MSE pregnancy club II

Icklebeans

Morning all,

I am now 5 weeks. Spent last night at my good friends 30th birthday. Was in a sushi bar (yum) but managed to hide the fact I wasn't getting !!!!ed by having the tiniest bit of wine, ok, almost one glass!

Off to take advantage of this mild September and going camping for night in the Yorkshire Dales, not too far away!

Se ya soon.

x

Fritha_2

For the ladies who would like to breastfeed:

May I recommend the La Leche League? They're very very lovely and basically offer support, they often run groups so it's worthwhile checking with them to see what they have in your area. It's also worth while checking out your local Children's Centre (although you should go there anyway as they're just very groovy places!), I'm very lucky as mine is five minutes away and has a La Leche breast feeding support group once a week!

I went to the group on Friday to ask some questions (well question: "how in the heck do I get food into the child when she gets here please?!") and they were incredibly helpful. It's run by mums who've breastfed and then gone on the course run by the LLL to become peer counsellors. :-)

Sarahsaver

Re. worrying what people think, STUFF THEM!
i breastfed little DS once whilst walking round a car showroom and NOBODY noticed. You can get special BF tops from places like H&M, Frugi, jojomamanbebe and so on, but i found I never needed these. At the start i often wore a shirt (open) with a vest top underneath, then you can sort of cover babe with the shirt, or else wear a scarf, or a pashmina if you are posh!
The only bad experience i had was when i was in the park with my other kids and DS2 was little, he needed a feed and i was v discreet yet still some pervy looking bloke stopped and stared at me. Also I refuse to accept that so called 'mother and baby rooms' are the best place to feed when you are out and about. They are mostly near toilets! You would not ask an adult to eat so near a toilet that they could smell it!
Best of luck to everyone with the Bf'ing! Remember it is also FREE - very MSE!

I want to know if anyone here has experience of raspberry leaf tea, DOES it work? I am fed up and I am sure I have had a 'show' and the baby has dropped right down, tried s*x, XXX hot sauce in Nandos and so on.

SeptemberBaby_2

Sarahsaver wrote: »

I want to know if anyone here has experience of raspberry leaf tea, DOES it work? I am fed up and I am sure I have had a 'show' and the baby has dropped right down, tried s*x, XXX hot sauce in Nandos and so on.

Unfortunately it didn't for me! I drank gallons it from about 37w onwards and zilch :undecided. I didn't try s*x though...felt too much like a heffalump! :laugh:. Its my birthday a few days before Poppy's (I was praying that I would go further overdue so she could have her own special day!) so only then did I let myself have a v hot curry along with pineapple fritters...and still nothing!!! :huh:.

Good luck!

x

Krystaltips

Ooh, breastfeeding is somewhat my specialist subject!

Ok first off... Does it hurt? No it absolutely should not hurt, if it hurts then the baby is not latched on properly, you need to take them off and start again. (Not that easy when you have a starving crying baby but with practise it gets easy)

Do I need any specialist breastfeeding clothes/covers? Nope, loose fitting tops work best (tighter fitting tops tend to show off your back when pulled up) If you are really self concious then you can sling a blanket/muslin/pashmina/sarong (basically any kind of material) over your shoulder to cover you and the babe, but a lot of the time when you're feeding the baby it looks nothing more than a mother giving her baby a cuddle... In the early days it can be a bit difficult getting nipple to mouth discreetly but again, something else that takes practise... And remember, it's not just you learning how to do it, the baby doesn't have a clue either! They reach a point at about 6-8 weeks where they start to get an idea of what they're aiming for and can get to it themselves... Shortly after that feeding starts to become second nature and you barely even think about what you're doing...

Expressing. You can express from any point when the milk comes in but the important thing to remember is the more milk that comes out of you the more your body makes... In the early days you might find an abundance of milk (especially in the middle of the night when you're feeding from one side and its dripping from the other!) this does settle down as your body gets to know your baby and your supply will even out.

As far as bottles and dummies go, bottles: The sucking action needed to get milk from a bottle is completely different to breastfeeding (read, easier) baby just basically lies there and milk drips into it's mouth... When breastfeeding they really have to work at it... Some babies can get confused swapping between the two if they're not properly established at breastfeeding so it is best to leave it a few weeks before introducing a bottle. If you need to feed them expressed milk in this time then getting them to lap from a spoon or small cup is a lot closer to breastfeeding action than a bottle (although slightly messier)
The biggest worry with dummies is that a baby could be genuinely hungry but instead of being fed it is being pacified with a dummy... This could affect milk supply...

If there are any breastfeeding groups close to you then do go along. You can go while pregnant and it's a great place to meet new people... A lot of people have misconceptions that breastfeeding groups are for when you're having trouble or just for women to sit with they're breasts out all afternoon... But they're not a lot different to toddler groups, the exception being most women there have been where you are....

Also the national breastfeeding helpline 0844 20 909 20 run in conjunction with the Breastfeeding Network and the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers has fully trained supporters at the end of a phone who have heard just about every question!

If I've missed anything just shout up... Or you can PM me too!!

redmel1621

Hi All

Has anybody seen the Graco Cleo pushchair in a shop....

Toys R us sell it but my nearest one (Chester) didn't have it in. It is also in my catalogue and on various online shops but I want to see it in the flesh before buying it.

The cheapest place at the moment for it is ebay, I don't know whether to just risk it, but I know last time I bought a pram off the net it wasn't really suitable and I hated it after a while of using it. Whereas ds1 had a Graco travel system which I LOVED!!!!!

Mel x

shopaholic13

Re: Breast feeding. I would love some advice.
I def want to try and breast feed as this is my first child and i want to try and give him the best start but once I return to work I will need to express and give baby breast milk from bottle, should I start this early on to get him used to a bottle?
I have read a little about combination feeding , has anyone done this and can they elaborate on it? How do you balance it out?
Also would baby get confused if for example I Breast feed him durting the day and OH gives him bottles at night etc?
I don't know where to start but don't really want to formula feed just coz its convienienter!

Sarahsaver

By the looks of things send a PM to Krystaltips, she knows her stuff!!!

Best of luck.

BTW breasftfeeding is MORE convenient - no sterilising, no bottles to buy and clean, no running out of formula...

Krystaltips

Completely agree Sarah, I gave DD a bottle of formula a night for a while... My sister told me it would make her sleep better... Was a big pile of tosh... Made no difference at all apart from I had to make the damn stuff up and then clean up aftwerwards... Very quickly gave up on that idea!!

Shopaholic, how old will the baby be when you return to work? Age can make a whole load of difference... Also if you want to express and build a stock pile in the freezer that's fine... There are many options for giving expressed milk other than the bottle depending on the age of the baby, but if you wanted to try bottles wait a few weeks before introducing one so baby doesn't get confused and breastfeeding is established...

shopaholic13

Thanks, The baby will be 4 or 5 months when I return to work, I just don't want to return to work and him not accept any feeds from OH or his Nana, I was wondering if this was something you to had to introduce them to early on, I like the idea of freezing the milk though, i was thinking I would have to express enough everyday for the nite feeds!!