The Post Partum Mama Check-In - Page 2

[mamaspirit]

Originally Posted by N8'sMom

typing w/ one hand.............

been recovering/recuperating and trying to get bf-ing down so haven't been on the computer much

having some bf-ing issues...she won't take my left boob and it's dripping like crazy. why would she not take it?? any advice?

Take her to a chiropractor trained with babies. She may have her neck or something out that makes it uncomfortable to lay on that side. I had that problem with DS#2, one adjustment and he had no problem taking the boob.

[N8'sMom]

Originally Posted by mamaspirit

Take her to a chiropractor trained with babies. She may have her neck or something out that makes it uncomfortable to lay on that side. I had that problem with DS#2, one adjustment and he had no problem taking the boob.

Wow. I wouldn't have thought of that one. I have been getting her to take it since I typed that. I just worked with her a little. But she definitely prefers the right side.

We have a check up with the doc today, since they were concerned that she lost a pound in the hospital. So we're checking things out today. She's been eating pretty good. It's been getting better and better every day. I weighed her here at home and she was 8.2 yesterday. She was born at 8.9. So she's gaining and has been having plenty of poops and wet diapers. So I know she is definitely getting what she needs.

[neomia]

Originally Posted by N8'sMom

having some bf-ing issues...she won't take my left boob and it's dripping like crazy. why would she not take it?? any advice?

get some craniosacral therapy if you can, and i was also going to say football hold.

we're ok. one handed atm so may check in later.

[bellydance2290]

Hi Ladies
I haven't been online much lately, but I'm glad to hear that everyone seems to be doing well.

Things are going great here. I feel good, the soreness is gone and I don't have much bleeding left. Ivy is doing well also. She was born weighing 7.11 and at 3 days was 6.14. Three days later she had gained 8 oz. We haven't weighed her again yet but judging by her chunky little thighs and all the diapers we are going through, she is getting plenty of good milk! Breastfeeding is going pretty good, she seems to kind of "root" around and take the nipple in and out of her mouth when she first starts - is this normal? Once she gets a good latch she does well. She is sleeping pretty good at night, up every 2-3 hrs to eat and then back to sleep.

Overall, I am just enjoying new motherhood and enjoying her!

[Kylahroo]

Originally Posted by bellydance2290

Breastfeeding is going pretty good, she seems to kind of "root" around and take the nipple in and out of her mouth when she first starts - is this normal?

It takes Juniper 2-3 times of sucking/spitting the nipple out (repeat) before she gets going, too.

What I don't like are the smacking sounds she makes - like she's losing suction. I don't know what it means. It's not causing her any problems, but my soreness is only mildly better than it was a week ago so I'm thinking it may be related.

[LeahC]

We are doing very well here!

My recovery has been super fast and actually pleasant due to having such a fast labor and delivery and not tearing or having an episiotomy like I did with Henry. Still bleeding some, but not that big of a deal.

Breastfeeding has been going so smooth up until Wednesday of this week. I stupidly had some steamed broccoli with dinner Tuesday night and my poor little muffin has been suffering ever since. Massive gas, spit up (had not spit up before this), nursing refusal, only nursing a little bit before getting too full with the gas which resulted in not enough hindmilk comsumption. Ugh!!

However, as of today (Friday) it looks like we are back in business. She has been nusring great and her gas is minimal, and her poos are back to being yellow versus green. I feel terrible that I caused this and I promised her that I will not even LOOK at broccoli again much less eat it.

Evelyn is growing great. She was 7pounds 15oz at birth and 7 pounds 11.5 oz at discharge (36 hours later). At her 1 week check up she was up to 8pounds 5.5oz!! 10 oz in 5 days! Woo hoo, I'll take it.

[ladyelms]

Not a whole lot to report here. Been MIA for a while so wanted to update or at least say hi and that I'm still here, just finding it really hard to NAK!

Jude River (I love saying the names together, lol) is doing wonderfully. He's two weeks and two days, and it seems we've been through so much together--bonding, getting to know eachother, etc, that it feels like a lifetime ago already that I birthed him! (which is making me kinda sad) We've found our groove, our routine, life is *almost* back to the way I know it, but finding normalcy again means leaving that honeymoon period behind which is all so bittersweet. His birth was really the most beautiful thing dh and I have ever done together and honestly, I think I fell in love w/ my dh all over again.

I regret not having commented on people's announcement posts--congratulatiomns to everybody! It's so exciting to come here daily now and see who's had their baby!

ETA: Ring slings ROCK!

[skg_7]

Daniel also takes the nipple and spits it out several times before settling on his latch. It's a drag, as each attempt hurts me!

Hey -- he vomitted his entire feeding just now. Is that a normal occasional occurence? Jonah never did that. Daniel otherwise has only spat up about 3 times. But this was spit up, and then a minute later he puked up everything. He managed to sleep through it....

[Oonah]

Originally Posted by ladyelms

ETA: Ring slings ROCK!

ITA!

[Oonah]

Originally Posted by bellydance2290

Breastfeeding is going pretty good, she seems to kind of "root" around and take the nipple in and out of her mouth when she first starts - is this normal?

I don't know about normal but mine does the same. It doesn't seem to be causing any problems so I don't do anything more than squirt a little milk into her mouth when she gets close to let her know she's on target

[*Karen*]

DD sometimes loses the nipple too. Sometimes it takes her a few tries.

I agree Tanya, the noise thing hurts. The smacking sound. When she does that I try to get her to relatch.

I love ring slings too, and I just put DD in mine for the first time yesterday. It is really big and I thought it would swallow her, but it didn't! I have been using a wrap mostly, which she LOVES and instantly falls asleep in. But I have a really hard time nursing in it. I can't get her low enough.

[shantivibes]

hi june mamas~!!!

i'm a may DDC mama, but i went two weeks over and ended up a june mama instead so i have been lerking here because it seems more in line with where i am right now compared to the may mamas. hope you'll welcome me here....

we had an amazing birth in the pool at home on june 7th at 1:27pm! all is well here, he sleeps ALLOT...and nurses the rest of the time. went through allot of feling like i am not enough for him in the milk dept, which i delt with dd and this one seems to be doing the same. nurseing all day long between naps, if i take him off even after hours he will root around like crazy and then begin to cry..... i hate it!!! not sure why it is, he is poopind three or fours times a day and tons of pee diapers, gaining slowly, infact i need to weigh him again to see but it is not so fast, although he never lost from birth....well....not really able to tell sice we weighed him on a different scale. anyway... that is my rant.....thanks for listening ladies\!!!

[MeloMama08]

Hey Mamas!
Its been awhile. I'm so happy to check back and see that so many of you have had your babies!!! Since I was one of the first to go (May 25th) I thought I would wait a few weeks before starting to go on and on about how amazing my baby is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Linnea really is SO, SO, beautiful and perfect. She is four weeks old today and doing just fine. She's nursing great, although I have some overactive letdown issues so I have to be careful to help her not drown/choke/sputter. She has had some pretty bad gas issues but I cut out dairy and that is really helping. For a couple weeks she was crying a LOT, like 6 hours a day or more, but now that I stopped eating dairy (and beef) she has relaxed SO much more.
We've given her several baths and finally she is starting to really like them and realize how relaxing they can be. So that's good.

As for me... I'm feeling much much better. I had some nasty tears, on account of pushing her out in like 4 pushes, but they are pretty well healed at this point. My bleeding finally started to subside a couple days ago. I'm feeling better physically too. The first week I had some serious baby blues and was crying every day and feeling overwhelmed beyond belief. Luckily on day 7 or 8 the depression just lifted and I started feeling much, much better. Fortunately by that time I had already convinced DP to take another week off from work (originally he was only taking ONE!) so we had a nice week together becoming a family. It's been lovely....

Anyway i'm looking forward to continuing our DDC as a forum for discussing our babies!!!!

[ColwynsMommy]

We're doing pretty well here also. Fiona is 2 weeks 1 day and is a pretty easy baby. She sleeps well at night and takes a few good naps a day. For her wake periods she's usually content to sit in the bouncy seat for a little while if I need her to, which makes everything so much easier. It's just too hot in the house to wear her while I try to take care of my older kids and the house.

After losing too much weight, she's now gaining quite nicely. Once again, I'm dealing with excessively low supply, so she gets most of what she needs through the Lact-Aid. I was determined to wait a few weeks before introducing a bottle, but I was feeling really trapped.. between the Lact-Aid and me being overweight and only able to nurse using the football hold, it's impossible for me to nurse discreetly. So I bought a few bottles on Friday and she's had two so far. I've vowed to only use them while we're out in public, though.. I know it's a slippery slope.

Last week was my first week home by myself, and it went okay. My mom was supposed to take a bunch of time off and help me with cooking, laundry, etc, but didn't. Hmph. So I ended up doing too much and started bleeding more than I had been, although my 'too much' still wasn't enough to keep the house clean. I had a talk with my husband and after both of us working to get the house clean this weekend, he's going to try to do more to help me maintain at least the kitchen and the toy clutter.

My almost-three year old hasn't really had any trouble adjusting, but my 4.5 year old has. It's mainly some rudeness and limit-testing that started a few months ago, but has really taken off in the last two weeks. I feel badly for him, but my patience has been at an all time low, so we're struggling with that a bit. I'm trying to make time for us to spend alone together, but it's hard.

[Kylahroo]

Originally Posted by *Karen*

DD sometimes loses the nipple too. Sometimes it takes her a few tries.

I agree Tanya, the noise thing hurts. The smacking sound. When she does that I try to get her to relatch.

I love ring slings too, and I just put DD in mine for the first time yesterday. It is really big and I thought it would swallow her, but it didn't! I have been using a wrap mostly, which she LOVES and instantly falls asleep in. But I have a really hard time nursing in it. I can't get her low enough.

The smacking/clicking sound I just found out is a sign of a tongue-tied baby. She's not severely tongue-tied (as far as we can tell), but she can't stick her tongue out past her lips (just to her lips). So, when she's nursing, you can't see her tongue under the breast. Now, normally this is a problem as baby won't get enough milk and won't gain enough - this is definitely NOT a problem for my nearly 11# baby! But, it could be contributing to her wanting to nurse all of the time. We're seeing our ped and my MW this week - hopefully they'll be able to help!

I rarely use my wraps when I know baby's going to want to nurse a lot. While you can definitely tie baby so that baby's lower on your baby (making it easier to nurse), this is really bad on your back. IMO, a ring-sling (padded especially) is always best for babies who want to nurse constantly.

[Kylahroo]

Originally Posted by shantivibes

this one seems to be doing the same. nurseing all day long between naps, if i take him off even after hours he will root around like crazy and then begin to cry..... i hate it!!! not sure why it is, he is poopind three or fours times a day and tons of pee diapers, gaining slowly, infact i need to weigh him again to see but it is not so fast, although he never lost from birth....well....not really able to tell sice we weighed him on a different scale.

Welcome!

A baby wanting to suck all of the time does not necessarily mean baby's hungry. It's called "using mom as a pacifier"! LOL! Some babies simply need to suck all of the time. I guess you could say I've been blessed with several of these babies!! We've started trying to use a nuk/pacifier this past week and it's helping some (when she'll take it). It at least gives dh somewhat of an opportunity to comfort her (works well in the car, too) and my sore breasts a break (at least for 5 minutes, enough time to wolf down a meal or pee).

So, if baby is wetting/pooping/gaining weight, yet still wants to nurse a lot, this is okay. What you want to do about it is up to you. Most professionals will say don't introduce any sort of artificial nipple for at least 6-8 weeks, but if you're confident you can notice the signs of nipple confusion (meaning you have to stop the artificial nipple ASAP), then you might consider it.

Some people really hate the ideas of pacifiers, but our rule has always been that baby has to be held if they have one. It's not used as a replacement to loving arms. The only exception is use in the car.

Good luck!

[Kylahroo]

Originally Posted by MeloMama08

We've given her several baths and finally she is starting to really like them and realize how relaxing they can be. So that's good.

Juniper LOVES the shower!! I wasn't able to shower with her as early as I did with my others, but we've taken two showers this week and she loves it. She's so totally calm and peaceful and awake. It's been wonderful. She loves the sound of running water, though - it's sometimes the only way we can calm her down (we ran it pretty much full-time the 2 nights we were in the hospital - I figure, they made us stay there, we could run up the water bill).

[Qerratsmom]

Llewellyn will be a week old tomorrow. I can't believe how time flies. The last couple days have been kind of hard, mainly because the older kids are getting restless that mom is still not her active self and dh is getting drained (although not complaining) but he has rhuematoid arthritis and a week of intensity and taking care of everything (and he has done an awesome job!) is wearing on him. He goes back to work tomorrow but my mom will be able to swing by some and help out. The midwives wanted me to wait atleast a week before coming off bedrest but that just seems impossible. I've been getting a little bluesy so I did finally come down today and sit outside and it really helped. I also took time this weekend to actually take naps. We've been having so many visitors that I really haven't had much just sleeping time. Otherwise I feel tired but not too sore anymore.
Llwellyn is doing great. Nursing like a champ. Nighttime I wake him up about every 3-4 hours because my boobs get so engorged and uncomfortable. My other ds and dd are totally in love with the baby and don't want to leave his side although the 3 year old has been acting out in other ways. Lots of throwing things and yelling at dh, big ds and I. Hopefully this will stop once we get back in our normal routine.
ANyway sending good healing vibes to everyone...

[tonia_jo]

It's so great to hear how everyone is doing! It has been hard to get on the computer and type anything. Levi is doing great! I can't believe he's a little over 2 weeks old now!? Time really has flown. I still have a little bit of bleeding, but at least I am not so crampy - I had really bad afterpains with him, don't remember them at all with DD. Nursing is going great - he nurses A LOT when he is awake - it seems like he wants to nurse practically the whole time (a few hours with teeny breaks). Then he sleeps for a few hours. My left side is a bit sore, but getting better - I think it is sore from a bad latch the first day that caused some irritation.

How often do you wear your LO in a sling??? I'm dissapointed that he doesn't like to be in a sling more - but he seems to rest better if I put him down. (I have a little boppy bouncy). Also, he seems to like daddy slinging him better than me? He wants milk when he is with me and I have NO IDEA how to nurse him while in the sling - unless we are sitting down and I rearange him quite a bit... I have a pouch and a wrap sling - any advice?

Glad to hear everyone is doing so well!!! I wish I had more time to respond to everyone's birth announcements and posts - But, I'm terrible at NAK!

[Kylahroo]

Originally Posted by tonia_jo

How often do you wear your LO in a sling??? I'm dissapointed that he doesn't like to be in a sling more - but he seems to rest better if I put him down. (I have a little boppy bouncy). Also, he seems to like daddy slinging him better than me? He wants milk when he is with me and I have NO IDEA how to nurse him while in the sling - unless we are sitting down and I rearange him quite a bit... I have a pouch and a wrap sling - any advice?

What pouch and what wrap do you have? You'll have more luck with the pouch than with the wrap for nursing. My recommendation is to put baby in the upright tummy to tummy position (sit down throughout this), you'll nurse on the breast opposite of the shoulder you're wearing the pouch on. Easiest to do if you have a wrap shirt or shirt you can get access from the top (this will keep your tummy covered and you don't have to bother with pulling a shirt up).

This tends to work best with people who have shorter torsos as it's easier for baby to reach your breast. Once baby's in the TtT position, jump up and down a bit to get baby to sink far down into the pouch, head at breast level, in the crook of your arm. Tilt your breast up to reach baby's mouth. Once baby's latched on and nursing well, then you can get up and go.

I'm all for babywearing, but I do wish my baby would sleep in bed during the day. She absolutely will not, not for more than 5 minutes. But, if we wear her, she'll nap for 2-3 hours at a time. I keep trying the bed, but unless she has my breast as a pillow, it won't work! She also loves the sling with dh, but doesn't mind me wearing her, although I do usually nurse her.

LMK if you have any other questions, I can probably help!