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@redsmarties: I hate cluster feeding! B is usually good, she cluster feeds from like 830ish-11ish but then only gets up 1-2 times in the night. The other night though? She was up 6 times!! Luckily it was only the one night of that.
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@MrsB2012: yeah- she usually only has one or two big clusters a day- but this one is just LATE! Mama's sleepy!
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@MrsB2012: my tummy is super squishy. Not that it was that great to begin with. I did manage to squeeze into some regular jeans today, but at a size 12 I don't think that's much to be proud of :/.
@redsmarties: ugh, I feel your pain! Sleep baby, sleep!
I was cluster feeding E tonight, then had to give her a sponge bath from all the spitting up (so she of course screamed), then had to emergency bathe one of the dogs. I had DH give her a bottle so I could take a rest. Aaaaand now we're feeding again lol.
Got the birth announcements ordered though! Spent way too much money, but I couldn't help myself.
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@MrsB2012: My baby poops ALL.THE.TIME. We've been fighting several different diaper rashes and I can't even tell you how many diapers we go through a day! lol Also, don't worry about the mom bum. I have it too. Also my stomach is FAR from flat and I still have about 14 lbs to lose to get to pre-pregnancy weight. Don't worry about it. We all just had babies, it's too soon to look fab yet. haha
@StrawberryBee: I don't even want to tell you how much I spent on birth announcements. lol It's so worth it though!
How much time per day do you ladies give your baby tummy time for? We do it for a few minutes 2-3 times/day. Sometimes he likes it, other times he cries and fights it, and just recently he started rolling from his tummy to back after a minute or so. I wonder if I should be doing it more though...
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Re: cluster feeding - I totally thought 6 weeks was the magic week where your boobs start to feel better. But honestly, mine are worse! They've never been really bad but now they are worse than 2 weeks ago! Cracked and blistery...
I've been alternating between earth mama and Medela lanolin at each feed, trying to air dry, nothing is helping!
@skipper2010: we haven't been doing much tummy time at all. He lays on me a lot and can lift his head and use his arms to push up. I should totally do it more often. (And by not much, I mean like once a day... Maybe)
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@skipper2010: I'm doing the exact thing as @.twist.: re: tummy time. Now that she's more alert I may pull out the activity mat. Up until now it's just been naps on me to keep her off her back, and she's had some really great head control from day one for some reason.
Oh, and I may have ordered four different birth announcement designs. *cough* I made our wedding invitations myself, so I wanted to splurge on these.
Also, I downloaded an app called mosaic that makes a 20 pic/20 page 7x7 photo book from the pics in your phone. This may become my new addiction.
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@StrawberryBee: woah, how much was the app ?!
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@.twist.: the app is free. Each book is $20+ $5 shipping. It's by mixbook http://www.heymosaic.com/
I'll let you know how it turns out
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@.twist.: DS was circumcised at the hospital. It looked painful, but it didn't seem to bother him. Thankfully, the book they sent home with us about postpartum care for me and the baby was super helpful so we felt more at ease about how "inflamed" it looked.
@skipper2010: We did tummy time quite a bit when he was younger, but now that his sleep schedule is all over the place, we're like @.twist.: in that tummy time = the time spent held up right or lying on our chest. Tummy time on the play mat is not as frequent.
@delight: What about some prune juice to help move things along?
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@Alivoo01: ugh, I wish they would have done it at the hospital, but they don't do that here any more! It's starting to look a lot better. I changed my first diaper since about 10 mins ago! Haha
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@skipper2010: our tummy time is just when she's lying on our chests. I'm not sure when we are supposed to start tummy time on an activity mat?
@.twist.: oh my god don't tell me your boobs are worse at 6 weeks! Mine are just starting to feel better. I use my magic ointment throughout the day. Then a few times a day I Use the Lansinoh soothies gel packs that have been refrigerated. They feel amazing on my boobs! I'm glad Lukas circ is starting to look better. Poor little guy. I'd be traumatized. I'd make DH do the dipe changes too.
@Alivoo01: things are working again now that I'm back on the softeners! I should pick up prune juice though!
My little girl is doing great but I can't get her back to sleep from like 4-6 am. She sleeps a good 3-4 hour stretch before and after but is wide awake at that time. Oh well, I guess i should just take whatever sleep I can!
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@delight: you know, I realized after I wrote that that I haven't been having hot baths on a regular basis for a while. I really think they make a difference! So I had one just now and already feel a bit better. I also think I *might* have a milk blister (!?) and the treatment for that, apparently, is a sterile needle to the nip. Yea no, we'll see if it goes away on its own first... Hahaha
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@skipper2010: I'll do tummy time most days, just on a blanket on the couch... but she just falls asleep immediately, so I don't really know if it even counts. We have an activity mat but she doesn't seem that interested in any of the images or toys, so I figured I'd just save my back and do it on our semi-hard sofa cushion in a comfy for mom seated position rather than lying on the floor with her.
@StrawberryBee: I use mixbook all the time. One of my favourite sites for photobooks. Nice paper, nice binding, software is easy to navigate. I've never tried mosaic version though, so for sure let us know how it turns out.
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@.twist.: oh hot baths are good for boobs? I haven't had a bath postpartum yet and I really should. I could never use a needle. I had a blister on each side but they are going away. Only the initial latch causes toe curling pain but then it goes away and I feel fine as she feeds.
Question: do your LO's latch on right away? Liv latched great the first week but now I find it takes a good couple minutes to established a latch that she sticks with and then keeps sucking. I wonder if my milk comes down too fast now that its in because its almost like she backs away. She latches, sucks a couple times, them backs off and tries again. Eventually we get going but I wonder if there is something I can do to help.
@ Strawberrybee: that app sounds super cool I, checking it out. We love mix book. Used it for our wedding album!
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@delight: that sounds like K recently. She latches, then pops on and off for a bit, and shakes her head a little. Finally she latches. No advice- it happens to us too!
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@delight: I do know that Epsom salt baths are supposed to help, although even just a hot towel (as hot as you can handle) makes a big difference too!
L is a crazy latcher. He gets this look in his eyes and then opens his mouth and shakes his head like crazy, it's almost like a death trap trying to get my nipple in there without him chomping down before he gets a good latch. I think I have a fast let down because he pops off and then on and then off again as well.
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@redsmarties: @.twist.: I guess there's just a learning curve. I do feel it has to do with my let down maybe though. Ill ask at my next well baby clinic. It's good to know I'm not the only one that has this issue!
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@StrawberryBee: We ordered our birth announcements yesterday, too! We also spent way too much money but I have no self-control with that sorta thing, so not too shocking.
@skipper2010: I actually asked our ped about tummy time at her two-week checkup and he sorta laughed and said not to worry about doing it until 3-4 months. She gets a lot of neck control practice when I burp her over my shoulder, though!
@delight: It usually takes M two or three tries to latch on properly. The best is when she sucks just long enough for my letdown to start then she unlatches and gets sprayed in the face with milk! Oh, and I have an overactve letdown--M chokes/coughs at almost every nursing session...it's kinda sad to see but the positive is that she nurses for less time because it comes out so fast.
@.twist.: I think our babies are latch twins. M does the exact same thing! DH always jokes that she looks like a lion going after its prey!
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@delight: I'm glad I'm not the only one with a horrendously painful initial latch! For the most part after that it's fine. She does have some minor latch issues we are trying to work out. She loves to get a big mouthful and then slide off to where it is only the nip in the mouth. Ouch!
@.twist.: Kaia is a crazy latch too! The second she even thinks there is a boob headed her way she waves her head around so much it's like a carnival game trying to get the nip in the ever opening and closing hole!
The biggest problems we are having with her is her falling asleep mid feed and not ever popping of but more really eating either so she is always hungry. I have to really wake her up, strip her down to a diaper and hope she stays awake. Otherwise it's larger, rinse repeat until I think she has had enough.
Oh, and the cracked nips. Both already have scabs and every now and then I will look down and she will have a mouth full of blood... our she will spit up blood that I know came from me. I feel terrible both physically and emotionally knowing I am getting my baby blood!
Also, does anybody else wake LO up to eat? I Have been setting alarms for every two hours to wake her up if she hasn't woken up. The Ped said she needed to eat every 2 hours. They were concerned about the 6 oz she lost from her birth weight in 3 days. I almost feel like, though, that if she were hungry she would let me know.
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@Sapphiresun: @delight: oh good, glad to hear good reviews of them! I also used them for some of the birth announcements (7x5 flat greeting cards). I will definitely let you know how it turns out!
And I have a serious print addiction now lol. Am getting sucked into the 'deco prints' at snapfish. We got our newborn photographs back super fast (LOVE our photographer!) and I want to splash them all over everything.
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/storepage/storePageId=page-deco-prints
@delight: yes, I've also been wondering if I have an oversupply/overactive letdown! Left breast seems more liable to pop off than the right.
@lawbee11: Well, with your photos I can completely understand the desire to display them everywhere :D. After all, we'll only announce the birth of our first borns once!
@Mrs Hedgehog: "The second she even thinks there is a boob headed her way she waves her head around so much it's like a carnival game trying to get the nip in the ever opening and closing hole!" Love this description, this is us exactly! And then when she is on and pops off and starts crying like I've denied her the milk and I'm like, 'it's there, just suck girl, suck!'
I do not wake her up to eat; I figure she will let me know when she's hungry. There are times when she's gone 3-4 hours in between feeds and has been perfectly fine (hungry when she wakes up, but fine). If she weren't gaining weight I might change that up, but so far she's been doing great, and there's a lot that I can get done in that time!
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@Mrs Hedgehog: I had to wake Natalie up to eat. She was labeled a "sleepy" baby, and lost too much weight (10oz down from birth weight). She'd probably sleep through the night if we let her at first. So, I had to set an alarm for every three hours, and then sometimes it would take an hour of rubbing, singing, moving, and otherwise trying to get her awake enough to take the nipple. So, the whole process would take almost two hours ever three hours... which was completely exhausting. Now at three weeks she mostly wakes up on her own every 2.5-3.5 hours. On the odd occasion she gets to 3hr.45 I wake her up but it's much easier to do now.
And I have to laugh at her latch too. She doesn't open and close usually, but she'll open up super wide, with the nipple right in the target, but refuse to close her mouth and just shake her head furiously and make growly noises. She's just so excited to eat she forgets to shut her mouth I think... too funny.
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@skipper2010: we will put B on her tummy when she's fussy for a little bit. She'll motor around and work off some steam
She really likes it though, she's getting very strong control and looks around. We do it a few times a day. Or I just lay her on my chest and she'll lift her head up and look up at me.@Mrs Hedgehog: B is soooo bad for getting a good latch, then whipping her head back and pulling on my nip so she's just on the tip. My poor nips are just traumatized. They're not cracked or bleeding but swollen? I dunno how to explain it.
@Mrs Hedgehog: They told me to wake B up every 3 hours to feed, but I didn't really. She was always happy and content so I wouldn't wake her. If I found she was awake but not asking, then I'd throw her on the boob anyways, but that was it. She took just over 2 weeks to get back to birth weight. I always felt if she was hungry she would ask. Now she's gaining more weight than average so she's fine. I just did what I felt she wanted and it turned out fine. ( B lost 7 oz in 24 hours at the hospital. She was 6 11 at birth, went to 6/4. Now she's probably close to 7/11 I'd think, about a pound bigger then birth? She has a dr appt on Thurs so I'll know then.
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Ahaha I love all of the descriptions of the furiously latching little ones. I thought K was a freak with the head shaking and snorting. Guess not - where was that in our breast feeding videos haha!
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@redsmarties: haha B is the same as everyone else. We call her our little piranha. Mouth wide open, thrashing around, desperately trying to attack the nip.
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@MrsB2012: Glad to hear we're not the only ones who affectionately call our LO 'piranha'.
Oh, and I've started being able to see hospital/doctor claims in to insurance. Wheeee fun!
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@Mrs Hedgehog: I woke DS up to eat every 3 hours the first 2 weeks because he was so tiny. The doctor wanted him to gain weight ASAP in order for him to maintain his body temperature better. By his 2 week appointment, he gained 17oz so we laid off on waking him up. However, he wakes up on his own every 3 hours now. Boo!
DS is another snort/shake head baby when it comes to latching. He demands food the moment he wakes up so he's always crying/screaming in anger like I've been starving him. Sometime, he'll chomp down on my nip and jerk his head side to side - Oh.my.effing.gosh. The PAIN!!! *cringe* The hubby finds it hysterical. I do too, but at that moment, I don't know to cry or laugh first...
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@Mrs Hedgehog: Before my milk came in LO went from 7 lb 9 oz to 7 lb, and I had to wake her up ever 2.5-3 hours to eat. She started gaining and now I no longer have to wake her up. She does wake up on her own every 3 hours like clockwork now though.
LO definitely is a crazy latcher too! She pulls off a lot. I think my milk comes at her really fast. I breast fed in public for the first time this weekend (under a blanket) and it was kinda challenging. I basically had to stick my head under the blanket to help her find the nipple multiple times.
Today is my first day with baby by myself. It's 10:30 and I've managed to eat some breakfast, so I'd say it's going pretty well so far
I'm hoping to get out for a walk and maybe even bake some zucchini bread. Any of the ladies that have older babies considered DTD yet? I'm very curious as to how that whole thing will go. I feel like my lady bits have not...shrunk up yet. I go in for a 2 week postpartum check this week and can tell I'm healing well. I have the urge, but I'm still a little nervous!
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@JessKas: haha it's 1030 here too and I'm considering going back to sleep once B is finished eating, so you're doing really good! We DTD yesterday for the first time. 4 weeks PP. It was fine(ish). We had to take it really slow cuz at first it hurt, but got better. But.. it felt different.. like I'm stretched and larger down there.. haha. Oh well, I"m sure it'll go back to normal.. eventually..
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Charlie is a crazy latcher too, kind of looks like a mad baby bird!
We go in for her 2 week check in a couple hours, I'm anxious to see how much she's gained because she doesn't appear much bigger to me @JessKas: With my second pregnancy our anniversary was 10 days after I had her, we dtd then and it wasn't too bad. This time we tried at 12 days but it didn't feel right, so we stopped. I'm still passing a couple smaller clots too, so that might be part of it.
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MrsB2012: @StrawberryBee: I call Ellis my little barracuda.
Ok, so today Elllis is a week old and I'm ready to join the post-partum chat! Ellis is doing great now but didn't eat much at the hospital. Our one week breastfeeding journey has involved 2 visits to the pediatrician, an extra bilirubin lab visit, 3 visits to lactation consultants, supplementation using expressed milk given by both syringe and bottle, feeding every 2 hours (3 overnight), traumatized nipples and plenty of crying (on my part more than his). Long story short, Ellis lost 13 oz (9.5% of his 8 lb 11 oz birth weight) but is now gaining well. Yesterday he was back to 8 lbs 5 oz and while we're still feeding on schedule, he sometimes wakes to eat on his own.
While breastfeeding has been a challenge in multiple ways, everything else has gone pretty smoothly for us. As far as my own recovery I've had hardly any pain (except the nipples, which have cracked and bled but healed well). Having my mom here to do all the shopping, cooking, laundry, etc. has been fantastic. Ellis is a really sweet little guy but he does all the crazy latch stuff you guys describe! He cluster fed for the past 3 evenings, most recently from around 6 to 11:40.
Today we went on a 1.4 mile walk with him in the stroller--his first time out of the house that wasn't for some kind of appointment! I hear you all on the squishy bellies. I can't believe how much mine has shrunk, but it still feels all soft and weird. Kind of the opposite of my top half, which is much larger than I'm used to. I had crazy Madonna-style torpedo boobs for a day or two but they've calmed down. @.twist.: Does Lukas wear those side-snap tees? DH thinks they make Ellis look like a Jedi.
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@JessKas: oh gosh nooooo. I still have internal stitches that haven't dissolved yet! I'm so scared!!
@chanzi: haha he did when he was in preemie clothes! Hilarious, I can't believe we never thought of that!! It's so true!
Well ladies, I just can't catch a break. L and I have thrush. We picked up so antibiotics today after going to the clinic. I'm so bummed that I haven't been able to have a whole week go by without some sort of medical concern coming up. I'm hoping this clears up fast.
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Kaia is up from 7.6 lbs on Sat to 7.10 lbs today. Plus her bili levels are within normal. OMG the cracked and bleeding nipples though! I cry every time we first latch. She does up a bunch of blood every now and then too. Pedi says not to worry about it so I am trying not to.
@chanzi: glad to hear everything is going do well! And yeah, the absurdly soft belly is weird!
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Kennedy gained 11 oz in 5 days, you guys. She was 6.14 at her 5 day check up, and today she was 7.9lbs. Grow, baby, grow! She also has outgrown (lengthwise) the outfit she came home from the hospital in.
One thing I'm a little curious about; do any of you have babies that AREN'T sleepy? I keep hearing about how newborns sleep all the time, and how you have to make sure that they are waking up for feedings, etc. Well, K is not a sleepy baby -she eats all the time, and she's never slept more than 2.5/3 hours at a time.
Is this normal? What does a typical day look like for you guys?
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@.twist.: the nurse this week thinks we have thrush too. Ill find out later this week when I see a Nurse practitioner. Don't beat yourself out, it's extremely common. I heard up to 70% of newborns get it. Antibiotics will help. Usually it just clears up on own!
@Mrs Hedgehog: great weight gain! Sorry about your nips. That was me three days ago. I got a prescription ointment which helped clear them up. The latch still hurts but I was in pain the whole feed. I hope your boobs are feeling better soon!
@redsmarties: Liv has been super sleepy but was a little more awake today. It's hard for me to say what a typical day is cause they are all a little different. She typically sleeps about 3 hours at a time then I change and feed her then she looks at me for 15 mins and then falls asleep. Last night she went right back to sleep after her feeds which wrote great. I think when it comes to newborns there are many different "normals". Sounds like Kennedy is doing great!
@chanzi: welcome to the chat!! Great that Ellis is gaining his weight back. Sorry BF has been a challenge but good for for sticking with it!
@JessKas: I'm not even thinking about DTD yet but look forward to when I feel up to it. I still hurt down there. I'm hoping by 4 weeks PP but we will have to see. I have
To eventually look and see what's going on down there with my stitches and all.AFM, I'm down below DH weight as of today! Wahoo! That was no fun weighing more than him. I've lost 22 pounds in 10 days which I'm happy about. I still have 20 to go but I'm feeling great.
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@redsmarties: L is the same. We have gotten 2 4 - 5 hour stretches since he's been born. He eats all the time!
@delight: really?! Clears up on its own?! Hmmmmm very interesting.
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Charlie had her 2 week check today and gained 11oz in 11 days, she's 7lbs 12oz now
Today was rough, both Maddy and Charlie needed all the attention. Charlie is finally sleeping, so I think I'm going to enjoy a bath by myself (few and far between!)
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@JessKas: after my uterine infection, i think I'm definitely going to wait till my six week checkup to even think about DTD. I kind of want to, but I'm so scared of another infection and another hospital stay, I'm not even going to try it.
@.twist.: oh man! That stinks. Hope it clears up quickly. Honestly, I've heard of thrush but I don't even know what it is. Off to Dr. google I go.
@redsmarties: Sawyer wasn't very sleepy this past afternoon. He was awake from like 2 pm until almost 6! He very briefly fell asleep but then the satellite guy came and the dog barked really loud and woke him up and I couldn't get him back down. It was a long afternoon! Otherwise, he usually sleeps 3 hour stretches and wakes himself up to eat. He was sleeping four hours, but has pretty much tapered off that.
So does anyone else have moments of feeling seriously overwhelmed? Yesterday was a rough day for us, and there were a lot of tears shed (on my part). Between Bf just not working for us, and trying to pump enough milk to feed him, and the shrieking crying, I was kind of at my wits end. I'm just wondering if this is normal or if I should be on the lookout for PPD. I feel like I cry A LOT and I want to be proactive if any of my feelings are not normal...
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@JamieLee: totally overwhelmed, I think the feeling is pretty normal but still worth mentioning to your dr. I do the overwhelmed crying when she's up every half hour cluster feeding at night (1-2 times a week) or when each kid needs me this very second all at the same time.
Is anyone else getting night sweats? I wake up soaked for every feeding. I have the window open and a fan going. I'm sweating so much I've got heat rash on my neck and boobs. Yuck!!
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@StbHisMrs: I started getting night sweats a couple nights ago. I don't have them every night but holy moly! I wake up drenched and need a towel and new pjs. Ugh.
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@StbHisMrs: thanks for the reassurance. I had really bad night sweats when I was in the hospital with my infection. Like need to change the sheets bad. Haven't had them as bad since I've been home though. I wake up a little sweaty but not terrible. I do however have hot flashes throughout the day. One minute I'm cold because we have the a/c on and the next I'm sweltering. Then 10 minutes later I'm cold again.
She really likes it though, she's getting very strong control and looks around. We do it a few times a day. Or I just lay her on my chest and she'll lift her head up and look up at me.
Today we went on a 1.4 mile walk with him in the stroller--his first time out of the house that wasn't for some kind of appointment! I hear you all on the squishy bellies. I can't believe how much mine has shrunk, but it still feels all soft and weird. Kind of the opposite of my top half, which is much larger than I'm used to. I had crazy Madonna-style torpedo boobs for a day or two but they've calmed down. 
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