MSE Newborn to 1 year (& beyond!) baby club 3

lao_cat

28oz a day Oscar wow, what a fantastic achievement. Congrats on lo weight gain.

amus

For those looking at 'traditional' weaning, I have a chart similar to this which I pin up on the fridge which I've found useful in the past:

http://www.healthpromotionagency.org.uk/Resources/nutrition/pdfs/nutritionmatters/section2.pdf

Will see if I can find the actual chart I used later as it gives you a breakdown by breakfast, dinner, tea which is easier to follow.

Oscar_the_Pug

Just back from the baby clinic and LO has gained 6 oz and seems to be levelling off just over the 9th centile, so she's not just going to be the youngest in hrr school year but probably the tiniest! I was on the small side too, but in the middle of the year.

amyloofoo

ARGH! Really struggling with BF atm, my nipples are really sore from Inara struggling to latch when I was engorged and I have had a blocked duct for a few days now which is really sore (but with no other symptoms of infection fortunately). I'm so tempted to just express every feed but I worry that I've already introduced bottle EBM too early and will end up regretting it (she's having about 75% boob, 25% EBM atm) and pumping as well as bottle feeding takes up so much time now DH is back at work. She is feeding literally all night too, think she's having a growth spurt atm as she'd put on loads of weight at the last clinic. When will it stop being painful???

Congrats Oscar, 6oz gain is great! Don't worry about her being the smallest, she has plenty of time to catch up and we both know that great things come in small packages

The weaning conversations are already worrying me :rotfl: I'm going to be such a fusspot - I'm good with babies due to my job, but toddlers, potty training and weaning are all a different matter!

I'm interested in the idea of dream feeds too, think I might need to read up a bit more - maybe something to try when we've sorted the other issues.

Gillyx

I have been told around the 6 week mark, feeding becomes easier. All the time they are latched they are stimulating your supply, even skin to skin helps. It's very normal for feeding to be constant, and it doesn't mean you don't have enough milk or she's starving, it's just how it works

With using expressed milk you're keeping up your supply which is good.

You're doing a brilliant job. Lots and lots of lansinoh on your nips xx

Saffagal

amyloufoo Bf does get easier after 6 weeks, though it can also feel as though you're feeding endlessly as there is a growth spurt and LO feeds to stimulate your supply. At 10 weeks it got so much easier.
And lansinoh after every feed Re the blocked duct, try massage in the shower and breast compressions whilst feeding on that side. Hth xx Almost constant feeding at night (called cluster feeding) is normal and is how your supply is built and established.
A struggled with her latch when my milk came in too and I ended up using nipple shields as well for a couple of days to let my nipples heal and until I could get to a breastfeeding clinic to get some "hands on" help with A's latch. That made the world of difference and I am so glad that I persisted.
You're doing a fab job xx

Regarding dream feeding, I tried it a few times but it made no difference - if anything for us, it made things worse.

Oscar Congratulations on the weight gain! Remember, we have adults in all different shapes and sizes... gotta have LO's as all sorts too

vic3

Hi Amy, bf does get easier. For the first four weeks I felt it was impossible. My nipples were so cracked that LO was taking in my blood. I resorted to nipple shields as well as lansinoh, which were a life saver until they healed. Bf feels totally different now 6 weeks later. I'm so glad I persevered but I came very close to giving up.

Re dream feeds. I tried it last night and although early days, it completely wrecked LO 's routine. It took forever to settle him after and he didn't sleep well.

BeNiceToMySelf

Oscar_the_Pug wrote: »

BeNice - I had similar issues with my LO - she dropped more than 2 centiles and I was very worried about her, so I turned to exclusively pumping about a month ago and top her up with formula if I don't have enough breastmilk for a full feed.

thanks Oscar, I do think about expressing exclusively for a while but I think LO would miss out on skin to skin time and the comfort of BFing. When I give an expressed bottle he seems to look shocked and almost cheated! I phoned the breastfeeding network for support and have talked through a few reasons why LO sometimes gets fussy at the breast and hasn't gained a lot of weight. I'm going to see my GP on Friday afternoon for some reassurance too.

Mrs H glad the helmet is working well.

BabaMoose

Had Jack's 6wk check today (9wks).

I couldn't go as it clashed with my dentist appointment and OH could only get this afternoon off (dentist requested I came alone). DR said OH was extremely brave for going out alone with an EBF baby... Obviously they're like ticking bombs those EBF babies...

He reported back that all was fine and dandy, small heart murmur but the DR wasn't worried about it (getting checked again in 2months) and that he was a very tall baby.
I then asked how tall he measured, or what percentile, but apparently it was just an observation... Now it's niggling at me I'll be whipping the tape measure out next nappy change

Annoyingly OH mentioned the mix-up with the jabs and the DR said that we should've just made an appointment to make sure they got done.
Made me feel a bit guilty like I was taking unnecessary risks.. Grr.

Ahh well, will get him weighed tomorrow (last time was 3 weeks ago and they weren't happy he'd only done 4oz in a week again). He was 9lb6oz the last time I think, let's hope my Christmas over-indulgence filtered through...!

continualdiamond

Babamoose - it's exciting when you measure them. I just measured Scarlett last Friday when I got her weighed and she was 60cm long. She was measured at home on the last visit from the health visitor and was 56cm.

She was bit shocked at that and asked how tall I was and my husband (5'9 and 6'2) because her measuring 56cm long put her on the 75th percentile. She's only on the 25th percentile for her weight.

Hope you go okay re the heart murmur.

I'm off to baby yoga tomorrow, cannot wait. It's every Wednesday until the 2nd week of Feb. Hoping to make some friends as the novelty from work colleagues who I did a lot of socializing with outside of work has worn off for them and I don't hear from them much anymore.

I do go to a under 1's group every Friday but by the time I had recovered from my c section it was the end of Nov and of course the group was a bit quiet with the lead up to Christmas though I continued to go as needed to get out for a few hours.