First timer questions and update (post #5 more questions)

[sugarpop]

So Sophia is perfect, of course what mother wouldn't say that! She eats non-stop, I suppose that is good and bad. She has a diaper rash, that makes me feel like such a bad mom! Can she get a diaper rash if I am not drinking enough fluids? I know if I don't drink enough fluids my urine is very concentrated, so would my milk be very concentrated and thus her urine very concentrated and burn her? We are cloth diapering...or we were until the rash then I thought I would try the disposables which may pull the moisture away better until the rash clears. I have tried Shea butter, then "unpetroleum", then petroleum and now we are have moved onto butt paste (zinc oxide). I hate to use the products but the burning sore bum is worse. It seems to be getting better, but what did I do wrong??

She also seems so angry, why would such a tiny baby be so angry! When she nurses she gets irriated and looks like if she could she would bite me. We have a difference of opinion on how she should be nursing. She feels that putting just my nipple in her mouth is acceptable, how do you fix it? I have probably made the issue worse because at times I have let her do it her way as it keeps her from crying...is it too late to fix it? It is painful to do it her way!

[2boyzmama]

I smiled when reading your post, because you're describing her like a little person with a real personality, vs just a baby like most people do!

First of all on the rash...Gavin also has a sore red butt, but it's because he poops little squirts CONSTANTLY! Seriously today I changed the FIRST diaper that DIDN'T have poop in it!! I can't change him after every single little squirt (they're like teaspoons each time) especially since he'll do several in a feeding, then he tends to fall asleep at the breast, then wake up 20 minutes later and finish his feed. So his poop is sitting there for an hour sometimes before I change him. And overnight he often goes 8 hours without a diaper change because we're cosleeping, and I sleep through his feedings, I certainly don't get up to change a diaper!

So I started lathering him up really good with Desitin, especially before bed. I've heard of using crisco before, basically anything to create a barrier, but I've never tried that myself.

About the latch...yes, try to fix it! Gavin does that, especially since it's been really cold here recently and my nipples have been, um, erect, and I have large nipples to begin with (exacerbated by the 4.5 years of pumping I've done!) so he can't fit more than that in his mouth when I'm cold! He gets the milk out just fine, but I know that it will leave me sore if he does it too much. I've been putting warm moist washcloths on myself before a feed to relax my nipples a bit!

And Gavin also is a scowl-y baby! I was joking at my husband that he's VERY serious about eating! He'll go from sound asleep to screaming in a second, then when he finally gets a nipple in his mouth, he grunts and growls and looks up at me and scowls as if to say "about time!" or "don't you dare take it away!" I laugh at his scowls and smile at him and tell him that mommy won't take it away, and I think it's cute he's so serious. Hopefully all my smiling and laughing at him will get him smiling and laughing at me!

[coldandsleepy]

Bwahahaha, I know EXACTLY what you mean about the irritated look! It seems like everyone else's babies look all beatific while they're breastfeeding, but Grey just looks CRABBY! He eats plenty and is a very enthusiastic eater so I've decided not to take it personally.

I'd definitely still try to fix her latch! If she starts latching on the whole nipple, you should get a lot of relief pretty quickly.

[kismetbaby]

My guy is totally an impatient eater! (He gets this from me I think!) He wakes STARVING (apparently) and gets totally pissed in the five minutes it takes me to get him sorted and latched on. And then the first five minutes of the feed looks so mad and tense. . .and if the milk doesn't let down immediately he gets upset and sort of chomps on my nipple. I am trying to be very calm during this and try to help him relax and not be so tense b/c his tension makes his latch shallow.

[sugarpop]

ohhh you all made me feel so much better. I was afraid that I was wounding her as a person and this was some sort of indication of what was to come. I was a very angry baby, so I have heard. I screamed for hours and was never happy. That didn't go away either! I was an angry toddler, an angry child and an angry teenager. My mom took me to doctors and they accused her of abusing me, which she never did. So I was afraid I was somehow passing on an angry gene. She is so sweet and perfect and sometimes peaceful, I don't want her to ever be angry or upset. I guess I better get over that huh? Everyone has the right to be angry and upset, but when I feel responsible it breaks my heart. Especially when she has been in the world such a short time, I want it to all be roses and ice cream, happy thoughts, smiles, laughs and good times. No pain, anger, irritation or crying.

OK so this is normal! She has stomach aches and I try to help. She wants to eat five minutes before she wakes up so she screams then attacks me, but it is ok. It isn't just my sweet babe that is this way! Thank you all so much, I really thought I had passed some anger "gene" on to a sweet person!

I also felt so guilty about the diaper rash. She does the squirt thing too, sometimes I change it with only a teaspoon in it...we go through so many diapers this way, and again this just makes her angry! I thought maybe I wasn't changing her enough in the middle of the night. I half sleep through feedings, then I can't remember if I changed her. And sometimes she wakes every hour, so then I wonder should I change her every hour? And sometimes I feel like if I have to get out of bed one more time to change another diaper....and I go back to sleep. But if I get up then it takes an hour for her to go back to sleep, where as if I just nurse and we both fall asleep 15 minutes later.

Ok another question for you co-sleepers. I had a c-section, and so in the middle of the night rolling over is still uncomfortable. Nevermind rolling over with her, it is so hard to manuever her me blankets positioning...so how do you do it? Do you alternate breasts through out the night? Do you break the feeding up so each time LO eats they are getting both breasts? I am afraid that if I only have her feed on one side for the night that I will be in pain in the morning. Give me your experience, thoughts and opinions!

[Dmitrizmom]

dd sleeps in the middle. I lay on my left side to nurse on either side - but I can do this because my boobs are huge and sag toward whichever side I'm laying on... I roll more or less toward her depending on which side is currently in use. I tend to only do 1 side per feeding.

[cristeen]

Bring dipes to bed w/ you and change her there. If they're just wet, you don't need wet wipes, just to keep her from sitting in it all night. My little guy is much more amenable to going back to sleep if I didn't pick him up and move him.

[Julia24]

Also - try triple paste for the barrier. I'm telling you, NOTHING works as well as that stuff. I know it's not the most 'natural', but ultimately, you need a product that does it's job, yk?

You may need to play around with the cloth you're using as well. My little people get a diaper rash very easily from several fabrics (like hemp). and they don't do well with wetness sitting right by them. SO, we MUST have a wicking fabric on our diapers....if you don't want to go out and buy all new dipes, just run to the fabric store and buy a yard of microfleece and cut it up into lengths that will line the center of the diapers....this should keep her bum a little more dry - AND protect your cloth from whatever barrier cream you use.