MSE Parents Club Part 16

pigpen

Clarieloo wrote: »

Please can you lovely ladies give me some advice. LO is still only 15 days old so perhaps I shouldn't be concerned but he wants to eat all the time - literally every hour! I am trying to feed him 3.5 oz but he generally only takes 3 before either getting bored and refusing to take more or falling asleep. The asleep then only lasts 15/20 mins at the most and he starts to want food again - its exhausting.

At night funnily enough he is much better - feeds at 10.30pm and then 2.30 and 6am which I don't find too bad through the night. I just can't do anything for myself in the day as he is just eating all the time. This coupled with the fact that I am trying to express, means I just can't get the amount he wants and need to top up with more formula which isn't helping with my supply.

Any help gratefully appreciated
xx

Consider his stomach is about the size of a walnut... you cant get much in there!

they are not meant to drain every bottle. if they do there needs to be more in it!

Feed him what he will take.. when he nods off .. sit him up, wind him, change his nappy .. then offer him the rest.. you may well find he is just needing a bit of a shuffle to wake him up.

if he has jaundice.. this can also make them sleepy so jiggling about wakes them up to feed some more.

Is he actually hungry (routing, crying, trying to eat his hands/your face?) when you are feeding him or is he just stirring in his sleep and squeaking and you are leaping on him and feeding him too soon? Wait until he actually wakes and cries before feeding him..

It also doesnt make them explode if you put them in their basket and go make yourself some food and a drink and let them scream for a bit.. it is good for their lungs to get an airing!

Clarieloo

Thanks for your replies. We are trying the feed/nappy change/rest of feed method which definitely does help. I just keep hearing he should be having 3-4 oz per feed every 3 hours and I guess my boy just doesn't conform to that! :rotfl:He does root as if he really is hungry - I try to push him a bit but he just goes mental so I do end up giving in. I do wonder about trying a dummy if he is a bit of a snacker and just wants the bottle as comfort but I think he's too little - also hubby doesn't want me to try this yet.

Doglover

Hi! Thanks for your advice Sharkey. Stupid question but how would I tilt the mattress? Just put some folded towels or something under one end? I assume there's nothing advising against doing it over night? I think I may have read that somewhere too. I'll defo try it.

Well I was brave and managed not to blub when A went off with his grandparents. Oh goodness it was really hard not to though. We left it for nearly 4 hours until we collected him and gingerly walked in. He'd had a wonderful time (tons of photos taken and filming was done) and he was sleeping very contently. I'm so glad I braved it as it seems like my beautiful boy enjoyed it and I know his grandparents did too. I'm very glad to have him back home now though :-).

Claireloo I'm v impressed with Leo's nighttime routine! As for snacking Alistair did that for a while and the HV told us to push him as it's something he'd happily carry on doing if we didn't stop him. With the art of distraction we've managed to get Alistair lasting at least 3 hours but generally nearer 3.30-4 hours between each feed. I think that's helped his colic too because he's having less opportunity to fill with air.

Grotty weather here and I'm about to go out with the hound

pigpen

Doglover wrote: »

Hi! Thanks for your advice Sharkey. Stupid question but how would I tilt the mattress? Just put some folded towels or something under one end? I assume there's nothing advising against doing it over night? I think I may have read that somewhere too. I'll defo try it.

No.. lift the head end of the cot with some blocks or books or bricks..

Becles

Claireloo - sometimes they just feed constantly and there is nothing you can do about it. Think about your own body - some days you eat hardly anything, and other days you can't keep your hand out the biscuit tin

In some cultures it's normal for a new mother to take to bed for some weeks after the birth of a baby and all she does is feed and care for the baby, while other female family members run her home for her. Thinking about it like that puts into context how much we expect from our bodies and babies and it makes you wonder if we are expecting far too much.

tsstss7

Clarieloo wrote: »

Please can you lovely ladies give me some advice. LO is still only 15 days old so perhaps I shouldn't be concerned but he wants to eat all the time - literally every hour! I am trying to feed him 3.5 oz but he generally only takes 3 before either getting bored and refusing to take more or falling asleep. The asleep then only lasts 15/20 mins at the most and he starts to want food again - its exhausting.

At night funnily enough he is much better - feeds at 10.30pm and then 2.30 and 6am which I don't find too bad through the night. I just can't do anything for myself in the day as he is just eating all the time. This coupled with the fact that I am trying to express, means I just can't get the amount he wants and need to top up with more formula which isn't helping with my supply.

Any help gratefully appreciated
xx

Getting 3oz in at a time isn't so bad - it's the amount I was recommended to start dd off with when she was born as I was pumping also. As long as she got 3oz every 3hrs or so the HV were happy and dispite the fact it felt like we were constantly feeding she never really had more than 7 feeds a day (she tended to skip a night feed - HV;s wanted me to wake her for that feed as she was losing weight until 3 weeks old but I was just too shattered to comply so upped her feed to 100mls instead).

Mixing formula with EBM might not be helping as I noticed with my LO that only one formula feed led to a much decreased appetite the rest of the day, which in her condition was a big no no.

There are some great tips to help with pumping on the parenting board somewhere by a former poster but the one thing that helped me was getting up to pump in the night - I developed a routine whereby the night pump and early mornign pump would produce two feeds of 4 oz each and then I could be less rigid with the expressing later in the day, just making sure that every time a feed was had I would start to prepare for the next pump. My bfeedign councillor told me that one hour after a practice feed was likely to be the best time to pump so I also made sure to put baby to breast for a few secs - even if she did absolutely nothing just to try and keep that stimulation going.

Anyway good luck with your efforts, and just remember that any breastmilk you can get in to your baby is beneficial and congrats for stcking with it so far - its no easy task.

jennynoo

I don't agree with pushing LOs to wait longer between feeds. They are just hungry or in need of comfort, both things which will decrease naturally as they get older so why force then now when they need it most? There were a couple of days when DD had growth spurts when I did nothing but feed her but I was often glad of the rest and excuse not to do housework. It never lasted long and you will find with babies that everything changes every couple of weeks anyway.

*BigBird*

Morning ladies.

I'd also say don't worry about pushing babies to wait longer between feeds. They'll settle down into their own routine soon enough. Joe was never able to go more than 3 hours between feeds during the day. He'd do 3 hours in the morning, but as the day went on he'd need his feeds closer and closer together until eventually his last 2 were 1.5 to 2 hours apart. But then he'd sleep for 11-12 hours - he just seemed to like to tank himself up with milk ready for his long night-time sleep. This went on until we started weaning, but he still doesn't go more than 3 hours between a feed of some kind.

When I was pumping, someone recommended Fenugreek supplements to boost my milk supply and I have to say they really did work. Unfortunately they also brought me out in hives, so I had to stop taking them , but a couple of friends used them quite successfully.

Hope everyone has a good day and isn't too windswept.

Doglover

Good morning. What a grotty day. It's a day for hibernation after getting the dog walked. I can't believe the total lack of summer! If it's a random one off year I'm fine with it as I was dreading being heavy preg in the height of summer but it never happened. I'd like a decent summer next year though.

LO is still improving. He's feeding v regularly during the day and seeming to go longer at night. We've had two 5 hour stints so far. I find that his earlier feeds tend me closer together which I guess is him catching up after the longer period night feeds and then towards the end of the day he seems to stock up a bit too. Wow I must have a genius child knowing to do this at the tender age of 3 weeks!

I think I must be a total saddo - I saw a little Santa outfit for LO and nearly bought it ready for Xmas. I resisted though. Poor baby boy!

*BigBird*

Doglover wrote: »

I think I must be a total saddo - I saw a little Santa outfit for LO and nearly bought it ready for Xmas. I resisted though. Poor baby boy!

I must be a complete saddo then - Joe spent Christmas day dressed as a reindeer last year :rotfl:

It's funny how the weather varies around the country. I think we've had a pretty good summer here in Devon. Yes there's been a bit of rain, but also a lot of hot dry days. I'm glad now the weather's getting cooler as it's not such a battle to keep Joe's bedroom cool enough.