The 300k debt-free diary!!!

Isabelle

By the way, I like the image of the "octopus with the mouth sewn shut"! It certainly is a challenge to help Mums breastfeed their babies sometimes, when the little darlings won't cooperate!
Found one website saying it costs about 1400 dollars/year to use formula (whatever that is in pounds...).
However, I also found a paper that says that breastfeeding Mums may spend more because of all the paraphernalia they end up buying although they're breastfeeding (breast pumps, feeding cushions, nipple shields, etc...). All of them quite
unnecessary in my humble opinion...apart from the pump in some cases. What do you think?

chocaholic110

Got to confess I'm not finding breastfeeding so easy myself this time (bit of a shock as DD was a fab feeder). Keep meaning to get along to breastfeeding support group but something always crops up and now baby massage is scheduled at the same time!

Tom is a very unsettled feeder; he pulls on and off with legs kicking everywhere (mind you his arms and legs fling constantly even when asleep)and spills milk everywhere. He never seems to feed for long and then wants more two hours later. He's still on the 2nd centile but is putting on weight steadily and has almost doubled his birth weight at 13 weeks.

chocaholic110

Isabelle wrote: »

However, I also found a paper that says that breastfeeding Mums may spend more because of all the paraphernalia they end up buying although they're breastfeeding (breast pumps, feeding cushions, nipple shields, etc...). All of them quite
unnecessary in my humble opinion...apart from the pump in some cases. What do you think?

My breast pump is so far pretty much unused but I love my nursing cushion! $1400 is approx £700 I think and I've spent nowhere near that. I even bought washable breast pads from Boots (£4.50) and they're way better than the disposable type.

Isabelle

Hi chocaholic
I'm always very careful not to tell second-time Mums that breastfeeding will be easier this time round, as it's not always true (as you know!).
Sounds like Thomas is a bit of a "snacker", but then we're all different, whether we're 13 weeks old or 40 something...and if he's otherwise healthy and happy, the centiles on the weight chart are pretty useless, must be time they got changed and adapted to breastfed babies!
The thing is with breastfeeding, it feels like you're going to be doing it forever, but in fact it's over too quickly, and before you know it, they're all grown up! My youngest (14 on Saturday) decided to wean herself off breastmilk at 13 months and I was devastated (I knew she was my last and sorry she'd grown up so fast ).

pandapaws

I bought some washable pads in ToysRUs the other day for £1.79, so when I've used up the disposables I'll give them a try. I do go through a lot of them though, so will probably need more than just 6! I don't have a nursing cushion, but use 7 sofa cushions downstairs or 3 pillows in bed, which have to be arranged with military precision before every feed. (Also have to tie hair back, and have drink, Sky remote and old towel within arm's reach!).

I've got a Mini Medela pump that I got half price when I had Adam for £20. Not dragged it out of storage yet but it was quite good compared to the hand milking devices i've seen elsewhere.

Choca, it sounds as though Tom's doing brilliantly - he might only be on the 2nd centile, but he was so tiny when he was born that he's probably put proportionally more weight on than a lot of babies twice his size. He certainly looks healthy enough in your pics! How's baby massage going?

chocaholic110

Baby massage doesn't start until tomorrow but I fully expect Tom to scream the place down as it seems to take him a while to adapt to new things. Will let you know!

Would recommend a nursing cushion - certainly sounds easier than aranging 7 cushions!

I've had my hair tied back permanently since Tom was born. It's so long that it all gets in his face otherwise. It did get really dry and thick but it's started dropping out in the shower in huge strands now and feels (and looks) much better - don't want to lose too much more though!

pandapaws

Snap! I've had my hair almost permanently up in one of those grabby things for about 3 yrs now, since Adam was born! It just gets in the way otherwise. I just need to remember to tie it up before picking baby up in bed, otherwise several dozen of his tentacles get totally tangled up which isn't too pleasant! I blocked our shower with my hair in less than a month after having Adam. It was a brand new house, so I got the builders in to fix what I thought was a poor plumbing job - was mortified when they dragged huge clumps of my hair out the plughole as the cause of the blockage!

Got the cushion arrangement down to a fine art here - 4 behind me (our sofas are really deep), 2 flat out beside me, and a big one on top that Greg lies on. Not sure if they make something that would replace all those!

Batgirl

chocaholic110 wrote: »

Baby massage doesn't start until tomorrow but I fully expect Tom to scream the place down as it seems to take him a while to adapt to new things. Will let you know!

Would recommend a nursing cushion - certainly sounds easier than aranging 7 cushions!

I've had my hair tied back permanently since Tom was born. It's so long that it all gets in his face otherwise. It did get really dry and thick but it's started dropping out in the shower in huge strands now and feels (and looks) much better - don't want to lose too much more though!

Hope you don't mind me putting my tuppence in, I am not a midwife ( but would love to be) just a Mum but wanted to say about your baby feeding that although he feed quickly he could still be eating as much as a baby who feed for twice as long, some babies suck really fast at the beginning of the feed then slow down when things are moving or even just suckle for a while like a dummy ( sorry my wording is making this sound gross, hope you know what I mean) when your baby might feed at full pelt for the few minutes he is on, my 2nd was like this and it worried me but he gained weight much faster than my first. Hope this helps

Batgirl

pandapaws

Had a good night's sleep last night although up at the crack of dawn as usual, so hopefully I'll have loads of energy to get loads done today. Adam is off to stay with grandparents for a couple of nights (they're missing him since we moved as they used to live just along the road), and DH is off work (I'm working, but won't bother turning up!) so hopefully we'll get the house sorted out over the weekend, baby permitting - hoping for some of those fast 'full pelt' feeds today so I'm not stuck on the sofa all day Batgirl!

I've just managed to get back into my email - for some reason I got locked out of it and haven't been in for several days. Grrrr! Missed out on dozens of surveys (although thankfully most of those go to a different email address), and sorry to anyone who's emailed me recently and not received a reply, I'll get around to it all later - I'm not being deliberately ignorant, honest!

hypno06

pandapaws wrote: »

(I'm working, but won't bother turning up!)

If only life as a working mum was always this easy :rotfl: