MSE Newborn to 1 year Baby Club 1

Carmilla

Hi Everyone,
I'm trying to catch up with the thread, but I'm going to make a big effort to get to the end today as I've been trying for a week. I've gotton too used to the convenience of FB.

Mozzy, Charlie looks great, I love all that hair as Seb is a baldie.
Janninew, I'm glad Poppy is doing so well, she looks very cute.

Forgive me in advance but I'm going to post responses as and when as I've already forgotton so much I wanted to say.

*Nutella*

sunshine_1988 wrote: »

Yay to those who have holidays!! Our cruise seems ages ago and it was only a wk n half ago Nutella, glad the flight was ok, I was surprised how good Aiden was on ours. Have a lovely time at your parents!!

Im scared about his jabs tomoz, nurse told me last time that its 3 on this one...boo. Poor little ones.

Thanks hun - glad Aiden was well-behaved too! I kept looking at all the parents with bored toddlers who wanted to run around and think that'll be me before I know it...

Hope jabs go OK today. We've only had the first lot done so far - LO's response was to sleep for 24 hours, only waking up for a drowsy feed every few hours. Makes you feel like a bad mother inflicting pain on your LO though, even though you know it's for their own good and they won't remember it. I actually felt even worse about taking off her plasters afterwards - she screamed her little head off and it was my fault...

Carmilla

Ro, Thanks for the jumperoo price match, I will get on to that later today
Janninew, my tummy looks like I've eaten you, not just had a baby, which reminds me I need to find a local SW group.
Dizzi, sorry you are having a rough time, I avoid health professional like the plague, as I've got a long and skinny baby and I've had enough of them being judgemental without the facts. I'm thinking about buying my own baby scales, its a shame he need immunizations as it would be good to cut them out completely.

turtlemoose

Meh. It's just taken an hour and twenty mins to BF for a total of approx eight mins.

Stressed baby, stressed turtlemoose, and a p*ssed off OH. Not a good start to the day! I hope he sorts out feeding properly today as its really getting to me. The BFing is so important to me, but sometimes I don't think my partner realizes how much hard work it is. I feel like he sees me sat on the sofa for 45mins or an hour and thinks thats relaxing time, when actually out of that time only a maximum of ten mins is actual feeding, the rest is just stressful and frustrating. Whenever i read stuff online about people gushing about how BFing is a special bond with their baby and blah blah blah, it makes me want to track them down and punch them in the face! Feeds are my least favourite thing about being a mum

Sorry for the rant, just had a rubbish 24hrs

*Nutella*

Aimless wrote: »

That wouldn't work here, they expect you to hold them down, there's only the one nurse doing them. I must book our third set sometime.

Same here I'm afraid - I brought DH along so he could hold her as I couldn't bear watching... And he's also fantastically good at soothing her and calming her down, so she didn't cry for very long.

Lirin

I found the injections easy enough- not nice, but not as bad as expected.... My MIL came with me for the first ones and fussed quite a bit, which wound Rose up- she meant well though.

If you are calm, baby is likely to be calmer.

*Nutella*

turtlemoose wrote: »

Meh. It's just taken an hour and twenty mins to BF for a total of approx eight mins.

Stressed baby, stressed turtlemoose, and a p*ssed off OH. Not a good start to the day! I hope he sorts out feeding properly today as its really getting to me. The BFing is so important to me, but sometimes I don't think my partner realizes how much hard work it is. I feel like he sees me sat on the sofa for 45mins or an hour and thinks thats relaxing time, when actually out of that time only a maximum of ten mins is actual feeding, the rest is just stressful and frustrating. Whenever i read stuff online about people gushing about how BFing is a special bond with their baby and blah blah blah, it makes me want to track them down and punch them in the face! Feeds are my least favourite thing about being a mum

Sorry for the rant, just had a rubbish 24hrs

Same thing happened to me; I really wanted to BF, but LO would latch on and then just lie there! Every now and then she'd feed a bit, but never enough, so she'd be fretting and crying because she was hungry. I think she saw the boob as a comforter rather than a food supply... I did some expressing for a while, but couldn't keep up with her hunger, so we switched to formula. I felt extremely guilty and like I'd let her down, had a teary few days (DH kept trying to be supportive, but got a bit fed up with me being miserable...) and was dreading feeding time. I still feel guilty, but much less so as I can see that she's a happy, healthy and thriving baby. I hope things improve for you and that you're able to persevere with the BF if that's what you choose to do - hopefully it's just a phase he's going through and it'll get easier soon. BF is hard work - all the workshops and books make it sound so simple, but it's not!

Sending you big hugs x

Lirin

Turtle- I breastfed for a bit. Only on the 4th day in hosp did someone show me properly how to, which may be part of the problem I had with it.
My DH was supportive, but didn't 'get' it, and kept urging me to go to formula when I was stressed. He was trying to make me feel better, but it made me feel worse instead. I found the actual feeding was tough, I was quite tense a lot of the time, even more so when it cut me a bit. TBH, it was nearly a relief to stop feeding sometimes.
I switched to expressing- to let nipples heal- and never really went back to breast. I wasn't so much about forming that 'special bond', as unless I'm a crap parent, that should happen anyway. I just wanted Rose to have my milk, and although I felt I let her down, that disappeared when I saw how unaffected she was-still happy, still being fed, still getting milk.


Have now moved fully to formula, only because I am back at work. Rose is being weaned, and it's a nice thought that a lot of the meals I have prepared in the freezer hve been made with breastmilk in them, so she will get some for a couple of months yet!

Breastfeeding is such hard work, and has massive benefits for baby and you- but no-one tells you how bloody hard it is!

Whatever you do end up deciding to do, just remember you are doing it for you and baby. If you are happy, so is baby- and vice versa.

Lirin

Sorry, I've just read my post back, and I hope it doesn't come across as pro formula or anti breastfeeding- I was trying to say that hopefully you'll find- and be comfortable with- a solution, and I hope it gets easier.

turtlemoose

Thanks guys. I'm determined to BF, even if that means expressing and bottle feeding him - I'd just much rather 'direct from source' as its just easier! My OH and his mum have both askedabout me expressing. Him so he can do a night feed, and her so we can go out for the evening. When ive said to them both that i gladly and gratefully accpet theier offer....but not just yet, they both get annoyed. OH even accused me of "refusing" to express (he said "how can i help you when you refuse to do it? I don't see what's so hard to understand, yes he's 5 weeks old but we've only been breastfeeding for 25 days (was syringe and cup for first 10), and all the guidelines say wait 4-6 weeks after breastfeeding is established before introducing a bottle. OH alternates between the attitude of "oh god what bullsh!t have you been reading on the internet now", and "well he's between 4 and 6 weeks old so why wont you express?".

From what i can tell from my research, the first 6 weeks are the hardest - that's another 2.5 weeks for me to go, and yes that makes him nearly 8 weeks old but it'll only be 6 of breastfeeding....but they just seem to think im deliberately being awkward or something! It's times like this that i hate living so far from all my family, especially as I have no friends here either