Feb-May 2011 Mommies

Morning all

I was about to do a post when the little man decided he needed milk, so this is take 2.

Betty maternity wards tend to be really warm, so I found that my summer pj's was just fine, even tho it was cold outside.

Meags and others thanks for the feedback re the BF and EBM. I also read that you should introduce the bottle at 6 weeks, so will probably stick to that.

Gee Meags, you really have tried everything with the BF!! I admire your endurance!!

Not much to tell from my side. A finally calmed down when we gave him the dummy last night and actually had a 4 hour sleep, so we had a good break too.

Hi ladies

Had such a wonderful day yesterday with my LB. Felt a bit guilty that soon I will have to spread my time with LG.. Went shopping at the Keeedo factory shop, then took M to the toy shop- at his request. Then we were off to lunch at POP, which unfortunately seems to have closed down. So we had to settle for lunch and play at the spur. Hope baby comes soon, because I can't afford all the shopping - lol.

Schatsie- I expressed for M but only after the 6 weeks and then only gave it to him in a situation when I was not there to feed him. I never gave him the bottle myself. Only when the paed said I must top up with anti reflux formula, then I would feed him. Well after that the BF came to an end. M could not wait to get the formula, started fussing at the boob. I think that it is just easier for them to get the milk out of the bottle, than sucking on the breast till the milk comes. I will probably try not to bottle feed again.

Hope you managed some sleep last night...

It does seem as though I am the last preggie lady, although there are some names still on the list... I don't think they are still active on the thread.

Emsmom- hope that Em gets better soon...the gynae said that after 41 weeks then I will have to have a c section. So that's one more week... But will see what he says today.

Cath- glad your shopping experience was pleasant!

Kimika- welcome back, glad you had a nice break! Hope your big boy gets better soon.

Mistymom- how was your stay in hospital? I am so not looking forward to it. Last time the nursing staff were terrible But that was over 3 years ago...
Enjoy going home today and the time left with your sister!

Meags- wow you got a lot done today!
I packed my bags 2 weeks ago, but if I get a chance I will have to check again. Other thing is that it is now freezing in CT and my pj's see not winter ones
Gynae has told me that he won't induce, so if she does not arrive soon then I will have to have a c section.
Oh I got around to looking at your clips. M's smile is so so cute and he is so adorable chatting away on the changing mat. Shame the angry Matt is sad. When I played that clip, my little Matt came to the PC to see what was going on- he kept asking who's baby is that crying and he was quite concerned, but then I showed him the happy Matt clip and he was happier. Oh and your little M is so strong- no problems with tummy time!

Joli- a stunning picture of mommy and baby. He has grown so much. I also love the beanie. I ordered some from Gerne- from Moomies-
just waiting for them to arrive. Hope this baby loves dress up.

AFM - last gynae appointment today, I already know he is going to tell me to go for the c section on Tuesday or Thursday. He initially said I could wait until 41 weeks, so I am going to try and keep to that, which will mean the c section will be on 10 May.... All speculation on my part though....
So 40 weeks today... Will ask DH to take a photo! Hoping to watch some of the royal wedding in between the gynae appointments and also want to go to baby city to get a nappy bag. Still not sure which one but have left it so late I will just have to get what ever they have...

Thanks for popping in Mumsy and thank you for the link. The last lactation consultant I was in contact with gave me the link. I did try it but he gets frustrated lying tummy down on me for too long. Also even if he's fed, he gets annoyed by the nipple! Its like it frustrates him to have his mouth on it?! The closest thing to maybe getting him to bf is the bath experience. But I can't exactly hop into the bath everytime he's due to feed!!

Mistymom is going home today she is so excited!! Her sister leaves tomorrow though and in laws on sunday so she says she'll post next week about birth story and some photos! I'll post her other photo for you all in the morning.

Posting a pic of our freezer...you can see the door is full of milk and 2 shelves of the freezer too. Starting to run low on space!

Sorry to Gatecrash, but Meags have you heard of Biological Nurturing? If you google that or Susan Colson it should come up, otherwise here is a link -- www.biologicalnurturing.com/. Its a 'different' way of breastfeeding that I have seen work for others that had issues. Just a suggestion.

goodness I can write essays!!!

ok have to type super fast so excuse spelling errors!!! Sure Matt is going to wake soon...been sleeping almost 2 hours...

ok so my news:
Today I was supermom and I guess tonight and tomorrow I will pay the price in tiredness so tomorrow I am giving myself full permission to sleep, sleep sleep and stay in PJ's.

I did all the laundry and ironing (friggin bed linen!!!). I managed to pluck my eyebrows (long overdue!!) and actually put on make up. made the bed for the first time this week
I went to the shops to buy a gift for DH's cousin who had her baby prem (33 weeks) and went and did the grocery shopping too.

I have now cooked dinner and sterilised all the bottles and done all the washing up, set the table. ready to eat as soon as DH is home or once Matt is settled (which ever comes first!!)

Ok now that I say all that it doesnt even sound like a hectic day

ok Schatsie my opinion on the bottles...
we were taught strictly no bottles before 6 weeks to prevent nipple confusion. lots of mom's do bottle feed before this (amy-b, Emsmom, Cath etc) and there is no problem as evidenced by them. So you need to use your discrection on this one! I would say do a couple of bottle feeds (seperately between boobie) and see if he fusses at the boob after a couple of bottle feeds. if he does, then stop the bottles until 6-8 weeks rather. also, if you begin pumping now, you need to decide to continue pumping or deal with a little engorgement every now and then (which will settle after a day or 2).

Cath - had to giggle that its your first trip out alone with Will!!!! I had my first trip out alone when Matt was 2 weeks old I think. Just put him into the sling and do the grocery shopping. He's not really a fan of the pram...lasts about 10-15 minutes then cries... so I just put him into the sling straight away but when with DH, he wants to push the pram so I let him do that for as long as Matt will tolerate

Kimika so nice to have you back!!!!!! how was your weekend away? sorry your big boy has been sick Matt is trying to talk but it's so funny. he starts and then almost gets a little fright that there's a sound coming out his mouth!! And he will only try to talk if I talk to him. otherwise he just sits there staring.

Amy - have answered the question about bottle above. as for the poo's....they say a breastfed baby can have 10 poo's in 1 day or 1 poo in 10 days. so it's difficult to say what normal is...if her tummy looks distended or is hard, then I'd say she's struggling to poop...but I know what had a 24 hour period of no poo...and so far today he hasnt had one yet (its 6pm here).

Lucy do you plan to express while at work too or only do a boobie feed morning and night?

Schatsie sorry your boy is crying tonight I know the first few days when Matt cried I was very distressed as it is horrible not knowing what they need or if they are in pain or what!!! Luckily now I just know thats what he does. There is a big difference when he has a 'tantrum' cry to when he has a 'painful crampy' cry. So I usually know when to really feel heartsore for him or when to just try all my tricks to calm him. have you got any EBM to give him. if you are saying your boobs are totally empty maybe he's a little hungry?! However, saying this....your boobs are actually never empty...Even if you pump until no more drops come out, they are actually only one third empty. although I have no idea how you then get the other 2 thirds of milk out...that was just a bit of info the LC gave me.

EmsMom he has been so so today. he hasnt slept that well. usually he is a good sleeper in that when he sleeps, he sleeps atleast a solid 90 minutes before fussing or needing to be re-settled. today he has been niggly like every 10 minutes. I am sure he needs to poo....think that cereal is blocking him a little. same thing happened yesterday then in a space of 30 minutes he had 2 explosive poo's so perhaps after his bath he will poo and feel better.

Joli I love that pic stunning!!!! I have the same little beanie I bought SO many beanie's thinking my newborn will wear them...well it's too friggin hot here for that....

BettyF how are you feeling? are the bags packed and ready? when will you consider induction/caesar? are you frustrated yet or still happily preggy?

MistyMom I am sure you are totally in love Heard from her on BBM. She says the BF is going well now and he was feeding every 2 hours. good boy she says the pain after caesar is not bad at all and she's up and about walking.

wonder how faw is doing...
ok cant scroll down any further so sorry if I missed someone.
got a video of Matt trying to talk. Will see if it's worth posting or not. right now I cant hear it over the white noise from the swing!

oh yes I did another BF attempt...I know I know...i said those days were over...but I wanted to try one last thing Amy mentioned to say that I really did try everything.
So I got into the bath with him. in theory this is great! but not when you are alone!! as when things dont go well there is no one to take him and dry him!!!! so it started fine. he was fine. he was licking the nipple which he's never done before (apparently a good step according to LC). he still didnt want to close his mouth around the nipple. it's like he is trying and wants it but then he pushes against my boob with his one arm and that pushes his whole body away from me and his mouth is frantically trying to reach the boob!! will need DH to hold that arm out the way....
ok so after a while he got frustrated so stopped trying. then was swishing him around the bath trying to get him to stop crying as I hadnt washed him yet. he was happy when I had him just head above the water in a standing position. suddenly he threw his head forward and went face into the water!!!!! ok his face just touched the water...he didnt sink...but he obviously got a fright (as did I!!!) and then must have breathed in as he was spluttering and coughing and his poor eyes were wide!! oh my poor child. I felt like such a bad mommy!!! then there was the drama of getting out the bath. so I wrapped him immediately but now I was soaking and couldnt put him down as he was crying well I tried drying while holding him. dried enough to get to the bed. lay him down, did a quick try and then finished him up before drying and dressing myself!!! haha what a sight. I think I will attempt it again over the weekend when DH is there to help. I am sure he's going to say something about me trying the BF again...

wow Matt still sleeping after my long post!!

has any one else got suicide hour??? ours is from 6pm-9pm. man its a disaster. he usually has a feed around 6 and the next is due around 9. well he doesnt sleep at all between those hours and I generally have to cook and we need to eat and try keep him calm. its chaos to say the least! plus DH gets home and there is Matt screaming...Same thing every night...poor DH... I have tried to make sure there is no stimulation so he is not overstimulated at all...but seems suicide hour is just suicide hour no matter what...

sure there was something else I wanted to tell you ladies but cant remember now...
have a lovely evening. its 6:35pm here and Matt asleep still so at least 35 minutes of suicide hour has been calm!! due for a feed around 7ish and still needs to bath so we may just miss the first hour and a half of suicide hour!!!! yippee!!!!!

Hello everyone. Hope you all having a great week with your babies.
Just quickly to tell you Schatsie bout my experience with the whole expressing thing.well iv been exclusively bf since H was born.but sometimes my milk is too much and wen she drinks she gulps and chokes so my mum told me that I need to express some out before feeding her which I did and it helped a lot. But at night I would leek a lot also and then I thought why let all this milk go to waste so let me express it. So I started expressing it into the bottle directly using my hand cos I didn't have a pump. And it worked. I would express a little before a feed and then after as well to empty the boob but would only get like 20ml each time.so in a day I'd collect about 100 to 120 ml and breastmilk can only stay for 24 hours in the fridge so I would give it to dh to feed her during night which was great cos I could sleep through a feed!!!! Yay!!! That way she got use to the bottle.iv been doing this since about Friday.so I alternate btw breast and bottle. Now I bought the pump, I think on tuesday and I pump before a feed a little and after or wen I feel boobs very heavy and I now get 250ml a day but I still feed H breast and keep the ebm as backup. She was three weeks on Tuesday. So to answer your question I don't think they would leave the booby for bottle. But try to alternate. Don't feed bottle exclusively. And wen you pump be gentle. Don't hurt yourself. Cos A still has to feed and you dont want sore nipples.

I have a few questions now. Do ul think its too early to start ebm from bottle??? She
Is three weeks. How many poo nappies a day is H suppose to have?