MSE Newborn to 1 year (& beyond!) baby club 2

Claree__x

Sammie_03 wrote: »

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

Do you mean how you will cope physically after baby? If so I would think alot would depend on the birth, I had a very straight forward birth and was home 6 hours later and back on the school run 3 days later! Obviously not ideal but needs must. Physically, I think I would of been fine to return within such a short space of time BUT that is just me, obviously I can't speak for others.
I know a few people who have had c.section/difficult birth who have taken a long time to heal.
When I was at college a lady came in the following week after giving birth :eek: she said it gave her a break!!
I think personally I would of found it harder emotionally then physically but everybody is different. Good luck.
X

Thanks for your reply!
It's emotionally I'm concerned about tbh. It might sound selfish (going out 2 nights with a tiny baby at home) but I'm just trying to do what's best for us long term (part qualified job is about £10k on average more than I'd get coming back to my current job).

*Nutella*

I'd say it'll depend largely on your baby - whether they sleep, whether there are problems with things like colic or reflux - really hard to say. It also depends heavily on your OH - if he supports you 100% and is prepared to do his fair share of housework as well as looking after baby, then that'd make a huge difference. Or maybe you have family nearby who can help out? I totally get what you're saying about not wanting to put your career on hold - my career is important to me - so I'd say go for it. If you really want to do it you will manage. The key thing will be getting enough sleep - have naps during the day and don't put too much pressure on yourself with things like cleaning. Bizarrely, you might find that it'd be easier to do it this year - your baby won't be on the move for the first few months and you can sleep during the day. My daughter's almost 10 months and I went back to work a month ago - I'd be exhausted trying to juggle a very active baby, work and studies! Having said that though, can you apply for a place and not do it if you change your mind or would you have to pay anyway?

Good luck whatever you decide - and with your pregnancy too of course x

Claree__x

Thanks Nutella.

I agree with the career comment - it's almost more important to me with baby on the way. I don't want to be stuck in an unskilled job and scraping by - I want him/her to be proud when someone asks what their mummy does.

It's going to be hard work but I think I'll go for it. I'm already at the same college and have a good relationship with the department staff so hopefully they'll be willing to support me with working from home if I miss a few classes etc - they've been great during my pregnancy.

Candlewax

has anyone experienced low milk supply in one boob before? My 6 week old has been distressed when on my right boob the last 2 days and when I check the milk doesn't seem to be flowing as fast as on the other side. If I move him to the other side he calms down and i can hear him gulping. I am careful to use each boob the same amount so don't think it is that. I have had a hard very sore area on my boob which I have massaged frequently and is now almost gone. Would this have affected my supply? Does anyone know how I can improve the supply on that side. I am not getting much if I express either.

janninew

Hi Claree

My best advice is not to plan to much during or straight after your pregnancy, pregnancy and babies don't seem to follow our plans! I had my pregnancy planned out, when I would start maternity leave, when I would return, I planned on doing some agency work a month after having my baby. All went out the window when she arrived 13 weeks early and we spent the next 14 weeks in hospital! I didn't return to work of any kind until over a year later!

Just keep an open mind and do what feels right.

Have a wonderful and healthy pregnancy.

x

pigpen

Claree__x wrote: »

Hi All,

Jumping ahead of myself a bit here 'cause I'm only 15 weeks but I was wondering if I could have some honest opinions of how you felt after giving birth (this is my first).

Thing is, I'm currently studying accountancy part time. Baby simba (I promise I won't actually name them that) is due August 27th and the course I want to do starts late September. Not ideal, obviously.

It'll be 2 evenings per week during which my husband will be home to look after simba. I just don't know whether I'll feel up to it but I really don't want to put my career on hold another year because if I do this now I can apply for part-qualified positions after my maternity leave rather than going into an unqualified position in another field (like I'm doing now).

Any advice would be lovely x

After my first huge stuck baby I had episiotomy and tore lots I was back to normal activity within 2 weeks.

After my last one.. I had a section Friday night and did the Monday morning school run...

Several weeks after delivery you will be fine!

Gillyx

Personally I couldn't have done it but we had major problems with reflux/undiagnosed intolerance, he didn't sleep at all, so we didn't sleep. I couldn't think straight to even make a cup of tea :eek: we were an extreme case though physically you'd be ok though I think xx

If you're breastfeeding too, cluster feeds can take up whole evenings at least for the first 6 weeks but it has been known for it to be like that until 12 weeks.

Claree__x

Gillyx wrote: »

Personally I couldn't have done it but we had major problems with reflux/undiagnosed intolerance, he didn't sleep at all, so we didn't sleep. I couldn't think straight to even make a cup of tea :eek: we were an extreme case though physically you'd be ok though I think xx

If you're breastfeeding too, cluster feeds can take up whole evenings at least for the first 6 weeks but it has been known for it to be like that until 12 weeks.

Excuse my ignorance but what are cluster feeds?

Gillyx

Claree__x wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance but what are cluster feeds?

Sorry where baby feeds to up your milk supply, early evenings are generally where your supply is lowest and baby will feed on and off for a lot of the evening.

I know Bamama and Turtlemoose have some experience of this, as there babies feed for a good few hours every night. I will see if they can pop over.

Not all babies will do it though xx

BadlyWrittenPoem

moneypenny21 wrote: »

I have read that frozen breastmilk loses all its nutritional value so not worth freezing it (in terms of benefit to baby( over giving formula - is this true?

It will lose *some* of its benefits in the same way that the fresher any food is, the better but I doubt that freezing it would lose all of the benefits over formula. AFAIK donor milk is usually frozen before donation and I think it's unlikely they would bother with it if it wasn't actually beneficial.

Claree__x wrote: »

Hi All,

Jumping ahead of myself a bit here 'cause I'm only 15 weeks but I was wondering if I could have some honest opinions of how you felt after giving birth (this is my first).

Thing is, I'm currently studying accountancy part time. Baby simba (I promise I won't actually name them that) is due August 27th and the course I want to do starts late September. Not ideal, obviously.

It'll be 2 evenings per week during which my husband will be home to look after simba. I just don't know whether I'll feel up to it but I really don't want to put my career on hold another year because if I do this now I can apply for part-qualified positions after my maternity leave rather than going into an unqualified position in another field (like I'm doing now).

Any advice would be lovely x

If your baby arrives by the due date then he/she'll be at least a month old by the time you start your course so as long as your husband feels confident at looking after baby by himself then I wouldn't think it would be too difficult. However, if baby is born two weeks after due date then that is 10th September which could mean you're still all at sixes and sevens, working on establishing feeding or not fully recovered from a section when the course starts. I would probably want to find out how easy it would be to catch up if you miss the first week or two just in case and bear in mind that you never know what is going to happen as babies can be very unpredictable.

Candlewax wrote: »

has anyone experienced low milk supply in one boob before? My 6 week old has been distressed when on my right boob the last 2 days and when I check the milk doesn't seem to be flowing as fast as on the other side. If I move him to the other side he calms down and i can hear him gulping. I am careful to use each boob the same amount so don't think it is that. I have had a hard very sore area on my boob which I have massaged frequently and is now almost gone. Would this have affected my supply? Does anyone know how I can improve the supply on that side. I am not getting much if I express either.

It sounds like you've had a blocked duct which possibly would have affected supply as milk would not have been being taken from a section of the breast and therefore as it works on supply and demand I would assume that production would have reduced (I know that each breast works independently on a supply and demand basis so am extrapolating that it would be similar if there was a section of the breast not being used due to a blocked duct). I tend to find the right side produces more so I try to start feeding on the left at the first night feed two out of three nights. Sometimes I forget and do a few too many in a row starting on that side (because she sleeps on my left so I don't need to move her if I feed on the left) and then I have the opposite that the left seems to have more. The other thing I sometimes so if I'm particularly unbalanced is switch sides sooner when starting on the fuller side (and then go back if she wants more after the second side) so that she doesn't fill up on the fuller side and then not take the other.