October 2008 Mum’s and bub’s

Hey Fi have you been taking any painkillers for it? I only had a slight graze from when Bethany was born that didn't worry me much, but the general ache down below was quite intense for a while. I was on voltaren and 4 hourly panadol for the first week. (I usually hate to take anything but between that and my nipples taking turns at being cracked I decided something had to be done or I wasn't going to cope!) The other thing that I found helped was putting a hot wheatie bag down there - helped me forget the pain enough to get to sleep! Sometimes putting it in the small of my back helped too.

Hi Jo, congrats on the birth of wee James I seem to be spending more of my time in the sept mummies thread cuz Bethany was meant to be sept bubs but she arrived on Oct 2. Definitely worth the wait though!

Wow Chonny, D's sleeping patterns sound great! Must be a relief, esp. now that you've got two little ones to care for. Bethany seems to be feeding 3-4 hourly during the day now, though will sometimes do a few patches of 2 hourly towards the evening. We're now able to get her down at 9pm without too much fuss. Then she sleeps till around 1am, feeds/changes and is back down within 30mins (most of the time...), then wakes around 4-5am for another feed and tends to be wide-eyed and ready to face the day! Now that DH is back at work I've taken to putting her beside him in our bed at that point so he gets some snuggles before he leaves for the day.

Anyway, she's sleeping at the mo so I should go and get some shuteye myself while I can...

Kristy, have been taking panadol but that's about it, today is the first day it actually feels like its easing which is nice, but the overall ache is nasty. I now have some itchy stiches too!!!

DS asleep on DH while inlaws do the shopping, how good is that!! Still worried about how you manage a day when DH goes away, its nice to be able to get him to settle finley or change him so i can do something else, like dress or feed myself.

Awesome sleeps for James Jo, we had a good night, he went down at 11 until 3, and then up again at just before 7, and has had all his sleeps at the right time today, just a couple of short naps and one long one during the day seems to work with him.

Inlaws are here and its ok except i need to bf in another room, i am not happy doing it infront of father in law, don't know why, probably as Finley and I are still learning and he still takes his time latching which means i need to concentrate and its not very discreet iykwim.

Ok breast feeding is a pain, my boy is just not a natural sucker at all, he has a bottle feed at 10.30 each night now after we established my milk is just rubbish at that time, so dh either gives  him milk i've expressed through the day or formula, allows me to get some sleep.

Anyway he slept until 3, which was fab but took from 3 to 4.20 just to have one feed, getting him latched on too forever and was so stressful, can see why people give up for sure giving him a bottle takes no time and nobody cries, we were both in tears. Still determined to carry on - just needed to vent about it today.

Hey chonny sounds like you've had a really hard time of BFing this time around! It's not an easy road eh?

After Bethany was born, when we first tried to latch her, she just wouldn't latch properly to my left nipple - kept on tucking her bottom lip in. I just put it down to pure exhaustion on both our parts from the length of my labour. About an hour later after showers etc. and being transferred to a room, we tried her on the right and she latched fine after a little coaxing.

From there my left nipple ended up getting REALLY sore and cracked, then it eased slightly and my right nipple had a turn... then back to my left nipple being really bad. I found I was putting pure-lan on both before and after a feed, and gritting my teeth REALLY hard to get her on. It was hard to judge what was just sore nipples and what was bad latching, so it kept taking me quite a few tries to latch her, esp on the left side. The nights were worst - I found myself dreading feeding her when she started crying, and of course when you're tired and trying to latch it's really easy to let her go on slightly wrong which makes the next day even more painful!

I was determined though, and convinced that it was getting a little easier each time (at least that's what I told myself, lol!) so persevered. Even now I find that latching her on the left can still be slightly painful at times (no comparison to the early days though!) but for the last week I haven't used anywhere near as much pure-lan, yay. If it does get painful I take her off straight away and try again, and although that means that, particularly for her night feeds, it takes quite a number of tries to get it right, I figure it's worth it.

The other thing I keep doing is looking at her and reminding myself of how gorgeous she is... and that makes all of it worthwhile

So hang in there, it will get easier! Sorry to hear you're not well too - that really doesn't help

Katier that must be so frustrating! Hopefully it won't be long now and you'll be able to go home. Have they given you a time frame yet?

Fi, glad the pain is clearing up a bit.

Uh oh little miss is calling (though should be asleep... I think she's just majorly overtired...) better go.

well i had these problems last time too. was saying to mum earlier, i think i coped a bit better last time coz there wasn't anyone to hear me scream & i was feeding more often but with David being such a good sleeper & not feeding as often as Vincent did, it's often a good 6 hrs or more between feeding off the rhs. i think it's the memory of the pain. I tried again this morning & got him latched. Vincent loves saying yeeha so i got him to help me & we both yelled out yeeha! This meant i was going to scare him by screaming. no tears, but it was agony the entire time! The cut seems really deep. looks like it may have gotten smaller but still deep which is why i think it hurts. the lhs is ok now. still little sting initially as he gets it in the mouth etc but nowhere near as bad as the rhs. MW coming in an hour or so & will talk to her again about it.

Katie, i'm finding the johnson's disposable pads are actually pretty good (found that last time too) also the hemp ones mw gave me on tuesday are REALLY good. they don't stick as much like she said they wouldn't. lol.

Was worried last night as i couldn't express much but filled up during the night & could feel it filling up this avo. Mum came just after feeding D on the RHS & suggested that since i was still dripping i should try express. it hurt like mad, but i managed to get 20mls out. that will at least help for later. poor kid hasn't fed much today as he not feeling 100%. all snotty & mucousy.

Ok, sorry for my big rant! Fiona, sounds like you are having some trouble with feeding too. big hugs hun, i know the feeling! have you mentioned to your mw about how long it is taking to get finley latched? perhaps she can send you to see an LC to get some tips? they normally schedule it around a feed so they can watch you feeding...

Yay for clever bubbies... DH and I have been convinced that Bethany has been smiling since about 10 days old (I think?) - and the other day when the mw was here she gave me a big huge smile, and my mw said that's definitely what it was! Yay We had a lovely 'talk' this morning and Bethany gave me a few big huge smiles in a row, it's so cute!!!

Chonny, glad things seem to be slowly calming down. Hope they keep improving for you!

Jess, that sounds perfectly normal. I'm kind of at that stage now too with my lhs - the rhs seems to be fine. It's only when the pain doesn't stop that I make myself re-latch her

Hey chonny that sounds fantastic - hopefully it'll be the miracle cure you need! What a great mw

Just popping in to say that I have been down to meet wee Sophia, Emma's ( meandbump) baby and my niece!! She is very cute and has the chubbiest cheeks I have ever seen!!

They are supposed to be coming home tomorrow so when she has time I am sure she will fill you all in.

Congrats to all you new mummies

Chonny I want your mw.

Last night spent most the night in tears over our latching on problem, some days is just so much worse than others and last night it took 40 minutes to get him on only for him to then fall asleep and wake up not long later looking for more, poor thing he was exhausted and so was i.

How do I find an LC? My mw just seems to think I should persevere, which is all well and good but in the middle of the night when you can't feed your crying child all you want to do is give in and give them a bottle. I felt like a total failure last night.

Feeling a bit better this morning, trying to remmeber its a new day and maybe today he'll remember how to bf again. I just want to feed him.

Sorry another ranty day from me.

Awesome that your mw is going to sort your nipple out Chonny, hope it works and you'll be back in no time.

Time to wake him for more food - wish me luck!!

She's gorgous Sarah! The pic with Daddy makes me teary, so cute how he's rubbing her teeny back!