MSE Parents Club Part 16

Becles

Been busy today and now I'm shattered!

Got some gorgeous photo's of Charlotte back from school. I'll have to get them scanned tomorrow. I'm chuffed to bits with them :cool:

gizmodo_2

Make-it-3 wrote: »

LL - I have also been crying a lot and wondering if I have PND. DD is so unsettled and barely sleeps during the day (I'm becoming quite a proficient one hand typist!). At night she's much different yet we were advised to make sure she didn't go longer than 3 hours without a feed so kept waking her. Saw a new MW yesterday and she said that as long as she is feeding during the day then let her sleep at night until she wakes up for a feed. So we had a blissful 5 hours last night and I feel much more able to cope with the constant daytime screaming today.

Reading this has made me realise how lucky we are, and we're pretty miserable at times.

DD is 11 days old and generally sleeps all day. She also sleeps too much at night - anywhere between 4 and 6 hours, mostly around the 5 hour mark before waking up for feeding. I was stressing so much because the MWs were saying it's too long and I should be feeding her every 3 hours, but waking her up was stressful and she'd then cry and it'd be a nightmare latching her on. And then in turn I nearly gave up the BF on day 4 or 5 because I was in so much pain.

But in the end I got some support from the facebook group who were fantastic and I stuck it out a few more days, stopped worrying about waking DD (left her till she woke). She now feeds anywhere between every 1 - 4 hours in the day and about every 5 hours over night. Averaging 7 - 8 feeds a day. The great news is on day 10 she is above her birth weight, so hopefully that means she is eating enough.

We have the odd stressful night (last night being one) where she screams for about 3 - 4 hours. Nothing can console her. We think it's wind but no amount of cycling her legs, and trying to burp her helps.

Then this morning she projectile vomited her entire breakfast (over me - gross). I had to laugh. She was like a fountain, never seen anything like it. Now I'm scared she might do it in public!

This is so much harder than OH and I thought it would be and we honestly can't understand why people have more than 1 child? I'm happy to go through the pregnancy, labour and birth, but the looking after a newborn is the worst part of it all. I also find that noone seems to remember how hard it is. I have my mum and MIL phoning all the time, and people expecting to visit in the evenings (we're only having morning visits now).

BF on demand is making it hard to leave the house, and I can't see how I'm ever going to be able to BF in public. I can't put my breast away one handed so it stays on display while I keep DD upright.

And to top it all off I've not been feeling well - something hurts down below. I started a course of antibiotics today as the swab results will take 5 days to get back, so they've got me on them incase it comes back with an infection. I think if I was 100% I'd be able to cope much better with her screaming fits.

Sorry for the essay It's nice to write things down to get it all out iyswim.

Krystaltips

Aww Giz ((hugs))

Honestly the first 6 weeks are pretty hellish... Then they have a growth spurt... Then one day you think "Oh actually, it's not that bad" Then 12 months later you're contemplating another one...

It's something we've all gone through, some of us more than once... But you get through it... And even though, at the time, it feels hellish and like it's never going to end... But it does end, and then when you look back on it... It doesn't seem all that bad... And it doesn't seem to have lasted for that long... My mantra in those early days... "In the grand scheme of things, this is 5 minutes!"

Metranil_Vavin

Evening gang.

Giz..sorry you are having such a hard time hon. It does get better though, and that is from me who a couple of weeks back was in the depths of despair with everything.
BF'ing is hard. I still struggle with it some days, and on occasion we do give him a bottle of formula.
Josh will be 5 weeks tomorrow and I can honestly say that this week I have started getting more of a handle on things, and am getting out much more with him and enjoying him.
I still get days where he will just not stop screaming, or nights when he will not sleep, but it's getting easier to handle.
Here is a pic of him in his new PJ's..he is so cute

got-it-spend-it

I love Josh's pyjamas MV!

Hugs to those having a tough time. I agree with Krystal that suddenly you just realise that things have got easier and it all becomes a bit of a distant memory.

I'm off to make some savoury muffins as H is in bed and DH is at work.

ladybirdintheuk

Oooh, Josh is a real cutie

Mortgage chat went well (if interupted by a call from mortgage man's wife because his LO had fallen over and bumped his head!) - all subject to a valuation from the surveyors, but fingers crossed we will be saving £130 a month!

MadDogWoman_2

Hugs Giz.

What I did when my DD was tiny was visit a local bf group, lots of tips, lots of chat and it didn't matter that you were flashing, no worrying if anyone was going to make a negative comment etc, just lots of lovely support. The tea and biscuits were nice too.

It meant that when we went on holiday when DD was 11 weeks old I was able to feed her anywhere, including on the seafront.

Apologies for not being around for a few days, I've had a poorly DD, she's had quite a reaction to her pre-school boosters. Spiking temperature, hallucinations due to temperature, streaming nose and eyes, cough, lack of appetite. She's slowly on the mend now though, she's cleared my brothers house of food this afternoon, then slept for 2 hours and has is now settled down in bed with a kool n soothe on her head as she's got a headache.

Krystaltips

GISI, you seem to have the name of my alter ego in that post

sir_monster

Giz def go to local support groups, baby cafes or childrens centres with baby groups as others will be bf so makes it easier can also ask about bf friendly places to go out to, a lot of places have 'rooms' like John Lewis, Ikea, Mothercare, M and S, Selfridges, Mamas and Papas (to name but a few) even some shopping centres and museums/libraries do - may be worth asking what they are like to as the JL tend to be good but the m and s one near me is a curtained off bit in the changing room (maybe not somewhere you want to be for an hour!). This means in the early days you could plan an outing close to these if you are worried. Now I just feed wherever but prefer somewhere lik starbucks as more comfy seats and free internet if t goes to sleep so can enjoy a coffee too. Good luck and remember by bf you never have to worry about taking out bottles, food is on tap!

Make-it-3

It's good to see some familiar names on here from the pregnancy thread, I have been quite surprised how quiet it is on this thread. I know getting online with a newborn can be difficult, but I am missing the support. I know there are lots of local groups etc but just getting out to them can be a challenge.

Giz, I completely agree it is hard, so hard being a mum - I guess the consolation is you figured out the BF thing somewhat earlier than me. We are now playing catch up as the MW is a little concerned as Nina is still below her birth weight and is 3 weeks old tomorrow.

We did manage to get out to a mother & baby screening at our local cinema today which was quite an experience. It was a real scream-fest but not from my one, she was as good as gold. Mainly because she spent most of it on my boobs.