MSE Parent Club

Agutka

Joseph's cord went gooey and stinky at 5 days. As we were in hospital, they did tests immediately, although two hours later the whole thing fell off anyway :rolleyes:

Three months on wednesday, how quickly they grow. My post natal sky high blood pressure still hasn't settled yet, and I've given up hope that it may go away of it's own accord, so it's drugs for me long term... I feel so old :eek:

MrsW82

Hi All!

Just like to point out that (ahem) normal serivices have now resumed...:rotfl: (and it wasn't the nightmare that I'd expected after reading other Mum's experiences!)
OH was very patient with barely nothing during pregnancy - bless him!:o

Anyway - need some advice about going from BF to bottle.
Samantha's now 7 weeks on Wednesday - and beig a nightmare when it comes to feeding! I've mainly BF her - I ended up expressing and giving her mummy-milk from a bottle off and on since she was 3 weeks, plus we've ben giving her formula on a few occasions, and for her last feed at night (no more than 2 bottles of formula a day).

But now, as OH pointed out yesterday, she's been taking the micky, by "snacking" feeds, then using mummy as a dummy. So we're going to integrate to more bottle feeds...but how?

How does Mummy "train" her boobs to stop making as much milk? (As amusing as having a jet of milk spray out of me - it's not practical!:rotfl: )

Sorry it's a long 1!)

MrsW82

Dormouse

MrsW82 wrote: »

How does Mummy "train" her boobs to stop making as much milk? (As amusing as having a jet of milk spray out of me - it's not practical!:rotfl: )

LOL @ the jet of milk - I had one of those in the shower this morning and showed it to DH, who very helpfully went "Eugh!" :rolleyes: :rotfl:

AFAIK there's no way of 'training' your boobs, just remember to reduce the feeds very gradually to make it as comfortable for you as possible. Your body will soon get the message and start producing less milk, it's all very clever.

As for 'snacking', all babies do it occasionally, especially during a growth spurt. Obviously if it goes on for a ridiculously long time and you're sure it's not a growth spurt, there are things you can do to try and stop it - using dummies has worked for us, although I know some people don't like them, but in our case it has stopped me being the dummy. :rotfl: It's whatever works for you. Good luck!

Mazcabs

Hi MrsW82

I was breastfeeding Henry and giving formula as well as he wasnt getting enough from me. I stopped BF for a day and half when laid up ill. The MW said that it I would sill have milk to feed him but found that my milk started drying up fairly quickly after that but as Dormouse suggests would start reducing feeds and then it will start to dry up. Henry was always wanting feeding and then fall asleep ie using me as a dummy but found that when I gave him a bottle he didnt really want a dummy much. I use one every now and then to calm him but now he uses his thumb or a muslin square really

daphne_descends

Hello everyone

MrsW82

Your supply will adjust to Samantha's needs and if she is feeding a lot that's a good sign, her suckling will stimulate more milk from you. There's a bit on growth spurts here: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/growth-spurt.html Sorry I can't do links properly. The dummy is a replacement for a breast, not the other way around My baby won't take a dummy for more than a minute, I think when he realises milk doesn't come out of it he spits it out :rotfl:

Elliot is thriving and weighed 14lbs 5 at 10 weeks he has doubled in weight now and I soooo miss him being tiny... some days I think, this is alright, I could have a whole bunch running around... and other days I'm sure he'll be my only baby. He is having a growth spurt this week too and it's wearing me out and feeding him becomes a bit of a chore. I just keep telling myself 'this too will pass'...

SusanCarter

I just had a look at my graph of Alice's feeding (yes I know it's a bit geeky but I love statistics so I've got a spreadsheet ) and she had peaks of feeding loads at 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 4-5 months and seven months. Early on the peaks were very high (the 4 week peak was over four hours per day :eek: ) but more recent ones have been much lower (seven months was 2.5 hours per day) as the overall trend has been decreasing feed length. In general after a period of feeding lots more than usual the feeding time went down to less than what it had been before the peak. Hope that makes sense. I don't have experience of switching to bottles but like someone else said it's best to do it gradually otherwise you can become engorged and this can be painful and can cause mastitis.

[Deleted User]

I'm taking all this in for a few weeks time. Thanks!!! I feel so apprehensive about BF and a bit out of my depth, don't really know if its entirely possible with a 13 month old running around, I won't have time to spend feeding during growth spurts. I'm being realistic and setting a goal of 1 month to start with, if I get to that I'm aim for 2 months. The steriliser and bottles are at hand just in case.

[Deleted User]

What age can you put a newborn into a bouncy chair? We borrowed one for Jack but he was about 2 months or so when we got it. Can you use them from birth if they recline a lot?

Thanks.

Also we managed to pick up another travel cot from freecycle, which we'll keep at my parents house, we are often over there and I can envisage a time when the two kids will want to nap at the same time. However even though its from mothercare it looks quite dated possibly 10 years. I've washed the fabric, luckily it all comes off and its serviceable, but I was wondering this. Jack's travel cot has mesh on all four sides. This one has mesh on the two longest sides. I'm a bit worried there won't be enough air circulating, SIDS etc. She'll probably be over a month or two before the situation presents itself, maybe older as they sleep anywhere when little.

Am I being paranoid? We are going to get a new foam mattress for it anyway, so that's not a problem.

Lu_T

Re BF & integrating bottle feeds. As the others have said, slow and steady is the way to go. I dropped about 1 feed every other day until my boobs didn't feel like they were going to explode. I started with the late evening one and seem to remember something about dropping alternate ones so you don't go really long stretches without an 'empty'!

Although it's uncomfortable while you're doing it, it is possible to achieve it without too much pain (and without comedy jets :rotfl: ).

Bay - I'd not worry too much about the travel cot if it's washed and has a new mattress. Imogen's normal cot has solid wooden ends and bars on the longest sides so I'm sure that's a perfectly acceptable combination. As for BF - just go with the flow. For some it's perfectly natural, for others it's a complete bind. You have to work out what works for you 3. Have you got plenty of books to read to DS1 and a cushion to balance new babe? That way DS1 might not feel so left out while you're feeding and if you and he have special time while babe sleeps then I'm sure you can get a balance. The key is not to put yourself under any pressure. What will be will be.

Oh - and we put Imogen in her bouncy chair pretty early on, just didn't turn the vibrate function on. I think it was a nice perspective for her being that bit more upright.

Susan - your spreadsheet made me laugh :rotfl: :rotfl: Wish I'd thought of that... I think standard 'spurts' are 6wks, 12 wks, 20wks. Can't remember any more, but they seem to fit with MrsW82's experiences.

Dormouse

Deleted_User wrote: »

Jack's travel cot has mesh on all four sides. This one has mesh on the two longest sides. I'm a bit worried there won't be enough air circulating, SIDS etc. She'll probably be over a month or two before the situation presents itself, maybe older as they sleep anywhere when little.

Am I being paranoid? We are going to get a new foam mattress for it anyway, so that's not a problem.

I'm pretty sure it's nothing to worry about. The travel cot my parents have got only has two mesh sides too, and it has never even occurred to me there might not be enough air cirulating.

I also think bouncy chairs can be used from newborn. We've put our boys in them within a couple of weeks from being born and they've been fine.

And regarding BFing, you're right to set small targets. Take it one day at a time and see how it goes.