What does your newborn do?

[Lucy]

Hi Everyone

You're all probably really fed up with my posts at the moment, I feel like I missed a chapter of a book where I read so much about getting pregnant, then pregnancy itself, then labour etc but now I feel a bit out on a limb with what I should/shouldn't be doing with Olivia. I'm 450 miles from my family and my DH family don't have any children in it (the youngest cousin is 20!) and I'm yet to join any mother and baby groups yet to get support that way.

So basically I am wondering what your day was/is like with your newborn. Do you wake them if they don't feed every 3 hours? Do you/did you ever let them cry a little in their carrycot/moses basket or do you/did you whisk them up and feed them straight away? I have a feeling Olivia comfort sucks at my boob as she always falls asleep there and when I put her down she often wakes herself up and cries again until i put her back at the breast even though she still doesn't want to feed properly.

When your little ones go down for the night or wake in the night do you have to rock them to sleep or do they go down without bother? Sometimes Olivia is asleep after feed and I lay her down then she unsettles herself and starts crying again. Perhap I should be spending longer rocking her etc?

I'm also going to take her to a cranium osteopath or a chiropractor due to her being a forceps delivery - did anyone else do anything like this and what were the results?

I really love being a mum, I just don't think I have a natural mother instinct in knowing what to do.

Thanks

Lucy
Olivia 1 wk 2 days

 

[Lauz_1601]

Hey hun, im sure you'll get the hang of it, at first your not sure about things like that but it all falls into place I assure you, you learn what you baby wants/needs and you adapt to it.
If Ella is sleeping in the day I try to wake her to give her her bottle, she is sleeping through so I dont want her to miss any bottles in the daytime, or for her to wake in the night if she has missed a bottle in the day. But in the early days I would not wake her at night for a feed, if she is happy sleeping then I would leave her, becuase if you wake her then she will get used to being woken in the night for that feed and will continue to do so.
As for the rocking sometimes if ella is a bit unsettled when I put her down at night then I will rock her mosesbasket, but my arm aches lol, if I leave her for a little while then she settles herself once the lights are out.
And with the crying, I will leave her sometimes if I am trying to do something, eg making her bottles, doing the dishes, putting some washing on, otherwise it will never get done. I dont rush over and pickher up, but I wont leave her crying for ages

 

[Lucy]

thanks for the encouragement Lauz

during the day she sleeps fine and sometimes I wake her for a feed but during the night she wakes all the time. I think I need to try some other things to settle her more gently after a feed during the night.

Lucy
Olivia 1 wk 2 days

 

[Lauz_1601]

I wouldnt worry yet its very early days, Ella used to scream and have us pacing the floors at 2am for the first week or so, I only got a couple of hours each night, then all of a sudden she became more settled she woke in the night for her feed, had it then settled straight back down again. I didnt do anything different, she just did this herself, then eventually she stopped waking for her feed and now sleeps through

 

[Rosebay]

Hi Lucy,

I felt exactly like you do to start with about missing the chapter. It was like "oh my God what do I do now?" like I hadn't really thought about it actually happening and the baby being here! You'll find your feet really quickly though- just go with your instincts and ignore whatever advice doesn't feel right for you.

For example... you could try giving Olivia a dummy if you think she's sucking for comfort as long as you think she's had enough to drink. I was dead against dummies until Elliott turned up but we ended up giving him one and the midwife was pro as was the dentist we had come to speak to our post-natal group the other day so it's one of those things you have to make your mind up about but it might help. Also we swaddled Elliott for a long time and he really liked this- the startle thing with his arms used to wake him up so you could see if she likes it, apparently some babies really don't.

Just a few ideas, discard or adopt as you llike
+++

 

[Lucy]

hi

Lauz - you're right it is early days, and fingers crossed things will settle down

Rosebay - that's reassuring about the dentist, I have the dummies at the ready but was trying to hold off incase Olivia was really hungry and thta i was misinterpreting the signs.

Lucy
Olivia 1 wk 3 days

 

[beanie]

I never used to wake Seren when she fell asleep, she fed enough during the evening and to be honest I was glad of the rest. Seren used to comfort suck too, unfortunelty I left it a bit late to introduce a dummy and it is hard getting her to take one now. I always picked her up when she cried (and still do) but she will sometimes be grizzly and I will let her grizzle in her crib when she will fall asleep. Howeve other nights I have to rock her till she sleeps. The only advice I can give is to trust your instinct (you have got mothers instinct) and do what feels right at that time. It is a really steep learning curve - I learnt so much about babies in the first two weeks.

As for the osteopath, I think Emilia used one and had good results, there was a thread about it in this section.

On a sepeate note, Rosebay that pic of Elliott is so cute x

 

[emilia]

Try this site... great info - check under "children and babies"

www.craniosacral.co.uk/

I would highly reccommend!!
Emilia xx

 

Hi hun, Damien was 6 weeks early so I can't tell you what a 'normal' newborn does. I just wanted to say that that 'motherly instinct' didn't seem to kick in with me either, not f9r weeks, but it does.
You'll get there babe xx

 

[Sarah W Baby Belly]

What does my newborn do?

Grump and scream and me all day long, but luckily he sleeps at night

 

[Urchin]

At a week old Brody had no routine, either feeding or sleeping, he gradually settled down on his own, although I am demand feeding him, but that doesn't bother me at all.

 

[Kim]

I've only just started to feel like I can cope and Rubie is 8 weks old, but I still have to phone my mum a lot and ask her to come and get her. The mornings are the worst cos I'm sooooo tired

 

[Lucy]

Hey everyone

Today I've felt a lot more positive than I have since Olivia arrived, just reading your replies has helped me to give me confidence.

I was out today at a shopping centre that has a breastfeeding area and it was lovely to sit with some new and some more experienced mums to chat about the babies - I definately need to get out more!

Thanks for the link Emilia - I'll check it out

Lucy
Olivia 1 wk 3 days

 

[BubbleOne]

Phoebe didn't settle down until she was atleast 5weeks old. As a newborn she pretty much cried in between feeding and sleeping.
She had a bottle every 4hrs and slept for about 16hrs a day.
Then when she got to 6weeks I started feeding her every 3 hours and thats when she started sleeping through the night.
I didn't bond straightaway and felt like I wasn't coping. You do get there though.
I love being with Phoebe now. Being her mum is a joy but it took a while