stretches, 2 hrs if I'm lucky. J feeds lots, often does 4 feeds in a row before going to bed (feed - burp - change - try to put him down - feed - burp - try to put him down - feed - burp - try to put down - feed - burp - put down successfully at last), so it can easily take 1.5 hours between sleeps for me.

Oh well!

 

[i.love]

I had 5 hours of sleep this night. In lots of pieces that is.

 

[tiggy85]

I got 4 hrs broken sleep but had an hour nap late yesterday afternoon! Could of had another 2 hours early morning whilst jensen was asleep but for some reason I couldn't get back to sleep! Any1 else get that? I wonder if it's cos I'm thinking about his weigh in today?

 

[Podpie]

Reuben has been up every 2 hours overnight so I'm exhausted this morning, can barely keep my eyes open. What's even more frustrating is that he slept all early evening from half 4 onwards til half 10! We woke him up for milk at half 7 and he went straight back to sleep... Why can't he do that at night instead?

 

[Cakey]

Podpie, Oscar is the same. He will happily sleep from about 6pm until about 12am but then he just fusses about everything. I don't think we help though because he likes being cuddled to sleep so when he's getting cuddles in the day, he's asleep xxx

 

[i.love]

Funny, J also sleeps very well in the afternoon. It's nice, gives us a chance to have dinner, but also is a wasted opportunity for me to catch up on sleep.

 

[Podpie]

Maybe it's just how they're wired lol. It is nice to have the opportunity to get dinner and watch a bit of telly with OH but I feel I might need to go to bed at 7 o clock every night just to get some sleep!

Bank holiday tomorrow so OH can share night duty and I'm looking forward to sleep!!