baby blues

Hey kaww - I felt the same as you after I had Luke and found the worst thing to do was worry that it might be PND...

I spent the first 2 weeks crying every day and not doing anything except spending time with my boy... eventually I got over it and don't cry very often anymore (yesterday being the exception). I put most of mine down to a severe lack of sleep and once I started catching up as Luke started sleeping longer, I started feeling heaps better. It was about 4 weeks before I felt like ME again though.

So don't worry, just relax and enjoy your boy! You went through a big traumatic event only 6 days ago, so cut yourself some slack and relax!!

I'm sure it is just normal baby blues and nothing more. Let me know what the m/w says. I was a complete wreck for the first few weeks (well actually I was ok the first week and then a wreck for a few weeks).
I'm at work tomorrow but if you like I can come down at the weekend and give you a hand for a couple of hours.

thanks everyone:) mel..yes the nipple cream great..i worried he would get some of my blood..and that would be bad..lol..after having the day talking to DH and sleeping i feel sooooo much better..so hopefully its just as you said bel..

feeding him is just awesome besides the nipple thing..and i think even if i end up giving him formula that won't change:) I'm hoping it's just hormonal ups and downs.. pity i cant predict when they come..thanks cuppatea..might just do that.. he sleeps 5 hours at a time during the day though..:) i guess its just hormonal that i feel i cant cope sometimes. when its 3am and I'm knackered and he's crying but it always works out..just a little stressed bout Dh going back to work as well!

Yeah I personally wouldn't let him go 5 hrs, at his age he should be around 2 1/2 - 3hrs, but every baby is different.

Personally I wouldn't let him go over 3 hours as he may not be getting enough food in the day and waking up at night, he also might be mistaking night for day and having his big sleeps during the day instead of at night. Do you make the day time different to night? What I did was feed and bum change during the day, bum change would be fun, with me talking/singing etc then if time a little bit of play (just on playmat for 5 mins or cuddles with DH etc. At night I would feed him in the dark (I would sit in lounge but only have hall light on), would also change his nappy in the dark too and then put him straight to bed, would keep interaction to the bare minimum. Also another trick I found handy was to put him back on the boob after changing nappy cos it would make him sleepy again.

Yeah is not always easy, just wait until he starts smiling and wanting to play at night

with the waking thing as others have said, it's good to wake about 3hourly in the day which means you can leave longer at night like 4 and a half hours-ish, means hopefully you'll get the days and nights sorted. It's also important to make sure they are fed at least 4 hourly anyway just to make sure they're getting the right amount of feeds during the day otherwise they'll either make up for it with a rotten night of waking constantly, or they'll just not really get enough food which means next time you'll have a sleepy baby with not enough energy to have a great feed, or long term can mean poor weight gains, just the same as us really.. if you think about it can you go 5 hours without eating or drinking? not many adults do, and we are finished growing, babies are growing so quick and need that fuel, their tummies hold so little so they need to be fed often to make up for that..

With the cracked nipples thing, see if you can get your midwife to help you latch him, or watch you feed to make sure he's on just right, because from what i have seen and worked with, even with cracked nipples, if he is on far enough they shouldn't hurt throughout the whole feed,they might be sore at first but if he's on far enough they will rest against the soft palate at the back and won't be pinched up against the hard palate roof of his mouth with each suck (which causes the OUCH!) also, as our lactation consultant in our unit says, it won't hurt baby if your nipple does bleed a little bit, you just need to be aware of this as quite often we get mums in who say their baby is sicking up blood with their milky spills when actually its tiny streaks of stuff they have swallowed and perfectly harmless.

In all, baby blues sucks, and yep like most new things it really does take a few weeks to really get into the swing of things, sleep deprivation is the cruelest form of torture, and the fastest way to become unhinged. All parents of bubs worry, the main thing is to recognise if it's normal worry or if it's the kind of sitting-by-his-cot while he sleeps too scared to sleep yourself kind of worry.. because that's a bit more than baby blues.   motherhood is one of the hardest jobs, and like starting any new job it takes time to feel like everything fits well and feels right, for the first few weeks to months you kinda just fudge your way through - the main thing to remember is get help and ask questions.(he he, like you've done)

Edited by mum2paris

as ive said in another thread wont be online for a while..but wanted to say thanks..mw still hasnt got here :( but i will ask her about all this.. he has woken up by himself every three hours so far today..and slept 3 hours at night with a two hour awake period at 415-615 lol.. but I'm sure it'll get sorted..i feel better knowing it's all normal..and its not stand by his cot scared..its more will i wake up when he cries...as DH can sleep through everything!:) and will i cope when Dh goes back to work kinda worry.. I'm sure we will get there.. he's doing all the 'right things' apparently...wet nappies etc that sorta stuff.. and the nipples only hurt in the beginning...so that's good i guess?anyway i gotta go .. thanks again.

I just wanted to add that day 7 was the day I had a mega breakdown - just another part of the delightful baby blues. Seemed to get a lot better after that and didn't develop into PND

i remember mine hit about day 4 really badly with gabriel.

My mw turned up and i answered the door in bra and knickers holding a screaming baby with tears running down my face and practically threw the baby at her. Next time she turned up with pamphlets about PND and very worried...but i had a handle on it by then.

those damn hormones can really play havoc and i suppose it could make it hard to distinguish between that and PND.