bi weekly chat June 18-July 2 - Page 3 « Back to Group Discussions

[sunflwrmoonbeam]

Wow I haven't posted in awhile.

Courtney: Yikes! I rarely bend over in the Moby because I'm afraid of that. I always squat.

Saudade: Any idea why you're having such trouble? Have you seen an IBCLC? I don't remember all the details of your story but have you looked into a posterior tongue tie? It may be that because of a tie that your baby isn't transferring milk very well, which means your supply drops, etc.

AFM: Tavian is officially a thumb sucker! I love it, it means he actually self-soothes. I hate that phrase because I associate it with CIO and forcing "independence" on a baby, but sometimes T just wants to sit in the bouncer and suck his thumb until he feels better. It's pretty awesome. I've been really struggling lately. It feels much like my first trimester depression, where I'll be a total wreck for a few days then fine for a week or so. Friday was the bad day, but I've been normal since Saturday afternoon. I don't know what to do besides ride it out.
 

[saudade]

I honestly think it is my medication (Lexapro) that has effected it because my milk never came in properly, it seemed to come in slowly and i never got initially engorged like with all my other 4 previous babies. i just never had enough, it was weird. i saw LCs from the birth center, but i dont know if they checked tongue tie, how can i tell if she has it? i didnt think it would be a good idea to go off the lexapro freshly pp or whether it would make a difference once i started battling low supply. they just wanted me to take fenugreek, pump after feedings and use an sns to give her the pumped milk. i did all that except i began using bottles (born free bottles) but supplementing my pumped milk still wasnt enough, she still wasnt gaining at 6 weeks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunflwrmoonbeam 

Wow I haven't posted in awhile.

Courtney: Yikes! I rarely bend over in the Moby because I'm afraid of that. I always squat.

Saudade: Any idea why you're having such trouble? Have you seen an IBCLC? I don't remember all the details of your story but have you looked into a posterior tongue tie? It may be that because of a tie that your baby isn't transferring milk very well, which means your supply drops, etc.

AFM: Tavian is officially a thumb sucker! I love it, it means he actually self-soothes. I hate that phrase because I associate it with CIO and forcing "independence" on a baby, but sometimes T just wants to sit in the bouncer and suck his thumb until he feels better. It's pretty awesome. I've been really struggling lately. It feels much like my first trimester depression, where I'll be a total wreck for a few days then fine for a week or so. Friday was the bad day, but I've been normal since Saturday afternoon. I don't know what to do besides ride it out.
 

[chiromama01]

Saudade, your post makes me wonder, how much weight gain is enough?  is there a benchmark for a number of pounds/month or something?? hmm, off to do research...

[sunflwrmoonbeam]

Saudade, I'd suspect tongue tie if you were having pain, nursing sessions were taking a long time, and if you reach under her tongue and feel a strong "bump" where the frenulum is. Tavian is clearly not tongue tied and I can barely feel his frenulum. I suspect I have a posterior TT and my frenulum feels quite strong (not sure if that's an adult thing though).

Chiro: There is, and I believe it's about 7oz a week at this stage, doubling birthweight by 6 months, tripling by a year. That said a baby can be well under those guidelines. My kids are born at 9.75 pounds, barely lose any weight, and gain about a pound a month from the beginning. Evie didn't double her birth weight until 1 year, and didn't triple it until just shy of 3. Evie was a slow gainer, and so far so is Tavian, but my doctor was unconcerned and they are both clearly thriving.
 

[saudade]

I think 5-7 ounces per week. I'd be happy with 4 ounces, or even just consistently SOME weight gain, but she just wasn't gaining any at all. She was barely at her birth weight at 6 weeks old. She gained only one lb in 6 weeks...the one pound that she lost. Now she is catching up well...but it's only because I'm supplementing her A LOT now.

Originally Posted by chiromama01 

Saudade, your post makes me wonder, how much weight gain is enough?  is there a benchmark for a number of pounds/month or something?? hmm, off to do research...

[Thursday Girl]

saudade, pm me your address and I'll get it in the mail tomorrow. I'm tossing in 2 boxes of mother's milk tea as well, although in order to get them to fit into the flat rate the tea bags may not be in the boxes.

[chiromama01]

thanks for the weight gain info.  that really helps.  I needed a bench mark to make sure collin was gaining enough given our recent supply issues.  it seems that he's fairly close to being on target.  I did some research on milk and pumping/supply issues.  as per dr. sears, it would seem that it is not uncommon for babies to eat more when given a bottle, and for mom's to not necessarily be able to pump as much as baby likes to consume.  that said, i still have to have the milk in the freezer for him to eat! 

saudade, i'm glad she's finally gaining! I hope the supplements and tea from courtney help! I'm waiting on the same supplements, so hopefully we'll both see good results!

sfmb-- what a gift to have a self soother!! sometimes i wish C would go for his thumb instead of my nipple!!! (just for few minutes,even!!)

ok, off to pump... so not excited about it

[tarabelle]

aww, i was so touched to hear about generosity and see it on these boards. I had a similar experience when a complete stranger offered to lend me her entire applecheeks size 1 stash for rosie.  I still haven't made it over to pick them up, but I am stoked!

[saudade]

Thank you so much Courtney! PMing you now...

[sunflwrmoonbeam]

And I think Tavian's getting another UTI/the same one coming back. His penis is pink and puffy, and DH noticed some moistness on it earlier today. UGH UGH UGH.
 

[flavorfull1]

that sucks ashley!  hope that he is able to fight it off. i have no tips sorry, just sympathy.

[Thursday Girl]

Poor Tavian.  Let us know.

Saudade, I sent it out yesterday, I imagine you should get it pretty spoon. The supplement is wrapped in a plastic bag and shoved in a bottle liner and the teabags are all around it, as I suspected the tea boxes would not fit in the flat rate box.  It's marked fragile and the bottle is pretty sturdy anyway so It should get there unscathed.

tara- very cool someone let you borrow the whole stash. I loaned out my newborn stash once to a girl I met at the birth center, she ended up being super nice. Then my friend used it and now I am sending it up to my sister, of course parts of my newborn stash had been gifted to me and parts I had made.  Diaper stashes are meant to be shared. it's not guaranteed you will get back exactly what you put out there but I have always received enough diapers back to diaper my kid. It's neat to see diapers from your baby on your friends baby, and it's neat to see what you get back when you have a new baby.  Certain diapers actually make me think of certain people.  Coraline's newborn stash of fitteds was made from t-shirts and fabrics friends had given me so diapering her was like a friendship quilt.  I love the fluidity of sharing what we each have available, it makes you realize we are all in this together. Plus sharing newborn stashes can totally be the act of kindness that gets that person cloth diapering for good. The girl I loaned them to was interested in cloth diapers but didn't know anything about them, and was using sposies. I wish I had known anyone who cloth diapered when I had my first, even so I could have just learned about them. I tried using birds eye flats, pins and plastic pants and did not continue because those things were hard to use.

I should probably go do some laundry now.

[arbybee]

Round two of thrush and my nipples are going to fall off. Oh, the indignities of motherhood are just beginning.

[Thursday Girl]

so sorry arby. what did you use last time?

[chiromama01]

poor tavian is right! that sounds so uncomfortable for him :(

arby-- so sorry about the thrush.  that sounds miserable too!  i hope you guys get past it soon.

we have had a ridiculous week here! my mom and my husband are the large majority of my childcare while I work, however, this week dh has been working *call week* (which means working from 2-10pm) and mom has a friend in town, so she asked for me to find alternate arrangements (cuz, you know, it's easy to pull a sitter out of your back pocket...) so alas, i made arrangements to accomodate everyone, and then... it happened,  liv and collin got sick... ugh.  Liv has had a virus all week, leaving her feeling somewhat under the weather and sporting a rash that looks like (but is not) chickenpox... and Collin has a cold that just won't let up.  So that means my regularly scheduled child care is out the window... ugh.  it's been a week of juggling, and dh just got home from work and now he says he's sick too.  so i think i'll pour another glass of wine and pray that the antibacterial affects of liquor rain down upon me and spare me from this illness!!!!

hope you are all having a great week!

[sunflwrmoonbeam]

The doc we saw the other day thinks its just irritation this time. It's not getting worse, and I'm aggressively treating it as diaper rash.
 

[arbybee]

We used an oral antifungal on him and a cream for me, and it cleared up quickly last time. This round seems a bit gnarlier, but so far I appear to be the only one in pain.

How much are your little ones sleeping lately? The last few days H has been down for the count during daylight hours and I kind of miss hanging out with him. He gets a nice long stretch of awake hours in the evening before going down at night, but I spend most of the day waking him up to feed him. Any other sleepy babies? Is this normal?

[saudade]

Courtney- Thank you so much, again!

Ashley- That sucks about the UTI, what is the cause...do they know? I know how badly those hurt, I can't imagine having one as a baby. Poor thing.

Arby- Maybe it's a growth spurt? I think babies sleep more during growth spurts...maybe not. LOL. Considering how big Heron is, it's probably exhausting being such a hubba-hubba boy. Lennon mostly catnaps and then sleeps a long 6 hour or so stretch. The only problem is that her long stretch doesn't begin until 3 or 4 AM usually. I might be able to say she "sleeps through the night" except it's more accurate that she "sleeps through the day" and that is getting really old now. We need to get turned around.

Also, I've only had thrush one time with one of my kids and used Genian Violet...(I would coat/treat my nipples and then swab the inside of her mouth) which was so messy that we had to do apply it only while taking a bath. I remember also taking lots of acidophilus and giving baby some, too. It cleared it right up.

[daylicious]

Aww! Poor Tavian! Hope he feels better soon.

Hoping it clears up soon Arby!
Holden sleeps a LOT too. Mostly during the night. Around an 8 hour stretch from about 8:30pm - 4:30ish (he's gone as long as a 10 hour stretch), nurses, then down for around 3 more hours. He takes one big nap late morning for about 3 hours, and a short nap in the late afternoon. It seems like he's awake a lot just because most of his sleep happens at night. I agree with Saudade that it might have to do with them being such big boys.

[arbybee]

good call on the acidophilus. i'm gonna start that and try to cut out dairy for a little while.